Page 94 of Last Witch Attempt
“Maybe I’m smarter than her.”
I snorted. “You’re not.”
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” This time Millie sat at the head of the table. She glanced around. “What’s for dinner?”
Did she really think we were going to allow her to have dinner with us knowing that Aunt Tillie was out there somewhere, likely in danger. Before I could tell her where to stick her dinner, the room started to vibrate.
The swinging door flew open. Magic rushed into the room, flowing around us like a golden wind. Aunt Tillie was right behind it.
Her hair was wild, her nostrils flaring. Her chest heaved as she sucked in a deep breath and glared at Millie. “Honey, I’m home,” she drawled.
Millie’s eyes went wide. “How…?”
A smile took over my face. “I believe this is the part of the conversation where I say ‘I told you so,’” I said.
Aunt Tillie extended her hand, conjured a ball of magic, and let it loose in Millie’s direction.
23
TWENTY-THREE
Imanaged to capture Aunt Tillie’s first attempt. It took a lot of effort to contain it. Her second shot knocked one of Mom’s favorite teapots off the shelf, and that’s when things got ugly.
“Stop it right now!” Mom exploded, her hair whipping back from her face like a scene fromFirestarter. “Don’t make me lock both of you up!”
Millie ignored Mom and threw a zinger in Aunt Tillie’s direction. Despite her age, Aunt Tillie easily dodged it. Twila was not so lucky.
She went ramrod straight, a scream frozen on her lips, and then fell backward. Chief Terry caught Twila before she could hit her head. I scrambled to get to the far end of the room, where Millie was gearing up for another attack, but I tripped over Steve, who was crawling under the table.
I swore under my breath as I made it around him, but by the time I got to my destination Millie had made it to the door that led to the hallway. She would escape if she got through.
Aunt Tillie had figured that out too, and she conjured a huge ball of destruction.
“No!” I stepped in front of her just as she released the magic. I was lifted four feet off the floor. I put my hands over my head to shield it from the ceiling.
“Bay!” Landon yelled. He hadn’t taken refuge like Steve. He was still grappling with the fighting Aunt Tillies. Warm hands gripped my thigh and I knew they belonged to him. “Do something!” he shrieked at Aunt Tillie.
“It’s her fault for getting in the way,” Aunt Tillie fired back.
“Get her down right now!” Landon shouted.
“Oh, geez, you’re such a kvetch.” Aunt Tillie reversed the spell. She didn’t bother to cushion my landing, however. I dropped like a rock directly on Landon.
“Oomph.” He did his best to absorb the blow but we both hit the floor hard enough to knock the breath out of us.
I recovered before he did. “Are you okay?” I patted his neck and arms. “You didn’t break anything?”
“Just my pride,” he gritted out, groaning as he shifted to look at the doorway that led to the hall.
Millie was gone.
Aunt Tillie pushed past Mom in an effort to reach the hallway, causing my mother to fly over the nearest chair. Chief Terry, who had placed Twila under the table—she was still frozen—lurched to catch Mom.
There was no stopping Aunt Tillie. She was going to chase Millie outside and put herself in danger, again. She was going to explode everything in her way. Thankfully, she didn’t get a chance, because Evan stepped in front of her and grabbed her shirt so she couldn’t get past him.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” he asked, looking around the room.
“Millie,” Aunt Tillie growled. She tried to overpower Evan with sheer force of will, but he was too strong. “Let me go!”
