by Rose Pressey
“Hallie, I guess you heard the news,” Liam said as he gave me a grim look.
“What? I don’t know… It’s Nicolas,” I managed.
“What’s wrong with Nicolas?” he asked.
“Halloween turned him into a statue,” my mother said. “I’m not sure how long the spell will keep him like that.”
“He’s not actually a stone statue,” Annabelle explained. “He’s just frozen on the spot.”
“We don’t know why the spell went wrong,” I said. “Or if it was a spell at all.”
Liam took off across the house toward the kitchen. We followed him. Did I ever feel stupid, and I hadn’t even told him about losing the book yet. I just hoped I could get it back before anyone found out, then I could remain the leader.
When we reached the kitchen, Nicolas was in the same spot. I guessed I had been delusional to hope that he had snapped out of it while we were in the other part of the house.
Liam stepped up to Nicolas. “Man, at least now we don’t have to listen to any of his blathering on.”
I hit Liam’s arm. “This is no time for jokes.”
He stood a little straighter. “You’re right. I’m sorry. So when did this happen?”
“It just happened,” I said. “I made dinner, but the spell didn’t turn out right… so then I tried the cupcakes.”
“But they turned out bad too.” My mother waved her arms. “That was when he became like this.”
“I’m almost positive it happened after the second spell,” I said.
Liam snapped his fingers in front of Nicolas’ face. Nicolas had no reaction.
Tears tumbled down my cheeks. “What have I done?”
Liam wrapped his strong arms around me. “We’ll fix this.”
I sniffled. “I know why my spells didn’t work.”
“Why?” Liam asked.
“The spellbook is gone,” I said, looking at him for his reaction.
He didn’t act surprised. In fact, he nodded. “Yes, I know.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Right now might not be the best time to tell you the other news…”
Chapter 4
“Does anyone have a mirror?” my mother asked.
I stared at her with my mouth open. “Why do you need to check your makeup?”
“It’s not just to see the damage to my eyebrow. I want to see if he’s breathing.” She gestured to Nicolas.
“Of course he’s breathing,” I said.
My mother and Annabelle exchanged a look, as if to say, Well, you never know.
“Don’t say things like that. I don’t want him to panic.”
“He has reason to panic,” my mother said.
“Okay, just calm down, ladies,” Liam said.
So we were back to this. Halloween LaVeau was the worst witch ever.
Annabelle pulled a mirror from her handbag and then ran over and shoved it under Nicolas’ nose. “He’s breathing all right,” Annabelle said with a click of her tongue.
“We just have to calmly figure out how to get him moving again.”
When I looked at Liam, he had a solemn look on his face.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You don’t know?” Liam quirked an eyebrow.
“Don’t know what?” I asked. “You’re starting to worry me.”
“Starting to?” my mother mumbled.
“That you’re no longer the leader of the Underworld. The person who took the book is saying she’s the leader now,” Liam said.
“Wow, word must have spread quickly. How did she manage that so fast? I didn’t know that you knew.”
A loud thump sounded against the floor. When I looked over, my mother had fainted. I rushed over to her side. Though I wasn’t quite sure if this was the real deal, I figured I should act as if it was. What if I’d ignored her and she really was sick. She had fallen kind of hard. Maybe this tie was the real thing.
“Mom, are you okay? Talk to me.” I shook her a little and she finally started to come around, her eyes fluttering.
Great, now I had almost killed Nicolas and my mother in the span of an hour.
“What happened?” my mother asked.
“You fainted,” I said, as we helped her to a sitting position.
“I’ll get her some water,” Annabelle said as she rushed over to the sink.
My mother fanned her face with her hand. “All I remember is someone saying you are no longer the leader of the Underworld. I must’ve been dreaming.” She took the glass from Annabelle and gulped down the water.
Would she pass out again when I told her it was no dream?
“Well, Mom, now that I don’t have the spellbook, I guess I’m technically not the leader of the Underworld anymore.”
She looked like a kid who had just had their Christmas gifts taken away. She swayed a little again and Annabelle grabbed the glass of water before my mother dropped it.
“It’ll be okay, Mom. First of all, we need to get you on your feet, okay? You can’t sit on the floor. Are you all right now? Do you need to go to the hospital?” I knew that there was no way she would agree to that.
“No, I’ll be fine.” She released a big sigh.
The three of us helped her up and over to the chair at the kitchen island.
She shooed us away. “That’s enough about me. You just need to address Nicolas.”
“What I need is the spell reversed.” I placed my head in my hands.
Liam ran his hand through his hair. “I can try to do a spell.”
What did I have to lose? Liam had always been great with his magic and anything was better than what I could provide right now. Liam recited the words and waved his hands through the air with a powerful stance. He cast the spell with flashes of lightning zinging around us. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Nicolas was exactly the same as when the spell had first taken hold.
“Sorry, Hallie, I don’t know what to say.”
I’d made Liam’s magic useless too.
“I have to find out why the spell was cast on him.” I sighed. “I know it’s not something I did.”
“We have to find that wedding planner,” Annabelle said.
“Mom, do you have the address that she gave you initially? Anything on any of the forms?”
Unfortunately Monique hadn’t given me a copy of the contract. I was wondering what I had really signed.
My mother grabbed her purse and fished around inside until she finally pulled out the card. “This is her business card. It has her address. Maybe you can go there and find her.”
I took the card and studied the address. “I guess it’s worth a shot.”
All I wanted was to reverse the spell on Nicolas. I didn’t care if I ever found the book again.
“Mom, you can stay here with Nicolas. Make sure he’s okay. We’ll go to this place as fast as we can and see if we can locate her.”
I didn’t even want to think about what we’d do if we didn’t find Monique. That thought sent a chill down my spine. I supposed I would have to cross that bridge when I came to it. I kissed Nicolas on the cheek and then took off out the door.
Annabelle and I climbed into Liam’s BMW. There was a faint scent of Liam present. I sniffed a little, hoping he wouldn’t notice. Yes, definitely his cologne and whatever other yummy scent that emanated from his body. It smelled wonderfully spicy and sexy. I wasn’t supposed to have those thoughts, right? He would be my brother-in-law soon. I was only human though.
I buckled my seatbelt and focused on the reason when were in the car… finding Monique. The address was for a place on the other side of town.
“It will take us at least twenty minutes to get there.” Liam started the ignition.
Which would seem like an eternity right now. We were silent for most of the ride. I was just too nervous to talk. I also knew that Annabelle and Liam didn’t know what to say to make me feel better. I supposed right now there wasn’t much that would make me feel that way. Ench
antment Pointe was a charming town with lots of old buildings and a stunning backdrop of landscape from Spanish-moss draped live oaks, pines, and magnolia trees. Today the sky was bright blue with a few white fluffy clouds. The river ran the length of downtown, curving around the perimeter of the city. Finally, we reached the street.
Chapter 5
Liam pulled his car up in front of the house. It looked like a normal subdivision, but her house stood out from the rest. It was as if a dark cloud hung over it. Maybe it was just my imagination since now I knew she wasn’t a nice person.
“Do you think this is the place?” Annabelle asked as she peered out the back seat window.
“It’s the address on the card,” I said.
Liam cut the engine. “Let’s go to the door.”
I was hesitant even though it was urgent that we reverse the spell against Nicolas. The house was a small cottage, like something out of the Hansel and Gretel story. Now I knew an evil witch really lived here. We got out of the car and headed up the small stone path to the front door.
The place looked different from all the surrounding homes. Did she have magic surrounding the place? It wouldn’t surprise me if she didn’t have something on it that would zap us the moment we stepped foot on her porch. It was surrounded by tall oak and pine trees, like soldiers standing guard and warning her when strangers arrived.
I released a deep breath and then knocked on the door using the large brass knocker. Surprisingly, a few seconds passed before I heard someone on the other side, unlocking the door. My heart sped up at the thought of this confrontation. Annabelle squeezed my arm for reassurance. The door opened slightly and Monique peeked out. A slow smile spread across her face. She was evil and I saw it now. I wished I’d seen it earlier. She’d completely fooled me. Well, maybe not completely since I had been suspicious, but I’d done nothing about it.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
Monique was weary a pink fuzzy bath robe and a towel around her head, as if she’d just taken a leisurely bath. She blew on her pink painted fingernails. While she was having a spa day, I was freaking out over my lost book.
I glared at her. I’d never felt this much anger. I wanted to reach out and snatch her by the hair and drag her to the car. Once there, I’d force her back to LaVeau Manor to reverse the spell. But for now I would try to remain calm and not act on that fantasy.
“You know why we’re here. Now why did you do that to him?” I demanded.
“I didn’t do anything to him—er, what are you talking about?”
She thought she was so clever. “I just need you to come and reverse the spell.”
Maybe if I was nice to her she would do it. Yeah, that was unlikely.
“I don’t know what spell you’re talking about. Frankly, you all are scaring me. Now if you will kindly leave my home…” She waved her hand.
Now she was making it extremely difficult for me to continue to be nice. I knew she was lying. “Where is the book?” I demanded.
She batted her eyelashes. “What book would that be?”
“You know which book I’m talking about,” I said through gritted teeth.
“We know you took the spellbook,” Liam said.
He seemed as if he was losing patience with her, but now she was the leader, so he couldn’t afford to get too angry with her. What if she fired him as the New Orleans Coven Leader?
“As leader now you’re supposed to help. Nicolas needs your help. This is an emergency,” I said.
She already knew that though since she was the one who’d caused the spell.
“I guess you’ll have to fix your mistake,” she said.
“We can’t get rid of the spell on our own. We tried,” I said.
I hoped she had a conscience and would do something.
She smirked. “Well, thanks for the lesson in leadership, but I think I know what’s best now. If you’ll excuse me, I have some spells to familiarize myself with.”
Annabelle lunged forward. “Let me at her. I’m not a part of the Underworld, so she doesn’t scare me.”
I grabbed Annabelle. She might not be part of the Underworld, but that didn’t mean that Monique wouldn’t do something to her. That was the last thing I needed right now. I wasn’t sure if I could handle having to figure out two bad spells.
Monique laughed, but luckily so far hadn’t cast a spell on Annabelle.
“Give the book back to my friend,” Annabelle yelled at her.
I was surprised to see Annabelle this upset. She was always so quiet. I needed to get Annabelle out of there before something bad happened.
“Like I said, forget about the book. I just need you to reverse the spell on Nicolas.”
“Forget about the book?” Monique asked. “I’m glad you said that. As a matter of fact, what you just said backs up what you said in the statement you signed.”
I knew the color drained from my face. So that was something unlawful she’d had me sign.
“You tricked me,” I said.
“You’re not really a wedding planner, are you?” Annabelle asked.
Monique stared at her. “You think? You shouldn’t be so trusting.”
She was right. I would never do it again. That was a hard lesson learned.
“I’m done talking now. You can leave.” She slammed the door in my face.
I held Annabelle back again.
Liam grabbed her. “Come on, Annabelle, attacking her won’t help.”
“It’ll make me feel better. I can’t let her do this to Hallie.”
“Annabelle, there will be other ways to take care of her.” I glanced back at the closed door.
We climbed into the car. Monique was at the window watching us and taunting me. She held the book and gave me a smug look. What I couldn’t figure out was how she’d gotten the safe open. It seemed as if she had pulled off the impossible. It was hard to drive away without some way to help Nicolas… without the book. Unfortunately, I had no choice.
Annabelle leaned forward from the backseat. “We have to take the book back from her.”
“Can I really do that? I mean, that would be stealing. Technically, the book was never truly mine. It was only mine because my great-aunt had the book.”
This was supposed to be a happy time for me, but now it was a nightmare. I just wanted to wake up and things would be like they had been twenty-four hours ago. One thing was for certain, I wasn’t going to let Monique get away with this without a fight.
“You said you don’t want to steal the book, but what if it just happens to find you again?” Liam asked as he steered around a curve.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He stared straight ahead at the road. “I’m not sure exactly, but I will think of something. One thing is for sure, we need to call a coven meeting.” He glanced over at me. “Maybe with the power of all the witches we’ll be able to reverse the spell against Nicolas. Plus, they can figure out how to get the book back.”
“She won’t like that at all. That would be all the witches going against her.”
“I don’t think the witches will have a problem with that. She took the book and is now the leader under false pretenses. Besides, they love you as the leader. Not since Nicolas’ mother have they loved a leader as much.”
Nicolas’ mother had been the leader of the Underworld. She’d been murdered by her sister, a deranged vampire who wanted to take over the Underworld. This made it harder for Nicolas to deal with me being the leader. He always said that his mother would be proud of the job I’d done. I’d met her ghost once and she’d helped me out of a tricky situation. I wished she was here to help now.
Chapter 6
As soon as we reached the manor, I ran inside. My mother was standing in the kitchen eating a cupcake.
“What are you doing? I didn’t think you liked those things.” I took the cupcake from her hand.
“Well, they’re not your best, but I was hungry.”
“How can y
ou eat the cupcakes and nothing happened to you, but Nicolas ate a bite and this is what happened to him?”
He was still in the same spot, unmoving and unblinking. Nothing had changed, but then again, I hadn’t expected it to. I had hoped, but I’d known my hope was futile.
“Did anything happen? Was there any sign of change while we were gone?” I asked.
My mother shook her head. “No change, but at least he’s not worse.”
That was something, but not what I wanted to hear.
“Did you get the book back?” she asked hopefully.
“No book. Now it’s gone for good.”
My mother wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “Well, at least you have LaVeau Manor still. You can run the bed-and-breakfast and do just fine. We just need to get Nicolas fixed and then things will be perfect.”
“Keep your chin up,” Annabelle said.
Liam touched the tip of my chin with his index finger. “Everything will be okay, doll.”
I hated to admit it, but my mother was kind of right. Things would be just fine if I could get Nicolas back again. I didn’t need that book, and I didn’t need to be the leader.
The doorbell rang.
“That must be the coven members,” Liam said.
I really hoped that they could help. It was worth a shot. When Liam opened the door there were a bunch of witches standing on the porch, about thirty of them. Not everyone could make it, but I thought it was a good start.
“Halloween, we’re so sorry,” Michael said.
“Just tell us what to do and we’re on it,” Emma said.
It was good to know that I had their support.
“Everyone follow me to the kitchen, but please don’t be alarmed when you see Nicolas.”
I had named Nicolas as the leader of the Enchantment Pointe Coven. Since there had been a vacancy within the coven it seemed like the only natural thing to do. True, I had wanted to keep him in Enchantment Pointe, but that wasn’t the only reason for giving him the position. He had been the right person for the job. He was always helpful with spells and listened to everyone’s problems.
