Page 123 of Dream Weaver

COOPER

Abby’s hands were in a knot as I sped through the night. Clouds swirled over us, and lightning cracked ahead.

“Where’s the ranch?” I asked.

Abby pointed to the lightning. “Right there.”

I sucked in a deep breath. Claire was stuck inthat?

According to Abby. Mike, the stepfather, was there too, along with the rest of the family. But that wasn’t much comfort.

“I think you were right about option three — the one about Liselle not working alone.”

Abby nodded. “The question is, who else is it?”

Orwhat, I wondered. What kind of supernatural could kick up a storm like the one raging ahead?

Thunder cracked and lightning sizzled, illuminating the same spot again and again.

Abby tried her phone, then cursed and went back to fidgeting.

I rolled down the window, sniffing the wind. Then I rolled it up again, wishing for my bear pelt instead of bare human skin. I’d been packed to leave town, so I’d pulled on a spare pair of jeans before leaving the metal shop, but I hadn’t had time to button the shirt I’d grabbed.

“There. Turn right.” Abby pointed once we were a few miles down the road.

My pickup creaked over the dirt road, but I still drove at breakneck speed. The sooner we got to Claire, the better.

“That brazier…” Abby started haltingly. “I only made it because Liselle threatened to burn the whole town down.”

I grimaced, thinking of Peter and the Clark Canyon fire.

Maybe the guy got what he deserved,Lisa — Liselle? — had had the nerve to say.

I grimaced. If that witch weren’t already dead, I would have turned around to kill her.

“I did have a backup plan,” Abby went on nervously.

I looked at her. Did she think she was to blame?

“You did the right thing,” I said. “And it worked, right? I mean, having it backfire on her the second time.”

Backfire — literally,my bear grumbled bitterly.

Abby nodded but remained hunched. I yearned to reassure her, but with the vehicle jerking around in fierce gusts of wind, I had to focus on steering.

And, damn. If the storm was this severe here, how bad was it at the ranch?

The wind howled, flattening trees and kicking up dust — so much, I could barely see a few car lengths ahead. But that didn’t account for the total absence of a road in the spot Abby indicated for me to turn into.

“Here?” I checked, seeing only bushes and dirt.

“Trust me. Turn here.”

I did, slowing to a crawl. To my surprise, the tires rolled smoothly — or as smoothly as they would on dirt — and a road gradually appeared out of the haze.

“The entrance is spelled,” Abby explained, fidgeting even more.

My skin crawled a little. Bears and magic…not a natural mix.

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