Winter Fire (The Witchling #3)(86)

She accepted the phone, panic in her stomach.

“One last thing.”

She looked up, hoping he didn’t tell her that her friends were dead or worse. Expecting bad news, she wasn’t prepared for what Noah did next.

He kissed her. Biji froze. It was a quick, warm, gentle kiss.

When Biji opened her eyes, he was gone, racing down the driveway to beat the SUV. She stared after him, stunned. It warmed her in a way the fire hadn’t: from the inside out.

Her first kiss.

With Dawn’s brother.

Biji stood motionless for a long moment, awed by the circumstances and sensations.

The sound of the truck inching down the road brought her back to her senses. She shook off the spell Noah put on her and began to struggle through the snow and forest.

Summer and Morgan first. Then, she’d tell Noah exactly what she thought of him kissing her like that.





Chapter Twenty-Three


Beck stopped his snowmobile as he drew abreast of Decker’s. His twin hadn’t waited; he was disappearing through the doorway of the first resort, where Beck had found Tanya a few weeks before. Beck killed the engine of his vehicle and launched off it, dashing after Decker. Connor was close at his heels. The snow fell hard enough that Beck wasn’t able to see the trees outside the windows of the resort.

Aware of the condition of the deteriorating resorts, he slowed.

“Decker!” he hissed.

“Second floor,” his twin responded from somewhere in the dark.

“I didn’t see any car tracks,” Connor said anxiously.

“They’d be filled with snow by now anyway,” Beck replied. He took a minute for his eyes to adjust then started down a hallway littered with holes the size of his foot. “Be careful. These places are falling apart.”

From somewhere ahead of them, the wood flooring cracked, and Decker cursed.

“So much for discretion,” Connor muttered.

Beck smiled tightly. “You okay?” he called to his brother.

“Good. Your earth talking to you?”

Beck listened. His magick was humming, an unusual sound for the earth magick, unless it was agitated. It wasn’t telling him why, though.

“Yes and no,” he said.

“Yeah, me, too,” Decker replied.

“What does that even mean?” Connor asked.

“It’s trying to talk to us. Something’s very wrong,” Beck replied. “What’s yours saying?”

Connor hesitated. The floor beneath them creaked. Beck’s instincts told him what they sought wasn’t here.

“I don’t know exactly,” Morgan’s brother said finally.

Beck rolled his eyes. They just had to bring along the only witchling that wasn’t able to talk to his magick yet. He shook his head and paused.

“The earth sees a lot of things and shows them to me in visions. Has the water ever done that to you?” he asked.

“Sorta.”

“Meaning …”

The sound of Decker crashing through the floor above interrupted them. He landed hard a few meters from Beck.

“I’m thinking they’re not here,” Beck said, hurrying to his twin. “With all the racket you’re making, someone would’ve appeared by now.” He held out a hand. Decker took it, and Beck hauled him up. “What do you think about a crash course for Connor in communicating with his element?”

“Water?”

“Yeah.”

Decker was quiet for a moment. “That might work. Connor, can you understand your magick when it talks to you?”

“I want to try it,” Connor said. “If it helps me find my sister.”

“To the lake then,” Decker agreed. By the doubt in his voice, he wasn’t certain Connor was going to be of use.

Beck ignored the tension in his brother, but was secretly proud of him for remaining relatively calm. He felt it, too, and knew they weren’t going to have much time to find the girls. There was no telling what Dawn was up to or how far she’d go. Morgan pissed her off. In Beck’s experience, this never ended well.

They took the snowmobiles as far as they could towards the lake then left them and hoofed it the rest of the way.

“It’s mostly frozen,” Decker said. “Connor, come on.” He strode out onto the ice, unafraid. Connor trailed a little less certainly and Beck followed in Decker’s footsteps. Decker stopped several feet onto the ice and crouched.

Beck hung back. He squinted against the falling snow. It was impossible to see the other side of the lake from where they were now. Lights marking private houses and the resorts punctuated the forest on the south side. The north side, however, was completely dark.

He paced, needing to feel Morgan’s magick, her skin. He wasn’t certain what he’d do, if anything happened to her. Decker and Connor spoke quietly. The air filled with cool water magick, and Beck waited.

Connor placed his hands to the ice to try to communicate with his water element.

Beck watched. The purpose of the coming-of-age rite was to connect with nature and oneself. He felt cut off from everything, including the woman who was in danger of stealing his heart.

If she chose Light. If she lived through the night.

Beck stilled his breathing, begging the earth to talk to him. Morgan was protective by nature. If someone tried to hurt her friend, how far would she go? Her choice wasn’t something he could save her from. He learned that with Summer; he was a bystander during the trial.