by Deanna Chase
Sy nodded to the waiting glass and refocused his attention on me. “A vacation,” he echoed. “Why do you need the coven for a vacation?”
“Would you accept that it’s none of your damn business?”
He nodded. “Sure. And you can drive yourself there.”
I shook my head. The things I did for my friends. “I need them to cast a spell on me.”
His eyes narrowed. “Are you helping Olivia or Holden?”
“Neither. Like I said it’s a vacation.”
He crossed his muscular arms. “Where are you going?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not exactly a vacation away from Chicago. It’s a vacation away from the Abyss. I want the human experience.”
His eyes narrowed; I blinked innocently.
“Look, asking a favor is embarrassing enough. If you’re going to be like this, I‘ll just ask Corbin.” Sy’s jaw tightened. Not that I had any idea where Corbin was, but Sy had a special hatred for the vampire who tried to seduce his cousin.
His shoulders dropped and he shook his head. “I’ll take you.”
“Don’t put yourself out or anything.”
He slid the bar towel over the counter. “I said I’d do it. Stay away from Corbin. He’s trouble.”
I shrugged. “Fine.” I waited a few moments, but Sy didn’t budge. “So…when are we doing this?”
“Now if you want.” He beckoned me to follow him to his apartment behind the bar. Once inside he slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me close. “Don’t get them involved in anything dangerous, Femi. They’ve been through enough,” he said quietly.
“I just need a spell.” I held his gaze for a moment and he nodded.
“Okay then. Next stop Enchantment.”
I smiled at the name of their store as I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, we were there—well, across the street from it anyway. The purple and gold awning stretched over the wide sidewalk. Flourishing planters with flowers and herbs lined the front of the store and filled two large glass windows. The sign above the awning read “Enchantment” in scrawling script with “Candles, Books, and Magic” written slightly smaller beneath it.
“They actually put magic on the sign.” I shook my head in disbelief. I would never understand humans. They didn’t believe in magic, so they had no rules to govern it. And yet, despite the disbelief, so many of them dabbled in it: psychics, tarot, crystals, anything with the smallest hint of otherworldliness.
Sy nodded, as if reading my mind. “They want to believe in all of us.”
“So why don’t they?” I asked.
“Because they’re ruled by fear.” Three girls piled out of the store, laughing, arms filled with bags. We watched them cross the street. “If magic is real and not just fun, then one more thing’s out of their control.”
I could understand that. Weren’t we all like that to a certain degree? My whole life was a study in other people’s fear. Without it, I wouldn’t have a job. “The Abyss isn’t much better.” And it wasn’t. We’d cut ourselves off from the human world because we were afraid of them and what they could do.
“Isn’t that the truth?” he said, holding the door open for me.
Leslie looked up and smiled at us, but didn’t wave. There were still a few humans roaming around the store, and we stood near the window and waited for them to finish.
“So do you have any easy spells we could cast on Halloween?” a girl asked, coming up to the counter.
Leslie reached down, then held up a piece of paper. “I do. Every spell on here is easy to do and everything you need is listed at the top of the page—and carried in the store. Halloween is a great time to cast, but make sure you stick with these spells. You don’t want to get yourself into trouble.”
The girl laughed dismissively and took the sheet, studying the top. “This is so cool,” she muttered to herself as she headed toward the candles to get the supplies she needed.
About ten minutes later, the door finally closed behind the last customer. “Sorry about that,” Leslie said, hugging both of us. “How have you guys been? It’s great to see you, Femi. Kat’s in the back if you want to talk to her, Sy.”
There was that crooked grin again. “I’ll pop back say hi.” He took long strides to the back of the store.
“He’s so great,” Leslie said. “So what brings you here? Are you looking for a bounty? Is there anything we can do to help?”
“No, I’m actually here for a different reason.”
“Are we out of lavender oil?” Jessica said, coming up from the back. The dark circles under her eyes and slow walk told the story. Olivia had been right. She was still suffering. She definitely wasn’t fully recovered from her brush with dark magic—if she ever would be. “Hi, Femi,” she said, pulling her heavy sweater around her tighter. “Are you here to take me in?” She raised one thin eyebrow, but didn’t smile.
Leslie blanched. “Will you stop saying stuff like that? No one is coming to get you.”
I tapped my fingers on the counter, as I looked her up and down. “Not today.” A ghost of a smile haunted Jessica’s face. “Actually, I need a spell cast on me that will allow humans to see me.”
“Why?” she asked.
Leslie had already pulled out a thick book and was thumbing through its pages for a spell.
“Olivia wants me to look into a young woman’s death. She seems to think it has something to do with the Abyss. But all of this is off the book. As far as anyone else is concerned, I’m on vacation.”
Jessica frowned, went behind the counter, and dragged out a laptop. “Do you know her name?”
I gave her the obituary Olivia had saved for me. “The only problem I have with doing this is no one I need to talk to will be able to see or hear me.”
Leslie shut the book. “I think we can help.” She squeezed past Jessica and went to a shelf filled with rocks. “Pick out one you like.”
I barely glanced over the merchandise, picking up the first one that caught my eye and handed it to her. She promptly gave it back to me.
“You need to look at this. Make sure it’s the one you like. You need to feel a connection with it.”
I took a deep breath and studied it. The bottom of the stone was dark, almost black and it lightened to a reddish-orange at the polished top. It looked a little like fire, but was cool in my palm. It had a nice weight—not so heavy it would be irritating, but also not so light that I wouldn’t notice if it was gone. As far as a connection though, I was fairly certain there wasn’t a single rock in the world that I had a “connection” with.
“Try other ones,” she said, nodding back at the wall.
I picked up a silky gold and back striped stone, but it was a little too light. Next, I tried a purple one that was entirely too girly. The charcoal gray metallic one was tempting, but something kept the little chunk of fire in my hand. Stone after stone was dismissed until I handed the original one back to Leslie. “This is the one.”
She smiled. “It’s a great choice. This is flame agate. It’s used for spiritual healing, but also eases transitions. It should work fine for your needs.”
She walked around the shop, collecting other things. When her arms were full, she yelled into the back room, “Hey, Kat. I need your help with a spell.”
A few moments later Katrina and Sy appeared, smiling and laughing.
“Hey, Femi, what’s up?” Katrina said. “What sort of spell are we doing?”
“I’m taking a human vacation and would like to actually be waited on in a restaurant,” I said. “I thought maybe you guys could help with that.”
“This spell will work,” Leslie said, showing her the book. “We can enchant this stone and hang it on a necklace. When she wants to be seen, she can wear it. When she doesn’t, all she has to do is take it off.”
Katrina looked at me. “Is that what you need?”
“That’d be great. How long will it last?”
Katrina bent over the spell book and L
eslie shrugged. “Forever, I guess. So long as you have the necklace it should work.”
“Just me?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I mean once you give us some of your hair.”
I reached up and pulled out about six hairs.
Leslie cheerfully dropped them in a bowl.
“Hey, guys, I think I found something,” Jessica said.
“Is it a different spell?” Katrina asked, craning her head toward the computer.
Jessica snapped the laptop closed, made eye contact with me, then glanced toward the back of the room. “I’m feeling tired,” she announced.
Katrina gave her a sympathetic look and patted her shoulder. “You should get some rest.”
She yawned. “You’re probably right. You guys don’t need me for anything, right?” She stood up, taking the laptop with her, and gave me a not so subtle look to follow.
Sy, of course, took in every movement, a slight smile twitching at his lips.
As the witches prepared to bless the stone, Sy nudged me. “Maybe you should check on Jessica.”
I kept my face neutral. “I’m sure she’s fine.”
His head tilted to the left as he watched them prepare the spell. “If she has something that might help with whatever you’re doing, you should talk to her.”
I punched him lightly as I went past. “You’re such a know it all.”
Jessica was lounging on a couch in the back of the store, a blanket over her legs and the computer on her lap.
“Didn’t think you were coming,” she said without looking up. “Have you heard of Old Hag syndrome?”
“Is that what happens to witches when they get old?”
Her head slowly turned in my direction, lips pressed into a thin line. “A simple ‘no’ would suffice.”
I sat in a chair and crossed my legs, bouncing my foot up and down. “What does it have to do with my case? Do you guys have anything to eat here?”
“Yeah, there’s probably something in the fridge.” She continued to scan the computer screen. “It’s actually sleep paralysis, but maybe there is something to the old legends.”
I struck gold in the refrigerator. In a container with Leslie’s name across the top were three saucy, cheesy enchiladas. Perfect.
When I sat back down, fork in hand, Jessica started talking. “Old Hag syndrome is basically when you wake up in the middle of the night, unable to move or talk, feeling like there’s a weight on your chest pinning you down and there’s something evil in the room with you.”
I took a large bite. “What sort of evil?”
“That’s just it. There actually isn’t anything. At least nothing we can see,” she said. “It’s just a feeling that something bad or sinister is present with you and you can’t escape.”
I nodded. “Is that how the girl died?”
“I don’t know.”
My fork paused midair. “Then how does this syndrome factor in?”
“Well, I saw on Amy Walters’ social media a couple weeks before she died that she had this experience. So I did a search and it turns out she’s not the only one in Chicago. There are two others reported in fairly quick succession on this website about Old Hag syndrome. Here, I’ll read Amy’s account to you. It was about three in the morning when something touched my hair and woke me up. I opened my eyes, but other than that I couldn’t move or even scream. Whatever it was pressed down on my chest until it was hard to breath, and I had this horrible feeling. It was like there was something really evil standing at the foot of my bed. I didn’t see anything at all, but I knew it wanted my soul so I said a prayer. That’s when it all ended. Do you think my house is haunted?” Jessica’s fingers clicked over the keys. “They all pretty much say the same thing. What in the Abyss can do something like this?”
“I can think of a couple off the top of my head,” I said, polishing off the enchiladas. “Vampires could possibly manage it, demons, maybe ghosts …witches too.”
She nodded. “When I was possessed, it was sort of like this. I knew what was happening. You know, what I was doing and saying, but I couldn’t stop it. I just had to sit there and watch.” She blinked a couple times and closed her laptop. “I’d like to help you.”
“I work alone.”
She pressed her lips together, eyes a little watery. “I’ve lost my magic. I’m pretty much useless here, but I can’t go back to my old life because of what I know and what I did. I dream about it every night, see it whenever I close my eyes. There’s no way to make things right. I can barely see Selene. I’m like a most-wanted criminal in the Abyss. And…” she shook her head. “I can’t even cast a stupid spell on a rock to help you. The girls are being really nice to me, but they’re also driving me insane. I don’t want people to be nice. I don’t deserve it. Please let me help.”
Though it was against my better judgment to take a powerless witch with me on any job, I agreed. She needed this. More specifically she needed a win and lucky for her, I never lost. “You have to do everything I say.”
The hints of a smile started. “I can do that.”
I bit the inside corner of my lip as I nodded. Olivia had been a terrible influence on me. “Pack a bag. We’re going to Chicago.”
Chapter 3
When Jessica and I went back to the front of the store, Katrina tossed me the rock, which was already attached to a chain.
“That should do it. Try it on.”
I turned the stone over in my fingers looking for a difference. It had the same coolness and weight, and its smooth, polished surface felt just the same. I clasped the chain around my neck. I expected a burst of light or, at the very least, a tingle, but nothing happened. “I don’t think it worked.”
The girls studied me seriously.
“Her eyes are different,” Katrina said. “Her pupils are round now instead of vertical. Definitely more human.”
Leslie nodded. “Skin too. Less shimmery.”
Katrina nodded and continued to study me. “Do you have any clothes that are less…” She ended with a wave of her hand in my general direction.
“What?” I asked, looking down. I wore thick, tight leather pants to protect my legs from anything that might bite or scratch. My boots had sterling silver spiked heels. If I had to, I could sever an artery with them. My sleeveless black leather crop top was also snug (loose clothes were too easy to grab), leaving enough skin uncovered that I didn’t overheat. If anything my outfit was practical.
“I think Kat means that if you want to blend in you should try to look more regular.”
“I thought that was what the necklace was for.” Humans were completely baffling. Their clothes did nothing to protect them. Katrina’s tight jeans featured skin exposing holes; not only was her movement impeded, she was vulnerable to knives, teeth and nails. And on top of that, she wore a white tank top with a lacy white shirt over it. She wasn’t going to hide from anyone in all that white. I gave Sy a questioning glance.
“You look the same to me.” He shrugged. “They’re the experts.”
Jessica sighed loudly. “It’s not that you aren’t dressed human. They’re saying you look slutty. And I’m pretty sure your top is a glorified bra.”
I nodded. That was an easy fix. “We’ll stop by my place before we start then. Is there anything else I need to know?”
The witches exchanged looks. “So long as you have the necklace on, everything should be good. Even if people think you’re strange, they won’t think you’re supernatural. Just let me know if you have any problems.” Leslie smiled. “You’ll do great.”
I thanked them and headed back to Sy with Jessica trailing behind, bag in hand.
“Did you need something,” he asked.
“I’m coming with you guys.”
He started shaking his head and opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. “She’s my human consultant.”
“Is that a good idea?” Leslie asked, rushing around the counter with genuine concern in her eyes. “You�
�ve been so…tired.” “Weak” was probably what she really meant, judging by the worry coming off of her.
“I’m going,” Jessica said, not looking back.
“I’m with Leslie on this,” Katrina said. “You need rest. Plus you’ll miss Halloween. We always celebrate together.”
“I’ve had plenty of rest and I don’t feel like doing the Halloween thing this year.” Jessica switched her bag to the other hand. “Let’s go.”
I nodded and Sy took her arm, leaving behind two very concerned witches. We reappeared just outside of the Office. Jessica dropped her bag to the ground and bent down, resting her hands on her knees. Transporting was hard on the equilibrium.
“Have a good vacation,” he said, eyeing Jessica as he pulled me over to the side. “Be careful, Femi, and keep her safe.”
Selene, Sy’s cousin and Queen of the fae, would have his head, my head, hell everyone’s head, if we let anything happen to her friend. In fact, she was probably the only reason Jessica was still here to help after everything that had happened.
“We’ll be fine. I think more than rest, she needs to feel useful again.”
He redirected his attention back to Jessica. “If you need help, call me. I’ll come day or night. But whatever you do, stay in the human world. That means you should also avoid the Office.”
I scrunched my nose. “I thought the Office was neutral ground.”
He nodded. “It is, but technically it’s still part of the Abyss. Why chance it?”
Jessica gave him a level look. “I understand the rules of my exile.”
We left Sy and headed for my car. I took my usual long strides past the people walking down the sidewalks. It only took a moment for the difference to be evident. Instead of silently slipping past most of them without getting so much as a second look, now everyone was staring at me. Jessica rushed to keep up with me, switching her bag back and forth between hands.
“Want me to take that?” I asked.
“I’ve got it,” she said, switching hands again, looking a little pale.
I slowed down so she didn’t have to run to stay with me.
