The Whimsy Witch Who Wasn't - Donna Augustine Page 0,53

violence and I hadn’t noticed it?

I looked to the floor and kept my gaze there so I’d stop looking at his face, my skin burning, afraid he’d read these thoughts too. I had no business being curious about him in that way. None. Now I needed to convince my libido of that as well.

“Tippi, what did you do?” He lifted my chin, making it impossible to look anywhere else.

I shrugged. “I mean, I might’ve sent some correspondence.” This way, as I blushed, which I feared from the heat might’ve been happening, he’d think it was from guilt. That was much better than the truth.

“Correspondence that went off in the middle of the center, demanding Rabbit’s immediate presence in the shop or else?” he asked.

I licked my lips as I thought about how to answer that. When I’d scribbled my message, I didn’t think everyone would hear it. That wasn’t the way it typically worked, from my understanding. I thought it would appear in Marvin’s office and prompt him to send Rabbit here.

Now Hawk was staring at my lips, probably because I was biting the lower one as I tried to figure out what to say.

“I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a thing.” My skin was flushed even worse, and this time it was definitely from some measure of guilt.

His hand grazed my leg. Did he know we were touching? I wished I wasn’t so aware. Made it damned hard to concentrate on my latest screw-up.

“You don’t understand. I was in a shop off the center when it went off. Word is going to spread that it wasn’t me who set it. No one else that works here is strong enough to send out a newsflash that large. You didn’t just send a message that you wanted Rabbit to come. You sent a message to everyone in Xest that you have massive amounts of power. The ramifications of what you did are going to be widespread. It’s going to have implications even after you return to Rest.”

His arms were outstretched on either side of me as he dipped his head.

“It can’t be that bad, right?” I said, resisting the urge to run my fingers through his hair. I still wasn’t sure what had gone so wrong for him to look this frustrated, but I had to grip the wood of the table to stop from touching him.

“It’s done. We’ll handle the ramifications.” He straightened and then stepped away from me. He ran his hands through his hair as he came to terms with my latest screw-up.

It was probably a little late to ask now, but his words were really sinking in. I crossed my ankles, swinging them to and fro. The deeper his words sank, the faster my legs swung. “What kind of ramifications are we talking about, exactly?”

“Hard to say, but you’re not going to be able to go back to Salem. You’ll have to go somewhere else. Too many people are catching on to what you might be. A Whimsy witch disappearing wouldn’t cause much notice. After the shop incidents, it was bad, but nothing concrete. Now, you might as well have sent out a memo to everyone in Xest stating you’re anything but a Whimsy witch. They’ll never leave you alone.”

My swinging legs came to a complete halt as I gripped the table so hard that it should’ve splintered. “I can’t go back to Salem?”

“You’ll have to go somewhere no one knows about.”

“I don’t understand. Who would bother me? I have zero idea what I’m doing. Everything I touch goes wrong.”

There was almost a look of pity on his face at my ignorance. “You were dragged here when they thought you could do almost nothing. You think now that they know you have real power, they’ll let you go?”

“You mean Marvin?”

“No. Marvin is nothing. There are others I’m worried about—but you’ll find out soon enough.”

“You mean that Raydam person?” I jumped off the table. This was definitely a standing conversation. From the sounds of it, it might even progress into a pacing one. Hopefully we wouldn’t get as far as a “screaming and running for my life” talk, but it was within the realm of what I was hearing.

“He’s only the beginning of the problems you stirred up with your latest decision.”

There was a flash of movement right before Rabbit came charging into the office. She had a bag slung over her shoulder and a big smile on her face. At least with