Page 100 of Mystery in the Mountains

But then smoke spewed out of her engine.

Pulling over, she hit her hands against the steering wheel. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

She lifted the hood and looked at it. She’d taught herself some maintenance over the past few years. The smoke wafted off the engine as she fanned it away with her hands. Between this and the dim twilight, she couldn’t see what was going on. In the past, she just would have slept in her van until she could wake up and figure it all out. A large part of her was worried Asher would go into a panic if she didn’t make it home that night. But even if she left her car here, she didn’t think she’d be able to make it there by foot until after midnight.

“Fuck!” she yelled as she looked up into the sky where the light of the nights first star shone.

A few minutes later, a little blue car pulled up behind her. Maybe they would give her a lift to the closest gas station so she could call Asher. But when she looked, it was hard to see who was getting out of the car until she could see his . . . red eyes.

Her heart started pounding away in her chest.

“Hi, I’m Nox. I thought I recognized your van. Sunny, am I right?”

She nodded, her words still stuck in her throat.

“What seems to be the problem?” he asked, walking up to her.

“Umm . . . I don’t know.”

Why is he here? What had he been doing at the witchcraft store?

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

Sunny was a whirlwind of emotions. Everyone she knew thought he was a nice guy, but nice guys could be serial killers, too. Maybe he was just there, trying to lure her back. But it wasn’t his fault her van broke down. Maybe he was just trying to help. If only she’d taken the time to tell Asher where she was going.

“I’m afraid I’m not much help with car repair, but I can take you back to Hecate’s Hollow.”

Furrowing her brow, she took him in. “Why were you in Charleston?”

“Oh, umm. I wanted to stop by the music store. I was picking up some sheet music for my class.”

She evaluated him, waiting for him to say anything about the witchcraft store.

“Is that the only reason?”

With a careful glance, he scrunched his brows. “Why do you ask?”

“Ya know what . . . forget it. I’m sure Asher will be here shortly.”

“You’re close with the Blacks?”

“Very close. They would notice if anything happened to me.”

His head snapped back, and his hands came up in a defensive gesture. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just recognized your van, and I thought you might need help.”

She evaluated him, and something in her wanted to believe him . . . but those eyes.

“Sunny, I mean it. I’m not going to hurt you. I can either give you a ride to town, or I can just go to town and tell Asher what’s happening. It’s your call. I’m just trying to help.”

She nodded, and she did believe him, but there was something she was missing.

“What were you doing at the witchcraft store?”

Cocking his head, he closed his eyes and shook his head. “I know the owner. I was bringing her something.”

“What were you bringing her?”

“Moonshine.”

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