Page 30 of Bewitching Her Monsters
But witches are a different sort of magical being. Communicating with spirits is a talent witches sometimes have. However, most aren’t spiritmediums, able to host a disembodied soul. Now, I suspect Jade might also have a talent for mediumship.
Yet, I had never heard of a witch channeling asupernaturalsoul before—only humans and other witches.
This is suspicious.
“Arran?” they call again.
Risking my cover, I shift into my human form, now on my hands and knees next to their side.
“Osen?” I whisper.
They jerk and look at me, squinting to see me in the dark closet.
“Goddess, I’m so happy to see you,” they say, grabbing me around the neck and pulling me to Jade’s chest.
I almost pull away. But the magic behind the touch feels faintly like Osen’s energy, so I allow myself to sink into the embrace.
“What happened to you?” I ask, my voice cracking. I missed the jerk.
“Tanil,” he says with confusion.
“No,” I sigh. “You went to check out the old foundry building. You didn’t…” I don’t finish and remind him I found his dead body, stripped of all magic, even the usual residual amount that clings to a corpse. Bizarrely enough, there were no physical marks to indicate how he died, either. Nothing to tell us what happened. Only a void of energy.
“Foundry?” Osen asks, then he shouts as if he’s being attacked.
Jade’s arms and legs flail, and she vibrates.
Suddenly, I realize Osen is being expelled from her body, and I quickly shift back to my wolf.
With no hesitation, Jade clings to my flurry neck, crying into my fur. For a moment, I worry she’s cursing me with her tears.
But the emotion I scent on her is pure terror and fear.
A few minutes pass, and she pulls back. I’m guessing she realizes I shouldn’t be in her room.
“Beast?” she whispers Maxum’s name for my wolf. Her eyes widen, and she slowly removes her hold, a lingering worry in her eyes that I might bite her. She glances around the closet and rubs her eyes. “What happened? And how did you get in here?” Frowning, she looks at my foot that touches her leg. “Why are you allowing me to touch you?”
She doesn’t expect answers. But I wonder if she is a medium, a psychic, if she could pick up my thoughts. I send her an image of her shivering form in the closet.
“You were worried about me?” she guesses, sounding uncertain. “Thank you. But we should get out of here, but… uh, I don’t want to upset you by moving into your space again.”
Looking at our surroundings, I find I’m blocking the exit.
I take the hint, trot out to her bedroom, and sit near the foot of her bed.
Jade climbs out of the closet and stands. Noticing that I didn’t crash the door down to get to her, she shakes her head in confusion. “I swear I locked it.” She bites her full lower lip. “I suppose if I got into the closet without remembering, I could have unlocked the door, too.”
I’ll say one thing about her rambling mouth. I don’t ever have to wonder what she’s thinking.
I follow her closely when she goes out to the kitchen and drinks a glass of water.
Her hand shakes as she lifts the glass. With her other hand, she holds her forehead as if she has a headache. “I haven’t had an episode like that for… well, since I was dating Rob.” She sighs. “Maybe it’s because I had a messed up day? I’m sorry I upset you, Beast.”
When she returns to her bedroom, I stay at her side. She allows me entry, but shuts and locks the door behind her. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.” She offers her limp hand for me to sniff and accept.
I do because I need her to trust me. And I’m beginning to trust her.
That trust will probably bite me in the ass.
