Isadora should have known there was a lion in every mother and that night the lion in me was ready to break free. Maybe it was adrenaline. Maybe it was a kind of magic born of love. I don’t know. All I knew was that nothing short of death would stop me from saving my baby from the hell that bitch had in store for her.
31
CHLOE
Karen cried out and I grabbed her wrist and held tight. Her love for her daughter was blinding her to the very real danger we were all in.
Not that I was doing any better. I was drowning in Steffie’s fear and loneliness, drowning in Luke’s rage and Karen’s terror. My human bloodline registered everything they were feeling and multiplied it tenfold.
I had to block them out, pretend they didn’t exist, that nothing existed but Isadora and the need to stop her once and for all.
I had been close, so close, to figuring out the last part of the banishment equation, but now my brain was nothing but a jumbled mass of neurons and impulses.
Magick was still new to me. I didn’t know how to turn my back on almost thirty years of being human. I had lived my entire life as a mortal woman, and letting my past drop away from me felt like my heart was being ripped from my chest. A heart that right now was too filled with emotion for my own good.
I glanced at Luke’s watch. Five minutes from now Saturn would swing close to Earth and the portal between dimensions would open wide enough to allow an entire town to slip through. Six minutes from now Saturn would begin to move away and I could breathe easy for another thirty years.
It was time.
I took a step forward and that must have triggered some Fae warning system because suddenly a pair of strong hands encircled my throat, slender fingers pressing hard but not too hard against my windpipe, just enough to choke off most of my air. I was lifted off my feet and whipped side to side like a rabbit in the jaws of a wolf, and I was having trouble remembering my name, much less any of the dozen banishment spells I knew like the back of my hand.
Luke sprang into motion and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Isadora removed one of her hands from my throat for a second and flung her arm against Luke, a careless gesture that sent him hurtling into the moss-covered rocks halfway up the hill.
I saw him clearly in my mind’s eye. I heard the crack of his ribs breaking. I felt his pain as he lost his grip on the slick mossy rock and shot down the Falls into the pool below.
And then I was the one who was falling into a mocking darkness, fully aware yet powerless. It seemed like the story of my life.
Was this the way I was going to end my time in this dimension? Strangled to death by a powerful Fae leader who thought so little of my abilities that she didn’t bother to use her magick against me? What pathetic star had I been born under? What once-in-a-lifetime conjunction of planets had—
That was it. The transit of planets. The birth of stars. Those mighty astronomical and astrological forces that changed worlds and shaped lives. The Fae understood the importance of those celestial patterns. They got the deeper meaning only a handful of humans had ever understood.
Suddenly I knew exactly what I had to do, and I had Luke to thank.
It had taken the very human man I loved to make me see what had been in front of my eyes all this time.
I could link a hundred banishment spells together but they wouldn’t be able to contain Isadora permanently. They were temporary fixes, nothing more. But the stars and the planets were forever. The Fae understood that. I needed to link my strongest banishment spell with an astronomical event in the vastly distant future that was so devastating it would wipe the cosmic slate clean.
Isadora loosened her grip for a second and oxygen flooded my screaming lungs and swept clarity in with it.
My heart pounded in my ears. Pulse points in my wrists and throat throbbed as adrenaline pushed blood through my veins and the answer swam into focus.
The death of the sun.
This would give us a few billion years to figure out a way to live together in harmony.
The way I saw it, we would need every single one.
Right now Isadora was toying with me but that wouldn’t last much longer. I had to put the final banishment in motion before she tired of the game and finished the job.
I wished I’d paid more attention to the old Kung Fu reruns on Nick at Nite. There were probably any number of nifty moves that would break a choke hold and look great in the replay.
But never underestimate the power of passive resistance. It wasn’t flashy but it worked.
I went limp. The surprise of one hundred fifteen pounds of sagging deadweight knocked Isadora off balance and sent us crashing to the ground.
“A small triumph,” she said, looking up at me. “Enjoy it while you can.”
The human-sized portal in the waterfall was expanding, growing wider and taller with every second.
“It’s over,” she said. “In the name of my ancestors, I claim final victory.”
I scrambled to my feet and started the chant, calling upon my own ancestors and every force for goodness that had ever walked the earth and all its dimensions.
Her laughter rang out. “This is absurd.”
“. . . fortress against evil . . .”
“You’re a child. Your powers are insignificant.”
“. . . unbreakable . . . inviolable . . .”
“Nothing but words. You know I’ll find my way out.”
“. . . through time and space until the sun—”
“Stop!” Isadora commanded. “Stop talking!”
“. . . moves from red giant to white dwarf . . .”
“No!” Her cry made the earth tremble. “Noo!”
“. . . to blackness and all life follows.”
Our eyes locked. The air between us shimmered with heat. I was aware of Luke and Karen standing a few feet away and wondered if they felt the same pulsing of energy coming off the Fae ruler. Did they have any idea of the magnitude of what was happening here?
I had attained the unattainable: I had beaten Isadora at her own game. My reputation as a sorcerer, as the rightful heir to all that Aerynn had built, had been made tonight. I was euphoric and I didn’t try to hide that from the Fae leader.
“There are many ways to win, Chloe,” Isadora said as she began to fade. “Remember that after I’m gone.”
I laughed out loud. She was finished here. I didn’t need any of her lofty pronouncements meant to strike terror in my half-human heart. I had evolved past that. I was a leader now.
I heard the choking sound of sobs from Karen and looked at her with confusion. We were barreling toward an unexpectedly happy ending. Isadora was about to disappear, Sugar Maple hadn’t been pulled beyond the mist, Steffie would be free, and we were all still standing.
I followed Karen’s gaze and saw Steffie still imprisoned, still terrified, still alone.
I had misplayed my hand, trusted someone who was inherently untrustworthy. Only the rankest novice, the most self-obsessed fool of a sorcerer-in-training, would ever have made a mistake like this, and now Steffie’s spirit would pay the price.
“You lied,” Karen said to Isadora, her voice filled with inexpressible pain. “You said you would release my daughter but you lied.”
“A small oversight,” Isadora said with a cold smile. She was little more than a shadow now. “It could have happened to anyone.”
Karen gave her a pitying look. “I can’t believe Gunnar is your son. He’s good and kind and decent.”
Stop while you’re still ahead, Karen. This isn’t going to end well.
Isadora was little more than an afterglow, but she had one final trick up her sleeve. A high-pitched wail sounded in the distance. We glanced around but saw nothing. It sounded again and I found myself wishing there were some place to hide. It was the sound of evil unleashed.
The sound grew closer, then suddenly the sky lit up and fire-breathing winged creatures with bloodred eyes and claws like grappling hooks appeare
d over the horizon. Their hide was plated like the hide of a rhino, and it glistened iridescent blue in the moonlight. Still screaming, they swooped in on Steffie, nudging her with their flat and fiery snouts, tearing at her white dress with their claws, tossing her around like a soccer ball while she screamed for her mother.
With a guttural cry, Luke launched himself in Steffie’s direction but his injured ribs brought him to his knees.
Karen ducked around him and took off full speed toward her daughter. Her fate and her daughter’s were inextricably linked and always had been. She was where she was meant to be. This was her moment.
Protect them, Aerynn, I beseeched my ancestor. See them to safety in the name of all mothers and daughters.
Steffie’s spirit was falling fast. Karen gathered speed, and just when she was about to hurl herself into space in an attempt to somehow save her child from eternal agony, a jagged bolt of lightning pierced the sky and headed straight for her.
She was gone, vaporized before the image reached our retinas. Only Steffie, eternally tortured, remained. Falling and falling—
“Look!” Luke’s voice was hoarse with emotion as he pointed toward the spot where Karen had been struck.
A shadowy human form appeared, lingered for a moment, then rose into the spring night, moving slowly toward Steffie.
“It’s Karen,” I said. “Her spirit is—” I couldn’t speak over the huge lump in my throat.
Steffie stopped her endless tumble into darkness. “Mommy?” she whispered as a joyous smile lit up her face. That one word held everything that was good about the world, everything that we could ever hope to be.
Luke and I clasped hands, holding tightly to each other, as Karen opened her arms and Steffie ran into her embrace. The familiar silver and gold fireworks melted into the night. I would have given almost anything to share a moment like that with my own mother, but that wasn’t my destiny. Helping Karen and Steffie find each other again ran a pretty close second.
Steffie met Luke’s eyes over her mother’s shoulder and she smiled at him, the smile of a little girl whose world was exactly the way it should be. The guilt and sorrow he had carried around for so long melted away like the spring thaw.
I pressed my face against his warm, strong shoulder and started to cry.
You always were a sucker for a happy ending.
“Gunnar?”
“What?” Luke asked.
He can’t hear me. Only you can.
“You did this, didn’t you? You brought them together.”
“Who are you talking to?” Luke asked.
We’re confusing him. He’s still only human, Chloe. Be kind.
“Why did you do it?” I asked Gunnar.
Forever is a long time, Hobbs. Those two deserved better than they got.
“Things are going to be great now. You’ll see. Sugar Maple’s problems are a thing of the past. Maybe you could—”
He was there for an instant. Or at least I thought he was. Maybe it was only that I missed my old friend so much that I conjured him up, but it was so wonderful to see his face again that—
“Gunnar?” Luke said. “What the hell?”
“You saw him too?”
“Over there,” he said, pointing toward Steffie and Karen. “He’s with Karen and Steffie.”
I caught a glimpse of them as mist rose up from the pool at the base of the waterfall, rising higher and higher until it enveloped all three of them in a thick cloud, then evaporated, leaving behind nothing but the faint shimmer of Gunnar’s silvery-blue glitterprint.
“Don’t worry,” I said to Luke through happy tears. “They’re going to be all right.”
32
LUKE
“It looks like nothing happened,” Chloe said as we gazed out at the waterfall by moonlight. “Everything is just the way it was before.”
The portal to beyond the mist was gone. Isadora was finally banished for good. Karen had found peace at last with our daughter, and unless I missed my guess, Gunnar would be watching over them the same way he watched over Chloe. The Falls, the pool of water beneath it, the trees surrounding it, they all looked the same as they had before.
But I knew that was another illusion because nothing would ever be the same again.
Including Chloe and me.
She had claimed her place in the world tonight, and now I had to do the same.
I sucked in as much air as the cracked ribs would allow and swung for the stands.
“A couple nights ago you asked me a question.”
Next to me, she went very still. “About staying on as chief.”
“And I didn’t answer you.”
“I remember.”
“I want to answer you now.”
She let go of my hand and wrapped her arms around her chest. “I think I know the answer.”
“I don’t think you do.”
She turned slightly and met my eyes. “The last couple of days have pretty much been hell.”
“No argument here.”
“So don’t say it. Tomorrow you can tell me but not tonight.”
“My answer won’t change.”
“I know,” she whispered. “Just give us tonight, Luke.”
“I’m staying.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I’m staying.”
Her beautiful golden eyes widened in surprise. “Are you crazy? After everything that happened?”
“You’re here,” I said. “That’s all I need to know.”
“Your family,” she said as a loopy smile lit up her face. “Boston. Your friends. Our life will be here, Luke. This is my destiny.”
“Trying to change my mind?”
“Trying to make sure you understand what you’re saying.”
“I understood it the first time you turned me into a Ken Doll.” I tried to pull her into my arms, but the broken ribs had other ideas. We settled for linking hands. “We’ll have a lifetime to figure it out.”
Sometimes the future is so clear, so obvious, that you wonder why it took you so long to see what had been in front of your face all along. I belonged here. Maybe not in the same way Chloe and the rest of the villagers did, but this was where I was meant to be. One day they’ll understand. I’ll still be here when they do.
There were no fireworks overhead. I didn’t get down on one knee and offer up a sparkling diamond. We were both battered, bruised, broken in ways big and small, muddy and exhausted, but none of it mattered. This was where we had been headed since I first saw her through the window of the old church and fell in love with a knitter who just happened to be a sorceress-in-training.
Sometimes even a cop had to quit asking why and just roll with it. All the logic in the world, all the reasons why this could never work, none of it mattered. Logic didn’t stand a chance against that feeling deep inside your heart every time you thought of her.
When that happily-ever-after ending comes knocking at your door, you answer. It was that simple.
Someday your grandkids will thank you for it.
EPILOGUE
CHLOE
Did you ever have the feeling you were exactly where you were meant to be? I’d lost that feeling for a while, but now it was back and the future seemed ours for the taking.
I’d knitted my boyfriend a sweater and we’d lived to love another day. If that wasn’t magick, I didn’t know what was.
“I think I can repair the damage to your sweater,” I said as we slowly followed the path away from the waterfall.
“Or you could knit me another one.”
“There’s an idea,” I said. I’d knit him a thousand sweaters, each with a strand of my hair knitted in if it meant we’d be together forever.
I didn’t have the energy left to transport us back to town and Luke didn’t have the strength to withstand it. I worked a little magick along his rib cage to dull the pain but I wasn’t a healer. We would need Lilith for that and maybe one of Janice’s tisanes to help him slee
p.
There would be problems ahead. We were still a divided town. But at least now we would have the luxury of time to work out our differences. Despite all that had happened these last few days, I felt happier and more hopeful about the future than I ever had before.
Isadora knew me well. She knew where I was weakest. She understood in her own way the loneliness I’d carried with me all my life.
She had found the best way to break me but she hadn’t counted on love.
She hadn’t counted on Luke.
And I guess up until tonight, neither had I.
But he was still here, still standing next to me, still willing to stand up to whatever forces were unleashed against us.
“We’ll get through this,” he said and I nodded my head, unable to speak over the rush of love inside my chest. “You’ll win the town back to your side. You’re not alone anymore.”
He reached for my hand across the darkness, and I held on tight as we stepped into the clearing near the cemetery.
“I can’t wait to get home,” I said, looking over my shoulder at Luke. “We’ll get you cleaned up. I’ll make us a big breakfast and then—”
He stopped and the expression in his eyes almost made my knees buckle.
“You’re hurt,” I said, my heart pounding. “Don’t go all guy on me and start pretending everything’s okay. Sit down on that bench over there and—”
“Chloe.” It was there in his voice, his eyes, the way he reached for my hand across the darkness and I knew before I turned around that Isadora had the last laugh after all.
Sugar Maple was gone.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
There are many reasons why I wish I could talk to my mother one more time. Every day I find myself wishing I could pick up the phone and share some silly piece of gossip or get her take on what’s happening in this fractured world of ours. Lately, however, I’ve been wishing I could sit down with her and talk about The Argyle Sock.
Laced with Magic Page 23
