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

“Where would you like to go first?” Wade asks, spinning around in the main entry. “The possibilities are endless… Macy’s? Sephora? Best Buy? Victoria’s Secret?” He grins broadly, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

I can’t help but laugh. “You pick. I’ve never been to a mall this big.”

“Never?” Wade asks incredulously.

I shake my head. “No, never. We mostly stuck around Mistwood Point. My mom’s kind of a homebody.”

“Well, my dear Dru, this is a bigger occasion than originally anticipated,” Wade says, reaching out for my hand. As I respond, he wraps my hand around his forearm, and places his hand over top. Tipping his chin high, he declares, “We shall see them all.”

We spend the entire rest of the day in the mall, taking the shops at our leisure and enjoying every minute of it. I don’t remember the last time I spent any amount of time lately just relaxing and enjoying the day. In fact, it’s probably been years. At least before moving here.

For a few blissful hours, even the craziness waiting for us when we return home escapes my mind. We looked at comics, new laptops in the Apple Store, movies in Best Buy, everything in the game store, and Wade even came with me into Kay Jewelers.

By the time we were spent—both physically and monetarily—it was edging near suppertime.

“They have a Cheesecake Factory? Oh, yes please,” Wade says, sighing with delight. “You’re going to love this one. Let me see if they have any openings.” Without another word, he runs off, leaving me standing in the middle of the walkway with our haul.

“Okay, I’ll just…” I say, spinning around and looking for the nearest bench, “wait right here.” Luckily, it isn’t far, but maneuvering through the crowd of shoppers is awkward with so many bags.

When I reach the bench, I detangle my hands from the bags and drop them on the seat. My fingers contort into odd angles, and anyone watching me would think I was mimicking a velociraptor as I tried to stretch them back out.

Suddenly, someone slams into me from behind. I stumble forward, trying to catch my balance on the bench and reaching for my purse as it tumbles off my shoulder.

“Sorry,” the woman mumbles, continuing onward toward the exit in a hurry.

She tugs on a pair of gloves and as she pulls up the hood on her coat, something sparkly tumbles out of it, landing on the tiled floor.

“Hey, wait. You dropped something,” I call out, rushing forward and bending down to pick it up off the floor.

Despite my calls, the woman continues onward, oblivious to the rest of the world. Sighing to myself, I shake my head and take a closer look at what she dropped. In the palm of my right hand is nothing glittery at all. In fact, what rests there is a tattered red thread. My head snaps up as I frantically try to find the woman again in the crowd.

But she’s gone.

Every cell in my body hums in anticipation as fear grips me.

This was no accident.

This was the Moirai sending me a warning.

Chapter 2

The Roller Coaster of a Cursed Life

My head spins and I take a seat on the bench. The entire mall could be on fire and I’d never even notice it. Instead, all I can think about is…

How much time do I have left?

“Well, it looks like there’s about an hour—” Wade pulls up short as he sees the look on my face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I hold out my hand, palm side up. No words necessary.

Wade plucks the red string from my hand, bringing it closer. The color drains from his face, like the string pulls it straight out of his skin.

“Where did you get this?” he whispers, crumpling the string and tossing it in the nearest garbage. Then, slowly, he takes a seat beside me.

“A woman dropped it,” I whisper. Blinking back my daze, I point toward the main exit, as if he’d somehow be able to still see her.

Wade looks over the sea of people strolling in and out, completely unaware that anything supernatural was happening in their midst.

“Is she still here?” he asks, turning back to me.

I shake my head. “No, she was gone before I even realized what she’d dropped.”

“Why did you pick it up?” he asks. “Maybe it wasn’t meant for you.”

My mouth is suddenly devoid of all moisture, and I flick my tongue across my lower lip. “I didn’t realize what it was. It looked shiny when it fell. I thought it was a piece of jewelry or something.”

Wade’s eyes again dart across the space. “We need to go. It’s not safe here.”

He stands up, grabbing hold of my arm and urging me to rise.

I do as I’m asked, barely able to wrap my head around picking up our bags, or making my feet move.

“We haven’t even finished wrapping up my dad’s affairs. The will… The house. Oh, my god. Mom,” I mutter, wheeling through all of the worst-case scenarios.

Wade whirls around, grabbing my face in his hands. “Stop. Stop this—we are going to figure out what to do. I promise you. We’re not going down without a fight.”

“But you don’t know—and my dad,” I say, my words tumbling out in short sobs. “He tried.”

“I know, I know,” he murmurs, pulling me in close.

I lean into him, wishing his embrace could whisk me away. If he were an angel, like he was meant to be one day, he could just wrap me in his arms and fly away for all I care.

Without a word, Wade lets go of me. He spins around, grabbing hold of my hand and leading me through the exit. The blustery winter wind whips at my hair, tossing it up like I’m on a roller coaster. And I guess in a way, I am.

The roller coaster that is a cursed life.

“I’m sorry, Autumn. I thought this day was going to take us away