The New Improved Sorceress

by Sara Hanover

  “Bad luck to wear it?” I twirled once, and the sea-glass-colored silk swirled with me.

  He shook his head. Took a deep breath and exhaled a long sentence that I could feel warm the air about me.

  “What’s that?”

  “A glamour meant to hide the stone.” He squinted at me and muttered, “Not sure it’ll work.”

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “You have a glow, Tessa.”

  “Thanks, I think.” I realized none of us had told him about my stone and the book it had absorbed, meaning his glamour worked with a handicap right off the bat. I watched him disappear out the side door to join the other guys.

  Now, Scout bolted past me to see if the ladies in the kitchen were eating cookies, biscuits, or anything else of interest (bacon?). He skidded to a stop just before slamming into Aunt April. She wore an evening pantsuit in dark navy, the bottom with swingy legs and the top studded with rhinestones. In addition, she wore three diamond rings and two pearl-and-diamond ones, to match her pearl earrings and necklace. And, yet, she wasn’t blingy. She was worth studying to see just how she accomplished that. My mother, on the other hand, had chosen to reveal her knees, legs shapely and very viewable, her black dress short with a skirt, belted, her neckline V’d and her back scooped bare, and she wore a nice gold necklace that I knew had to be costume jewelry because we’d sold everything of value to try and keep our house years earlier. Her ears sparkled in gold and CZs as well. She looked relatively happy although I could see that vertical frown line between her blue eyes seemed to have become a permanent fixture. And that made me scowl, a little, and promise to myself I’d fix that. Somehow.

  My chiffon-and-silk sea glass gown had been meant for a charity auction, and although it had seen a lot of action that day (and not in a good way), it had dry-cleaned up just fine—and it’s not like I own a lot of evening dresses. It would draw me looks, although with a glamour on me to hide my shine, hopefully not too many. I gathered up my purse and checked the time on my phone.

  “Everyone ready?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Scout sprinted out the door ahead of us, and it seemed the guys waiting in the SUV had a door open and he leaped in. He’d plans I hadn’t known about. He went to the back window and watched me with puppy amusement.

  “I guess Cinderella gets to go to the ball after all!”

  Mom passed me, saying, “Brian and Hiram thought he might be useful.”

  Her words stopped me in my tracks. For what? Maybe finding me if I suddenly went missing? Oh, joy. I caught up with Aunt April and opened the car door for her before sprawling in the back, trying to decide if I felt reassured or threatened by the planning.

  Aunt April threw me a questioning look over her shoulder. I shook my head. “Sorry, Aunt April, I didn’t find your good luck charm.”

  “April, I didn’t know you’d lost something at the house. I’d have helped Tessa look for it.”

  My great-aunt slid a blue-veined hand over and patted her knee. “It’s all right. I imagine wherever it’s gone, it will be quite impossible to find. I shall have to wing it on my own. We Andrews have always been good at that.”

  Mother shot me a look over her shoulder before she backed the car out of the front driveway. “I’ve always found that Tessa is my luck.”

  That gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling, making up for the sinking one that Scout might be needed to track me down sometime tonight. I settled back, enjoying the ride along with the thought that I could have driven if I’d wanted to. The little aches and pains of yesterday’s hard-fought game had begun to fade except for one black-and-blue bruise along my shin that would be even worse if I hadn’t worn guards. The look on Fourteen’s face as the grandstand had collapsed on her heels stayed with me—one of shock and disbelief. Did she think that I’d had something to do with it? I had, but she couldn’t have known that. Not unless she had a sixth sense that some of us have, but only if we’re different.

  So what did that mean for me?

  Being damned careful, for one. I had that idea down pat, but should have realized it sooner. I may be slow sometimes, but I am not as dumb as a sack of hammers. Carter hadn’t been told of my new ability because of the Society. I had this figured out, or would. Soon. Honestly.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  KA-CHING

  BECAUSE IT WAS near-serious fall weather and the days had shortened, we could see the multicolor gleam of the casino and its lights on the eastern horizon long before we got there. Aunt April tilted her head. “Rather like the northern lights, I should imagine.”

  “Or a perpetual rainbow. I imagine they’re playing on people’s subconscious about the whole pot of gold thing.” Mom flexed her hands on the steering wheel. “We’re close.”

  I tried to shut my mouth mid-yawn. I could see the glance in the rearview mirror. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m just storing energy for later.”

  “Right.”

  I could see her watching me in the rearview mirror and wrinkled my nose at her. I know she remembered the days when I used to sleep through car trips, but that was way back when Dad sat in the driver’s seat and Mom at his side, and the back seat had been filled with pillows and toys to keep me quiet. We hadn’t been going to casinos then. Sometimes beaches and often forests, to grab a few days of vacation.

  As we reached the casino and pulled into the parking lot, we all took a moment of silence to appreciate the money that had been sunk into the place for maximum visual effect. Finally, Aunt April snorted. “Getting back their investments means the machines will be tighter than a virgin.”

  I tried to stifle my response, but my mother gave a short, startled laugh.

  Aunt April looked at the two of us. “It’s true,” she said.

  “I don’t doubt it. But we’re here for the buffet.”

  And, indeed, the Saturday night seafood buffet dominated several flashing marquees with tempting pictures of lobster and crab. My mouth watered.

  Aunt April bent over and fished a plastic placard out of her purse. “Park in the handicapped.”

  “You still use that?”

  “I needed it after hip surgery. Still do, occasionally. With a parking lot this big, I think it necessary.”

  Mom steered us across to the appropriate slots and parked us while I looked back to see Hiram’s big SUV trailing us and parking fairly close as well. I stroked my gloves into place. Under each, I wore my black leather half-gloves, just in case the opera-length ones seemed a bit much, and there was no way I was going to be cracking open crab claws and dipping into melted butter with them on.

  Hiram’s SUV emptied, and I thought the guys would be happy to finally arrive, but the looks on all their faces telegraphed otherwise. Carter looked the stormiest. It looked like plans had just gone sideways.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong is that I just found out why you look different, a very important happening that no one thought to mention to me!”

  “Ummm . . . my stone ate another magical relic?”

  “Yeah, that would be it.” He grabbed up my hand and rolled my glove down. “I should have seen it, but you always look special to me,” Carter muttered, and I could feel the heat in his fingers. “You’ve got a shield on the stone, it appears, but it’s still embedded in your system and that radiates—”

  “I do?”

  He didn’t appear to have heard me. “We can’t let you go in like this.”

  “And why not? How does this interrupt my unicorn-ness?”

  “That’s not a word, and you will be a magnet, Tessa, an effing magnet if there are any elves in there, and I can almost guarantee there will be.”

  “How’s that? I mean, we thought it was a probability, but now you guys are certain. Why?”

  “This,” and he cupped the side of my face gently, turning me to
face part of the casino. For a moment, amid all the cling of the façade, I didn’t see it and then . . . well, an archway decorated an enchanting entrance slightly out of the way, and my whole body ached to pass through it. I took a step forward.

  “No, you don’t.”

  “But it’s an entrance, and look at it—”

  “That’s an elven arch, and you shouldn’t even be able to see it.”

  “I couldn’t until you touched me.”

  His hand dropped away from my face. I blinked once or twice, almost losing the arch but not now that it had been pointed out, although it no longer looked like a floral arbor and the doorway to heaven.

  “Truly?”

  I put his hand back to the side of my jaw and turned to look about the parking lot and public side of the casino. It looked far less blingy and yet extremely enchanted, as though Carter’s touch magnified all the things I could see and feel. I spared a look toward Hiram’s SUV. I could see the guys, the same and yet astonishingly different. Steptoe had a more impish look and his shadow showed a saucy, barbed tail that I knew he was missing. Hiram stood like a rock, solid and defined. Even Scout looked different, leaner and more agile, with a bright glow about his paws as if he stood on ground not quite earthlike. I looked back at Carter, who held the look of being in clear, impenetrable sunlight and power. I could almost name all of them truer than the name I knew them by, if I could only watch them a bit longer . . .

  “You can see when I touch you.”

  “Now I can.”

  “You’re a sorceress without the sight.”

  “Did you just insult me?”

  “No, but I’m beginning to think the powers that create magic have.” He rubbed his thumb under one eye gently before pulling his hand away. “You can’t name what you can’t see clearly.”

  “Tell me about it! That’s the way I feel now, like I have these cobwebs in front of my eyes, obscuring everything that I need to know to fix things—”

  He winced. “Fixing may not be exactly what the stone and your powers have in mind.”

  “I’m still me, aren’t I? The maelstrom doesn’t own me, I own it.”

  “That would be a question for the Society. You could do with a lot of training, at the very minimum.”

  “Brian and Steptoe didn’t mention that. But they don’t think it’s wise.”

  “No.” His voice went flat.

  “And you’ve been yelling at them.” Now I understood the stormy faces.

  “Because now that I know . . .” Carter swung to me. “Tessa, you’re taking a big risk going in, even with us here. Even with Scout. I can try a second glamour to dampen you down, but there’s no guarantee it’ll work.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “Your raw power will draw attention. Attention you don’t want. If the Eye of Nimora is here, there are bidders who will be just as eager to own you.”

  “Wait a minute. Own me?”

  “That’s what I said and meant.”

  I crossed my arms. “I can take care of myself.”

  “Normally, I’d agree. I’ve been watching you for years, and you have.”

  “Did Steptoe tell you I blew the tires off an F-150?”

  “Ummmm . . . no.” And Carter flicked a look over his shoulder at the guys, who were leaning on the front bumper of Hiram’s SUV, trying to look harmless. “I’ll be taking that up with him later. And you.”

  “Glamour away and hurry. I’m hungry. Someone promised me a birthday dinner. As for the rest of it, we’ll find the Eye first and deal with possibilities after.”

  “Don’t move.” He took a deep breath and put his shoulders back. Then, with a quick sketch through the air that left fiery lines, he passed both palms over me.

  I could feel something snake over me. I wanted to pull a Scout and shake the excess whatever it was off me, but stood very still until Carter stepped back. He twitched twice. “I think it worked.”

  “Good. Now what?”

  “Stay away from the elven arch. We’re putting Scout in the Komfort Kennel for a bit, so we can reconnoiter the casino, and we’ll see you at dinner. And, please, don’t go running off on your own. We can’t afford to lose you.” He gave me a quick hug that didn’t mean what I’d hoped, for years, it would mean, but I wasn’t going to turn it down, and I rejoined my aunt and mother.

  “Okay, ladies. We’re good to go.” Aunt April followed on my heels, and I could hear her remarking, “Is that the Phillips boy? He’s grown up well. I knew his grandparents. Good blood and good sense in that family.”

  The elven arch beckoned to me in the corner of my eye as we stepped toward the massive, sextuple-doored main entrance. I didn’t see anyone guarding the forbidden entrance but supposed there might be someone waiting on the inside. Someday I was going to have to come back here and try it. I’d do it before we left today, but I’d hate to give anyone a heart attack.

  The doorman at the front doors dipped his head as we came through. “Homecoming?” he asked cheerfully.

  “Ummm . . . yeah. And birthday.”

  “Have a good one!”

  I trotted after the relatives wondering why he’d singled me out. Did I still glow? Had he sensed it? Or was I just being paranoid? The fact that he could turn heads himself didn’t influence my worry. I felt as though I had a target on my sea-glass-gowned body. So if people went out of their way to take a look at me, was it because I was ridiculously overdressed or because they had pointed ears and a thousand years of magic behind them? I stroked the palm of my left hand once, just to see if the stone happened to be awake and in protective mode. It warmed very slightly, or maybe I just had sweaty palms from being touchy. I jumped when Mom tapped my shoulder.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Okay. Well, Aunt April says we should make reservations and then wait in the gambling area until our time.”

  “I gave her a twenty-dollar limit.”

  Mom’s eyes held a little sparkle. “Keeping the old gal in line?”

  I shrugged. “Wouldn’t hurt.”

  “Let’s head in this direction, then.” And she pointed overhead to the neon arrows proclaiming “World Famous Seafood Buffet” in case we didn’t know where to go. The carpets were plush and the ceilings in mirrored splendor and the machines rang ka-ching, ka-ching with the noise of coins tumbling from them into stainless steel bins. I didn’t actually see any money cascading down, which meant it was all sound effects being piped in. The machines caught my attention anyway as we passed, most of the screens alight with tales of derring do or animal whimsy, with a million ways to play for only a penny a line, which, near as I could tell, added up to almost a dollar a spin if you bet them all. And I don’t know how anybody could tell if they’d won anything or not unless coins cascaded into their lap like a damn waterfall or the red siren on top went off. I got the distinct feeling that the games were aimed at maximum entertainment with minimum knowledge of what the gambler was doing. The guys trailed behind me, and I could hear Scout snuffing at something every now and then.

  My twenty would go fast unless I sat down at one of the old-time, more standard machines that simply matched bars and 7’s until you won or lost. Aunt April pointed at one as we passed it. “At least you know where you stand on one of these.”

  I pondered whether I’d been talking aloud or if the Andrews family just had a kind of telepathic thing going.

  The casino floor plan made it impossible to get to the restaurant by a direct path, a result of good marketing, I suppose, because it led through the machines, the gaming tables, past the sports book with all its huge screen displays of horse races around the country, and deep into another wing altogether. I think we also passed a duty-free shop, or maybe it was just a shopping area for the newly enriched to indulge some impulse buying.

  The
n we also passed the glass windows of some very nice and very private poker rooms. They must have had a tournament going in one of them because the room held spectators as well as players and a camera setup. The next two rooms were almost as crowded, but it was the last that held my attention.

  I wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t looked up to watch us passing.

  It wasn’t the suit, rich threads though they were, or the marvelously colorful and impeccable necktie with the matching handkerchief, or the way he stood with one shoulder to the wall, one leg crossing the other at the ankle showing off the perfectly cobbled dark leather shoes. No. It was the paler than pale blue gaze that shot to us and fixed on me, eyes that might almost have been silver in color but for the barest tint of blue, sharp and alert and almost painful in their regard. His mass of honey-streaked hair struck me as combed back without a stray bit hanging loose yet looked as if one really, really needed to run their fingers through it to straighten it up just a tad more . . . and that look caught at me.

  There stood a man nearly as beautiful and perfect as Malender.

  As soon as I thought that name, the connection between me and that glass-walled poker room weakened. I had been slowing down, almost to a stop, but I found my stride and hurried to catch up with my mother and aunt, aware his attention still burned my cheek, the side of my neck, and the curve of my shoulder where my gown revealed it. I moved in between the two of them as if they could shield me.

  They couldn’t. I felt the sharpness of his look along my spine until the pathway went around another corner which set me free, and I found I’d been holding my breath the whole time.

  Another block or two through gambling wonderland and we finally reached the World Famous Buffet where Aunt April put in our names for a seating and tucked her purse under her arm.

  “Well. It’ll be an hour. Where should we park ourselves?”

  We waited while Hiram put his name in for a nearby table to ours, and Scout sat demurely at his feet as though he’d been born with perfect manners. I raised an eyebrow at him, and the pup pawed at his nose.