by Amy Boyles
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
When Axel looked at me, the turbulent ocean of his eyes nearly drew me into a crashing wave. “I mean Rufus wants me to turn into the werewolf. His plan all along has been to unleash the beast on Magnolia Cove.”
I closed my eyes. “Oh no… What can we do?”
“What choice do we have?” Axel said. “At some point we’ll have to release the werewolf.”
EIGHTEEN
“The hat won’t work,” Axel said to Sylvia.
She frowned. “I assume this isn’t user error.”
He shook his head. “No. It’s another counterspell Rufus cast on Pepper’s curse.”
Sylvia ran a finger over the rim of the ancient fedora. “That Rufus, always ready to make trouble.”
“More like always ready to outsmart everyone,” I said.
Sylvia gave me a side-eye. “There you are correct.”
“The hat did its job,” Axel said. “But if I break the spell with it, I’m placing Pepper’s life in danger.”
“Hmm,” she mused. “Not a good option. Your best chance is to find that labradorite. Barnaby has a lot of experience with it and shifters. He might be able to help if you turn. The stone has enough power that it might be able to force a shift back to your human form. Mayor Battle could facilitate it.” Sylvia stared at the hat for a long time before her lashes fluttered and she gazed on me. “What I’m about to do has never been done before.”
She took the hat and handed it to me. “If you need it, you may use it. I trust that it won’t be Axel who needs this hat, but you, as you’re the one who’s affected by Rufus’s spell. Don the hat wisely and amplify your power however you need to.”
I smiled weakly. “It’s an honor to have such an object.”
“It’s not forever,” she said quickly. “Only a loan.”
“I understand.”
With that we left Charming Conical Caps. Warmth from Axel’s hand spread up my back.
“Sylvia likes you.”
I shrugged. “It’s just a hat.”
He shook his head. “Not just a hat. A powerful talisman.”
I held the hatbox in my hands. My fingers trembled as the fedora pulsed with power inside.
I grinned widely. “Well, let’s just hope I don’t screw it up.”
“We need to chain Axel tonight, under the moon,” I said to Betty.
Once Axel and I had left Sylvia’s, we headed over to Familiar Place to chat with Betty over glasses of sweet tea that we’d picked up at Spellin’ Skillet.
I slurped from the Styrofoam. “It has to be tonight.”
She shook her cup until the ice clinked inside. “Why?”
“My headaches are getting worse.”
Axel nodded. “I don’t want Pepper to be in any more danger than she already is.”
Betty sat the cup down. “I promised Barnaby and Sylvia I would help them construct the new spell to keep Rufus out.”
“I don’t need you there. I can chain Axel myself, but I wanted to make sure you knew and approved.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “You need a third person. What if something goes wrong?”
To be honest I didn’t want a third person there, y’all. The ritual was private, personal. I only wanted it to be me and Axel.
“And what about changing back into you?” Betty said to him.
Axel raked his fingers through his hair. “I’ll let that take care of itself.”
A wave of panic rushed through me. “Axel, she’s right. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that before, but we don’t know when you’ll shift. What if you don’t?”
Betty adjusted her wig. “She’s right. What if you don’t?”
Axel sank onto a stool and stretched his legs in front of him. “What if I do? What if the changing spell only lasts five minutes and then it’s over?”
“Do you really think Rufus would do that?” Betty said. “Ha! You’re more of a sucker than I thought. There’s no way in all of creation that Rufus would create a spell specifically for you that would last only a short time.”
He slapped his thigh. “What am I supposed to do? Pepper’s headaches are getting worse. I’m sure Rufus anticipated that. He knows we have to free her. If she’s allowed to use her power with him sucking it away, there’s no telling what he’ll do. If I don’t do something, she will be hurt. I have choices, options. Pepper doesn’t.”
“And the stone?” Betty said.
“Vanished. I don’t know where to find it and no one we’ve asked has been any help.”
Betty hummed to herself. She clasped her hands together and rocked up on her toes and back on her heels. “I think this might be an irresponsible choice.”
“It’s my choice,” Axel said, a low growl emanating from his throat.
“I wasn’t finished, young whippersnapper.”
“Go on.”
“You’re caught because a rock and a wall of concrete. I understand, but you’re being foolish if you think the spell Rufus cast to change you will only last five minutes. It won’t. If Rufus has anything to say about it, you’ll be stuck as a werewolf for a long, long time.”
Axel folded his arms. “Not if we find the labradorite. That stone has a lot of power. It could be used on me.”
“You’ve said yourself it’s gone missing. I don’t like it. It stinks of foul play. I think you’d be better off tracking down that stone instead of giving in to what Rufus wants.”
I rubbed my temples. “He’s smarter than I realized. To have set all this up.”
Betty nodded. “The chaos Rufus brings is criminal. He won’t get away with it or my name isn’t Betty Craple.”
Her tenacity made me smile through the pain of my aching head. “But we’re trapped. We need the labradorite, but if Samuel discovers we’ve found it, he’ll steal it. What are we supposed to do?”
“I’ll reach out to a few friends on the city council, ask if they have any ideas of where to look for it.” She glanced at me. “Meanwhile, I suggest you get some rest. It’ll ease the headaches.”
I glanced around the store. “You sure you don’t want me to stay? Help you out?”
She shook her head. “No, no. I’ll keep this place going. Don’t you worry about that.”
Axel dropped me off at the house. “Do you want me to come in?”
I shook my head. “No. I’ll be fine. I’ll get some rest.” I pressed my forehead to the glass. “So everything hinges on the labradorite.”
He drummed his fingers on the wheel. “It doesn’t have to.”
I glanced over at him. “What do you mean?”
He grimaced. “I know it’s risky, but we’re nearly out of options. Your headaches will increase to the point that you won’t be able to bear them anymore and I’ll be stuck watching you suffer, knowing the whole time I can fix it. I can make you well.”
I rubbed his bicep. “What are you saying?”
Axel gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles whitened. “I’m saying there is a choice. It’s not a perfect one, but it’s there.”
“I don’t want you turning into a werewolf without a way of changing you back.”
He shook his head. “Don’t you see? We might not have a choice. This is what Rufus wants—to make us out of options, out of possibilities, which we are. I’m not putting a whole lot more faith in finding the labradorite. I’m not going to stop looking. After this, I’m heading over to the Vault to ask a contact there if they’ve seen a match to this key.”
“The Vault?”
“Where else could the box be? But like I said, I’m not giving this much more time. I’m not going to watch you suffer, especially when I have the means to help you.”
“Axel, I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for me.”
“What am I sacrificing? I won’t be a wolf forever. Somehow I’ll shift back. I’m not worried about it.” He smiled tenderly at me. “I’m worried about you, Pepper. You. Not me.”
I ru
bbed my forehead. “So what are you saying?”
He turned to me and stroked my cheek. “I’m saying that tonight, labradorite or not, I’m performing the ceremony.”
“Axel…”
His expression darkened. “I’ll become the werewolf.”
NINETEEN
I held my breath. My lungs burned. Finally I exhaled a deep shot of air. “I don’t want you to do that. I don’t want you to sacrifice anything for me.”
He stroked my cheek. “What’s life without a little sacrifice?”
“A nice long one.”
He chuckled. “It’s my choice. Don’t worry. Everything will work out. You’ll see.”
“But Axel—”
“This is my choice,” he growled. “You can argue with me as much as you want, but it’s not going to change my mind. Period. Now go inside and get some rest. We’ve got a big night ahead of us.”
I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes. I sniffed and then drew them away. “Okay. I’ll accept what you want, but I wish there was another way.”
“There still may be. Maybe I’ll find the box.”
I squeezed his arm. “I hope so.”
He kissed me long and deep before I headed into the house. As I marched up the steps, a thought knotted my brain.
Axel may want to save me, he may think changing is the only way to do it, but I won’t let him. No way. When he comes and wants to perform the ceremony, I’ll resist. That’s what I’ll do.
It was the best option. The thought of Axel shifting into a werewolf with no idea when he’d change back was awful. Truly horrible. It wasn’t something I could deal with, and to be fair, I didn’t think Axel deserved to be cursed because of me.
He deserved to live his life the way it was supposed to be, not chained up in the Cobweb Forest until such time as he changed back into his human form.
No. Allowing Axel to become the wolf wasn’t going to happen. I cared for him too much.
I hoped he understood when I explained it to him.
I entered the house. Sitting on the couch was Zach.
Cornelia’s Zach.
“Pepper, right?” he said.
I nodded. “How’re you doing?”
He rubbed his thighs as if trying to get the wrinkles out of his khakis. “Oh, I’m great. Cordelia’s in the kitchen whipping up some lunch. Would you care to join us?”
I couldn’t hide the grimace that lit my face. “Um. No thanks. I’ve got some very important work to do that requires my full attention, and I have to do it away from people.”
Zach looked at me as if I had two heads.
What can I say? When I get nervous, I talk a lot.
I went into the kitchen to find Cordelia. Mattie and Hugo were in there with her.
“Hey, y’all. What’s up?”
“Mama,” Hugo said.
“Hey, sugar,” Mattie said.
I picked up the dragon, placed him on my shoulders and immediately realized how much worse the added weight made my headache, so I set him back on the floor.
Cordelia was building a couple of sandwiches.
“You putting poison in his?” I said.
She smirked. “Don’t tempt me.”
I laughed. “What’s he doing here?” I whispered.
Cordelia slapped a lettuce rib on his sandwich. When I say rib, that’s all it was—not the leaf, just the spiny part. When Cordelia made a statement, she made it bold.
“He said he wanted some time to plead his case, talk things over more.”
“I thought he did that last night.”
She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “Should I drop one of these on his ham?” she said, eyeing a strand.
I brushed her hand away. “I think he’ll get the point by the lack of lettuce.”
She stared at the hair for another moment before releasing it. “I guess you’re right. Anyway, he said there was more he needed to say, and stupid me, I promised to listen.”
I hugged her. “It’s not as easy as you thought it would be.”
She knuckled away a couple of fresh tears. “I told myself that if I ever saw him again, it would be easy to walk away, but it hasn’t been. Not like I assumed. I mean, if I was Betty, I would’ve pulled out my shotgun and told him to run.” She laughed bitterly. “But I guess that’s not me after all.”
“Not all of us can be Betty Craple, and Lord, I thank heaven every day that that’s the truth of it.”
Cordelia laughed again, but this time it was genuine, coming from her gut. “Pepper, what do I do? I’m so confused right now.”
I took her hands. “Listen to your heart. If you feel like Zach’s being honest and if y’all marry you’ll really be joined, then I say go for it. But if you feel like all he’ll want once you marry is to run off without you to some cave, it’s not worth it. I don’t know him, so I can’t make this decision for you.”
She yanked a tissue from a box and blew her nose generously. “I don’t like complications. I like things to be smooth and easy—no ups, no downs.”
I hid a smirk. Cordelia always had a quick, sassy word and seemed so put together. This just proved that anyone could be thrown for a loop—especially when it came to matters of the heart.
“You’ll figure it out,” I said.
“Enough about me,” she said. “What’s going on with you and this whole stupid Rufus spell thing?”
A sharp jab of pain streaked through my head. I cringed. “Don’t you want to take Zach his plate?”
She waved an elegant hand. “Why rush? He made me wait three years. He can sit for a few.”
“In that case, not much is going on. Axel’s gone looking for a box that supposedly holds the labradorite in it, but even if he doesn’t find it, Axel wants to work the spell that will free me even though it will turn him into a werewolf—possibly for good.”
Cordelia’s jaw slackened. “You’re kidding.”
“Yes. No. Sort of—to be honest, we don’t know how long he’ll be stuck in the wolf form, and I don’t want to find out. I won’t have Axel risking himself for me.”
Cordelia placed a warm hand on my arm. “You’ve got with Axel what I always wanted from Zach—a man who will do anything for you. He’s willing to sacrifice himself for the woman he cares about. The only thing Zach was willing to do was call every few days and brag about what discovery he’d made. If once he’d shown me that if there was a mountain between us, he’d chainsaw that sucker down to get to me, things might’ve turned out differently—but he never did.”
She sat quietly for a moment.
“It looks like you may have your answer about him,” I said.
She nodded stiffly. “I think you’re right.” She threw her arms around me. “Cousins are the best—especially long-lost ones.”
I held her tightly. “Don’t forget—we’re the sweet tea witches.”
“That we are,” she murmured.
I stepped back and smiled. Cordelia would be okay. Zach would be out on his butt, but that’s what that guy deserved, in my opinion. Cherish what you have when you have it, not after it’s gone.
Tears misted Cordelia’s eyes. “Here, let me get you another tissue.” I swept my arm over the table and in the process knocked my purse.
Argus’s key spilled from the center, tumbling onto the wooden surface. “Crap. I forgot to give that back to Axel.”
“What is it?”
“It’s the key that goes to a box located somewhere. What it actually is, is a pain in my butt. If Argus had left some sort of clues as to where the stupid box was, life would be so much easier, but he didn’t.”
The back door opened and Amelia entered. “Whew, is it hot out there or what?”
“It’s hot,” I said. “That’s for sure.”
Amelia’s gaze settled on the sad-looking sandwich Cordelia had made. “Who’s that for?”
“Zach,” Cordelia said. “He’s in the living room. We’re supposed to be having lunch.”
A
melia’s eyes widened. “He’s here?”
“Yeah, he’s like a boil that just won’t go away, or come to a head.”
“Or like one that never should’ve existed in the first place,” Amelia added.
“Yep,” I said.
Amelia plopped into a chair at the table and picked up the key. She twirled it between her fingers. “So what’re you going to do about Zach?”
“Tell him to get lost,” Cordelia said. She glanced at me. “Pepper helped me figure it out. I’ve already wasted too much time on him. I don’t need to waste another second.” She rose, smoothed out her clothes and grabbed the sandwiches. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck,” I said.
With that, Cordelia disappeared through the swinging door and into the living room.
Amelia stared at the key for a few more seconds.
“I’d pay you a million dollars if you could tell me what it goes to,” I said, joking.
She stared at it. “There is something familiar about the design on it.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Really?”
“Yeah. There’s a box at the Vault that matches it.”
I grabbed Amelia by the shoulders. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No.”
“But how could Argus have a box there? I thought only town secrets and high-level objects were stored there.”
“They are, but sometimes if a witch or wizard served in the government in a high-ranking office, they’re allowed access to store limited objects.”
My eyes flared. “That’s right! Argus served during some werewolf war that he mentioned.”
“It makes sense. Most of it is pretty top-secret stuff, but some rooms are lower-level security. That’s where I saw this same scrollwork.”
I grabbed her shoulders. “Oh my gosh, Amelia. You’ve got to get me in to see it. That may be the box Axel’s been searching for.”
She dropped the key with a clank. “Pepper, I only just got this job. I can’t risk it. If I were found to have let you in, I’d be fired, possibly arrested.”
I got down on my knees. “Is there a way? Anything you can think of?”
