Witchy Sour(53)

This time, he lifted me into his arms and walked a few steps into the water. The spray from the waves lapping at his ankles misted around us, wrapping us in a cloud of fog. My skin was chilled and his lips were warm, while a furnace burned in my stomach. He held me in his arms and kissed me until the goose bumps overtook my skin and my lips were raw.

Finally, we walked toward the bungalow together, hand in hand. All pretenses of our non-date gone.

“Thank you for the amazing night,” I said. “And for all of your advice.”

He raised a hand and ran his fingers along my exposed collar bone. “I hope we can have another non-date sometime.”

We stood still, neither of us able to break apart first.

“I should be going,” he said eventually, without moving.

“Yes, I should get some sleep.” Instead of turning toward the porch steps, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. No kissing, no touching, just an embrace that made me feel safe. My eyes closed, and I nearly drifted off to sleep. His hands gently unlocked mine from around his neck, and I forced my eyes to open.

But instead of locking on his gaze, something in the distance caught my eye. I took a step back, stumbling, gasping, spluttering at the sight in the distance.

“Lily, are you okay? What is it?” Ranger X held me close. “What’s wrong?”

“Look!”

Together we turned, and thankfully, he had a good grip on my waist because my body sagged against his side. There, floating in the lake, was a pile of robes. As each wave crashed to shore, the bulk grew nearer and nearer and nearer until the truth was unmistakable.

Inside that bundle of robes lay a body.





Chapter 16



I must have fallen asleep at some point during the night, but I couldn’t remember when my nightmares became real and my thoughts dissolved into dreams. After discovering the body washed ashore, Ranger X had leapt into action. He turned on a dime, transforming from non-date mode to Ranger mode in a second.

After sending for help, we huddled together until backup arrived. Then the minutes turned into hours, and everything became a blur. Into the wee hours of the night we were answering questions, surveying the area, and trying to figure out how a body had ended up on the beach outside of my bungalow.

The body had not been formally identified, but I could venture a guess as to who it might be: black robes, black ribbon across the hood, male facial features—it didn’t leave a lot of options. I explained about the hooded stranger asking for The Elixir to the Rangers, and they’d nodded and muttered to one another, never bothering to clue me in on their theories.

Hours later, the Rangers finally left. In their wake, the cool calmness of the night turned into a black void—a scary, lonely place that had me jumping at every cricket chirp and stick crackle. The body had been removed and the spotlights turned off, but even then, sleep didn’t come, just as Gus had predicted.

The only Ranger who didn’t leave was X. He insisted on staying at the bungalow and keeping watch, despite my best attempts at protesting. Eventually I gave in and pulled him into the kitchen where we shared a cup of coffee and some somber silence. I was too wired, too tired to talk, too exhausted to feel any emotions.

I didn’t remember walking up to bed or undressing, but I must have done it because the next thing I knew, light was streaming through my windows and I was tucked safe in my bed.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept uninterrupted. I secretly thought that Gus loved to wake me abruptly from my dreams by shouting as loud as physically possible from the bottom of the staircase. Speaking of, where was Gus?

A sudden memory of offering Ranger X the couch downstairs hit me then, and I realized that Gus had probably shown up this morning ready to shout up the staircase as usual, but Ranger X had likely demanded I be left alone. I sighed. As much as I had insisted that Ranger X didn’t have to stay over, I had to admit, it felt nice to know someone had my back.

“How on earth did you not tell us?” a familiar voice chided. Poppy poked her head up from the side of my bed, and I leapt up so hard I nearly smacked my head on the ceiling. “You kept it a secret from us, how dare you!”

I clutched my hands to my chest. “What are you doing here? You just about gave me a heart attack. And how did you get in?”

“Well, we had to climb in the window, seeing how you had a surprise guest staying over downstairs.”

“We?”

“Hi,” Zin said with a wave, popping up from the other side of the bed. “I’m here too.”

“What are you guys doing here?”

“We came by to check on you. Poppy didn’t see you setting up shop on her way to work at the supply store this morning, so we poked our heads in to see if you were around.”