Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
“What in the hell was that?” Matt whispered.
Mary covered her mouth with her hand and mumbled, “That’s impossible. It’s impossible.”
Tripp looked at me with a stunned expression on his face.
“Where’s the doll? Where did it go? What was that light? No one is going to believe this!” Mary said in a rushed voice.
“Play that back and record it, Mary,” I said as I started to pace. How in the hell could something like that go missing? The security we had for that case was extensive.
“Could it be a trick of the light? Maybe someone used the light to distract the cameras, and they somehow got the doll?” Matt asked.
“No, look at the door—no one came in or out after you and Lucas left. Then I walked into the room right as the light vanishes,” Mary stated.
On screen, we watched Mary walk into the room. “The motion sensory went off, which was why I went into the room at all,” Mary stated. Her image looked around at a few things before turning to look at the doll.
“That’s when I noticed it was gone! Right then!”
I kept pacing, trying to think of any other possible way the doll could have disappeared. Then I remembered something Charlotte had said to Hollie in the vision or dream or whatever it had been.
“Tis real, this one. Tis the one you must take care of for me.”
“That wasn’t the doll she wanted us to have,” I murmured.
“Who?” Mary asked.
Looking up at the three of them, I smiled. “It was magick. There must have been a spell on that doll. It was the key that allowed Charlotte to contact me and Hollie.”
“It was the portal,” Matt stated. “It had to be. Sarah told me that’s how you guys traveled back in time.”
“Dude,” Tripp said, a wide smile on his face. “That’s some cool shit.”
Mary glanced around at all of us. “What in the hell are the three of you talking about! We have a missing three-hundred-year-old doll and you’re talking about magick and portals?” She leaned in and sniffed. “Have you been…you know…smoking the reefer? Dope? Mary Jane?”
When we all stared at her as she went on. “Hash, pot, grass, dope?”
“You said that one already,” Tripp pointed out. “Are you sure you’re not the one smoking the…reefer?”
Rolling her eyes, Mary crossed her hands over her chest and stared at me. “Are you trying to tell me that the doll just up and vanished on its own because it had a spell on it?”
I nodded.
“A magic spell?” Mary asked with a disbelieving laugh.
“Magick, yes,” I replied.
She burst out laughing.
Matt attempted to hide his smile and failed while Tripp frowned. “Mary, how else do you explain what happened?”
She stopped laughing and thought for a moment. “I can’t explain it. That doesn’t mean I think it was cursed.”
“Not cursed, Mary. Magick,” I repeated.
Blinking rapidly, Mary asked, “Lucas Payton, are you being serious? Are you saying that someone didn’t come up with some elaborate hoax to steal the doll? You truly believe it was…it was...”
Swallowing hard, she whispered, “A spell?”
I gave her a wink said, “Now, Mary, tell me you’re not afraid of a little bit of hocus pocus.”
She took a step back, looked at us each, turned to the monitor, and watched the doll disappear again.
“No one is going to believe this.” She shook her head. “Magick.”
Watching the video replay on a loop, I smiled. “Magick.”
Chapter Twelve – Hollie
“Here you go!” I said as I dropped the last candy bar into the trick-or-treater’s bag. “The last one!”
The little girl squealed in delight and ran to her waiting mother and father.
Shutting the door, I set the empty bowl down and wobbled into the living room. Lucas looked up and smiled as he patted the seat next to him.
“Come here and let me massage your feet.”
“She’s late, Lucas.”
“I know, baby, but you’re going in tomorrow to be induced. You could have done it yesterday.”
“And have her be born on Halloween? No.”
“What’s wrong with Halloween?”
Sighing, I dropped my head back and moaned when he worked his fingers into my aching arches.
“Nothing is wrong with Halloween. I just don’t want my daughter born on it. She’ll want Halloween themed parties half her life.”
Lucas laughed. “That’s a bad thing?”
I shrugged and met his gaze. “No. I’m sorry, I’m so tired and I feel like I’ve been pregnant forever!”
Charlotte gave a hard kick and I jumped. “She has your temperament.”
Placing his hand on my swollen belly, Lucas said, “Don’t be so hard on your mom, Charlotte. She’s been working hard at feeding and keeping you warm.”
I smiled when I saw a little foot push against my stomach.
“I’ll never get used to that,” Lucas said with a chuckle.
He massaged my feet for a few more minutes before I exhaled and said, “I’m craving some Swedish Fish.”
Lucas gagged. “How can you eat that crap?”