Free Witchlock by Dianna Love

her every minute of every day. I can feel her breathing. If I’m upset, she feels it through the bond and my agitation would increase her stress, but she has no way to release it. For that reason, I must remain at peace to help her survive. She would have given up living immediately if she could have. She has no control over anything and when it’s bad she ... ”  
    Evalle whispered, “She what?”  
    “She screams. She rarely sleeps. She moans constantly, but it’s the screaming that is so ... difficult to endure.”  
    Storm had run for hours to get here and had been angry to find Evalle left alone to fight a demon, then he’d been terrified to find her falling off a mountain. He was not looking forward to the circus in her apartment when they went home, and definitely not ready to let her near a bunch of dark witches, but hearing Adrianna’s story made all of his problems appear trivial and manageable.  
    He couldn’t say that he would have been able to maintain the quiet calm she exuded every time he saw her. He asked, “What do we have to do to reach Ragan?”  
    Adrianna’s gaze faltered for the first time. She was hiding something. She stretched her fingers and clasped them loosely again. “Veronika’s ancestors will stand in the way to prevent us from reaching the center of the realm. I know where Ragan is only because she was placed in the realm before Veronika blinded her. If we do get past the guardians, the minute Ragan realizes I am near, Veronika might also know. I’ve searched and traded favors for any bit of information, but I don’t know everything. The one thing I do know is the guardians are there to keep anyone from touching Ragan. If you’re going to walk away, now is the time to do it.”  
    Time to wrap this up. Storm could smell the food almost ready to come out and Evalle’s stomach growled.  
    Storm said, “To avoid arguing, let’s say that we’re both on board to go after your sister and getting her out of there. You said you’d like me to stand guard. Why not take me?”  
    “To travel there takes stepping out of our bodies and crossing through a different plane.”  
    Evalle’s face fell. “Is this going to be like me doing that astral travel thing to find Storm in Mitnal?”  
    “Similar, but no. I’ll be guiding you instead of unknown spirits. With Storm staying behind to protect us, he can help send us there and insure you get back.”  
    “How does he do that?”  
    Adrianna pointed at Evalle’s chest. “You’re wearing something akin to a chakra stone, right?”  
    Evalle’s hand moved to her chest. “He glued an emerald on me.”  
    “I did not glue it,” he corrected her. “I used majik .”  
    Rolling her eyes, Evalle said. “He majik-glued a stone on my chest to use like a tracking device.”  
    He scowled. “That’s not–”  Then he caught Adrianna’s smirk and looked over to find Evalle grinning. He leaned close to Evalle’s ear and said, “You’ll pay for that.”  
    She murmured, “I sure as hell hope so.”  
    “Any hoo ,” Adrianna stressed, eyes twinkling for a moment before turning serious again. “If we can’t leave the realm on our own, I’m banking on Storm jazzing up the majik on that stone so that you can alert him that we’re in trouble. He’ll pull you out the minute he senses it.”  
    Now Storm understood why Adrianna wanted him to stay behind. She was creating a safety net for Evalle. Evalle could hold her own with pretty much any supernatural being, but if she got into real danger, the stone would alert him and he’d yank Evalle out so fast she’d lose a day of time.  
    That was if he went along with her going, which was still a no in his book.  
    The other thing he’d noticed about Adrianna’s plan? She had no safety net for herself. “Would I be able to pull you both out?”  
    “No. You’ll only be withdrawing one person.”  
    Caught in the middle of another yawn, Evalle snapped her