Free The Blue Woods by Nicole Maggi Page A

you okay?” I asked, getting to my feet.
    â€œI think so. It’s just a . . . new sensation.”
    â€œUnderstatement of the year.” We stared at each other for a moment and then both started laughing.
    â€œGuess so.” Cal grabbed a T-shirt from the floor and pulled it over his head. “Come on, I’ll show you out.”
    The edges of the sky were just beginning to lighten as Cal walked me to my truck. I breathed in the dawn and turned to him. “I think you’ll be a good addition to the Clan, Cal.” I stuck out my hand for him to shake.
    But instead of taking it, he pulled me into a tight hug. I buried my face in his shoulder for a second, breathing in the sleepy, spicy scent of him. He smelled different from Jonah. Softer. Not as complicated. I pushed him away.
    â€œThanks for being my Guide,” he said, his mouth widening into a smile.
    â€œOh. It wasn’t really my choice.” His smiled faltered. I put my hands up. “Only because I didn’t think I was ready. But, um, now I’m glad.”
    â€œGood.” He shivered. “I’m gonna go in before I freeze to death. See you tomorrow,” he tossed over his shoulder as he jogged back to his house.
    â€œToday,” I called after him. He waved to show he’d heard me. I climbed into the truck, started the engine, and turned the heat up to full blast.
    A thin line of pink illuminated the horizon as I drove through Willow Heights back to my own town. Maybe I’d underestimated Nerina’s cleverness. Because I couldn’t help but think that she’d known about Cal, that he’d been Benandanti-obsessed since he was a kid, that he was the eager opposite to my reticence, and that he was the golden sun to the darkened moon that was Jonah. I turned the truck onto Willowbrook Lane. Oh, yeah. She’d known exactly what she was doing when she paired me with Cal.

Chapter Seven
    Like Daughter, Like Mother . . . Finally

    Bree

    The problem with being beaten within an inch of your life was that it took a really long time to recover. I wanted to punch the movie producers that showed ordinary guys running around like heroes the day after getting pummeled. It was so not realistic.
    I lay on the air mattress, cataloging all the things I should have been doing instead of staring at the ceiling: Finding Jonah. Researching another way to get him out of the Malandanti. Spying on my dad to see if I could figure out the Guild’s next move. Finding Jonah, finding Jonah, finding Jonah.
    Instead, all I could do was watch the shadows move across the walls. I tried to roll over, but every muscle screamed, every bone creaked.
    â€œHey, Bree. You asleep?”
    I turned just my head to the bottom bunk where Jenny lay on her side, watching me. “I wish.”
    Jenny sighed. “I’m worried about Alessia.”
    I lifted my gaze to the empty top bunk. She’d gone out to find our new Clan member. Even if she hadn’t told me where she was going, I could still sense it deep down, that another Benandante had been Called. Ever since the spell we’d performed at the Waterfall, the one that had brought down the Guild, my mind felt even more attuned to the Clan. Like somehow that spell had woven me deeper into the fabric of the Benandanti. I only wish it attuned me closer to Jonah. I had never felt so far away from him before, and it was making me crazy.
    â€œI’m sure she’s fine,” I said, pulling my focus back to Jenny. “It’s not like they’re going into battle or anything.”
    Jenny flopped onto her back. “Sometimes I wish I was a Benandante.”
    â€œWhy? ’Cause you see how much fun it is?”
    â€œNo, I know, it’s stupid.” She reached her hand up and ran her fingers along the wooden bars of the bunk above her. “But sometimes I feel like I’m part of it already, because of my dad, but without the superpowers. And that