Read Hexed for Free Online Page B

floor—though now there were six vacancies. Granuaile, my apprentice, lived on the eighth floor, directly underneath the condo of Radomila, the coven’s erstwhile leader. I thought it would be wise to check on her before knocking on Malina’s door, so I rang her bell.
    » Who is it? « her voice called through the door. » Oh, it’s just you. «
    She answered the door in something scanty, and I experienced a moment of panic as prurient thoughts pushed aside the innocent inquiry I’d been planning to make about her safety. Granuaile was not plain; she was a tall, lithe redhead with green eyes, a mouth that looked delicious, and an extremely sharp mind. The latter was most important, for otherwise she would not be my apprentice. It was difficult to dwell on her mind, however, when so much of her athletic build was on display—more than I had seen to date, in fact. She usually dressed very modestly and I appreciated it, because it kept my thoughts of her (mostly) innocent. But now that she was dressed in a low-cut pale-green nightie, all slinky and clinging to her shape—
    Baseball! Must think of baseball. Not the curve of her … curveball! Randy Johnson has a wicked slider too. Oh, how I would love to slide—
    » Atticus? What’s wrong? «
    » Huh? Oh. Um. Hi. « I’d been reduced to monosyllables by a nightie.
    » Why are you looking up? Is there something above my door? « She took a step closer to me and leaned over to see what I was looking at and, oh, my—
    » There’s some tit, uh, titillating wallpaper up there! Yes! Fantastic interior decorating here, I just noticed. «
    » You’ve seen it before. What’s going on? «
    Just the facts, Atticus. » Someone attacked me tonight and I wanted to make sure you were okay, « I said, trying to remember who held the record for stealing second base.
    » Oh, well, yes, I’m fine. Who attacked you? «
    » Still trying to find out. It was a magical attack, not a physical one. Actually, there was a physical one too, but that was a demon, and an elemental killed it for me so that’s all right, the ghouls are on their way, but I’m not sure my neighbor’s ever going to be the same, though you don’t have to worry about Oberon, he’s fine. « Sweet honey of Dagda, now I was babbling.
    » What? « Granuaile said.
    » Look, there’s no time to discuss it; just lock yourself inside and close all your windows. I’m going to put a ward on your door to keep you safe tonight while I go deal with this. «
    » You think someone’s going to attack me? «
    » No, no, it’s a precaution only. Now get inside and close the door—shoo. But open up the shop for me tomorrow; I won’t be in ’til after lunch. «
    » All right, « she said uncertainly. She turned, and I looked at the ceiling so that my peripheral vision would not drag my focus downward. » I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then. «
    » Sleep well, « I said as the door closed, shutting that body away from my eyes, and I sighed in relief. » Damn, I need a cigarette after that. And I don’t even smoke. «
    Druid’s Log, November 1: Buy attractive apprentice some shapeless, ugly clothes as soon as possible; maybe convince her to shave her head as well. Tell her all the cool Druid initiates are doing it.
    I didn’t need to put a ward on Granuaile’s door, since I had placed one there a week ago without telling her, right after she returned from North Carolina and confirmed she still wanted to be an initiate.
    After taking a couple of deep breaths to regain my composure and focus on my purpose, I used the stairwell to head up to the witches’ floor. I had no illusions that I would catch them unawares; they probably knew the moment I’d entered the building, much less ascended the stairs to their floor. I took a moment to mutter a binding on all my hair and skin, to make sure none of it escaped to fall into the hands of a witch. I had to be careful with my magic usage here; nine floors up from the earth, I had a