Spellbound 2 - Everspell

by Samantha Combs

  Chapter Three

  LOGAN

  I woke up a couple hours earlier than my scheduled time. As soon as I swung my legs to the floor, Charlie, who slept at the foot of the bed, woke up too. For some reason I couldn’t sleep. I padded down the hall of our rented house, with Charlie trailing after me. We crept past Sully’s room, where I could hear him sawing logs from deep under his blankets. I couldn’t help but smile. But when I passed Skylar’s room, I could see in the open door that it was empty.

  Right then I became aware of a faint light and sound from the downstairs living room. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Quietly, Charlie and I descended the stairs to the first floor and peeked around the corner, only a little afraid of what we might find. All I saw, though, was Skylar, sitting on the couch, staring slack-jawed at the television.

  “Man, Skylar. Have you been up all night?”

  Skylar looked up slowly.

  “Hey, Logan. What’s up?” Skylar sure looked like he had pulled an all-nighter. Initially, Sully and I had been surprised to find how sheltered a life it seemed Skylar had led. He had never been exposed to television or radio, didn’t know what an MP3 player could be, had to be taught how to use the microwave, the washing machine, even the computer. He was a lightning-quick learner, but he acted like he had lived under a rock or something.

  I tried again.

  “You doing the all-night thing?”

  This time he responded. “Oh, Logan. Hey. It didn’t start out that way. But there are so many channels. I keep finding something interesting to watch. Things about history and insects and ways to use the oven. I can learn so much!”

  “Amazing. The same channels where Sully complains there is nothing to watch.”

  “I guess I’m not as bored of it as Sully.”

  “I guess not. But aren’t you tired?”

  “It’s funny. I’m not. I imagine I should be, but I’m really not. Why are you up so early?”

  “I don’t know. Couldn’t sleep. Not sure why.”

  I went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Of course, it groaned from the weight of all the food. With all the women in our lives, the fridge didn’t stand half a chance of being empty. Not one of them ever arrived without at least one bag of groceries from the market. The cupboards were so full they threatened to burst open. My mom and Serena were the worst. They both packed our kitchen mercilessly. We could easily feed a third world nation from our pantry. I threw some granola in a bowl with milk, grabbed a couple of bananas from a fruit bowl I swear wasn’t there yesterday, and joined Skylar on the couch.

  I threw one of the bananas to Skylar. “Eat this, man. You’re gonna waste away in front of this TV if you don’t at least eat.”

  “Thanks, Logan.”

  A lumbering sound made us both turn toward the stairs. Sully was headed down them using his trademark herd-of-buffalo shuffle. He lurched into the kitchen.

  “What’s for breakfast, man?” Sully plopped down in one of the easy chairs across from us.

  I threw my banana peel at him.

  “I should make you cook that for snoring so loud. Man, Sully. You need to see someone about that. Does it hurt your throat? You know, my sister’ll never sleep with you if you snore like that with her.” I said it as a joke, but the look on his face? Priceless. He had obviously never considered this and became stricken with the thought. He looked so horrified I had to say something.

  “Dude, relax. I was just kidding.” His face smoothed, but only a little. I could see this would not soon leave his mind. I shot a look at Skylar and he was writhing on the couch, he was trying so hard not to laugh out loud. I elbowed him hard in the ribs and he stuffed the rest of his banana in his mouth.

  I decided it would be a good time to broach the computer subject with Skylar. Sully and I had been talking about hiring Skylar to design a website for the sporting goods store. He had picked up the computer so quickly he’d already started programming. It seemed impossible, but he was. Computers were just in his wheelhouse. We thought it would be great to pay Skylar rather than someone we didn’t know. And Sully’s dad had given us the go-ahead. Plus, the benefit was he could pay us some rent. Win-win for all.

  “Hey, Skylar. Sully and I wanted to talk to you about something.” I looked over at Sully and he gave me the nod. It would be a cool time with him to talk about it. “We’ve wanted to get the store online with a website for some time now. You know, join the twenty-first century and all. You seem to really be up on all this computer stuff. We were wondering if you might want to take that on.”

  Skylar tore his gaze from the television with excitement shining in his eyes.

  “Really? Yeah! That’d be great. I could totally do that!” He jumped up from the couch and started pacing near the front of it, back and forth and around the “gently used” coffee table, talking excitedly about ideas he had for the site. “I’ve got some great graphics I could show you I found surfing the net the other day, they’re free, and I can show you a way to link up a distribution site so you can ship directly to your online customers and have them pay you for the shipping costs. And I can demonstrate a great way to integrate your customer lists to create a newsletter to keep your customers updated with all your new products as the seasons change.”

  “Whoa, filly. Slow your roll.” Sully held up a hand. “I don’t understand any of what you said, but it all sounded good. You’re hired.”

  I laughed. “Man, Sully. Good thing we know and like Skylar. Also good thing I’ll be handling the hiring from now on.” Still chuckling, I stood and clapped Skylar on the shoulders. “Better calm down now, though, like Sully said.” I looked at Sully. “We need to get to work. And you…” I squeezed Skylar’s shoulder. “…you really need to get some sleep now.”

  “I’m too excited to sleep, Logan. I’m going to get going on the computer project. I’ll check you guys later.” And with that, Skylar got up and went to the computer table in the back corner of the living room, booted up the desktop and tuned us both out.

  “Well, let’s get a move on, Sul. I want to stop by the flower shop on the way to work. Say hi to my mom. I haven’t seen her for a couple days.”

  “Let’s do it.”

  We both headed up the stairs to get ready for work. As Charlie raced up ahead of me, I looked over my shoulder and saw Skylar, hunched over the computer, already hard at his work.

  ****

  We cruised up to the strip mall and found a parking space in front of my mom and Elizabeth’s new flower shop. The name still killed me. Free Spirit Flowers. If the town only knew what the Spirit part really stood for. Sully and I got out and went into the store. A little bell Jade had hung over the door announced our arrival and my mom came out from the back. She had on a purple apron and held a bunch of flowers in one hand and pruning shears in the other. Pockets in the apron were spilling over with ribbons and pipe cleaners in all different colors. Her hair had been tied back and where loose pieces had come free, they were framing her face, which was flushed with color. She didn’t have on any makeup, but my mom looked beautiful. She also looked happy. It had been a long time since I’d seen her this way. I liked it.

  She put the flowers and shears on the counter and rushed up to hug us both. “Oh, Logan, honey! Sully! What a wonderful surprise! You should have told me you were coming. I would have bought some bagels or something.”

  “Hey, mom.” I hugged her back and looked the shop over, appreciating the subtle touches that made the place look pretty classy. “Wow, you and Elizabeth have done a great job here.” And they had. The shop felt homey and inviting, with hand-lettered signage and a real women’s-touch feeling to it. “Where is Elizabeth, anyway? I want to congratulate her, too.”

  “You just missed her, son. She ran some letters to the post office. So how’s business at the sporting goods store?” She addressed this to Sully.

  “It’s going really good, Mrs. Daniels. And with Skylar doing the website, it could get even
better with internet sales.”

  My mom turned to me. “So you are going to hire Skylar. I’m so glad to hear that. Serena tells me it’s almost scary how quickly he has mastered the art of the computer.”

  I raised my eyebrows at my mom. I still found it crazy how well my mom and my girlfriend got along. Sometimes it all seemed too perfect. She winked at me with a look that said just go with it, Logan. I shrugged my shoulders and winked back at her. Just then the shop’s phone started to ring and at the same time a customer came in the front door. My mom grabbed the phone, acknowledged the walk-in with a smile and one raised finger and then looked at me. I got the hint. She’d gotten too busy for chit-chat.

  I kissed her on the cheek while she took an order. She told the walk-in customer she would be right with her, and then Sully and I got out of her hair. As we drove to work, I mused that my mom seemed way too happy just from working. I made a mental note to check with Serena if there might be something else new in her life we hadn’t gotten the chance to talk about. I drove the rest of the way to work with Sully pounding out Led Zeppelin drum solos on the dashboard. At least it was already Friday.

  Chapter Four

  SERENA

  I walked out to the parking lot, so happy that it was finally Friday and Logan and Sully and Jade and I were all getting together that evening. I had been looking forward to it all week. And I had kept my promise. I could report to him that I had made a couple of new friends this week: Amber, Jamie and Melissa. I was only talking a little to Jamie and Melissa, whom I saw in a class or two and at lunch. I had waved once at Amber since I was introduced to her. But the point was I had done what I said I would, which was to make an effort at meeting new people at school. However, as I walked to the parking lot, none of that mattered, because each step brought me closer to my car, which brought me closer to seeing Logan again.

  “I didn’t think anyone could be happier than me that it was Friday, but based on the smile on your face, I guess I was wrong.” Jade came up behind me and caught me smiling like a fool.

  “Yes, you’re right. I am beyond happy it’s Friday.”

  “Me too. I hate that Sully’s not in school with me anymore. It sucks!” She hollered the last statement and swung her purse in the air for emphasis.

  “Ugh. You guys are sickening.” Tabitha said as she approached. “Can we—for two seconds—not talk about Sully or my brother?” She didn’t wait for an answer, just stalked off to the car. We stood there and stared after her. Her mood swings were really starting to worry me. Jade had another word for it.

  “She is really starting to harsh my gig, Serena. Who spit in her Cheerios? Then she stomped off toward the car too. Now I was going to have to drive home with two sullen teenagers. Fabulous.

  ****

  The drive home was at least silent. We dropped Jade off at her driveway and she and I made plans to see each other later. Even though we would end up at the same place, Sully would still pick her up himself after the guys got home from work and got cleaned up. Elizabeth wasn’t home from the flower shop yet, and I was glad. I wanted some time to talk to Tabitha. Something was up with her and I meant to find out what it was.

  She had other plans. The moment we stepped through the doorway, she bolted upstairs and slammed her bedroom door shut. I was left standing in our hallway, puzzled by her wild mood swings. This was definitely not the Tabitha I knew and I was going to get to the bottom of it. I dumped my books on the credenza in the hallway and stormed up the stairs, steeling myself for a stern conversation with Little Miss Sunshine. I got to her room and was surprised to find Sage lying outside the bedroom door. It seemed even Tabitha’s beloved guardian dog had been banished. This worried me more than anything else. I was about to burst through the door when I heard the low murmurs coming from inside.

  “I’m not really supposed to tell anyone, Larissa. In fact, I’m sure they’d go postal if they even knew I was talking to you about it.”

  I stopped short of knocking. I certainly hoped she wasn’t talking about what I thought she was talking about. I felt bad about the eavesdropping, but I told myself it was a necessary evil. Guiltily, I put my ear back to the door.

  “I don’t know about that, Larissa. It’s kind of a secret thing. What I can do is more about who I am than what tricks I do. I don’t like the way you’re making it sound. I’m not a performing seal.” Even though I wasn’t supposed to even be listening, I was so proud of the way she was defending herself. In the long run, it wasn’t ever as if we would have chosen it for ourselves. We had to just play the hand we were dealt. There was a pause while her friend responded and then Tabitha spoke again.

  “Well, okay. I can try. I’ll let you know.” I was nearly crazy with the lack of information. Try what? Let her know when? What were they talking about? I heard motion in her room like she was coming toward the door, and I almost killed myself skittering down the hall and ducking into my own room before she could see me. I very nearly tripped over Sage, too. I threw myself onto my bed and yanked open a magazine, trying to look casual, like I had been lying there reading it when she walked in.

  “Serena?” I looked up, attempting to look disturbed and startled, at the same time.

  “Yeah? Oh, hi Tabitha. What’s up?” I feigned breeziness in my tone and manner, hoping I was pulling it off.

  “I just wanted to apologize. I think I was kind of out of hand earlier. I owe you an apology. Sorry.” She stood there and I thought she might want to say more. I sat up and started to ask her about the phone conversation but she abruptly turned and walked out of the room. Something told me now was not the time. Besides, I was meeting Logan and I had been looking forward to that all week long. I didn’t want to think I was being selfish but if I looked at the whole thing rationally, there was no way I was going to solve this tonight, so what was wrong with spending time with Logan now and addressing the issue with Tabitha tomorrow? Besides, maybe getting his perspective would be helpful. I resolved to talk with Tabitha in greater detail when she was more receptive. For now, I needed to get ready. Logan would be here soon.

  ****

  I wasn’t wrong. Logan showed up right on time. Elizabeth had arrived home a little earlier, and she and I were sitting in the front room chatting. She had come in the door exhausted from the flower shop, hanging up her coat and purse and slipping off her shoes; she hadn’t even made it any further than the couch in the front room. She slumped there, and I took pity on her and brought her a hot cup of tea and a plate of cookies. She told me all about the day at the shop, which was getting busier and busier, through word-of-mouth, and Elizabeth’s own creative advertising, which consisted of making a slight mental suggestion to each customer who came into the shop. They, in turn, would find themselves inexplicably compelled to talk the shop up to friends and relatives. It was great for business.

  When Logan arrived, Elizabeth was just telling me about Lily’s new friend. Apparently, she had a new admirer. A gentleman had come in at the beginning of the week and ordered a beautiful bouquet of flowers to be delivered to the private hospice for a sick friend. He had come in the next day and the day after that. Each time he came in, he asked for Lily to help him. When Lily had stepped out for a few minutes and Elizabeth tried to help him, he politely told her he preferred to wait for Lily. And he did. He sat down at the coffee shop next door and waited almost twenty minutes for her to return. When she did, he came back in and ordered another couple dozen arrangements to be delivered to the sick friend. Elizabeth said the admirer introduced himself to them both as Declan Drake and asked Lily out for coffee, right then. She said Lily was flushed, and then flattered, then she took her apron off and went next door with him without hesitation. When she came back, over an hour later, Elizabeth said she was giddy.

  “So, this was like a date?” Logan was very interested in this part of the retelling. “Like a real date?”

  Elizabeth turned to Logan. “As real as a date can be. Anyway, it was just coffee. Don’t freak
out.”

  “I’m not. It’s just…I saw her, this morning, and she never mentioned anything. But she did look pretty happy.

  “Likely because she’d just met Declan.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “Don’t judge, Logan. I know she’s your mother, but you don’t even know him yet.”

  “Well, given what I’ve been through, I think I’m entitled to a little healthy doubt.”

  I decided that was my cue. “Ok, you two. Enough sparring. Logan, shouldn’t we get going? I remember something about a surprise for me?”

  “Yeah! There is a surprise. And we don’t want to mess up the timing.” He leaned down to hug Elizabeth. “You know I want the best for my mom, don’t you, Elizabeth?”

  “I do, Logan. But give this fella a chance. He asked your mom out for a real date tomorrow night. Let’s leave the jury out until then, okay?” She returned Logan’s embrace.

  “Okay,” he agreed. “But I’m gonna tell her I want to meet him.”

  “I think she’d like that, actually.” Elizabeth stood and hugged me too. “Have a good time tonight. Be careful and don’t be out till all hours.” She winked at me. The warning was pretty perfunctory at this point. Elizabeth knew I was in no better hands than when I was with Logan. I was hoping Tabitha would come down and say good bye, but she didn’t, and I had already decided I wouldn’t press the point. I had told Elizabeth a little bit about how Tabby acted earlier.

  “I’ll tell Tabby you said goodbye.” She gave me a knowing look, and I was grateful she didn’t bring it up in front of Logan. He was too excited by his secret plans to notice, or even try to mindjump anyone. I kissed Elizabeth goodbye, and we were gone.