Flipping the Bird (Shift Creek #1) - Carrie Pulkinen Page 0,60

was.”

A healing spell? Fan-friggin-tastic. Who was supposed to cast the spell when Donovan didn’t have any powers?

As the face dissipated, fingers wrapped around Alice’s arms, jerking her from the water. Her head lolled back as Donovan cradled her against his chest and plowed through the creek toward the bank. He laid her in the grass before climbing out and kneeling by her side.

“Alice?” His voice sounded panicked, but as he rested his hand on her chest, he sighed with relief.

That meant she was breathing, right? She sure as heck hoped so.

“Is she okay?” Marty’s tiny paws rested against her cheek.

“Alice, can you hear me?” Donovan ran his fingers over her forehead.

She blinked her eyes open, squinting as his handsome features came into view. He smiled, and the corners of his eyes crinkled.

They were alive, at least, but her chest ached like it had been cut open and scrambled with an electric mixer for real this time.

Her crow was gone forever.

Alice lifted her head, rising onto her elbows. “I’m okay.” She would be, anyway. Maybe. “I had the weirdest dream, though. The spirit of the creek said you needed to cast a healing spell, but you can’t…”

Donovan sat back on his heels, and she gasped at the sight of him. He no longer wore the bracelet that masked his translucent aura, but now he glowed a shimmering deep blue, like the ocean beneath a full moon.

She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. Surely she was seeing things after being underwater for so long, but nope. His aura glowed with powerful magic. “Do you see him like I do, Marty?”

The mongoose tilted his head. “You got your magic, boss!”

Donovan rose to his feet, tugging Alice up with him. “A healing spell, she said?”

“Unless I was imagining things.”

He took her hand and raised his other toward the creek, speaking the same spell he’d pretended to cast before. Golden light ascended from the bottom to sparkle on the surface, and the level of the stream began to rise. Then, the most wonderful, beautiful sight Alice had ever seen appeared before her eyes.

The creek reversed its flow.

“Holy mother of shock and awe. You did it!” She threw her arms around Donovan and planted a big sloppy kiss right on his mouth.

Wrapping his arms behind her back, he lifted her from the ground, spinning in a circle and laughing before returning her feet to the ground. “We did it.”

“We did, didn’t we?” She watched the creek rise and flow, returning to its former glory, and shouts of joy drifted on the breeze from upstream.

“The committee sounds happy,” Donovan said.

“The whole town will be celebrating tonight.”

“Shall we join them?”

Alice shrugged. Happy as she was the town was saved, she didn’t much feel like celebrating, what with the giant gaping hole in her soul and all. But she knew she should. “We can go for a little while.”

She slipped her shoes back on her feet and cast one more glance at Shift Creek. As she turned toward the manor, a flash of green light caught her eye. An emerald sphere the size of a volleyball drifted toward her in the water.

Her limbs trembled as it rose from the surface, lighting in the air and transforming into…a crow.

She gasped.

With a flap of its translucent wings, it soared toward her, slamming into her chest and fusing with her soul.

“What the…? How…?” She pressed her hands to her body, expecting to find a hole where the bird might have torn her open, but it hadn’t. It had made her whole.

Laughter bubbled from her throat as she looked at Donovan. He appeared just as shocked as she was.

She shifted and took to the sky, cawing with delight. Her feathers were soaked, and she felt like she was flying through mud, but she didn’t care.

Alice had her crow.

Chapter Eighteen

Donovan watched as Alice soared through the sky, her caws echoing on the spring breeze. She swooped toward him, rolling through the air before shooting upward again with the grace of a swan. The woman was magnificent.

He chuckled, shaking his head as he kneeled by the water. She’d be up there for a while, and who could blame her? She’d lost a part of herself. Even though her sacrifice had only lasted a few minutes, she was whole again.

Now that Donovan’s magic had been unlocked, he could understand her elation. As Alice would say, heck, he could barely contain his own.

He whispered an illumination spell he’d learned as a child, and a ball