The Joy of Hex

by Sarina Dorie

  I had only seen a fraction of what the Raven Court was capable of. I didn’t want them to hurt Maddy and Hailey. Even now, the Raven Queen might be treating Imani to torture.

  “How can we help? We can’t just sit around and do nothing,” Hailey said.

  “I have a different job for Maddy,” I said.

  “So you’re going to leave me behind but take Maddy?” Hailey’s eyes smoldered with fire. Her hair grew more fiery.

  Of all the times for her temper to flare up!

  “Calm down. Just listen,” I said. “Maddy might not even agree to—”

  “Yes, I will. I’ll agree to do anything to help,” Maddy said quickly.

  Hailey punched her in the shoulder. “No, you won’t.”

  “Just shut up and listen,” Balthasar said.

  “No, you shut up.”

  I waited for them to stop. Adults in the room glowered. Josie rolled her eyes. Elric was the only person who remained smiling patiently.

  “Let’s hear the rest of the plan, shall we?” Elric asked. “What do we need Mr. Khaba and the Seal of Solomon for?”

  “Djinn are the most powerful of all Fae. Mr. Khaba could take out the Raven Queen. I can take out the rest of the court with electrical magic.” Electricity wouldn’t hurt Thatch, Imani, Maddy, or Odette. I suspected it wouldn’t hurt my baby, but I didn’t know. Pinky and Josie—and Ludomil and Sam—would be “working.” They would be safely away, elsewhere in the castle.

  “And just how do you propose to sneak a djinn full of that much magic into the Raven Court?” Thatch asked. “His power will set off Fae wards in an instant.”

  “He would also be hiding in plain sight. He would be . . . a gift.” I stared into Khaba’s brown eyes. Enslavement would be difficult for him after all these years of relative freedom. “It’s customary to bring Fae royalty a gift. We need to bring the Raven Queen something special, a peace offering after all our previous conflicts. Elric, Felix, and I will go to them with an offering. A djinn would be a pretty big gift, don’t you think?”

  “You are counting on Queen Morgaine rubbing the lamp and summoning him right away to make a wish.” Thatch paced the room. “She might suspect a trap. Or she might simply not be inclined to rub the lamp. If Mr. Khaba comes without her calling him, she will strike him down before he has a chance to act.”

  He was right, of course. That idea wouldn’t work.

  “Honey, I’ve got this.” Khaba waved him off dismissively. “First you’ll have to release me and use the Seal of Solomon to bind me to a lamp. Or you could change it up this time and use a bong—that might be amusing. Then you’ll make a wish for me to slay your enemies. I’ll just wait until it’s the right time. After all this is accomplished, you can use the seal to ‘free’ me again, by binding my lamp to my body as it is now. Is that correct?”

  I was so relieved I had all these friends to help me come up with better solutions than what I had originally planned. “Actually, that’s probably safer than my original idea.”

  He grimaced. “What was your plan, hon?”

  “To free you, let you kill everyone, and the use the Seal of Solomon to bind you when you were all done.”

  Josie’s voice rose in annoyance. “And how would you do this without him killing anyone else?”

  Khaba’s brows drew upward in question.

  “I would use electricity to protect myself from his magic. Then I would bind him with the ring.” And resurrect anyone dead before their souls drifted away and dispersed. Except, I didn’t have the Ruby of Divine Wisdom to help me with that.

  “And would you protect Elric with your electricity?” Thatch asked.

  “I can protect myself,” Elric said.

  He was still weak. I highly doubted it. If only Vega had been here to protect her husband.

  “Furthermore, you fail to see the other flaws in your plan,” Thatch said.

  Josie rolled her eyes. Elric placed an arm around me.

  “You think you can just march into the Raven Court by getting in with a gift, dine with a Fae queen, and kill her. She is intelligent enough to guess what you intend.”

  I lifted my chin. “Not if she thinks I’m there for another reason.”

  “What’s that? To bear more heirs that she might be able to steal from your womb?”

  I knew the barbs in his words came from a place of caring. Reminding myself of this was all I could do to keep my tone civil.

  “She knows I want Aubrey.” I squeezed Elric’s hand. “She’ll know Elric will want Imani—She’s his kin. We will write to her and offer a trade.”

  “You have nothing she wants.”

  “I have Red affinities in my keeping. I will bring her two Reds and ask to trade them for the two Reds in her keeping. Elric will ask for his granddaughter. I will ask for my baby.”

  “And just whom do you propose to give her?” Thatch crossed his arms. “Not yourself, I hope? She will refuse. She doesn’t want you. She believes you’re too willful.”

  I laughed. If that was the case, she would hate getting Vega. That had been my original idea anyway. I scanned the room. Vega was still gone.

  Lucifer stood. “I will go. I am a Red. I will infiltrate the queen’s ranks and rescue Abby.”

  Gertrude shook her head. “No, sweetie, you can’t. It’s safer if she doesn’t find out about you. She doesn’t know Felix has a brother.”

  If Lucifer had been a cat all his life, he probably didn’t know much about using magic. I wasn’t sure if he might make things worse. Especially if Gertrude was more bent on protecting him than focusing on the mission.

  My eyes settled on Maddy next.

  This would be asking a lot from her. I knew she would do it too, without hesitation. It only made me feel worse that she would blindly follow me, even if this was dangerous and she wouldn’t survive. I looked to Maddy, afraid to voice the question out loud. I didn’t want to give away her secret, but if the Raven Queen were to believe I had something of value, she had to know. Everyone else would need to know.

  Maddy nodded, guessing what needed to be done. “You need to trade me for your baby. It’s the only price she’d be willing to accept.”

  “What?” Josie looked from me to Maddy. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  Ludomil and Sam whispered to each other in the corner, eyeing Maddy skeptically.

  “It will take more than a fair and equal trade to convince the queen to even see you,” Khaba said quietly. “She will require a bargain that is in her favor.”

  Elric met Khaba’s gaze. They were both Fae. They knew how this worked.

  Elric frowned. “You must offer her something so great in value she won’t be able to refuse.”

  I had suspected as much.

  I laid out what she was going to need. “The Raven Queen doesn’t just want possession of slaves with a Red affinity. She wants to produce them more quickly. She wants an army to take over all other courts. I can offer that knowledge to her. I know how to produce Reds. She doesn’t.”

  “Yes, she does,” Thatch said quickly. “You already showed her. You conceived a child because of your affinity. Now she’s forced the task upon my sister and cousin. Possibly Imani as well.” I could see the fear in his eyes.

  “Yes, but I also know how to make a Red. It shouldn’t be a secret. That’s the whole problem. If everyone knew—”

  “Don’t say another word.” He pointed at me.

  I could feel the spell at work, twisting my tongue so that the words came out in a jumble. “Vega’s cat spins truth tales in midnight coves.” Agh! I hated that jinx!

  Elric placed a hand in front of my face. He was wasting valuable magic remedying me of Thatch’s juvenile attempt to keep me quiet.

  Hailey slapped her knee, laughing. “I used to hate it when Mr. Thatch used that one on me!”

  Maddy took in a deep breath. “You need to prove you can change any affinity into a
Red. You need me as evidence to prove what you did.”

  “No!” Thatch said.

  The room was suddenly in an uproar. Everyone was talking at once.

  “What?” Josie stood. “How can you change someone into a Red affinity?”

  “Maddy is a Red affinity?” Balthasar asked, finally catching on.

  “Wow,” Ben said, gazing at her wistfully. “I always knew there was a lethal attraction thing going on, but a Red affinity?”

  Khaba looked from Maddy to me. “That’s how Maddy got with child? You changed Madison Jennings into a Red affinity?”

  “Well, technically, Vega did it,” I said. “I got the process started, but I was in a coma for a while. ”

  “What? Is Vega Bloodmire a Red affinity too?” Pinky asked, his nasally voice growing in pitch.

  “I always knew there was something dark and demonic about her,” Sam said, none too quietly.

  “The Raven Queen won’t believe it’s possible,” Thatch said coolly. “Your plan will fail. Don’t even bother trying to go through with it.”

  Elric’s eyes shifted from green to violet. “I hate to agree with your husband, but he’s correct. Queen Morgaine will want a demonstration.”

  I’d had enough of her demonstrations.

  “I volunteer.” Hailey stood. “I’ll let you turn me into a Red affinity.” She took Maddy’s hand. “Then we don’t have to worry about Maddy accidentally electrocuting me.”

  Maddy threw her arms around her best friend and kissed her cheek. Hailey kissed her back. It wasn’t the sisterly sort of kiss I expected from best friends. Were Hailey and Maddy lesbians? When had this transpired? How could I have not noticed?

  Apparently I wasn’t the only one in shock. Ben and Balthasar were nearly falling out of their chairs in horror. Probably they were both mourning the possibility that Maddy would ever date either of them.

  It seemed like a lot had happened while I had turned into Sleeping Beauty for a year.

  “Well, then,” Elric said. “It appears we have a plan that just might work. Any objections?”

  There were none.

  “Can I say it now?” Ben asked.

  Balthasar rolled his eyes.

  “Let’s go kick that nasty bird where the sun don’t shine!”

  Elric’s servants served dessert and drinks before everyone was to part. It was late by the time everyone left. I sat on a cushioned settee, thinking over my plan.

  The cushion beside me shifted, and I turned to find Thatch next to me.

  “Are you mad at me?” I asked.

  “No. Just disappointed with myself.” His fingers caressed a tear in the cushion. All the while, I wished he was caressing me. “If I had done a better job of protecting you, I wouldn’t have put you in this position in the first place.”

  “It’s time to stop blaming yourself. You didn’t create this world. You didn’t force the Raven Queen to become evil and hurt people. If you want to blame someone, direct that at her.”

  He placed an arm around my shoulder. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I don’t want to lose you either.”

  “I don’t know what I fear more, the Raven Queen killing you,” He touched a finger to my forehead and smoothed his finger along my cheek and across my jaw. “Or the light inside you dying and you turning into someone else. Someone evil.”

  He feared I would turn into Alouette Loraline. I had already taken the Ruby of Divine Wisdom after I’d been warned not to. It was possible I’d started down the path of no return, and I wouldn’t be coming back.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Hex It to Me

  After everyone had left, Elric wrote to the Raven Queen, seeking audience with her and notifying her of the terms of our negotiation. Her response and any negotiations between them might take days. In the meantime, Sam and Ludomil were supposed to get themselves jobs in the Raven Court. At least, I hoped that was what they did, and the Raven Court didn’t eat them on the spot.

  I needed to get started right away on the potion to turn Hailey into a Red affinity. I would use her to demonstrate my power, ensure Hailey’s safety, and strike the Raven Queen when she least expected it. I had counted on Vega being present to assist with the potion to turn Hailey into a Red affinity. This wasn’t the sort of thing I brewed up every day myself.

  Naturally, I had checked Vega’s favorite haunts, the graveyard and crypt among those places. Dora, the little girl who had died by the hands of the Raven Court was gone. I had a bad feeling that meant Vega had resurrected her.

  Without Vega, I had to rely on the notes I’d previously written in my art journal when I’d made this brew the last time, and the spell on the last page of Alouette Loraline’s journal. It would have helped to have the rest of my biological mother’s journal, but it was gone. Presumably Vega had stolen it. At least I’d gotten it started before Hailey left with a small sample of her blood that I had infused with pain and surprise.

  The other ingredients were going to be more difficult.

  The house was quiet as everyone slept. It must have been past midnight when Felix Thatch found me in the shambles of my room, surrounded by notes I had taken years ago. Various bottles were arranged on the table as I took inventory of what I needed. He lingered in the door, looking uncertain about coming in.

  I waved the unicorn horn at the mess. “I don’t suppose you have a competency lozenge lying around somewhere.”

  “I do.” Reluctantly he shuffled forward, watching what I was doing with a frown on his face. He made no offer to hand over the lozenge.

  “I don’t suppose you’re willing to give it to me so I can work this spell and make sure I don’t accidentally poison Hailey.”

  “Being poisoned is a better fate than what will happen to her if the Raven Court enslaves her.”

  “Can you stop being a pessimist for a minute and consider we might actually succeed?” The Dragon Court had given me a blessing. Didn’t that mean anything to him?

  He pointed to one of the jars of herbs. “Why do you have oregano? That isn’t even part of the spell.”

  “That isn’t oregano.”

  He held up another jar and frowned at my list. “Your education in alchemy and potions is completely lacking.”

  “Of course it is. I never went to a school like Womby’s. I didn’t have the privilege of having you as a teacher.”

  He snorted. After another minute of watching me, he removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. That was usually a sign he was going to use pain magic—or he was going to get his hands dirty.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I believe the last spell you attempted had the unwanted side effect of creating a chastity belt made of your own flesh. This potion is too dangerous for you to attempt alone.”

  The chastity belt wasn’t a side effect. Vega had planned that as part of her fire-retardant spell. Not that I was going to argue with him. Especially not if he was offering to help me.

  He corrected my checklist and brought me the correct herbs and ingredients from his personal stash. It didn’t surprise me he knew the spell. I had long suspected he’d stolen many of the notes I had jotted down from Alouette Loraline’s journal. Or perhaps he just knew her secrets from when he’d been part of her experiments.

  Thatch made suggestions for my technique in chopping herbs and preparing the other ingredients. He placed a hand on mine and repositioned the unicorn horn to show me.

  All I could think about was how this horn had once belonged to Bart the Unicorn. He had bequeathed it to me because he had known I needed a unicorn horn to heal a friend. Derrick was now dead. So many more people would die at the Raven Queen’s hands if I didn’t save them.

  “Grate the unicorn horn along the side of the base, not at the bottom,” he said.

  “That’s grate,” I said, laughing at my own joke, though I didn’t actually feel happiness. The past filled me with too
much sorrow.

  He sighed in mock disgust. “You and Mr. Khaba with your puns. I can see why you get along.”

  He positioned himself behind me and reached past me to draw the cauldron closer as I grated. I leaned against him, finding comfort and warmth in his nearness. He rested his jaw against my head as he worked with me. I didn’t know what the future would hold and whether we would be together after we faced the Raven Queen. If I could have taken a picture of this moment and kept it inside my heart, I would have. Things were about to change, and I didn’t know whether I would survive. I didn’t know whether he would survive. I wanted to savor this moment of closeness between us, but I knew it would have to eventually end.

  “You’re going to be tired tomorrow.” It was past midnight, and he liked to rise at five in the morning.

  “There’s this magical brew I use to cure that.” He lifted an eyebrow, drawing out his words with the drama of a thespian. “It’s called coffee.”

  “Even with coffee, your students are going to say you’re crabbier than usual.”

  “Indeed.” He kissed the top of my head. “It’s important we both get some sleep at some point tomorrow. We need to be well-rested to face our enemies.”

  Our enemies. The Raven Queen. His words came back to me, about fearing what I might become.

  I drew in a shaky breath. “If I turn evil like my biological mother, you’re going to need to kill me.”

  “Evil can be temporary. It can be overcome. You’re always the one going on about Mr. Khaba and his recovery—and giving people second chances.”

  I was also the one who had killed someone I loved in order to save myself. Derrick hadn’t really been evil; he’d been cursed. But I hadn’t been able to cure his curse, and necessity had dictated I put an end to him. Thatch had always insisted I would need to be rational and practical—like him. But he wasn’t being either at the moment.

  “It sounds like you’re justifying someone’s behavior,” I said.

  He drew me closer, wrapping his arms around me. “Don’t ask me to kill you if you turn evil. Ask someone else that favor.” He nuzzled his face against my neck. “Ask someone who likes death and destruction. Ask Vega.”