The Windhaven Witches Omnibus Edition : Complete Paranormal Suspense Series, Books 1-4 by Carissa Andrews (graded readers txt) 📕

It drops from my hand, landing on the soft dirt with a thud.

“Dammit,” I say, panting. Panic erupts through my gut, launching a dose of adrenaline, and I keep running, unable to justify slowing down to grab it.

If I’m going to get away from the Fetch, I’ll need to lose her in these tunnels. But how…?

Suddenly, I close my eyes, trying to summon the sight Abigail had shown me earlier. I have no idea if it is a trick my astral self can use while my real self can’t…but there’s no time like the present to try.

Please, please, please work.

I continue to run, hoping my other senses will alert me if I’m about to faceplant into a wall or something.

“There’s no point in running, Autumn. I’ll find you,” the Fetch calls after me. Her voice echoes through the chamber halls, sending chills up my spine.

Then, as if a theater screen ignites in my mind, the spectrum of colors erupts, showing me the faint outlines of the tunnel walls and its offshoots. The walls are full of small archways, one on top of the other above a flat platform. Inside each archway are the bodies of hundreds, if not thousands, of people who have sought sanctuary in these catacombs. The realization makes me shudder, but I keep running, taking turn after turn in the hopes of losing her.

Taking an immediate left, I veer the revenant and I as far away from where we started as possible. It’s only after the first twenty or so turns that trepidation begins to seep in.

How am I ever going to find my way out of here?

Even if we’re lucky enough to lose the Fetch, without my phone, a light, or any idea how to leave, I could die in these tunnels.

Before I could even finish the thought, I run back out into the middle of the circular room where we started. Startled, I pull up short, shaking away the shock and confusion.

“Autumn—oh, thank god.”

I spin around, clutching at my heart as Wade rushes toward me.

“How—? You shouldn’t be in here. You could have been lost…” I sputter, trying to catch my breath. My body quakes from the rush of adrenaline, and I can’t even begin to process what’s happening.

Wade shakes his head. “It’s a long story and I’ll tell you everything. But first, I have the rest of the revenants… You haven’t started the ritual yet, have you?”

“Noooo—” Cat’s Fetch erupts from the catacombs tunnel behind me, rushing past me and racing at Wade like a wildfire. The air crackles behind her as if she’s summoning some sort of static energy field.

As she reaches him, she places both hands across his chest, pushing hard. My mouth drops open as her body somehow passes through his, the way it had with Abigail. However, it doesn’t exit the other side alone.

Chapter 26

All Things Displaced

Wade’s spirit is thrust outside of his body, as if the Fetch was somehow able to dig inside him and yank it out. I nearly drop the grimoire as I lunge forward, reaching out for Wade. His physical body goes dormant—not unlike the revenant of his grandfather behind me. But his spirit stands just behind it, as if he’s somehow managed to clone himself.

“Wade—” I call out, unable to make my brain come up with more words. My heart comes to a complete stop—refusing to beat, just in case this means what I fear it means. Instead, my brain scrambles, searching for any answers on how to put him back where he belongs.

The Fetch of Cat cackles, as if this is the most hilarious thing she’s ever seen. “Looks like lover boy here isn’t as invulnerable as he thinks he is.”

Wade’s spirit looks down at his ethereal body with wide eyes and a look of horror clear across his face. “How—?” he mutters, flitting his gaze between me and his body.

I shake my head, still unable to process.

What do I do? How do I make this right?

I’m in no way prepared for any of this… I barely managed to bring Cat to life, and I evidently screwed that up. How do I put Wade back into his body?

“Abigail—” I cry out, my voice cracking. She has to be able to help me…

The Fetch of Cat circles around Wade and his spirit, a look of determination painting her features.

Abigail flickers into the room, but only a glimmer of her former self. Whatever she did to try to stop the Fetch clearly drained her.

“Help me…” I say, pointing to Wade’s body. “I don’t know what to do.”

Cat’s Fetch steps forward, curiosity lighting up her eyes. She jabs a single pointer finger into Wade’s spirit, but her hand goes right through him the way it did Abigail. Wade steps away, pulling back his arm and gawking at her. As if pleased with this outcome, she looks up, her eyes locking again on me.

Clutching the grimoire to my chest, I turn back to Abigail. Her essence shivers in and out of existence until she vanishes completely again.

Dammit.

Dropping to my knees, I flip through the pages of the grimoire, trying to find something—anything that makes sense. The words are a jumbled mess, and I don’t even take in the pictures or symbols. It’s like it’s all Greek.

“There’s no one here who can stop me now… Not you, not them,” the Fetch says, walking around Wade’s spirit.

Suddenly conscious of the predicament, Wade comes back to himself, and his spirit turns to face Cat’s doppelgänger. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

The Fetch shakes her head, completely unconcerned by his admonishment. Instead, the kinetic energy I felt as she ran by me rises again, making my hair stand on end. Behind me, the revenant gets restless as he begins to struggle against the energetic cord tying him to me.

“Tsk. What a predicament… Let’s see, which one will you choose to fight first?” the Fetch says, smirking. “Do you save your lover boy