“Sure.”
“Were you afraid when you found out you were pregnant with Sami? I mean ... she’s unbelievably powerful. You had to be fearful somebody would find out what she could do.”
“I think part of me was afraid,” she admitted. “I’m not perfect by any stretch, but I was good at protecting her. We sent messages early, harsh messages. When it comes time for you and Kade to procreate, you’ll do the same.”
My cheeks colored in embarrassment. “I think that’s a while off.”
“I wasn’t trying to get pregnant with Sami. In fact, I kept getting sick during the run-up to the wedding and we thought somebody was poisoning me. We were wrong. Turns out I had a hitchhiker, and she tapped into some magic from the womb.”
“Really? What sort of magic?”
“Memories. When Aric and I were sleeping, defenses down, she kind of joined our minds for lack of a better word. She focused us on things from our past, things she wanted to see. Once we figured out we could do it without her guidance, we made a game of it. Then, when she was a kid, we took her on adventures in her dreams. We took her to castles and on quests for pirate treasure.”
I was both tickled and amazed. “I wonder if Kade can do that.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. I think you’ll be able to help him if he manages to tap into it. You have powerful mind magic. You’ve seen a lot of things in this world. Your kids will be able to see it with you.”
My cheeks burned hotter. “We’re not having kids anytime soon.” I was adamant on that.
“Maybe not, but you two are built to last, just like Aric and me. He understands you. You understand him. You’re linked here.” She tapped her finger to the spot above my heart. “Some bonds can never be severed. You have that bond with Kade.”
I smiled. Somehow, she knew exactly what I needed to hear. “I still think he has a little crush on you.”
“Crushes are not love. Also, it’s not a crush. It’s recognition of family, in a way. He and I stem from the same magic. His heart will always belong to you.”
“I recognize that,” I admitted. “I just ... I guess I wish I could teach him the way you can.”
“You can’t always have everything in life.”
“I am curious what sort of children we’ll have. You understood what sort of magic Sami would end up with so that put you ahead of the game.”
“Yes and no,” Zoe hedged. “Sami’s wolf half was always going to be the wild card. She might be able to heal people and set the world on fire when she feels like it, but she also turns into the cutest little wolf you’ve ever seen and runs with her father under the full moon. She’s more than one thing. Any child you have with Kade will be the same.”
“Will you continue working with Kade while you’re here?”
“As much as I can. I maintain that he’ll have to figure some of this stuff out himself, though. It’s simply the way it works. You don’t believe you can do it until you have no choice but to do it.”
“Like Sami healing you.”
She nodded. “Things could’ve ended very differently that day. My family could be someone else’s family.”
I shook my head. “Aric wouldn’t have moved on.”
“I might not have wanted him to move on out of selfishness, but it would’ve been what was best for them. Wallowing in endless grief would’ve ruined them both. They needed room for the love, too. Luckily, that wasn’t an issue.”
She’d given me a lot to think about. “I guess I should get back to work. Thanks for everything.”
She winked, clearly enjoying herself. “Don’t mention it.”
ZOE DECIDED TO SPEND SOME TIME watching me work. She was dressed in my clothes, so we billed her as my assistant and worked our way through the line. It was nearly time for the big show when I checked the clock.
“This will be the last one for today,” I said to her. “Then we’ll take Sami to the big show so she can watch.”
“I think she’d rather participate,” Zoe said. “Luke suggested she shift and play along with them, but we vetoed that ... about three times now.”
I frowned. “Luke really shouldn’t push that.”
“He’s like a big kid himself. Sami has to learn that she can’t always have what she wants.”
Wrapping my head around the whims of a teenager was difficult. That didn’t look to be easing because the last group coming in consisted of five teenagers. “Hello.” I beamed at them. It wasn’t unusual to get a group of them. In all honesty, when they grouped together it was simpler to tell them they were all going to be fabulously happy, healthy and wealthy. “Have a seat.”
The girls settled. They were excited, whispering to one another. One of them, a brunette with a pretty smile and long hair, took the lead and sat first.
“We want a reading,” she said.
“Sure.” I started shuffling the cards but then switched course and grabbed my crystal ball from the shelf. “Let’s do it this way because there are so many of you. The cards will get confused trying to tell multiple fortunes.”
The girl shrugged. “Whatever you think is best.” She watched me get settled. “You’re the real deal?”
“I am.”
“Okay.” She dug in her pocket for some cash and threw it my way. “We have a plan,” she started. “We want to have our own reality show. Like ... they have Real Housewives ... and Southern Charm. We want to do something like that.”
I was hardly surprised. Thanks to the Kardashians and their ilk, young girls the world over had decided that work was the last thing they wanted to do. Fame and easy riches were much more to their liking. “What kind of show do you want to do?” I asked, risking a quick glance at Zoe. She didn’t look any happier about the conversation than I felt.
“Well, we don’t want to get famous for a sex tape,” the girl explained. “That’s really gross and stuff.”
“Definitely,” one of the blondes behind her agreed, bobbing her head.
“I agree that a sex tape really isn’t the way to go,” I said.
“Especially since her own mother released the tape, which is basically like pimping her out.” The leader made a tsking sound as she shook her head. “It’s all kinds of gross.”
“Totally,” one of the other girls echoed.
I tilted my head and opened my mind so I could wow the girls with a few specifics. “So, we have Charlotte, Violet, Chloe, Adeline and Grace,” I said.
Charlotte, who was in charge, looked flabbergasted. “How can you know that?”
I inclined my head toward the crystal ball. “It’s my job to know that.”
Zoe’s lips quirked but she remained silent.
“She’s a witch,” Adeline whispered to the others. “Look at the way she’s dressed.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “She’s not a witch. She’s a seer.” She jabbed her finger toward the sign on the tent flap. “It says right on the entrance that she’s a seer.”
“But seers are fake,” Grace argued. “They’re not real.”
“This one is real.” Charlotte folded her hands and sat ramrod straight, displaying the sort of posture beauty pageant contestants are trained to utilize.
“I am real,” I said. “Tell me about the sort of reality show you want to do.”
“Don’t you know?” Violet challenged. She was the most untrusting of the group, convinced that I was some sort of scammer who wanted to take their money. “Isn’t it your job to know?”
“It’s my job to look into your future and see if you’re going to get what you want,” I countered. “If you don’t want to tell me, it’s okay. I’ll just go in blind.”
“No, you don’t have to go in blind,” Charlotte countered hurriedly, pinning Violet with a dark look. “Just ignore her. She’s PMS-ing and pretty much intolerable.”
“Yes, I’m the problem here,” Violet drawled.
Despite the girl’s attitude, I gravitated toward her. She was a realist compared to her friends. She
had plans for college even though she was going along with their plan for reality show stardom on the surface. Heck, she didn’t even like her friends. She hung around them because they were popular and it was expected. She longed for the days she could go to college and get away from them. Something told me she was the one who would make something of herself.
“We want to do a real estate reality show, but in the South,” Charlotte volunteered. “We’re talking old plantations and mega-mansions. We think it will be a big hit.”
I nodded in understanding. “Okay, well, let’s take a look.” I held my hand over the crystal ball, watching as it filled with smoke.
“Wow,” Grace intoned. “Did you see that?”
“It’s probably some trick or a rigged crystal ball,” Violet shot back.
I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. Her determination not to be bamboozled would benefit her later in life. “Okay, let’s see ... .” I started tracking the faces in the ball, following thread after thread.
“Several things stand out,” I said. “The first is that Violet is going to make an absolutely fabulous corporate attorney. She’s a whiz with numbers and understands business. So, good choice there.” I smiled at the girl.
Rather than return the smile, Violet’s eyes went wide. “How did you ... ?” She caught herself before she could finish the sentence. “That’s not true. I want to be on the reality show.”
I ignored her and moved on. “I don’t think your reality show dreams are going to come to fruition.” Why I felt the need to ratchet back their excitement was beyond me. “I don’t see a reality show here.”
“Then you’re not looking hard enough.” Charlotte’s voice turned cold. “Look again.”
“Well, now, hold up,” Violet instructed. She now seemed to be intrigued by the game. “Let’s hear what she has to say. If you don’t see a reality show in Charlotte’s future, what do you see?”
That was a good question. Whenever I tried to follow the threads of Charlotte’s life they faded almost instantly. That wasn’t a good sign. Something niggled at the back of my brain.
“Charlotte, give me your hand.” I pushed the ball away and grabbed her left hand, not waiting for her to respond. The second I did, a series of images pushed their way into my brain, each one more horrible than the previous.
I saw screaming ... and crying ... and blood. I heard water. I saw the robes. I felt the burning pain and almost drowned in the horror.
I was practically breathless when I pulled away from her. Zoe, perhaps reading the horror on my expression, moved next to me. “What is it?” she asked, concern lining her features.
“Did you see something bad?” Charlotte asked, fear in her eyes.
What could I tell her? “I think you should pick another line of work,” I said hollowly. I handed them the money they’d paid. “Reality television isn’t in your future. I’m sorry that’s not what you want to hear ... but it’s not going to happen.”
Charlotte snatched back the money, furious. “I was wrong. She’s a total fraud.” She got to her feet. “Let’s get out of here.”
“But she knew our names,” Grace insisted.
“She probably heard us outside the tent. Let’s go.”
The girls filed out of the tent, Violet pausing. Her eyes were trained on me. She looked as if she wanted to ask a question, but after several seconds of hesitation she left my tent.
They were barely gone before I was on my feet. “We have to follow them,” I insisted. “The cult is going to take Charlotte and I think it’s going to happen tonight.”
Zoe was already moving. “She looks their type. We can’t let her out of our sight.”
My heart pounded as I followed Violet, but I was glad for the mage’s presence. If we didn’t act now, something horrible was going to happen.
19
Nineteen
Zoe led the way in following the teens. I followed closely, trying to text Kade. Autocorrect garbled my message. I was trying to type it a second time when he called.
“You’d better not be in trouble,” he growled. “I don’t ever want to get a text message when you’re in trouble.”
“I’m not in trouble,” I replied. “I’m chasing some teenagers who are. Well, one teenager to be exact. They came in for a reading. The one girl is going to be taken.”
Kade was quiet, as if processing, and then I could practically hear things snapping into place for him. “Okay, where are you right now?”
“With Zoe. She was with me when I got the vision. We’re following the girls.”
“Tell me where you are.”
“The main aisle. They’re heading toward the big tent.”
“Which means they’re going to the show.” Kade was calm. “I’m there with Luke. We’ll watch for you. Don’t approach them right away. I don’t think telling them that a cult is coming for them is the way to keep people from panicking.”
“They’re coming for just one girl. I didn’t see anything bad for the others. You’ll know which one when you see them. She fits the pattern.”
Kade was brisk. “I’ll be waiting for you. Just ... don’t lose her.”
“I won’t.” I was breathless when we reached the entryway of the tent. “They’re heading for the main opening now.”
“I’ll meet you inside, baby. It’s okay.”
He was a calming presence under normal circumstances, but there was nothing that could throttle me back today. Danger was close. I could feel it. Charlotte would die — and in horrible fashion — if we didn’t somehow gain control of the situation.
Kade stood at the other side of the main entrance. He looked concerned but he had a soft smile for me. “They’re right over there,” he said to my unasked question, tilting his head. “They’re pretty close to the front. That’ll make it easy to keep an eye on them.”
I nodded in agreement, grim. “We have to alert the others.”
“I’ve already told Luke. He’s serving as ringmaster today. He’ll have a unique vantage point. He promised to tell Nellie, Dolph and Seth.”
That was good. “We should probably call Raven here. She’s good in a fight.”
Kade shook his head. “We need people outside. We can’t collapse everybody on the same location. That opens us up to attack from other directions. Raven, Naida and Nixie are keeping watch out there.”
I wanted to argue, but he had a point. “They wouldn’t dare attack here,” I said, more to myself than anybody else.
“They might,” Zoe countered. “They don’t seem to care how much of a spectacle they make of themselves. They’re running around Savannah in ceremonial robes, for crying out loud.”
She wasn’t wrong. “I think whatever happens to Charlotte will happen soon, like tonight.” I thought back to the vision. “The other girls had many threads to follow, long futures in front of them. Charlotte did not. She had one thread and it was short.”
“We won’t let them take her.” Zoe was firm. “They absolutely can’t have her. We’ll make sure of it.”
She sounded so certain of herself that I put my mind at ease, if only slightly. “Right. We’ll make sure of it.”
“We will,” she promised as she scanned the crowd. “Where are Aric and Sami?”
“Aric is in the corner over there.” Kade pointed to a spot set apart from everybody else. “Sami is in the back.”
Zoe made a face. “I thought she wanted to see the show.”
“She wants to be part of the show,” Kade corrected.
Zoe’s face colored with fury. “She is not shifting and participating.”
“Not shifting,” Kade said. “But Aric agreed to let her participate.” He now looked uncomfortable. “He probably didn’t think you would have a problem with it.”
“A problem with what?” Zoe demanded. “Exactly what is she doing?”
As if on cue, the booming music commenced to play and the crowd broke into thunderous applause. Luke, in his favorite
topcoat and hat, stood in the center ring. He beamed at the crowd, gestured wildly, and then launched into his spiel.
“He really does love the limelight,” Kade said as Luke started telling jokes. “He’s happiest when he’s the ringmaster.”
“Yes, he’s a delight,” I agreed, watching as Charlotte whispered to her friends. She seemed to have gotten over her failed reading relatively quickly. “Look at her. She doesn’t have a care in the world. She thinks she’ll live forever.”
“It’s the age,” Zoe replied. “Nobody her age can see their own mortality. When I was first at college, I saw some horrible things. Never once did I think I was in danger of dying. It was always somebody else who was in danger.”
“It’s still frustrating,” I muttered, frowning when Luke called for a strongman. Dolph didn’t usually enter the act so early. I watched in surprise as Dolph strode from the back, a woman in a sparkly costume stretched over his head. He was using her as an extra-large dumbbell, a gag he usually reserved for the clowns.
“Who is that?” I asked without thinking. “Did we hire someone and nobody told me?”
“Um ... it’s a volunteer,” Kade hedged.
That’s when realization hit me. “Sami.”
Zoe looked away from Charlotte and the others to focus on her daughter. The muscle working in her jaw made me think she was going to pitch a fit and yank Sami from the ring. Instead, she cracked a smile when Dolph began using Sami to perform curls. Sami was laughing so hard you could hear her in every corner of the tent.
“Where did the outfit come from?” Zoe asked.
“We have trunks upon trunks of outfits,” I replied. “I don’t recognize that one, but it’s likely Luke let her pick through the costumes.”
“You’re not angry?” Kade asked Zoe. “I swear Aric said it was okay.”
“How could I be angry when she’s so happy?”
Nellie picked that moment to join the show. He pretended to yell at Dolph for stealing his sidekick. The crowd laughed, and I forced myself to relax. Nothing was going to happen inside this tent. We had time to figure something out.
Mystic Caravan 11 - Freaky Mage Page 18
