by Theda Vallee
The music seemed to expand in the room as we nursed our drinks. The underlying bass in the song becoming insistent as if it had grown tired of living in the background and was now demanding to be heard. The throbbing grew until the single beat overtook the club. Every other sound was lost in its wake.
I looked at Leontyne to see if she’d noticed it. She peered above my head, her eyes wide as she searched for something. The sharply focused way she took in the room, told me I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed something was wrong. The music was vibrating my body as my heart began to mimic the beat.
“Run. Now!”
The sharp command of her voice confused me until I saw the air around me ripple with vibrations. There was something magical happening, which was so not good. “What about you? Come with me.”
“Get to your family, I’ll be fine.” She shoved me away from her as the crowd began to notice the change in the air.
The dance floor broke into chaos as the music crashed over the room in dizzying waves. Kicking off my heels, I shoved my way through the crowd trying to reach the other side of the room. Bodies tangled in panic, as people fought their way towards the exit. There was no way I would make it the other side of the room to protect my family. Panic clawed at my throat as I pushed through the people. Stella reared her head, buzzing with energy like an anthill.
Without thinking, I sent bursts of magic into the crowd helping move people towards the exit. Pockets of space opened as I propelled the people out of my way. It was a full house tonight, the throng of people was too dense. I’d never make it. Mother appeared next to me, having shouldered his way over to me like a linebacker. He grabbed my hand, stopping me in my tracks.
“Baby, we ain’t gonna make it over there. You need to save who you can now,” he said gesturing to the people still trying to fight their way off the dance floor.
“I can make a shield. I can make it big enough to protect everyone.” I wouldn’t give up so easily. I nudged at Stella. She was swirling around like a shark smelling blood in the water. I channeled my intent, willing her to draw as much magic to us as possible. Holding my hands front of me, I formed a bubble. Balancing the delicate bubble, I began to blow into it, forcing it to expand. The protective bubble would take forever to get big enough to cover the dance floor. I’d learned to create shields for a few people but never anything that would cover an area as big as this room. I had to keep trying, though.
The people near us began to writhe. Their bodies emulating dance moves, as if they were being electrocuted to the beat of the song. Small flecks of red glitter glistened under the strobe lights, as the dancers twitched like puppets. Someone had unleashed the Tarantella, and we were smack in the middle of it. If I couldn’t figure out how to get this shield up faster, we’d all dance until we dropped dead.
Frantically, I pushed Stella, demanding more magic flow into the sphere. It leaped to the size of a basketball, before ballooning into a human-shaped bubble. I could already feel the tingle in my feet that signaled I was using the magic too fast. Despite being strong enough to level a city block, my body had limits on how quickly I could push the magic out. I’d been working on my stamina, but I was nowhere close to where I needed to be.
I pushed on, demanding that every bit of magic I could muster fuse into my intent. No matter the cost, I’d protect as many people as possible. When the tingling hit my torso, I had no choice. It was time to stop. If I burnt out to the point of collapse, I wouldn’t save anyone. Looking across the room to where my family was, I let out an anguished sob. They’d been trying to move towards me, against the crowd. Why didn’t they run? Why did they always try to dive in and save me?
From behind me I could feel the heat of Mother’s body pressing against me, he leaned over whispering in my ear, “I’m sorry, baby girl, you gotta release that shield if we’re gonna live.”
Leaning back, I let him give me the courage I needed. Everything in me wanted to give up on the bubble and fight my way over to my family. If I did, we’d all die. There’d be no one left for Carina to come home to someday. I let go of the protective energy, watching as it settled around a few dozen people. My eyes stayed on the people I loved. I’d watch their last moments no matter how horrific it was, because I’d never forgive myself if I looked away.
Nonna stopped in the center of the dance floor, her tiny frame barely visible in the sea of ecstatic dancing. She raised her hands, tilting her head back as if she was praying. The rest of my family formed a semi-circle around her providing a wall of protection.
After a moment, she leaned her head back down and smiled at me. Reaching out she grasped Nerina and Gia’s hands, their mouths began to move in unison. What the hell were they doing? There was nothing in their arsenal of spell work that could combat a curse of this magnitude.
The wind whipped across the floor, lifting red glitter into the air like a sparkling rain shower. Nonna’s hair flew behind her floating like an iron curtain, having come undone from the neat bun she’d kept it in since I was a child. Aunt Sophia linked hands with them, her round hips swaying as she rocked back and forth, chanting the words. The air crackled around them as electricity skated around their bodies before releasing in tiny pulses into the air.
“What are they doing?” Mother asked his mouth a small O of wonder.
“I have no idea.” I’d always known my grandmother was extraordinary, but this was something more. How had she never mentioned that she could cast spells so strong they morphed the atmosphere in a building? If we lived through this, Nonna had some explaining to do.
As the storm increased, the music began to fade, trickling into a soft crescendo. Every moment they chanted the music quieted more and more, as if it was being carried away by the winds. Finally, the final chords of the song floated off, leaving the club in a vacuum of silence. Nonna peered around, bouncing up on her tiptoes to see over the crowd. A satisfied smile settled on her face. Dancers crumpled to the floor with groans of pain, some of them coughing up clumps of red glitter. They looked worn and confused, but most of them had survived. I could see a few that weren’t moving, the people who’d been closest to the epicenter when it hit. It was probably too much to hope that they were just unconscious.
I let the shield drop, my knees buckling as I released the magic back into the ground. Mother caught me under the arms before I hit the floor. “How about we find you a place to sit?” he said.
I nodded, grateful for the help. He held onto me as I steadied myself before we made a slow trudge towards the tables. Mother used his body like a shield keeping me from being jostled as people streamed towards the exit. After several minutes of navigation, we found a table. I collapsed into a chair before wiping the beads of sweat off of my forehead.
“Cariad!” Luc shouted as he darted over to us. Kneeling in front of me, his trembling hand brushed back the long strands of dark curls plastered to my face with sweat. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, unable to speak. My stomach rolled with nausea as the emotions from the last few moments pushed my adrenal system to its limits. Within a few seconds, my entire family could’ve been wiped off the planet. What good was all this power, if I didn’t know how to use it when it mattered? I looked at Luc, his whiskey-colored eyes glowing under the flickering strobe light, and I wanted to beg him for forgiveness. I wanted to tell him I’d train relentlessly going forward. Instead, my stomach flip-flopped as Stella slammed inside of me with pent up rage, and I vomited.
“Oh, my God, that’s so disgusting,” Nerina said, gagging at the sight.
“Dolce, the magic makes you have sick?” Aunt Sophia asked hovering next to me.
“What are you doing, idiota? Get up and get her some water. Maybe a cold cloth, too,” Nonna said smacking Luc on the arm.
He looked down at his vomit-covered shirt but didn’t dare argue with her. Without a whisper of protest, he stood up and headed over to the bar to do as she said. I needed to learn how to put the fear of God into someone
like that.
Chapter Eleven
“So, that was a cool trick. How did you know that spell would stop the attack? Where did you learn to cast like that? I thought Nerina was the only caster in the family,” I said staring at Nonna as she flecked away invisible bits of lint from her housedress.
“Well, it would stand to reason your sister got her skill from someone,” Nonna said, crossing her legs demurely.
“Have you guys been practicing spells without me knowing?” I asked, looking at each person in the room, wondering what the hell was going on. Was I missing something here? Over the last few months I’d found out my sister was a spell-casting genius, Gia had learned to create magical weapons out of crystals, and now Nonna just happened to know how to stop a deadly curse. “What about you, Aunt Sophia? Any hidden superpowers you want to tell me about?”
Aunt Sophia laughed softly, smiling from ear to ear. “I can use the phone map now.”
Nonna closed her eyes inhaling deeply. “Perhaps Lady Fortune has seen fit to give us a few tools. That spell is old. Handed down from mother to daughter for hundreds of years. My mother sang it to me as a girl, making me repeat the words with her every time. Fate has not forgotten us completely, it would seem.”
I threw my hands into the air, frustrated with her cryptic non-answer. “Cool. I’m sure the Osservatori will believe you just randomly remembered a song from childhood the exact moment a curse hit. Or better yet, I’m sure they’ll agree fate just happened to be on our side today. Lucky us. It totally sounds believable.”
“Do not use your sarcasm on me, Violetta Marie. There are ways to know I speak the truth. Doubt me if you will, but do not offend our Lady Fortune, she has not deserted us yet.”
I shook my head at her obstinacy. The Osservatori weren’t known for being fair or open-minded. Nonna was crazy if she thought they’d shrug their shoulders at her divine intervention theory. “Four clubs were hit tonight. Leontyne said hundreds of people are dead. Easton is here babysitting us until further notice because the Osservatori doesn’t trust us. Is anyone else worried?”
“Of course, dolce. We all have the worries, but what can we do? It is best to relax. Do you need a massage?” Aunt Sophia asked.
How the hell was she so calm? If anyone should be panicked it was her. She literally had anxiety attacks boiling water, but surviving a supernatural curse and being under house arrest was just humdrum? Maybe I was the crazy one.
Gia gasped, her face paling to an ashen gray as she stared at the screen of her phone. She’d been watching the news trickle in for the last hour, giving us updates as they confirmed the dead at each location.
“What now?” I demanded.
She held the screen out for Nerina and me to see. Her hand was shaking, causing the image to bounce up and down. I grabbed her arm, steadying the phone. My body went rigid as I gaped at the screen.
“Fuck you, you fucking mother fucker!” Nerina shouted.
“Nerina! You girls have become too easy with profanity as of late. I do not allow this under my roof,” Nonna said, smacking my sister on the arm with every word.
I ignored her, straining to hear what the man on the screen was saying. Somehow, in a city full of a million plus people, Bob the Cancer had ended up at one of the clubs that was hit tonight. The same Bob who’d attacked me in a parking lot several months ago. The same Bob who knew I was a witch. He was standing under a streetlight, his hair matted with glitter, and eyes filled with rage as he gesticulated wildly, recounting his story to the reporter. The words ‘witch’ and ‘magic’ popped out of his mouth a few dozen times.
“Are you kidding me? Of all the people that could’ve been there and been interviewed, they found this guy?” Nerina asked. “How is that even possible?”
“Who is this man that made you say swear words?” Aunt Sophia asked, craning to see over us as we huddled around the screen.
With four attacks and an enormous body count, the Osservatori was already frantic. Add in Bob blathering about magic on the national news, and shit was going to implode. Most of the humans watching would think he was drunk. It wouldn’t matter, though. With the world breathing down our necks this would make it worse. I hoped to all things holy, the man didn’t know my name. We were already on the suspect list. There were only so many coincidences we could explain away before they arrested us to cover their bases.
“I need a drink. Anyone want to join me?” I asked.
“Nerina said she’d find me some sweats to borrow. We’ll meet you down there in a minute,” Gia said.
“Don’t be mad if all the wine is gone when you get there.” I jogged down the stairs holding my breasts to keep them from smacking me in the face. With Easton here, I should’ve put on a bra, but fuck that noise. This was our house. He’d have to deal with my nipples and saggy boobs. I wouldn’t torture myself for his benefit.
I stepped into the kitchen to find Easton lounging in a chair with his feet on the table. “Nonna will kill you if she sees that.”
“I’ll risk it. I’m too comfortable to move.”
“Suit yourself, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I said as I grabbed a bottle of wine from the rack, and glasses from the cabinet. “You want some?”
His face scrunched up as he weighed the question for a moment. “Dude, I better not. If Luc finds out I was drinking on the job, he might kill me. He’s in a mood. How do you put up with that guy?”
“He’s not always this surly. Things are just crazy right now,” I said, sitting down at the table. Working the bottle of wine open, I poured myself a glass. Staring into the deep-burgundy liquid, I wondered why I felt the need to defend Luc. The way he’d treated me at the club had been scary, yet when he came over after the attack, I’d been relieved to see him.
“You’re really into that glass of wine,” Easton said.
I looked up at him, noticing the small network of crinkles that framed his violet eyes when he smiled. Nerina was right, he was an eleven on the hotness scale. “It’s been a rough night, that’s all.”
That was putting it mildly. I was exhausted. Channeling all that magic had taken its toll on my body. Everything ached. Compound the pain with the never-ending layers of stress that kept piling on, and it was a wonder I was still upright.
Easton nodded but didn’t look convinced. “It’s not the first time you’ve survived an attack. I doubt it’ll be the last. You’re a pretty tough chick. Which is why I don’t get how you let Luc talk to you like he does.”
“It’s complicated. You don’t get to see how he treats me when we’re alone. It’s good between us then.”
“Would you let anyone else do that to you publicly? I haven’t known you for long, but your mouth has a reputation that precedes it. I was warned that you’d tear me a new asshole if I so much as blinked at you wrong,” he said grinning at me.
I chuckled, imagining the big bad agents cowering in fear of my sarcasm. “Who warned you?”
“A few people, but that doesn’t matter. My point is, you put up with him treating you like dirt when you wouldn’t do that with anyone else. Why?”
Peering at him from across my wine glass, my thoughts were a jumbled mess. The tightness in my chest told me that if I dared say anything I’d probably end up in tears. I shrugged, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from blubbering into my wine. He wasn’t wrong, but he also never had to live on this side of the equation. He’d been born into a privileged family, his place in the supernatural world secure from birth. When you were fighting for your life, you didn’t have the luxury of demanding respect. I was a resource, a non-person in their eyes. I needed someone who’d help me survive, and Luc was that guy.
“I’ll say one last thing and then drop it. You’re a total package. Any dude would be lucky as hell to be with you. It’s easy to forget that with everything you’ve been through, but you deserve to be treated better,” he said so low, I had to strain to hear it.
“Have some respect, fairy boy, get your
feet off our table,” Gia said shoving Easton’s feet with her hands. “Get a cloth and wipe that down, Etta. We’re about to have wine and snacks here. You’re just going to sit there and let him defile our eating space? Zia Alba will kill him.”
“Dude, how is your grandma her Aunt? I thought you guys were cousins?” Easton asked. He looked at me with the same vacant expression he usually wore. It was weird that he could turn his brain on and off like a light switch.
“We’re second cousins. Aunt Sophia was young when Nonna married and had kids, so we’ve always called her Aunt because she’s closer to our parent’s age. I don’t think it’s that uncommon,” I answered.
“Fairies never complicate things like that. There’s a strict order in family,” he replied.
Nerina trounced into the kitchen, carrying a plate loaded with pastries. We rarely had so many leftovers, but business had been slow in the last few weeks. The constant disruptions with my job had impacted every facet of our lives. With the non-stop parade of agents stopping by our house, even the healing and spell work had dried up. If something didn’t change soon, we’d have to think about closing the shop.
My phone began to buzz as my hand hovered over the plate of goodies. I settled on a ricotta-filled zeppole, my mouth watering in anticipation. Taking a bite, I let the flavors skate across my tongue, closing my eyes for maximum enjoyment. Whoever was sending me messages could wait. No one texted me that many times in a row except for Luc, and I wasn’t going to ruin a perfectly good snack talking to him right now.
“Are you going to answer your damn phone?” Gia snapped, crumbs flying out of her mouth as she spoke.
Scowling, I glanced down to see multiple messages from Brady in all caps.
9-1-1. CALL ME NOW> BOTCH
I assumed that was supposed to say bitch. If texting were an Olympic sport, he’d win a gold medal. The typo and all caps worried me. It wasn’t like him to slam me with messages.
