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

Witches
have shielded it from Katie.”
    The asphalt parking lot radiated heat from the summer sun.
Crabgrass grew in the sparsely watered lawn in front of the motel office. The
plate glass windows reflected the freeway and the sign from a Taco Bell
restaurant on the corner.
    The concierge set down her magazine when they entered, but
did not rise. The woman’s hair was arranged in a bun, and her dress, with thick
shoulder pads, would have been out of fashion twenty years ago.
    “Good afternoon, I’d like a room for two, please.”
    The woman rose from behind her desk, came to the counter and,
without a word, pushed a laminated price list towards Candice.
    “This one will be fine.” Candice pointed at one of the
boxed specials.
    “That’ll be $59.95, plus tax,” the concierge said.
    Candice paid and got her keys. The hotel receptionist did
not show them to their quarters and Rachel had to count room numbers to find
it.
    “It’s that way, even numbers,” she said.
    After settling into the room, Candice walked Rachel to a
coffee shop down the street.
    Rachel had so much she wanted to ask them. How were her
sisters among the lower Mountain Witches: Gertrude, Eustice, Agnes? What plan
did the queen of the Upper Mountain Witches have to stop Katie?
    “That man. He really is Katie’s brother? I met him and his
son at Walmart a year ago.”
    “Yes, we know. I interviewed him when searching for you.”
    “Don’t worry about me. I never really fit into this world.”
Rachel noticed Candice looked at her like as one would a ghost. Rachel had to
remember that she was dead in this world.
    “Okay.” Candice took a breath before continuing, “Dan was
eleven years old when his little sister died of meningitis in early-1972. He
had a good relationship with her and Queen Annalisse believes we may be able to
shock Katie back into human awareness by presenting him to her.”
    “How will you get her to you. Am I to be the bait?”
    “Only if you agree to be. Right now, Upper Mountain
Witches, Citadel and Citadel-aligned Witches are pouring into this world. More,
perhaps, than even one such as Katie can handle. Annalisse was wise enough to
choose a place of battle that is to her advantage. She thinks long term. Katie
acts more on the spur of the moment. That gives the queen an advantage.
    “How did Queen Annalisse recruit you? How long have you
known about their world?”
    “I disappeared to this world about a year ago, around the
time they found your body in the tent. The queen summoned me to the Mountain Witch
world, and I have been there for all but the past month.”
    “Did you stay with my sisters, then? How are Gertrude and
Eustice? Agnes?”
    “They are fine. I stayed with the Upper Mountain Witches
for most of the time, but I did visit with your friends.”
    Rachel looked at Candice. “What are they like, the Upper
Mountain Witches? What kind of homes do they have? I know so little about them.
Today is only the third time I’ve seen Queen Annalisse.”
    “Well, some live in caves, others in hollowed out trees. A
few have built cottages into the side of the mountain, using the terrain as
their back wall. There is a flat area of ground, hidden deep in their mountains
where they meet to conduct business. This is rare, though. Most hang out in
groups of two or three witches.”
    “Yes, they are very secretive.”
    “I wouldn’t say secretive. That is just their way. They are
not social animals,” Candice said.
    Rachel paused, then said, “There are just so many
coincidences here – as if someone is manipulating people and events.”
    “I know. Karen, from the Citadel, said that the Power seeks
itself out. A sort of quantum entanglement. That is why some cities and towns
have many witches – or potential witches – and other, larger cities may not
have any,” Candice said.
    “Still, this is too much of a coincidence that I met them
at Walmart.”
    “It is. At some point, Melville became a locus for