Read Online 09 - Return Of The Witch by Dana E. Donovan - Free Book Online Page A

upset the counterbalance. Now the Guardians of Four are gone, their dust scattered here and yon.”
    “Are you blaming me for that?”
    “I blame no one, for it is written in the Grimoire. Thou hath heard with thine own ears, seen with thine own eyes that which hast come to pass already.”
    “ Yeah, well even Nostradamus got it right once in a while. I mean you throw enough shit on the wall and some of it has to stick. Know what I’m saying?”
    “Blasphe my! The great battle awaits thee and yet thou doth mock the words of the Grimoire?”
    “Now wai t just a nipple-pinching minute!” I palmed the tip of her cane and shoved it out of my face. “I take the Grimoire very seriously. You can ask Ursula. I mean no disrespect to your book, but I use the standard Jamestown edition, which I am certain makes no mention of this great battle that Madam Southerns predicted.”
    “ Explain thee how then what hast been foretold and hath come to pass of late?”
    “ I don’t explain. How do you explain that I obviously don’t possess the quintessential? I can’t be the Pentacle Prodigy without it, now can I?”
    The old woman tugged on her shaw l and shuffled to the door. She opened it and pointed again with the cane. “It is best you leave now, Lilith of New Castle. Prepare as thou wilt, for thy battle awaits thee ready or not.”

 
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
     
    We left Paige Turner’s apartment and hopped into the car just as it started to drizzle. I have to admit, the old woman creeped me out just a bit, which might explain why I ran the first red light we came to. Ursula screamed, and then I screamed, and only after I cleared the intersection did I realize what happened.
    “Damn! I’m sorry,” I said, chec king the rearview mirror for casualties. Aside from an old nun in a Volvo, no one had cause to be shaken up too badly. “Did you see that?” I hiked my thumb up over my shoulder. “That nun back there just gave me the finger.”
    “Did she?”
    “Yeah.” I turned my wipers on, which probably would have been a better idea three blocks earlier. “She’s gonna have to say a few extra Hail Marys tonight for that one.”
    Ursula laughed at that. It reminded me how good it felt to be in her company again. It’s ironic that the thing I needed most to help me deal with Tony’s death was the thing I kept pushing away. I reached across the seat and patted her knee.
    “I love you, Urs. You know that?”
    “ Aye.”
    We drove on for another block. I waited for her to say something like, yeah, Lilith, I love you, too, or hey, you want to go back there and bitch slap the shit out of that nun in the Volvo? That’d be fun.
    I came up to another red light and this time I stopped for it. After sitting a minute with nothing to do but drum my fingers on the steering wheel, I decided to break the ice.
    “ Listen, Urs, I um...I wanted to tell you something. I know that lately I’ve been a little—”
    “ Bitchy?”
    “ What? No! I wasn’t going to say that. I was going to say I’ve been a little unapproachable, but…yeah, I guess bitchy fits, too. I’ll give you that.”
    She shook her head. “ Think not of it, Sister. I do not pretend to know what pain thy heart doth bare. I can only but imagine in my own pathetic way.”
    “No. We have the witch’s light, kiddo, you and me. I know you’ve been hurting, too. I wanted to say I’m sorry for that. I suppose I could have been a little more…. I don’t know, understanding.”
    “ There be a passage in the Grimoire,” she said, “One little known. It reminds us there is no wrong way one can go when grief doth steer the course of moons. It takes thee on what road it must to heal thy naked wounds.”
    “Wow . That’s powerful. I never knew that was in there.”
    “ Aye, `tis a passage `tween the sleeping spell and the wake-me-not charm.”
    “Oh, sure, that makes sense.” The light turned green. I continued south on 125. “Anyway, thanks for