by D. N. Hoxa
So, yeah, maybe my cases hadn’t been dangerous per se, but that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t get new ones. Had he forgotten about the Hedge witches? That had started as a case, too.
“Listen, it’s just for a few weeks. She’s a kid. She has no idea what she’s talking about, and she just needs to see the life we lead, then move on,” Bender said.
He was sweating now. Maybe this meant more to him than I realized.
“So why don’t you take her on? Why can’t she be your apprentice?”
“Because she doesn’t want me, Wayne. She wants you.”
I’d be a big fat liar if I said that didn’t make my stomach fill with mad butterflies, flapping their pretty wings inside me. A fifteen-year-old girl wanted to work with me instead of with her uncle.
“I can’t do it, Bender. It’s too dangerous, not to mention nerve-racking. I have no idea how to even speak to a kid.” I’d been a teenager myself once. It hadn’t been pretty.
“Just think about it, okay? Please, Wayne. I don’t want to lose another niece.”
His words were hot blades right through my heart. Goddamn him. I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind for using such a low blow against me, when Amelia opened the back door and came out in the garden.
My whole body froze for a long second. The flower. The fucking flower.
Sweat beads popped out on my brows as I watched her approach with a smile on her face and a tray with three large glasses of iced coffee on it. I sat back down on the bench around the trunk of the cherry tree and looked down at my hands. This was going to be no fun.
“What the hell is this?” Amelia’s high-pitched voice made me jump. She’d seen it. She’d seen the broken flower on the ground.
I bit my lip, unable to even look up at her face. I was never going to hear the end of it. Weekend after weekend, she’d make my life miserable over this. But I was just going to have to accept it. The sooner I did that, the sooner the confrontation would be over.
With a deep breath, I looked up at her pale face. She looked worse than a freaking ghost. I opened my mouth, but the words refused to come out. My mind instinctively blocked them.
“I’m so sorry, Amelia. I tripped and almost fell, and my foot landed right on the flower,” Bender said.
Were my ears playing tricks on me?
“I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Just tell me how.”
Now, I couldn’t look away from my aunt. Her mouth was open, her cheeks flushed. Anger screamed in every line of her face as she looked at Bender. The poor guy moved his eyes down to his feet while every curse word ever invented hung in the air between them. Silence killed, more so than words.
“You landed right on my flower,” Amelia said, still frozen like a statue with the tray in hand.
Standing in the sun, all the ice in the glasses was already melting. Damn it. I’d been looking forward to that iced coffee.
“Right on my Ferinna, which took two years to fully grow.”
“Like I said, I’ll make it up to you in any way I can,” Bender said. To his credit, he managed himself quite well. His voice didn’t even break, though Amelia looked like a hungry dragon about to unleash her fury on him.
“Of course!” Amelia said. “Of course you will. You’ll make it up to me, just like that.” With the tray still in hand, she turned her back on us and walked towards the house again. “You sure will make it up to me, because this is exactly the kind of thing you simply make up for. Absolutely. Just make it up to me, why don’t you!” She continued to speak to herself.
When she finally walked inside and slammed the door shut with her foot, I could breathe easy.
“There goes my coffee.” I was waiting for it for two hours. Now, my aunt had probably poured them down the drain already.
“This is the last time I’ll do you any favors with her,” Bender said with a sigh.
“I do appreciate it. Honestly. Thank you very much. I would have fared much worse than that.” And the aftermath would have been downright ugly for me in the months to come. But Bender already knew that. It’s why he lied for me, even though I hadn’t accepted the “favor” he asked of me.
“Think about it, will you? It’s very important to me, Wayne. I’ll forever be in your debt,” he said, as if the heat from the sun wasn’t enough already.
“There’s nothing to think about, Bender. I can’t do it.”
“Sure you can. All you have to do is say yes.” I was going to tell him that I couldn’t say yes, but he beat me to it. “Just think about it, but don’t take too long. She’ll be gone by Wednesday.” With his hands in his pockets, Bender walked away from me.
Feeling even worse than after I broke that damn flower, I rubbed my face raw. My beads buzzed around my fingers, but I resisted the urge to play with them. Enough damage was already done. If I broke something else, Bender wasn’t going to be there to take the blame for me.
No, Bender would be in his new office, waiting to hear from me because he thought I was going to think about it. But I wasn’t. How could I? A fifteen-year-old girl with anger issues? She wouldn’t even talk to her own parents. It was a hopeless case.
Since Amelia wasn’t coming back out anytime soon, I slowly made my way inside the house where it was cooler. It looked like I was going back home without getting drunk that night, and I couldn’t say I was happy about it.
Two
“Where do you think you’re going?” Amelia called when she saw me in the hallway, about to walk out the door. I hadn’t found her anywhere on the ground floor so I figured she’d gone to take a shower to calm herself down. Sneaking out had seemed like the best option, but now that she’d caught me, I wasn’t really sure how to act. I’d lied before, plenty of times, but never to her.
“Home?” It was still early, but I could find a decent movie to watch or even train on my stirring skills. I had yet to learn a lot about magic.
“Your friend broke my flower, Winter. I need help fixing it.” Her tone was reproachful as if she couldn’t believe I was even thinking about leaving.
“It’s broken all the way. I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it now.”
Amelia’s cheeks turned bright scarlet. “I’m going to pull it out and salvage as much of its roots as I can, then replant it. You’re going to help me make it stick.” Her finger pointed right at my nose.
“It’s not my fault the plant is broken,” I said, only because that was what she’d have expected me to say had I really been innocent in this.
“Sure it is. He’s your friend.” She wouldn’t even speak Bender’s name anymore. “Come on now, before it’s too late.”
With my head down, I went right back to the garden and helped her. The sun made me feel like the top of my head was on fire. I couldn’t wait to get to the part where I’d actually have something to do besides watch her pull the plant out of the ground, then cut it to pieces, ever so slowly.
“Do you know the Davis girl?” I asked Amelia. Whether I liked it or not, Bender’s niece was still in my mind.
“Evelyn?” Amelia said. “Yes, of course.”
“Bender wants me to take her in, make her my apprentice,” I said with a flinch. I knew she’d be even more mad at him than before, but it wasn’t something I could hold in or it was going to make my head explode in that heat.
“Did you accept?”
What?
I looked at my aunt, but she pretended not to notice me staring as she worked on her plan. “Of course not.”
With a nod, Amelia continued to work in silence. For a second. “Have you considered that it might be good for you to have some company in Manhattan?”
I didn’t get it. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means this could be good for you, Winter. You’ve been on your own for too long, and since you won’t come to live and work here, maybe it would be a good idea to have someone with you in the city.”
“Yes, someone! Not a teenager.” I couldn’t
believe it. She was serious.
“Evelyn is a good girl,” Amelia whispered. “All I’m saying is that maybe it would be mutually beneficial if she came to help you.”
“How do you not get it? Don’t you know the kind of people I deal with?”
Amelia actually rolled her eyes. “Let’s be honest, Winter. You’re not going to get any serious cases anytime soon. Why not fill your time with something other than movies?”
My own aunt. Pissed off, I jumped to my feet. She could make the flower stick all by herself. “I’m leaving.”
“I wish you’d stay here for good,” she called after me. “Please think about it. It would be better for all of us.”
But it wouldn’t. Not for me. I wouldn’t know what the hell to do in Bloomsburg. I already felt like I didn’t belong in my own home. Being away from it would only make things worse.
For the millionth time I wondered what my life would have looked like if I’d decided to stay in the fairy realm with Julian Walker. To calm myself down, I pictured my life with him on the way back home. By the time I made it to my office, I wasn’t even angry anymore. I was just sad to be alone.
***
It was almost midnight by the time I decided that I’d rather put up with people’s stares and stupid jokes than be alone in my office. Geraldine Street had four bars, one of them the Spell Licked Liquor. Not the best, but it had cheap alcohol, so people tended to get drunk faster in there. People also passed out a lot in their seats in there before midnight. That’s why that bar was my first choice.
Just like I suspected, a lot of drunk witches, werewolves—even a couple vampires—were in there. The bartender, a witch named Hailey, recognized me as soon as I stopped by the counter full of drunk men and women, half of them with their foreheads against it, out cold.
“We’re full,” Hailey claimed before I even asked for anything, just like she’d done the last six times I’d been in there.
“Just get me some whiskey. I’ll find a spot.” I put a twenty-dollar bill on the counter. A look at it, and she decided she wanted the tip. So she poured me a glass of whiskey, took my money without even looking at me, and returned to her customers.
I scanned the room and there was not one table free in there—not that it was a big place, but there were twelve tables. Lucky for me, the guy occupying the one in the darkest corner of the room didn’t look like he’d mind sharing his. No, he wouldn’t even know it, because he was passed out. With my head down, I walked over to him and shook his shoulder, just to make sure. Yep. Definitely passed out. I pushed him as close to the wall as I could, then sat across from him and made myself comfortable. Maybe this was a good thing. A passed out werewolf was better than no company, I guessed.
The low music in the background blended perfectly with the slurred chatter and the drunken laughs and shouts of the paranormals behind me. Five minutes in and nobody had made any smart or funny comments about me yet. I considered that a good sign.
“Cheers, buddy,” I said to Passed Out Werewolf and raised my glass at his head. Needless to say he didn’t move, but I drank my whiskey anyway, feeling a lot more relaxed. Until…
“I came all the way from Bloomsburg, and you won’t even pick up the phone?”
I recognized Bender’s voice, and all that relaxation flew right out the window and into the dark of the night. Squeezing my eyes shut, I just held onto my glass and hoped I judged wrong. The screeching sound of a chair being dragged all the way to my table made me look up just as Bender sat down right in between me and Passed Out Werewolf.
“I have company,” I mumbled and drank some more.
Bender didn’t even bother to look at the werewolf, whose head was right in the middle of the table. “I called you,” he said instead.
“Left the phone at the office.” I hadn’t wanted any distractions.
“I’m glad I found you, then.”
“What are you doing here, Bender?” I had a feeling he wouldn’t tell me without making me ask.
“Just having a drink with you.” He grinned. “I’ll be right back.” When he went to the bar to get his drink, I was tempted to just run to the door and leave. I would have, except to get to the door, I’d have to walk right behind him. That would make this even more awkward, so I stayed put and waited.
Bender came back with a beer and another whiskey for me. Pretty sure Hailey had no trouble serving him.
“I thought I’d find you at Amelia’s, but she said you left early.”
No kidding.
“I had stuff to do.” He’d know that was a lie but it didn’t matter.
“I took the blame for you, didn’t I? Why are you mad?” he demanded.
“I’m not mad. I’m thankful.” That was the truth. “Really,” I added when he raised his brows in suspicion.
“So why the face?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s my face, Bender.”
“No, no, there’s something on your mind.”
“Nothing’s on my mind,” I insisted.
“All right, then!” He clinked his glass to mine and drank almost half the beer in one gulp. I analyzed his face. He didn’t look like he was kidding. “I’ll tell you what’s on my mind.”
As if he’d said words of a spell, my heart began to beat faster. “What is it?” Was it a case? Something I could help with?
“James and his daughter,” Bender said. I flinched involuntarily. Not a case. “And his wife, too.”
“Yeah, I’ve thought about that, too.” It was strange for a human to be able to remember a paranormal the way James’s daughter seemed to remember him. She had no trouble talking to him—or about him. She knew exactly who the vampire was.
“Do you think the ECU knows?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so.” The thought had crossed my mind, but knowing the ECU, they’d have gotten involved with James and his family already if they knew about them.
“Me, neither. What if others can do it, too?”
Surprised, I met Bender’s eyes. “You mean other humans?”
“Exactly,” he said, then drank the last of his beer.
“Impossible,” I said, but I didn’t sound very sure. I’d been impossible, too—until I happened.
“Hold that thought and drink up, Wayne. I’m getting you another one.” Bender stood up, as excited as a little kid, and I just didn’t get where he was getting all that energy all of a sudden.
I grinned. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”
“Of course,” he said, narrowing his brows like I’d insulted him by asking.
Laughing, I shook my head. “You’re not getting anything out of me, Bender.”
“Wanna bet?” he said, a mischievous smile plastered all over his face as he walked backwards to the counter and held my eyes until he made it there.
I turned back to the table and Passed Out Werewolf, and drank my first whiskey in one gulp. It burned my insides just like my magic did before using it. My mood had definitely brightened. And you know what? I was going to let Bender get me drunker than Passed Out Werewolf guy, and I was looking forward to tomorrow’s hangover.
Three
I’m never drinking again. Ever.
My head pounded and my stomach acted like I’d swallowed nails all night long. Just the thought of whiskey and then beer made me want to close my eyes and pass out until next year. My limbs were heavy and my bladder so full, my couch felt rock hard under me. I didn’t need to look to see that I’d made a mess out of my pillow. Something about getting drunk made me sleep with my mouth open. I imagined it wasn’t pretty, so when I finally made it to a sitting position and breathed deeply, I didn’t even look back.
Now, I just needed to get to the bathroom. Pee the heck out of my toilet, take the longest Monday shower in history, and I’d be as good as new.
Cursing myself, I held onto the wall on one side and my closet on the other, until I managed to open the bathroom door. It was hell trying to unbutton my jeans when my hands wou
ldn’t work properly. I was still drunk. Hell, even my beads seemed drunk. They just floated around my hand without aim or direction.
I expected a miracle from my shower, but even warm water couldn’t put a witch together after all the drinking I’d done the night before. If I’d stuck to whiskey, I would have probably felt a lot better, but some time during the night, Bender’s beers began to look really fucking delicious, so I switched. Now, I felt like I wanted to throw up, only there was nothing in my stomach left to come out. I’d emptied it all the night before. The memory sequences were cringeworthy, and I tried not to think of them as I washed my hair, slow as a turtle.
All dressed in fresh clothes, the world still didn’t look any better. Coffee, I thought. There’s nothing coffee can’t fix.
My small office was bathing in sunlight. That was how I knew it was before noon. That’s also how I knew that the headache wasn’t going to stop if I didn’t go back to my room and drink my coffee in the dark. To do that, I was going to have to make it first.
When the door to the office opened, I had just filled the kettle with water. Knowing it was Ms. Riley, who was probably there with either tea or coffee, I almost cried in joy. I left the kettle on the sink and dragged my feet to the other side of the office.
But Ms. Riley wasn’t there. In her place was Bender—and a young girl was standing right behind him. My jaw nearly touched the floor, and not only because the guy looked perfectly sober, like he hadn’t drunk twelve large beers—that I could remember—the night before.
“What the…”
“You’re up,” Bender said, grinning. “Good. I brought coffee.”
He waved a large Starbucks cup at my face. The asshole. He knew how desperate I’d be for that. Even though I didn’t want to cave in, I still took it. God, it smelled delicious. Just a sip of it and my eyes opened wider.
