Witch Risen: A Paranormal Adventure (Bad Tom Series Book 2) by Jill Nojack Read Free Book Online Page A

able, I grab the jeans and shirt Robert laid out for me and get Darrin moving toward the door. "Thanks, doc, really. I owe you," I say, as I steer him along toward the front door with a friendly hand on the back. He snags his bag as he goes.
    "Watching you transform is mesmerizing."
    "Yeah, yeah, mesmerizing. In a totally not-at-all-weird, we're-all-manly-men kind of way, right? Thanks again." I close the door in his face before he has a chance to burst into song about my painful transformation habit.
    I turn and rush back to the study where Robert has his head buried in a book.
    "Fill me in. Right now. What did you guys plan while I was suffering from cat brain? I know about the fake Tom, but what else?"
    He holds up a finger and continues reading for a moment, then places an embossed leather bookmark and closes the book. "You didn't hear the entire thing?"
    "Somebody put a cat on a chair full of fringed pillows. How much do you think I heard?"
    Robert smiles at that. "I see. Then, yes, let's talk."
    He leans back and holds his interlaced hands against his mouth for a moment before he begins. "Natalie is going to put Eunice to sleep in hopes that Cassie will then be in control again."
    "She can do that?"
    "She thinks so. And I believe she can." He inclines his head toward me, "Keep this between you and me, if you could, but I've always thought Natalie was an extremely accomplished caster. Despite our differences through the years, I admire her abilities. She's really quite a witch."
    "I definitely won't pass that on. Because how long would we have to listen to her brag on and on about being a master caster after that, do you think?"
    Robert returns my grin. "Two, three years, maybe?"
    "In that range," I agree. "But she can just put her to sleep, and we'll have Cassie back? Just like that?"
    His grin fades. He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Tom. It's not that simple. Natalie wants to talk to Cassie, but she can't keep Eunice asleep forever. It won't be very long. Maybe half an hour, maybe minutes. There aren't that many coven members we know we can trust, and the fewer people involved, the less oomph behind the spell."
    "It's not good enough, damn it! What good is all this magic if it won't help me save her? What good is any of it?"
    He stands and moves to place a hand on my shoulder, but I shrug it off. "Leave me alone."
    "You'll get to talk to her, Tom. It's more than I got when my wife died. I don't mean to be a downer, but I would have given anything to have just a few minutes with her to tell her one last time how I feel."
    "I'm not losing her, so don't even talk like that. How can you be giving up like this?" I feel my face growing hot, my anger starting to boil.
    "We're not giving up. I'm just saying…"
    "And I'm just not listening." I storm to my room and shed my human body. Cat is going hunting, sore paw and all.

A well-chosen spell sends the guards at the tomb's open mouth walking away into the desert accompanied by my driver. I'll have no trouble finding my way back to Cairo in the stolen cab. By the time they come to themselves with no memory of how they'd gotten there, they'll be well on their way to death by dehydration. The sands are dangerous with no place to escape the sun and no compass to point the direction home.
    I can't have them describing me after I've gone, can I? Not with what I've come to do. Grave-robbing is endemic with the political upheaval in Egypt, but no one would let me just walk away with what I plan to take.
    The desert air cleaves to me in a hot embrace. It's been too long. I've waited thousands of years. I've worn hundreds of bodies, some better than this one, some worse. And yet I never stopped believing this time would come.
    As I go deeper into the tomb, I need light. I blow across the girl's palm and a cool flame starts there, inches above and not burning, only illuminating. I take my time as I read the hieroglyphs along the way. Usually, there would be stories of the bravery and