“I want to contact Steffie.”
She was silent for a few moments. “Last night you were dead set against it. What happened?”
On cue, my cell phone erupted into the same sweet lullaby I heard earlier. Steffie’s voice, soft and babyish, wrapped itself around us like a hug.
“That’s what happened,” I said. “My daughter called.”
CHLOE
Time stopped. Or at least it seemed to. There was nothing but the sound of his little girl’s voice and the heart-wrenching melody that kept her afloat.
I saw her laughing face in the photo Karen kept tucked away in her wallet and suddenly I knew that she loved a pink plush bunny named Mr. B., strawberry ice cream, and knock-knock jokes. She was funny and fearless, and more than anything, she wanted to see her parents one more time.
And I wanted her to go away and take her mother with her. I wanted to spin us back to the beginning when it was all bright and shiny and new. Our love. My powers. My beloved Sugar Maple. This thing called a future that had never seemed real to me before.
The town was slipping away from me. My powers were still unpredictable. Our love was so much more complicated than I ever could have imagined possible. And the future? It was anybody’s guess.
If I could have snapped my fingers and erased the sound of her voice from Luke’s memory banks, I would have. He was in pain. The kind of pain that changed a man forever.
But I didn’t have the power, and more important, I didn’t have the right. That pain was all he had left of his daughter.
It was all in my hands. I could say no to Luke. I knew I didn’t have the skill set to reach out to his daughter, but there was someone who did.
“We can hold a séance and try to bring Karen and Steffie together. Janice put herself through Yale holding séances all through Connecticut and New York. I think she’d do this for us.”
“Janice went to Yale?”
Nothing in Sugar Maple was the way it seemed. Didn’t he know that yet? “Summa cum laude, business degree.”
“I’m not turning my daughter’s death into a sideshow.”
“Do you really think Janice would summon your daughter into a sideshow?” More important, did he really think I would? “You asked for my help, Luke. That’s what I’m offering.”
“Séances are bullshit.”
“Don’t get hung up on a word. A séance is a means to bridge two worlds, nothing more. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“Karen needs help, not witchcraft.”
“This is Janice we’re talking about. The woman who cuts your hair and makes that lemon cake you like. Since when are you bothered by her bloodline?”
“I’m not.”
“What kind of help did you think I was going to offer? A Ouija board and a DVD of Ghost?”
That seemed to hit a chord and he nodded. “I’m being an asshole. You’re right. I’m in.”
“We have to work fast,” I said to him as his phone fell silent, “and we have to keep this a secret.” I told him about the stream of villagers who’d passed through the shop to see Karen up close and personal. “If they even suspect I’m doing anything to prolong her stay, all hell will break loose. She has to be on the way back to Boston by midnight no matter what.”
Luke went across the street to get Janice.
And then I did what I probably should have done hours earlier. I grabbed a pair of US15 bamboo straights, whispered a prayer to my ancestors for guidance, then popped the ex’s bubble.
KAREN
One moment I was dreaming about soft Hawaiian beach balls and the next I was bouncing across a hard wooden floor on my unpadded butt. I looked up at the supermodel from the doorway, where I finally skidded to a stop. “What the hell—?”
The supermodel was wielding a wicked long pair of knitting needles and a look of extreme relief. “You fell off the sofa.”
It took a second for her words to penetrate. “I was asleep?”
“You don’t remember?”
I shook my head.
“Napping,” she said. “You said you wanted to take a nap. I think you’re playing catch-up.”
“And I think I’m turning into a narcoleptic.” I glanced around the quiet shop. “Where’s Luke?”
“Across the street talking to Janice.” That look of extreme relief vanished. “I think she can help you.”
“With what? I’m not looking for highlights.”
“But you are looking for your daughter.”
Everything else fell away. “If you’re screwing with me—”
“I’m not screwing with you.”
The weird, prickling sensation I’d felt a split second before I walked into their church/town hall came back full force, and all I could manage was a nod of my head.
“If we do this, you’re going to have to follow my lead when we’re with Janice, no matter what.”
“If it means reaching Steffie, I can do anything.”
Maybe she wasn’t psychic but she knew where they held their club meetings. You could stop fifty people on the street and I’d bet not a single one would be able to rustle up a séance like it was a take-out pizza. And that would explain the weird vibes I’d been picking up ever since I arrived in the village. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not like my ex-husband. I don’t have anything against people with the gift, but I can’t help getting an itchy feeling every time I meet one.
And she made me itch like I’d fallen into a mosquito breeding ground.
No wonder she had overreacted back at the cottage when I confronted her about her abilities. If she wanted to pretend it was her friend Janice with the psychic gift, that was okay with me. The Luke MacKenzie I’d been married to had a major problem dealing with my mother’s and grandmother’s ESP. Maybe she had been keeping it a secret from him, like her real hair color. (I might believe in psychics but I don’t believe in natural blondes.)
Still, I had to admit I was impressed that she was willing to put herself on the line for someone who had been a complete stranger less than one day ago.
Maybe I was her psychic charity project. I didn’t care. Steffie was out there somewhere and she needed me, needed her father, and if Chloe could help bring us together, I would spend the rest of my life figuring out a way to thank her.
13
CHLOE
Cut & Curl closed at 7 P.M., and by seven fifteen Janice was slipping in through the back door.
“I hope you ordered Chinese from Golden Wok,” she said as she breezed into the shop. “I can’t do this on an empty stomach.”
“Luke’s picking it up,” I said. “He should be back any minute.”
“Where is she?”
“Up front working on that gansey I started last week.”
“What happened to the bubble?”
I grinned at my friend. “I popped it with a straight.”
“Good thinking.” She grabbed a can of diet soda from the store fridge. “What kind of mood is she in?”
“She has a million questions.”
Janice rolled her eyes. “They always do. Let’s get started.”
Janice nimbly deflected Karen’s queries and started asking questions of her own. Karen worked on the gansey while she answered Janice’s almost-embarrassing barrage of inquiries. I wasn’t sure how many of those questions actually pertained to the séance and how many were barely disguised attempts to ferret out information for me. If Karen was annoyed, it didn’t show. She answered with painful honesty, sparing neither herself nor Luke in the process.
Janice grilled her for details about Steffie’s attempts to break through the barrier that separated the spirit world from this realm of existence, taking notes on a crumpled index card that she didn’t really need. She used it to make the humans comfortable.
“She wanted her father,” Karen said, eyes on her knitting. “That’s the only reason I’m here.”
“Unfinished business,” Janice said with a nod of her head. “Too bad we’re not doing t
his next week when there’s a full moon. The portal will be more porous.”
“There’s a portal?” Despite what Karen thought, I’d never been anywhere near a séance in my life.
Janice shot me a look. “Of course there’s a portal. There’s always a portal.”
“Even I know that,” Karen said.
“Where is it?”
“The cemetery is the closest.”
“I don’t like cemeteries,” Karen said.
Nobody liked cemeteries. “Can’t we do it someplace else?” I asked.
Janice barely disguised her annoyance. “You go where the spirits gather.”
“Won’t they gather wherever you tell them to gather?” Karen asked. “I thought the medium tells them what to do.”
“They gather where they gather. It’s up to us to make it easy for them.”
“They gather where they gather?” I started to laugh. “You sound like you’ve been hitting the Zen tapes again.”
“The cemetery is on sacred ground,” Janice explained to Karen, pointedly cutting me out of the loop. “It shares land with an Indian burial site that preceded the white man by hundreds of years. Your daughter’s spirit will recognize she’s safe there.”
It was clear the thought of midnight in a cemetery didn’t make Karen feel either safe or comfortable.
“Don’t look at me,” I said to her, pushing down my own uneasy feelings on the subject. “This is Janice’s ball game. I’ve never been to a séance in my life.”
Karen remained unconvinced. “They didn’t hang around a cemetery in Ghost. They sat around a table.”
Could it get any worse? I could feel Janice struggling to control her temper. If there was one thing my friend hated, it was movie mediums who got it all wrong.
“Fine,” she said. “Maybe you’re right. We’ll do it here.”
“But we don’t have a portal,” I said.
“A second ago you didn’t even know we needed one.”
“But you did,” I shot back. “How can you proceed without a portal?”
“We can use a proxy.” She got up and walked over to the counter. “Help me take down the tapestry.”
“The tapestry?” I went totally blank.
“D’oh,” Janice said, imitating one of her kids. “The tapestry that’s been hanging behind the register since the shop opened.”
The needlework representation of Sinzibukwud Falls had been part of my life for so long that I barely noticed it anymore. Before I opened Sticks & Strings, it had held a place of honor in Sorcha’s cottage, and before that it had been my mother’s and her mother’s before her right back to Aerynn.
These days it served as a makeshift bulletin board. Notes, sketches, receipts, pending bills, magazine clippings, all manner of things were pinned to the surface until you could barely see any of the lovely, even stitches peeking through. And yes, I felt a little guilty.
“I wish I knew who made this,” Janice said as we carried it over to the table. “You can feel the energy popping off the fabric.”
Karen walked around the table and studied the tapestry. “You have waterfalls around here?”
“Just that one.”
She shivered. “There’s just something . . . uncomfortable about it.”
Janice rolled her eyes. I said nothing. Nobody had ever expressed unease about the Falls before. Good to know I wasn’t the only one who found the place less than welcoming.
“Okay,” Janice said, “now we need a round table.”
“I have a card table in the storeroom.”
Janice provided the white candles, frankincense, cinnamon, and sandalwood.
And the music.
“Enya?” Karen wrinkled her nose as the music from Janice’s iPod filtered through the tiny speakers.
“The spirits love her,” Janice said. “Go figure.” She glanced across the table at me. “Did he go to Sichuan province for the food?”
Something told me it wasn’t the Chinese food that was holding things up. I excused myself and ducked out the back door, where I found Luke leaning against the Dumpster.
“You can’t stay out here forever,” I said to him. “We need to get started.”
“I’m out.”
“No, you’re not. You asked me to put it together and I did. Now you have to follow through.”
A faint smile flickered, then died. “You’re tough.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
He grabbed the bag of takeout from the ground, then followed me into the shop.
“About time,” Janice said as we joined them at the table. “Did you get spring rolls? I’d kill for a spring roll.”
“Can’t you eat after?” I aimed a pointed look in her direction.
She couldn’t. We toyed with our food and waited while she wolfed down a spring roll, a handful of crispy noodles, and a bottle of water.
Finally she nodded for me to dim the lights.
“The lights went down,” Karen said, glancing around. “Are we having a power outage?”
Note to self: next time do it the old-fashioned way. “Remote control switch,” I lied.
Lucky for me, the woman had other things on her mind.
“We are all here of our own free will,” Janice said. “Is that true?”
Luke hesitated but he concurred.
“We’ll be joining hands. I’ll offer a short invocation. We’ll close our eyes and open our hearts and allow the benevolent spirits entrance.”
“Spirits?” Luke interrupted, sounding grim.
“I don’t want to see my great-uncle George,” Karen said. “I want my daughter.”
“People, this isn’t rocket science. I can’t guarantee who or what will slip through the portal. I can’t promise you that anything will. But if you could wait until tomorrow when Saturn transits the full moon—”
“We can’t wait,” Luke snapped.
She glared at him. “Then you have to accept the limitations. If you can’t accept them, let’s call it a night.”
“Sorry,” Karen murmured. “We’re freaking out. Ignore him.”
Luke muttered something that sounded a lot like “bullshit.”
“I’d tell you to leave if your daughter hadn’t asked for you specifically,” Janice said to him. “Spirits sense lousy attitudes.”
It wasn’t a lousy attitude; it was fear. I wanted to tell Janice to ease up on him, but there was no way I could do it without embarrassing him so I let it go.
“Let’s try again,” Janice said, aiming a pointed look in Luke’s direction. “Clear your minds of negative thoughts. Join hands and close your eyes.”
I didn’t close my eyes at first. I was too busy making sure Luke closed his eyes. And I have to admit I wanted to see if Janice had any nonmagick tricks up her sleeve, like jiggling the table or switching on a sound machine.
I guess I was hoping for some fireworks, maybe some flashing lights or spooky noises. Everything looked disappoint ingly ordinary.
Janice lifted her chin slightly and took in a long deep breath and closed her eyes. I did the same.
“Spirits, thank you for giving us your time this night. We gather together in love and harmony and invite you to join with us and share your wisdom.”
We sat quietly for what seemed like a week and a half. I caught the scent of cinnamon wafting from the shallow dish on the side table, Janice’s lavender essence, and the aroma of Kung Pao chicken from the bag of deliciousness I intended to dive into the second this was over.
Which was probably not the right attitude. I pulled together my random thoughts and centered myself again. This was for Karen and Luke. This was their chance to contact their daughter. I wasn’t going to be the one who screwed it up by daydreaming over a bag of takeout.
“Spirits, we welcome you with open hearts,” Janice said. “We bid you enter this blessed circle of protection.”
Are you out there, Steffie? Your mommy and daddy miss you so much.
I felt sil
ly and self-conscious and everything in between but there was no denying the sorrow that suddenly seemed to rise up and surround us all. An emptiness that pulled the oxygen from my lungs and made me light-headed.
“Steffie?” Karen broke her silence. “We’re here, honey. Come talk to us.”
“Nobody’s coming,” Luke said. “This is all bullshit.”
“You’re not helping,” Janice snapped. “If you can’t keep a positive attitude, at least keep your mouth shut.”
“Janice!” My eyes popped open. “Telling Luke to shut up doesn’t promote tranquillity.”
“He lacks respect,” Janice said. Respect was huge in her world and I understood why. The witches of Salem had been treated with anything but respect. But she knew the situation going in. She really needed to give him a little breathing room. “The spirits don’t appreciate that.”
“Please!” Karen sounded desperate. “I know Steffie is out there. Can’t we try again?”
“Fuck this.” Luke pushed back his chair. “And you put yourself through college with this stuff?”
Janice, her face scarlet with anger, turned to me. “This is one of the reasons why we don’t need another human in town.”
“Another human?” Karen was all over it. “What does she mean, another human?”
“Figure of speech,” I said, my heart slamming into my rib cage. How many bullets could I dodge in one day? “Janice is the queen of hyperbole.”
“I can’t believe I said that!” Janice looked downright horrified. “Damn it, that’s not what I wanted to say at all.”
Suddenly I had the feeling this wasn’t going to end well. “That’s okay, Jan. Let it go.”
“You know I’m vigilant about protecting Sugar Maple. I’d never let the cat out of the—”
“Let the cats stay where they are,” I said as tiny beads of sweat trickled down the back of my neck. “The cats are just fine.”
“I can’t.” She looked like she was going to burst into tears. “I want to shut up . . . I’m going to shut up . . . but the magick won’t let me. We all know what’s going on and I can’t seem to—”
I ordered myself not to freak out. “Everything will be fine, Jan, if you shut up right now,” I whispered so only she could hear.
Laced with Magic Page 12
