Dead End: Midnight Hollow by Penn Cassidy (free novel 24 TXT) 📗

“It’s not goodbye, but see you soon,” she whispered and turned away before they could say anything.

She faced the portal, taking a deep breath. I watched with a hollow heart as Maddie stepped to the threshold, the magic already brushing her skin.

She turned to the side and said, “Now I have to think of something good to tell the police.” She sighed deeply, but turned at the last moment and glanced down to where Roger was sitting. “You! Come with me, I’ll need your help keeping an eye on our newly mortal pain in the ass while we're there.” We all laughed at how happy Roger looked. His new master was definitely a step up from the last one.

“Maddie,” Michael said, and she turned to look at him. “When you get back, can you check on our families and see what the official story is? Maybe report back so we know for sure?”

Maddie smiled. “Of course I can. I’ll probably have to play amnesia while I’m there, so I’ll do a little sleuthing.”

Michael nodded gratefully. Roger made it to Maddie without a word and grabbed her hand. With a wave, they stepped into the light of the portal, and I felt like sobbing as the magic swallowed her up, carrying her back home.

It was silent after she was gone. I couldn’t believe it. She was really gone, and I’d have to go a whole year without my bestie. I was definitely not prepared to face this place without her, but on the other hand, I was happy for her. She needed this time to sort things out for herself. Knowing Maddie, she’d probably come up with some hair brained idea to tell her parents she was headed off to college overseas or something.

“It’s time,” Auntie Fe said, stepping up to me.

We all clasped hands again, and I noticed that even Norman, Freddy, Jason, and Baen held on too, even though they had no raw magic themselves. We were going to give Maddie a send off as a family, and we were locking Ichabod away forever.

“Remove ostium. ego imperium!”

We chanted together as one, repeating it ten times as the portal began to shatter and warp. Wind whipped my hair, and we all staggered but kept chanting, the collective force of our power tearing it apart bit by bit.

A cracking and popping noise tore through the hallway, and the wall around the door splintered as light shattered around us. It blinded me, and I had to close my eyes and look away.

When the wind died down and the hallway fell into an eerie silence, we dropped our hands and looked up to find only an arch shaped scorch mark left behind on a plain wall, a single crack splitting right down the center. I was still crying, so I wiped the tears away and felt someone approach me from behind.

“You did the right thing,” Freddy whispered, kissing me lightly on the cheek. I leaned in to that kiss as Norman came around to my other side.

“She’ll be okay. It’s Maddie.”

“It’s the mortals we have to worry about with that spitfire,” Jason added, walking up next to us. “They won't even see her coming.” He smiled at the scorch mark.

Michael joined us, and the others stood around in a daze, recovering from the surge of power. I felt a sudden flush of warmth run through me as I stood there surrounded by the people I cared about and who cared about me. Love really was a beautiful thing.

“I love you all,” I whispered. Everyone looked at me with smiles on their faces. “I mean it. I love you all so much, and I just needed you to know that.”

“We know, little goth. We know,” said Michael, gripping the back of my neck as his finger kneaded the spot, and I relaxed under his touch.

We were silent, nobody wanting to move yet. We just stared at that wall, as if trying to linger as long as we could with Maddie. But it was time to get things in order around here, and that’s exactly what I would do. I’d see Maddie soon. What was one year anyway?

“She’ll be back,” Baen whispered before clapping Cal on the shoulder and striding away with his hands in his pockets and his big shoulders slumped.

I glanced over at Cal, and he hesitantly gave me a sad smile before nodding his chin at me and walking out behind Baen.

I smiled at the thought that when Mads came back, she was going to have her hands full, and I hoped she would give them a little hell to contend with. I took a deep breath and turned around to drag my guys off with me, but Pip suddenly clapped her hands together and announced, “You know what goes well with victory? This new cupcake recipe—”

“No!” we all shouted collectively before falling into a fit of laughter immediately after, while Auntie Pip just stood there with her hands on her hips.

“For the love of the great pumpkin, Auntie…a girl can only die so many times.”

The end is only another beginning…

“Detective Maddie reporting for duty. Come in, Night Phoenix, come in!”

I woke groggily, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes to the sound of a metallic clicking on my vanity table. When the dark room came into focus, I sat up and spotted the small compact mirror the aunties gave me rattling around on the wooden surface.

I scrambled up, throwing the sheets to the side as Michael and Norman made a show of rolling over and groaning after being woken up. I rolled my eyes as they cursed and pulled pillows over their heads. Practically sprinting across the room, I swiped the metallic mirror and opened it up, already smiling as I heard, “I swear to the great pumpkin, if you don’t put the dicks down and answer my—”

“You rang?” I mumbled into the mirror. Maddie’s smiling face