by Amy Boyles
“Yes. Do you have more information?”
“I’ll give you a name—the name of the man she may have run off with, but according to the parents, they weren’t sure if Corley was running away with him or away from him.”
So it was as I suspected. “Okay. What’s his name?”
I jotted it down and hung up the phone. I found Mama and Rose in the kitchen eating lunch.
“Rots moved the machine,” I said, strolling in.
Rose dropped a slice of what looked like bacon into Pig’s mouth.
“Are you feeding Pig, pig?”
“For heaven’s sake, of course not, Charming,” Rose said, clutching her pearls. Literally. She wore a strand around her neck. “I would never expect Pig to be a carnivore. This is turkey bacon.” Rose grinned at Pig and spoke in a baby voice. “I wouldn’t feed you your kin, would I? No I wouldn’t.”
I rolled my eyes. “Air witches and earth witches are reporting their magic screwing up.”
Mama tapped her mouth. “You’re right, Charming. He’s moved the device to somewhere more central.”
I dropped onto a chair and draped my feet over the seat of an empty one beside me. “That’s what I think, too. Oh, and someone from Duvall’s called. They mentioned something about a burglary, which I’m thinking must’ve happened just before Corley left town. Oh”—I smiled widely—“and I got the name of the man Corley was involved with.”
Mama’s eyes widened. “What is it?”
“David Ash.”
She tapped her chin, thinking. “I can’t say the name is familiar to me, but I can say the first thing we need to do is get a map, find the center of town and investigate. I don’t see as how we have another choice.”
“Agreed.” I plucked an olive from her plate and popped it into my mouth. Wow. Did I love the salty brine from an olive.
“But there’s something we need to discuss first.”
Mama spoke after taking a large bite of BLT. “What would that be?”
I leaned forward and licked my lips. “Why you’ve never explained to me why you have earth magic.”
Her mouth buttoned shut. She plucked a limp lettuce leaf from her sandwich and dropped it onto her plate. “I’ve already told you you’re wrong on that. I don’t have earth magic.”
I folded my arms. “Oh no. You’re not going to get out of it.”
She brushed her hands and took a big gulp of tea. “The big deal is that some people believe having more than one type of power is a sign of evil. Especially in more secluded areas. If you are a witch with a bit of earth power and then suddenly you ended up with water magic, folks tend to think you’re either making deals with the devil or you are part devil.”
I rubbed my temples. Not only had the crowd from earlier thought me a freak, but their belief that I was behind the power sucking also made perfect sense.
“So you kept this from me out of shame,” I said.
She hiked a shoulder. “Shame seems like such a nasty way to put it.”
“But it’s true.” I shook my head. “I don’t think you should be ashamed about that.”
“It’s not very much power.” She flipped her wrist in dismissal. “So it’s not as if it was ever going to rock the world.”
I snatched a slice of bacon from a plate and munched on it while I thought. “Have you ever considered that maybe my powers could have come from you?”
Mama tucked a long red strand of hair behind one ear. “No. Not the way they’ve manifested. There’s no way. They arrived so suddenly, and after Pig and Broom worked a little bit of magic on their own.”
Mama’s eyes bulged. “You haven’t accepted another gift, have you?”
I waved her away. “No, of course not. We both know that’s wrong.”
“You did accept those flowers from Thorne,” Rose said cheerfully, “but of course you gave those back.”
I sighed. “Ah yes. Thorne.”
Mama delicately wiped crumbs from her mouth. “I’m sorry your date didn’t go well.”
“Charming, you didn’t go to bed with him, did you?” Rose asked, her face washed in envy.
I rolled my eyes. “No. Of course not.”
“That’s good, because if things don’t go well with y’all, I’ll finally have my shot at him.”
I smiled, knowing Rose was half kidding, half serious. “No. Maybe I can grow up because of all this.”
“Cheer up, Charming,” Mama said. “This man—well, vampire—has probably had decades to mature. He’s seen more than we have, and he doesn’t have time for pettiness.”
I considered that. She was right. I had other things to figure out like how to release Reese from her spell and find where Rots had hidden his stupid magical device that was sucking the magic from a town that had just found its power again.
Ugh. What a mess.
“Don’t worry, Charming,” Rose said soothingly. “You’ll find love when you’re supposed to. After all, consider yourself lucky. In the olden days a lot of witches found a husband and once they had a child, she killed him.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Rose tapped her chin. “Or was that the black widow?”
I nodded. “Pretty sure it was the black widow, Rose.”
“You’re probably right.”
My gaze washed over my mom and great-aunt. “So tonight? We go looking for Rots?”
Mama nodded. “Tonight. See if you can dig up a map of the town.”
I nodded. “Will do.” A mischievous grin split my face. “I know just who to ask.”
When I reached my bedroom, I spread out my hands and said, “House, I need a map of Witch’s Forge. You can delete all the shops. Well, maybe just the pancake houses because there are a thousand of them. Do you have something like that?”
A grating noise erupted from the air vent. It sounded like someone slicing steel. I cupped my ears and gritted my teeth. The noise was worse than a thousand nails scratching down a chalkboard.
Yes, it was that bad.
A moment later the air vent opened and out shot a rolled document. I caught it one-handed and opened it on a table.
“Oh, this is perfect, House. Thank you.”
I headed back downstairs where I found Mama and Rose now with Reese.
“Got the map.”
Mama cleared space on a table. “Great. Let’s take a look.”
We unrolled the map, and the three of us peered over it. “Luckily,” I said, “it’s divided into the main strip and the four smaller towns of Air, Water, Earth and Fire.”
“Mmm,” Mama said. “With Main Street literally parting the town in two, this shows that the very center of town is here.” She jabbed her finger on the page. “Right back at the botanical gardens.”
I considered it. “Is that right? Would all four magics be affected if that was the case? And why isn’t my magic being affected?”
“Maybe that has something to do with this house,” Rose mused. “I don’t feel like my magic is waning, either.”
I tapped my finger on the paper, considering. “Are we right? The witches I saw affected were air and earth. We know that Rots had the device in Water Town. I’d just come from Fire Town before I ran into the angry mob.”
“What angry mob?” Mama said.
I ignored her. “Fire Town wasn’t affected yet. At least my friend didn’t seem to notice any problems.”
Mama chewed her lip. “We have to assume that whatever Rots is doing, it will affect all witches. I say we return to the botanical gardens. See what’s there.”
I wasn’t sure it was the right spot, but I agreed. We set tentative plans to go after dinner and I had a bit more to do before then, so I left the house, determined to meet a few more witches and see if I could find their matches and get them hitched.
The odds, I calculated, were 134 to 1 that I would bump into someone I could match.
Actually, really they were more like 25 to 1. Witch’s Forge
was filled to the brim with single folks, which meant that technically it was matchmaker heaven.
I’d just left the house, keeping a sharp eye on any potential mobs ready to ambush me, when I bumped into Kimberly Peterson. She jogged down the street. Her ponytail swung, and her thighs looked amazing in leggings.
“Kimberly.” I waved.
She stopped running, smiled and waved.
“I’m sorry about last night. I tried to grab Dash’s hand, but then Rots came in and everything was a mess.”
She nodded. Her usually lively expression was nowhere in sight.
“Kimberly?”
She smiled brightly, but I knew something lay beneath the surface. She was upset about something.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
I cocked my head and shot her a sympathetic look. “Are you sure? You look upset.”
She exhaled. Her shoulders slumped. “It’s just I feel like there’s something wrong with my relationship to Dash.”
“What do you mean?”
“He doesn’t seem as interested in me as he did when he first arrived,” she whined.
Though I was tempted to ask her a rather private question about how far she and Dash had pushed their relationship, I let it go.
I rubbed her shoulder. “Maybe I can help. Why don’t you tell me where he is and I’ll see what I can do?”
She immediately brightened to shining. “Really?”
“Absolutely. I’m glad to help.”
She explained where Dash had set up a temporary office, and I figured since I didn’t have anything else to do, I might as well pay him a visit.
The small strip mall where Dash had his headquarters was stationed between a pizza place called Hyper Mushroom and an ice cream shop called Witch’s Forge Creamery.
I entered the glass doors and found a secretary behind a desk.
“I’m here to see Dash Borden.”
“He isn’t here right now,” she informed me in a crisp voice.
Knowing she wouldn’t tell me anything if she thought I was someone off the street, I said, “Oh, we had an appointment. I must’ve gotten the location wrong. Can you tell me where to find him?”
The secretary flipped through a book. “Yes, Mr. Borden is at Witch Greenery.”
I frowned. “What’s that?”
She looked at me as if I couldn’t find my way out of a paper sack without a rope. “It’s the restaurant at the botanical gardens.”
An alarm flared in my head, but I ignored it. Surely there wasn’t any sort of connection between Rots and the device and Dash. That would be way too strange.
I thanked her and left, heading toward the botanical gardens.
Somehow with everything that had happened, the day had vanished quickly. The sun burned down the horizon as I drove through the gates of the gardens.
Tall, scary-looking Venus flytraps greeted me along with willowy trees that reminded me of fairies suspended in air.
I found a parking spot and wound my way to the inside of the garden, where I spotted the restaurant.
I saw Dash at a table and quickly came up with a plan to approach. After watching him for a moment, I realized he was speaking with someone.
Well, I wouldn’t let that deter me. Not for the sake of who Kimberly believed to be her true love.
I threaded through the tables, made eye contact with Dash and smiled. I had nearly stumbled into his table when I noticed his dining partner was none other than Rots Smythe.
My heart stuttered in my chest. Rots glanced up in time to see me heading straight toward them.
Chapter 19
Before Rots could say anything, I dashed out of the restaurant, my heart hammering against my chest.
When I was out of sight, I threw my back against the wall and inhaled deep mouthfuls of air.
Had to settle my nerves. Had to calm my thundering heart, my heaving lungs.
After a few minutes I got ahold of myself and left. My hands trembled as I drove home.
Were Rots and Dash in on whatever was happening with the magic? Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe I was being foolish. Had my imagination gotten the better of me?
Perhaps it was all a coincidence. Dash had arrived in town to invest in projects. Maybe he was just investing in Rots’s insane project to suck the magic from the place.
I stopped at a red light and dropped my forehead to the steering wheel.
I yearned to rush to Thorne and let him know, but the idea was so harebrained Thorne would probably kick me out of his office.
No. I couldn’t turn to him. I reached the house a few minutes later and yelled, “Mama! Rose!”
No one answered. The only thing in the house was Broom. It greeted me by brushing the dirt from my path.
“Thanks, Broom.”
Not having anyone to talk to and not wanting to talk to myself—Broom didn’t count—I traipsed into the magic room and threw myself onto a chair.
I watched the gentle rise and fall of Reese’s chest. My brain filled with so many questions, so much ache over the past day.
“I feel like a failure,” I murmured. “It’s stupid, I know. Why should I feel this way? Why should I care that some menacing vampire doesn’t think me fit to kiss?”
I raked both sets of fingers through my hair. “Why the heck does it bother me so much? Maybe because I’ve never really had to deal with my own issues before. I lived in the world of humans, primarily, before coming here. When I met him, I thought he was a brute, someone I couldn’t trust.”
I scoffed. “Not that I’ve spent a great deal of time with Thorne or anything, but I’ve realized in the past few weeks that he is gentle. And caring. Two things I never expected to say about a bloodsucker.”
I laughed bitterly. “See? I can’t even use the right term. I still call him a vicious slang term—bloodsucker.”
My gaze drifted to the still woman spread out on the table. “You know, you have it good. In here, you don’t have to deal with all the crap outside. All the stupid stuff. You can sleep, and hopefully when you awaken, everything will all be worked out for you. At least I hope so.”
My mind wandered back to Thorne. “I guess that’s why I was so wounded when he told me I was too raw to kiss. That I hadn’t dealt with my feelings. How is that even fair? So I decided to be nice to him. Well, that backfired, too. I was being all nice, and then I asked him about his past. About a woman he loved who died. And the thing is, I think Thorne is the one who killed her. But I also get the sense that he wouldn’t do anything like that unless he had no choice. I feel that in my bones.
“And you know what? That makes me want to get to know him more. A few weeks ago I would’ve said, ‘See? He’s just another bloodsucker.’ But now I know there’s more to him, and I want to know that more inside there.”
I shut my eyes tight, trying to shove away the world. “I think that’s what bothers me so much. I haven’t met someone in years that I like—okay, maybe ever. When I do, I screw it up, and now he’s not interested. I mean—maybe that’s not completely true, but it feels that way. It seems that every time I try to be nice or do the right thing, I screw it up.”
Reese’s chest continued to rise and fall slowly. “And the thing is, when you get to know someone, you learn their secrets—vampire or not. I’ve shared things with him I wouldn’t tell just anybody, and I’ve pushed him to explain things to me.”
I gritted my teeth and exhaled. “But maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.” A wobbly smile sprouted on my face. “I mean, that’s okay. It’s fine. I need to focus on my career anyway. No point in getting tangled up in someone who might kill me in my sleep.”
My laugh echoed bitterness, and for the first time in my life I realized what I had been missing—flowers and hand holding and all that fun stuff.
I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes and sighed. “Oh well. It’ll all work out. Won’t it, Reese?”
Her chest rose and fell in its same r
hythm. I stood and stretched, feeling better after having vomited all my thoughts out to her.
As I moved to walk away, a quiet shuffle caught my attention. I glanced at Broom, who’d been hovering in a corner. Broom bobbed up and down as if to say, It wasn’t me.
I glanced at Reese. Her eyelids fluttered. No, it couldn’t be. I rushed to her side and stared at the expressionless face trapped in sleep.
Her lids fluttered again.
Then her lips parted.
What? Was she waking? Had my stupid confessional broke the spell?
Her cheek twitched, her lids flittered like butterfly wings and hope soared in me.
“Reese,” I whispered. “Are you there?”
After a couple more moments her eyes opened wide. Eyes blue as an indigo bunting peered at me. Her lips parted into a slow smile.
Glee, absolute glee filled me. I fisted my hands, willing Reese to start talking.
Finally she did. “Charming—it is Charming, isn’t it?”
I nodded eagerly.
She yawned and blinked. “Wow. I feel well rested. How long have I been asleep?”
I beamed. “Funny thing about that. Let me tell you a little story.”
Chapter 20
Mama and Rose returned a little while later. Needless to say, they were elated about Reese.
We set her up in the parlor and filled trays of food, laying them out so that she could pick and choose what she wanted to eat.
I mean, after having been spelled in slumber for days, I figured the woman must be starving.
“Reese,” Mama cooed, “tell us about the train and meeting Corley.”
Reese peered around the room. “Is Jamison not here?”
I cringed. Crap. We should tell him. Thorne should be here, too, to take her statement.
My gaze met Mama’s, and I jerked my head for us to talk in the hallway.
“We can’t talk to her until Thorne and Jamison are here,” I whispered. “Thorne would kill us if we questioned his witness without telling him.”
Mama smirked. “Very well. Call both and let them know.”
