Page 79 of All My Witches
He wasn’t expecting it, so he rocked back on his heels, instinctively reaching up to touch the spot where she’d struck him. “Whatthe… ?”
“That’s for moving on when you should’ve been pining for me,” Edenannounced.
“Yeah, I’m done here.” Landon’s frustration was so strong it practically slapped me across the face. “We need to endthis.”
“I think you’re going to get your wish,” Nikki said, lifting her hand and pointing toward the cabin. “There sheis.”
I jerked my gaze to where she pointed, my heart leaping at the sight of Aunt Tillie. She stood in a slinky black gown and held what looked to be a large diamond in her hand. She smiled as she scanned faces, evil delight flitting through hereyes.
“I see you’ve come to stop me,” she announced. “I won’t goquietly.”
“Oh, we don’t want you to go quietly,” Thistle snapped. “We want you to scream, yell and cry.” She moved toward Aunt Tillie. “We want you tobeg.”
“Then come and get me.” Aunt Tillie turned and ran, showing a bolt of speed that shouldn’t have been possible given herage.
Thistle moved to give chase, along with Eden, who was quick to follow, but I grabbed Thistle’s arm and held herback.
“What are you doing?” Thistle sputtered. “We have to catchher.”
“That’s nother.”
“Yes, it is. You saw her. She had thediamond.”
“That’s not her.” I looked to Nikki for confirmation. “That’s Marlena Bauer. That’s the most evil corner of thetriangle.”
“How can you be sure?” Landonasked.
“Because that’s Aunt Tillie.” I inclined my chin to the front door, to where the Aunt Tillie we recognized from the real world stepped through the door. She wore camouflage pants, a combat helmet and carried what looked to be a ray gun of somesort.
“That is her,” Landon said, pursing his lips. “She used the other woman as adecoy.”
“So what do we do?” Clove asked. “I mean … do we chaseher?”
“That’s not necessary,” Thistle announced, putting her head down as she headed in Aunt Tillie’s direction. “I’ve gotthis.”
“Wait!”
It was too late. Thistle was determined. She wasn’t about to give up until she had Aunt Tillie in herclutches.
“Should we follow?” Landon asked, deferring tome.
I had no idea how. “I guess so. I mean … I don’t know what else todo.”
So that’s what we did. We chased after Aunt Tillie, who made a big show of running around the cabin while trying not to get too far ahead or make any sudden moves that might allow her to escape. She didn’t drop the ray gun until Thistle launched herself at Aunt Tillie’s diminutiveform.
The two bodies hit with a loud thud. Aunt Tillie was solid, but Thistle was fueled by ultimate rage. Aunt Tillie conveniently landed in a huge pile of snow. Thankfully there was no shark to go with it. When she hit, her breath was knocked out of her lungs and Thistle had an easy time rolling her onto herback.
Thistle straddled Aunt Tillie, holding her arms to the ground and slamming her butt down to keep Aunt Tillie pinned every time our elderly great-aunt tried to buckher.
“Knock it off!” Thistle ordered, her tone authoritative. “It’s time to gohome.”
Aunt Tillie snorted. She didn’t look particularly perturbed about being caught. “Notyet.”
“It’s time,” Thistle said. “We’re done. We don’t want tostay.”
“The story isn’t done yet,” Aunt Tillieargued.
“We caught you before you made snow sharks a reality,” Thistle challenged. “The story isdone.”
