Charmed

by Barbara Bretton

  Praise for USA Today best-selling author Barbara Bretton

  "Bretton seamlessly blends a playful world of eccentric and meddling supernatural creatures." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  "Barbara Bretton casts a spell on readers." --Midwest Book Review

  "Bretton spins an incredible tale." --Booklist (starred review)

  "Bretton has created a paranormal series that is both engaging and timely; for those who like their fantasy with a down-home flair." --Library Journal

  CHARMED

  A Sugar Maple short story

  by Barbara Bretton

  Copyright 2011 Barbara Bretton

  Cover design by Barbara Bretton

  Chapter One

  What is it about plans anyway? It seems like the second you get your life all figured out, fate steps in and turns your world upside down.

  We were finishing up the last workshop in a week-long series of master knitting classes and I was on top of the world. If the comment cards were any indication, we had hit the knitting equivalent of a grand slam home run. Steeks. Bohus. Dressmaker-quality finishing techniques. Every variation on grafting you could think of and some you couldn't. I had worked long and hard to put together a powerful five days of classes and been rewarded with a full cash register and depleted stock.

  Even better, we had a great group, especially our workshop veterans who had returned for another series of sessions. Amy was a dark-haired lawyer whose hobby was marrying (and quickly divorcing) men young enough to be her son. Claire the physical therapist and part-time stock car race racer. Allen the former pro-NFL player and his husband Jake, a playwright with a dry sense of humor and major fiber chops. And, to my delight, Liv Jenssen was back again. Liv had taken at least a dozen workshops with me over the last few years and we considered her one of our favorites. And then just like that she stopped signing up for classes and commenting on our Ravelry forum and placing orders for way too much Malabrigo.

  Over the years favorite customers have moved away, moved on, even left this world for whatever awaits humans in the next. That’s just the way this business is. But every now and then a customer comes along who touches your heart in a way you can’t explain. Not that we'd ever had a heart-to-heart or anything even close. Liv just wasn't a talker. But the connection--at least for me--was there just the same even though the only thing I really knew about her was the fact that she lived in New Hampshire and was one wicked Bohus knitter.

  I love knitters but the truth is we're an eccentric lot. I'm not sure if it's the yarn fumes or too much time spent debating the relative merits of cashmere versus qiviut, but when you bring a group of us together anything can happen.

  By the way, I'm Chloe Hobbs, the half-human, half-sorceress owner of Sticks & Strings, a wildly popular yarn shop here in Sugar Maple, Vermont where your yarn never tangles, your sleeves match, and you always, always get gauge. Some people say it's magick but I'm not telling. After all, we know how to keep secrets around here.

  Trust me, if you grew up in a picture-postcard New England village inhabited by witches, vampires, trolls, selkies, house sprites, Fae innkeepers, traveling spirits, and just about everything else your parents told you didn't really exist, you'd understand why we learn to keep secrets before we take our first step.

  And here is the biggest secret of them all: I'm pregnant. I'm not that far along so I'm not showing yet which means it's been easy (relatively speaking) to keep the news to ourselves. Luke, the 100% human love of my life, was every bit as surprised as I was when Elspeth broke the news to us but now we're both over the moon with excitement. Given a choice, I wouldn't recommend getting the news from a cranky yellow-haired troll with a grudge against homo sapiens but it will make a great story to tell our daughter one day.

  Our plan (and yes, I can hear fate laughing out loud) was to break the big news to our friends and the other villagers at the Fourth of July Extravaganza next week when I wouldn't be able to hide my bump any longer. Everyone would be there. Everyone would be in a celebratory mood even before we announced that we were pregnant. They might even be able to forget the fact that the new arrival would be more human than magick.

  Okay, so maybe that was hoping for too much but the fact that the Hobbs line would continue would definitely be cause for celebration. Thanks to a protective charm put into effect by my ancestor Aerynn, the sorceress who led the early settlers out of Salem and up to the Indian village that became Sugar Maple, we've been able to hide here in plain sight for over three hundred years. But now that I was pregnant we could postpone worrying about the future a little longer and enjoy the present.

  So that brings me back to where I was when I started this story. Workshop week was over and the last class was literally weaving in loose ends while they waited for the legendary Sticks & Strings goodie bags. My best friend and frequent yarn shop helper Janice Meany and I were in the storeroom, stuffing swag bags for the departing guests while we exchanged observations. Janice is a tenth generation witch with a sharp tongue and a heart of gold. She owns Cut & Curl across the street but spends as much time in my shop as she does in her own. In many ways she is the sister I never had but don't tell her I said so. Janice likes to pretend she isn't big on sentiment even if everyone in town knows better.

  We both, however, like to gossip.

  "Can you believe Amy’s about to marry husband number five," I said as I slid a Ka Cha counter into each bag. "I'm not sure if that makes her an idiot or an optimist."

  “I think it makes her rich.” Janice popped a handful of M&Ms in her mouth. "I'd love to see her pre-nups. Those highlights she's rocking don't come cheap."

  "I don't know about her highlights but when a knitter buys cashmere by the pound, she has my attention." I added hand-crafted stitch markers to the bags. "It's good to see Liv again, isn't it?"

  "Where's she been?" Janice asked. "I thought she'd gone over to the dark side and started taking on-line classes."

  "I didn't ask and she didn't volunteer. I don’t think she said ten words today.”

  “Which is five more words than usual,” Janice observed. “The girl’s a quiet one.”

  No argument there. “It was more than that today." I paused for a moment, feeling a little foolish. "Am I crazy or was she staring at me like I was the last chocolate truffle in the box?"

  Janice didn't miss a beat. "Of course she was staring at you. We all were. You performed a twelve-stitch cable crossing without a cable needle. That was definitely stare-worthy."

  "That was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Dreams of my fearless cabling going viral on YouTube danced through my head.

  "You magicked it, didn't you?" Janice asked with a sly wink. "Come on. I won't tell anyone."

  "Absolutely not!" I was deeply affronted. "I'm a great knitter, that's how I did it."

  "You are a great knitter," Janice said, "but nobody's that great. You cast some kind of fiber spell, didn't you?"

  "You're not funny, Meany." I aimed a scowl in her direction. "I was a great knitter before my magick came in and you know it."

  "Not twelve-stitch-cable-without-a-needle-great," I heard her mutter under her breath but I generously chose to ignore it. (Did I mention knitters can be a jealous lot?) .

  Back in the front of the shop, there were the usual multiple rounds of goodbyes as the workshoppers exchanged emails and cell numbers and gobbled chocolate chunk cookies and my Madelinetosh DK.

  Liv had been the first one to arrive and she was the last one to leave.

  "Great workshop," she said as I handed her a swag bag. "You should write a book on cabling. I'd be the first to buy it."

  I thanked her for her kind words and tried very hard to ignore the chuckling from my friends who knew that magick just might have played a part in my knittin
g tour de force.

  "We missed you around here, Liv. I'm glad you decided to join us again."

  "Me too." She looked like she wanted to say more but, like I said, Liv wasn't much of a talker and she had already used up at least four workshops' worth of words.

  "Safe travels," I said, walking her to the door. "I hope you'll come back again and take another class."

  "Maybe after the baby comes."

  I'll admit her words stopped me cold. She couldn't possibly know I was pregnant. Nobody but Luke and Elspeth knew.

  Get a grip, I told myself. You're letting your imagination run away with you.

  But the look in her eyes darkened and I swear I felt a chill move across my body just the same. She was still staring at me but this time it didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy. This time it made me feel like running.

  Behind me my friends had fallen silent--an unusual occurrence--and I wondered if they felt the same sense of dread I was suddenly experiencing.

  "Congratulations," I said, struggling to hit the right note . "When are you due?"

  "Me?" she asked with a look of surprise. "I'm not pregnant. You are."

  You could feel the oxygen leave the room in one big whoosh as Liv's words swirled around us.

  I guess there are some secrets that aren't meant to be kept for long. I took a deep breath and turned toward my friends.

  "Liv's right," I said. "Luke and I are pregnant."

  By the way, did I mention that knitters can also be incredibly noisy when the mood strikes them? Somehow three middle-aged women managed to sound like a rave.

  "You're pregnant!" Janice shrieked. "When are you--"

  "New Year's Day," I broke in, laughing.

  "How long have you known?'

  "We found out six weeks ago," I said, grinning like an idiot.

  "And when were you going to tell us?" Lynette demanded.

  "Next week during the fireworks." Who knew sharing good news could be so much fun.

  Bettina, the Fae harpist who sometimes helped out around the shop, burst into happy tears.

  "We're your best friends," Janice complained as she gave me a fierce hug. "You're supposed to keep us in the loop."

  "I'll bet it was Luke's idea to keep it secret," Lynette said. "Humans always--"

  "It wasn't Luke's idea at all," I said swiftly, cutting her off before she could say something that gave away a secret bigger than my pregnancy. "It was mine." Although I had to admit Luke didn't seem to be in any rush to tell his family he was going to be a father again but I was sure that in the next few weeks he would share our big news.

  Poor Liv looked stricken with guilt. "I'm so sorry." Her voice trembled as she struggled to hold back tears. "I didn't realize it was a secret. I never would have said anything if I'd thought you hadn't told anyone yet."

  "I can't believe you told her and not us," Bettina said, gesturing toward Liv.

  "I didn't tell anyone," I protested.

  Janice fixed Liv with the kind of look that used to send her kids running to their rooms. "So how exactly did you know?"

  Liv gave a nervous shrug of her bony shoulders and remained silent.

  Janice and I exchanged glances.

  "A lucky guess?" I asked as another chill ran up my spine.

  "I didn't guess," she said. "I knew."

  "Trust me, honey," Janice said. "If we didn't know, you didn't know."

  "Janice is right," Lynette chimed in. "You couldn't possibly--"

  "I'd better go," Liv said and turned to leave at the same moment I moved closer to her. She stumbled and I reached out to steady her.

  I could feel the sizzle the second I made contact. Every neuron in my body registered the connection.

  And I knew I wasn't going to like what came next.

  "This baby brings danger," Liv Jensssen said and then she dropped to the floor like a rock.

  Chapter Two

  It was the longest ten seconds of my life but Liv's big blue eyes finally fluttered open and she looked around the room with a puzzled expression. "What happened?"

  "You dropped another bomb on Chloe and then you passed out again," Janice snapped. "Now tell us what the hell is going on."

  Liv looked from Janice to me and I saw nothing but bewilderment in her eyes. "I--I don't know what she's talking about, Chloe. I swear. You've got to believe me."

  Janice wasn't buying it. "Enough with the Miss Innocent act. I want answers."

  Liv didn't take her eyes from me. "Please tell me what I said. I'd never do anything to hurt you. I wouldn't hurt anyone."

  I shook my head. I refused to repeat her dire prediction about the baby. Words had meaning that went far beyond the obvious and I wasn't about to put unseen forces into motion.

  Janice, however, had no problem with putting it out there again. "You said, 'This baby brings danger.'"

  "Oh my god..."

  "I think you owe Chloe an explanation," Lynette spoke up in her best stage voice.

  "I don't have an explanation," Liv said. "I don't know anything about her baby. I only know that she's having one."

  "Well, that's more than anyone else in town knew." Lynette refused to back down.

  Silently uttering a charm to keep my unborn child safe from harm I reached for Liv's hands. "It happened when you touched my belly," I said. "Do it again."

  She pulled away. "I don't think so."

  "I need to know what's going on," I said, sounding much calmer than I actually felt. "Let's see if it happens again."

  It did. I wasn't surprised. The air practically crackled with some weird energies.

  "Your daughter brings danger with her," Liv said, speaking as if from deep within a trance. "Beware the stranger in your midst." And, as before, the effort sent her into a faint.

  "Beware the stranger?" Janice rolled her eyes. "Hello. She is the stranger."

  "She knows you're having a girl," Bettina whispered. "How can she possibly know that?"

  Down through the centuries, descendants of Aerynn gave birth only once and the child was always a girl but it's not like Hobbs lore was common knowledge beyond the Sugar Maple town limits. We're not exactly the Kardashians.

  "There's no way she can know it," I said, my mind going in a thousand directions at once. "Unless--" I glanced over at Janice.

  "No," Janice said, shaking her head. "She isn't one of us. Absolutely not."

  "Maybe she is but doesn't realize it," Lynette said, ignoring Janice's snort of derision. "She could be a late bloomer like Chloe."

  "How could she not know she's magick?" Janice shot back. "What about family history?"

  I stared down at the silky red hand-knit scarf looped around Liv's neck. Every autumn we took time to knit red scarves for orphans aging out of the foster care system, an endeavor close to my heart. "Maybe she doesn't have any family to tell her," I said quietly. If Sorcha the Healer hadn't taken me under her wing after the tragic death of my parents, I wouldn't have known I was magick until the day it suddenly exploded all around me.

  "Shouldn't she be coming around?" Bettina asked. "She's just lying there..."

  Janice blew out an oversized sigh then began briskly rubbing the girl's wrists. "Get some coffee," she ordered Lynette. "And maybe one or two of those chocolate chunk cookies." She shot me a look. "The cookies are for you. You look like you're going to fall over next."

  I shook my head. "I'm fine."

  "You look like hell."

  "Morning sickness will do that to a girl," I said.

  "I can't believe I didn't recognize the symptoms. You've taken more cat naps the last few weeks than Penelope has." Penny is our shop cat and a Hobbs familiar who has been with us since Aerynn. She is also a world class sleeper but these days I could give her lessons.

  "What can I say, Jan? This is Sugar Maple. We know how to keep secrets around here."

  "How much do you want to bet your secret has spread all the way into the other dimensions by now?"

  "That's one of the reasons I
wanted to keep it quiet until I started to show. We're finally getting on good terms with the Fae. I didn't want to remind them that as long as the Hobbs line continues, Sugar Maple will be part of the human dimension." Even though things were finally peaceful between us, another Fae insurrection was always a possibility and we had to remain alert.

  "Here's the coffee," Bettina said, racing back into the main part of the shop, "though I don't know how you're going to get her to drink it."

  "She's coming around," Janice said. "She'll manage fine."

  Poor Liv looked so shaken that my heart went out to her. She gulped down the coffee and ate the cookies meant for me then stood up on wobbly fawn legs. "I'd better go," she said, searching around for her things. "It's getting late."

  "You're not going anywhere," Janice said firmly. "You're in no condition to get behind the wheel."

  "Jan's right," I said, aware that my own motives were more than a little self-serving. "You passed out cold twice within five minutes. We can't possibly let you go." And definitely not before we got some answers.

  "I didn't mean to--" She stopped and regrouped. "What I'm trying to say is this kind of thing happens all the time. I just . . . know things. I'm so sorry I told them about your baby but it's out of my control."

  "You also said my daughter would bring danger."

  Her already pale skin grew paler still. She opened her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I don't remember saying that."

  "Please, Liv," I begged. "You can imagine how I'm feeling right now. Please tell me what kind of danger my daughter brings." I angled my body between her and the exit. "I'm not angry. I just need to know."

  "I told you everything I know and now I want to go home."

  Bettina stepped forward. "Go an hour without falling on your face and we'll give back your car keys." I stared in astonishment as she dangled them from her forefinger.

  "You took her car keys?" Lynette's eyes were wide.

  Bettina shrugged. "Somebody had to."

  "Wow," Janice said.

  Who knew the gentle harpist had it in her?

  "What do you people want from me?" Liv demanded, her voice shrill and teetering on the edge of panic. "You can't keep me here against my will."