Page 68 of Last Witch Attempt
He looked pained. “Why?”
I shrugged. “It’s something that needs to be done.”
“You were just out there yesterday.”
“I feel I missed something.” I sent him a rueful smile. “About this morning…”
“Bay, you don’t have to apologize for wanting to protect the others. I’m right there with you. This is an experiment. We might be able to put together a fearsome monster-fighting team with endless government funds to fuel us.”
“It’s also possible this will blow up in our faces,” I finished.
He brushed his thumb over my cheek. “Be careful with Evan. Keep me updated.” He hesitated. “I have to ask you something, and I’m really uncomfortable about it.”
“You don’t have to be afraid to ask me anything. Ever.”
He exhaled heavily. “It’s Millie. I hate thinking about her as a separate entity, but I don’t see that we have a choice. She showed up right before the bodies were found.” He gripped his hands together in front of him and sent me an imploring look. “Did she kill them?”
I’d already considered that possibility and immediately ruled it out. “There’s no way she had the time. And what would be the point? What would she get out of it?”
“What is she getting out of any of this?”
“I think she just wants freedom.”
“What is she?”
“I think she’s a figment, or close to it. She might be her own thing.”
“What’s a figment again?”
“A figment can be almost anything. They spring up, seemingly out of nowhere, when one’s imagination is big enough. Then they start doing their own thing.”
“And you think Aunt Tillie’s imagination was so big that she created a second version of herself?”
“Aunt Tillie unleashed Millie to do something specific.” I’d been thinking about this a lot too. “She let her out, something happened, and then she put the genie back in the bottle.”
“Then why is she out now?”
“I think Aunt Tillie used too much magic with Mrs. Little. Whether she was showing off or it just got away from her, I can’t say. Millie is a problem, and Aunt Tillie knows it. She’s afraid.”
“Because she thinks Millie is going to kill people and string them up in the woods?” He obviously couldn’t get over that possibility. I didn’t blame him.
“Millie didn’t do that,” I assured him. “We’re dealing with something else.”
He exhaled heavily, relieved. “I was just checking. I didn’t want to believe it was her.”
“She didn’t have time.”
“Okay.” He smiled.
“That doesn’t mean Millie isn’t a problem,” I cautioned him. “She could cause a lot of trouble … and she’d do it while wearing Aunt Tillie’s face.”
“Which means we might have to start covering for her,” Landon realized. “We can’t explain how there are two Aunt Tillies to Steve.”
Just imagining that gave me the heebie-jeebies. “We’re going to have to figure it out, and we don’t have much time. Once I finish in the woods, I’m going looking for Millie.”
“What can you do if you find her?”
That was the question. “I have no idea. I have to find her first. We haven’t confirmed she actually exists. So far, the only thing we have to go on is my dream.”
