Free Spring Rain by Lizzy Ford Page B

begging to flow to him instead
of salvaging her life by fending off the soul stone. Redirecting it
required energy, but it was focused once more now that he was out
of sight.
    She hadn’t known what to say to him and
still didn’t. Her heart was tumbling in her breast while adrenaline
stemming from more than magick flew through her. Fire fueled her
emotions, sending them tumbling in every direction. She’d wanted to
know he was safe and well since leaving him after the soul stone
attacked him.
    His presence here … it was a mistake. A huge
one. She had left to protect him. He was in danger if he was
anywhere near her, more so now that Dawn had found her.
    But I need to touch
him. The sense that they were supposed to
be together had never faded despite their time and distance. The
powerful bond she didn’t comprehend was more than magick, more than
physical, more than anything she could possibly explain – and it
was aching so badly for one single touch, it almost drove her to
her knees.
    “One step at a time,” Summer said.
    Morgan blinked and realized she was standing
dumbly in the middle of the room. “Sorry. Just …” Flustered, she
started forward again.
    “I understand.” Summer’s smile was
genuine.
    Morgan studied the quiet girl. The last time
they’d seen one another, they were locked in a stone coffin and
left to suffocate by Dawn. Summer had been hurt. “You look really
good, Summer. I wondered how … how everyone was.”
    “We’re all healthy,” Summer replied.
“Connor, too.”
    Morgan’s spirits dampened at the mention of
her brother. She pulled away from Summer to finish the unexpectedly
taxing trek to the bathroom. She was exhausted, weak and hungry –
and the last thing she wanted to deal with was how she was going to
tell Beck and Connor why she’d left.
    And why she had to leave again in order to
protect them, the Light and all the witchlings from the soul stone
Dawn wanted to use to destroy them. She had to find a way out of
the hospital, to bypass the edgy twins in the hallway outside and
Summer in her room.
    Closing the bathroom door
behind her, Morgan leaned against it briefly to rest. I’m in no shape to run anywhere. Desperation unfurled within her, and she
swallowed the urge to cry. If Dawn had drowned her in her
apartment, she’d quickly figure out to check the local
hospitals.
    “I’ll get you some clothes!” Summer
called.
    With irritation, Morgan realized she needed
something more than a hospital gown if she was going to leave.
“Thanks.” She tested her body, relieved to discover she was
healthy, just fatigued.
    Twenty minutes later, she emerged after a
hot shower, the scrubbed soul stone in hand. Her body temperature
stabilized without it to mess with her system, and she sat down on
her bed in a towel with a sigh. Summer had left clothing folded on
her bed next to a baggy of homemade cookies. Morgan couldn’t stop
the smile that started to form when she touched the warm treats,
knowing full well who had brought them. Beck could survive off
cookies. While she liked them, she needed real food.
    Still, the offering touched her. If
anything, he should hate her for almost killing him then lying to
him about what happened.
    Maybe he does. She toyed with the cookies. Maybe he was
concerned for her the way he was for every witchling, because he
was a good person and good people didn’t run away and hurt those
who cared about them.
    The idea that Beck was there as a friend,
that he had gotten over her or worse, was unable to forgive her,
struck her hard enough that she doubled over with invisible pain.
Morgan forced shallow breaths through her tight throat, unable to
straighten until she had calmed some of her emotions. There had
been a time when she trusted him, and for the most part, she still
did. What she couldn’t trust: herself and her ability to protect
him from the stone when she knew without a drop of doubt it was bad
for him.
    Which meant she was, too.
    Why,