A Little Wicked (The Bewitching Hour Book #4)(43)

“Fine,” said Angela. “Then we’ll go magic-free. Pierce and I can go to the precinct and put out an APB on Abigail. We’ll have it so it’s sighting-based. Anyone who sees Abigail will call us and we’ll know where she is. Since she has a history with the department, she’s going to be recognizable. And she’s worried about Claudia and Claire; she’s not going to worry about cops.”

“Okay. We’ll go to the station and—”

“No,” said Dante.

“What?”

“I’m going to look for Claire. I’m not going to let her go off and sacrifice herself.”

“Sam, go with Dante,” said Derek. “I’ll take care of cop stuff—you do witch stuff.”

Sam opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She didn’t want to leave Derek for even a second. Not with so many things in motion. But if she did go with him... what was she going to do? She couldn’t help him set up an APB. “Dante should go with you,” she said weakly. “If anyone needs coercing—”

“No one needs their mind controlled,” snapped Angela. “We don’t need Dante for this.”

“Then it’s settled,” said Derek. “We all have phones, so we’ll be in contact.” He looked to Dante. “Don’t stop trying to call Claire. If she’s ignoring us, she wants to talk. We just have to wear her down.”

Dante nodded as he pulled away from the circle. All of a sudden, the noises of the city came back. Even the mostly silent night seemed almost deafening compared to what they just had.

Sam looked around them but didn’t see anyone nearby. She would’ve felt better if she’d seen Phillip standing there. Because she knew he wouldn’t have let them just walk away without trying to keep tabs on them. It was unnerving to know you were being watched but have no idea how.

“Come on.” Dante started down the street in the opposite direction from the police precinct.

Sam wanted to say a solid good-bye to Derek, but Dante was moving too fast. All she could do was give him one last wistful look before she followed Dante down the street.





Claire was about to give up on trying to remain calm. She’d been sitting here for hours and there hadn’t been a sighting from Claudia. She was willing to do whatever it took to bring down Abigail, but this waiting was crazy.

It didn’t help that her phone had been ringing off the hook. Obviously her friends had realized she was gone. Even though she’d turned off the ringer, she couldn’t help checking it constantly to torture herself. Was she really never going to talk to them again?

Just as she was starting to become tempted to answer the next call that came in, Claudia appeared right in front of her. Claire jumped back in her seat on the couch and her phone tumbled to the ground.

Claudia eyed the phone skeptically but didn’t mention it. “I’ve found Abigail. Are you ready?”

Claire decided against telling Claudia what a stupid question that was. Of course she wasn’t ready to take on Abigail and probably die in the process. Instead, she stood, picking up her phone, and closed her eyes, trying to find whatever peace she could. “Let’s get this over with.”

Before she opened her eyes, she felt Claudia’s cold hand on her arm and the world seemed to tilt on its axis. Claire winced at the unnatural feeling, and when her lids opened, they stood outside on a street she didn’t recognize. From the modern style of the buildings around them, she was going to guess they were in the Upper East Side.

She had barely gotten her equilibrium back when Claudia pulled her to the side until they were in the shadows of a building. Claudia was tense and her eyes darted along the cars parked along the street. It was a dark, deserted time of night when almost no one was out, but Claire was betting that soon rush hour would completely change that.

“Where’s Abigail?” Claire looked around, trying to find any sign of Sam’s mother or any other witchy activity, for that matter.

“Close,” said Claudia, not turning her attention back to Claire. The fact that Claudia was tense had Claire close to terrified.

“So what’s the plan, Stan?”

That got Claudia’s attention and she turned her stern gaze on Claire. “Don’t call me Stan.”

“I....” Whatever. She didn’t have to apologize for trying to defuse the tense situation with humor, no matter how stupid.

“Abigail will be leaving soon. Then you’ll have to do what you do best. If the darkness realizes you’re here, you’ll never make it there in time. The element of surprise is the only advantage we have.”

The words were in the calm, cool, powerful voice Claudia always spoke with, but the tension throughout her entire body was more than obvious. She was nervous and that was damn terrifying.

Though what did Claire have to be afraid of at this point? She was going to be out of the picture soon enough. She leaned back and let Claudia continue to be on the lookout. Almost subconsciously, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and stared at the little blinking light.

She didn’t have time or the emotional capacity to make a call to explain herself. Instead, she went to the text messages and, refusing to read any of the many she’d received from Dante, Sam, and Derek, she opened up Sam’s information. She felt the need to say something, but nothing was enough. So she wrote a quick “I’m sorry” before she powered down the phone and put it back into her pocket.