A Breath of Magic

by Tracy Madison

  Before he could respond, a series of loud knocks echoed through my apartment. Startled, I looked at the clock. When I saw the time, my heart slammed in my chest so hard that Kyle probably heard. Unexpected company after ten tended to mean trouble. I started to rise, but Kyle put his hand on my leg. “Let me get that,” he said.

  Sweet, right? Yep, but I couldn’t just sit on the couch and wait, so I followed him to the door, hanging back slightly when he swung it open. A gaggle of voices—female voices—sounded, and a petite elderly woman dressed in hot pink and lime green appeared. She pushed her way inside, and her faded blue eyes landed on me, laced with worry. Right behind her came her granddaughter, my best friend Alice, who didn’t appear worried so much as murderous.

  Crap! Double crap with five million exclamation points. Elizabeth had ratted me out. Awesome. Just what I needed.

  I sucked in a breath, my brain rapidly going through possible routes to defuse the situation. “Um. Hi? What are you two doing here?”

  Grandma Verda pointed at me. “Where’s the cake?”

  “Grandma!” Alice said, flipping her head toward Kyle. At least I could count on her for some modicum of privacy. Grandma Verda? Not so much.

  “What? I think the boy should know.”

  Kyle’s back stiffened, and he glanced from Verda to Alice, and then to me. “Know what?”

  “Know how good Elizabeth’s cake is,” I blurted. “They know I asked her to bake it special. Because chocolate is your favorite.” Ugh. On the plus side, I hadn’t lied. I shot a fierce look in the general direction of my surprise visitors. “You two didn’t have to come all the way over to share dessert with us. Especially without calling first.”

  Alice blinked. “That’s the best you have? Really?” She separated her legs into an offensive stance—as if she was about to clobber me—and crossed her arms. “We need to talk. Now.”

  “Uh…what’s going on here?” Kyle inched a few steps back, away from the craziness. Who could blame him? Sweat trickled down my neck.

  “This is a terrible mistake, young lady! Are we too late?” Verda’s eyes scanned my living room, probably looking for signs of cake consumption.

  “Too late for what?” asked Kyle, his voice an octave higher than normal. Without a clue as to what all the fuss was about, he obviously felt the tension emanating throughout the room. I needed to get him out of there. Fast.

  “Dessert. No, we haven’t eaten it yet.” I smiled sweetly. “And when is chocolate ever a mistake?”

  Alice’s eyes narrowed. “Chloe? I’d really like to chat with you for a few minutes.” She spoke calmly, but steel threaded every word.

  Fine. We’d talk. But not with Kyle in the room. I turned my attention to him. “Could you wrap up a few slices for them to take home? Seeing that’s the reason they came over in the first place?”

  “Um. Sure. No problem.” He tossed one last look of confusion at us before making his escape. As soon as the kitchen door swung closed, my chest loosened until I was able to breathe again. Thank God.

  “Are you crazy?” Alice asked, unknowingly echoing her sister. “What do you think you’re doing? And how in the hell did you get Liz to agree?”

  I countered her question with one of my own. “Why did Elizabeth tell you? I thought I could trust her to keep this between us.”

  “Because she came to her senses. That’s why,” Verda interjected. “And she hoped we could stop you. Have we?”

  “No. All you’ve done is delay the moment. Kyle isn’t going anywhere, and my decision is firm.”

  Alice huffed out a breath. “Damn it, Chloe! Using magic like this is wrong, and I’d think you’d know that better than most people.”

  She referred to the fact that I own and operate a New Age store. Well, that, and my general beliefs tend to expand beyond what one can merely see. But she was wrong. The magic she and Elizabeth have is a gift, and gifts are meant to be used. I kept my gaze glued on the kitchen door. “Fate brought me and Kyle back together. All I’m doing is speeding things along a little.”

  “Fate? You believe that you and Kyle are fated for each other? When did you decide that, and why haven’t I heard about it?” Alice situated herself in front of me, and because she’s eight inches taller than my five-foot height, doing so broke my eye contact with the door.

  Her chestnut-colored hair was up in a ponytail, and if it weren’t for the fire in her eyes, I’d have said she looked cute. I lifted my chin. “Why would I tell you? You don’t like Kyle. You never have.” I mean, yeah, Alice is my closest friend, and normally we share everything. But when it came to Kyle? Well, let’s just say she had a sore spot. Possibly leftover protection from the past, as she’d been the person who’d been there when he’d dumped me for another woman.

  “That’s not true, but that’s beside the point. If you’d told me—” She broke off, biting her lip. A whisper of intuition sneaked into my senses, surprising me. Maybe even scaring me a little.

  “What?” Even as I asked, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to hear.

  Her face held an emotion I couldn’t identify. My fear increased. “Kyle is not the man you’re supposed to end up with. That’s what,” she said without a trace of doubt.

  “You can’t know that,” I snapped.

  “I do know that.”

  “How?” I demanded.

  Her jaw opened, and then she jerked it shut. With a shrug, she reached into her purse and retrieved a folded piece of paper. Wordlessly, she held it out.

  “What is that?”

  “Proof that Kyle isn’t your happily-ever-after.”

  Comprehension twisted in my stomach. I felt the blood drain from my face, and while I’d be lying if I said part of me didn’t want to grab the paper and open it, most of me had never been so afraid. Where Elizabeth’s power is in her baking, Alice’s magic exists in her artwork. She has the ability to see glimpses of the future through her sketches and paintings. She’d drawn herself with her soul mate—now her husband—before they ever dated, and she’d drawn a picture of Elizabeth and Nate’s wedding day before he even proposed. So yeah, whatever existed on that page scared the crap out of me.

  “Tell me what you drew.”

  “Take it. See for yourself.”

  Without thought, I reached for the page, my fingers barely brushing the smooth texture of the paper before Kyle sauntered out of the kitchen. He carried a plate holding a half-eaten slice of Elizabeth’s cake in one hand and a fork in the other. Every nerve in my body seemed to pulsate. Static electricity danced in the air, saturating the room—and me—with an uncomfortable buzz.

  “You’re right. This is damn good cake.” He took another bite. “Want some?”

  Alice gasped. “Don’t do it,” she whispered. “Trust me on this.”

  I looked into her eyes, then down at the page I hadn’t fully grasped, and finally, back to Kyle. What should I do? Stick with my plan, or toss it away over the unknown?

  Even with her magic, Alice’s path to Ethan hadn’t been easy. Whatever that paper held, it wasn’t anything real. It couldn’t hold me at night while I slept, it couldn’t bring forth a chuckle after a bad day at work, and it certainly couldn’t bring me the family I craved. Kyle could. My decision was really that simple. I dropped my hand away from the paper, away from the unknown. “Kyle, will you marry me?” I asked.

  He coughed, and for a second I worried he might choke. Panic clouded his eyes and the muscles in his arms tensed. He worked his jaw but didn’t actually say anything. His body stiff, he set his plate on the dining room table and just stared at me.

  Crap. Either the magic hadn’t taken hold yet, or it had and he didn’t love me, didn’t want to be with me. Both scenarios sucked. Everything inside me hollowed out, and the ache of loneliness I’d barely kept at bay returned with a vengeance.

  “Chloe, honey,” Alice said. “It’s okay. Really.”

  Ignoring her, I focused all of my energy on him. “What do you say, Kyle?” Say yes
. Please. The hollow ache disappeared, and as if all of my hopes, wants and dreams channeled together, my body flooded with warmth.

  “Yes,” Kyle said. “I’ll marry you.”

  Chapter Two

  Soft snoring came from my right. Kyle’s arm rested heavily on my side. The sheets felt scratchy, and my pillow seemed hard as a rock. All of this, combined with the craziness of the evening, had put me solidly in the no-sleep zone.

  Part of my inability to relax most certainly had to do with Kyle’s abrupt acceptance of my equally abrupt proposal. Would he wake up in the morning with a change of heart? And even if he didn’t, would the magic wear off at some point in the future, and he’d walk away? Obviously, as much consideration as I’d given this, it wasn’t enough.

  Ugh. Turning over on my other side so that my back faced Kyle, I carefully removed his arm from my rib cage. My breathing improved instantly. Closing my eyes, I attempted to push every thought from my mind. Bit by bit, the tightness in my muscles eased and the stress in my shoulders lessened. I began the tumble toward sleep, and I would’ve made it except for the sudden low buzz of my cell phone sitting on my nightstand.

  I groaned and cracked one eye open before pulling myself upright. Grabbing the phone, I flipped it open without glancing at the display. “Hello?” I whispered as I tiptoed out of the bedroom.

  “Oh, Chloe! Thank goodness you answered!” said Grandma Verda.

  A knot of stress, the same one I’d just gotten rid of, appeared smack-dab in the upper middle of my back. “It’s late, Verda. I know you’re unhappy with me, but couldn’t this have waited until tomorrow?”

  A loud sigh reverberated through the phone. “That’s not it, dear.” She hesitated, and I heard her take another breath. “I’m in a pickle here. I need your help.”

  Help? My annoyance disappeared and concern took over. The eighty-something-year-old Verda was spry, but she wasn’t indestructible. “What is it? Are you hurt?”

  “I wouldn’t say hurt, exactly,” she hedged. “I didn’t wake up Kyle, did I?”

  Okay, she couldn’t be too bad off if she was worried about disturbing Kyle’s sleep. “I had the phone on vibrate. He didn’t hear a thing.”

  “Oh, good! Can you help me?”

  “Of course!” I wondered why she hadn’t phoned Alice or Elizabeth. “If I can,” I amended. “What’s going on? Where are you?”

  “Right outside your apartment. In the parking lot.”

  “What are you doing in my parking lot at”—I found the glowing numbers of the clock on the cable box—“twelve thirteen in the morning?”

  “Well, you see, Chloe…I never actually left. I was with Alice when Lizzy phoned her, so I followed her over in my car.”

  “And?” I waited for the rest of the explanation, far more curious than afraid.

  “When you kicked us out—that wasn’t very nice, by the way—Alice left before I did. I was putting my seat belt on and I dropped my…um…keys. Somehow, they ended up beneath the driver’s seat,” she explained in a rush.

  “Can’t you find them?” I guessed.

  “Hm.” She gave a little laugh I chalked up to embarrassment. “I couldn’t get to them from the front, so I crawled in the backseat to see if that would work. Anyway…I’m stuck.”

  “With your hand under the seat?” Oh, my God. Poor Verda!

  “It’s my foot. I can’t get it out from under the seat no matter what I try.”

  “Why didn’t you call me right away?” I slipped into the shoes I’d kicked off by the door earlier and then dashed out of the apartment into the cool May night, keeping the phone to my ear. Images of a frail elderly lady with her foot wedged for over an hour made me move as fast as I could in two-inch heels. I hurriedly scanned the parking area in search of Verda’s Mini Cooper. “Where? I don’t see your car.”

  “Take a left out of your door and follow the sidewalk. I’m three or four doors down.”

  I counted the doors as I walked, dismissing one car after another until I finally spotted hers. “There you are. Just hang tight, Verda. We’ll get you out of there in no time.”

  “You’re such a sweet girl.”

  Stopping at her car, I went around to the driver side and closed my phone before sliding it into the pocket of my pajama bottoms. I opened the door and knelt down. “I can’t believe you didn’t call me sooner. You shouldn’t have waited out here for so long!”

  “Oh. Well…I didn’t want to bother you. I really thought I could handle it myself.” She smiled, as if pleased with herself. “Thank you for helping out a silly old lady. I think, though, you’ll have better luck from the other side. So you can get to the leg that’s stuck easier.”

  Her calm demeanor impressed me. In her position, I’d be freaking out. Taking stock of the situation, I nodded and closed her door. On the passenger side, I slid the front seat up and climbed in the back. “Wow, it’s tight in here. No wonder you got stuck.”

  “I feel so ridiculous.” She craned her neck to the side and glanced out the back window. Weird, but I’d have sworn she was looking for someone.

  Scooting farther in, twisting on my side, I leaned over as much as a person can in a space the size of a sardine can. “Is it your ankle or your foot? And does anything hurt?”

  “Oh…both, I think. And no, I’m not in pain.” She shifted in her seat and did that neck-craning thing again. “Your legs are hanging out the door, Chloe. You should pull them in all the way.”

  Yeah, right. In this tiny car? “Um, this probably won’t take but a minute…hang on. Let me get my hand under the seat—”

  “It makes me nervous, is all,” she interrupted, speaking quickly. “With your legs hanging out, someone unsavory could see us.”

  Humoring her, because even though she had a point, I didn’t really think it was necessary, I tried to resituate myself. Rolling from my side to my stomach, I bent my legs backward at the knees and slithered my body forward. “There. Better?”

  She clapped, knocking my temple with an elbow. “Yes! Now!”

  “Now? Now, what?” Something odd was going on. I knew it, but I couldn’t put my finger on what. Crooking my neck so I could see Verda’s face, I barely registered her cat-that-swallowed-the-canary grin before the passenger door slammed shut. “Who did that?” I nearly screamed.

  “Alice. You can sit up, dear. I’m not really stuck,” Verda confided. The driver-side door opened, and the car shifted slightly as someone—Alice?—climbed in. Verda patted my head. “And don’t be mad. This is for your own good.”

  By the time the engine purred to life, I’d managed to get into a half-sitting position. “What the hell is going on here?” I asked, not bothering to keep my voice down.

  “We’re kidnapping you,” Alice said over her shoulder as she backed out of the parking spot. “And Grandma’s right, it’s for your own good.”

  Alice drove us to a small, historic hotel in Chicago’s central business district. From what I gathered on the ride over, Verda and my friend had hatched their kidnapping plan within minutes of leaving my place. They’d contacted Elizabeth, who’d jumped on board, taking care of “other details.”

  Those details were apparently the hotel room I now sat in. Three chairs formed a half circle around a fourth—mine—in the center. A few lit candles were scattered around the room, their vanilla scent filling the air, and soft music played in the background. If I were there with a guy, I’d have thought it was a scene set for seduction. In this case, I figured they were trying to relax me. Which was so not happening.

  “She’s angry. That’s why she won’t talk,” said Elizabeth. “Maybe this wasn’t such a hot idea.”

  “Of course she’s angry. But she didn’t give us much choice in the matter,” said Grandma Verda. “And she can leave anytime she wants. It’s not like we have her tied down.”

  Leave and go where? Traversing the streets of Chicago in the middle of the night, in my pj’s, was not a smart move. I didn’t have any cash
on me for cab fare, and I distinctly remembered Kyle powering off his cell before going to bed. I had zero options. Which, I’m sure, was the entire point.

  “We should have waited a few days.” Elizabeth rubbed her eyes. “Or at least until morning.”

  “No. Grandma’s right,” said Alice, who for some reason had a baby rattle clutched in her grip. The toy belonged to her daughter, but Rose wasn’t with us. “This can’t wait. She acted totally out of character tonight. The quicker we resolve this, the better for everyone.”

  “Hello? Crazy women? I’m right here. Stop talking around me!”

  Verda winked, as if delighted by my outburst. “Oh, good! You’ve decided to talk! We can get started now.”

  “Started with what?” I crossed my arms, absolutely positive the forthcoming conversation was not one I wanted to have.

  “Your intervention, of course. Unless you’d like a snack before we begin? Elizabeth brought goodies,” said Verda. “Cookies, I think.”

  “My what?” I tightened my hands into fists.

  “Intervention,” Verda said again. “This is a safe place. We’re here for you.”

  While I’m quite sure she meant to reassure me, the result was anything but reassuring. I glared at Alice. “What is she talking about? And it better not be about Kyle, because that horse is dead and buried. Why can’t you just be happy for me?”

  “Wait!” Verda grabbed the baby rattle from Alice. “We need to go over the rules.”

  First a kidnapping, then an intervention, and now rules? Awesome. The night I became engaged would definitely live in my memory, just not in the way I’d hoped. Holding my hands up in defeat, I muttered, “Fine. What are the rules?”

  Verda shook the toy, the clattering nearly loud enough to overwhelm the music. “Whoever has the rattle is allowed to talk. If you don’t have the rattle, you can’t say anything unless you’re asked a question by the person who’s holding it.”

  Elizabeth and Alice nodded in agreement and looked at me. At that second, it became clear how serious they were. Suddenly, the thought of walking home in my pajamas became a lot more appealing. What were the chances I’d be kidnapped twice on the same night, anyway? They had to be low. Low enough to risk it.