Page 114 of Last Witch Attempt
I considered it for several seconds. “He might’ve come here looking for the door and stumbled across the naiads.” My mind was going a mile a minute. “The naiads might’ve been in his way. If they chased him off, he may have decided to remove that option.”
A sense of dread rolled into a ball and settled in my stomach. “That’s what happened. He probably pitched the idea of the resort to the higher-ups in the first place. I bet, if we track the correspondence, he’s at the center of it.”
“To what end?” Millie pressed. “Why not just open the door and go through?”
“Because he can’t,” was my simple response. “He can’t get the door open. Neither can the naiads. He thought he would have a better shot than they do, but he couldn’t open it.
“Then they became a threat he needed to wipe out because they would stop at nothing to make sure he didn’t gain access to the other side,” I continued. I was talking to myself now, working it out. “He started weaving his magic on the workers to create a net. When the naiads finally showed themselves as the construction equipment came in, he was ready. He tightened the net.”
“And caused them to turn into animals to kill the naiads for him,” Millie guessed.
I nodded. “He miscalculated. One of the naiads was injured but escaped. Now she’s on a killing frenzy and taking out his soldiers. He needs us to take out the naiad so he can focus on the plane door.”
Millie’s lips were a firm, tight line. “How are you going to fix it?”
“I can’t do it with my hands tied behind my back.”
She frowned. “If I let you go, he’ll know that I turned against him.”
“You fear him,” I said. That was another way she differed from Aunt Tillie. Sure, Aunt Tillie felt fear, but she never let it control her. “You have a decision to make, Millie.”
Her eyes jerked up. “What can I do?” she asked, her voice a soft rasp.
“You can either side with us or him.” There was no give to my tone. “If you side with us and help me make sure that naiad doesn’t die, I promise you can go through the door with her when it opens.”
“What makes you think you can open that door?”
I had to hold back a laugh. “I have a friend who can.”
“The pixie witch,” Millie realized. “She can open plane doors. Of course.” Excitement rippled around her. “That’s how you plan on getting us across.”
“That door will not open until the warlock is contained, though. I refuse to run the risk of him getting through.”
“I can’t go up against him,” Millie countered. “He’s evil.”
Her fear irritated me. I kept expecting her to act like Aunt Tillie. When Aunt Tillie secured her in the box, Millie had only been able to watch us from a distance. She wasn’t part of it, which meant that she didn’t feel what we felt as we were going through it. For her, it was like watching a television show.
“It’s because he’s evil that I have to end him,” I replied. “You have to let me go so I can do it.”
Millie shook her head. “He’ll know it was me.”
I was done waiting for her to get with the program. I gave the ropes holding my hands a final tug and they sprang free. I brought my hands around to my front and rubbed at the spots that had been chafed raw as I worked at the ropes.
“Then stand back,” I said. “I don’t need your help. Just don’t get in my way.”
Millie’s eyes went wide. “You can’t take him on yourself. You’ll fail.”
I laughed. “Even if that was true, I would still go after him. Do you really think they’ve been sitting around at The Overlook wringing their hands and crying?”
Understanding glinted in her eyes.
“If they’re not here already, they will be shortly,” I confirmed. “They’re coming … and one little megalomaniacal warlock won’t get in their way.” I stood, my muscles protesting. “Make up your mind. If you’re with us, then help. If you’re not, don’t you dare stand in my way.”
“What are you going to do?” Millie demanded as I started marching toward the woods.
“End this.”
“Then you might want to go that way.” She pointed in the opposite direction. “That’s where he headed.”
