Page 45 of Mystery in the Mountains

“And she’s a witch?”

He nodded. “She’s a white witch. And when she came to stay with Abe, she was on the run from a warlock.”

“I remember her mentioning that. I didn’t even think warlocks were a thing anymore!” Sunny exclaimed.

She’d heard stories of warlocks from Asher’s mother, but she had never seen one or even heard of one. That wasn’t great. Warlocks fed off the magic of witches.

“And to make matters worse, before Abe gave him over to the woods, he was ranting about the warlocks and the witch hunters joining forces.”

“Wow,” said Sunny. “And now there’s a coven again?”

She was speechless. It wasn’t often she found herself like this.

Between warlocks and witch hunters, most witches had been driven into secrecy. Nowadays, people believe witchcraft to be hokey, few knowing of the actual practices.

Asher just nodded with a pensive-looking draw of his dark features.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I’m not sure, but whenever Bridget gets ominous like that . . . it’s never anything good.”

But before that thought could spiral, they came to the meadow where they had spent so much time.

The sun cast a golden glow on the little yellow flowers. Stopping, she took it all in and gave a contented sigh.

Asher rest his hand on the small of her back. The gentle touch here in the magic of the mountain sent a spark of energy up her spine.

“What is it?” he asked, gazing down at her.

“I’m just happy to be back in this spot with you . . . We’ve had a lot of good times here.”

Heat flitted across his face as he cocked an eyebrow, smiling down at her. “Some real good times.” He chuckled.

She couldn’t help the laugh bubbling up inside of her. This was one of the rare moments since she’d returned that things felt like they used to. In this moment, she had the old Asher back.

She set down the picnic basket. After opening it, she picked up the plaid blanket and flicked it across the grass.

Asher fixed the corner before sitting.

A nervous, giddy feeling Sunny hadn’t felt since she was a kid fell over her as she sat next to Asher. From their first kiss to the first time he took her under the full moon, memories washed over her.

She opened the basket, pulled out a thermos of lemonade, and poured them each a glass before setting out two turkey sandwiches, a bag of sour cream and onion chips, and marshmallow treats.

“Wow, Sunny, this looks great.”

“It looks fine, but I’m just happy to be with you.”

He took a long drink from his lemonade, and his throat bobbed.

It undid her. How was it that someone who she had known her entire life and had seen naked more times than she could count could make her feel this way?

As they ate, Asher cocked his head to the side as if listening for something.

Then the branches of the ancient oak tree next to them swayed.

The only thing was . . . there was no breeze.

The tree line started swaying, too. While she was used to the forest covering this mountain to behave in peculiar ways, she’d never seen anything like this.

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