The Joy of Hex

by Sarina Dorie

  I stepped back, not wanting to get in Vega’s way. Lucifer did the same.

  Vega performed her ritual, using up almost all the potion inside the bottle to draw the rune across the bark. One drop remained. The moment she touched the horn to the tree, the color changed from brown to pink. Green leaves shuddered and shrank. Outstretched limbs receded. A face formed in the bark. The shape of a woman slowly emerged.

  Abigail Lawrence swayed on her feet, looking like she might topple over at any moment. Lucifer stepped forward. Vega smacked him in the chest with her wand. “I said to stay back.”

  A low growl sounded in the back of his throat.

  Vega snapped her fingers at him. “If you want to do something useful, get her some clothes.”

  Vega touched the horn to various places, expediting the growth of human skin and limbs. My fairy godmother’s hair shifted to vivid auburn, leaves and flowers remaining nestled there. The roots grounding her into the earth shrank away, becoming toes once again. As Abigail Lawrence fell over, Lucifer lunged to catch her. He wrapped his cape around her and hugged her to his chest as he kneeled in the moss. I stooped to smooth her hair from her forehead. Her eyes remained closed.

  “Mom?”

  “Abby?” Lucifer whispered.

  She didn’t stir.

  Vega leaned against the unicorn horn, her expression thoughtful. “Try massaging her.”

  I rubbed her face and her scalp as she used to do for me when I had headaches as a child. Lucifer rubbed his hands up and down her arms. He kissed her lips with tenderness, but she still didn’t wake. I’d always known he had adored her, been devoted to her, but I hadn’t known to what degree.

  I didn’t want her to be gone. I needed my mom.

  Lucifer kissed her again. “I love you, Abby. Return to me. Please.”

  My eyes burned. Just when he’d been turned back to a human, she had been taken away from him. It must have seemed horribly unfair to him. I wanted her to be happy and safe and awake.

  I used my awareness to reach out to her soul. I felt an essence dwelling inside her, the lingering of plant magic and potions smelling like lasagna and brownies. I couldn’t tell whether I detected a soul or not.

  My fairy godmother’s greatest fear had always been that I would be drained and left as a brain-dead vegetable. She was no longer a plant, but her mind had been left blank. Her magic had been depleted. The woman I had once loved was gone.

  I didn’t know what else to do, so I sang the blessings song she used to sing to my sister Missy and me when we’d been children. I knew it wouldn’t heal her. It was too late to protect her. I just thought she would have liked to hear it one more time. It was my way of saying goodbye.

  I sang until my throat grew too tight and my tears threatened to choke me. I buried my face against her shoulder and sobbed. Evil had been vanquished, and we’d made room for goodness in the world. I wanted her waking to be the icing on the cake. I needed Abigail Lawrence to be there for me, to meet her granddaughter, and to make her brownies once again. I felt as though I’d lost her twice now.

  Gentle hands squeezed my shoulders. I didn’t need to use my awareness to know it was Felix Thatch. He turned me to him and embraced me.

  “I should have left her as a tree,” I said.

  “No,” he said. “Don’t blame yourself. We tried.”

  Lucifer eyed the bottle of potion in Vega’s hand. “Use more of your witch’s brew.”

  “More potion isn’t going to help. It’s the wrong kind of magic for what you want.” Vega tilted the bottle, gazing at the single drop that remained.

  Still holding my mom, Lucifer lunged for the bottle and snatched it away from Vega.

  Vega dove for him. “Excuse me. Don’t even think about—fuck!”

  Lucifer emptied the drop onto Abigail’s lips. He kissed her again, massaging it into her mouth with his. I felt a kind of magic working, but it was different from the spell Vega had created. It was feral magic, untrained and full of the Red affinity.

  “I am a trained professional. You have completely wasted my magic. Do you know how much work that took to brew? I can’t just whip up another batch.” Vega shoved him.

  Lucifer lifted his head from Abigail’s.

  His sorrow turned to anger as he glowered at Vega. “Your magic is inferior.”

  “I told you it might not work,” Vega said behind us.

  Lucifer growled. “Use magic that does work.”

  She snorted. “Maybe you should learn some magic and see how hard it is.”

  “I will.” He stood. “I will find a way to bring her back, even if it costs me my fingers and toes. Even if I have to become a wild animal again, I will make that sacrifice for her.” He raised his chin. “I will go to Baba Nata, the witch in the woods, and she will show me how to heal Abigail Lawrence.”

  Vega stepped out of his way as he passed. “Knock yourself out.”

  Lucifer Thatch stalked off with my fairy godmother wrapped up in his cape, looking like a castaway prince from a fairy tale. He was a prince. Maybe he would make a happy ending for himself, but I didn’t have much hope. He was carrying an empty shell.

  Felix Thatch touched his hand to my face. “I’m sorry about your mum. She was a good guardian.”

  I nodded.

  Ludomil raced up to us, out of breath. “Vega Bloodmire, we need your assistance.”

  Vega rolled her eyes. “Of course you do. What else is new?”

  “We need your resurrection magic. It’s Josephine Kimura and Pinky Johnson. I found them in the dungeon. They’re both dead.”

  Vega held up the empty bottle. From her somber expression, I could tell we were in trouble.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Good to the Last Drop

  “What do you mean, Josie and Pinky are dead?” I asked, drawing away from Thatch. “I thought they were supposed to be safe in the dungeon.”

  “So did I,” Vega said, quiet anger in her tone. “Bring me to their bodies.”

  The dungeon was much as I remembered it, a dark, dank place down a twisting passage of stairs. Vega and Thatch’s long legs maneuvered down the steep steps with ease. It didn’t escape my notice that Vega touched a hand to the stone wall as she descended, her gait slow enough for me to keep up. She looked weary. All this magic had to be taking a toll on her.

  We found Josie and Pinky laid out on tables. They weren’t chained, but I could see the evidence of the manacles that had blistered their ankles and wrists. For once, Josie wasn’t wearing her glasses or hat. Her face was so bruised I wouldn’t have recognized her except that I knew the lavender-streaked hair, ten eyes, and six arms were hers. Odette dabbed at Josie’s face with a bloody cloth.

  Pinky’s fur was matted with dark red. He’d stopped bleeding long enough ago for the rust-colored stains to dry in clumps.

  “Who did this?” Vega placed her hands on the edge of the table, gripping it so hard her knuckles turned bone white.

  “Most likely the former queen,” Odette said, her eyes sad. “Or someone under her orders. . . . I didn’t know. No one told me.”

  “You can fix this, right?” I grabbed onto Vega’s sleeve, desperate for her to save them. “You just need to make more potion? Right?”

  Thatch placed a hand on my shoulder.

  “How long do you suppose they’ve been dead?” Vega stroked Josie’s hair from her face. She was gentle with the dead, far kinder to Josie now than she had ever been in life.

  I took Josie’s hand. It was cold and stiff.

  Thatch leaned forward. “I can’t tell with Pinky. There’s too much fur. Josephine Kimura has been dead for hours.” His forehead crinkled in concern. “Is it too late?”

  “The potion takes time to make.” The fury in Vega’s eyes faded. She looked so tired, her frame slumping as she attempted to hold herself upright. “Clarissa, can you sense their souls?”

  I wanted to believe there was still ho
pe.

  I closed my eyes and expanded my awareness out as I had when I’d felt for Imani’s. Her soul had been tethered to her body like a kite on a string. Josie’s soul was still there, but farther away. The string was so taut and thin, it might break at any moment. I didn’t feel Pinky’s soul attached to his body anymore.

  When I opened my eyes, I found Vega holding the bottle upside down, one slender finger feeling around inside. Tears filled my eyes. I already knew there was nothing inside.

  “If I make more potion, their souls will be gone by then. If I resurrect them, their souls will be more difficult to retrieve.” Vega bit her lip.

  What she meant was that she might be stealing their souls from a new host they had been born into.

  Vega pushed up her sleeves. “There’s no rest for the wicked, is there?” She stepped forward and promptly collapsed.

  I dove forward and caught her shoulders before she face-planted on the floor. Odette rushed to Vega’s side and lifted her up. Thatch placed an arm around Vega’s back.

  “Excuse me. I’m feeling as tired as a corpse,” Vega said.

  I had lost my mom, Josie, and Pinky. I didn’t want to lose Vega too.

  Vega needed hours of bedrest before she was fit to be seen. My heart was heavy with the burden of sorrow. I was busy preparing Josie and Pinky for their funerals, my tears a continuous river down my face.

  Elric invited me to see Vega a couple of hours later in the throne room.

  I feared the worst. I didn’t want her to die.

  I found Vega lounging across her throne of bones, giving orders to Elric’s servants. A long black handle made of polished wood had been fitted onto the end of the unicorn horn, making it into a scepter. My unicorn horn. A giant ruby was attached to the end of it. The ruby was large, but not as large as the one that I had grasped from the celestial realm of the dragons. Perhaps she’d used up some of its magic with all the spells she’d cast.

  The shadows around her eyes were deeper than I remembered. If she had slept, it hadn’t been enough to give her beauty sleep.

  She reached out a hand to me. I took it, staring into her face.

  Vega squeezed my fingers. “Today is the closing of many chapters. And it’s the start of a new one.” Her eyes met mine, a spark within telling me there was something she wasn’t sharing. “Our victory is marred by tragedy. I know moving forward won’t be easy for you.” She swallowed, a trace of compassion in her that I wasn’t used to seeing. “We have important matters to discuss, Clarissa. Something serious. Dire.”

  I didn’t know whether that was Vega being melodramatic or she meant it. Just when I thought the worst was over, I had a feeling something even darker awaited. It probably had to do with the Ruby of Divine Wisdom. Maybe it had corrupted her. Maybe she was dying.

  I hoped she wasn’t going to ask me to kill her. I couldn’t handle any more death today.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Happily Ever After Is Always Short-Lived

  Vega Bloodmire, Queen of Everything, stared into my face. “Are you ready for happily ever after?”

  I had a feeling we had differing opinions on what that meant. I swallowed. “Maybe.”

  She waved her scepter at Elric’s servants. “I require privacy with my colleague.”

  The servants rolled their eyes as they dispersed.

  Vega looked to Elric where he lingered. “You too, darling.”

  He inclined his head and departed.

  Vega patted the throne next to her. “Come here, Clarissa. Take your rightful place at my side as Queen of the Red affinities.”

  I shook my head. “I’d rather sit in Thatch’s torture chair than on that pile of bones.”

  She laughed. “How about a walk in the garden, then?”

  She stood, using her scepter for support. The toe of her beaded slipper tapped something glass. I reached down and lifted the bottle that had contained the potion to restore the dead.

  “If only Lucifer hadn’t used the last drop,” I said.

  “If only I hadn’t told the queen that Josie and Pinky were spies to convince her of my sincerity to join her. If only the former queen hadn’t killed them.” Vega took my elbow and guided me out of the ballroom. “There’s no use dwelling on it now. What’s done is done.”

  I thought of Josie’s soul and Pinky’s, gone from their bodies. The best I could do was temporarily resurrect them to say goodbye. “It will be too late if you make more potion. It steals pieces of someone’s soul from the new bodies they’re born into.”

  “I know,” she snapped. “I’m not going to steal anyone’s soul.”

  Any moment now, I expected the evil Vega who had been hiding inside to burst forth like an out-of-control djinn. Now that I knew the secret of how djinn were made, it wasn’t illogical to assume the same fate might befall her.

  Vega took me out to the garden. It looked like early spring, with buds starting to burst forth. Daffodils and grape hyacinths lined the path. I had never guessed there was so much life in the dead land waiting to break free of the darkness that had cursed it.

  Vega smiled, a cold knowing in her eyes. I wasn’t sure I liked the cunning I saw there.

  “Are you now a djinn with the ability to grant wishes?” I asked.

  “Hardly.”

  “How did you not lose control?”

  “Who says I didn’t?”

  She hadn’t gotten out of control. She hadn’t turned evil. Back when she had been draining electric stations, I could see how Thatch might have thought she was, but she’d returned to Elric’s estate at some point while everyone had been asleep to resurrect Dora before leaving again. She’d carefully crafted a plan, knowing exactly what I’d already intended to do. She wanted it to look like she’d gone on an evil rampage. As usual, she was resourceful, calculating, and brilliant.

  Not for a moment had she lost control.

  “Really,” I said. “How did you keep yourself safe from the corruption of the ruby? Even Yin and Lee from the Dragon Court had warned me about it.”

  She chuckled in delight. “You’re going to fret over the safety of my soul forever if I don’t tell you, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  She leaned in closer. “If I tell you, you have to promise not to breathe a word to anyone.”

  “Your secret is safe with me.”

  She studied me for a long moment. “Yes, I believe you’re telling the truth. You’re my closest friend. I know I can trust you.”

  The compliment meant a lot to me. I appreciated her faith in me. At the same time, I felt guilty. Vega had never been my best friend. She had been an ally, a teacher, and something more. I wanted to tell her something sincere. “You’re my closest frenemy. That means I can trust you with my life, but I can’t ever let my guard down, or else you might nail me into a coffin.”

  “That was only once.” She laughed.

  “I think you’re like a sister.” I hesitated, uncertain whether I should tell her. “I lost my sister. I . . . killed her.”

  “I know. I lost mine too. I wouldn’t mind having another.” She kissed the top of my head as a big sister would.

  I liked the idea of having an older sister. I had lost so much. My fairy godmother and my friends, the freshest of those pains, was still raw in my heart, but I’d also gained a hundred-fold. I had lost one sister. Now I had gained another. I smiled up at her.

  “The truth,” she said, her voice low as she leaned close. “I could see everything when I had the ruby, how to remedy every problem I yearned to solve. Yet, I also saw the consequences. I saw the past and the future. I saw the truth. Meditating with the stone gave me enough clarity to understand why others had failed. There was only one way to not be corrupted by too much power.”

  I leaned in closer.

  Her voice was a low whisper in my ear. “I had to return the ruby.”

  I gasped in surprise. “Into the cosmos?”

&
nbsp; “Yes. Into the collective nest.”

  I glanced at the ruby at the end of her scepter.

  “It’s pretty, isn’t it? Think it will fool my enemies into thinking it’s real?” Her smile was as sly as ever.

  “But you’d never been able to transcend before,” I whispered. “How did you return it?”

  “Witch, please! I had divine wisdom. I used it.”

  I laughed. “Now what? You brought everyone back. You’re the queen of darkness and everyone is going to fear you—just like you’ve always wanted. What will you do now?”

  “I shall live in a castle and rule the land. I will start a special boarding school for underaged children called . . . Vega Bloodmire’s Academy for the Morally-Challenged, where I shall specialize in teaching children how to use forbidden magic. Also, sometimes I might occasionally take a day off from being evil and wear pink.”

  “Pink? I thought you hated pink. You said only little girls like me wear pink because we like insipid things. Pink is the color of weakness.” I eyed her glittering black gown.

  She punched me in the shoulder.

  I dodged back. “Ow! What was that for?”

  “Stop being a fucktard.” She waved a hand over my drab dress and her glittering gown. The blackness drained away into the ground, leaving us both in pale pink gowns. “Queens get to wear whatever the fuck they want.”

  “Lucky you.”

  “And you. The Lost Red Court isn’t lost anymore. It needs a sovereign. I elect you and Felix Thatch.” She tucked my hand into the crook of her arm, as Thatch often did. “Don’t make me regret it.”

  Felix Thatch circled his arms around me as we stood on the terrace overlooking the forest below. The sky was brilliant blue as the sun rose higher over the distant mountains. It was a beautiful day.

  It was going to be a beautiful life.

  “What shall we do next?” Felix Thatch asked. “Perhaps we will go on a picnic and read to each other about people with ordinary lives with ordinary problems. We can fulfill our dreams of having boring lives as Morties do.”