Free T*Witches: Dead Wrong by Randi Reisfeld, H.B. Gilmour Page B

pulled out her cell phone as soon as they were behind closed doors.
    “I don’t believe you,” Alex groused. “You’re going to CNN our excellent adventure? Who’s the lucky callee, Beth or Bree?” Alex threw herself back on her bed.
    “Brush up your mojo, Als,” Cam said gently. “I’ve got to tell the ’rents. They’re going to find out, anyway.”
    Cam made the call, reached Dave, and spilled the story, adding lots of assurances that they were all right and being taken care of by Mrs. Bass and Sheriff Carson.
    By the time she got off the phone, Alex was sitting up again. “Guess what?” Cam said, to change the subject. “Dave heard that Bree’s dad bailed on her birthday party and took off for Mexico, where some movie he’s making ran into trouble or something —” Cam realized that her sister was shaking and looking extremely ill. “Als … are you all right?”
    “All right? I just saw this corpse who I once knew, live and in color. He was … stone gray.” Alex covered her face. “All except for that arm, which looked nothing like eczema. And his fingers were sprouting yellow claws! ”
    “I know. It was gross. OMG, you’re going to lose it—”
    “I am not!” Alex insisted, standing suddenly “I already did! About two minutes after you did. At the morgue,” she added sheepishly. “I don’t think it was an accident. Ike, I mean. I don’t think he just had this heart attack and brain blowout because some possum surprised him in the trailer.”
    “Claws. Lizard skin. Could Ike have been a warlock, too?” Cam asked.
    “I thought of that. But, no, I just never got that vibe from him. Plus he was a loser. If he’d been able to cast spells, make potions, or shape-shift, he wouldn’t have owed everybody something.”
    “I guess,” Cam tentatively agreed.
    “My take.” Alex began to pace. “Something seriously horrible shocked or scared old Ike so bad it blew his mind, literally. Although that doesn’t explain what happened to his arm. Or that nauseating odor —”
    “That’s why I thought it was Fredo — or Fredo’s doing,” Cam explained.
    “But he’s so lame.” Alex shook her head. “Lucky for us, he’s always botched things.”
    “He’s
not
Thantos,” Cam added.
    Alex nodded and, a moment later, tried out a new possibility. “Thantos killed Ike — and made it look like a heart attack or whatever.”
    “He probably went to the trailer looking for us!” Cam gasped.
    “Remember that ranch you and your family used the first time you came out here?” Alex sat again on the edge of her bed and leaned toward her sister. “And that portrait you saw of the black-bearded man — SOT NAHT — who turned out to be Thantos. It was his place, Cam. He’s here. In Montana!”
    “I just had this whack thought,” Cam whispered, hugging herself against the cold bolt of fright slashing at her chest. “Maybe he’s behind Evan’s troubles, too. Maybe Thantos put Ev in danger just to lure us here.”
    Alex thrust her palm at her twin, signaling her to stop, to be quiet. A second later, she jumped up from the bed, crossed the room in three strides, and listened at the door. “Someone’s coming.”
    “Mrs. Bass?”
    Alex sniffed the air. “No way.”
    “Could you have picked a trashier town? As if the cold on Coventry Island weren’t enough.” Ileana was at the door, stamping her feet and shivering in her velvet cape. “Hello. Gape much?” Trailing a scent of pine needles and mint, their guardian swept into the room, slamming the door behind her.
    “Ileana, what are you doing here?”
    “I might ask you the same question. I thought you were safe and settled in Marble Bay. But wouldn’t that be
too
convenient? As for me, I’m multitasking,” the beautiful witch answered. “One of your uncles is on the loose again and as determined as ever to catch and control you. So, you know the drill, beware.”
    “Beware?” Cam said sourly. “Is that it? That’s what you