Hecate's Own: Heart's Desire, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

laid
out on it, along with a map of Philadelphia and a black glass pendulum. A red
magic marker rested atop the photo of a young girl, no older than fifteen.
Solid oak bookcases stuffed with books lined the walls. Some of those books
were so ancient they looked like they would fall apart with a glance. Some were
squeaky new. He thought he caught a glimpse of Raymond Buckland nestled next to
The Registry. “Nice.”
    Annabelle snorted. “It’s good to be the queen.”
    “Don’t let Arianna hear you say that.”
    Annabelle rolled her eyes. “Don’t talk to me about Arianna.
I’m still pissed that you’re here instead of there. It means someone screwed up
and I’m going to have to have words with them.”
    Zach blinked. “You’re allowed to yell at the Prince?”
    Annabelle gave him the most evil grin he’d ever seen on her
face. “ You may not be, but I sure as hell can.”
    “Okay.” Nothing Annabelle Evans did could surprise him. If
she wanted to go toe-to-toe with the forces of darkness she’d probably walk
away from it with one of those foam fingers, a trophy hat, an “All I got was
this lousy T-shirt” and a grin.
    “Pick up the pendulum.”
    Zach stared at the pendulum swaying gently over the map. His
free hand, the damaged one, rested on the photo of the girl, almost against his
will. He could feel the magic building inside him. “Annabelle?”
    “Hmm?”
    He could hear her puttering around the workroom, gathering
supplies from barely seen cubbies and drawers built into the huge log. “I know
what spell to use.” The urge to speak the spell was so overwhelming his speech
slurred.
    “Zach, no!”
    “North to South, East to West,
    Guide this pendulum in its quest.
    Find the witch that’s hidden from me.
    As I will so mote it be!”
    Zach gasped as the pendulum went insane. It swung all over
the map in seemingly random arcs, touching down here, there, everywhere.
    “Holy crap, Zach.” Annabelle watched as Zach’s arm got
jerked all around the map. “You’ve just found every single witch in
Philadelphia.” She frowned. “Even a few I didn’t know about.”
    The pendulum came to a halt right over the Girard Point
Bridge. “What. The?” Zach stopped himself from cursing at Annabelle’s glare.
“Sorry.”
    “Put the pendulum down and back slowly away from my altar.”
    Zach did as he was told. He wasn’t stupid. He knew he’d
screwed up again. “I’ll go up now.”
    Her eyebrows rose, but Zach didn’t stick around to hear the
lecture. He knew he’d messed up. He didn’t need to hear it in stereo. He just
hoped he hadn’t screwed Annabelle’s chance of finding the missing girl.
    He heard the phone ring, but ignored it. He didn’t want to
step on her toes any more than he already had. He heard her come up the stairs
and, out of the corner of his eye, watched her pick up the phone. “Hello?” She took
the phone from her ear and stared at it in silence for a moment before putting
it back to her ear. “Hold on.” She walked over and dropped the handset in his
lap. “Phone for you.”
    He hissed in pain as it landed just right on his manhood.
    He picked it up gingerly, terrified that it was, Lord help
him, his mother. “Hello?”
    “Why the fuck aren’t you in Cleveland?”
    Well hell. This was almost as bad. “Cleveland doesn’t rock?”
    “Don’t be a smartass, fucktard. You’re supposed to be ‘in
training’.” He could hear the quotation marks in Gareth’s voice. The future
King of Wizards had that note in his voice, the one that said he’d
scented a family problem and was ready to ride out on the warpath. “So why
aren’t you?”
    “No reason.” Not that he could put his overprotective older
brother off with that excuse for long. He quickly dunked another Oreo and
shoved it in his mouth. He had the feeling this conversation was going to take
a lot of cookies.
    “Zachary.”
    Zach winced. How Gareth had gotten their mother’s tone of
voice just right he’d