Free Belmary House Book Three by Cassidy Cayman Page A

Mel, not sure what had happened.
    “That’s Lachlan, Piper’s husband,” Mel explained, motioning for him to follow. “Let’s try and stay out of the way unless they ask for help.”
    “But you’re the medical professional, right?” he asked. “Shouldn’t you be in there telling them what to do?”
    “Ah, but it’s not a medical issue, remember? Your girlfriend’s under some sort of spell, or else it’s the time travel sickness, but as far as I know that only happens with the bad spell, and you said she came through a portal, is that right?” He could tell by her soothing voice she was using a distraction technique and he shoved his way ahead of her. She caught up and grabbed his sleeve. “You have to stay calm. You must listen to what Piper tells you, even if it seems odd, aye?”
    He wondered how much odder anything could get. She asked him if he needed a slap in the face, catching him off guard and making him laugh. He quickly swallowed it, tears rising in his eyes at the thought of losing Emma after all they’d been through to get her home.
    Inside the overly warm kitchen, he found Emma laid out on top of a big plank table, a blanket draped over her legs. A roaring fire took up almost one entire wall of the room, and he peeled off his jacket, already starting to sweat. The others didn’t seem to notice how hot it was, in fact the big man who’d taken Emma sat huddled in front of it as if he’d just come in from skiing, along with a nervous looking red-haired woman.
    A tiny woman with a cap of sleek dark hair argued with another man over Emma’s still form. Dex raised his hand, wanting to beg them to do something, but Mel took his arm and led him away from the table, further from the fire.
    “I don’t know why it’s so warm in here,” she said. “But they must have a reason for it.”
    As he anxiously sat in the chair Mel offered him, Piper locked her gaze with his, her eyes round. She looked directly at him, but he was quite sure she wasn’t seeing him, and he fought the goosebumps that rose along the back of his neck.
    “You love her,” Piper said, raising her hand and pointing at him. “If so, I need you here.”
    He jumped up and ran to her side. She took his hand and placed it on Emma’s heart. She moved her own hands back and forth, a few inches above Emma’s body, elbowing the other man who stood beside her out of the way.
    “You stand by her feet, and focus like you’ve never focused before,” she told him, in a completely different sounding voice from the one she’d use to call him over. The man nodded meekly and hurried to do her bidding.
    Dex had to fight the chills the entire he time he stood next to Piper. Her body emanated cold waves, and he began to understand why they had the fire stoked up so high. Minutes dragged by, in which Piper moved her hands back and forth, alternating pressing down on Emma in spots. Her face was screwed up in extreme concentration, and Dex longed to ask if he was doing what he was supposed to be doing right. All he did was stand there with his hands pressed to Emma’s faintly beating heart, sick with worry and fear.
    Piper staggered back, her husband jumping up to catch her before she crashed to the floor.
    “It’s not working,” she said. “This is everything I did when Evie got cursed by Rose, but it’s not working this time.” She looked at the man standing at Emma’s feet and he shook his head.
    “I don’t know what more we can do without Solomon,” he said.
    Dex kept his hand on Emma, but swung around to look at them incredulously. “What do you mean, without Solomon? Where is he?”
    A resounding silence told him everything he needed to know. “You killed him? When you knew he had something to do with Emma’s sickness? How could you do that?”
    “Now, lad, calm yourself,” Piper’s husband said. “We’re not giving up yet.”
    “No, of course not,” Piper said, shivering. “I’m so cold, though. I need to warm