Read Online Forever Charmed (The Halloween LaVeau Series, Book 1) by Rose Pressey - Free Book Online

motioning for me to come out.
“I see that your guests are still here,” she said when I slipped into the car.
“My cooking didn’t scare them away after all,’ I said around a laugh.
As she pulled onto the road, I studied the scenery out the passenger window, trying to figure out the best way to tell her. I tapped my fingers against the leather seat absentmindedly.
“Is something on your mind?” she asked, glancing over.
Finally, I mustered up enough nerve to explain what had happened.
After describing the whole mystifying scene, Annabelle said, “So he just burst in to the store?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it was straight out of a soap opera. I asked them to leave.”
“Your mother must have freaked out.” Annabelle said, steering around a curve.
“Surprisingly, she didn’t say much.” I paused for a moment, measuring my thoughts. “She did mention that there was an odd feeling of magic around.”
“What do you think about that?” Annabelle asked.
“I’m not sure what to think.” Apprehension gnawed at me.
I knew this was the moment when I had to tell Annabelle about what I’d heard. I had to get someone’s opinion.
“There was one thing I didn’t mention.” I tried to keep my tone casual.
“Oh no. Do I need to pull over? How bad is it?” She glanced at me with wide eyes.
“Well, it’s probably nothing.” I waved off her concern.
“Tell me. You’re scaring me.” Her voice raised a level.
“When I listened in on their conversation at breakfast I heard some things,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “Like what?”
“Well, Liam told Nicolas that he couldn’t believe he was there, which was completely odd,” I said.
Annabelle snorted. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Anyway, then Nicolas said something but it was mostly muffled, probably because he was farthest away from the wall. I only made out two words.” I paused as their conversation replayed in my mind.
“You’re driving me crazy. What were the two words? Please tell me the words weren’t murder and women.” She motioned for me to hurry with one hand while steering with the other.
I chuckled. “No. He said ‘Underworld’ and ‘Mara.’”
“Underworld? What the heck is that? Is that some kind of sex slavery thing?” Annabelle asked.
“What? Come on. They look like perfectly nice gentleman. They couldn’t do that, right?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Anything is possible.”
I snorted. “Anyway, maybe that wasn’t what he said at all. Like I said, it was muffled.”
After a quick trip to the grocery store, we pulled into my driveway and Annabelle cut the engine when we stopped in front of the house. Walls of trees flanked both sides of the property all the way down to the river. Soft moonlight cast an eerie glow over the landscape, making the whole place look like a scene from Dracula . I knew even the outside of the place gave Annabelle the creeps. The sensation of being watched was undeniable, so I couldn’t say that I blamed her.
“Do you want to stay with me tonight? We could watch old Cary Grant movies and eat popcorn,” I said with hope in my voice.
“I have a better idea. Why don’t you come back to my place and we’ll watch the movies?” Annabelle said.
I contemplated the thought. “No, I can’t do that. I have guests.”
“You can just let them have the place,” she said as she peered up at the manor.
“Don’t be silly. I can’t do that. Can I? No, no. I can’t.” I waved off the thought. “Listen, I’ll be fine. I promise to call you if anything happens.”
“You’ll call me if you need anything?” she repeated for reassurance.
“I promise,” I said, making an imaginary cross mark over my chest.
The house remained silent when I entered through the front door. I expected guests to make some level of noise. Their silence was odd. But as I stepped across the living room floor, the sound of footsteps creaked the floorboards above my head. At least I knew they were really still in the house.
Once the