Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 67614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
I smirk, and then my eyes spring open when the bathroom door slams shut.
“She’s really worked up over something.”
“She gets this way sometimes,” Giles replies. “She’ll get over it. Let’s rinse this out.”
“Would you like me to wash your hair?”
“No thanks.” He kisses me on the nose and then swats my butt playfully. “But thanks for the offer. I’d like to cuddle up on the sofa with a glass of wine and a movie.”
“Oh, that sounds really good. A funny movie, though. I think we need to laugh.”
“I’m on board with that. You choose.”
Giles steps under the stream of water to quickly wash his hair as I pause getting out of the stall to watch him.
He’s just so…Giles.
“How do you keep all those muscles so toned? I don’t notice you going to the gym.”
His eyes are tightly closed as he rinses his hair. “I carry heavy rocks around all day. And…genetics. I’m glad you like the looks of me.”
“It’s embarrassing, really, the way I pined away for you all those years. You were the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.”
“Past tense?” He opens one eye.
“Now you’re just fishing for compliments, and I’ll make your head big, so I’ll shut up now and get out of this shower.”
Before I can leave, he snags me around the waist and pulls me against him.
“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen in my life. Not only are you flat-out beautiful with those big green eyes and pretty hair and a killer smile, but your heart is absolutely gorgeous, too. You’re sweet and kind, and you just want everyone around you to be happy. All of that together is sexy perfection.”
“I wasn’t fishing for a compliment,” I whisper, but he just kisses me lightly. “But I’ll take it. Thank you.”
“Come on. Now that we’ve established how attractive we are, we should go watch that movie.”
I step out of the shower first and reach for a towel.
“What in the hell?”
I whirl at the sound of Giles’s voice. “What? What’s wrong?”
He just points at the mirror and the message written on the foggy glass.
DANGER!
CRYSTAL BAD
HURTING US ALL
-M
Giles and I share a look, and then I hurry to dry myself off and reach for my clothes. Giles does the same.
“What in the heck?” I ask, hopping on one leg to get my pants on. “Has Molly ever left you messages on the glass before?”
“No.” He pulls his shirt over his head. “I don’t even know if this is really her. For all we know, it could be it playing more games with us.”
A door slams, and the lights flicker.
“I think it’s Molly,” I reply. “But I’ve been wrong before.”
Giles opens the bathroom door, and Merlin darts from under the bed, straight at me, then jumps into my arms.
“He’s shaking.”
Giles looks grim as he watches me for a moment. “I think we have to give her the benefit of the doubt.”
“I agree. What crystal is she talking about? You have hundreds of stones in this house.”
He shakes his head but then realization seems to dawn in his eyes. “The labradorite that I brought home from the shop. I’ll bet you anything that’s the one. When it was at Gems, I had all those issues with poltergeist activity. Then I brought it home, and it stopped.”
“What do we do?” I clutch a still-shaking Merlin to my chest and kiss his head.
“We destroy it.” Giles’s jaw is set as he sets off down the stairs. I hurry after him, still damp, my hair wet.
“Here, honey.” I set Merlin on the sofa long enough to pull a hair tie out of my pocket and secure my wet locks in a bun and out of the way. As soon as I’m done, my familiar launches himself back into my arms. “He’s a little clingy.”
“Put him in his carrier and bring him with you,” Giles suggests as he walks right for the big piece of crystal that sits on a stand in the living room.
“What are you going to do?”
“Smash it into a billion pieces.” The stone flashes, startling me.
“Did you see that?”
“I saw. Labradorite is flashy, but not on its own like that. This is the issue. We’re going to take away this bastard’s conduit for its energy.”
I urge Merlin into his crate and then carry him out into the yard with me, setting him where he can see me but far enough away that he won’t get hurt.
“Should we call the others?” I ask.
“No. No time. I can do this.” Giles pulls out a big, blue tarp and spreads it over the grass, setting the stone in the middle. Then, he walks to the shed and returns with two sledgehammers.
“You just keep those lying around?”
He grins. “Handily enough, yes. I’m going to break it first, and then together, we’ll smash the smaller pieces. Then, we’ll gather up the shards, separate it, and bury it.”