Couture and Curses

by Danielle Garrett

  I considered it but came up empty. Sensing this, Caleb pushed back to his feet and then reached for my hand. He led me around the sprawled suitcase and wrapped me in his arms. I don’t know how long we stood there, locked together, but it still ended too soon. If it were up to me, we would have stayed in the closet, pretending the rest of the world no longer existed.

  But reality wasn’t willing to indulge me.

  Harmony and I finished packing our bags and with the help of two SPA agents. I managed to get Peaches into her cat carrier, and we took everything down to a waiting SPA vehicle parked outside the building. Caleb’s agent, Clark, got behind the wheel and we set off for Unicorn Saddle Ridge. As we turned the corner, I twisted in my seat to look back up at my corner unit, wondering how long it would be before I’d see it again.

  Chapter 16

  To my surprise—and Harmony’s delight—the so-called safe house was less government compound and more spring break beach house. Well, minus the beach. We’d taken an SPA portal to Unicorn Saddle Ridge, cutting the four hour drive down to about an hour, most of which had been inside the Seattle Haven, driving to the portal. The small town was not technically inside any haven, as havens only existed inside large cities, but as we neared the house, Caleb explained that the town wasn’t on any human map and there were deterrent charms cast to keep humans from finding it as they drove along the main highway through Eastern Washington. He also assured us that there were wards in place to redirect any kind of tracking spell. If the shadow man had any more plans of tracking me down, he’d find himself pointed to the middle of an SPA portal that would take him—or whatever henchmen he sent on the ill-fated errand—directly into a holding cell.

  When we arrived at the safe house, we found a two-story home sitting in the center of an acre of property that had a huge deck off the back, complete with an indoor swimming pool and hot tub. The house itself was decorated with a modern flair that didn’t match the exterior of the house. The first level had an open-concept design, with the living room, dining room, and kitchen all connected. There was a guest room, bathroom, and study down a small hallway. Upstairs, there were four more bedrooms, each with their own attached bathroom, and then a huge master suite at the end of the hall opposite the staircase.

  “There’s a basement, too,” Caleb said, leading the tour. “It’s got a pool table, reading area, and another bedroom and bath.”

  Harmony’s smile widened.

  “We have the whole thing to ourselves?” I asked as we descended the stairs, back into the living room.

  “Well, along with the four agents that will be posted at all times. I figure you and Harmony can share the master, or one of you can take the room down in the basement. The other rooms will be used by the agents. They’ll stay here to avoid attracting attention coming and going.”

  As nice as the place was, I couldn’t muster up too much excitement. With the way Caleb was talking, it made it seem like we were in for a long-term stay. “What about work? I thought I was going to be able to go in to the office still?”

  “It’s not out of the question, but for at least the next two days, I’d like you to lay low.” Caleb reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to meet my eyes. “Is that going to work? There’s a phone here. You’re welcome to use it as much as you need.”

  It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but I was too wrung out to argue with him. I’d pick up the sword another day, after I’d had a full night of sleep. Assuming that was possible.

  Agent Clark came into the living room, hauling my suitcase. Meryl followed, holding Peaches’ cat carrier. “Sweet kitty,” she said.

  Peaches hissed.

  Meryl winced, set the carrier down, and backed away slowly. “I’ll let you do the honors.”

  Harmony and I thanked the agents for bringing in the bags and then Harmony waved her hand, levitating the bags off the ground. With a flick of her wrist, sent them up the staircase.

  Clark frowned. “Show off.”

  Harmony smiled. “Witches just wanna have fun.”

  He laughed. “I could have shifted and carried them upstairs, but I imagine you’re not keen on having bear -claw marks on the handles.”

  “Stace would probably turn you into a throw rug,” Harmony replied with a boisterous laugh.

  Caleb tried—and failed—to conceal a grin.

  “That was a Juliet Blackwell suitcase!” Meryl protested, giving the three of them a look of sheer horror.

  I smiled at her. “Thank you, Meryl. At least I know someone here has good taste.”

  Harmony shrugged, still smiling. “I paid thirty bucks for mine at this wonderful store in the human side of Seattle. Bullseye, I think it was called?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You mean Target.”

  She shrugged. “Sure. That could have been it.”

  “Why don’t you two ladies go get settled in? I have some things to go over with the team before I take off.”

  My stomach lurched at the thought of him leaving, but I tamped down the urge to protest and led the way back upstairs.

  “You gonna come in or not?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t do pools in the middle of winter.”

  Harmony splashed in the aqua water, her hair plastered to the sides of her head. “It’s heated, Stace.”

  “Ya know, in the packing process, I didn’t think to bring a bikini.”

  Harmony launched off the side of the pool and did a surprisingly elegant backstroke to the other end. She’d gone missing after dinner and when I asked Meryl if she knew where she was, she told me she’d seen her running down the stairs wrapped in a towel, not too long ago. The pool was enchased in a large room with glass walls on three sides, almost like a sunroom off the main house.

  “I didn’t either!” Harmony giggled, keeping her face above water as she lazily paddled herself across the water’s surface. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a bra and underwear look a lot like a bikini. Besides, who’s going to see you?”

  Plunking down on one of the beach chairs, I ignored her. The hot tub did look tempting. Maybe I’d sneak back down once Harmony had gone to bed and the agents were outside patrolling, or whatever it was they were planning to do. Having four agents with us seemed a waste of resources but I wasn’t going to even try to argue the point with Caleb. He was gone anyway. He promised to call as soon as he had news or before bed, whichever came first, and I was already antsy for my phone to ring.

  “You think we can talk the agents into going out for pizza? I’m having a craving.”

  Harmony’s question pulled me from my thoughts and I refocused on her. “Huh?”

  “Pizza. I’m starving. Aren’t you?”

  At her question, my stomach churned in reply. “I guess so. I’ll go ask Meryl.”

  “Stace?” Harmony asked as I stood.

  “Hmm?”

  Harmony paused, as if choosing her words carefully. In the end, all she said was, “It’s going to be okay.”

  I gave her a weak smile. “That’s what everyone keeps telling me.”

  She cocked her head, a sheepish look on her delicate face. “Caleb knows what he’s doing. I know I give you guys crap sometimes, but he’s a really good guy. He’ll figure this out.”

  That drew a real smile. “Thanks, Harmony.”

  She splashed backward again and started swimming the other way. I went back into the house and found Meryl still in the living room. She had the TV turned on but flipped through at least three channels as I crossed through the kitchen to join her. When I sat on the loveseat adjacent to the sofa, she clicked the TV off and tossed the remote to the side. “Three hundred channels and not a thing to watch on any one of them,” she told me with a smile. She picked up the remote and offered it to me. “You wanna try?”

  I shook my head and she dropped it again. “Harmony was wondering if we should order some dinner. I wasn’t sure how this all worked.”

  “Oh. Yeah. We can do that. I know Caleb mentioned ha
ving some groceries delivered, but I’m not sure about the timeline. He probably hasn’t had a chance to send someone out yet.”

  Meryl stood and went into the kitchen and started tugging open drawers, likely in search of takeout menus, though with a town the side of Unicorn Saddle Ridge, she wasn’t going to come up with a plethora of options. During the drive into town, I’d been so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn’t really seen the things we passed to know if there were any restaurants or cafes.

  After a few minutes of searching, Meryl found a paper menu and held it up triumphantly. “Hope everyone likes pizza!”

  I smiled. “Harmony will be happy.”

  Meryl came back into the living room and handed me the paper. I gave it a quick once-over and told her what Harmony and I would like, and then she left to see what her three co-workers preferred. When she was gone, I sagged back against the sofa, but then righted myself, frowning at the lack of padding. “Who decorated this place?” I muttered under my breath.

  Later that night, after pizza and beer and a pool tournament between Harmony, me, and the two agents who were technically off duty, the house fell silent as everyone turned in. Meryl and Clark were outside keeping watch while the other two agents slept. Harmony was snoring beside me in the huge bed and while I’d been trying to join her in dreamland, my body wasn’t cooperating. Every three minutes, I found myself reaching for my phone, desperate to see Caleb’s name lit up on the screen. A text, a call, anything. But so far, it was radio silence, leaving my mind to fill in the blanks of where he might be and what he must be doing.

  None of the imagined scenarios ended well.

  Finally giving up, I tossed the coverlet aside and swung my legs out of bed. My toes tapped along the floor until they found my fuzzy dragon slippers and I slipped them on. Peaches meowed and I reached back to stroke her head for a few moments before getting out of bed. I halfway expected her to follow me, but when I reached the master bedroom door, I still hadn’t heard her paws hit the bamboo floor.

  Downstairs, I called Caleb but got his voicemail. I left a message, trying to keep the frustration out of my voice. After I hung up, I shoved the phone across the marble countertop and growled under my breath. Where was he? What was he doing? Why hadn’t he called? Nearly six hours had passed between the time he’d dropped us off at the safe house and now. It was well past midnight and he hadn’t so much as sent a text to let me know what was going on.

  I paced the kitchen, trying to reassure myself that if something bad had happened, the SPA agents stationed with us would know and there would likely be a lot more activity. As it was, the night was silent. Too silent.

  “Ugh. Stop it!” I hissed at myself, raking my hands through my hair. “You’re going to make yourself crazy.”

  As I passed the bank of windows, I caught sight of the glass enclosure and thought of the hot tub. Maybe a nice soak would help me relax enough to be able to sleep. I glanced around the empty first floor, then hit the lights and crossed through the dark living room to the door attaching the windowed pool area to the rest of the house.

  The hot tub was indeed turned on and a perfect temperature. I slipped out of my robe and with another quick glance around, pulled off my nightgown. Nude, I stepped into the water and let it swallow me whole. Moonlight poured in through the glass ceiling, spreading soft beams of light across the pool’s surface. I let my arms float up around me and relaxed into the water, imagining I was a bag of tea in a piping hot mug.

  I slipped in and out of a light sleep, not aware of my surroundings, until a strange humming sound stirred me awake. Glancing around, I could see someone moving inside the house on the second floor, their silhouette illuminated against drawn shades of one of the bedrooms. Then, the lights flickered, going off and on three times in rapid succession.

  “What the …” I stood, suddenly feeling too exposed even though the pool house was dark.

  I started to climb out of the hot tub and as I swung my leg over the side, a loud crack sounded, followed by a telltale flash of green light from inside the house.

  My eyes went wide. He was here, inside the house.

  He’d found me.

  Chapter 17

  Frozen in place cowering behind the hot tub, I considered my options. The house was large and unfamiliar. If I ran inside, would I make it to the stairs and back to Harmony? And then what? We wouldn’t be able to outrun the shadow. I crawled forward and peeked around the hot tub to look up at the house. Where were Meryl and Clark? They were on duty. Surely, they’d heard the loud crackling boom and seen the flash of light that had shown out all of the windows of the house.

  Hadn’t they … ?

  I grabbed my nightgown and shimmied back into it before slipping my robe on. I cinched the sash as tight as I could get it and abandoned the slippers. They were a little too big and would only slow me down if I had to make a run for it. The soles were soft and wouldn’t protect my feet against glass or rocks anyway.

  Voices called into the night and I sagged with relief. I wasn’t alone!

  “That way, Clark!” Meryl’s voice cut through the night. “Clark?”

  Then, a shriek. “Clark!”

  I popped up, my legs trembling. Meryl was streaking along the back of the house a few yards from the pool house. Did she know I was in here? Was she coming to help me? Where was the shadow man? And what had happened to Clark?

  Another explosion of light bathed the backside of the property. This light was white—bright white—and a glance at Meryl told me she was the one behind it.

  Somehow just being able to see again helped ease the terror shooting through my veins. Though, I still didn’t know what to do. I could feel an angsty power inside me, like a nervous flutter in my stomach, only stronger. It was my magic. I knew the sensation, but it was like the feeling I’d had the first time behind the wheel of a car, not knowing what any of the buttons or levers did. If I closed my eyes, I could reach inside and brush against the magic, but it was like moving my fingertips over the icy surface of a frozen pond. There was more underneath—I knew it, I could see it, but I couldn’t break through and access it.

  “Ana! Get in the house!” Meryl screamed, breaking my momentary concentration.

  With a wave of her hand, she shot sparks out across the yard. The spell flew across the area and exploded against the sides of a metal shed in the backyard.

  “Go! Now!” Meryl shouted, pausing momentarily before charging forward again.

  She fired another spell at the shed and a hole was blasted into the siding. Someone ran out, dressed in dark robes. For a moment, I thought it was the shadow man, but quickly realized it was a physical person.

  That was enough to get me moving. I bolted into the house and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. “Harmony!” I screamed. “Harmony, where are you?”

  “In here!”

  Relief surged through me at the sound of my sister’s voice, and I charged into the master bedroom. She was kneeling on one of the two chairs that were placed on either side of the large picture window. “Get away from the window!” I shrieked, as I dove for the bed. My hands patted down the sides frantically before remembering that I’d left my phone down in the pool house on a table beside the hot tub. Why hadn’t I thought to grab it? Had someone called Caleb?

  “Do you have your phone up here?” I asked her.

  “No, I left it down in the kitchen. Meryl was letting me use her charger.”

  “Where is Peaches?”

  “Under the bed,” Harmony said, gesturing behind her without taking her eyes away from the window.

  “Harmony! Get back! We don’t want anyone to know we’re up here.”

  She turned to look at me and her eyes went wide. “Sta—Stace.”

  Whipping around, I froze. A shadow slithered into the room, creeping along the floor and then up onto the wall. As I stared, open-mouthed, it moved, peeling away and becoming three-dimensional. I fanned my arms out to my sides, blocking Harmony
. “Leave us alone!” I commanded, my voice wavering.

  “Where is it?” he hissed.

  The figure moved closer, one hand lifted in a menacing way. Under any other circumstance, it would be silly to fear a shadow, but I’d seen firsthand what this one could do. I’d sported the black eye for a week to prove it.

  He spoke, his voice low and grating, like sandpaper across my raw nerves. “Something was taken from Ramona’s house. A book. You were there. I saw you. Now tell me, where is it!”

  “I—I don’t know anything about a book,” I stammered, taking a slow step backward.

  Somewhere in the back of my mind, a niggling memory popped its head up. Hadn’t Carolyn mentioned some books? Ramona had brought some old books but Carolyn hadn’t taken them. She’d told her to take them to the bookstore at Dragon’s Crossing, a shopping center in the heart of the haven.

  “I’ll kill you both,” the shadow said. “You know I can. You saw Ramona. Stupid girl.”

  “Why did you kill her?” Harmony asked, her voice bizarrely conversational considering the circumstances.

  The shadow man still didn’t have eyes, but his head snapped to consider Harmony, the angles of its jaw sharp as he craned his head in her direction. “She betrayed me.”

  “Mhmm. And Aurelia? Why’d you hurt her?”

  “Harmony, get back!” I hissed, flapping my hand at her as she came to stand beside me.

  Naturally, my protest did nothing. She planted her feet in a wide stance and planted one fist on her hip, leaving her other hand dangling beside her. A flicker caught my eye and my heart screeched to a halt. Was that magic? Oh, please, tell me she wasn’t planning on attacking this … thing. Harmony was reckless, but she wasn’t stupid.

  “The dress maker?” the shadow said. “She was in my way. She had my Heart.”

  “The Heart of Poseidon?” I said.

  Suddenly, the shadowy figure flailed, its arms extending out at odd angles. I shot a sidelong glance at Harmony. Had she cast a spell? The roundness of her eyes suggested she was as confused as I was.