The Blue Woods Read Online Free PDF Page A

lot.”
    When her dad had turned back to Heath, Jenny gripped my arm. “It was Bree?” she hissed. “The Clan member who was missing when we were in Massachusetts?”
    I leaned in close to her ear so I could whisper without her dad hearing. “Yes. But she’s not what you think. She’s our mage.”
    â€œWhat the hell is a mage?”
    Before I could answer, the doorbell rang. We all fell silent, straining to listen to Barb’s footsteps as she crossed to the window. A moment later she called out, “Jeff? I don’t recognize these people.”
    Jeff jumped to his feet. “They’re okay,” I heard him tell Barb, and the door swooshed open. I stood as Nerina entered the room. Her arm was wrapped around Bree, who still looked like she’d been run over by a steamroller. Nerina deposited Bree onto the couch and stood in front of the fireplace. The cozy, familial atmosphere in the room changed. The official Benandanti Clan had reconvened.

Chapter Three
    Worst Idea for a Slumber Party Ever

    Bree

    I don’t know what magic Nerina pulled to get me signed out of the hospital, but somehow I found myself hobbling out the front doors into the gray morning light. I lowered myself onto a bench to wait for Nerina to pull the car around. Just the walk from the elevator to the sidewalk had winded me. My bones protested every movement.
    The pain I could live with. It was the uncertainty that was killing me.
    A sporty red Fiat whipped around the corner and squealed to a stop in front of me. Nerina bolted out of the driver’s side to help me into the passenger seat. “There’s a blanket in the back if you’re cold,” she said and buckled the seatbelt around me.
    I reached for the blanket on the backseat. Pain ripped up my arm and across my collarbone. I snatched my hand back, breathing hard in and out through my teeth. Nerina slid into the driver’s seat and handed me the blanket. “Thanks,” I managed and squeezed my eyes shut. I counted to ten as Nerina put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb. By ten the pain had subsided into a prickly ache up and down my rib cage. I opened my eyes and tucked the blanket around me. “So, where’d you get this ride?”
    Nerina glanced at me but didn’t answer.
    â€œSeriously? You managed to steal the one Fiat in all of Maine? Impressive.”
    â€œI’m going to return it.”
    â€œWhy bother? The douchebag who owns this is probably too embarrassed to report it.”
    Nerina snorted. I let her concentrate on driving for a few minutes, but the instant we hit the highway, I put my hands on the dashboard. “Okay. You gotta tell me what’s going on. Heath left in a huge rush last night, sent in some redheaded chick who I can only assume is the Eagle to watch me, and then she peeled out of here too. Something big is up.”
    Nerina glanced in the rearview mirror, changed lanes so she could zoom past an ancient pickup truck rumbling along at forty miles an hour, and sighed. “We lost the Waterfall.”
    â€œWhat?” I sat up as straight as the seatbelt would allow. “How the hell did that happen?”
    â€œThe Malandanti found me. They took me to the Guild, the same room where they held you. That’s why Heath left you last night. He and Alessia came to get me.”
    â€œJesus . . .” I breathed and slumped down in my seat. After all our work, after overthrowing the Guild, they’d bested us again. “Well, you’re okay, obviously. Are Heath and Alessia okay too?”
    â€œThey’re fine. They’re at the Stag’s house. That’s where we’re going.” She glanced at me again. There was something in her face, something shadowy in her eyes, something she wasn’t telling me.
    â€œWhat is it?”
    Nerina swallowed. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tight. I squinted at her; she was unsettled in a way that I