Chapter 63

ASHLEY

“Hold this for me,” my friend Heather said as she started her spell. I took the small bundle of flowers and herbs and held it tightly in my hands. Her hands glowed, a similar shade to the periwinkle she dyed her hair, and I silently wondered if she’d dyed it to match.

“Does this cover all entrances to the cabin?" I'd never had a witch cast a spell for me. Usually, a charm like this would cost hundreds of dollars, she was doing it for free for me, since I basically babysat her kid for free for the two years we were roommates in college.

“It covers all exterior walls,” she explained. “That way nobody can just bust a hole in your home and make a new entrance that hasn’t been protected.”

I nodded, thankful that she’d thought it through so thoroughly. “Are you sure it was a dragon shifter?” she asked.

“Yeah, I watched him fly off after I bear-maced him!”

“I’m sure if you went to the police, they’d be able to get him, there aren’t more than four or five in town,” she offered.

“No, that’s alright, I don’t need the trouble,” I shook my head. “This spell is more than enough. After I sell this place, I’ll get a little apartment in town closer to work.”

“That’s a good plan,” she nodded. “You’re one of the only people alive who I’d come into these woods for.”

“Why? I mean, I know the old tales, but I always figured they were just stories told to scare kids from wandering out and getting lost,” I shrugged.

“Well, there’s that.” She moved to another room and started casting there as well. "But there's also truth to them. You didn't grow up here, so it's different for you, but these woods hold the town hostage in a way. We can't develop out any further because it's physically impossible. Any building work done even a few feet into the woods is destroyed or stopped within a couple of days. Hell, if you wanted to dig a hole in your yard right now, the forest might punish you for it,” she explained.

“But the house is here,” I was confused. “The city has roads through the woods, there are other cabins besides this one.”

“I don’t have all the answers,” she laughed. “Maybe whoever built this place had better intentions than people wanting to prove the forest wrong by developing. Maybe whoever built it was a stronger witch than me,” she added.

My aunt was human … her husband was my father’s brother, but I could have sworn that Aunt Kay was completely human.

“It’s hard to explain these kinds of things,” she shrugged. I believed her.

We walked from room to room slowly, she didn’t let me apologize for the dust in the guest room. “Must have been a huge guy, look at the size of that footprint!” she marveled. She sounded more fascinated than put off and I let it slide. She wasn’t there to see how scary it was.

How dangerous it felt.

Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I followed her dutifully from room to room.

"This is a nice cabin, it's a shame that you have to sell it," she said at the end. I laughed and nodded.

“I know, but even if a spooky dragon wasn’t breaking in, it’d be too far of a drive to the office every morning.”

“What, forty-five minutes from here to Doctor Saffitz?”

“Yeah, but in town, it was only a five-minute walk,” I shrugged, “maybe I was spoiled.”

“Maybe,” she smiled and rolled her eyes. “But, the view here is incredible. Do you need any other hexes or spells done?”

“Do you know any spells that'll get internet out here?"

“Oh, haha,” she shook her head. “Really, though, if you need anything, my house is only twenty minutes from here, just let me know.”

“Thanks,” I nodded. It was good to know I could rely on someone.

She turned, leading me to the door, but froze a couple of steps from it.

“Are you sure that you just pepper-sprayed him? You didn’t hit him with a vase or anything?” she sounded nervous.

“What? Why?”

“There’s blood out there, and a lot of energy just at the end of your driveway,” she murmured. I wasn’t sure how she could sense it, but I took a deep breath to see if I could figure it out.

Matt.

I could smell his scent crystal clear, as though he was standing next to me.

The scent of blood hung to it thickly, God, Matt was bleeding! Grabbing the first aid kit from under the kitchen sink, I rushed past her.

“THE ENERGY IS MOVING AWAY NOW … What is it?” she reached out to stop me as I opened the door.

“It’s Matt, he’s hurt!” I gasped as I ran.

I almost fell down the stairs when I saw him at the end of my driveway. He was bloody, his motorcycle was on its side like he hardly had enough strength to hold it and park it. My legs flew under me so quickly it was as though I’d shifted, even though I was still in my human form.

Distantly, I could hear Heather running after me as I reached him. Please be alive! Oh, my God please be alive!

It was barely nightfall and the forest was beginning to loom dark and heavy around us as the sky turned from pinkish-orange to a deep velvety black.

I fell to his side, undoubtedly bruising my knees as I rushed to check his wounds.

He was breathing.

I let out a sigh of relief as I gingerly lifted his arm to look at his torso. Three deep slashes and one shorter one went from his shoulder to right above the bottom of his ribcage. They didn’t hit bone. He was so damn lucky. If this had been lower, if it had been his gut, there’s no way he would have survived. There was a bite into his left shoulder, it almost looked human, like the dragon had shifted while biting him.

This was a lot more than my first aid kit was going to do in the driveway.

“Is he okay?”

Heather kept her distance. She sounded squeamish, almost sick. “He’ll be okay, let’s get him in.” I motioned to my cabin. “Shouldn’t we take him to the hospital?”

“Not if that dragon is still around, we’ll be an open target,” I shook my head. “Let’s get him inside where it’s safe.”

She nodded.

I hoped to God that her protection spell was actually working.

The night was restless, Heather specialized in protective and secret- keeping spells, but not in medical or healing magic. I’m a nurse, but that didn’t mean much in a non-sterile environment like that cabin. I was able to stitch Matt up after she worked hard to make sure there was no infection possible.

He’d have some telltale scars, but even witches couldn’t avoid those unless you paid an extremely high amount. They’d have to turn back time on the wounds to do that.

The bite mark was the worst part, not just one simple slash, but dozens of small ones.

I cleaned and sewed as I went, working as quickly and as well as I could.

Neither Heather nor I could keep our eyes off the door.

It was hard to tell if her spell worked or if the dragon was worse off than Matt. We’d have to wait for him to wake up to tell us how the fight ended. He was alive, fast enough to get away and smart enough to come to me instead of trying to amble his way to a hospital. There’s no way he would have made it on time.

His body was drenched in sweat from stress and fatigue, and I wiped it away with a soft, cool cloth.

I was still mad at him, still hurt that he dumped me and left me out here.

He was the love of my life since the first time we met, and even if he didn’t love me anymore, it didn’t matter. I couldn’t hate him.