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Paige checked her watch again and peered into the darkness, trying to see anything breeching the wood line. She stood under the sliver of light provided by the crescent moon, biting her lip and shifting from foot to foot. There was only one path into the glen and she waited with the silver bowl behind her on a knotted stump they had once used as a mini picnic table.
She nervously flicked the match in her fingers, blinking her eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness surrounding her. She didn’t see him at first, but then a solid figure formed and she jerked at the shock of him already halfway across the distance.
“Paige?” His voice echoed off the trees.
Instead of answering, she turned and struck the match, whispering the remaining words of the spell. She dropped the wooden match and the hex bag and the picture soaked in lighter fluid burst into flames.
The pounding of her heart could almost be heard on the slight breeze, and she attempted to steel her nerves with a few cleansing breaths, but it was no use. The banishment spell had already been uttered, and a microburst formed overhead, sending small cyclones around the perimeter of the wooded glen, blocking both of them inside the strike zone.
“What have you done?”
Dread accosted her as his voice pulled her attention away from the brewing storm and she turned, meeting his fiery green gaze. Lightning crackled, reflecting against his eyes as he stepped closer and grabbed her shoulders.
“What have you done?” This time he spat the words between his clenched teeth.
“I needed to make things right,” Paige whispered, over the building electricity.
“What the fuck do you mean by that?” he yelled, his voice rumbling like thunder.
“I’m so sorry, baby, but you have to move on and let this man have his life back.”
Lightning bloomed in a blinding strike and she flew backwards, beyond the makeshift altar, and landed hard on the ground. White light drowned her senses and the knocking on her chest stilled for what seemed an eternity.
She wheezed and arched into the deep inhale, pain flared, and then dropped to a dull throb as she blinked her vision back from the edge of blind. Everything blurred when she moved her head, and her eyelids clenched against the unwanted spin.
A groan came from the edge of the woods and Paige forced herself into a sitting position, holding her head and praying the spell worked. Austin’s form lay prone and motionless, and her heart jump-started, sending her into action.
Her legs wobbled under her as she attempted to stand. Before she knew it, she was on her knees on the cold ground, and the world swam in front of her eyes.
“Please let him be okay,” she whispered, and crawled toward him. The frozen ground bit at her palms, but she shuffled along until she reached him. Paige laid her head on his chest and held her breath, listening for the faint thump of his heartbeat through the flannel shirt.
Fear dried all the spit in her mouth at the silence, and she reached a trembling hand toward his throat, pressing her index and middle finger into the soft flesh under his jaw, searching for a pulse with her frozen hands.
His involuntary shiver and the turn of his head into her hand, sent her soul soaring.
“Your hand is freezing,” he whispered as his eyes blinked open.
Paige stared into Austin’s grey irises and her hand covered her mouth. Her vision wobbled under the sudden sheen of hot tears.
She glanced back at the wood stump and the fire inside the silver dish flickered, fading into obscurity. The sudden onslaught of weather cleared as fast as a category five hurricane peeling the siding off a dilapidated beach house; Austin stared at the swirling sky, and then at her, blinking in the darkness.
“Whatever the hell you did,” he started and paused, just holding her gaze for a moment before continuing. “It worked. I don’t feel him inside anymore.” Austin pushed himself into a sitting position. His gaze traveled from her to the blackened earth in the center of the clearing.
“We were hit by lightning, weren’t we?” he asked after a few minutes of silence. His hand traveled to his chest and then dropped to her knees.
Paige nodded, unable to speak, and she buried her face in her hands before the sob that had been caught in her throat escaped. “I’m so sorry,” she said through her splayed fingers.
Austin’s warm and trembling arms pulled her to him and he just held on tight, as if letting go of her might unleash the hell they just succeeded in containing. His soft coo made her chest hitch and she wrapped her arms around him, using his shoulder to soak up the river of tears.