Free Last Witch Standing (Mountain Witch Saga) by Jonathan Grimm

tent had been.
    “When did you do that?”
    “While you were out getting water from the stream for your
camp.”
    Rachel didn’t answer. So, the sorceress was right next
to me as I slept. As I slept and worried about her.
    “First, let’s go to the bookstore. I want to get the newest
issue of Scientific American .” Katie started walking up the path that
led out of Rachel’s valley. The year before, there had been no trail at the
spot they took. Police and rescue personnel must have carved one out. Rachel’s
much more narrow path was overgrown and barely visible.
    She was glad the sorceress didn’t want to fly to the store.
The walk did Rachel good and allowed her to slowly and peacefully re-acclimate
herself to this world. The air was not so clean as it was on Pangea – not even
in the forest and foothills they passed through, retracing the steps Rachel had
taken so long before, but it was refreshing, nevertheless.
    When they reached the freeway, Katie grabbed Rachel’s hand
and they hopped onto the back of a truck headed towards Melville. The driver
didn’t notice – their mass on Earth was negligible and the landing made little
noise. In any case, Katie used the power to mirror the background behind their
silhouettes, making them effectively invisible.
    The wind whipped their hair as the truck sped down the
freeway. Rachel stared at the vehicles around them, no longer used to the noise
and pollution from their exhaust. Nobody could see her – thanks to Katie’s
sorcery – so Rachel stood up as far as she could in the truck’s bed. Beside
them, potted plants tied together, price tags attached to their stems, vibrated
gently from the truck’s movement. Either the driver was returning from a
nursery or was going to one to make a delivery. Rachel breathed in the scent of
white roses. If Katie kept her prisoner and they returned to Pangea, she would
ask the sorceress if they could start a flower garden.
    The pair jumped off when they reached the Melville exit. Rachel
looked left and right as they made their way into town. It was the same, she
knew, but she wasn’t the same. How trivial her problems with her
adoptive parents seemed now!
    The Melville Barnes and Noble bookstore was two stories and
contained a coffee shop. Katie left her at the front and went straight to the
science periodicals while Rachel browsed the discount tables, glancing at the
other customers from time to time to see if there were any she recognized from
her time in Melville. She had no money on her –- no Earth money. This wouldn’t
bother Katie, as the sorceress would simply take what she wanted, using the
Power to mask her theft, but Rachel would not do this. Maybe if she found something
she really liked, the sorceress would produce the necessary greenbacks.
    At the corner of one of the discount tables sat a stack of
large, coffee table books on roses. Rachel went to these and thumbed through
them. She had forgotten the delightful and promising new book smell. How she
had missed bookstores and libraries during her captivity!
    After satiating herself with pictures of roses; white, red
and pink, Rachel went upstairs to the math and science section. A child
struggled to reach a book on the top shelf. Rachel turned to help the little
girl with the volume.
    “Here, I’ll get it for you.” Rachel looked down at the
child. The figure looked up at her. It was Annalisse. Annalisse, Queen of the
Upper Mountain Witches.
    Rachel froze.
    “Come with me, child-witch,” Annalisse spoke softly. “It is
time for you to make your escape from that being. My sisters are here and we
are prepared for your escape.”

Chapter 18
     
    The Present
    Earth
    Queen Annalisse led Rachel to the back of the store.
Several Upper Mountain Witches were gathered by the window; all dressed crudely
in burlap dresses. One carried a sack, which she opened upon seeing Rachel, and
pulled a woven hemp ladder from.
    I will shield you from the Power while my
sisters lead