Free Witchful Thinking by H.P. Mallory

exactly say I was in the mood for a magic lesson. Wasn’t there something to be said for just chilling on the couch and watching
Come Dine with Me
? Throw a few makeout sessions in there and it would prove to be the best evening I’d had all week.
    “Yes, astral projection.”
    “I’m hardly dressed for it,” I said, glancing down at my Victoria’s Secret cotton PJ pants and my oversized pink sweatshirt. I didn’t even have on any shoes.
    Rand nodded and any nervousness he’d had before was gone. In its place was a cool assurance. He took a few steps toward me until my body was maybe a foot from his. Then he brought each of his hands to my shoulders and smiled down at me.
    “Astral projection can only be successfully attempted during the waning and waxing crescent phases of the moon, so why not take advantage of the opportunity nature has presented us with?”
    I sighed. “Want to explain what it is first?”
    He nodded but didn’t remove his hands from my shoulders. Instead he tightened his hold and wore a funny little smile, like he was getting some sort of kick out of this whole thing. “Astral projection has been associated with out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, and the afterlife.”
    “Great,” I said with a frown. “That all sounds really reassuring.”
    His smile deepened. “It’s the separation of the soul from the physical, corporeal body.”
    I gulped. “This is sounding worse by the minute.”
    He brought his finger to my face and traced from my temple down my cheek to my jawline. I felt my breathing increase as my heart began to pound.
    “I would never endanger you, you realize that, Jolie?” His voice was low, gruff.
    My own voice had packed up and moved out so I just nodded dumbly.
    “Your skin is so soft,” he whispered, and before I could worry about separating my soul from my physical body or the wax-on, wax-off cycle of the moon, his lips were on mine. I closed my eyes and relished the feel and taste of him. His lips were so incredibly full and soft. He gripped my neck and pulled me into him as his tongue breached the closure of my lips.
    He pulled away and gazed down at me with a serene expression. “I apologize.”
    “Um, what?”
    He chuckled. “For derailing your lesson.”
    Lesson? What lesson? “Oh, it’s okay.”
    He pulled away from me with a smirk and shook his head; why, I wasn’t sure. Then he glanced down at my feet.
    “Should I put on some shoes?”
    “No, we aren’t leaving your house.”
    Out-of-body experience, separation of the soul from the corporeal body … yeah, I guess the fact that we wouldn’t be leaving the house made sense. I mean, it was all about soul travel. Hmm, speaking of soul travel, I had to wonder if it was possible for one to astrally project oneself to the grocery store?
    “So start ’splainin’, Lucy,” I said with a smile.
    Rand just responded with a cockeyed expression that told me he wasn’t familiar with
I Love Lucy
. Still, he didn’t seem to be very concerned; he just approached the window and gazed at the moon.
    “You start by focusing on the moon,” he said as Imoved up next to him so as not to appear the inattentive student. “Allow the magic to penetrate you, soak in the lunar rays, and then allow yourself to project.”
    While his directions didn’t exactly answer the myriad questions floating through my head, I kept my concerns to myself and simply watched as he closed his eyes. There wasn’t any sort of expression on his incredibly handsome face. Instead he looked like he was meditating—the square lines of his jaw relaxed and tranquil.
    There was no indication that anything of a magical nature was happening but, with regard to the Underworld, looks usually were deceiving. Continuing to study Rand, I almost missed the reflection of something shimmery and white from out of the corner of my eye. I glanced outside and could faintly detect the outline of a man as he walked among the trees. There was a