by Amy Boyles
Low murmurs of agreement filtered from the crowd.
“Now everyone, scat.”
They dispersed. Some of the witches threw me disgusted looks that sent a chill straight to my bones.
Thorne turned. I knew I was supposed to be nice, but I simply felt miserable. I’d used earth powers on the crowd, and the people thought I was to blame for all this.
Thorne took one look at my sad face. “Come on. Let’s go.”
My face bunched up in confusion. “Where to?”
“My place.”
I did a double take. “Why’re we going to your place?”
“So that you can have a glass of wine.”
I shook my head. “It’s just after breakfast.”
“It’s almost lunchtime,” he argued. “You look like you need it.”
“I don’t need—”
“No arguments. Besides”—his fingers curled around my arm, and he steered me away—“I need to put you out of their sight. No one ever goes to my house.” He studied me from the corner of his eye. “Unless they have a death wish, that is. And the only person I know who has a death wish is you.”
“Ha ha. Very funny.”
But I didn’t argue. I slumped into the seat and let Thorne drive us—in his pickup, by the way—to his manor.
He settled me in the sunroom and threw a blanket over my legs. “I’m not in shock. I just…I don’t know what happened back there.”
Thorne poured me a glass of white wine and settled in beside me.
“Why not red?” I asked.
He sat with the precision of a karate master or a ballet dancer. Every movement specific and unique to him.
“I figured you like white.”
I smiled. “You figured right.”
“What happened back there?”
I thumbed the rim of the glass. “They started to attack me, blaming me for the magic going wrong, when we both know it’s Rots.”
Thorne raised his hand. “Before you blame him, I went to his house this morning.”
My heart pounded in my throat. “You did?”
He nodded. “It was empty. The device that you saw wasn’t there.”
“Then he’s moved it,” I said. I took a small sip. “Mmm. This is good.”
“It’s old,” he replied as if that explained it.
“At the mayor’s office I saw air and earth witches.” My eyes widened. “He’s moved it. I bet it’s someplace centrally located.” I snapped my fingers. “Did you see their hair?”
He cocked a brow. “Their hair?”
“Yes. The men’s hair was cut short so I didn’t see what it was doing, but all the women wore scarves because the machine screws with your hair. Not yours, obviously, yours is perfect.”
Thorne’s cheeks reddened. His gaze darted out the window before settling back on me. “But what about your power?”
Ah yes, the real reason why we were here, I suppose. “I have earth powers.”
He tipped his head in interest. “You lied to them.”
I licked my lips and tasted the hint of wine remaining on them. Tart apples with a touch of oak. I closed my eyes, trying to figure out how best to explain everything.
When I opened them, my gaze met Thorne’s. An emotion I couldn’t place passed over his face before Thorne tucked it safely away.
“I tell you something about me, and you tell me something about you.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“I get to ask the question, and you have to answer it. Nothing is off-limits.”
His eyes narrowed. His chin tightened. Thorne didn’t like not being in control, but he couldn’t always have things his way.
“And what you’re going to tell me?”
“Is worth its weight in gold.”
I calculated the odds that Thorne would play to be 26,347 to 1. The numbers were not in my favor.
He chuckled. “Okay. I’ll play.”
“There’s a prophecy about me,” I began. “One that says that after I arrive here, I will be the fall of magic. When I first came to Witch’s Forge, I was barely magical at all. A watered-down water witch, as it were.”
He eyed me steadily, never allowing his gaze to wander. The intensity of his stare made heat flame on my neck. I picked at the rim of the wineglass to keep from having to hold his gaze.
“My mother never told me about it, so I had no clue, which was why I accepted a magical broom from Belinda Ogle in Air Town and a pig from Cap Turner in Earth Town. The night we chased down Emily when she was a Bigfoot, my powers became active and I quickly realized that through this town—the pig and the broom—I had gained the powers of air and earth. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know why.”
I clapped my hands and said with mock cheer. “That’s when my mother decided to tell me about the prophecy—after I’d already gained two of the four powers. When I come into all four, that’s when everything bad is going to happen.”
I pointed outside. “Those people weren’t wrong. I did use earth magic on them.” I rubbed my face. The frustration of the moment built inside me. “I’m sorry I did. I’m sorry I used my magic, but they were going to hurt me. At least, they looked like it.”
I shot Thorne my most pleading look. “Anyway, I’m sorry and if you want to put some cuffs on me for using magic on them, I understand. But in my defense, it happened before I had a chance to stop it.”
I watched him, wondering what he would do. I’d just admitted using magic against others, and even though I didn’t know if it was a real crime in this town, I figured it probably was. I mean, right? A witch can’t just walk around spewing magic on people. That’s not good.
You could hurt somebody.
It seemed similar to an angry mob raising pitchforks and torches, ready to hurt the new witch in town.
Thorne relaxed his spine and sank back onto the chair. “Is the prophecy true?”
“It’s supposed to be. We called the swamp witch who’d given it, and she proclaimed it to be true.”
He scratched at stubble peppering his chin. “I’m sorry. I don’t know much about prophecies or how to change them.”
I hiked both shoulders to my ears. “I told my mother I’d stop accepting gifts. Somehow it seems to be linked to that.”
“Seems like you have all the advice you need.”
“As if.” I rolled my eyes. “Try being the daughter of the most magical witch to have lived in the past fifty years and being burdened knowing that somehow, even though you’ve never had a lick of magic your entire life, you’re going to be the one who destroys it. Doesn’t make much sense, does it?”
He shrugged. “I lived through things that were supposedly prophesied. When it came right down to it, do you know what happened?”
Interest flared in me. “What?”
“Nothing. Not one thing.”
“But this is different,” I argued. My life was different than a pedestrian prophecy or a false preacher proclaiming the end of the world on a specific date.
“Maybe.” He flicked a bit of lint from his pants. “But I don’t think you should worry about it.”
The sincerity in his voice made my heart clench. My gaze fluttered to his, and that clenching became a seizing.
An emotion I couldn’t place flourished in his eyes. I felt the pull of Thorne. I didn’t know if that was vampire magic or simply himself, but my entire body reacted to the emotion swelling in his eyes.
“You can’t do anything about the future or the past,” he said. “All you can do is live in right now. You can prepare for the future, yes. But you don’t know what’s coming.”
He smiled at me and I smiled back and I wondered if his words from the night before still held their same weight.
“Now”—his voice boomed, breaking the spell—“what is it you wanted to know about me?”
My chest constricted and I almost felt bad asking, but he’d said I wasn’t ready, not mature enough. I suppose I wanted to show that I was mature. That
I could hear things that might be uncomfortable and still be able to deal with them.
I inhaled a deep shot of air, filling my lungs and myself with courage. “I was told someone very close to you died once.”
His shoulder twitched toward his ear. “Many people I’ve been close to have died. I’m a vampire. There are two things you get used to being a vampire. The first is change—nothing ever stays the same long enough—and the other is death. There’s a lot of it in my world.”
I licked my lips. “This person was a woman you loved.”
Thorne froze. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Who told you?”
Should I say? Was I being a tattletale by admitting what happened? Had I just made the entire situation a thousand times worse?
“Last night. In the tavern. One of the vampires.”
“They had to tell you, didn’t they?” He drummed his fingers on the armchair and stared at me.
The weight of his stare was like a thousand arrows piercing my flesh. I shifted to the wineglass and took a deep sip.
“It’s true,” he admitted. “There was a woman I loved deeply. A long time ago. Before you were born. You’ve asked, so I will tell you some but not all of the story.”
Thorne radiated anger. Not at me, I assumed, but at whoever had confessed his private life.
“You don’t have to tell me anything,” I said.
He jutted out his chin. “No, I’ll tell you. It’s the game, right? It’s only fair.”
He inhaled deeply, inflating his chest. “I loved Angelique until I discovered she had betrayed me, betrayed my father’s family. She’d done it knowingly and had used me for her purposes. That’s what happened.”
The air chilled. I extended a hand toward him as a peace offering. “I’m sorry she hurt you.”
He leaned forward but didn’t take my hand. “You and I come from different places. I gave my heart to the wrong woman, but I was ready to give my life for her. You shield yourself and turn away from those who could care for you, using your sarcasm and wit as a defense.”
I shook my head. “No. You’re right. I thought about it last night. Everything you said. I’ve acted like an idiot. The flowers, the way I speak to you. I’ve been horrible. I’m sorry.”
He cocked his head, looking like someone reading an instruction manual and not quite understanding how A and B were supposed to fit together.
“Did you kill her?” I said.
Thorne’s expression turned icy cold. I didn’t know what made me ask it. Curiosity, I suppose. Plus, the way Peek had told me, he’d insinuated as much.
Thorne rose. “Are you feeling better?”
I set the wineglass on the table. “Yes.”
“Let’s get you back to town.”
Wow. I’d really blown it. I’d had a chance to actually speak to Thorne, to let him know that I was trying to be mature. That I was attempting to be his friend, and I’d gone and pushed the alarm button on him.
He drove in silence. Can’t say I was surprised. I didn’t attempt to speak, and neither did he.
When we reached my house, Thorne exited and came around, letting me out. He eyed the surroundings as if to make sure no one was going to jump out and attack me.
“Be careful,” he said stiffly.
I nodded and brushed past him to the sidewalk. I felt like a walking lump of sadness, each footstep fatigued from the weight of our conversation.
I didn’t know where Thorne and I were going from here, but I had a feeling it was downhill.
His voice surprised me. “Charming.”
A fissure, bright with light, zipped down my body. My bones fizzed as I slowly turned to face Thorne.
“Yes?”
“Have a good night.”
He said it stoically, but the sly smile on his face suggested our conversations weren’t over, that he only needed a moment to breathe.
A bubble of unexpected hope buoyed in my chest. I forced myself not to take the steps two at a time as I rushed into the courthouse.
Chapter 18
My phone rang as soon as I stepped inside. “Hello?”
“Is this the woman who called a few days ago—called the Duvall store?”
I recognized the raspy voice instantly. My spine zipped to attention. “Yes. This is her.”
“Sorry to get off the phone with you so quickly, but since the robbery, things have been crazy,” she explained. “We had a valuable piece stolen. But anyway, you were asking about Corley.”
“Yes. Do you have more information?”
“I’ll give you a name—the name of the man she may have run off with, but according to the parents, they weren’t sure if Corley was running away with him or away from him.”
So it was as I suspected. “Okay. What’s his name?”
I jotted it down and hung up the phone. I found Mama and Rose in the kitchen eating lunch.
“Rots moved the machine,” I said, strolling in.
Rose dropped a slice of what looked like bacon into Pig’s mouth.
“Are you feeding Pig, pig?”
“For heaven’s sake, of course not, Charming,” Rose said, clutching her pearls. Literally. She wore a strand around her neck. “I would never expect Pig to be a carnivore. This is turkey bacon.” Rose grinned at Pig and spoke in a baby voice. “I wouldn’t feed you your kin, would I? No I wouldn’t.”
I rolled my eyes. “Air witches and earth witches are reporting their magic screwing up.”
Mama tapped her mouth. “You’re right, Charming. He’s moved the device to somewhere more central.”
I dropped onto a chair and draped my feet over the seat of an empty one beside me. “That’s what I think, too. Oh, and someone from Duvall’s called. They mentioned something about a burglary, which I’m thinking must’ve happened just before Corley left town. Oh”—I smiled widely—“and I got the name of the man Corley was involved with.”
Mama’s eyes widened. “What is it?”
“David Ash.”
She tapped her chin, thinking. “I can’t say the name is familiar to me, but I can say the first thing we need to do is get a map, find the center of town and investigate. I don’t see as how we have another choice.”
“Agreed.” I plucked an olive from her plate and popped it into my mouth. Wow. Did I love the salty brine from an olive.
“But there’s something we need to discuss first.”
Mama spoke after taking a large bite of BLT. “What would that be?”
I leaned forward and licked my lips. “Why you’ve never explained to me why you have earth magic.”
Her mouth buttoned shut. She plucked a limp lettuce leaf from her sandwich and dropped it onto her plate. “I’ve already told you you’re wrong on that. I don’t have earth magic.”
I folded my arms. “Oh no. You’re not going to get out of it.”
She brushed her hands and took a big gulp of tea. “The big deal is that some people believe having more than one type of power is a sign of evil. Especially in more secluded areas. If you are a witch with a bit of earth power and then suddenly you ended up with water magic, folks tend to think you’re either making deals with the devil or you are part devil.”
I rubbed my temples. Not only had the crowd from earlier thought me a freak, but their belief that I was behind the power sucking also made perfect sense.
“So you kept this from me out of shame,” I said.
She hiked a shoulder. “Shame seems like such a nasty way to put it.”
“But it’s true.” I shook my head. “I don’t think you should be ashamed about that.”
“It’s not very much power.” She flipped her wrist in dismissal. “So it’s not as if it was ever going to rock the world.”
I snatched a slice of bacon from a plate and munched on it while I thought. “Have you ever considered that maybe my powers could have come from you?”
Mama tucked a long red strand of hair behind one ear. “No. Not the way they’ve manifested. There’s
no way. They arrived so suddenly, and after Pig and Broom worked a little bit of magic on their own.”
Mama’s eyes bulged. “You haven’t accepted another gift, have you?”
I waved her away. “No, of course not. We both know that’s wrong.”
“You did accept those flowers from Thorne,” Rose said cheerfully, “but of course you gave those back.”
I sighed. “Ah yes. Thorne.”
Mama delicately wiped crumbs from her mouth. “I’m sorry your date didn’t go well.”
“Charming, you didn’t go to bed with him, did you?” Rose asked, her face washed in envy.
I rolled my eyes. “No. Of course not.”
“That’s good, because if things don’t go well with y’all, I’ll finally have my shot at him.”
I smiled, knowing Rose was half kidding, half serious. “No. Maybe I can grow up because of all this.”
“Cheer up, Charming,” Mama said. “This man—well, vampire—has probably had decades to mature. He’s seen more than we have, and he doesn’t have time for pettiness.”
I considered that. She was right. I had other things to figure out like how to release Reese from her spell and find where Rots had hidden his stupid magical device that was sucking the magic from a town that had just found its power again.
Ugh. What a mess.
“Don’t worry, Charming,” Rose said soothingly. “You’ll find love when you’re supposed to. After all, consider yourself lucky. In the olden days a lot of witches found a husband and once they had a child, she killed him.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Rose tapped her chin. “Or was that the black widow?”
I nodded. “Pretty sure it was the black widow, Rose.”
“You’re probably right.”
My gaze washed over my mom and great-aunt. “So tonight? We go looking for Rots?”
Mama nodded. “Tonight. See if you can dig up a map of the town.”
I nodded. “Will do.” A mischievous grin split my face. “I know just who to ask.”
When I reached my bedroom, I spread out my hands and said, “House, I need a map of Witch’s Forge. You can delete all the shops. Well, maybe just the pancake houses because there are a thousand of them. Do you have something like that?”
