Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 65042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
The words died abruptly in my throat. Staring back at me from under the bed was a pair of glowing, golden eyes. And then a deep, rumbling voice spoke.
“Ah, my little witch—at last you’ve come home. I can’t wait to hold you again.”
8
DANNI
To say I was terrified would be an understatement. I nearly wet myself I was so scared!
For a moment I just froze there, my eyes locked with the golden ones under the bed, unable to move—unable to blink or even breathe. And then I saw the shadows under the bed roiling—the eyes were coming towards me! At last, my paralysis broke.
With a breathless scream, I threw down the broom and scrambled to my feet. I rushed out of the bedroom and down the hall, through the living room, and out the front door in five seconds flat.
I ran all the way to the end of the walk and banged the gate of the picket fence shut behind me before turning to look at the cottage.
The round, green front door hung open and all I could see inside were shadows. It hadn’t been that dark a moment ago, had it? I didn’t know and I wasn’t going to try and find out.
Wrapping my robe tightly around me, I hurried down Main Street. I was practically running and glancing over my shoulder instead of looking where I was going. So it’s probably not surprising that I ran right into a woman who was heading in the other direction.
“Ooof!” she gasped as I barreled into her.
“Oh!” I cried and threw out a hand to steady her—to steady us both, really. “I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed, letting go of her shoulder the next moment. “I didn’t see you. I should have been looking where I was going but I just—”
“It’s all right—please don’t worry about it,” she reassured me quickly. “You just scared me, is all.” She frowned as she took a closer look at me. “Say, would you happen to be Danni Hawkins?”
I started to correct her and say my name was “Forester” but then I remembered that Goody Albright had said I should go by my Grandma’s last name.
“Er, yes—that’s me,” I said nodding. “And you are…?”
“Oh, I’m Harmony.” She held out a hand to me, smiling. She was a pretty, plump young woman with light brown hair and kind eyes.
“Nice to meet you, Harmony,” I said, trying to smile despite the way my heart was still pounding. “Um, do you mind telling me how you knew who I am?”
“Oh, because Goody Albright sent me to check on you,” she said quickly. “She said she felt bad she couldn’t spend more time with you—since you’re a new transplant from the Human World. I was attending one of the seminars at the Women in Magic Con and she asked if I could come look in on you.” She spread her hands. “So here I am to see if you’re settling in okay.”
“Actually, I’m not,” I said tightly. “I just walked through a magic doorway and found myself here a few hours ago and everything has been crazy ever since.”
Harmony got a sympathetic look on her pretty face.
“Oh, I completely understand! I was new here not that long ago and I know how disorienting it can be.”
“Did you come through a magic doorway too?” I asked her.
She nodded.
“Only I thought I was going to the ladies room at work. Imagine my surprise when I ran through the door and ended up here in Hidden Hollow instead! And I ran directly into an Orc and knocked myself out on the breastplate of his armor. Talk about embarrassing.”
“Wow—so what happened?” I was interested in spite of myself.
“Oh, he turned out to be my Heartmate, so it all worked out.” She shrugged. “Enough about me—you looked like you were in an awful hurry just a minute ago. Were you running from something?”
I explained briefly about how I had supposedly inherited my Grandma’s cottage, and how it seemed to be haunted in some way.
“Because there was a fire in the fireplace and fresh bread baking in the oven when I came in. Also, someone had drawn a bubble bath in the bathroom,” I told her. “But the worst thing was the…the thing under the bed.”
“The thing under the bed?” Her forehead creased. “That sounds terrifying! What was it?”
“I don’t know but it had glowing eyes and it called me ‘little witch.’” I shivered and crossed my arms over my chest. “And it said it couldn’t wait to hold me again.”
“Again?” Harmony frowned. “Have you ever seen it before?”
“Well of course not!” I began. “I mean, I never…”
I trailed off. Was it true that I had never seen the thing under the bed before? From the back of my brain, I felt something nudging—like a memory that had been hidden for years trying to come forward.