Free Spun by Sorcery by Barbara Bretton

magick myself. She seemed to up the ante with every new skill I acquired. I cast the same spell I’d cast beneath the tree but this time to no effect.
    “No joke,” Luke said. “My eyes are getting scratchy and I think I’m going to sneeze.”
    “From cat breath?” I didn’t mean to sound so skeptical.
    “Just get her off me, okay?”
    “Since when are you allergic to cats?”
    “Chloe, come on. Help me out. Use a little of that magick of yours. I feel like someone’s pouring salt in my eyes.”
    “I’m trying,” I said, “but the spell is bouncing right off her.”
    “She’s licking my face, damn it. My skin’s on fire. Just pull her off me.”
    I made another effort at prying her from his shoulder but she was stuck like Velcro.
    He yelped. “Those claws are sharp.”
    This was no time to be a wiseass. I bit back my comment and concentrated on how best to reason with a stubborn cat and a ticked-off human.
    “Janice bought some Cheese Nips,” I said with as much optimism as I could muster. “That might do it.”
    I knelt on the console and reached into the backseat to rummage through the bags at my sleeping friend’s feet for the salty snack.
    “I know she bought them,” I said, muttering to myself. “Must be in the other bag.”
    I heard a scuffling sound, a sharp intake of breath, then Luke’s voice saying, “Take the wheel.”
    I scrambled back to my seat. “What?”
    “Take the wheel!”
    “I don’t—”
    “Now!”
    I grabbed the wheel and held it steady. “What’s wrong? What happened? A second ago—”
    “I can’t see.”
    I heard the words but my brain couldn’t process them through the screaming inside my head. “Start slowing down. I’m going to guide us onto the shoulder. I’ll tell you when to stop.” We were already in the right-hand lane, which helped our odds.
    “What’s going on?” Janice poked her head between our seats. “Is something wrong?”
    “Luke’s eyes,” I said, keeping my own eyes riveted to the road ahead of me. “I think he’s having an allergic reaction of some kind.”
    Janice said something unprintable.
    “Take Penny,” I said. “Keep her away from Luke.”
    Damn her hide. The cat leaped gracefully onto the swell of yarn next to Janice and settled herself down.
    His arms were rigid at his sides. Beads of sweat poured down his face.
    “Slow down some more,” I said. “No, not the gas pedal! The brake! The brake!”
    I wouldn’t say my life flashed before my eyes but a few key scenes definitely made an appearance.
    The shoulder was wide and clear. I eased the Buick over. Now all we had to do was stop before we hit the thick row of pine trees that marked the point where the shoulder ended and the woods began.
    Luke’s breathing was raspy, labored. I had the feeling he was on autopilot, relying on muscle memory rather than conscious thought.
    “Okay, now more brake,” I said. “Easy . . . full stop . . . that’s it. We did it. Great!”
    We were safe. I turned my full attention to Luke and a chill iced its way up my spine. His face was red and mottled. His eyes were swollen shut. His breathing sounded raspier and more labored than before.
    He was in trouble and my magick was utterly useless against whatever was doing this to him.

10

CHLOE
    “He’s not breathing right,” I said to Janice as I struggled to push down my growing panic. “I think he’s in real trouble.”
    “Don’t worry.” Janice was an oasis of calm. “I’m here. Let’s get him out of the car so I can work.”
    Penny ignored us while we struggled to pull Luke from the car then stretch him out on the grass adjacent to the shoulder. It was like moving one hundred eighty pounds of deadweight.
    He was slipping away from us. I felt it in every cell of my body. I wished with all my heart Suzanne Marsden had never shown up in Sugar Maple. If she hadn’t drowned, Luke wouldn’t have been given the job as chief of police and we wouldn’t have met and fallen in