“I won’t hurt you, lovely lady,” Alastair said in a soothing, seductive voice.

  As if she understood, the mutant canine inched closer.

  “Knox, please be ready to stop the saliva as it drops. This is my favorite suit, and I wouldn’t care to have it ruined.”

  Keaton’s mouth dropped open even as his wife snorted her amusement.

  “He’s crazy,” he muttered beneath his breath.

  “Not at all, my boy,” Alastair answered in Autumn’s stead. “I merely don’t take life as seriously as you do. No one gets out of it alive.”

  LJ grinned. “I like you more and more, tight-ass.”

  “I’ll go to my grave with a smile on my face, knowing I have your admiration,” Alastair deadpanned.

  “Darling, I don’t mean to hurry you along, but my grandchildren are wandering without supervision.” Aurora placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “You know what Thornes are like when left unattended.”

  “Indeed I do, my love. The evidence is staring us right in the face.”

  “Yes, well, work your—well, for lack of a better word—magic on the thing and be done with it.”

  The dog-like creature inched forward until her massive center head was only a foot from Alastair. The other two heads were pointed outward, as if to keep guard should anyone else move toward her.

  The one facing LJ whimpered as it gazed up at him, and frowning, he squatted beside Alastair, fearlessly extending his hand to stroke between her eyes. Those same eyes closed in bliss as her jowly mouth turned upward and her tongue lolled out, spilling more sizzling saliva onto the floor.

  “I think someone’s in love,” Autumn quipped. “Why am I not surprised you could charm the wild out of a Cerberus?”

  “It’s one of my many talents,” Alastair and LJ replied at the same time. They paused to exchange a highly amused glance, then concentrated on the monstrous acid-dripping dog.

  “You must be confused, girl,” LJ said softly. “Everything’s different than you’re used to, huh? I feel the same. How ’bout we take care of your little droolin’ issues and get you back home?”

  The three-headed canine promptly sat on her haunches.

  “We’re going to do a nifty little spell, and then you’ll get all the lovin’ your big ol’ heart desires.”

  Her tail, the size of a battleship’s towline, swished back and forth in her agreement.

  Spring moved through their awestruck crowd and handed Alastair a piece of paper. “This spell should do what you need it to,” she told him.

  He took a moment to study it, then nodded. “Thank you, child. I agree. This should work nicely.”

  “You don’t need to cast a circle, Uncle, unless your new friend is protected by magic.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that.” Alastair gave the beast a considering look. “I believe you understand me well enough, lovely lady,” he told the dog. “I’m going to send a light current your way. Don’t be frightened.”

  It was the damnedest thing, but the Cerberus cocked her heads, and hers was an expression of understanding. She stood perfectly still as Alastair stretched his fingertips to shoot a test wave her way. A blue crackling light appeared between them and was gone an instant later.

  “She’s got magic of her own, but she’s not protected. We’ll be able to neutralize her saliva.”

  Keaton sighed his relief. “Great. Let’s get on with this, please. My anxiety is at an all-time high.”

  Within minutes, the Cerberus’s drool was as harmless as any old pup, and she tried her best to become a three-hundred-pound lapdog, with all her affection directed toward the two Alastairs.

  “This feels like a bizarre dream,” Keaton murmured to his wife. “What is happening right now?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m heading to the clearing. The pull is strong.”

  Autumn faced Alastair. “Bring your new bestie, and let’s go.”

  Other than a lifted brow for her commanding tone, he didn’t react.

  “Sorry,” she muttered. “This is taking too long.”

  “Agreed. Lead the way.”

  The kindness in his eyes eased her fear that she’d offended him, and she spared a second to hug him, offering her thanks. His answer was a kiss on her temple.

  When their small group arrived at the clearing, two things struck Autumn at once. The first was that there was no movement. No wind, no forest sounds, and no smell associated with the trees. The second was the presence of a stronger magical creature than any of their group.

  “Something’s here,” Preston said, lifting his arms and conjuring fireballs. With the flames dancing in both palms, he turned in a slow circle as he studied the tree line. “There’s an ‘off’ feel to the place. Anyone else sense it?”

  “Yes. I believe we all do, brother,” Alastair replied. Removing his suit jacket, he placed it on the altar, then followed with the removal of his tie.

  “You know it’s serious when Alastair Thorne removes his tie,” Knox said lightly. But he, too, was on high alert, and although he held his arms low, he quickly drew molecules from the air to compress them into the electrical weapon he was creating to protect their group.

  “Stand ready, fellas,” LJ said. “This is what I felt before getting shoved through the portal.”

  “Are you saying one is about to⁠—”

  The entire clearing turned dark, and it was as if someone had shut off the lights in a small closet with no windows. Pitch black, and Autumn could see nothing. Hear no one. She reached for Keaton’s hand and came up empty.

  “Babe?”

  Her call was lost in the void, as if the sound never left her throat.

  Panic clawed at her insides, and her heart throbbed loudly in her ears, making her deaf to anything but the pounding.

  “Keaton?” she shouted. “Dad? Anyone?”

  Again, nothing.

  12

  The suspended sensation was similar to death, and Autumn worried for a moment that she’d been involved in a battle she couldn’t remember. Were the deities deciding her fate as she waited in the Otherworld’s holding room?

  Goddess, she hoped not. She needed to see her children safe first.

  A low humming started and grew louder with every beat of her heart until the noise was a pounding tempo in her brain. Where had she heard it before? Why did it seem familiar?

  A golden glow filled the area around her, and she shielded her eyes from the glaring light. When it calmed to a candlelight-like illumination, she lowered her arm and lifted her lids. All around her, her family stood, poised as she was and taking in the scene around them. Each of them was divided by a type of invisible bubble, with the exception of LJ and the Cerberus. They were the only two with the freedom to move among their group.

  “Can you hear me, LJ?” she shouted.

  He mouthed the word “yes” and nodded simultaneously. Gesturing with his hand for her to turn down the volume, he mouthed, “Too loud.”

  “I can’t hear you,” she said in a normal voice. “Can you conjure pen and paper and tell me what the hell is happening?”

  Doing as she asked, he wrote his reply. “Don’t know.”

  “Fucking lovely,” she grumbled.

  Her attention was caught by a movement behind him, and she called her warning. He spun to see what was coming just as the Cerberus lowered her heads. The fur along her spine lifted, and her thick tail stilled until she seemingly recognized the newcomers.

  A Gothic version of Spring stepped into the clearing, followed by another Cerberus that was, if possible, twice the size of LJ’s new pet. The creature dwarfed Goth Spring, making her look no bigger than a child’s doll guarded by a faithful hound.

  Sauntering forward, she eyed their group curiously. When she saw this world’s Spring, she misstepped, and her clunky black platform shoes came to an abrupt halt. Her shock appeared short-lived, and she approached Spring’s bubble. With a simple touch of her finger, it popped, reminding Autumn of the soap bubbles from Jolly’s evening baths.

  “You’re a Goody Two-shoes,” Gothica stated flatly.

  Unsurprisingly, Autumn’s sister laughed. “Am I?”

  Their voices echoed inside Autumn’s cocoon and sounded like they were coming through a 1960s radio with shitty reception. Why she could hear them and not LJ was a curious matter to ponder at a later date.

  “If you want to call me that, I’m cool with it,” Spring told Gothica. “But I’ve been known to bury a bastard or two when crossed.”

  Grudging respect lit Gothica’s dark jade eyes before her attention was caught by Knox. Inside his bubble, he was frantic. He threw lightning bolt after lightning bolt at the barrier wall in his helpless need to get to his mate.

  “Wow!” Fearlessly, she approached his invisible cage. “Aren’t you a gorgeous piece of man flesh?”

  “Man flesh?” Spring grinned at her counterpart when the woman cast a glance over her shoulder. “I’m not objecting to the name. It’s absolutely fitting. I might adopt it for myself.” To Knox, she said, “What do you think, babe?”

  His narrow-eyed response caused both Springs to laugh.

  “He’s yours?”

  “He is,” Spring replied with a loving smile for Knox.

  Gothica actually appeared disappointed.

  “You and the Knox of your world don’t hook up, I’m assuming.” Autumn’s sister offered up a sympathetic look. “That’s sad.”

  “Never met anyone named Knox.” With a shrug, Gothica faced her uncle. “Alastair. Why aren’t I surprised you’ve upset the balance between worlds?”

  “Not me.” He hooked a thumb in Autumn’s direction. “Your sister’s kids.”

  Gothic Spring approached her bubble and popped it to allow Autumn her freedom. “Your kids? Plural? I’m surprised you and Keaton had more than your first witchy wonder. That spoiled brat is the bane of my existence.”

  “Watch it, Gothica,” Autumn warned in an icy tone. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, but I can promise you, no child of mine is a spoiled brat.”

  A calculating gleam lit the other woman’s eyes. “Her name is Rachel, and I promise you, she is. She’s your mini-me and thinks her shit don’t stink.”

  Never mind that her brain was reeling from the fact she had a daughter named Rachel, Autumn couldn’t wrap her head around the fact her younger sister’s clone was a raging bitch. “So she’s tough. What’s wrong with that? It wasn’t a crime the last time I checked.”

  “It’s a crime when she terrorizes a town of innocents. But you and your lazy-ass boyfriend can’t be bothered to rein her in.”

  The last bit caught her off guard. “Boyfriend?”

  “Mike, Max, Mark… whatever the hell his name is.” Gothic Spring shrugged, and Autumn cast a dark glance LJ’s way.

  “I thought you said I was married to Keaton?”

  “You are,” he replied matter-of-factly. “I didn’t say you didn’t run around on him.”

  The knowledge was a gut punch. Was everyone miserable in this alternate reality? How truly sad if that were the case. Dismissing the tragedy of their world, Autumn faced Gothic Spring.

  “My children seem to have opened a portal to your world. I need to find them and bring them home.”

  Gothica’s overpainted brows clashed. “Shit.”

  “Shit? What shit? The sound of your ‘shit’ is ominous.”

  “I thought she was lying again.”

  “She?”

  “Rachel.”

  “I don’t know Rachel. I only know that my daughter, Chloe, and my son, Jolyon, are lost in your time.”

  “She did say her name was Chloe,” Gothic Spring said with a scrunched nose followed by an uncaring shrug. “I guess I should’ve questioned her before⁠—”

  “Before what?” Tone lethal, Autumn was ready to tear the bitch a new asshole.

  The look Gothica turned on her was regretful with a sprinkle of wariness mixed in.

  Forgetting for a moment that an acid-drooling dog the size of a small house had the woman’s back, Autumn grabbed her by the collar of her drab black dress and hauled her close. Nose to nose, she snarled, “What the fuck did you do to my kids?”

  13

  This chapter has gone the way of all the Thorne Witches’ Chapter 13s. Take a break, stretch, then dig back in for the second half of this adventuresome story.

  14

  Keaton couldn’t comprehend everything happening. There were two Alastairs, two Springs, two daughters, and two behemoth Cerberuses. Two worlds had collided, and everything around him was unreal and unimaginable.

  Autumn had taken a lover?

  Okay, yeah, not his Autumn, but still. She wasn’t the type to sneak around.

  He stared at her. Hard.

  Or maybe she was.

  If she’d done it in that world, couldn’t she do it in his? Would she suddenly recall she’d once believed he deserved payback for what occurred during their breakup? It made his old firebombed truck seem like child’s play. She definitely could’ve done worse. Watching her now, as she shook her sister’s twin like a rag doll and demanded answers, he knew he’d gotten off lightly.

  Christ, she was beautiful. An auburn-haired Amazon warrior who put Wonder Woman to shame.

  Dismissing the unease caused by learning there was a cheating replica of his wife, Keaton focused on the situation at hand—the bubble encapsulating him.

  He touched it from the inside and experienced a small jolt. Nothing shocking, more of a simple power surge. The surface was odd, as if it had a gritty, sand-like texture, and yet it was clear.

  But the ocean could wash away sand.

  As a water elemental, Keaton wasn’t able to draw forth the actual sea this far inland, but he could probably pull water up from the earth to erode enough of the wall and make good his escape. There was no time left to wonder if the darker version of Spring intended to release them to get to Chloe and Jolly, and it boiled down to his children’s safety first.

  Squatting, Keaton placed his palms flat on the ground, and concentrating all his attention on the act itself, he called the moisture from the ground to him. It wouldn’t do to remove all the liquid from the soil at once, or he could potentially create a sinkhole for himself. As soon as he was sure he had enough to work with, he redirected the water toward the bottom of the textured barrier, creating a small pool and lapping it against the wall like waves on the beach.

  He glanced up in time to see his wife’s fist connect with the woman from the alternate dimension, knocking her down and out. The Cerberus growled and loomed over Autumn as the sound fizzled out in Keaton’s bubble.

  In an instant, his wife conjured a wooden canopy to protect herself from the monster’s saliva.

  From his vantage point, he could tell it wouldn’t last long. Her mouth moved, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying. Frustration gripped him, and he redoubled his efforts with the water against the wall, raising it higher for a bigger opening. Was it working? It was too difficult to tell, but it did seem as if the colors on the other side of the wall weren’t as muted as the parts he’d left alone.

  Wildly, he looked around to see what the others might be doing to escape. Alastair was using Keaton’s same process, and Spring was examining Preston’s enclosure as if to understand the magic her clone had used to create it in the first place.

  A grin curled her mouth, and the next second, she pressed her palms to the exterior wall, causing it to disintegrate and sand to rain down on her father’s head.

  With a sweep of her hand, she took down all the bubbles at once.

  Keaton dove for Autumn right as her wooden shield developed its first hole. Dragging her to safety, he shouted over his shoulder to Alastair.

  “Do what you did to the other one! Like yesterday, man!”

  He hadn’t realized Autumn’s spell was also keeping the ferocious canine at bay until he could feel the thing breathing down his neck.

  Autumn screamed her pain, and he turned in time to see her arch her back.

  A shout echoed through the clearing, and the Cerberus thudded to a halt, swinging its heads in the direction of the others.

  Acting on instinct, Keaton tugged Autumn into his arms and hollered, “Hold your breath!”

  He conjured a continuous deluge of water, hoping to neutralize the acid. In his inexperience and panic, it felt like the force of ten waterfalls, and it knocked them to the ground. He did his best to protect Autumn’s head as it hammered down upon them.

  “Pull it back, babe!” she shouted, coughing between words as water filled her mouth. “Pull it back!”

  Closing his eyes, he pictured a gentle shower.

  Her beaming smile was his reward. “Well done, Keat.”

  “How’s your back?” She shifted for him to look, and Keaton winced at the angry splotches marring her previously silky skin. “Jesus!”

  “It probably looks worse than it is,” she said with a wry smile. The pain in her eyes belied her words.

  “We’ll see what Spring has for healing. If she doesn’t, I’m sure Winnie will prepare something for when we return. Can I take your pain away? Tell me what to do.”

  “I don’t want to bother Win. She’s got enough on her plate with the boys.” Autumn rose to her feet, and her expression arrested to one of wariness.

  Keaton turned his head to see the approaching alternate-reality Spring. The woman’s visage was technically the same as his sister-in-law, but where their Spring was pure of heart and intent, the other’s trials had hardened her eyes and turned down her mouth at the edges.

  When she reached Autumn, there was the smallest bit of contrition in the way her lips twisted up and her gaze softened. “It seems I owe you an apology, sister from another mister.”

  His wife’s brows shot up, but she remained watchful.

  “I didn’t mean to make it seem like anything had happened to Ra—uh, Chloe or your son. The girl showed up at my home, and I sent her away, assuming it was a game Rachel was playing.” The woman frowned as she met Autumn’s stare. “I’m not lying. I never do.”

 

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