The Professor Woos The Witch (Nocturne Falls Book 4) (9 page)

“I didn’t think we were still going after…what happened.”

He took a breath. Being this close to her exponentially ramped up the desire to touch her again. “You, uh, could come in and we could get pizza. Or something.”

“I think I should just go home.”

“I’d really like to talk.”

Uncertainty lifted her brows. “We’ve tried that. Doesn’t seem to work out so well between us.”

“Maybe we could start over.”

She studied him. “I’m sorry about what I did to you. That was not the correct use of magic.”

It wasn’t
any
use of magic. But that conviction didn’t ring as true as it would have the day before. “The thing is…I’m starting to have doubts. Not doubts. Questions.”

“About?”

He braced himself and forced out the words. “What’s true and what’s not.”

She grinned and turned off the engine. “Pizza sounds great.”

He opened her car door for her, and she slid out, her shapely legs tanned and a little freckled and utterly sexy. He leaned past her to close the door.

“I see you didn’t take Kaley’s advice.” She poked at the hole in the sleeve of his T-shirt. Her finger went through and connected with his bicep.

A flash of moonlight and the caw of birds filled his senses. Wind rushed over his skin as the earth fell away beneath him. The sensation gave him a moment of vertigo, and he stumbled, coming in contact with the side of her car. Losing contact with her.

He blinked hard. The images were gone. His heart was pounding, and his breath was coming fast.

Alarm distorted Pandora’s face. She reached for him. “Are you okay?”

He put his hands up. “Don’t touch me. Please. Something’s not right.”

She retreated. “Are you sick?”

“No.” He straightened as he caught his breath. “But we really need to talk.”

As soon as they got into the house, Cole called upstairs. “Kaley?”

“In my room,” she yelled back.

“Okay,” he answered, then said to Pandora, “Let’s go into the kitchen.”

“Sure.” She headed there with him, dying with curiosity over what was going on. It almost seemed like he’d had the same kind of episode as he’d had in the attic, but he hadn’t touched anything witchy.

Except her. And, technically, she’d touched him.

She took a seat at the table and waited for him to do the same.

“You want a beer?” He pulled the fridge open. “Because I do. Definitely.” He held up two cold bottles.

“Since I’m missing my wine, sure. Plus, it goes good with pizza.”

He twisted the tops off both bottles and handed one to her as he sat down, his fingers well away from hers. They each took a drink, his slightly longer. When he set his bottle down, he shook his head. “Something is happening to me.”

“So you said. What kind of something?”

“I…don’t know.” He swallowed. “I’m having these…visions.”

She knew her facial expression probably wasn’t helping the situation, but to hear a guy who flat-out refused to believe in witches say he was having visions was pretty jaw-dropping. “What kind of visions?”

More head shaking. “Like I’m flying. And there are always birds in them. Or the sound of birds.”

She pursed her lips. “I don’t know what that means. Wait. You said always. When did they start?”

He let out a breath. “The visions started when you handed me the mirror…”

“I sense a
but
coming.”

He ran a hand through his dark hair, his eyes troubled as he nodded. “I’ve been having dreams like that since I was a kid.”

That was a little concerning. She sat back, scrunching up her nose. “Okay, that’s weird.”

He flicked his gaze at her. “That’s not helpful.”

“I’m sure.”

“Maybe we should go back to the attic and take a look at that mirror again.”

“I already did that.”

“And?”

“Nothing. But when you touched me in the driveway, it happened again.”

“That doesn’t mean these visions aren’t connected to the mirror.”

His brows bent. “It doesn’t?”

“No. If that’s where the visions started, it could definitely be involved.” She put her hands on the table. “You mind if I run up there and have a look at the mirror?”

“Be my guest.” He stood. “I guess I should go with you.”

“Actually, no.”

“No?”

“Just trust me on this.” Despite opening up about the visions, she wasn’t convinced Cole was ready for the full-on witch experience, and she wanted to try a little summoning spell while she was in the attic. Without him going all Judgy McJudgerson.

“Okay.” He looked relieved and sat back down.

She got up. “I won’t be too long.”

He nodded and sipped his beer. “I’ll order the pizza. Any toppings you hate that I should know about?”

“Pineapple. Don’t go there.”

“Got it.”

She headed upstairs. She added residential elevator to the list of things the house could use. At least the two flights would count as some kind of cardio.

The attic was exactly as she remembered it. Big, dusty and crammed with all kinds of witchy things. She poked around. Some really great witchy things. Maybe Cole would let her mom and sisters come over to help catalog this stuff.

She went to the shelf with the mirror and picked up the scrying glass. She turned it over, tested its weight. There was nothing unusual about it. She put it back.

Her magic had been rather cooperative lately. She hoped that would hold out for her summoning spell. It was very possible Gertrude had left some unfinished or lingering magic behind.

She stood in the middle of the room and spread her arms out. “Any spells that remain undone, show yourself in a beam of sun.”

She turned slowly, but not a single thing was illuminated.

“I didn’t leave any loose ends.”

Pandora spun toward the unfamiliar female voice.

Behind her stood a ghost.
Stood
maybe wasn’t the right word.
Hovered
was more correct. The ghost was about five feet tall, eighty years old and had a helmet of cotton-candy-pink hair that matched the pantsuit she was wearing.

Pandora took a wild guess. “Gertrude?”

“One and the same. You the new lady of the house?”

“No, I’m just visiting.” Pandora had seen her share of supernatural weirdness in her time, but this was the topper.

Gertrude nodded. “You sleeping with the disbelieving man candy?”

“I—no.”

“You should be. He’s got it going on for a normie.” Gertrude tapped a finger against her chin. “Technically, he’s not a complete normie, though.”

“He’s not?”

Gertrude’s eyes narrowed. “Is he some relation to my Ulysses?”

Pandora nodded. “Distant nephew.”

Gertrude slapped her thigh. “I knew it. Same eyes. Plus, I can tell a familiar when I see one.”

“A familiar?”

“I tried to give him a hint.” Gertrude wiggled her fingers at the bookshelf on the other side of the room, and a narrow book slid out and floated over. “But he’s got a classic case of denial going on.”

The book bobbed in the air in front of Pandora. She plucked it free and read the cover. “
Concerning Familiars
?”

Gertrude waved her hand at Pandora as if assessing her. “Your magic’s a little wobbly on a good day, isn’t it?”

Pandora lifted her chin. “I do my best.”

“Oh, it’s not your fault, dearie.” Gertrude levitated so she could look down her nose at Pandora in a very conspiratorial way. “But around the stud muffin, it works just fine, am I right?”

“No one says stud muffin anymore.” Pandora bit her lip as she thought back. All the magic she’d done that had actually worked had been performed in Cole’s proximity. The candle and the sealing spell. And maybe the summoning spell. He was just a few floors down, after all.

And while the spell hadn’t found any unfinished magic, it had brought Gertrude out of the ether. Whether or not that was actually a positive remained to be seen. “What does it mean that my magic works around him?”

“He’s a familiar. And not just any familiar, he’s yours.” She gave Pandora a naughty wink. “Touching him will awaken feelings in both of you, but to seal the bond and keep him from bonding with any other witch, you need to get a little more intimate. You know what I mean? You need to get—”

“I know what intimate means, so settle down. Let’s go back to what you first said, because I don’t understand all of this. Familiars are like cats and birds and rats. There’s a member of our coven who has a bearded dragon.”

“You could at least kiss him, that’s all I’m saying.” Gertrude hovered close enough that Pandora realized she was wearing false eyelashes. “And yes, familiars are usually animals. Sometimes, they’re people who can shift into animals.”

“Cole’s not a shifter.”

“Ah, but he
is
. You can see it in his aura.”

“I can’t see auras.”

“Didn’t get that gift, eh? It’s all right. Not many do. But trust me, being a familiar is an essential part of who Cole is. After all, my Ulysses was one.”

Pandora did a quick mental check on all the stories she’d heard about Gertrude and her husband. “I’ve never heard that about you two.”

Gertrude’s drawn-on eyebrows rose abruptly. “So you’ve heard things about me, then?”

“My mother knows—knew you.”

“Who’s she?”

“Corette Williams.”

Gertrude nodded. “I remember her. You ask her about human familiars. You’ll see. They’re rare, and those of us who are fortunate enough to get one, don’t talk about it, because there are less-scrupulous witches out there who’d like to steal them away. Some witches spend their whole lives trying to find one, but human familiars don’t work that way. They find the witch who needs them, not the other way around. And if one finds you, then you are a very lucky witch indeed.”

Pandora’s head was spinning. “But why doesn’t he know he’s one, if that’s what he is?”

Gertrude shot up into the air and hovered several feet above the floor, her gaze shifting over Pandora’s shoulder. “Gotta go!”

“Wait!” Pandora put her hand out, but Gertrude was gone.

Behind her, the attic door opened.

“You okay up here?”

She turned. Cole stood at the landing. Gertrude was right. He really was a stud muffin. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just coming back down.”

“Were you talking to someone?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know where to start.”

He walked over, his gaze on the book in her hand. “Please tell me that book wasn’t on the floor when you came up here.”

“No. Why?”

“It kept falling off the shelf earlier.”

Pandora nodded. More like it kept getting pushed off the shelf by a crazy old woman with drawn-on eyebrows and a penchant for glitter. “I think I know what’s going on with you, but you’re not going to like it.”

“I don’t like it now. Tell me your thoughts. I’ll be as open-minded as I can be.”

Gertrude’s words rang in Pandora’s brain. “This is going to sound crazy, but you might be something called a familiar.”

“Familiar with what?”

“No,
a
familiar. A witch’s companion.”

His expression didn’t change for a moment, then he started laughing. “Okay, you got me. Good one.”

“No, I’m serious.” She held out the book to him. “You should read this.”

He held his hands up. “Pandora, c’mon. That’s so bananas I don’t even know where to start. Certainly not with that dusty old book.”

Reluctantly, she put the book back on the shelf. “You said you’d be open-minded.”

“Yes, but a witch’s companion? As in your companion? Is this your way of trying to get me to believe? It’s cute, I’ll give you that.”

Kiss him
, a voice whispered in her ear.

So she did.