Hey, I’m here, she typed. You coming home anytime soon?
She watched the display. It showed that the message had been delivered, but there was no response. Well, he could have the phone shoved in his pocket and might not have heard the notification — or he really could be elbows-deep in rebuilding a transmission.
A minute went by, then another. She’d just decided it was stupid for her to sit there and stare at her phone when it binged.
Oh, sorry, Brandon had responded. We really need to get this primer coat on before I leave tonight — it needs to set up before we can start laying down the paint tomorrow.
Hayley had expected as much, but she couldn’t keep herself from experiencing a twinge of disappointment. Yes, she was a big girl now. Even so, it would have been easier to run the gauntlet in Jerome with her brother at her side.
How late? she typed back, and wondered if the question sounded as pathetic to her brother as it did to her.
Maybe 8 or 9. Get yourself some pizza at Grapes — they’ll take care of you.
Brandon, trying to be helpful, although, speaking of pathetic, Hayley couldn’t think of anything much worse than sitting and eating alone in a strange restaurant on her first night here in town. Well, she’d just thrown out a bunch of takeout boxes from that very same restaurant, which meant she could order pizza to go and eat it by herself here at the flat. Still kind of a dreary prospect, but better than smashing herself into a corner of a booth somewhere and pretending she didn’t exist.
Sounds good, she replied. I’ll try that.
Sorry. Once I get this project done, it’ll be better.
Right. As soon as he finished this car, something else would be waiting for his attention. She couldn’t even be angry with him, because at least he was doing something he loved. Following his bliss, as they liked to say. Whereas she still hadn’t figured out what the hell she wanted to do with her life.
No prob. I’ll see you when you get home.
K. Bye.
That seemed to be that. Hayley made herself get up from the sofa and go over to where she’d left her purse, then dropped the phone in an inner pocket of her bag. She knew she needed to force herself to go outside. Otherwise, she’d probably just sit here on the couch, watching Netflix or channel-surfing and ignoring her empty stomach until Brandon came home. It seemed like the best thing to do would be to go over to Rachel’s store, say hi. Hayley had met her distant cousin years ago at a reunion, but because the event had been so overwhelming, so full of witches and warlocks she’d never met before, she didn’t remember much about her except that she had reddish hair and was plump, and wore the kinds of boho-looking outfits you might expect of a modern-day witch. Anyway, it was nearly five o’clock; if she didn’t get moving now, Hayley knew she ran the risk of the store closing before she even got there.
She’d just finished locking the deadbolt and had begun to turn around to head down the stairs when a pair of piercing blue eyes met hers. The sight surprised her so much that she took a step back, and managed to drop the keys to the flat at the same time.
“I’m so sorry,” said the apparition. He bent and retrieved the keys, then handed them to her. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s fine,” she replied, regaining enough control of herself to focus on the man who stood before her. And holy hell, was she glad she’d focused on him, because he was insanely good-looking. At least six foot two, fair hair, those amazing blue eyes, and the face and body of a male model, or maybe an actor. In fact, he was positively Hemsworth-ian in the looks department.
“Are you Brandon’s sister?”
“Yes.” So her brother had actually remembered to mention her to his neighbor? At least, she assumed the man standing there must be the person who lived in the flat opposite Brandon’s; there wasn’t much point in coming up here otherwise. “I’m Hayley. You live next door?”
“Yes. I’m Levi — Levi McAllister,” he added after a brief pause, as though he wasn’t used to introducing himself in such a way. Well, that made some sense. Being a McAllister in these parts was kind of a given.
Yet another cousin, of course, but since he was a Jerome McAllister, it meant they were distantly enough related that it didn’t really matter. A flush rose in Hayley’s cheeks. All right, so the guy looked like a Greek god. That didn’t mean she should automatically be contemplating whether they were genetically compatible.
“Brandon said you would be coming to stay for a while,” Levi went on, and Hayley found herself mentally forgiving her brother for ditching her. At least he’d had the presence of mind to mention her to his hunk of a next-door neighbor.
“Yes,” she said. “My parents thought it might be safer here.”
“Safer?”
“From — ” She stopped there and gave a nod in a vaguely southerly direction. “You know.”
“The Escobars and the Santiagos.”
“You know about all that?”
“Oh, yes.” Levi’s handsome blond head tilted to one side. “Was there a particular reason why your parents thought you would be at risk? Your brother didn’t say anything, except that you’d be coming to stay in Jerome for a while.”
Hayley shifted her weight from one foot to the other. In general, witches and warlocks didn’t discuss their individual talents at first meeting. And she especially didn’t want to talk about that sort of thing while standing here on the landing outside her brother’s flat. Even though she and Levi were the only people here, it felt somehow…exposed.
“Well….” she hedged.
“Ah, of course. I should not be asking you about your talent on such a brief acquaintance. I apologize.”
“It’s fine,” she said quickly. At the same time, she couldn’t help but give him a sideways glance of her own. There was something about the way he talked — much more formal than what she was used to, with a certain carefulness that made her think of someone whose native language wasn’t English. But that didn’t make any sense. He’d said his name was Levi McAllister, and he was certainly fair enough in coloring to be one of their clan. “I mean, I would rather not talk about it here, but….”
“But you would speak someplace else? Maybe…someplace where I could have a drink with you?”
A drink? This Greek god was offering to buy her a drink? All right, just so he could talk to her, but she didn’t mind. It had been a while since a guy had seemed this interested in talking…or anything else. Besides, the truth about her gift was going to come out sooner or later. She might as well spill the beans to Levi.
Things in Jerome were definitely looking up.
Levi tried not to stare at Hayley as she ordered a glass of pinot grigio, then set down her menu. It was difficult, though; Brandon McAllister had somehow neglected to mention that his sister just happened to be a goddess.
Her long hair spilled over her shoulders and down to her waist like a veritable river of gold. Her eyes were…not the bright blue of a summer sky, but the cool, serene blue of a mountain lake. And her mouth was full and yet delicately shaped, quick to smile or purse itself in thought.
If asked, he probably would have automatically replied that Zoe Sandoval was his ideal woman. After all, she was the one who had brought him here, the only female in his universe…at first. But she belonged to another, and although giving her up had hurt him more than he’d thought he could bear, he’d also told himself that in time there would be someone else. He’d just always assumed she would be as darkly lovely as Zoe herself. Looking on Hayley McAllister, though, Levi realized that the perfect woman had literally stumbled onto his doorstep.
But he was getting ahead of himself. They had only just met, after all, and she had no way of knowing anything about his origins. The McAllisters here in Jerome were in on the secret, of course, but they had not allowed that secret to spread to the other branches of the family, the ones in Payson and Prescott. In fact, Hayley’s brother Brandon still didn’t know, either, although that was more becau
se everyone thought it was Levi’s place to reveal his origins, and he simply hadn’t yet thought of the best way to broach the subject. It didn’t help that Brandon was hardly ever around, making it difficult to come up with a reason for such a discussion that didn’t feel completely contrived.
Levi ordered a glass of malbec for himself, and a faintly awkward silence fell, during which Hayley picked up the menu again and appeared intent on perusing its contents. The hour was still somewhat early for dinner, but possibly she was hungry after her drive. And wine did seem to go better with food. That was one human custom he’d taken to readily.
“Get anything you’d like,” he said. “My treat.”
She looked up from the menu, surprise clear in her amazing blue eyes. “Oh, no, you don’t have to do that.”
“It’s fine. I asked you here, after all.”
For a moment, she hesitated. “Well…if we share something?”
“Of course. But choose whatever looks good to you. I’ve had almost everything on the menu here, and enjoyed all of it.” Which was only the truth. He hadn’t yet attempted much in the way of cooking — Rachel fed him several nights a week, and the rest of the time he went around Jerome, sampling the wares of the various restaurants. While he enjoyed them all, he did seem to end up at Grapes a good deal of the time, possibly because it was closest to the flat where he now lived.
“All right. How about we start with the artichoke dip and go from there? It’s a little early for dinner.”
“That sounds fine.”
Tina, the waitress, came back with their drinks, and Levi requested the artichoke dip. She took the order with her customary smile, but it looked a little tight around the edges, and he couldn’t help but notice the way her glance flickered over at Hayley and back at him before she left. Was she jealous? He’d thought several times during his arrival here that Tina might be flirting with him, but even after more than a year of living in Jerome, he still wasn’t completely certain of human emotions and reactions. Everyone had been friendly, true, but there was friendly…and then there was friendly.
Hayley lifted her glass of pinot grigio to her lips and took a sip. Again Levi had to prevent himself from staring, because even the simple act of drinking wine somehow appeared glamorous…sensual…when she did it. He cleared his throat. “Is there much concern in Payson about what’s been going on?”
She lifted her shoulders, but there was something a bit too studiedly casual about the movement. “It depends, I guess. My parents — especially my mother — are pretty freaked out. Other people in the clan…they seem to think it’s not going to affect us, that whatever’s going on in California or even down in Phoenix isn’t going to reach Payson, since we’re kind of under the radar, if you know what I mean. When people think of the McAllisters, they think of Jerome, not Payson or Prescott.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Levi said slowly, considering her words. “But the clan is still connected, even with branches in far-flung places.”
“That’s what my parents think…which is why I’m here.” Hayley swallowed some more pinot grigio, then set down her glass. “I was going to say that it’s strange Brandon has never mentioned you, but then I realized if it’s not related to a car or a motorcycle, he doesn’t pay that much attention.”
“Your brother seems like a nice enough person,” Levi told her. “Possibly a bit preoccupied, but it appears as if he’s very good at what he does. I’ve seen him bring some of his project cars here to Jerome, if he was delivering them to a client in Prescott.”
“Well, that’s his talent. And it really isn’t just cars and motorcycles. He can fix anything. I think you could give him a jet engine in pieces in a box, and he’d still be able to put it together.”
Yes, those talents, big and small, that appeared in all of witch-kind. Some useful, some rather obscure, but all serving to show that the people who possessed them were not ordinary humans. Hayley’s words seemed to give Levi the opening he needed, and so he said quietly, “And your gift?”
She gave a quick glance around the restaurant, but although it was somewhat crowded, no one seemed to be paying much attention to them. The booths were filled with a mixture of McAllisters and tourists, everyone chattering away. When he’d first entered with Hayley, a few people had sent them curious glances, but that was probably because they wanted to get a look at the newcomer. Levi had heard through the McAllister grapevine that one of the Payson cousins was coming to town to stay for a while, but he’d been so preoccupied with what was going on in California with the Santiagos that it had slipped his mind.
Until he saw the beautiful woman standing on the landing in front of his apartment, that is.
“My gift is a pretty rare one,” Hayley said at last. Her fingers played with the stem of her wine glass, but she didn’t appear in any hurry to lift it to her mouth and take another drink. “According to my parents, no one else in the clan has it — and neither does anyone in the Wilcox or de la Paz families.” Voice lowering, she went on, “Basically, if I’m close enough to another witch or warlock — like, around two feet or so, although it works even better if we’re touching — my gift enhances the power of their gift. So if you’re a weather-worker who normally can only summon a very minor rainstorm, my talent could make you powerful enough to call a hurricane.”
Levi felt his eyes widen. No wonder Hayley’s parents had thought it better to have her here in Jerome, where she would be surrounded by those better equipped to protect her. He’d noticed how Angela and Connor, who normally would have been preparing to move their family to their second home in Flagstaff now that summer was approaching, had made no mention of leaving Jerome. Clearly, they knew of Hayley’s gift, had realized that they needed to stay here to make sure the clan’s strongest witch and warlock were nearby to offer whatever protection might be necessary.
“Is it an effect that occurs without you having to invoke it?” he inquired. To tell the truth, he didn’t feel any different being near her. Or rather, he did feel somewhat different, but he could attribute those troubling physical reactions to pure biology. He might have come into being on a different plane of existence, but now that he was here in this world, his body was as human as that of anyone around him. It had felt strange at first, as though he wore a set of clothes that didn’t belong to him, but over time he’d become used to his new form, couldn’t really imagine existing as anything else.
Hayley shook her head. “No. I have to concentrate, to think of the person’s talent. But once I do, it just…grows, I guess.” Those sapphire eyes met his. “What’s your talent, Levi? Maybe I could give you a little demonstration.”
“Oh, not here,” he said hastily. “It’s far too public.”
“You actually wouldn’t have to wield your power, you know. Everyone says they can feel it working without having to do anything. Sort of like taking a shot of espresso.”
Perhaps that was true. However, Levi didn’t want to get into the subject of his own magical talent, because that was where he still remained fundamentally different from the rest of those with supernatural abilities. Unlike an ordinary warlock, he didn’t have one singular talent, along with the grab bag of lesser abilities, such as opening locked doors, bringing flame to a candle, or invoking minor spells of protection, that all witches and warlocks shared. No, because his nature was inherently magical, despite his human body, he could summon a wide variety of abilities, from conjuring flame to laying on hands to heal the sick.
And, he hoped, dispelling demons, although he hadn’t yet had the opportunity.
“Perhaps later,” he said quickly, and took a gulp of his malbec.
Hayley’s brows lifted, but she didn’t say anything. Possibly her quiet was due more to the appearance of Tina with the bread and artichoke dip; newly arrived in Jerome, Hayley probably didn’t know that the civilian residents of the town shared in the secrets of the witch population here, unlike basically every place else where witches and warlocks had to
rub elbows with the nonmagical portions of the population.
They were silent for a moment as they both helped themselves to the appetizer. Levi realized he wasn’t all that hungry, but made himself eat enough of the bread and the rich dip that his companion wouldn’t notice, or at least comment on it. She did seem to have more of an appetite than he did, possibly because she’d spent a portion of the afternoon driving on mountain roads, and then still had to get settled once she was here.
When she spoke again, she seemed to have realized that the topic of his own talent was off-limits, because she inquired about ordinary enough subjects, such as which other restaurants in town were worth going to, whether it was safe to go down into Cottonwood. He gave a few recommendations on the former, and then said, “Cottonwood is in McAllister territory, but it isn’t warded the way that Jerome itself is. It’s probably better if you don’t go down there alone, just to be safe.”
“Are you offering to escort me?” she asked with a faint smile.
Levi experienced a sudden heat in his cheeks and wished that Zoe Sandoval’s ideal man — the one in whose image she’d created him — had been olive-skinned like her, rather than so blond and fair. It made certain physical reactions much more difficult to conceal. “I could,” he said. “That is, if you’d like me to.”
“If you wouldn’t mind. I don’t want to interrupt your work or anything like that.” She sent him an inquiring look. “Do you work? I mean, I know none of us really have to, but….”
“I do odd jobs around town,” he said hastily. That was close enough to the truth. Once the McAllisters had discovered he possessed a wide range of talents, he’d been called to help with a variety of tasks, everything from summoning a much-needed rainstorm to refreshing the illusions Margot Emory had laid to keep civilians out of the more sensitive areas the clan members really didn’t want discovered. And healing, since the McAllister family currently didn’t possess anyone with that particular gift. “But I can set my own schedule.”
Deep Magic (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 13) Page 3
