Page 71 of Witch Unexpected
Coffee was served, and The Elites still hadn’t shown. Had they left without me?
“Bramble…” I flicked a glance at the big girl table.
She sighed. “Yeah, I know. Give me a second.”
She stood with a scrape of her chair and sauntered over to a nearby table to speak to the redhead who’d waved to me earlier in the day.
She returned a moment later. “They’re in the atrium,” she said.
“Okay, so let’s go get them.”
“We can’t. The atrium is off-limits to everyone but The Elites. It’s their personal training ground.”
“Then we wait outside until they show.”
She shrugged. “Sure, we can do that.”
I went to pick up Wren only to find him slumped in his seat, eyes half-closed. Shit.
“Wren? Hey, can you hear me?”
“Wren sleepy.”
“Food comas are an actual thing,” Bramble said with a chuckle. “The little fecker can sure put it away.” She said it affectionately with an actual smile on her face. “Look at his tummy.”
Yep, it was distended and round, making me want to pick him up and squish him. But squishing him probably wasn’t a good idea because what went in would need to come out eventually. Why rush the process?
He needed bed. “I’ll have to take him back to my room.”
“If I may.” A ghostly maid appeared behind Wren. “Dottie has instructed us to take care of the little mite. I could take him back to your room if you like?”
“Sleeepy,” Wren said again. His eyes rolled upward to look at the ghost. “Patricia… Hello.”
The ghost smiled warmly at Wren. “Hello, little one.”
Having her get him to bed would save time. “Thanks. That would be really helpful.”
Patricia picked Wren up and headed out of the room. She was so ethereal it looked like he was levitating.
We followed a moment later, and a thought occurred to me. “Can the ghosts here walk through walls with an object or a live person?”
“Huh?” Bramble blinked at me. “I thought you were a Magiguard. Shouldn’t you know this shit?”
We stepped out into the night air. “I thought I did, but then I saw Dottie take Wren through a wall with her.”
“Feck.” Bramble looked thoughtful. “Maybe the elder witch ghosts are special. I dunno. Regular ghosts can’t do that shit.”
Our boots crunched on the gravel as we walked across the drive and past the fountain. “Yeah, I know. Not all ghosts can influence matter around them either, not without drawing energy from the living.”
“Grimswood is a hotspot of power, though,” Bramble said. “The ghosts that live here have access to it.”
“Like a convergence of ley lines?” I grinned. “Yeah, Anna mentioned that. I should have thought of it.”
“It’s a lot to take in, trust me. I’ve lived here all my life, and I still struggle understanding how it all works.”
We were on a gravel path bordered by trees that blocked out the starlight. Shadows stretched out before us, waiting to be trampled on.
“How far is this atrium?”
