His face stretched into a taut grimace.

“Look, if this is a real threat, I’ve got to get over there. The police aren’t much use, but I’ll call them for backup. Will that help?”

I paused, still worried, then nodded. He flashed a shadow of his usual smile, then turned to go. I grabbed my keys out of my coat pocket.

“Take my car!”

He looked back and shook his head.

“The Merricks don’t live far from here. I can run.”

I saw him take out his phone as he hustled through the sliding double doors. I hoped he really was calling the police.

Turning back to Theresa, I saw that she’d woken up again, staring after Jo with wide eyes.

“Where is he going?”

I didn’t have time to answer her because the nurse called Theresa’s name. She took vitals, then wheeled Theresa back to a room while I followed. I tried to keep my mind on what was happening with Theresa, but my thoughts were stuck on Jo. If Tim’s life really was in danger, and Jo got in the middle of it…

Pushing the dark thoughts away, I focused all my attention on Theresa. The nurse got her settled on the bed, then told us the doctor would be in soon.

“Where did Jo go?” Theresa asked the minute the nurse left.

I covered her hand with mine. “He’s going to see what’s going on with Tim.”

She let out a long, slow breath. “Good. If anyone can help Tim, it’s Jo.”

She lapsed into silence, avoiding my eyes. I gave her hand one last squeeze, then sat down in the chair next to the bed. Every few seconds, I glanced at the door, wondering when the doctor would get there. I knew that it was possible to sit in the ER for hours, but judging by the way the staff had reacted to Theresa, she had likely been categorized as critical.

I kept wondering where Jo was, if he was okay, or if he was in the middle of some fight. I tapped my feet, almost bursting with impatience as the minutes crawled by.

“You want to go after him, don’t you?”

The sudden words startled me. I looked back at Theresa. Even though she was lying back on the pillows, she was alert, her gaze fixed on me. I blushed a little.

“I’m worried about him,” I admitted.

“Me, too.”

A nurse came in just then with an IV pole. “The doctor wants me to get you on fluids right now,” she announced. It took several minutes for the nurse to find a vein. After checking things over once more, the nurse left. As the liquid began to pump, some of Theresa’s color returned.

“Amazing what a little water can do,” she murmured. She turned towards me, her eyes and lips pulling down into a frown.

“You need to go after Jo.”

I gave a helpless shrug. “I told him I’d stay here. You can’t be alone, Theresa.”

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Sneak out now before the doctor comes in. I’ll just tell them you had an emergency situation. It’s not far from the truth.”

“But…”

I trailed off as I looked at the closed door. Theresa was in a safe, controlled environment. Jo’s life could be in danger that very minute.

“Please, Sage. Maria is out of her mind. I really think she’s going to kill him.”

My heart slowed to a dull, deep thud as I took in her words.

“Maria?”

“Yes. Didn’t I tell you that?”

Dazed, I shook my head. It felt as if time slowed down as the pieces fell into place. Long, black hair. Expensive brown boots.

But why?

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was lucky that the Merricks lived so close to the hospital. I pulled up to the house, my witch senses tingling. There was magic in the air, and not the good kind.

The front door stood wide open, so I rushed inside. I stopped in my tracks at the sight before me. Maria’s living room, normally pristine and immaculate, looked as if a tornado had hit it. Tim lay on the floor, pale, his face bloody, while Jo and Maria fought over an object on the floor.

It was a wand.

Diving to the floor, I snatched the wand out of reach and stepped back. Jo took the opportunity to turn Maria around with her back towards him and pin her arms to her sides. She let out a frustrated scream as she struggled to free herself.

I gaped at her, horrified. Her eyes were bulging, her teeth bared. Until that moment, I hadn’t really believed that she could be capable of something so awful, but her feral rage made the truth all too clear.

“It was you,” I continued. “You kidnapped Theresa. You broke into my house.”

“Yeah,” she sneered. “It was me. What are you going to do about it?”

An odd sort of crashing noise rang through my ears. Maria, the sweet woman who befriended me, who baked me brownies and cookies, who encouraged me in my business, was a kidnapper. And she’d attempted murder on her own husband!

“But…you said that you were terrible at magic.”

Jo scowled. “She enlisted some help from ‘friends’ to make potions to enhance her magic. Between those and the barrier weakening potions, it’s no wonder witches all over town are being robbed of their ingredients.”

Maria let out another roar of fury. “It’s all that Theresa woman’s fault! She was told never to set foot in Woods Crossing again!”

I turned my gaze to Jo, confused. He moved his arms around Maria’s middle, clamping her more securely. Some of the fight went out of her when she realized she wasn’t going to get free, but the hate on her face lingered.

“Theresa was banished from town about ten years ago,” Jo explained in a low voice. “I had almost forgotten that she had a fling with Tim while he and Maria were engaged. Chandra saw romantic involvement with a member of the Black family as a violation of the coven’s codes, so she sent Theresa away.”

My shocked gaze drifted back to Maria.

“You heard she was back in town and decided to teach her a lesson.”

Her breathing grew labored as she fought against Jo’s grip. “No, I punished her for breaking the rules. She knew better than to come back, and she did it anyway. I didn’t need her sniffing around Tim again.”