Crescent Legacy Nicole Taylor (top young adult novels .TXT) 📖

I hadn’t been able to do before, and the only thing that had changed was the bump on the head I’d gotten while trying to unlock Boone’s memories. What if I’d broken something? Carman was back after a thousand years of exile, and I was broken.

Suddenly, I felt extremely foolish in my sexy witch costume.

Happy Halloween.

Chapter 8

“Elephant, rose water, pineapple, toaster!”

I sat up in bed, my chest heaving. I swiped at the sweat on my forehead and dabbed my nightie against the perspiration under my boobs.

Outside, the night was darker than usual. There was no moonlight streaming through the windows to lighten the little bedroom, so I reached over and turned on the lamp. Warm light lit up the shadows, and I placed a hand on the empty bed beside me.

Another dream? And here I was hoping it was just concussion talking.

There was something… A feeling of dread? I was at the pineapple, and an elephant was inside the toaster. When I touched it, rose water came out. That was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. An elephant in a toaster!

Scratching my head, I reached for my tarot cards. The feel of them was comforting as I shuffled, and my thoughts went to Aileen. What would she do if she were here? It was hard to know since I never really knew her. Boone was the only other person who knew her as a witch.

A shiver went down my spine as I dwelled on what we’d found at the clearing. Nothing. Only a few months had passed since her death, but the ground where Hannah had dragged her under was unbroken.

My mother, my father, my life back in Australia. I’d lost it all, but I’d gained so much through the Crescent Calling. Knowing Carman was back in Ireland was a weight on my shoulders I never thought I would have the moment I’d seen Boone turn into a fox for the first time.

Drawing a card from the tarot deck, I sighed when I saw the Chariot reversed. Again.

“I already know,” I told the card. “Stop beating it into my head.”

Glancing over at the window, I felt a bad case of the heebie-jeebies tingling across my exposed skin, and I leaped out of bed and yanked down the blind. Some fae had wings, right? What if they flew up and perved at me while I slept? I shook out my limbs, my paranoia rising.

We’d known Carman might come all along, but now that she was here, I didn’t know what to do. Everything I’d learned about being a Crescent Witch had dissolved into mush.

Curling up under the quilt, I left the lamp on and let my senses fly around the cottage. I felt Mairead asleep in the spare bedroom and a few nighttime creatures scurrying around in the forest, but nothing else stirred. There were no flying fairies or ancient witches gearing up for a grudge match.

There was nothing at all.

When the next morning dawned, I moved to the couch downstairs with a can of energy drink and the Crescent spell book. Another night of zero sleep, and I was a zombie.

I heard the front door opening, and I called out, “That better be you, Boone. If not…I love a barbecue!”

“But only if I cook it, right?” Boone leaned against the doorframe, looking handsome in his leather bomber jacket and boots.

“Thank, God,” I declared. “I don’t like charcoal.”

“I better light the fire for you, then. I don’t what you burnin’ down the cottage.”

“Thanks.”

He crossed the room and began fussing over the fire, laying out logs and kindling in an elaborate teepee design that had me wondering if he was an arsonist in his secret forgotten life. He had a certain je ne sais quoi with hot things.

“Where’s Mairead?” he asked, lighting a match.

“She went Christmas shopping in Sligo,” I replied. “Took the bus an hour ago.”

“You’re not openin’ Irish Moon today?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “We needed a break.”

“Everythin’ okay?” He nodded toward the six-pack of energy drinks on the coffee table.

It was no use brushing it off, so I told him. “I had another dream last night.”

Boone raised his head from the fireplace, and his brow creased.

I shrugged. “I know it was important, but whenever I think about it, all I get is nonsense.”

“So it wasn’t the knock on the head?”

“No. At least, I don’t think so.” I stroked the page of the spell book idly, my brain fogging up as I tried to recall what was just out of my grasp. “I can’t help thinking it’s another witchy omen.”

“Like what?”

“Like something is warning me about Carman and her plans. Like when the hawthorn warned me about Lucy.”

“Skye, the hawthorn put you in a vision of your family bein’ burned alive. You were tied to a stake.”

“So?” It was my turn to frown.

“It’s not a nice way of warnin’ you, is all.”

“Well, it’s either that or I’m broken. Broken would be bad.”

“You’re not broken.” Boone rose to his feet and dusted off his hands. “Your magic is still growin’. You said it yourself. Maybe it’s a reaction to Carman returnin’.”

“Like I’ve been given growth hormones?” I raised my eyebrows and clutched the spell book against my chest. “Okay…”

“All we can do is wait and watch,” he said. “Enjoy Christmas, Skye. You need moments like these.”

“To make the impending doom less doomy?” I rolled my eyes.

I couldn’t stop thinking about all the witches out there who might be falling victim to Carman’s insatiable thirst for power. She might be hoovering up a poor witch’s magic as we spoke about hiding out in Derrydun and waiting for her to come to us…at her full strength.

“We can’t leave the hawthorn unguarded,” Boone said, reading my expression.

“Are you sure you’re not a telepath?”

“I’m sure.”

Sure felt like he was.

“If there were more Crescents, then maybe we could’ve planned to go after her,” Boone went on. “But you’re all there is.”

Thinking about the Nightshade Witches, I knew finding allies would be impossible. To