Free Witchful Thinking by H.P. Mallory Page A

whitish glow about him; inside the glowing outline, his body was transparent, like a ghost.
    I glanced back at Rand and found he looked exactly the same as he had—like he was still sound asleep. Before I had the chance to look out the window again at our ghostly visitor, Rand took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Then he released his breath and smiled.
    “Did you see me?”
    I nodded. “You looked like a ghost.”
    “Astral projection.”
    “And let me guess, now it’s my turn?”
    He chuckled. “Quite astute of you, Jolie.”
    I sighed and turned squarely in front of the window in the hope that I could fully maximize my ability to soak in the lunar rays. I needed all the help I could get.
    “Close your eyes,” Rand said in a soft voice. I did as I was told and felt his breath against my cheek; my skin responded with goose bumps. “Feel the magic soak into you, Jolie, allow the power of the moon inside you.”
    He lifted the curtain of my hair from my neck. That, combined with his announcement that I should let the moon “inside me,” was enough for me to demand that we forget all this projection stuff in favor of some sex stuff. But I managed to maintain my cool. Point for me.
    I focused on the darkness of my eyelids and imagined the light and magic of the lunar rays soaking into me, filling me up with their powerful tide.
    “Okay,” I whispered.
    Rand’s breath was now on my neck. I could feel his body as he moved closer to me, pulling me backward and into his arms.
    “Allow yourself to walk through the trees. Imagine smelling the crisp air outside, feeling the soil beneath your toes, the chill of the wind.”
    I concentrated, imagined the things he’d just envisioned for me, and it felt as if I were suddenly weightless—merely a thought, floating through space and time. It was a lightness I’ve never experienced before—I was no longer subject to gravity. Instead I was like the air itself. I opened my eyes and found myself outside. I could feel the branches and leaves on the forest floor. The rays of the moon seemed to embrace me in an otherworldly hug.
    “Come back to me, Jolie.”
    Rand’s voice sounded far off, almost like he was whispering into the wind.
    “Pull yourself back in.”
    I nodded and glanced up at the moon again, telling the great white goddess that I needed to return to my body. My time here was up.
    And as suddenly as if I’d been hit by a truck, that light-headed, weightless feeling was ripped away from me. In its place I felt heavy, dense. My knees buckled at the same time that Rand caught me with a chuckle. Iopened my eyes and with my heart beating frantically in my chest, glanced around my living room.
    “Did I do it?”
    “Yes, you did,” Rand answered. He sounded proud.
    I held on to him and allowed my head to rest against his chest as my heartbeat calmed. I still felt wobbly, though, like a newborn giraffe.
    “You never stop amazing me.” His voice was soft as he kissed the top of my head. “Your magic, Jolie, is incredibly strong. I sometimes forget how powerful you truly are.”
    But I didn’t want to hear how powerful I was. All I wanted was to lose myself in the feel of Rand’s arms around me, in the way he smelled of spice and something deeply masculine. I didn’t say anything but tightened my arms around him, wishing this moment would never end.

Even though I put up a good fight, in the end I didn’t fly to Australia to retrieve Christa. Mercedes kept insisting that it was just too risky for the Queen of the Underworld to be flying around the globe in these “uncertain times.” She may have perceived the times as uncertain, but I was more than certain this Queen business was seriously cramping my style.
    I would have continued to argue my case for retrieving Christa if her boyfriend, John, hadn’t happily offered to take the task upon himself. And after talking to him, I sensed that he’d also prefer to do it alone. And I didn’t blame him—if I’d