Witch Risen: A Paranormal Adventure (Bad Tom Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

the kitchen with the dirty dishes and stack them in the dishwasher in record time, Natalie lays out her supplies and gets to work.
    "Tom, you understand that you'll be both the possessor of the lost object in the first casting and the lost object in the second?" She stands behind me with her hands on my shoulders while Gillian lights candles all around us. The chair is plain oak. Natalie doesn't want interference from anything plastic or artificial. I think she's more of a purist than she lets on.
    "I understand. Although I don't think that Cassie would like it much if I go around saying I own her."
    "Technically it's not a spell for things that are lost in an ownership sense. You wouldn't use this spell to find lost coins. It's for something that you care about. Is there anything you care about more than Cassie?"
    I glance at Gillian. "No. I have an old friend who stood by me even when I didn't deserve it who runs a close second, though." Okay, maybe I actually can say some of those difficult things I feel once in a while. Cassie has helped me begin to open up.
    Natalie catches Gillian's return smile and snorts. "Tom, get a grip, you're flirting while I'm telling you that you need to focus?"
    I shake my head and sigh. "I haven't stopped thinking about Cassie for a second since Eunice puffed out of that box like fiery demon's breath. It wouldn't be possible for me to be more focused."
    "Fine, then. Let's begin." Natalie waves the others out of the room. Robert turns out the lights on his way and closes the door. We're alone in the near-darkness, lit only by three candles. Her hand on my shoulder feels heavy and warm.
    "Hold your hands out. Cup them." I do as I'm told, and she places a small copper bowl with a greenish patina into them. Then, she removes the ceramic vessel that she'd hung around her neck on a cord. She leans over me to pour the contents into the bowl. "Don't turn, Tom. Continue to look ahead. Look at the reflective surface of the liquid in the bowl and try to see what you've lost there. Picture Cassie and your feeling for her."
    I do as I'm told, and the oil in the copper container begins to warm. It becomes almost too hot to hold.
    "Don't remove your hands," Natalie warns. "It won't burn you, I promise." I focus again, but it's difficult. With thoughts of Cassie comes pain.
    Natalie bends to my ear. "Are you focused? Do you see?"
    I concentrate everything that I am toward picturing Cassie—that last night together, her hair softly brushing my face as she bent down from above to kiss me.
    Her face appears in the surface of the oil. Her loving face. I can't pull my eyes away from it. I barely notice that the oil is turning blue.
    Then, the image is projected above the liquid, shimmering and vaguely formed. A tendril begins to grow from the side, reaching and twisting outward. It's found her. It's drawing a path.
    "Now, Tom, dump it over your hair and skin. We need to cover every part of you. We've proven Cassie is still there. And we'll use that piece of her essence you've found to disguise yours."
    I drop my robe and pour the oil over my head, spreading it first through my hair and then across my skin. As Natalie promised me, it doesn't burn me.
    "Make sure you're thoroughly covered." At least Natalie doesn't offer to help me out. I'm finding that magic may be the one thing she takes seriously.
    She circles me in the candle light, pointing. "There, more coverage. Good." In a moment, her voice comes from behind. "You've missed a spot just below your left buttock."
    I can't believe she resists an off-color remark as I smooth the oil down across my backside.
    She makes one more circuit. "Yes, we're done. You can put your robe back on as soon as the oil is dry to the touch. That will only take a couple of minutes. But no showering for 24 hours. You have to give the magic time to attach itself fully to your skin. If you don't, this will all be for nothing."
    I grab my robe off the floor as she continues, "We'll