She also gaped at me.

  “Ms. Williams, I’m Danielle Shields. I’d like to take a look at your son’s room?”

  She shook her head, “Sorry, I’ve seen you on the news, but you just look so young, younger than my youngest sister who is graduating high school this year. Come on in, it’s this way.”

  Yeah, that’d be a problem in a few years, looking eighteen at twenty-one seemed like a good thing to me, and wasn’t impossible. I wasn’t exactly vain, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy that. But looking barely twenty at age thirty would cause issues. I’d have to get with Katie soon, and start wearing an illusion spell that slowly aged me. Supernaturals would see through it most likely, at least those with strong enough natural shields to defeat the spell, but humans and cameras would see me age at a normal rate.

  The inside of the house was a bit of a mess, but not dirty or smelly. It was obvious the woman had been spiraling the last forty-eight hours, and she’d contacted me out of desperation when the police came up blank and the kidnapper didn’t call. It was somewhat of a surprise actually, she obviously had money.

  Aiden’s room was painted a light blue, had Sponge Bob sheets, and toys scattered around the room if in a neat manner. Of course, I’d been tracing the boy’s connections the whole time I was there, and this trip to the bedroom was no more than to live up to expectations. Aiden was alive and well, but in a basement somewhere.

  When I zoomed out my scrying window the yard was messy and run down. The house paint was cracked, and there was very little actual furniture in the home. At a guess, no one lived in the house Aiden was captive in. The kidnapper must’ve been using the abandoned house. Which meant… I wasn’t sure. Either the kidnapper didn’t have a home, or they had a family there and couldn’t hold a kidnap victim there without getting caught.

  There was something about the whole thing that bothered me, besides him being there alone and locked in a basement, but I could figure it out later, after I’d gotten her kid back. I could fast travel to the house, but I had no idea where it was, or even how far away it was. I’d zoomed out farther and farther, but I didn’t see any street signs, and the house had no address on it, nor was there any mail to be seen.

  I picked up a small stuffed dinosaur.

  “I’ll call you as soon as I have information for you, can I take this with me?”

  She nodded woodenly, “You’ll find him?”

  I said, “I’ll do my best.”

  I left the house. It was hard not to tell her everything, but in my experience, she wouldn’t be calmed by anything less than her son being in her arms. It would’ve been wasted effort, and in the end, I’d have just upset her more than she already was. From her point of view, magic didn’t exist, and I couldn’t possibly know what I knew.

  The car started, and I headed out. It was annoying, I could go right to the kid with my power, but doing that kind of thing would lead to exposure. I needed to find him, and then head there in my car. I pulled into the closest gas station, and I stepped into the bathroom.

  My magic took me away. It only took a few seconds, and I was standing outside the house. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, as I felt the wards on the house. The strong fire wards that would’ve completely cut off my power if I’d appeared inside the house instead of outside of it, so I could find a street sign.

  Why there was no ransom demands was now obvious, the kid had been taken as bait for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if the witch had spelled Stephanie to hire me to make sure I got involved. I also felt a surge of guilt. The small boy was in danger because some witch was after me?

  The house itself was very isolated, and the boy was the only person I could detect with my magic within three hundred feet of me in any direction. The house itself had no links at all to follow. Shit, this was getting complicated. I couldn’t lead the police to the kidnapper either, which would bring up questions.

  At least I found where I was, with the simple expedience of the maps app on my iPhone I didn’t even have to search out a cross street and sign. I sent Katie a text with the address, and that I needed her now. Two seconds later she’d sent back, K, BRT. My heart pounded as I gave the house a guilty look. The boy would have to stay there a little longer, and I fast travelled back to the gas station bathroom, and I got back in my car.

  Sure, I could’ve blown away the wards, and got the kid right then, but then the witch hunting me would’ve escaped. I needed those spells intact, so my witch could track her magic back. It still didn’t fully make sense, because if I walked in and was helpless, so what? The witch wasn’t around to take advantage of it, so there must’ve been a layered trap in there meant to kill me, somehow?

  The house was just fifteen minutes away. I got moving. That would be the time I usually called the cops, but I’d have to do it differently this time. I wondered why a witch was after me, something from our past, or did this have to do with what Dana and I had done two nights ago?

  That wasn’t right, and impossible. Since the boy had been taken before the story broke in the news. It also would’ve taken time for the witch to setup.

  Chapter Seven

  The explanation didn’t take long, and my best friend looked pissed.

  Katie hissed, after casting a diagnostic spell. Similar to a detect magic spell, but one that yielded far more information on the magic in question.

  “Nasty. If you’d gone in there the whole house would’ve gone up, killing you and the boy both.”

  I frowned, “So she counted on me being stupid, and was willing to sacrifice an innocent to kill me? Can you trace her spells back?”

  Katie snorted, “Ye of little faith, watch me.”

  She pulled out a marker, and she started to draw a magical design on the front door. They were water soluble markers, so I’d be able to clean it up with a thought when she was done.

  I grinned, “My apologies, mighty witch.”

  Katie smirked as she finished up, and then pulled out a crystal as she started to cast. The spell was made up of air, water and earth. Air to find the witch, and water as a buffer to bind it with the earth magic which anchored the spell into the crystal. Air and earth magic didn’t play well together alone, they needed a third connecting element to bind them together safely.

  Katie said, “Maybe she thought you’d fast travel directly to him, so less stupid and more impulsive.”

  It was my turn to scoff, “I know better than that.”

  Katie shrugged, and tossed me the crystal, “Got her, what now?”

  “How long will it last?”

  Katie said, “Couple of days.”

  I nodded, “I knock it out, and call the cops. Found the victim, but not the kidnapper. It happens. Once the kid is safe, I’ll call you and we go after the witch. For now, you need to leave.”

  I used my power to wipe out the wards and traps, and to wipe away the rune spell and circle on the front door, then I pulled out my cellphone.

  Katie said, “Fine, just don’t go without me.”

  “Yes, mom.”

  Katie glared, but didn’t comment as she got in her car and drove off.

  I sent a text with the address to Millie, then got her on the phone. I liked her better than Jonathan, who still clearly hated me in his life. I’d deal. Then I went inside the house. It was stupid, but I felt nervous, and I relaxed slightly when nothing blew up. I knew I’d wiped out the spells, broken them with my power, but the whole thing still seemed off to me.

  It was far too amateurish, and witches were usually better than that. Had the witch really been counting on me fast travelling into the house? Or was there another surprise waiting? What water sorceresses could do that way wasn’t really well known after all. Most never figured out how to travel through the realm of water, so I doubted a witch was even aware of that ability. I only figured it out right in the beginning because of Ben’s guidance and even then the ability had been a mere guess on his part, because of what he could do with fire magic.

  A deduction, based on the similarities between opposing elements. Air and earth linked to information, fire and water linked to emotion, and so on.

  Whatever the case, I shook it off. There was no more magic within my reach, and if there was an inactive ward in this house, there was no witch present to empower it. The witch was outside of town, about thirty miles west, according to the crystal.

  Hmm, maybe she was counting on the usual arrogance of a water sorcerer, and she’d wanted me angry and reckless when I came for her? Maybe she expected it all to fail, and this was just the setup and bait to get me on her trail, where I’d hit her real ambush?

  I pushed the speculation out of my head as I headed down into the cellar.

  “Aiden? Your mother sent me to find you. I have your dinosaur.”

  The boy was scared and clearly upset, but I managed to coax him out of the house and onto the porch, though it wasn’t easy. Aiden held his dinosaur tightly, and he wouldn’t talk to me. I really looked forward to killing that witch at that point, hunting me was one thing, hurting an innocent boy was another.

  I felt a surge of relief, when Jonathan and Millie showed up. Aiden relaxed slightly, when they showed their badges. I tried not to take it personally.

  Jonathan said, “Do you remember what happened, who took you?”

  Aiden pointed a shaking finger at me, “She did.”

  Oh hell, that’s why he was so damned nervous. That witch was so dead when I caught up with her.

  Jonathan’s face looked like he’d just caught the scent of his favorite meal, that he hadn’t been able to eat in forever.

  Millie frowned, “This woman here, took you from the bathroom at the mall?”

  Aiden nodded, “She locked me in the basement.”

  I was about to knock them out, and call Dana to straighten this out. Obviously, the sneaky bitch, I mean witch, had used a glamour or illusion to look like me. It would get straightened out, I’d been at the office with Dana all day two days ago, and could prove it, but I’d really rather not get arrested falsely in the first place.

  Except, that’s when the news van showed up.

  Oh, that witch was so dead. So very dead. If she’d been wanting to piss me off, she just succeeded past all expectations.

  I knocked them all out with my power, and truly hoped that was the last surprise, as I pulled out my phone and called Dana.

  Chapter Eight

  Nope, not the last surprise at all, it seemed. I stared at my phone as if it’d betrayed me. No answer from Dana, on her personal cell phone, or the office phones. I was truly incensed then, and I started to suspect the witch put me in a tangle just to keep me occupied, while she did her real thing. She wasn’t after me at all, I’d decided. She was after something else and didn’t want me to intercede, it was the only thing that made sense.

  If I let the cops arrest me to preserve the secret, then I’d be on ice for several hours while it all got straightened out.

  According to the crystal, the witch was on the move, and heading east toward town.

  What she didn’t know was I had allies, and I wasn’t limited to calling Dana. I called Ben, a little worried just where Dana was, and if she was safe.

  He said, “I’ll be right there, go after the witch. I’ll bamboozle the cops and press, just leave them unconscious.”

  “Right, thanks. Any idea?”

  He said, “Nope, she’s well shielded. I can just see around the edges of the distraction.”

  We hung up, and I bounced threads. I used my connection to the office to trace Dana’s connection from the office. She was alive, and not all that far from the office when I opened a scrying window. She was in fact, eating lunch, and her emotions were calm and relaxed. I wasn’t sure why she hadn’t answered her cell phone, but I was sure the damned witch had something to do with it.

  My impulse was to go straight for the witch, but I’d promised Katie, so I fast travelled to her store instead. I could return to the house later, for my car.

  The gloves were definitely off. Most of it was just annoying, to get me out of the way, but I wouldn’t forget she’d terrified that little boy, and had crossed lines that shouldn’t be crossed. I wouldn’t feel any guilt at all when I killed her… I just thought I’d enjoy it more than I usually did, which usually wasn’t at all.

  Katie said, “What’s up?”

  I told her what happened, and when she stopped laughing at me, which took longer than I’d have expected, we got down to some planning. It probably was funny, maybe in hindsight at least, or it would be in a year or two from then. Damned sneaky witches.

  I froze mid-sentence, and then stared at the crystal.

  Katie asked, “What is it?”

  “She stopped, outside town.”

  We both stared at each other a moment, and then said in stereo, “The pack!”

  Her true target was Maria and Joseph, if Carlos was behind this then I was going to gut him with a icy hook. Water swirled around us violently, obviously following my dark mood, and we raced through the water realm to pack territory. I couldn’t trace the magic in her spell, and the crystal only worked in the real world so I couldn’t follow the pull either. But, I went straight to the backyard of the pack house. We could adjust when we got there if we had to. The spell wasn’t exact, like GPS coordinates would be, It was just a tug and a vague sense of direction and distance.

  It wasn’t necessary to adjust, and it only took a handful of seconds to move the fifteen or so miles we had to go. Fast or not, we were still almost too late. We appeared in the middle of complete chaos, and the loud retort of a rifle.

  I took it all in for a split second. Carlos was involved, and he must’ve hired the witch to get me out of the way, and to help him reclaim his pack. Everything I’d gone through, and that innocent boy had gone through, had been nothing but a distraction to keep me from responding to an ally’s call. Ironically, it’d backfired, chances were if they just attacked Maria wouldn’t have had time to call me. She hadn’t called me, we’d just figured it out, thanks to Katie and Ben helping me.

  He’d also obviously discarded all honor and tradition, because it was him, the two sadistic enforcers that had followed him in banishment, as well as the witch, and they all had rifles. No shifter challenge, this was pure murder and a coup to regain what he'd lost and get revenge.

  Three of the pack were on the ground bleeding, but as far as I could tell no one had died yet. Shifters were hardy, if you didn’t shoot them in the heart or head, they’d probably live.

  My magic surged, and the two enforcers, as well as Carlos, were instantly decapitated by the force of the water blade I’d sent through their necks. The witch was a different story, it took about two seconds for her shield to break, and I held her tightly in my power, jaw clamped shut so she couldn’t cast.

  My power also helped with the bleeding shifters, of which Joseph was one, none of them would die.

  Then I followed the witch’s emotional links. There were things I needed to know first. I felt some relief, when I realized she was a private practitioner. There was no coven to deal with, once we’d put her down.

  Maria looked at me in surprise, and then shock at her dead brother.

  I shrugged, “The witch caused me a lot of problems today. No doubt to keep me from assisting you. My guess is she was hired by your brother, and she has no conscience about her means.”

  “You killed him.”

  I nodded, “I did. The cowardly bastard planned to kill you all with bullets. There’s no coming back from that Maria. I did what I had to, to preserve your pack from the blackest of betrayals without honor. They hurt an innocent child to distract me, so I couldn’t come to your aid, but that obviously failed.”

  Maria looked a little lost, but she didn’t disagree.

  Joseph growled, “Danielle’s right. The witch will face pack justice, for the crime of helping the banished, and interfering in our pack. Not to mention attempted murder.”

  Oh, damn. I wasn’t going to get into a pissing match on who got to kill the witch.

  “Fine with me, but she’s dangerous.”

  He signaled to their enforcers, who grabbed both the witch’s arms and started to strip all her magics and pre-made offensive spells.

  “We know how to handle her. Thanks for coming to our aid.”

  I recognized a dismissal when I heard it, and Katie and I disappeared into the water realm.

  When we came back out, we were by a small cottage, single bedroom house at most, off a rural state highway.

  Katie asked, “Where are we?”

  “The witch’s house. I thought you might want to see if she has anything useful, and we’ll destroy any dark magic books we find.”

  The crystal in my hand went dead a moment later, and I knew the witch was no longer a problem, permanently. Besides that, all the connections from her to the house started to fade away as well. The witch was definitely dead. The wards on the cottage were a little stronger, but I was able to batter them down with pure water magic in fifteen seconds or so.

  Katie smiled, “Good thought. Carlos should’ve stayed away, and the witch should’ve picked her customers better.”

  I nodded, “Pride, stupidity, and anger. Let’s see what we can find. We still need to find out who she really was, so the vampires can hunt down all her assets for us.”

  Clean up took a while, and it turned out the service on Dana’s phone had been cancelled, and she’d had to have it turned back on. A simple but effective ploy to cut me off when I’d needed her at the house earlier.

  Katie did find a few new spells in spell books, but most of it was common knowledge stuff to most witches that she already had. The witch also had two dark magic books we turned into kindling.

  Of course, mother and son were also reunited, and Jonathan no longer even had the happy memory of thinking he might get to arrest me and send me to jail, thanks to Ben. All the tangles were straightened out, and we even submitted a request to the vampire coven to handle the witch’s stuff by later that afternoon.