Stranger Than Witches (The Witches of Secret Hallow Book 3) Read Free Page A

and browns were a bit chipped and faded, but still very beautiful.
    “Did you go with him today, wife of mine?” Maddock asked, taking a roll from another plate. “You said you were going to, right?”
    Kimberly nodded.
    “There was a big field ,” Keene said happily. “And Bronson was there! We played together.”
    “Oh yeah?” Maddock said. “That sounds like a lot of fun.”
    She resisted her urge to tell Maddock that Fern had pushed Keene over with magic. Her mind spiraled through the horrible things that could have happened from there, though—all the terrible injuries that could have befallen her beautiful child.
    Keene went on for a while, which was impressive considering they had maybe been at the school for half an hour. He mentioned Gemma and some of the kids he’d played with, but not Rowan and Fern. Kimberly stayed silent throughout the meal, but besides a single concerned look from Maddock, he let it drop.
    Conversations soon turned to more pleasant topics, and dinner passed blissfully. Keene finished before his parents and wandered away.
    Kimberly and Maddock cleaned up the kitchen while Keene talked seriously to his toys in the living room, occasionally breaking away from the area he had the toys grouped to shriek and run around in circles.
    His joyful shrieks had an impressive effect on Kimberly, somewhere between panic and love.
    “Indoor voice, Keene!” Maddock called, not for the first time. To Kimberly, he said, “Sounds like he had an exciting day at the Ash Academy.”
    Kimberly nodded in agreement. It was easier than trying to elaborate on his frightening interlude with the elemental girl. “I’ll put him to bed as soon as we’re done here.”
    She left it there, and again, Maddock didn’t push. She almost wanted him to push for more information, to force her to speak about it, but she didn’t quite know how to ask. One of the perils of being with a man who usually spoke before she had the opportunity to ask, she supposed.
    After everything was clean, she helped Keene through his bedtime activities: brushing his teeth, using the potty, and snuggling in bed with Poke, who was the stuffed-animal clone of Thorn. Poke was much chubbier, though.
    In reality, Thorn was quite the impressive bird: huge, sleek, and intimidating. But he was incredibly gentle with Keene. There was a time that Thorn had groomed Keene’s fine baby mohawk with his beak and hadn’t left a scratch. That had been many years past now, though. Thorn had better things to do than groom a small child. Keene’s affection for Mommy’s familiar had never faded, though, and he adored his stuffed familiar as much as the real thing.
    Keene did the obligatory bird swooping and eagle cry noises while Kimberly read him a book—even though the book had no birds, some things just had to be in every story—and when Kimberly read the end, he swooped Poke to settle in for the night. He snuggled the stuffy under his arm.
    “Good night, son,” Kimberly said, kissing him on his forehead.
    “Night…” Keene yawned, forcing his eyes open when he was done. “G’night, Mommy. I can’t wait to go back to school.”
    Her heart shattered, as it had been threatening to do all day.
    Kimberly had been pulling away from Keene’s bed, but she froze in place. Keene didn’t notice. He was too busy humming to himself and pulling his covers up, ready for sleep.
    Ready to dream of a school Kimberly didn’t think she could send him back to.
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    O nce she left Keene’s room, Kimberly went out to the back porch.
    The night was cool and, like earlier, just on the edge of crisp. A breeze whirled leaves between the house and the barn and brought a quiet little howl along with it. Everything in Secret Hallow had spirit, even the weather. It was as though the wind were whispering through to apologize for the incident between Fern and Keene earlier.
    It would take much more than a few meaningless murmurs of comfort to make it all