Fee appeared between her feet, swirling in small circles. “You did it, B! Jesus, you were like Xena the Warrior Princess out there! Way to nail a broad.”
As the haze of whatever had taken over her body lifted, she raised her head and groaned, tears stinging her eyes. “Oh God, Fee. It’s a mess.”
The center was a disaster; metal chairs were twisted and almost unrecognizable. The podium was nothing but a pile of rubble with bingo balls scattered in every direction.
Plants were turned over, the dirt spilling on the floor, their leaves shredded. Books were torn almost in half, their pages still floating to the ground in soft flutters.
She jumped up, her eyes scanning the room for Calla as she shrugged off Ridge, who tried to help steady her. “Did I hurt anyone?”
As life began to stir again in the center, all the seniors turned to look at her.
Ridge gripped her upper arms and smiled. “Everyone’s fine, Bernie. You saved Gus.”
The center was torn up as if she was the bulldozer and the Hallow Moon was a damn condemned house. If she had better control of her magic, maybe this wouldn’t be such a disaster.
She didn’t need any more proof than that. Lesson learned, Bernie Sutton.
“I’m sorry I’m not better at this magic thing yet. I don’t even know how I managed this much.”
Calla’s face appeared behind Ridge’s shoulder. “Don’t you dare apologize, Bernice Sutton. You saved Gus’ neck, honey. Violet would have torn it clear off if not for you.”
Flora pulled off her sweater and wrapped it around Bernie, covering her gaping tracksuit jacket. “You listen to me, Bernice. That woman’s nothing but trouble. She’s ornery, spoiled and destructive. She started this. You finished it, by hell. You saved Gussie, girl. I won’t hear another word about it.”
A bone-chilling scream made everyone stop what they were doing and turn their eyes to Violet, who had her hands to her head, pulling them away and staring in horror at her fingers.
Big clumps of her luscious red curls came away in her hands before the fiery chunks dropped to the floor.
Bernie winced.
This was exactly why she wasn’t allowed to have nice things.
Chapter 9
“Do you have any idea the kind of power it takes to do what you did tonight, Bernie?” Ridge asked. “No one, not even Winnie, can grab hold of a spell that powerful and bend it to their will. You were amazing.”
Well, that was sort of the problem, wasn’t it? She didn’t know. She also didn’t know how she’d done it. But she did know seeing Violet threatening to hurt Gus had upset her to the point that she’d felt a rush of unimaginable rage.
Gus had been so kind to her, she wasn’t going to stand around and just let him end up annihilated by a stronger, younger witch.
She’d reacted. For the first time since she’d had a name for what was happening, she’d taken control. How she’d known what to do was just luck and Fee’s cheerleading.
Maybe what she’d done had to do with fear—stress? “Freaked out” was an understatement as she’d watched Violet and Doris talk while they played bingo. The entire time she’d been calling numbers, she’d wondered how Doris had found her, and why? Why would Eddie’s somethin’ on the side come to Paris?
Panic had begun to dig in by the time Violet set her sights on Gus, but she’d lost track of Doris in the fray. She’d scanned the parking lot after most everyone had cleared the center, but nothing. Doris had disappeared.
Maybe she’d just been seeing things? Maybe it hadn’t been Doris at all? She was starting to wonder what was real and what wasn’t anymore.
“So, wanna show me how you did that thing with your hands?” he joked, grinning at her.
Bernie stared at Ridge for a moment as he leaned against the Pacer and eyed her, pinning her with his intent gaze when she didn’t answer.
A change of subject was needed. “I crushed the center because this magic thing is bigger than I am. Demolished it. I’m struggling to…manage my magic. But I’ll help fix Hallow Moon. Whatever it takes.”
Ridge lifted his square jaw. “You don’t have to worry about fixing anything, Bernie. The seniors will handle it.”
“Uh, no. I’m not going to let them clean that up. It’s a mess in there, Ridge. I’m not going to have someone’s hip replacement on my conscience.”
Ridge cocked his dark head at her, pulling his Stetson off and setting it on top of the Pacer’s roof. “Bernie, no one’s lifting anything. They’ll cast spells, use their wands to rebuild. They have the technology.”
Right. She kept forgetting the magic part of her new life at the most inane times. It seemed at every turn, she was giving her secret away. Bernie winced, straightening her tracksuit jacket that Flora had kindly taped together with duct tape to keep her covered.
If she wasn’t careful, she was going to get caught, and then who knew how many classes and years of studying she’d have to do to get off probation? There was no margin for error here.
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