Read Online Smoke on the Water by Lori Handeland - Free Book Online Page A

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    â€œI didn’t think they’d be namby-pamby find-the-joy shit.”
    I found her brutal honesty both refreshing and far too funny.
    â€œWhat did you think they’d be, considering Wicca harms none?”
    â€œI figured she was lying. She wouldn’t have been able to get permission to teach us if she told the truth.”
    â€œWhat truth?”
    â€œHa!” Mary pointed at the book.
    I leaned in even closer to read what was there. “That’s the same spell we just did.”
    â€œNot exactly.” Mary tapped a chewed-on fingernail beneath the final line on the page.
    â€œWorks best beneath the full moon,” I read. “So?”
    â€œNo wonder it didn’t work! It’s daylight.”
    â€œIt says ‘best,’ not ‘only when.’”
    â€œShe just didn’t want us transporting under her watch. Can you imagine the trouble she’d get in?”
    â€œI can’t imagine what you’re talking about.”
    She punched me in the arm. “Focus.”
    I rubbed what would no doubt be a bruise. Sometimes I forgot that Mary was called “Crazy Mary” for a reason. She seemed so lucid. Until she didn’t.
    â€œPeggy showed us how to do the spell,” Mary said. “But she gave us the book, which tells us when to do it so that magic actually happens.”
    Mary’s eyes appeared a little wild, so I decided not to argue. Especially since I was still rubbing the “ouch” from the last time I had.
    â€œThe full moon is tomorrow night,” she continued.
    â€œI thought it was full last night.”
    â€œThe moon appears full a bunch of nights, but there’s only one when it actually is.”
    Was that true or wasn’t it? Did it matter? Not really. All of this was bogus, except in Mary’s head.
    â€œI’ll come here after everyone’s asleep tomorrow night,” Mary said, “and we’ll do the spell right this time.”
    I hesitated, but what better way to prove to Mary that magic wasn’t real and the spells wouldn’t work than to actually do one and have it not work?
    â€œOkay.”
    Mary got to her feet, picked up the Book of Shadows, kissed the top of my head like I thought a mother might, and went away.
    *   *   *
    Sebastian had been dancing as fast as he could to get up to speed on both his administrative and psychiatric duties. He’d scrolled through the personnel files, found nothing particularly disturbing beyond a lack of experience in some channels and less education than he’d prefer in others. Considering their location and the nominal local population totals, the employment pool was limited. Dr. Eversleigh had done the best that he could.
    He’d taken a close look at Zoe’s file. She was as young as she appeared, but a lot smarter than most. She’d graduated from high school early, plowed through her BSN—Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree—in three years, and accepted this job at the age of twenty. Her grades were stellar, her employment record the same. That she was only twenty-two now made her the youngest employee at the facility. According to her last review, they were lucky to have her and should do whatever possible to keep her.
    Sebastian had to wonder why a smart young girl like Zoe would continue to live in the middle of nowhere and work in a place that—from the outside at least—resembled a Gothic castle. Of course someone might ask him the same thing.
    He’d taken his patient files home the first night. As Zoe had hinted, Mary and Willow were the patients he should be most concerned about. Almost everyone else in his pile had yet to try and kill anyone, or if they had, they hadn’t gotten caught.
    Sebastian had considered assigning Willow to another psychiatrist, but what possible reason could he give for that before they’d even had their first scheduled session together?
    He was new