When they finished eating, Josh said, “Can I ask why you got so upset this morning?”
“You mean when you were lusting after all those girls at school?”
“Is it possible, that what you felt was coming from the girls and not from me?”
Channie ducked her chin, but kept her gaze locked on Josh’s eyes. “Maybe.”
He put his hands flat on the table and leaned forward. “Look, Channie, I admit that all the attention is a huge boost to my male ego — even though I know it’s not real — but that doesn’t mean I’m interested in any of those girls. You’re the only girl I want.”
“I’m sorry, I never thought I’d be the jealous type, but I can’t stand the thought of anyone touching you. Maybe it’s because I can’t even hold your hand.”
Josh said, “I know what you mean. I can’t stand the thought of another guy touching you either.”
Josh bit his lip and pulled it through his teeth. Channie could tell he wasn’t trying to be seductive. He was just nervous. But why?
He rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Do you want dessert?”
“No, thank you.” Channie was stuffed to the gills. In addition to a pulled pork sandwich, large Dr. Pepper and french fried potatoes, she’d eaten half of Josh’s onion rings. She had to admit, the food at Chili’s was indescribably delicious, but she still preferred the fried potatoes at McDonald’s.
Josh reached into his pocket and pulled out a little blue box. He said, “Do you know what a promise ring is?”
Channie’s heart flip-flopped into her throat. “No.”
“It’s sort of old-fashioned, but it’s one way for me to show you — and everyone else — that we belong together.” He opened the box and inside was a delicate white-gold ring. Two diamonds glittered inside intertwined hearts. “You have completely captured my heart. I promise to do everything in my power to make you as happy as you’ve already made me. I’d do anything for you, Channie. No sacrifice is too great. Will you accept this ring as a token of that promise?”
Too choked up to speak, Channie pressed three fingers to her lips and nodded her head.
Joy, love, and passion flowed between them as a surge of heart-magic strengthened their supernatural bond.
“It looks like an engagement—”
“It’s not.” Their connection snapped and disappeared. Josh blinked and licked his lips then swallowed noisily. “It’s just a promise ring.”
Channie’s eyes filled with tears. She blinked them back before they fell, but not before Josh noticed.
“Babe, we’re too young to get engaged. But I promise … I’ll love you forever.”
It wasn’t too young for mages to get engaged, or even married, as long as they could support themselves. But Josh was not a mage and this was not the Ozarks where you could hunt, fish, trap and grow your own food. Channie would be surprised if Josh even knew how to use a draw knife to strip the bark off a log, much less build a cabin.
“I’m not crying because I’m sad. These tears are happy tears.”
Josh heaved a huge sigh and pushed the box across the table with his fingertips. “I wish I could put the ring on your finger, but I don’t want to burn you.”
Channie plucked the ring from the box and held it up in the light.
A multitude of prismatic specks danced across the table and the front of Josh’s chest like a shattered rainbow.
“Are you going to put that thing on, or just hold it all day?”
Channie grinned and slid the ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand. It was a little wiggly, so she pulled the loose thread from her napkin, unravelling the hem, and wound it around the ring.
Josh said, “What are you doing?”
“It’s a little loose. I don’t want to lose it.”
“Since we aren’t ordering dessert, we have enough time to take it back to Zales before fourth period and get it resized. Now stand up so I can get a hug.”
Channie wrapped her arms around Josh’s waist and pressed the side of her face against his chest, over his pounding heart. She said, “I never … in my wildest dreams … ever imagined anything this beautiful could belong to me.“
Josh kissed the top of her head. “Ditto.”
~***~
It took a whole week for the jewelry store to resize Channie’s ring, but it was worth the wait. The first day she wore it to school, no less than six girls stopped her in the halls and asked to see it. Kassie took Channie’s left hand and twisted it back and forth then blinked when a sparkle struck her eye. She laughed and said, “What’d you do, Josh? Rob a bank?”
Channie had already activated the IFB curse on his shield so instead of hugging him she bit her bottom lip and pulled it through her teeth. Josh’s nervous habit had evolved. They never actually talked about it, but it meant, I love you, I want you, I am yours and you are mine.
Josh repeated the gesture then silently mouthed, “forever.”
But they didn’t have forever. Each night as the moon waned thinner, Channie’s anxiety waxed stronger. Josh wasn’t worried. He just said, “We’ll deal with it when the time comes. No point worrying about it now.” But he didn’t know as much about magic as Channie did.
~***~
Channie woke on the sixteenth of November, too distraught to even get out of bed. Mrs. Abrim stuck a digital thermometer in her ear. She pulled it out after it beeped and said, “That can’t be right.” She did it again, in Channie’s other ear. “Your temp is a full two degrees below normal, you must be coming down with something.”
“Yes, ma’am. I believe so.” A severe case of dread.
“Do you want me to stay home with you? I have a few days of sick leave saved up.”
“No, thank you. I’ll be fine. But if you could bring me a little valerian or chamomile tea before you go, it might help.”
“The only tea I have is Earl Grey. Do you want me to call your mother? I’m sure—”
“NO! I mean, no ma’am. Please don’t call my momma.”
Mrs. Abrim sat on the edge of Channie’s bed and brushed her hair off her forehead. “We haven’t really talked about what happened the night your parents came home and found you and Josh in bed.”
Channie’s temperature instantly went from sub-normal to fevered. She hid her face behind her hands.
“Channie. I’m not judging you.” She patted Channie’s arm and said, “Normally, I’d insist you at least call them, but Josh has told me a little about your parents. We may need to look into a long-term solution.”
“Long term?”
“As much as I’d like to let you stay here indefinitely, it’s really not appropriate.” Mrs. Abrim stood up and smoothed her shirt down over her hips. “If you don’t feel safe at home, we should consider foster care.”
Channie had no intention of letting Mrs. Abrim dump her onto a family of strangers. She’d swallow her pride and move back home before she went into foster care.
Mrs. Abrim said, “I didn’t mean to upset you. We can wait a little longer and see if things calm down at home. You have my number in your phone, call me if you need anything.”
Channie picked at the fuzz on her blanket and nodded.
Mrs. Abrim gave her a quick hug then went back downstairs.
Even with the door shut, Channie could hear Josh and Elijah campaigning to stay home and take care of her. Elijah continued to beg even as the family exited the house, but Josh gave up a little too easily. Sure enough, he walked through the front door at nine-fifteen.
His clown-sized feet rattled the house as he bounded up the stairs and burst into Channie’s room.
Channie said, “Did you even go to class?”
“I couldn’t concentrate knowing you were home … all alone and lonely … in bed …” He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned.
“Joshua Vincent Abrim!”
“You sound just like my mom.”
“And what do you think she’d say if she knew you were here instead of at school?”
“How about we not tell her?”
“You are impossible.”
Josh kicked off his shoes and leapt onto the bed, straddling Channie’s hips with his feet. He bounced gently, making the bedsprings creak, and smirked at her. “Besides, you didn’t activate that itching thing on my shield this morning.”
“Oh, crap. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I took a detour down to Hole-In-One Bagel then came home. You want a bagel? I bought a cranberry-walnut one for you.”
He bounced the bed harder, making Channie scramble for the blankets to keep herself covered. She said, “Maybe later.”
“So, are you really sick?”
“Would it matter?”
“If you’re sick, I’ll bring you chicken soup. If you’re not, let’s go downstairs and watch a movie.”
“You mean … make out.”
“Of course.”
“I’m not sick, sick, but I am a nervous wreck. Now get off my bed.”
“Actually it’s my bed, but I don’t mind sharing.”
“Josh! Cut it out.”
“The new moon tonight freaking you out?”
“Well, duh.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“We need to decide if we’re going to open the book again.”
“Of course we are. It’s the only way to free ourselves from these damned curses that are trying to destroy us. Right?”
“I think so. But I don’t really know.”
Josh bounced onto his butt and sat beside Channie, then twisted sideways to lean over her and pulled his lip through his teeth. “Maybe I’ll finally be able to kiss you tonight.”
She put her hand on his chest and pushed him back. “What if the book makes things worse?”
“Something tells me it would be a huge mistake to ignore the book.” He kissed the top of her head then hopped off the bed. “We need to do what it says. Trust me.”
If Channie had trusted Josh when he said they should remove the stains underwater, he wouldn’t have suffered. She wished she’d never laid eyes on that damned book.
“All right. I trust you.”
Channie and Josh pretended to watch a movie as they laid side by side in his bed, but she wouldn’t let him put on his gloves. Trust only goes so far when dealing with an adolescent boy. He got downright whiney about it, until Channie threatened to send him back to school.
They decided to meet in the soundproof entertainment room in the basement thirty minutes after midnight to open the Book of the Dead.
~***~
Channie couldn’t stand lying in bed, waiting as the seconds ticked by. She threw off the covers, got dressed and went to the window.
Her breath frosted the glass. She drew a heart with her finger and wrote “Joshua Vincent Abrim” in the middle of it. She blew on the glass and drew another. This time she wrote “Mrs. Enchantment Abrim.” The clouds parted. A faint glow of sapphire blue rimmed the edge of the new moon. It was beautiful — the exact color of Josh’s eyes — but unlike Josh’s eyes, this particular new moon felt sinister. The way it blotted out a perfect circle of stars and punched a hole in the night sky, filled Channie with a sense of foreboding. She hugged her arms to her chest and shivered.
At a quarter past midnight, Channie couldn’t wait any longer. She grabbed her back pack and a flashlight. Her hands shook, causing the beam to waver on the carpet as she tiptoed downstairs — avoiding the fifth step from the top.
Josh was lying on his stomach with his face turned towards the back of the sofa, his left arm hung over the edge, fingers softly curled with the back of his knuckles resting on the floor. The covers were a tangled mess around his waist, but he was wearing a t-shirt so Channie was able to touch his shoulder without burning either of them. “Josh. Wake up, it’s time.”
He propped himself up on his elbows and said, “Hey, beautiful. You ready to do this?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Channie tried not to look as Josh pulled a pair of sweats on over his boxers, but felt no need to avert her gaze when he took off his t-shirt to replace it with a more cuddle-compatible hoodie. When they got to the basement, the only light other than their flashlights came from a glowing green dot on the front of one of the electronic game boxes. Josh swore and switched it off. “If Elijah burns out another console, I’m going to wring his scrawny little neck.”
Channie sat on the floor and pulled her journal and the Book of the Dead out of her backpack. Josh propped a chair under the doorknob and dialed the adjustable lights to their lowest setting. Channie untied the knot in the pillowcase, but hesitated to put her hand inside.
Josh said, “You want me to get it?”
Channie shook her head and shoved her hand into the pillowcase. A tingling sensation ran up her arm as soon as she touched the book. She lowered it onto the floor and knelt in front of it. Josh scooted around to sit cross-legged beside her, bumping her thigh with his knee. He arched his eyebrows and said, “Together?”
Channie nodded. They both trembled like autumn leaves in a storm and opened the book.
Lavender, lemon, sage and sandalwood filled Channie’s nose. Josh inhaled deeply and said, “It smells like us, right?”
“Yes.” The scent was reassuring and mildly intoxicating.
The book grew warm as the sparkling flame leapt from the blank page and engraved the next step of the spell …
True love’s kiss will set you free
But pure and chaste it must be.
One unclean thought will seal your fate
Changing all you love — to all you hate.
Daughter of power, conquer your fear
For in the fire, your path becomes clear.
A royal mage you must wed,
Before you share a lover’s bed.
Son of darkness, heed this advice,
Forsake all others that might entice
And lead astray with a wanton smile
The foolish boy they wish to beguile.
Burn the image in your heart and mind
Of true love’s kiss, and surely you’ll find
The strength and the will and the power to keep
The promise you made so your love would not weep.
Josh pulled out his phone and snapped a photograph of the glowing page. Channie didn’t want to copy the hateful message in her journal, but if something happened to Josh’s phone and they couldn’t remember every single word, they had no chance of fighting this evil magic that demanded she marry against her will.
When she finished, Josh kissed the top of her head and pulled her onto his lap. “If you were forced to marry someone else … but you still loved me … would you consider a relationship outside of marriage?”
Channie pressed her hand against Josh’s chest. His heart thumped against her palm in sync with her own racing pulse. “I’m not going to let some evil book tell me who I can and cannot marry.”
“It sounds like the book isn’t opposed to adultery.”
Channie leaned back to look in his eyes. “I don’t break promises and there is no promise more sacred than marriage vows.”
“Even if you got married with the understanding that it wasn’t real? Maybe this royal mage won’t want to marry you either.”
Channie slid off Josh’s lap and stood up. “I’d rather die a virgin than bind myself with meaningless marriage vows.” Josh had no idea what all was involved when two mages married. Channie didn’t either — she’d heard a few snippets here and there, but the ceremony everyone attended was only the beginning. The actual marriage involved magic and sex and that wasn’t something people talked about.
Josh rose and placed his hands on her shoulders. “We’ll figure something out. At least there’s no time limit.”
“Are you kidding me? … You have until the full moon sets, to bind your hearts with no regrets … remember? This message doesn’t replace the previous one.”
“If that’s true, why would the book tell you to
bind your heart to mine and then marry someone else?”
“I don’t know!” Channie took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. This is just so confusing and frustrating.”
Josh nodded and said, “I understand.” Which meant he wasn’t accepting her apology, but he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “We still need to figure out what the rest of it means.”
Channie didn’t want to talk about it either. She knew they’d have to deal with it soon, but there were plenty of other things they needed to figure out. “I’m obviously the daughter of power, but why would you be the son of darkness? That is a direct reference to dark magic.”
“Maybe it’s just a poetic device or a typo?” Josh rubbed the back of his neck and grinned. “A magical book that needs spell-check.”
Channie laughed in spite of herself. “Good one, Josh. But seriously, the book wouldn’t make a mistake like that. One of your parents must have hired a mage … maybe during their divorce? It’s illegal, but some mages hire themselves out to MDs.
“My family fights their battles in court with divorce attorneys and money, not blood and magic.”
“For now, let’s just assume you are ‘the son of darkness,’ even if we don’t know what it means. What’s next?”
Josh leaned to the side and read out of Channie’s journal. “True love’s kiss will set you free, but pure and chaste it must be …”
Channie closed her eyes and pressed her face into Josh’s hoodie-protected shoulder, fighting tears. “We can’t even touch without setting each other on fire.”
Josh stroked her hair and wound a tendril around his index finger. “I would kiss you right now if it would break the curse, I don’t care how much it hurts. But … if we don’t keep our thoughts pure and chaste when we kiss, we’ll be cursed and end up hating each other. Maybe that’s how you’ll end up marrying a royal—”
“I already told you — I’m not marrying anyone!”
Josh jerked away from her as if she’d slapped him.
Channie took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I’m sorry Josh. I know none of this is your fault. But please, I don’t want to talk about marrying some old goat of a mage right now. I can’t deal with it.”
Enchantment Page 23
