Without Foresight

by P. D. Workman

  They waited a while longer, ignoring each other, watching other diners, studying the paintings, or checking their phones. Eventually, the waitress returned with some confection as big as her head, piles of ice cream with layers of fudge sauce, whipped cream, and chocolate shavings, topped with bright blue sparklers on top. It was flamboyant enough to capture the attention of everyone else in the dining room. Reg half-expected the kitchen staff to come in and sing Happy Birthday to her. It was the type of gauche display that would have seemed more appropriate at a barbecue joint or family restaurant.

  “Oh, wow.” Reg shook her head, speechless. “I don’t know what that is, but… you’d better be planning to help me.”

  The waitress put it down in the middle of the table, smiling at Corvin. She looked at him expectantly for a minute, then eventually turned away, looking disappointed.

  “Who said it was for you?” Corvin challenged. “Maybe I ordered it for myself.”

  Reg stared. Then she gave an irritated flick of her head. “Fine, then. Eat it.”

  Corvin picked up a dessert spoon. “It’s yours,” he conceded. “But I will do my best to help you. As always.”

  Reg picked up her own spoon, and they dug into it.

  As usual, the end of the date was difficult for Reg. It was tricky getting back to her cottage without acceding to any of Corvin’s demands, her powers intact. She usually tried to have someone around to help. Someone like Detective Marta Jessup. She had an unusual hold over Corvin, who she sometimes employed as a consultant on cases that appeared to involve magic that fell within his areas of expertise. Or Damon—but he and Reg were not precisely on the best of terms since the whole Wilson scene.

  Reg had plenty of friends in Black Sands, but not people who she could call to help her to extricate herself from a situation involving Corvin. He was a force of his own.

  She feigned being tired. Not the best ploy, maybe, and one that she had used before, but it was the best she could come up with. Despite her resolution not to have too much to drink, she was feeling a little foggy-headed. It was probably just Corvin’s influence over her. Once she was on her own, she would feel a lot better.

  “It’s a long day and I’m beat,” she told Corvin, covering a fake yawn that quickly turned into a real one. “I’m sorry, you probably want to stay out for longer, but I need to get home, take care of Starlight, and hit the sack. Would you take me back to my car?”

  “Coffee?” Corvin suggested. “We don’t need to hurry off quite so quickly, do we? A little caffeine will keep you going for a couple more hours.”

  “No, not this time.”

  “I happen to know that you don’t go to bed this early.”

  “I was up before normal this morning. Because of my house being egged. Sarah woke me up, and I had to help her clean up.”

  “She made you clean it up?”

  “No, she didn’t make me, but I couldn’t very well let her do it all herself, could I? What kind of a person would I be then?”

  “You probably had a nap after that,” Corvin suggested. “You’re going to be up until at least one or two. There’s no reason to end such a pleasant meal so early.”

  Reg put her hand over her aching stomach. “I couldn’t eat or drink anything else. Believe me. If I could, I would.” She eyed what was left of the decadent dessert. “But there’s no way I can fit one more bit. I’ll explode. As it is, I’m sure this didn’t do much good for my expanding waistline.”

  He surveyed her through half-closed eyes. “Your waistline looks just fine to me.”

  “Ha. You wouldn’t say that if you saw me—” Reg cut herself off quickly before he could offer to do a more thorough examination of her figure. “I’ve put on enough weight. I really do need to watch it. And not eat stuff like this.”

  “You said you wanted chocolate. This was to ease your stress.” He leaned forward, exuding the scent of roses. “Are you feeling more relaxed now?”

  Dizzied by the cloying scent, Reg did her best to push back against his charms and reflect the heat she felt coming off of Corvin back at him. He chuckled.

  “Are you sure you want to do that?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sending my seducing charms back at me just increases my attraction to you.”

  Reg hadn’t even thought about that. She tried to focus on what to do instead. “I need some fresh air. Let’s go to the car.”

  “Let me get the bill.”

  “Don’t they just charge it to your account?”

  “Well, yes. But I would still like a copy for my records.”

  “So get them to email it to you later. I need to get out of here.”

  “All right,” he conceded finally. “Let’s go, then.”

  He was at her shoulder, taking her arm and helping her to her feet. Reg blinked, but it didn’t help to clear her mind. She relied on his guiding hand. Moving and getting out of the dining room where the cloud of pheromones was concentrated helped. Reg took several deep breaths.

  If reflecting his charms back to him didn’t work, then maybe keeping a protective spell around her would. And slowing her breathing. When she was underwater, she could hold her breath for a long time, but it must be a biological response to the water, because she couldn’t seem to do the same thing in the open air.

  By the time they got to the car, she was feeling a lot better. But the enclosed space of the vehicle meant that whatever attractants Corvin exuded could build up again. Reg was clumsy getting into the car. Maybe she had consumed just a bit too much of the wine. Though the amount of food she had consumed should have slowed her absorption of the alcohol. She concentrated on building a protective envelope around herself before Corvin got into his own seat. As soon as he had the engine turned on, Reg buzzed the window down.

  “It’s still a little chilly in the evenings,” Corvin objected, using his buttons to roll it back up again. He indicated the vent controls on the front console. “You can turn the air up there.”

  Reg looked helplessly at the various dials and buttons with their cryptic symbols. Did one of them bring fresh air into the car? Or did it all just recirculate?

  Reg felt a sudden surge of energy and inspiration. Her head cleared, and she felt like she was looking down at herself from outside or above the car. She adjusted the various air settings and got the air blowing in her direction, crisp and cool outside air.

  Corvin glanced sideways at her as he pulled out of the underground parking, clearly irritated. “That’s a bit cold, let me just…” He adjusted a couple of the settings.

  The burst of energy Reg felt morphed instantly to fury. “You said I could set it the way I wanted. You are not going to seduce me!”

  His eyes widened at her vehement response. “I said it was too cold outside and you’re bringing in the air from outside. That’s all.”

  “Take me home and quit the games!”

  Despite the protection spell around her, Reg could feel Corvin probing at her mind, trying to figure out why she was suddenly so angry. Reg smashed her hand down on the air conditioner controls. “Get out of my head!”

  The car stopped abruptly in the middle of traffic. Corvin stared at her in shock. He was out of her head, at least. Corvin looked at the control panel, where a starburst of cracks radiated out from the display.

  “Reg!”

  “Take me back to pick up my car.”

  “I am.”

  Cars honked their horns behind them. Corvin studied Reg for a few more seconds, then returned his attention to his driving.

  Reg stared out the front windshield, on her guard for any other attempts from Corvin to charm her. He apparently decided he didn’t need any more damage done to his car and didn’t try again.

  He pulled into the parking lot at The Crystal Bowl and stopped by Reg’s car. “Are you… okay?” he asked tentatively.

  “As long as witches like you will leave me alone,” Reg snarled.

  She’d never called him a witch
before. She’d heard it used in a derogatory way to refer to a warlock, but she’d never done it herself. Corvin couldn’t look much more shocked than he already did.

  Reg pulled the door handle to let herself out. Usually, this would have created another awkward moment, in which Corvin smiled and tried one last time to charm her, making her feel like, if nothing else, she owed him a kiss and pleasantries for taking her out to dinner. Especially when she was pretty sure there wasn’t anywhere else in town where they would have served her.

  But this time, Reg didn’t care about the niceties. She wasn’t embarrassed getting out of the car without so much as a thank you. It wasn’t like he had just been helping her out of the goodness of his heart. He obviously had ulterior motives and he had done his best to charm her. She’d had enough of his nonsense.

  She unlocked her door and climbed into her car, pulling out into the street a bit faster than was strictly necessary so that her tires squealed in protest. In a few minutes, she was home. It was dark and she hadn’t thought to leave the cottage’s exterior light on, so the pathway was only dimly lit, the shadows under the trees dark and irksome. But there was nothing to worry about; she was home where she was safe.

  Reg examined the door before opening it. No sign of the eggs from that morning. No fresh marks. No sign of the magical rune that Julian had left there not so long ago to indicate that she was under investigation by his department. But she still felt like there was something wrong. She didn’t get the “coming home” feeling that she usually did when she arrived at the cottage. She hadn’t realized how much she had grown to cherish that feeling, after so many years of moving around and not having a permanent home.

  She stood there for a moment in thoughtful silence before fitting her key into the lock and entering. She hadn’t left any of the inside lights on either. She stepped inside and groped for the light switch but, in doing so, stepped on something that moved, and a yowl of protest assaulted her ears.

  Reg got the light on. Starlight glared at her, ears back, standing back from her like she was a stranger.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to step on your tail. You shouldn’t be so close to the door, especially when it is dark. You know I can’t see in the dark like you can.”

  He continued to stare at her, lips lifting in a snarl.

  “What’s wrong with you? Don’t growl at me.”

  She realized that she couldn’t feel his aura. She could see his feelings well enough without any psychic connection, but she wasn’t emotionally connected with him like she usually was.

  “Starlight?”

  Maybe there was something wrong with him. He could be sick. When Reg approached him, he backed up, ears still flat and fangs displayed.

  Reg looked behind her to see if someone was there, but she was by herself. But there still could be something lurking in the darkness that she couldn’t see. She pushed the door shut and looked around, feeling for any shifts in the energy of the room. She didn’t want anything unseen entering her home, and Starlight’s behavior was making her anxious.

  But she couldn’t feel anything.

  It wasn’t just that she couldn’t feel an uninvited presence there—she couldn’t feel anything at all.

  Chapter Seven

  Reg’s heart pounded in her throat. She stared around her, feeling like she was in a place she had never been before. She couldn’t feel any of the presences that were always around her or spoke in her head. She couldn’t feel Starlight’s warmth or see the auras around the wards and protections Sarah and Reg had placed around the house to keep it safe from intruders or bring other blessings.

  Although the house looked exactly the way it always did, it felt sterile.

  Her first thought was of Corvin and her hand flew to her phone. She had thought that she had held him off, but was it possible he had somehow managed to steal her powers without her being aware of it?

  Could he do that? Did one of his new powers allow him to do what he hadn’t been able to before? And to do it so covertly she hadn’t even detected him?

  She pulled her phone out and looked down at it. Without her even touching the screen or the buttons, the screen flashed on and unlocked. The device launched the phone app and Corvin’s name popped up on the screen, with the ‘calling…’ status at the top of the screen.

  Reg stared at it, dumbfounded. She fumbled to end the call, punching at the red button several times before it finally ended. But she had heard Corvin’s tiny voice before she managed to hang up the call. Not only had he seen her call, but he’d answered. It was too late to pretend that she hadn’t dialed him.

  In a second, her phone started ringing again, this time with an incoming call from Corvin. Reg blew out her breath. She might as well take the call and confront him with what he had done. She was going to have to sooner or later anyway.

  “Hello?”

  “You called me.”

  Reg nearly chickened out and told him it was a pocket dial. Because it was, really. What else could she call the phone’s strange behavior of dialing Corvin all by itself?

  “I… uh…” Reg thought fast, trying to come up with an approach. She had no idea what to say to him about the weirdness that had greeted her at the cottage. “Did you… do something?”

  “Did I do something?” Corvin’s voice was flat. As if he didn’t understand what she meant.

  “To me. Did you do something to me without me realizing it? I can’t… I don’t know what’s going on here.”

  “No. What’s going on?”

  “You didn’t? Do you swear you didn’t? I don’t understand what’s going on. You must have.”

  “You’re going to have to give me some information if you want me to help you to figure it out. Do you want me to come to your house?”

  “No. No, that’s not a good idea.” Reg looked around the cottage. Did it really matter? If all magic was gone from the room and Reg herself, what did it matter if Corvin came to the cottage? There wasn’t anything more for him to do. “What’s happening is… I can’t see or hear anything.”

  “You can clearly hear, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  “Physically, yes. I can see and hear physically without any problem.” Reg shook her head. “But I can’t…” She blew her breath out in frustration. “I can’t see auras. I can’t sense anything. I can’t hear… the voices. Not even the usual ones. The ones that are always there.”

  There was a period of silence from Corvin. She could hear his signal light start to tick.

  “I’m coming over there,” Corvin told her.

  “But… you shouldn’t. I can’t let you in here.”

  “I can’t sense you reliably from this far away. I’ll have a better idea what’s going on if I can see you face to face.”

  “Well…” What further harm could he do? “I don’t know. I guess so.”

  “Try to stay calm. It’s probably nothing. Too much to drink. A virus. Something simple.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “Starlight… there’s something wrong with him too.”

  “What?”

  “He’s… he acts like he doesn’t know me. Worse, like I’m someone he doesn’t like, someone threatening. And I can’t feel him either.”

  “I’ll only be a few minutes. Make yourself some tea and sit down.”

  Reg tapped the phone screen to end the call. She’d already had way too much to eat and drink to get anything else down, so there was no point in making tea. She wouldn’t be able to do anything more than swish it around in her mouth.

  She went over and looked at the tea bags and herbs in her cupboard anyway, just to reassure herself that everything was where it was supposed to be.

  She was probably just imagining the lack of powers. Or like Corvin had said, she was drunk. If that could affect thoughts and speech and motor skills in a non-practitioner, it must be able to do all kinds of things to her on a higher level. All her senses could be affected, eve
n her psychic powers.

  She went into the living room and sat down on one of the wicker chairs. Starlight stayed near the door, watching her. What was wrong with him? She had stepped on him, but she’d done that plenty of times before. Cats were always getting underfoot and Starlight was no exception. Maybe she’d injured him, though, broken a bone in his tail or paw or whatever had been momentarily under her foot. That would explain his reaction to her.

  But it wouldn’t explain anything else.

  “Okay. Just stay calm, Reg. Just stay cool; this is nothing. It will pass. You just have to stay calm and everything will go back to normal.”

  Saying the words out loud didn’t help as she hoped it would.

  In a few minutes, she heard footsteps crunching across the cobblestones and a soft rap at her door. Reg got up and went to the door. She swung it open and looked at Corvin for a moment, then looked at her door to make sure that no one had egged it again in the time she had been sitting inside the house. There was not even a fragment of an eggshell.

  She stepped back, looking behind her into the house. “You see? It’s all gone.”

  “What’s gone?” Corvin asked, peering in.

  “All of it. All the magic. The wards, the spirits, all of the protections.”

  Corvin looked once more into the house and then switched his gaze to Reg’s face. “I’m going to have to take your word for that. I can’t see most of those things anyway, unless I’m interacting with an object. I can feel, if you’ll allow me to come in…”

  Reg raised her brows. “There isn’t anything to stop you this time.”

  He raised a wary hand and patted the air in front of him, like a mime feeling an invisible box. Reg shook her head in irritation at his dramatics.

  “Corvin!”

  Corvin shrugged. “I can’t, Reg. I don’t know what it is you are or are not seeing, but I still can’t enter this doorway without your invitation.”