by Amy Boyles
I nearly burst out laughing, but I managed to hold it in. “Sure. Let’s do that.”
I closed my eyes and called my magic, focusing on Ratchet and cleaning him up.
“If you open your eyes, you can see better.”
I smirked. “Fine.” When I parted my lids, I saw the most beautiful thing. Ratchet sparkled like a diamond, from the inside out.
I saw him—really saw him. Like his soul. He shimmered like a beacon of light that shot out into the world.
And stretching from his back were angelic wings—translucent yet fueled by magic.
“Whoa,” I whispered.
“Whoa is right. Now. Do your thing.”
Power stretched within me. The sensation was like being under water and holding your breath. The pressure built up, but I wasn’t scared. The magic was an intense wave that bubbled and ballooned until it zipped out of me and into him.
Swoosh!
Then it disappeared. Ratchet was cleaned up, and I nearly collapsed to the ground, my knees weak from the intensity.
“Holy cow,” I mumbled.
“That’s the way it goes, kid,” he said, practically sparkling with magic. “How do I smell now?”
I inhaled. “Like roses.”
“I would’ve preferred musk, but oh well. Can’t have everything.” Ratchet sniffed his armpit. “It’ll do. Come on. Let’s get home. I’m starving.”
When we reached the house, I heard giggling coming from the porch. I shot Ratchet a confused look. The raccoon shrugged.
“It’s probably Amelia. Maybe she’s finally getting kissed by Sherman.”
But it wasn’t her. Cordelia sat on the porch swing, her fingers entangled in…Garrick’s?
“Hey,” I said, unsure how I felt about this new development. “How’s it going?”
“Great,” Cordelia said. “Just super.”
“Hey, Garrick,” I said.
Garrick tipped his hat. “Pepper. Ratchet.”
I patted Jenny the guard-vine. “Well, um. We’ll just be inside if you need anything.”
“Okay, thanks,” Cordelia said and then turned back to whispering and giggling with Garrick.
Garrick had his arm draped around her back, and he was lightly stroking her shirt. Well, I guess they were back on—one hundred percent.
I entered the house and pegged my purse by the door. “Betty, I’m home!”
“There you are.”
Rufus stepped away from the hearth. He crossed to me, a look of worry etched in his face. “I’ve been worried sick.”
He wrapped me in a hug and crushed me to his chest. “You left after the ceremony. No one knew where you’d gone.”
He pulled away and ran his thumbs over my cheeks. “Pepper, I was so worried I was about to have Garrick send out a search party. Now. Where were you?”
Oh crap. I couldn’t exactly tell Rufus what had happened. “Oh. Um. I went for a walk with Ratchet. I looked for you, but you weren’t around. You may have been changing.”
Rufus smiled tightly. “That’s okay, but next time, tell someone. I don’t want to have to worry about you, do I?”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m a grown woman. A witch. It’s not as if I can’t take care of myself.”
“It’s not you I worry about.”
“Then what is it?”
Rufus shook his head. “It’s nothing.” He glanced down. “Don’t worry about it.” The smile returned, and this time it was warm. “Now that I’ve seen you’re home, there’s nothing to worry about.”
I shook my head. “You don’t get off that easy. What are you worried about? Who would harm me?”
“No one, darling.” He glanced at Ratchet. “I assume you’ll see her upstairs?”
I jerked my hand from Rufus’s hold. “No. Seriously. Tell me what you’re worried about?”
Rufus’s lips pinched. “It’s nothing we haven’t discussed before.”
“But what is it?”
“There may be those who don’t want us to marry. Who’ll do whatever they can to stop the ceremony.”
I stepped back. “You mean someone who would go so far as to kidnap me?”
His jaw clenched. Rufus balled his fists until his knuckles whitened. “It’s possible. Not something I like to think about. Your safety is of the utmost importance.” He smoothed his palm over my cheek. “That’s all I want. To make sure you’re okay.”
He kissed me and I melted. The tie that connected us strengthened. He would keep me safe. Rufus only had the best intentions for me.
We parted and I smiled. “Okay. I’ll let you know if I have to go anywhere.”
“At least until the ceremony. I’d hate it if that wolf got ahold of you.”
Fear spiked down my spine. “You mean Axel? That’s what this is about?”
He averted his gaze again. “You know this,” he whispered. “We can’t trust him. Until we’re married, there’s no telling what he might do to stop the wedding. But once we’re united by the ceremony, he’ll be powerless.”
Because I’ll be completely tied to you? I wanted to ask, but I didn’t have to. I knew that’s what he meant.
I didn’t care. I loved him. All Rufus wanted to do was protect me.
I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him hard. His breath hitched, and his fingers curled at my waist.
“What are we waiting for?” I whispered in a hushed tone. “Why don’t we get married? Like you suggested before? Now. Tonight. We’ll go to Witch Vegas. No one will be able to stop us then. We’ll be married, and then we can start our lives together.”
Want filled his eyes. I curled my fingers into his waist. “You know we can. We can do it.”
He gave a half-hearted laugh and pulled away. “There’s nothing more I want, but not tonight. Not now. We only have a few days left. That’s all. Then we’ll pack up and leave Magnolia Cove. We can be together forever.”
I closed my eyes. Only a few more days and we’d be wed and all this messiness that was Magnolia Cove would be over. I’d be somewhere, wherever the stone wanted me to be.
My heart cracked at the thought of leaving Rufus, broke at the idea that I might not get to stay. The more I learned about this Pepper and the more I fixed the things she had broken, the more I wanted this to be my life.
The more I needed it so badly.
Ratchet cleared his throat behind me. “If y’all don’t mind, I’m going upstairs. I’ve seen enough of a public display of affection to last me a lifetime.”
We said our good nights, and I gave Rufus my most pouty smile. “Are you sure we can’t leave?”
He kissed my hands. “My darling, all I want is to be together, but I want it done right.”
I nodded and let him hold me for another minute. “Well, I suppose it’s about time for me to be going,” he said. “I only wanted to make sure you were okay.”
It occurred to me that my grandmother was nowhere in sight. “Where’s Betty?”
“Upstairs. I said I’d wait for you. She had some things to do.”
“Here I come,” griped Betty.
I smiled. Of course she couldn’t be away from her hearth and the everlasting fire for too long. There was no way.
“I’m here,” I said. “I understand Rufus was worried.”
Red dotted his cheeks. “You could say that.”
Betty slowly padded down the stairs with her pipe secured in her mouth. Smoke haloed her head, and the scent of apple tobacco filled the room.
“Glad you decided to join us,” she said gruffly.
“You’re welcome,” I joked.
She shot me a scathing look. “I wasn’t worried one bit about you.”
“Well, that’s great to hear.”
I was about to say something else when the door flew open and Amelia floated into the room.
She threw her arms into the air, a look of sheer bliss on her face. “It happened! It finally happened!”
“What’s that?” I said.
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“Sherman kissed me!” She wrapped me in a hug. “He kissed me! It didn’t take nearly as long as I thought.”
Rufus tapped my shoulder. “I think it’s best if I go.”
I kissed his cheek and said good night. While he was exiting, Cordelia was entering. “What’s going on? What’s all the excitement?”
Amelia took her by the hands and swung her around. “Sherman finally kissed me! Now I can leave and return to our real Magnolia Cove! I can’t wait.”
She gave a baffled-looking Cordelia one last spin and tossed her hands to the sky. “I’m ready. You can beam me up now. Or beam me away, or just beam me however you need to. I’ve done my part. The rest of y’all are on y’all’s own,” she said to me and Cordelia. “Not that I’m trying to be mean or anything, it’s just that you are. I’ve done all I can to help. I want y’all to leave too, but I’ve put in the work.”
Cordelia scoffed. “I’m back with Garrick, so I should be leaving, too.”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t be leaving if I hadn’t told you how to get out of here.”
I pointed to the ceiling. “Might I point out that you’re still here? No one has beamed you anywhere yet.”
Betty slapped Amelia’s back. “Let’s all just take a breather, huh? It’s been a long day. Let’s get to bed.”
Amelia shot a hopeless look to the ceiling. “I was so sure I’d be gone by now. Why am I still here?”
“Maybe it just takes some time,” I said gently.
“But it shouldn’t,” she whimpered. “It didn’t take any time at all for us to arrive. We should zip away just as quickly.”
“Maybe there’s something you missed,” Cordelia added. “Something we need to go back and fix.”
Amelia’s face scrunched up in thought. “I don’t think so. I did everything right. I’m sure of it.”
I patted her back. “Let’s go to bed. We can analyze it in the morning, when we’re fresh. How’s that sound?”
“I guess so,” Amelia said limply.
But she was wrecked and I knew it. So sad that her plan hadn’t worked. I knew I was right. We had to stay the course.
Like I had. That’s all Amelia had to do and she’d be home in no time.
We went to our respective bedrooms. I slipped into my nightgown and slid under the sheets. Ratchet slept in a small cot at the foot of my bed.
“Good night,” I said.
“Sleep tight,” he murmured.
I snapped off the light and quickly dozed off. I awoke the next morning blurry-eyed and tired. It had been a long week, and I needed more rest than I’d been getting.
I showered, dressed and headed downstairs to have breakfast with my family.
“How is everyone this morning?” I said, bounding up. Fleeting memories of Amelia and her botched attempt to leave came back to me.
When I sat at the table, Cordelia and Betty gave me funny looks. Funny as if they knew a secret I didn’t.
I poured a glass of orange juice. “What is it? Where’s Amelia? Not up yet?”
“Oh, she’s up,” Cordelia said.
“Then where is she?”
“Amelia,” Betty called. “Quit dawdling in that kitchen and get out here.”
“Okay, okay,” she called. The swinging door opened, and Amelia appeared.
I choked on my juice. Started coughing. Betty tapped her nose, and a line of magic zipped into my mouth and calmed my coughs.
I gasped and stared at Amelia. The hair she’d been growing out had grown out—it gently caressed her shoulders. Amelia slid her fingers through her hair, and a gigantic diamond ring flashed on her hand.
I shot Cordelia and Betty confused looks. “What’s going on here?”
Betty pulled apart her biscuit and dredged it through a lagoon of gravy. “Seems Amelia’s plan worked. She returned. Pepper, meet your other cousin, Amelia.”
Chapter 19
“You’re kidding,” I said in disbelief.
“Nope,” Cordelia said. “Watch. Amelia?”
Amelia sank onto her chair and started piling her plate with food. “Yes?”
“Tell Pepper here—she’s got a bad memory—who gave you that ring.”
Amelia scoffed. “That’s just silly, Cordelia. Why do I have to tell Pepper that Sherman Oaks and I are engaged? She was there when I told y’all last night that he proposed.”
Cordelia quirked a brow. “Oh, she was, right. I forgot. And tell her about me, too.”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “Why should I have to tell Pepper that you and Garrick will probably be getting engaged any day now? Of course most people would wait until after Rufus and Pepper get married. So exciting,” she said to me, smiling, “so it’ll happen. Sorry it occurred so fast with Sherman. It’s just, we were meant to be.”
I stared openmouthed while she spoke. My gaze darted to Cordelia and Betty, who both sported smug smiles.
“And so that’s how it is,” Amelia concluded. “Oh! Looks like I’m going to be late for work.”
“Erasmus get on to you when you’re late?” I said.
Amelia eyed me suspiciously. “Are you feeling okay, Pepper?”
“Yeah, why?
She hooked a stylish leather purse over her arm. “It’s just that you know Erasmus is watching the Vault up north, right? I was promoted ages ago. I run the Vault here.”
She gulped down a few mouthfuls of coffee. “Gotta go. It’s hard being the boss.”
Amelia left in a whirlwind of hair and happiness. As soon as the door shut behind her, I turned to Betty and Cordelia.
“So,” I said.
Cordelia folded her cloth napkin and tossed it on her empty plate. “So she did it. Amelia’s gone and the entire timeline has changed. Well, not the entire timeline. Just hers. She’s back where she’s supposed to be, and we’re stuck here.”
Cordelia exhaled a shot of air in frustration. “When do we get to leave?”
Betty clapped her hands, and Cordelia’s empty dish disappeared. “I’m guessing Garrick hasn’t kissed you yet?”
Cordelia shook her head. “Nope, but it looks like I’m going to have to make that happen and pronto. So I guess this is how it’s supposed to be. We are supposed to go against the hand of fate we’ve been dealt here, Pepper.”
She studied me, her eyes narrowing. My stomach pretzeled. My gaze darted to my plate. “I like where I am. I love Rufus. I want to be with him.”
Cordelia scoffed. “But what about our lives? What about Axel? What about everything you’ve left behind? You see what happened to Amelia. She got out. That’s what you wanted.”
I didn’t say anything.
“At least that’s what you wanted when we first arrived,” she added. “Apparently you’ve changed. Argh! That stupid ceremony. Amelia was right to try to botch it.”
Cordelia grabbed my arms. “Amelia has left us, and I’m not far behind.” Tears filled her eyes. “I can’t leave you here. Not in this world that’s so different. It’s not the place you’re supposed to be. You’re not supposed to be selling your store and going to work for the High Witch Council. I know you’re not.”
Her voice broke. “Please, Pepper.”
A single tear trickled down her cheek. I brushed it away with my thumb. “Cordelia, what happens if I go? What happens to Ratchet? What happens to this place? I have a chance here to help people. To do what’s right.”
Cordelia’s mouth clamped into a line. “You have a choice to do what needs to be done for yourself, too. You know?”
I glanced away. “I am doing this for myself.”
Betty rose and clapped Cordelia on the shoulder. “She’s an adult. Let her do what she wants.”
Cordelia rose. I lifted my gaze to hers. Anguish covered her face.
“You know, Pepper. I don’t know who you are anymore. That stupid unity ceremony has really done a number on you. This isn’t you. This isn’t who you are.”
I fisted my hands. I didn’t know what to say. Th
is was who I was. I’d made every choice in this week from myself, and I’d done some good work. I’d done what I was supposed to in the hope of returning to my life.
But still it wasn’t enough for Cordelia. And so what? I’d fallen for Rufus in the process. We were connected. The last part of the ceremony would connect our souls, and I knew that once that was completed, I would always want to be with him. There would be no turning back.
“This is me, Cordelia,” I finally said. “I’m sorry you can’t accept who I am.”
Her gaze cut to the floor. She shook her head sadly and sniffled. “I can accept it.” She inhaled and looked at me. “I just wonder if you can.”
With that, Cordelia grabbed her purse and left the house, slamming the door behind her.
The door opened back up, and Ratchet entered. “What was that all about? Cordelia looked like she’d been in a fight.”
I hiked my shoulders to my ears. “We sort of had been. I guess.”
Ratchet climbed onto a chair and started building a plate. “Well, I hope that whatever it is, the two of you get over it.”
My gaze slashed to Betty. She gave me a wide smile. “You do what you have to, Pepper. Don’t worry about anyone else. You’re not here living their life. You’re living your own.”
I wiped a line of snot from my nose and nodded. “I know. It’s just, I don’t want to cause others pain in the process.”
“Ah, all life is pain,” Ratchet grumbled. “It’s just varying degrees of it, is all.”
“Thank you, wise one,” I joked.
He shrugged. “Say what you will, but not every decision you make will make others happy. You don’t want to always tick them off, but you sure as heck don’t want them to hate you, either.”
I exhaled a deep shot of air. I’d lost my appetite. I picked up my plate of half-eaten food and walked toward the kitchen to deposit it.
Ratchet’s words lingered in my head. I didn’t want anyone to hate me, but I had the feeling that Cordelia and Amelia would never forgive me for embracing this existence.
But it wasn’t their forgiveness I really had to worry about, was it? I’d left Axel. Left him in another place. Would he forgive me?
