Page 96 of Mystery in the Mountains

The bell dinged, which made him search for Sunny, but it was just Dusty. After a couple minutes, Betty made her way over to the table.

“Asher, Sunny told me to tell you she had to go.”

His heart dropped.

“She had to go? What do you mean she had to go?”

“Oh, honey, not like that,” she said, putting her hand on his. “She just had to do something.”

“What did she have to do?”

“Well, she didn’t say.”

“Then, how do you know she’s not gone?”

“Because she said she would never leave like that again, and I’m choosing to trust her . . . Plus, she left quickly like she forgot something. Try her house.”

Asher nodded and stood to leave. He made his way to his truck, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever was about to happen wasn’t good.

She promised him she wouldn’t leave.

She promised, and he had to believe her.

Still, he made his way to her house to wait for her there.

Chapter

Thirty-One

SUNNY

Sunny got in her van and started down the highway to Charleston. The unfolded piece of paper sat on the seat next to her. The address seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place why.

The address was for a shop in downtown. She would swear she’d been there before, but she couldn’t place it. She rolled down her window and turned up the radio. Being in one place for a month was almost novel to her after spending the last couple of years traveling.

It was nice to be out on the road on a sunny day with the wind in her hair again.

Yet, with as much as she enjoyed that, it did remind her of Asher.

Yes, being out on the road was nice, but it would be even better when she returned to Asher . . . in her bed. A smile crept on her face at the thought of that.

She came to a sign that read Charleston 40 miles.

Glancing down at the clock on her radio, she realized it was almost 11:15. With the wind in her hair, she sang with the radio until she got into town.

When she got in town, she stopped at a pay phone. First things first, she called the workshop to see if Asher and Abe were still there. She deposited her quarter and dialed, only for a polite voice telling her to insert the correct amount of change.

Dammit. Not again. I should have called before I left town.

If she hadn’t been so keen to figure out what was up with Nox, she would have. Reaching deep into the bottom of her purse, she felt for more change, only to come up empty-handed.

She picked up the phone book and flipped to the back section with maps of the city. After searching for the street, she realized she was right. It was where she thought it was.

But she couldn’t remember what was there, just that she’d been there before. It was right next to a park her mom had taken her to.

She got back in her van and started on her way. As she found the street and glanced at the building numbers, she noticed things looked familiar. The park her mother had taken to her was on the right, when she had a fuzzy memory of her mom laying out a picnic blanket. Why had they been here?

Then she saw it. Sun & Moon Herb Shoppe. She checked the address. That was it. Why was he coming to a witchcraft store?

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