Page 55 of Handcuffs and Hexes

I focused on my task instead, making sure no one got too close to the hole in the ground, even as The Breach started to shrink.

And itwasstarting to shrink.

The Breach, or whatever was behind it, must have known what was happening because suddenly, it tried to reach out, expanding its swirling mass toward the dark-haired woman who was leading the chanting. But she was unreachable, so it tried to reach anyone it could. Again, unsuccessful.

Eventually, we were able to see the actual sinkhole behind the portal. Now, the half-dozen dump trucks filled with gravel came into play. They emptied their loads, filling in the void. Then, the nerdiest-looking dude I’d ever seen in my life went around with a laser tool, measuring everything and making calculations. Calculations done, he drew a red line with spray paint, and all the spell casters stepped up to the red line, closing the circle.

It was working!

But it was too early to celebrate because not long after the dust of the gravel had settled, we lost one of our male spellcasters. The middle-aged man suddenly stopped chanting and started walking past the red line.

He was in our section and one of the K9 units noticed him out of place before either Mike or I did. Zeus shot forward, grabbing the guy by the pants and pulling him back just enough for Mike and I to do the rest.

“Good boy, Zeus,” I said, giving the dog a quick pat on the haunches.

We’d never taught him that, so he must’ve picked up the fact that going past the line was no good just by watching. Smart animal.

But the recently saved man would not listen to reason; whatever promises The Breach offered was sweeter. It reminded me of how Seth had refused to talk about the things it had promised after saying it had no business offering such things. And then there were the nightmares that had been waking him up since. I sure hoped he got enough rest before this fight.

I forced myself to focus on the problem at hand, and Mike helped me haul the man to a safe area, but the man turned his magic on us instead, and we went flying.

Ouch! My first thought was: here we go again.

Magic and I really had to stop meeting this way. Even with the shields we all had against magic, it hurt.

But one of the Redrock brothers came to the rescue. The massive gargoyle swooped down, picked him up, and got him to the quarantine area, which was held by a team of volunteer wizards. They might not be able to affect The Breach, but they could keep those affected safe, especially with the help of the local wolf shifter pack.

“You okay?”

I took Tommy’s offered hand. “I’m fine. That was nothing like the last one.” This guy had not thrown everything he had at me.

Tommy gave me a pat on the back, then went to give Zeus some praise.

We lost several more male witches, but The Breach was continuing to shrink, albeit slowly.

Then I felt it, an odd feeling of being watched. I turned around, expecting to find someone behind me, but found nothing. Strange. I tried to ignore it but remembered the shadowy forms that had come for me that day at the park. Goosebumps crawled up my arm, forcing me to look around again, but again, there was nothing. There were no shadows. Nothing.

“Do you feel that?” I asked when Mike sent me a quizzical look.

He looked as well but shook his head.

“I must be imagining it.” I forced my attention back to The Breach.

I kept getting that feeling, but nothing came out of the shadows to attack me.

Meanwhile, those focused on the spell continued to make leeway. We’d even had another round of gravel and a new set of red spray paint marks before our luck ended.

Chapter 27

Liam

Ihatedwatchingandnot being able to help. But sometimes, that was just the way it was. Seth kept looking in my direction, but couldn’t quite see me since he was channeling his magic elsewhere and couldn’t use it to see through my disguise.

And what was my disguise exactly? A K9. That was right; I’d lured off a police dog named Zeus just so I could get close to Hazel. Whoever started the rumor online that police dogs werebred not to be tempted by food had clearly not tried an entire pepperoni pizza.

I thought I’d given myself away when I went to grab the idiot who tried to walk past the line, but everyone had just taken it in stride. And then Hazel touched me, and I thought she’d figure it out for sure. But that little pat on the butt wasn’t enough for that. It was nice, though. What wasn’t so nice was being told I was a good boy by Tommy Newman.

Yuck. It was so wrong.

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