Witch Risen: A Paranormal Adventure (Bad Tom Series Book 2) by Jill Nojack
Book: Witch Risen: A Paranormal Adventure (Bad Tom Series Book 2) by Jill Nojack
Read Free Book Online
Authors: Jill Nojack
Ads: Link
an exhausting flight. I barely notice, I'm so buoyed up by my precious cargo. Getting through customs with a mummy's heart should be difficult, even impossible. But for me, I'm sure it will just be an amusing stroll. And if it isn't? I have a backup plan.
I keep the Ab Khr close, hidden in a large handbag my Eunice persona would reject as something Gillian would buy. It pulls my entire silhouette down. But until Ba'al has eyes to go with his heart, it makes no difference.
I hope he'll be pleased with my choice. He would have liked Eunice better—her extreme lean body was so much like my original one. It seems unfair that I could choose a form for him that pleases me when he has no choice in mine. Of course, he can choose any body for me on his return, and I will happily let go of this one to please him. But the small amount of wealth and property I've accrued could be lost, and those things are not so easy to gain in a world that doesn't leave gifts at our altars. It's no fortune, but it's enough for us to be comfortable anywhere we choose.
Once Ba'al takes Tom's body, he can easily override the human personality, destroying it and taking the Cat magic for his own. There was so little passed through history about his love of sneaking around in his alternate form, but the interest in cats you see in so many tombs was attributable to the cat-shifting god.
As I approach customs, I gaze casually at each of the officers in turn, blinking in a lazy way and yawning. As I do, each of them grows tired, asleep on his or her feet in seconds. I pass as they snooze. When they awake, they will be unaware that they had done anything more than blink.
The other sheep just wait for the attention of the officers to return. It won't surprise me if they start bleating.
I don't count on the armed guard on the other side of the customs tables who sees me pass unquestioned. I yawn, but he remains alert. Not suggestible. None of that useful human empathy. I've never had patience for his kind unless I needed a killer within easy reach.
As he heads for the end of the tables with his eyes on me, I reach for my middle, then snatch and twist the fine chain around my waist to break it and activate the spell I'd earlier cast in preparation for just this possibility. He falls with a snapped neck.
See? This is what happens when you're nice to the common people. They break your windows when they're not rifling through your tombs. The note I find on the downstairs parlor table tells me that the window is boarded due to a possible break-in. Then it asks me to drop everything to let the police know I'm okay. Like it's their business where I go or what I do. How has Kevin let them get so out of control? He's a simpering little toady, but he certainly had his uses when it came to keeping the local police force leashed.
I pick up the second note. Oh, how nice. The bill for boarding up the window. And an offer to repair it with a 10% discount to boot.
This all wouldn't have been such a surprise if I hadn't packed Eunice's cell phone instead of Cassie's on sheer force of habit. I snatch hers from the counter, and there are several messages. Most of them are from the police to tell me about the broken window and remind me to call when I can. One is from that awful Dan whom Cassie was engaged to, begging her to reconsider their relationship, and another is from Gillian reminding me about "choir practice" tonight.
I have no interest in attending, but I'll have need of the coven soon, so I can't blow my cover just yet. "Cassie" will have to attend. But I still have time to try to figure out who was here and what they wanted.
Nothing appears to have been disturbed downstairs, so I go upstairs. No—nothing missing that I notice on a casual inspection.
Then I remember that I didn't check the register. Funny that the cash is the last thing I think of. I trot back down the stairs—I love how these knees just bend as if it's the easiest thing in the world—and
I keep the Ab Khr close, hidden in a large handbag my Eunice persona would reject as something Gillian would buy. It pulls my entire silhouette down. But until Ba'al has eyes to go with his heart, it makes no difference.
I hope he'll be pleased with my choice. He would have liked Eunice better—her extreme lean body was so much like my original one. It seems unfair that I could choose a form for him that pleases me when he has no choice in mine. Of course, he can choose any body for me on his return, and I will happily let go of this one to please him. But the small amount of wealth and property I've accrued could be lost, and those things are not so easy to gain in a world that doesn't leave gifts at our altars. It's no fortune, but it's enough for us to be comfortable anywhere we choose.
Once Ba'al takes Tom's body, he can easily override the human personality, destroying it and taking the Cat magic for his own. There was so little passed through history about his love of sneaking around in his alternate form, but the interest in cats you see in so many tombs was attributable to the cat-shifting god.
As I approach customs, I gaze casually at each of the officers in turn, blinking in a lazy way and yawning. As I do, each of them grows tired, asleep on his or her feet in seconds. I pass as they snooze. When they awake, they will be unaware that they had done anything more than blink.
The other sheep just wait for the attention of the officers to return. It won't surprise me if they start bleating.
I don't count on the armed guard on the other side of the customs tables who sees me pass unquestioned. I yawn, but he remains alert. Not suggestible. None of that useful human empathy. I've never had patience for his kind unless I needed a killer within easy reach.
As he heads for the end of the tables with his eyes on me, I reach for my middle, then snatch and twist the fine chain around my waist to break it and activate the spell I'd earlier cast in preparation for just this possibility. He falls with a snapped neck.
See? This is what happens when you're nice to the common people. They break your windows when they're not rifling through your tombs. The note I find on the downstairs parlor table tells me that the window is boarded due to a possible break-in. Then it asks me to drop everything to let the police know I'm okay. Like it's their business where I go or what I do. How has Kevin let them get so out of control? He's a simpering little toady, but he certainly had his uses when it came to keeping the local police force leashed.
I pick up the second note. Oh, how nice. The bill for boarding up the window. And an offer to repair it with a 10% discount to boot.
This all wouldn't have been such a surprise if I hadn't packed Eunice's cell phone instead of Cassie's on sheer force of habit. I snatch hers from the counter, and there are several messages. Most of them are from the police to tell me about the broken window and remind me to call when I can. One is from that awful Dan whom Cassie was engaged to, begging her to reconsider their relationship, and another is from Gillian reminding me about "choir practice" tonight.
I have no interest in attending, but I'll have need of the coven soon, so I can't blow my cover just yet. "Cassie" will have to attend. But I still have time to try to figure out who was here and what they wanted.
Nothing appears to have been disturbed downstairs, so I go upstairs. No—nothing missing that I notice on a casual inspection.
Then I remember that I didn't check the register. Funny that the cash is the last thing I think of. I trot back down the stairs—I love how these knees just bend as if it's the easiest thing in the world—and
Similar Books
