skull.”
“Shit.”
“If Terri’s got one too, you could lead BOW straight to Sanctuary.”
“Bastards,” Rune grumbled. “She’s not even a witch.”
“Just check.”
“On it.” He disconnected and Torin slipped his phone back into his pocket.
“Will Terri be all right?”
“Yes. Rune will see to it.”
“Okay.” She took a breath and looked up at him. “Now what?”
“We run.”
She sighed and Torin could see how tired she was. But she was also strung tight enough to snap. Not a good combination in an Awakening witch. “Go take a shower. Rinse off the dried blood. You’ll feel better.”
“I don’t have anything to wear,” she reminded him.
“Make something.”
When she just stared at him as if he’d lost his mind, he gritted his teeth against the rush of frustration. He had to keep reminding himself that she was only now realizing what she was. That she didn’t know how to use the innate talents the universe and the goddess Danu had blessed her with. “You have the power. It’s inside you. Draw on it.”
“How’m I supposed to do that?”
“Close your eyes.”
She did, then opened them again. “Is this a trick?”
“Close your eyes, woman.” When she had, he said, “Now get a picture in your mind. Imagine the clothes you want to be wearing. Right down to the last detail. Every button, every zipper. Got it?”
She scowled, scrunching her eyes closed tightly in concentration; then she nodded.
“Good. Now keep that picture in your mind and draw on the power you used to stop my damn car.”
A short, sharp laugh shot from her throat and Torin smiled in response. She made quite the picture. His witch with her wild hair and smooth skin, wrapped in a quilt, dazzled by firelight. Every cell in his body went into overdrive. His need for her was more than lust. Sex with her felt as necessary as air to him. He had to have her. Had to touch. Taste. Explore.
“Now what?”
Her question drew him out of his fantasies and forced him to focus on the moment. Soon enough, she would be with him where she belonged.
“Bring up the power in your mind. Feel the rush, the rising sweep of it. Keep that image of the clothes in your head and let the power loose.”
A moment passed, then two. And suddenly, the flames in the fireplace leapt and snapped. A wind rose up in the cabin and lifted her hair into a tangle of red curls around her head. He saw her skin glow with the sweep of power and felt the air sizzle with the strength of it.
She smiled, a beautiful, full smile, and she gasped in surprise and dropped the quilt. She opened her eyes. Looking down at her blue jeans, white shirt and dark green sweater, she laughed in delight.
“Congratulations,” he said. She was so damn pleased with the ability to conjure clothes, and all he wanted was to get her naked again. He pushed back his own need . .. again. “Go shower. We’ll eat, then figure out what’s next.”
Her smile died fast and Torin almost felt guilty for ruining her pleasure. But better that than get her dead.
When she headed to the bathroom, he took his phone out and made another call.
Chapter 24
Kellyn reveled in the freedom to do and be whatever she wanted. Thank the moon she was out of that hideous internment camp. For a second, she thought about the look of stunned shock on the faces of the two Eternals. Then she smiled and dismissed them for the moment.
She waved a hand at the ATM machine and instantly it spat out hundreds of dollars. She smiled again and tucked the money away in the designer bag she’d helped herself to at the department store inside Union Station. A train station for most of its life, the Beaux Arts building was today something of a national treasure, Kellyn mused.
Once a center for train travel, now the building with the arched ceilings and intricately carved plasterwork and acres of marble flooring was home to an upscale shopping center. Which, Kellyn told herself, was exactly what she had been looking for. After too long in prison drab, she’d needed to see something stylish. A chance to get lost in a well-dressed crowd and entertain herself with the game of using her power to obfuscate herself when she wanted to.
Of course, she could have spelled herself any clothing and accessories she wanted. It was nothing to snap her fingers and materialize a Coach bag or a glorious pair of Prada shoes. But