Free The Witch Collector Part I by Loretta Nyhan Page A

tiredness I’d left before disappeared, replaced by a rush of something potent, strong, and just outside my control.
    â€œWhat is this?” I could sense my body rewiring itself, an energizing force growing stronger and stronger within me. My blood felt ablaze. I could pluck the stars from the sky. I could inhale the entire city with one deep breath. I could do anything. “Miro, what is this ?”
    â€œThe transition,” he said solemnly. “If you performed any magic right now, the reverberations could probably take down this entire block. It usually isn’t this strong, but you were in a very bad state. When a witch pulses as hard as you were, the body works hard to compensate. Most witches going through the transition don’t notice this recovery period, but then most witches don’t get as sick as you were. You’d done so much magic, and without a talisman . . . I wasn’t sure you’d come out of it.” He paused. “Actually, I’m surprised you made it.”
    He was telling the truth, and the knowledge chilled me. Whatever I was experiencing was more powerful than I could imagine.
    Miro stepped closer and in the light of the moon, his eyes seemed to glow. “You are closer to nature now than you will ever be in your entire life,” he said softly. “It hits hardest at the beginning, but the magic will not fully work until you learn to control it.” He slid a finger under the heavy chain hanging from my neck, and ran it down the silver links to Shelley’s pendant. He cupped the stone in his palm and held it, his brow furrowed. “What happened to you tonight was bad, but I’ve seen worse, much worse. The magic can completely take someone over, and this offers no protection.”
    â€œYour father is a coven leader, right? Can he consecrate it?”
    â€œIt doesn’t belong to you,” he said sharply. For a moment he looked as if he was tempted to rip the pendant from my neck. Then he caught himself, took a breath, and said, “We need to find your rightful talisman quickly.”
    â€œWe need to find my parents quickly.”
    He nodded, and we went back inside to find the others.

CHAPTER 10
    T he front doors to the apartment building seemed untouched by trouble. A safety light over the front door washed the building in a warm glow. Music poured out of the open windows of a second-floor apartment, the flitting strings of a mandolin setting my heart racing.
    â€œKind of late for that,” Shelley whispered. “Who lives there?”
    I shrugged. Vadim glanced at me derisively, as if I’d failed some test. “Why didn’t you run to the neighbor instead of a demon?”
    â€œNo one was home,” I snapped.
    â€œLet’s go in,” Miro said. We paused at the door. “Do you have a key?”
    â€œNo, but I could still open it,” I said, thinking of my mother. “Should I try?”
    Miro snorted. “Don’t even think about it.” He nodded at Vadim, who touched his pendant. The door’s knob cracked right off the wood.
    â€œOh, I—”
    â€œThe least of your worries,” Miro muttered as we stepped into the foyer.
    We tiptoed up to the third floor. The door to our apartment was ajar, just as I’d left it earlier. Miro and Vadim pushed ahead to make sure the apartment was empty. Their footsteps echoed in the still air, the hollow sound vibrating in my chest.
    Shelley took my hand. “We should probably start in your parents’ room.”
    Once there, I saw that the blood had dried to a deep, burnished red. I closed my eyes and the image of my mother’s handprint seared into my mind’s eye.
    â€œI feel like I shouldn’t touch anything,” Shelley said.
    But if we weren’t involving the police, then I’d be responsible for examining any evidence. I picked up the bedsheet from the floor and gently shook it. The soft, flowery aroma