Spiritbound Read Online Free PDF

safe.
    ‘I don’t expect them to embrace me, but I do expect them to accept who and what I am. Well, maybe someday they will.’
    Elena wiped the back of her hand across her forehead, leaving a smear of dirt. ‘See, you’re so together. Me, I’m still a mess, still looking to find who I am and what I want out of life.’
    ‘You’ll find it. Hey, I’ll leave you to your gardening.’ Grace climbed to her feet. ‘About Fel, just keep an ear out.’ She laughed. ‘You know what I mean.’
    ‘I do.’ Elena banged the roots of a large weed on the ground to shake off excess dirt before tossing it in the wheelbarrow. ‘How are you really, Grace?’
    ‘I’m good.’ Grace looked up at the sky, studying a cloud formation. Elena still watched her, but she hoped she wouldn’t ask more about Declan. The adjustment to him being around again was not going smoothly. She’d thought she had it under control, but her family kept looking at her and offering sympathy and support. She’d thought Declan was all in the past. Dead. Buried. Done. It had been three days since she’d seen him and it was like someone had ripped a Band-Aid off her heart. It smarted something awful.
    ‘Well, you know I’m here if you want to talk.’
    Grace laughed. ‘What should we talk about? How tall he is? How handsome he’s become, and buff too? Shall we talk about that?’
    Elena sat back. ‘Grace, that’s so unfair. You shouldn’t have eavesdropped on your mother and me. We didn’t want to hurt your feelings.’
    ‘You didn’t hurt them. I agree. He’s all those things, but he’s not for me. You don’t understand. We could never rekindle what we had. Besides, we were so young and innocent. We formed a bond. It’s all forgotten now.’
    ‘Don’t be so sure.’
    ‘Look, he has his pick of witches in the coven. Even if he did fancy me, which he doesn’t, I’d be stupid to think it was possible. I’ve been shunned. His family hates me. Now that’s something I wish I didn’t overhear.’ Grace brushed off her pants. ‘I’m going shopping in Balmain. Want to come? I can wait.’
    ‘I’d love to but I promised Elvira I’d go visiting with her. She is working on a spell to help Jane Kranscomes’ knees.’
    Graced nodded and checked she’d dusted the dirt off her backside. ‘Fine then. I’ll see you at dinner.’
    ***
    For some reason Balmain was full of witches that afternoon. Grace had seen four young witches in the first ten minutes of being on Darling Road. She ducked into a boutique to hide from one of them. It was bad enough mingling with the folk at coven rights and events, but casually was even worse. She never knew what to expect. As she saw another witch across the street she pulled back into the store. What were they doing here? One witch who lived locally in Balmain would be considered normal, but unlucky for Grace. The ones she’d spotted were from further afield.
    The image of Declan Mallory sprung into her mind. Surely not. She shook her head. They couldn’t all be there for him, could they? But that made sense. It was one of the local shopping areas for the Mallorys. He must be in Balmain at the moment too. Grace smiled at the thought. The poor man was being stalked and hunted. The pressure wasn’t going to let up until he succumbed to one of the witch’s lures. How uncomfortable it must be to have every single witch on the lookout for you, hoping to accidentally-on-purpose bump into you. Well, Declan deserved it for growing up so tall, handsome and buff. She shook her head, pitying those witches. Imagine stooping to such tactics. Where was their pride?
    Her standing around doing nothing started to earn her a few odd looks from the other customers. She turned and started flicking through the dresses on the rack with a determination that kept the young shop assistant away. Her heart wasn’t really in it but she put on a good show. Nothing really caught her eye and she soon grew bored.
    Yet she didn’t