Free Slightly Spellbound by Kimberly Frost Page B

There was a dark red mark with a few dots of blood. I looked at my hand, and there was blood under my index fingernail. I’d scratched myself in my sleep. I looked at the window, which was closed.
    I didn’t hear the trees say anything , I told myself as I shivered. It was a dream. Or a vision.
    I glanced down at my skin, which had a golden glow. The color faded as I watched. Faery magic . . . again.
    I climbed from the bed, wondering where Zach had gone so early in the morning. Maybe to the police station? Was he planning to come back to town for good now? To go back to work? And if he did, what would that mean for the three of us?
    I winced, remembering Zach’s predictions about how badly my little love triangle would turn out.
    What the hell was I going to do?
    Halfway to the bathroom, I heard my phone go off. By the ringtone, I knew it was a text from Bryn. I winced and shook my head. I wasn’t ready to have a conversation with him yet.
    After I washed my face, I went out to the kitchen. I hoped I’d find some leftover bags of semisweet chocolate chips in the pantry because if I was going to get through the day I’d need at least half a bag in my pancake batter.
    “Hey, darlin’.”
    I jumped and spun around. Zach wore jeans and a T-shirt. Clean-shaven with damp hair, he smelled like delicious freshly washed Zach. I wanted to take a bite of him, but my conscience knew I’d better stick to pancakes.
    Zach sat at the kitchen table, reading Sports Illustrated .
    The Bryn ringtone for texts went off again.
    I dug through the pantry.
    “Good morning, biscuit,” Edie said cheerfully from the shelf she sat on.
    I lurched back from the pantry. She floated out.
    “Good morning, cowboy.”
    “Morning, Beads. I got your magazine,” he said.
    I froze, watching Edie move to the chair next to Zach. A glossy magazine sat open to the table of contents. “Page ninety-four,” she said. He set his magazine down and flipped hers to the page she’d asked for. My jaw dropped.
    “Would you like some coffee?” Zach asked me, and got up to take out the can of Maxwell House.
    I shook my head.
    Zach started the coffeemaker and then returned to the table.
    “Flip,” Edie said, and Zach reached over and flipped the page for her before returning to his own magazine.
    “What in the—? No, pancakes first. Then everything else,” I whispered.
    “What?” Edie asked.
    I clamped my mouth shut and turned toward the shelves. “I’m sure I must have left some chocolate chips here. I really, really need some.”
    My phone rang, playing a Jana Kramer song I hadn’t assigned to anyone. So thankfully not Bryn again. I hurried to pick it up, glad for a distraction from the surreal scene at the table and the chocolateless pantry.
    “Tammy Jo?” a woman’s voice asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Oh, thank goodness. Where are you?”
    “Who is this?”
    “What?”
    “Um—” I looked around frantically, mortified that I didn’t recognize the voice of someone I was obviously supposed to know. Then it dawned on me. “Vangie?”
    “Yes. Tammy Jo?”
    Good grief! “I can’t really talk now.”
    “Why? Are you driving?”
    “No, but—”
    “Well, you should be. Get to your car right now.”
    “What?” I asked. “Listen, I’m kind of busy.”
    “He’s furious, and he’s on his way over. He looked calm, but I heard the incantation . . . something about a meteor shower. All storm spells are violent and dangerous. Did you know? Get out now.”
    “What?” I demanded frantically.
    “Bryn Lyons. I was having another meeting with him when he got your text. I really wouldn’t have—but then of course, you’re you, so you would.”
    “I would what?”
    “Be brave enough to invite one of your lovers over to the other’s house for breakfast.”
    “Oh my God,” I said, spinning around to glare at Zach and Edie.
    “Listen, Tammy Jo, a couple of things.”
    I didn’t answer her because I was completely speechless.
    “First, I