Witch's Wrath (Blood And Magick #3)(10)

I took a breath. “So, it was misty,” I started, “and the road was hard enough to see. I decided to try and use a little magick to clear the road of mist, you know, the usual thing a witch might try given the situation.”

“And?”

“I must have been paying more attention to the spell than to the road, because the next thing I knew, something jumped into my path and zipped across. I had to swerve to avoid hitting it. I guess the roads were slippery on account of the rain, so I lost control of the car and ended up in the swamp.”

“Shit. Did you hit it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t even know what it was. I think it was human.”

“Human?”

“I can’t be sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think the shock clouded my memories of what happened. When I try to picture whoever, or whatever, it was I almost hit, all I see is a blur. I know I drove my car into the swamp, and I’m sure something… happened… while I was in there, but I can’t remember.”

“Maybe you hit your head harder than you thought. Have you gone to the hospital to have it looked at?”

“I don’t think I have a concussion, if that’s what you mean. Besides this strange memory loss, I’m fine.”

“But you didn’t hit anything,” he said. “You’re sure about that?”

“Yeah, totally sure. I know I didn’t hit anything or anyone, other than the guard rail.”

Jared paused. “This is going to sound stupid, but I’m talking to a witch, so maybe not.”

“What is it?”

“Do you think there was some kind of magick involved?”

He didn’t know what had happened at the mansion—had no way of knowing Remy and I had brought a cat back from the dead, or that we had met Tamara. He was just adding possible theories to explain what had happened to me out on the road. Still, the thought that he knew something despite me not having said anything wormed its way into my mind and stayed there.

“Maybe,” I said, looking away.

“Maybe? I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m a pretty good liar, and that means I can tell when someone’s lying or holding something back.”

“I have no intention of lying to you,” I said. I had considered not telling him what happened back at the mansion, but I didn’t think I would be able to keep it from him for long. And if he found out from someone else… I wasn’t sure where he stood on the magickal resurrection of animals, but if there was even a chance he’d have a problem with it, then hiding this would only lead to problems down the line.

“Remy and I performed magick at the mansion,” I said.

“I knew that. He’s been teaching you, right?”

I nodded. “Today he taught me a different kind of magick; the kind of magick you probably aren’t supposed to do.”

Hard lines appeared on Jared’s face. He put his piece of fried chicken down entirely. “Okay?” he said, expecting me to continue.

Just blurt it out, I thought, and so I did. “I brought a cat back from the dead.”

“You… what?”

“Don’t ask me to explain the specifics. Blood magick is tricky. But… that’s what we did. And I think I made a mistake somewhere because, God, I don’t know. I think maybe something… something followed me from Remy’s mansion.”

“Followed you?” he asked. “What do you mean, exactly?”

“I mean that I think a spirit, or an entity, came after me and ran me off the road. Something that was pissed I had broken Death’s laws.”

Or something that had been sent by one psycho witch, but I didn’t think I should have mentioned that part.

Jared didn’t seem to be able to formulate a sentence. I understood why. How was a person supposed to reply to a statement like that one? Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure Death will let you off the hook was probably too optimistic.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, “I’m just… so, you think you pissed Death off? Why the hell would you do that?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “I didn’t think this would happen. Remy didn’t either. We both sort of just… rolled with the punches.”

“And now your car’s trashed and you’re shaken up.”

“I know. I feel like I should be apologizing.”

“Not to me,” he said, “I’m in no position to say anything, not after the shit I’ve done.”

“I want you to say something,” I said, “I don’t need you to tell me everything’s gonna be okay. I just needed to tell you, so there were no secrets between us. I don’t know what happened tonight, or what that thing I saw was, or why I can’t remember having even seen it. I just wanted you to know.”

Jared nodded, and I watched some of the tension disappear from his face. He nudged my container of food, reminding me it was there, so I picked up a thigh and took a bite out of it.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said, “Maybe all you need to do is sleep it off. Maybe it’ll all come back to you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” I said, “maybe you’re right. I have a big day tomorrow, and I need to have my energy.”