Bound In Blood (The Adams' Witch Series Book 1) by Erin Butler

from the paper at his trembling child. “What is this?”
    “Mrs. Shipton has written it.”
    “Mrs. Shipton?” His eyes narrowed to slits. “How did she come to be in your room?”
    Tears poured from Isabella’s eyes. “She was not, Sir. The nightmare I had last night. She was in it and she said those words. She sang them around a fire.”
    “That is just a dream.”
    “She is a witch.”
    “Isabella!” Mr. Lynne’s voice bellowed. “Do not throw out accusations. There is too much of that at present.”
    “But Father, I—”
    Mrs. Lynne stepped forward, reaching out. “What does it say?”
    He snatched the paper from her reach. “‘Tis nothing, just nonsense.”
    Mr. Lynne took one last look at the two of them and turned on his heels.
    Out the door he went and into the main hall. He threw the piece of parchment on the hearth and watched it shrivel up and burn.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER NINE
     
     
    Sarah
     
    Jennie grabbed the hilt of the knife with both hands and slashed down. The knife sunk into the earth right off my left hand.
    I hurled myself backward.
    “Wait! Don’t move!” Pushing Drake out of the way, Jennie brought the knife up again and swung it down into the earth on my other side.
    Drake charged between us, holding a strong, muscled hand in front of Jennie’s chest. “What the hell?”
    She stared him down. “She broke the circle. Now we have to repair it. Take her out of it .” She waved the knife toward me. “ Now.”
    The leader with the choppy hair stepped up and placed a hand on the other girl’s shoulder. “Jennie, these are guests. They don’t know about the sanctity of the circle."
    The witch’s stare fixed on me. Beads of sweat formed on her hairline and her fair skin sponged into pink circles. She didn’t appear any different from earlier today. Same bitchy face and snarky attitude. “She needs to leave.”
    “Don’t worry. She is,” I said, placing both hands underneath me.
    With Drake’s help, I moved away from the circle and out onto the fringes. Jennie and the leader hovered over the spot where I stood, the palm reader spying over the leader’s shoulder as they spouted some weird incantations and used a candle to make the circle whole again.
    The leader smiled at me several times. I didn’t care. I just wanted to go.
    “You okay?” Drake whispered. He held me in a hug still, arms completely engulfing me. I felt like a small doll in his embrace.
    “Yeah,” I choked out. “I’m good."
    “What happened?”
    I shook my head. I wasn’t about to tell him I was going crazy. “I don’t…like supernatural stuff.”
    “It’s interesting though, isn’t it?”
    “Scary witches and spells?”
    “No.” Drake drew me away at arm’s length, his eyes sparkling. “Those stories Courtney told us about the first settlers.”
    I racked my brain. I didn’t remember any stories, only cloaked figures with white eyeballs. “I couldn’t really hear her talking."
    “You probably drowned her out. Forty-five minutes is pretty long.”
    “Forty-five minutes?” Holy crap. Are you kidding me? I thought I had only been here for ten.
    A tap on my shoulder made me whirl around to find Courtney smiling. The cloak gone, shed somewhere in the Wiccan magic world, the high priestess almost looked normal.
    “Hey, I wanted to come over and introduce myself.” Her voice was so much softer than it sounded from within the circle. I wouldn’t even recognize the two voices as coming from the same person. “I’m Courtney.”
    “I’m Sarah.” I tugged on Drake’s shirt and took a step toward the truck.
    Courtney kept talking. “I’ve seen you around, just haven’t had the chance yet to say hi. You’re staying with Rose, aren’t you? She’s such a sweet woman.”
    I peeked at Drake who hadn’t budged an inch.
    Her eyebrows rose. “Are you okay by the way?”
    I crossed my arms in front of me. “Yeah. Fine.”
    “Sometimes the energy in a circle can be too