A Nightmare to Remember (Wicked Good Witches Book 5) (9 page)

Lucas pulled out of the driveway and Melinda told him which way to head.

Unconsciously, her fingers wove into Riley’s. He brought them to his lap and stroked the back of her hand softly, in little circles.

This is going to be a
long
drive,
she thought to herself with a shudder that left her nerves begging for a lot more than just holding his hand.

They’d made a promise to slow things down.

Way down.

In agreement that their respective families needed a little more time to get used to them dating. And so they could go on an actual date or two in order to get to know each other better. They kept their dates in public places and Melinda was sure to be home by midnight.

But it had been weeks.

She was over it.

She wanted a quarry replay. A cavern replay at the very least. Definitely more than holding hands and kissing. Or the little bit of groping they’d snuck in during their far too public dates. She squirmed in the cab, begrudgingly taking her hand out of Riley’s, biting her lip to keep her hands off him.

Riley could not contain his pleased smile.

Melinda’s leg started shaking up and down.

Riley slid his hand over to stop it. It didn’t help.

“You guys seriously just need to get a room already!” exclaimed Lucas out of the blue.

Melinda’s eyes opened wide and her breath caught.

Riley leaned in and whispered, “I agree.”

Melinda shook her head, embarrassed, worked up and frustrated.

“New subject,” she announced decidedly. “So
Riley
, is your,
I’m getting a feeling
thingy telling you we’re heading in the right direction?” She realized her question could have more than one meaning and almost hit herself in the face.
Dumbass!

“Is that place a room built just for two?” Riley asked in a low voice.

She punched him in the arm.

“Okay, okay, taking it seriously.” He leaned back. “It’s actually not telling me anything right now.”

“So it’s not
on
all the time?”

“No, not all the time.”

“I guess I knew that. So how often is it on?”

“Sometimes a lot, sometimes not so much at all.”

“What does it feel like?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like does it make your heart race, do your fingers tingle... what makes you realize
its
happening?”

“Why so curious all of a sudden?” Riley asked her.

“Just because.”
Just because I need to distract myself. Just because I really would prefer we
were
going to a room built just for two...

Riley played along with a dark chuckle. “It’s not so much a physical response. It’s more like I get this sudden desire for something. Kind of like when you get the idea of pizza for dinner, and then
cannot
get it out of your brain, and you need to have pizza, and if you don’t you just keep craving it until you do.”

“Oh, huh.”

“Not what you expected?”

“No idea what to expect, really. But it makes sense. And now I also really want pizza.”

Riley smirked.

“And you, Lucas,” Melinda turned to him. “Do you have any extra magical gifts, like your brother?”

“Nope. Not a one. Just your run of the mill witch.”

“That refuses to be one,” muttered Riley.

“I don’t refuse to be one. I just refuse to let magic rule my life.”

“I think you and my brother Michael would get along really well,” said Melinda.

“If he could get beyond the fact that my last name is Deane, you mean.”

Melinda shrugged. “Yeah, there is that. Okay, take a right here. We’re almost there.”

A short drive later, they pulled into an alcove and parked.

“Mack said someone reported seeing this strange looking man around here somewhere. There doesn’t appear to be anyone around now,” she noted.

“So how do you usually start investigating something like this?” asked Lucas.

“Looking around. I know, exciting right? We look for signs that something supernatural has been around.”

“And how do you tell that?” asked Riley.

“Magic, the supernatural, the paranormal, they all leave magical traces behind. It’s not always easy to spot. Sometimes the trail fades before we see it. And if a supernatural creature is running amuck on the Isle, but not in its true form, it might not leave a trail at all.”

“True form?” questioned Riley.

“Well, like I’m a witch. But only the magic I use will leave a trail. Or another example, um... if a mermaid is in her human form, no trail, but in her natural mermaid form, there’s a...” Riley interrupted her.

“Oh. Oh wait! Hold up!”

“What?” both Lucas and Melinda called out.

“I’m getting that sudden desire to be somewhere. Like super strong.”

“Just like that?” questioned Melinda.

“Yeah. And we’re close. Really close.” They got out of the truck and let Riley lead the way. He walked until the feeling got stronger and then started to fade. They were on a short rocky beach with a steep, but climbable, rock wall on both sides.

He stopped, staring up the steep rock.

“Do we go up there?” Melinda asked, pointing.

“Not sure. It faded. Could be we are here, could be it just faded and might or might not come back. As I said, it’s not always useful.”

“Why don’t you two stay here,” suggested Lucas, peering down at Melinda’s flip-flops.

“Um, yeah. William and I expected to visit with you guys and head home after.”

“You always go out so prepared?” rebuked Lucas. “Aren’t you on the job twenty-four-seven?”

Melinda’s stare turned lethal. “I made it all the way to your house in them.” Although she knew walking on the road was a lot different than rock climbing.

“I’ll just climb up and take a peek, see if there’s anything up there. You two try not to have too much fun while I’m away.” Lucas started to climb, easily making his way towards the top.

“I warned you my brother could be a little...”

“Too much like my brothers,” Melinda finished. “Kind of getting sick of them all.”

“Not going to disagree,” Riley said.

Melinda leaned her back against the rock wall, her arms crossed, for some reason determined to keep her hands off Riley.

“So this feeling thingy,” she asked, “does it drive you absolutely mad?”

“I wouldn’t say it drives me mad, but it can sometimes be a little maddening. It did bring me to you though.”

“You mean at the beach when I got caught in the rogue wave?”

“Well yes, but… do you remember when we ran into each other in town? Before we’d officially met.”

“You mean when I barreled around a corner and pretty much fell into your arms... yes, I recall.”

“I wasn’t there by chance,” he admitted.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I had a feeling that I needed to walk down that street and around that corner. And there you were. I knew instantly I was meant to meet you. Too bad it didn’t also warn me you were a Howard.”

“I think we’ve gotten past that.”

“Have we? What would your brothers actually say if they knew we were helping you right now?”

Melinda took too long to reply.

“It’s like that,” stated Riley. “I feel like we’re stuck in the middle of a test that will never end.”

“I know. It’s getting... tiresome. But maybe we can move things along a little? We’ve given them all time to adjust. I don’t want to be
stuck
any longer.”

“I can see it’s driving you mad. You’re a hot little volcano about to erupt.”

She reached out and punched his arm. He winced, pretending her dainty punch had actually hurt him. She rolled her eyes, but he wasn’t wrong. It took everything she had to stay where she was and keep her hands to herself. Little pebbles fell down the rock and they looked to see Lucas climbing back down.

“Nothing up there except stunning views all around.”

“Okay, well, let’s look around down here then,” Melinda suggested.

“You mean you didn’t while I was climbing?”

Melinda felt her face getting hotter.
Now he thinks he knows how to do my job... geesh!

“Lucas,” groaned Riley.

Lucas shrugged. “Sorry.”

“Whatever,” she said, turning to Riley. “I take it you’ve got nothing new happening in the
feeling
department.”

He wanted to make a witty reply, but upon seeing her face kept it on topic. “No, sorry. Feeling is gone completely now.”

“Okay. Stand back then, away from the wall. Since this is where your feeling thingy...
you know
, we really need to come up with a better name for it.”

“Not so easy, is it?”

“Anyway, back away from the wall. Since this is where your
ability
brought us, I’m going to do a spell which should reveal any magical traces left behind.”

Melinda held out her palm and whispered an incantation. A sparkling haze fell over the rock wall as she swept her palm back and forth across it. But the haze dissipated leaving behind the rock wall, looking normal.

“Cool,” said Riley, impressed.

Lucas said nothing.

Which was also what Melinda found. Nothing. Not a single trace of magic.

“Bummer. Guess we’ll just have to search around on foot. See if this strange man happened to leave anything behind.” Melinda started to glance around, peering under bushes and around rocks. Lucas and Riley joined in, combing the beach, while Melinda focused her efforts in the woods lining the beach. After a few minutes, Melinda thought she heard Riley say something but she couldn’t understand him. “Sorry, what?” she called out to him.

“Huh?” he replied.

“Oh, I thought I heard you talking to me.”

“Nope.”

“Never mind,” she replied, continuing her search. After another minute, she heard someone laughing. Not a normal, just-heard-a-funny-joke laugh, more of a low, through your teeth, snarling sort of laugh.

“Who’s there?” she asked, anchoring herself to the ground. Her palm raised in front of her, facing outward toward the direction of the laughter. Except now the laughter was coming from everywhere and nowhere. She spun around looking for the source. She groaned, unable to hear it anymore.

“What is it?” asked Riley, sidling up alongside her.

Lucas followed, taking a stance on her other side.

“Heard something,” Melinda said. “From over there first,” she pointed with her head. “But it kept moving. It was someone laughing... maniacally.” 

“Seriously?” asked Riley. “Is that common?”

“Not really, no. And I don’t hear it now. Probably just my imagination.” She released her stance, putting her hands on her hips. “This is a waste of time. I’m going to call Charlie and Michael, see what’s up with them. I don’t think we’re going to learn anything more here.”

“We will, um, wait for you by the truck,” suggested Lucas, motioning for Riley to follow and give her some privacy.

“I’ll be right there,” she said, reaching into her pocket for her phone. Just as she started to dial, she heard the Deanes shouting and dropped the phone.

“Hey. You! Stop right there!” Lucas was ordering.

“He’s getting away,” warned Riley.

Melinda ran to see what was happening when a cracking boom and a plume of smoke stopped her. She heard shouts, and feet scuffing across the ground, and what sounded like someone hitting someone.

“Riley! Lucas!” she called out, waving her arms to get the smoke to clear. She saw a shape emerging from the plume. “What happened?”

“We saw him,” said Lucas in a stunned tone. “He was right here by the truck.”

“Where’s Riley?”

Lucas spun around, calling out for his brother. They heard a groan and raced towards it. Riley was sitting on the ground rubbing his head.

“Riley!” she cried out, falling to her knees. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“I think so.”

Lucas and Melinda helped Riley to his feet. It took a minute for him to get his bearings. Melinda let out a worried whimper.

“I think he hit me or something,” Riley told them.

Melinda looked at his head but didn’t see any open wounds. “No blood at least.”

“You’re okay?” Lucas asked him again.

“Yeah. I’m okay. I don’t know that he hit me so much as did something strange to my head. I felt this pressure over my skull, sort of like something was dripping down over my skin and then this pain, like I’d been hit.”

Melinda breathed out in relief. “At least you’re okay. Lucky break really. Would be disastrous to have you guys get hurt first time helping. Brothers would have a field day with that.”