Read Online Bake This! (A 300 Moons Novella) by Tasha Black - Free Book Online
Authors: Tasha Black
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around her, and the shape of the immense bird descending.
Tess remembered her sister’s account of the shadow demon that had nearly gotten the best of her and Derek on the mountain. This must be something like that, drawn to the magic - either hers, or the spell on Will.
Afraid to use any more magic, Tess lashed out at it, striking the creature with her fist.
It toppled like a snowman, but three baby birds arose to take its place.
The sleigh was going so fast now it was practically flying.
But the baby birds were already growing quickly, pecking at each other.
Tess clung to the boards and prayed they would arrive before they grew large enough to attack her.
They were enchanted, that much was clear. The whole storm was probably magical. There had never been a snow like this in Tarker’s Hollow - Will had said so. Certainly no snow had ever covered over the farmhouse.
What if the thing behind this magic were specifically after the old place, and the children inside?
What if they were leading them right to it?
“Stop, Will, turn back,” she screamed into the wind, but she could hardly hear her own words.
They slowed.
She could just make out the shape of the top of the farmhouse ahead of them. It was too late.
The triangle of slate shingles appeared to be raising its hand and opening its mouth to ask for help. But the hand was only the brick chimney. And the mouth was the enormous attic vent fan.
Oh.
Tess shivered from the cold, and concentrating was nearly impossible with the sharp beaks of the snowbirds lengthening before her eyes.
She knew it was dangerous, but she closed her eyes and called to her magic anyway.
It pulled at first, like salt water taffy, then at once it was pliant. She reached for the fan with it, explored the simple motor and the razor sharp blades.
Then she beckoned it.
At once the fan sputtered and coughed to life.
Tess wrenched with her mind, and the fan sailed out the window and over her head.
She urged the motor and clung to the wood of the sleigh as the wind changed directions.
The birds fluttered their wings in protest as the fan drew them nearer, elongating their snowy heads and then plucking them from the sleigh to be turned to mist between the metal blades.
When they were gone, Tess collapsed and let the fan fall into the snow.
The wind slowed almost to a stop.
The snow fell gently, delicate lacy flakes drifting down, as if in a mockery of the storm that had come before.
Had she undone the source of the storm’s magic, or merely scared it away?
Will scampered onto the boards of the sleigh and nosed at her with a wet snout.
She was shivering from head to toe, but she sat up to show him she was okay.
That was when she saw the first little face peep out of the hole left behind by the fan.
“S-santa?” the little boy ventured, looking at Tess in confusion.
13
T he trip back to the barn was much more fun than the trip over had been. Tess held five-year-old Aidan on her lap and Kate carried baby Luna on hers.
Will dashed through the snow, bells jingling merrily.
“You’re both crazy to come for us in that snow,” Kate said with a smile. “Not that I’m complaining, but why didn’t you stay put?”
“Will told me that you had a new furnace. I was worried that it was a high efficiency model and that the vent would be buried in the snow,” Tess replied, grateful that the scrupulously honest answer to the question wouldn’t embarrass her. She’d used a good bit of magic fighting the snow-birds, and she’d be paying her price for a while.
“Carbon monoxide,” Kate remarked. “Smart girl. As a matter of fact, it is a high efficiency heater, but I’m a farm girl so I pay attention to how things work. We turned off the heater right away. I was more worried about the rafters. They were groaning something fierce under the weight of all that snow.”
“Wow,” Tess replied. “I didn’t even think about that.”
When they arrived at the barn Kate insisted
Tess remembered her sister’s account of the shadow demon that had nearly gotten the best of her and Derek on the mountain. This must be something like that, drawn to the magic - either hers, or the spell on Will.
Afraid to use any more magic, Tess lashed out at it, striking the creature with her fist.
It toppled like a snowman, but three baby birds arose to take its place.
The sleigh was going so fast now it was practically flying.
But the baby birds were already growing quickly, pecking at each other.
Tess clung to the boards and prayed they would arrive before they grew large enough to attack her.
They were enchanted, that much was clear. The whole storm was probably magical. There had never been a snow like this in Tarker’s Hollow - Will had said so. Certainly no snow had ever covered over the farmhouse.
What if the thing behind this magic were specifically after the old place, and the children inside?
What if they were leading them right to it?
“Stop, Will, turn back,” she screamed into the wind, but she could hardly hear her own words.
They slowed.
She could just make out the shape of the top of the farmhouse ahead of them. It was too late.
The triangle of slate shingles appeared to be raising its hand and opening its mouth to ask for help. But the hand was only the brick chimney. And the mouth was the enormous attic vent fan.
Oh.
Tess shivered from the cold, and concentrating was nearly impossible with the sharp beaks of the snowbirds lengthening before her eyes.
She knew it was dangerous, but she closed her eyes and called to her magic anyway.
It pulled at first, like salt water taffy, then at once it was pliant. She reached for the fan with it, explored the simple motor and the razor sharp blades.
Then she beckoned it.
At once the fan sputtered and coughed to life.
Tess wrenched with her mind, and the fan sailed out the window and over her head.
She urged the motor and clung to the wood of the sleigh as the wind changed directions.
The birds fluttered their wings in protest as the fan drew them nearer, elongating their snowy heads and then plucking them from the sleigh to be turned to mist between the metal blades.
When they were gone, Tess collapsed and let the fan fall into the snow.
The wind slowed almost to a stop.
The snow fell gently, delicate lacy flakes drifting down, as if in a mockery of the storm that had come before.
Had she undone the source of the storm’s magic, or merely scared it away?
Will scampered onto the boards of the sleigh and nosed at her with a wet snout.
She was shivering from head to toe, but she sat up to show him she was okay.
That was when she saw the first little face peep out of the hole left behind by the fan.
“S-santa?” the little boy ventured, looking at Tess in confusion.
13
T he trip back to the barn was much more fun than the trip over had been. Tess held five-year-old Aidan on her lap and Kate carried baby Luna on hers.
Will dashed through the snow, bells jingling merrily.
“You’re both crazy to come for us in that snow,” Kate said with a smile. “Not that I’m complaining, but why didn’t you stay put?”
“Will told me that you had a new furnace. I was worried that it was a high efficiency model and that the vent would be buried in the snow,” Tess replied, grateful that the scrupulously honest answer to the question wouldn’t embarrass her. She’d used a good bit of magic fighting the snow-birds, and she’d be paying her price for a while.
“Carbon monoxide,” Kate remarked. “Smart girl. As a matter of fact, it is a high efficiency heater, but I’m a farm girl so I pay attention to how things work. We turned off the heater right away. I was more worried about the rafters. They were groaning something fierce under the weight of all that snow.”
“Wow,” Tess replied. “I didn’t even think about that.”
When they arrived at the barn Kate insisted
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