by Lisa Olsen
“Mom?” It couldn’t be her… my luck wasn’t that bad, was it? My mother hadn’t set foot into my apartment in… I couldn’t remember the last time she’d come to visit. It was always Matty and I taking the long drive down to see her. “What are you doing here?” I asked, finally breaking free from my paralysis to scoot past the room full of staring witches before she got too far into the apartment.
“That’s a fine greeting. You’re going to make these people think you’re not happy to see me. Are you having a party?” She looked around with interest and the witches moved as one to block the view of the circles.
“Um… sort of. You know you really should have called, I could have come to pick you up at the airport.”
“I told your brother I was coming.” She tried to look past me, obviously more than a little interested in what all those people were doing there and I could tell the ‘party’ premise was wearing a little thin. No one had drinks in their hands, there wasn’t any music playing, and there was only one guy present. “Didn’t he tell you I was arriving today?”
I swore under my breath in every language I could think of, including a few nonsense words for good measure. The next time I saw Matt I was going to flay him alive. “Mama, Matty isn’t here…”
“You invited me to come up for the holiday, didn’t you?”
“Thanksgiving was last month, Mom,” I reminded her gently, but she was unfazed.
“I know, but I didn’t want to intrude when you’re so busy.”
“We would have been happy to have you here.” Typical, she used that excuse more times than I could count and I suspected her no-show for Thanksgiving was less about her not wanting to intrude and more about her having other plans.
“It couldn’t be helped, Marie was useless in the kitchen without me. You know how she is with a house full of people. Oh honey, look at your eyes! Why would you want to cover them up with fake lenses when you have such beautiful big brown eyes? Go and take those ridiculous things off,” she waved me away and I blinked at her, absorbing the criticism. Luckily, her mind moved on to something else just as quickly. “This is a surprise party for Matty then?” she eagerly looked around me.
“Hi, Mrs. Renault,” Daphne came forward with a ready smile, and I was glad to have the back-up. “It’s nice to see you again. Did you have a nice flight?”
I pounced on the opening, anything to get her out of there. “Yes, you must be tired from the trip. How about I take you down there to rest for a bit and we can have a nice visit tomorrow?”
“Don’t be silly, I’m staying here with you.”
“With me?” my face fell.
“Of course, I can’t stay with your brother, not now.”
Not now… There was a disconnect somewhere, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “When did you talk to Matty, Mama?”
“Just the other day. I was so excited to hear about the wedding! I can’t wait to hear all about the girl that won my baby’s heart. Tell me, have you met her? Of course you have, the two of you were always so close,” she gushed, and I stood there, my mental process painfully slow.
“Wedding? Matty’s told you he’s marrying her?” I had to have heard that wrong. It made no sense, he hardly knew Oriana.
“Of course, that’s why I came right up. I had to meet my new daughter-in-law. Is she here?” She craned her head again, looking at the other women in the room with interest. When no one stepped forward, her gaze fell to Parker. “Is this your beau, Merceline?” She brushed past me to offer her hand to him. “You’re a very handsome boy, but don’t think I condone you living in sin with my daughter. When are the two of you going to get married?”
Parker’s smile froze even as he accepted her hand, and I think she managed to stun him out of a response.
Everything was spiraling out of control and all of a sudden I couldn’t take it any more and I lost it. “Mom, that’s enough!” I froze her in place, putting an end to the uncomfortable string of questions and giving me some much needed time to think. Unfortunately for Parker, he got sucked into the effect, maybe because they were shaking hands. For whatever reason, he froze in that same instant, leaving the rest of us to gape at them.
“That! That’s what you did to me!” Summer exclaimed, pointing at the still figures, and I briefly considered doing it to her again to get her to shut up.
“I’m sorry, it’s like an instinctive response. It’s totally harmless, it’ll wear off in a few minutes. Well, you already know that,” I shrugged.
“I’m not doing this, Luz. I can’t believe you talked me into coming here in the first place,” Summer muttered, looking for her bag and slinging it over her shoulder with short, angry movements.
“Wait, what’s going on? What’s the problem?” My brows drew together in confusion. When did I become the bad guy?
“Calmate,” Luz’s hands came up in a supplicating gesture. “You know this is the right thing we are doing here. You can’t leave now, we won’t be able to bind him without your strength.”
Summer hesitated, and I stepped up with what I hoped was a contrite look on my face. “Hey, look I’m sorry if I freaked you out. I tried to tell you I wasn’t making fun of you in the store. You’re the one who flew off the handle, I was just looking for some help.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to override people’s bodies whenever you want to,” she insisted, holding tight to her grudge.
“We have the right to do whatever we want, we’re divine beings,” Adam called out from the hallway, joining the conversation without skipping a beat. I was torn between relief that he’d shown with Ben in tow and wishing he’d kept his mouth shut as Summer immediately bristled, but at least two other witches looked happy to see him. Would I never escape his exes? “Hello, ladies,” he grinned, striding past my mother and Parker to deposit Ben on the couch tucked into the corner of the room. “I see I’m in time for the festivities.” He rubbed his hands together briskly, eyes lighting on my mother. “What did I miss?”
“Little bit of a hiccup, my mom decided to drop in for Matty’s wedding,” I replied evenly and he didn’t skip a beat.
“Yeah? Remind me to buy him an ugly blender or something. Let’s get this show on the road.”
“We need to get rid of my mother first, I can’t have her waking up in the middle of it all.” Did he really not see that?
“I can take her out of here when she wakes up,” Daphne offered. “Maybe on the excuse that we need to go to Matty’s for something for the party?”
“Thanks, Daph, that’s a great idea,” I smiled, grateful for the help. “Parker can go with you since she thinks he’s my boyfriend.” I noticed Luz’s lips curve at that statement, but I didn’t have time to explain to his current girlfriend why that was preferable to her meeting Adam with him standing right there.
“Again with Parker posing as your guy. You know, I’m gonna end up with a complex over this,” Adam frowned, but I ignored his upset too.
“Adam, you take Ben to my bedroom, stay out of sight until she wakes up. I don’t want her freaking out with new people suddenly in the room.”
“You still intend to go through with this?” Summer frowned, and I could tell she’d been hoping for an excuse to get out of it.
“Absolutely we are. We only get one shot at this, am I right?” I looked to Luz for confirmation and she nodded somberly. “Tonight’s the night. Even if I have to keep my mother tied up in the closet, we’re gonna get Azazael out of Ben before it’s too late.” I inched closer to the witch. “I know you’re not particularly fond of me, and you can give me a plague of boils later if it makes you feel better. But we really, really need your help to get this binding done. Will you do it?”
There was a long, pregnant pause as we all waited for her to reply. Finally, she dropped her bag back on the floor with a dramatic sigh. “Fine, I’ll do it. But I’m not doing it for you,” she scowled, but I didn’t care, as long as she agreed to help with the binding.
&n
bsp; “Adam, can you please take him?” I gestured to Ben who still sat slumped on the couch. It had escaped my attention until then that he was either unconscious or sleeping very deeply, but I didn’t ask why at the time. I could guess it had something to do with Azazael’s mouth.
“Yeah, I’ve got him,” he sighed, hefting him over his shoulder again and disappearing into the bedroom scarce seconds before my mother and Parker unstuck in time. My mother blinked at finding me across the room, but I quickly returned to her side.
“Mom, there’s plenty of time to discuss all that later.” I gently pulled her away from Parker’s outstretched hand. “For now, I need you to go with Daphne, to…” I looked up at my best friend in a panic.
“You know what, Mrs. Renault? You’re right, this is a party. And we need to go pick Oriana up from Matty’s place. Why don’t you come with me, I’m sure she’d love to meet you,” Daphne smiled, drawing her towards the door.
“Actually Adam, why don’t you go too?” I tugged at Parker’s elbow, willing him to play along. “You know guys aren’t allowed at a bridal shower anyway.”
“Right. Because I’m your boyfriend,” Parker nodded, catching on quickly. “Yeah, I’ll drive. Have you ever been in a Camaro before, Mrs. R?” he added with a charming smile, to which my mother dimpled in reply.
“It’s been more years than I care to admit to,” she giggled. “But I wouldn’t mind taking a spin in one.” Whatever her agenda in coming to see me, it was immediately forgotten under the power of his smile.
“You three had better scoot then. Here, take my keys, let yourselves in to Matty’s place in case she’s not there yet. You know how brides are, they have so many things to attend to, she might be running late.” I thrust the keys into Parker’s hand, whispering near his ear. “I’m sorry, thank you!”
“You got it, darlin’,” Parker grinned, leaning down to steal a quick kiss to my cheek before concentrating his attention on my mother again. “I’ll let you ride shotgun, Mrs. R.”
Once the door was firmly shut and I could hear them moving off noisily to the stairs, I offered the witches an embarrassed smile. “I’m so sorry about that, you guys. Do you need more time to re-cleanse the room or anything?”
“I think we all need to recenter ourselves, yes,” Luz nodded, already breaking out another bundle of sage, and I wondered how long it was going to take to get the smell out of the drapes.
“Okay, I’ll go check on Ben.” A quick look in my bedroom found Ben still passed out, dumped in the corner against the wall with Adam stewing to himself on the edge of the bed.
“What did I tell you about making blanket statements like that?” he demanded, and I wondered what I’d done wrong now. It seemed like he was angry with me all the time.
“What are you talking about?”
“You invited a bitchy witch to give you a plague of boils? Not a good look, I can vouch for that.”
Was that all? “She’s not going to do it, she’s just mad ‘cause I froze her once. Besides, if I get boils you can heal me back to normal, right?” I sank down onto the bed beside him, laying back to close my eyes for a moment.
“Yeah, but… eewh. Kind of a mood killer, don’t you think?” I felt him lay down beside me, but I was too tired to look up at him. “I’m sorry. I worry about you, okay?”
“I know,” I murmured, pressing the heel of my hand against my temple, which throbbed dully.
“Hey, are you alright?”
Hearing the concern in his voice, I popped my eyes open, giving him a wan smile. “I’m tired and ready for this to all be over. My mother showing up just makes it that much more fun to deal with.”
“It seems like you’ve been tired a lot lately.”
“It’s probably stress. I feel like I’ve been going, going, going nonstop for as long as I can remember.” Or maybe I was coming down with something? It wasn’t just feeling sleepy, I felt achy and sore all over, like maybe I had the flu but didn’t know it yet. I hadn’t been sick much since getting the Grace, and I suppose I thought maybe I was immune to most sicknesses. I couldn’t decide if I was disappointed or glad to find out I was human enough to catch the flu.
“Are you ashamed of me?”
“What?” I turned to look at him, his out of the blue question catching me off guard. “Why would you even ask me that?”
“Well, because you’ve been telling everyone Parker is your boyfriend, and you didn’t want your mother to meet me.” The way he said it caught at my heart. Sort of off hand like it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I could see in his eyes he was serious. He really thought I was ashamed of him.
“No, Adam, I’m really not.” Leaning up, I cupped the side of his face, bringing it closer to mine. “I only told the cops I was with Parker because I didn’t want them looking into your identity too closely. That and there was the fact that I had no idea what name you were using, remember? If anything, I’d say I’m a little ashamed of my mother, not the other way around. As much as I hate to say so… I admit, I don’t particularly like the idea of you spending too much time with her. Not because I’m ashamed of you, but because I don’t want you looking too close into what a future with me might be like. I’ve already got a crazy brother who took off to marry a witch and now my mom pops up out of nowhere and she’s… well, she can be a lot to handle sometimes. I have a hard time with her, and I’m genetically predisposed to love her. I’m sorry if I made you feel bad over any of it, that wasn’t my intention.”
“Ah, Mercy,” he kissed the side of my head. “I don’t care if you have a crazy family. Look at mine. That’s my brother squatting inside Ben’s body right now. My heavenly father kicked me out because he didn’t like my wife, another brother killed her and I’ve got another one running Hell. I’m not one to talk.”
“Well, when you put it like that…” I smiled, tilting my face up to receive his soft kiss. “I’ll introduce you to her if that’s what you want. To be honest, she’ll probably breeze out of here as quickly as she came, and we won’t see her for years at a time.”
“Then it’s fine, you can let her think Parker is me if that makes it easier. After we get Ben all squared away I’m taking you away for a week or two of rest and relaxation, no arguments.”
“That sounds nice,” I smiled, not wanting to bring up work or responsibilities. It was nice to pretend I could take off at a moment’s notice and not have to face any consequences. “Where would we go?”
“I’m still up for that Fiji idea if it gets you into a bikini, but lady’s choice.”
“Wow, that sounds tropical. We’ll have to put some serious thought into that. Do you think we could…”
“Con permiso,” Luz knocked on the door as she poked her head in. “We’re ready to begin.”
“Can we still go ahead with him like that?” I asked jerking my head towards Ben who slumped in the corner.
“It’s fine. In fact, it’ll make it easier if he holds still. Don’t worry, it’s gonna be pieces of cake,” she winked, ducking out of the room again.
“Hear that, hon? It’s gonna be pieces of cake,” Adam grinned, pushing himself up to his feet. “Don’t sweat it, Mercy, let the professionals handle it from here. Just stay out of the way and we’ll be planning that vacation in no time.”
I followed Adam out of the room, watching as he carefully propped Ben into a seated position inside the inner circle of string. Amazingly, he sat well enough in a cross legged position without toppling over. The witches gathered inside the outer circle once Adam was clear, and I had to wonder… was that designed to keep them safe inside? What did that mean for me and Adam? He didn’t look at all worried though, so I tried not to think about it too much. Sensing my mood, Adam picked up my hand and gave it a little squeeze, and I was grateful for the support.
Though the lights were all off, my living room was ablaze with the soft, flickering light from two dozen candles easy, some within the circle and some outside. Each of the witches held something in t
heir hands, but I couldn’t quite make out what that was. Most of the ritual went right over my head, even though Luz spoke in a ringing voice. There was a lot of talk about the elements and the invocation of what I assumed was deities or maybe spirits? I didn’t think it was a good time to ask Adam for a running commentary.
I can’t really explain what it was like when I felt the tingle of magic in the air. Like too much static electricity before a storm? That’s almost right, but not quite. It didn’t make the hairs stand up on my neck or my skin crawl, but the air felt… alive in a way I’d never experienced before.
All at once, the witches tossed their items into the inner circle and then joined hands, chanting as one in a language I didn’t recognize. As I watched, the little pink jewelry box materialized in the inner circle next to Ben. As in, one second it wasn’t there, and the next instant it was. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t been looking right there the whole time. The chanting intensified, the air growing colder, and I could hear a clap of thunder outside. The flash as lightning split the sky made me jump, and Adam let go of my hand to wrap an arm around my shoulder.
A miniature funnel cloud rose from the center of the circle, starting as little more than a wisp of air, gathering form and strength as it rose higher. Instead of stirring the contents of the room, we were protected by the circle of rope, but Ben’s hair and clothes whipped crazily, and I heard him moan in discomfort. Darker and darker, it congealed to a near solid mass, writhing and churning as the tail end of it got caught inside the plastic box. As though the cloud was alive, it struggled, fighting the inexorable tug as it slowly slid into the box. Until finally it was completely contained, and the box snapped shut with a click.
Chapter Seventeen
All at once, the chanting stopped and a collective sigh went through the room, followed by whoops of success as the witches high fived each other and general congratulations were shared.
“Is that it, is it done?” It seemed almost anti-climactic. Was that little plastic box really supposed to hold Azazael forever?
