“Do what you want.” Mom’s tone was airy. “If you don’t want to take this seriously, you’re not required to join in the fasting. After all, you’re not full coven members. It’s not required.”
I could tell she was disappointed, but there was nothing I could do about that. Going without food wasn’t an option. I couldn’t help thinking they were to blame for our gluttonous behavior. If they weren’t such good cooks we wouldn’t be so food-oriented.
“Great.” I forced a smile for her benefit. “Let’s ritual the night away.”
Thistle waited until Mom and the aunts disappeared through the door. “That was the geekiest thing you’ve ever said.”
“I heard it the second I said it.”
THE TOWN SQUARE WAS DECKED OUT WITH twinkle lights and small candles. They’d been placed along the ground, in the shape of a pentagram, and glinted against the dimming light in a fantastical way. Honestly, it was breathtaking.
“Do you think I’ll get in trouble if I have a snack before we get started?” Clove asked, rubbing her stomach. “The baby is hungry.”
“That baby is going to turn out to be a convenient excuse,” Thistle noted. “You’ll be able to eat whatever you want for the next few months and no one will be able to say a thing about it.”
“That means we can eat whatever we want, too,” I noted. “I mean ... Clove is forcing us to bend to her emotions.”
Thistle brightened considerably. “Now that right there is genius thinking. Why wasn’t your brain firing on all cylinders like this earlier?”
That was a good question. I had another. “None of them know about the other new development,” I offered. “They don’t know that Clove is controlling us with her emotions … at least sometimes.”
“It’s probably best they don’t know that,” Thistle argued. “If Aunt Tillie finds out our link is so strong — and thus our individual minds so weak — that we’re allowing her to influence us, then she’s going to melt down.”
“True story.” I heaved out a sigh. “Let’s try to keep this particular secret to ourselves for the foreseeable future, huh? I think that will be best for everybody.”
“I can get behind that.”
We split up to find our respective significant others. Sam was stress eating at the bacon truck with Landon. With the wedding arriving the following day, nerves were apparently getting the better of him. I couldn’t blame him. Landon didn’t even have that excuse and he was shoveling it in.
“Hello, Bay.” His tone was cool as he regarded me. “How was the rest of your afternoon?”
I knew exactly what he was asking and I didn’t like it. “Fine. How was your afternoon?”
“Productive.”
“Really?” Hope surged in my chest. “What did you find? Do you have enough to arrest Lorna?”
He slanted his eyes in my direction. “I’m afraid that I can’t talk about an ongoing investigation with a civilian. I don’t make the rules, but I do have to follow them.”
Oh, well, now he was just punishing me. “Fine.” I turned to storm off but he caught my arm. “I’m not in the mood to fight with you right now,” I warned. “I get that you’re angry, but you can’t be mean just for the sake of being mean.”
“I’m not being mean.” His tone softened. “Dammit, Bay, I love you. Do you not understand why I’m upset? For crying out loud, you could’ve been killed. You could’ve been caught and then I would’ve been forced to arrest you. Do you have any idea how hard that would be?”
“It wouldn’t exactly be a picnic by the lake for me either. I did what I had to do. I can’t take it back ... and I wouldn’t. Adam is out there now, and he’s free. I’m hoping when he regroups that he’ll be able to find me. If he does, we’ll have the answers we need. Isn’t that the important thing?”
“You’re the important thing,” he countered. “This is the most important thing.” He collected my hand and pressed it to his chest. “Don’t you understand that I can’t make it without you? I believe in your autonomy. I want you to be who you are. Fear is a funny thing, though. It doesn’t care about being rational.”
He was so open, so earnest, that I couldn’t help taking pity on him. “I’m sorry.” Despite my earlier words, I meant it. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never want that. I just ... I had to know. I figured that Lorna being with you gave me an opening. We were supposed to get in and out. Dani coming home was a surprise.”
“That wasn’t a true apology,” he countered.
“That’s because I’m not sorry for doing what I did. I am sorry for causing you to worry ... and I admit I could’ve thought things out better. I am sorry about that.”
“Ugh.” He groaned and rolled his eyes. “You are so much work. I should stay angry at you just for the sake of being right. That’s the Winchester way, after all.”
I grinned and leaned closer. “I’ll wow you tonight with the bacon negligee I bought and was keeping for a special occasion if you promise to let this go.”
He straightened, surprise flitting across his handsome features. “Bacon negligee? Does that mean you look like a slice of bacon?”
“Yes.”
“That shouldn’t be hot, but what I’m picturing in my head is hot.”
Somehow I knew he would say that. I leaned close and lowered my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this because you might get over-excited, but it’s also scented.”
“Does that mean you’re going to smell like bacon?” He practically had little hearts dancing in his eyes.
“Yes ... and it’s the best of both worlds, because unlike Aunt Tillie’s curse, I can take the nightgown on and off.”
“You’re the only one who ever wants the bacon smell to go away.” He slid his arms around my waist and tugged me close. “Fine. I declare this fight over. I don’t want you to think I’m calling it off because of the bacon negligee, though.”
“Why are you doing it?”
“Because I honestly don’t want you to change. It’s just ... there are times I’m afraid, Bay.” He rested his cheek against my forehead. “Somehow you’ve become my life. Your family has become my family. Your happiness and safety is more important than anything else.
“I get that you’re brave ... and your powers are expanding ... and you come from a bold line of empowered women who don’t believe anyone should be able to tell them what to do,” he continued. “When we have a daughter of our own, I want her to be just like you ... other than the constantly finding danger thing. That freaks me out.”
“You’re not going to be a helicopter parent, are you?”
“I don’t know what that is, but I’m guessing no. But if it’s something I find cool, I reserve the right to change my mind.”
I smiled into his shoulder. “I am sorry about making you worry.” I meant it with my whole heart. “I didn’t think things would go the way they went.”
“You never do.”
“Can we just put this behind us for now? I need to focus on this ritual. Supposedly it’s going to be a big deal.”
“We can let it go ... for now.”
“Great.” I pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Are you going to meet me at home or what?”
He pulled back, his eyebrows drawn. “Why would I meet you at home?”
I was taken aback. “You’re staying?”
“Yeah. I want to see what all the hoopla is about.”
“But ... it’s a bunch of witches. We’re just going to be chanting and calling to the four corners. It’s nothing you haven’t seen.”
“Maybe, but I still want to be a part of it. This life is our destiny, Bay. Any children we have — whether it’s one or ten — will have one foot in the magic world. I need to understand everything I can, and not just for them, but for you, too.”
“You’ve been talking about children a lot lately,” I said. “It makes me kind of nervous. I don’t think we’re ready for that step.”
“W
e’re not,” he agreed without hesitation. “It’s a natural progression, though. We’ll get there eventually. As for mentioning it ... I guess I’ve got it on my mind. Ever since Aunt Tillie sent us to the future and we saw those kids ... .” He left it hanging.
“Those kids weren’t our kids,” I cautioned him. “They were figments of Aunt Tillie’s imagination. What we saw wasn’t real.”
“I know.” He said the words, but I wasn’t sure I believed them. “First, I would never name one of our children Sumac.”
He laughed at my serious expression. “I’m not attached to that part. I wasn’t even attached to that girl. It was the one in the field.” He turned serious. “I know I shouldn’t get attached, but I can’t stop myself. I liked her ... and she was this perfect little mix of you and me.
“Even if we don’t get that exact girl, it doesn’t matter,” he continued. “We’ll get another just like her. I want to understand the world she comes from. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.”
“It’s not. I just didn’t realize you were interested. You try to avoid the bluff rituals as often as possible.”
“That’s because those rituals turn into drunken revelries of nakedness ... and you’re never the naked one.”
His dour response caused my grin to widen. “I want you to be involved. I do. You’ve earned it.”
“We’ve earned it,” he corrected, cupping the back of my head. “I know we’ve only been together about a year and a half, but the time has flown. It’s been wonderful, and I want more.
“Going forward, it’s going to happen just as fast,” he continued. “We have a lifetime in front of us, but it’s going to feel as if it passes in minutes. I don’t want to miss anything ... and I definitely don’t want you risking yourself and cutting that time even shorter.”
“That’s fair. I don’t want anything to happen to you either. But you’re an FBI agent and danger comes with the territory. I took that on when I took you on. You have to do the same for me. When you came back, you said that you were in it for the long haul and that you were fine with the witch stuff. You can’t go back on your word.”
“I have no intention of going back on my word.” He captured my lips and gave me a lingering kiss. “We’ll work this out. We always do. I don’t want you to worry ... and I’m sorry about being snarky earlier. That wasn’t fair.”
“Snark is the name of the game in the Winchester world.”
“Yeah, well ... we’re fine. I’m not even angry any longer. I just want to watch the ritual and then eat my weight in bacon..”
“I think that can be arranged.”
“Yeah, well ... .” He trailed off, turning his head to the left. “It got really quiet.”
I didn’t realize until he pointed it out that I was thinking the same thing. When I turned to the square, I found a multitude of eyes focused on us. Mom looked disgusted. Aunt Tillie looked amused from her spot behind Mom ... so that, at least, was something.
“If you’re ready,” Hazel intoned. “We’re about to begin.”
“Sure.” I rapidly separated from Landon. “We’re definitely ready. We’re looking forward to it.”
“Totally,” Landon echoed. “I love a good ritual. As long as you all don’t get naked I think it’ll be a great night.”
The gazes darkened as Landon shrank next to me. “That probably wasn’t a smart thing to say,” he murmured.
Aunt Tillie responded before I could, shooting her thumb in the air and doing a little dance. “Way to go, Landon. Every time I think I’m going to ruin an event, I know I can always count on you to make me look good.”
I pursed my lips and slid him a sidelong look. “It’s fine.”
“Let’s hope so. Now I feel as if they’re the birds and I’m on the dinner menu.”
Twenty-One
Hazel strode to the center of the square, her robe a shiny silver and gleaming against the lights as she took her spot.
Aunt Tillie bitterly complained the entire time. “Do you know who wears robes? Cults. She’s trying to build a cult and I’m the only one who sees it.”
I slid her a sidelong look as Landon shuffled closer to me. He was obviously curious about the ritual, but he was the sort of man who would protect what he loved … even if he didn’t know what he was fighting against. That’s simply who he was.
“I once heard about a cult that ate nothing but oysters,” Aunt Tillie continued, ignoring the dark look Mom shot her. “Do you know why?”
“Probably something about oysters being aphrodisiacs,” Landon replied without hesitation.
The look she shot him was withering. “Why am I not surprised that you’re up on all things perverted?”
Landon’s grin was toothy. “Perhaps I’m gifted.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She moved to my left. “This is going to suck.”
It wasn’t odd to see Aunt Tillie out of sorts. This situation, however, was vastly different from her usual meltdowns. “Are you jealous?” I asked finally.
Her eyebrows, shot through with gray, flew up her forehead. “Excuse me?”
I was calm as I regarded her. “Jealous,” I repeated. “I mean ... Hazel is getting the attention usually reserved for you.”
“I am most certainly not jealous.” She turned haughty. “The fact that you could even suggest that makes me sick to my stomach. I am not the jealous sort.”
“No?” I knew that wasn’t true, but it hardly mattered. Hazel had started calling to the four corners, her face serene.
“I call upon the wardens of the north,” she began. “We beseech you to stand as our strength.”
Aunt Tillie’s frown only deepened. “That’s not how you do it,” she argued. “That didn’t even rhyme.”
I risked a glance at Landon and found his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. I didn’t want to follow suit — the odds of her taking it well were slim — so I focused my attention forward. Hazel droned on (and on and on and on) as she called to the corners. Her acolytes joined in, whispering in her wake.
“You know, they kind of do sound like a cult,” I muttered.
“I told you.” Aunt Tillie’s eyes were dark as she folded her arms over her chest and glared at Hazel, who was now doing a little spin in the middle of things. “I don’t like her.”
Landon grinned as he cocked his head to the side. “She has pizazz.”
“Don’t make me curse you,” Aunt Tillie shot back. “I’m not above doing it.”
“Can you make it the bacon curse?” Landon’s eyes lit with anticipation.
“No, the bacon curse is a way to punish Bay. You need punishment.”
“If you punish me that way I’ll spend the entire day smelling myself,” Landon admitted.
“You’ll probably be doing a few other things to yourself, too, since you’re a pervert,” Aunt Tillie said darkly. “Why is she still babbling?”
At the center of it all, Hazel raised her hands to the sky as she exalted the Goddess, and then she announced, “Clove Winchester, would you please join me?”
I started forward on instinct as Landon held out his hand to stop me.
“What are you doing?” he whispered, confused. “You’re not Clove.”
“Yeah, but ... what is she doing?”
“Let’s watch and find out.”
That was easy for him to say. He was comfortable with the ritual, amused even. I didn’t like this most recent part one little bit. “But ... .” I frowned as Clove reluctantly approached Hazel from the other side of the square. She’d been standing with Thistle, happy to be outside of the circle. Now she was directly in its center.
I caught Thistle’s eye and it was obvious she was as annoyed with the change of events as I was. “We should get Clove out of this,” I suggested.
“Oh, when it’s Clove you want to do something,” Aunt Tillie sneered. “When Hazel was bothering me it was all, ‘Shut up and suck it up.’”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how I phras
ed it.”
“And yet that’s what I heard. Go figure.”
“You are an absolute delight,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I mean ... an absolute delight.”
“Shh.” Landon pressed his finger to his lips to admonish us. “I’m trying to listen. This is obviously a big deal. I mean ... she’s wearing robes. That’s straight out of Harry Potter.”
It took everything I had not to laugh, even as worry continued to scratch at the back of my brain. Clove nearly trembled as Hazel drew her into the circle.
“My sisters — and several brothers — I bring you good tidings,” Hazel announced, causing my stomach to squeeze. “New life calls to us on the threshold of tomorrow and it wants us to bless the path ahead.”
Oh, well, crud on a cracker. “Son of a ... !” I swore viciously under my breath as Landon slid me a sidelong look.
“Wow. How do you really feel?” he asked.
“I really feel Clove doesn’t want to be the center of attention ... at least not for this.”
“Well, is there anything you can do about it?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”
“Fair enough.” He held up his hands. “I wasn’t trying to annoy you or anything.”
And yet he’d managed to carry it out with minimum effort. How awesome for him. I kept my snarky comments to myself and focused on Clove. “If I don’t like this, I’m shutting it down,” I announced. “You’ve been warned.”
Landon was confused. “Why wouldn’t you like this?”
“Because Hazel is the Devil and the Devil is evil,” Aunt Tillie automatically answered for me. “We don’t want her touching our baby.”
Landon’s forehead wrinkled. “Am I missing something?”
“Oh, all manner of things,” Aunt Tillie muttered. “It’s too late to fix that now, though. You’re the pretty sort who gets through life on his looks. You’re not expected to use your brain.”
“And I’m done talking to you,” Landon groused, his expression narrowing. “I don’t know why I put up with this abuse.”
Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery Box Set Page 78
