Cursed Brides and Alibis

by Amy Boyles

  “What do we do?” Reese whispered.

  “Tell the police to get over here,” I said. I pulled out my phone and dialed Thorne’s number. I’d hopefully have enough time to fix Mama’s power before Thorne arrived.

  Just as Thorne picked up, hard footsteps caught my attention.

  “He’s coming,” Reese said.

  The two of us darted into a flowering azalea. I glanced at my phone. Thorne had picked up, but I couldn’t talk to him, not now. What if Rots discovered me on the phone with him?

  That could end up disastrous.

  So I hung up.

  Rots strode over to the machine and caressed it. “My plan, my beautiful plan is all in place now. All because of you, my love,” he cooed into the breathing green gem.

  Oh no. Was Rots going to monologue right here and now?

  Rots fisted the air in victory. “My brilliant plan is now coming to fruition. Thanks to you, emerald flower, I will have all the power I need—all of it, and no one will ever be able to stop me again. No one will be able to tell me that Rots Smythe isn’t worthy. Once I finish sucking all the magic from Witch’s Forge, I’ll have everything I need to make the invincible wizard suit.”

  With that, Rots shook off his fur coat and revealed a black body suit constellated with white dots. Those dots were connected with white glowing lines.

  “Whoever wears this suit will discover they are invincible. I know the plan, my beauty,” he said to the stone, “was to sell it. But I may just want to keep this nugget for myself for a little while.”

  He flexed his fingers to the ceiling. “I enjoy the power. The rush of all the magic running through me. I can do anything! I am indestructible.”

  And with that, Lex Luthor picked up a rock and crushed it in his hand. Dust fell from his open palm.

  I gulped. Rots wasn’t only monologuing, he was full-on super villain insane.

  Okay. What to do? I couldn’t face off against Rots—not like he was, wearing his Superman suit and talking like a whack job. I also couldn’t do it with Reese here.

  She couldn’t get hurt. Not because of me.

  Had to think and fast. My mama and Rose could also come across Rots. Since Mama didn’t have her power, she was absolutely no match for this guy.

  Maybe the best thing to do would be for Reese and I to sneak out, and for me to call Thorne again. This time tell him what Rots had said.

  My gaze darted to him. Rots stroked the machine and kissed it.

  Ugh. Get a room, guy. But lucky for me, he was so busy caressing the machine that Rots wasn’t paying attention to anything else.

  Which meant Reese and I could escape.

  I tapped her wrist. Reese’s gaze flared to attention. I motioned that if we slid through the bushes as quietly as possible, we’d be able to get out and away.

  She nodded and we set out, moving at a snail’s pace until we were far enough away that Rots couldn’t hear or see us.

  I grabbed her hand. “Come on,” I whispered. “I need to call the police and tell them what’s going on.”

  I pulled out my phone, took one look behind me to make sure we weren’t being followed and dialed Thorne’s number once more.

  Chapter 22

  Thorne’s phone rang, but he didn’t answer.

  “Come on, Thorne. Come on, Thorne. Where’s a vampire when you need one?”

  I mean, honestly. Thorne was always around when I didn’t need him, and then the second time I call him to explain there’s an emergency afoot, he doesn’t answer.

  What sort of dumb luck was that?

  I glanced over my shoulder at her. “Come on, Reese. Let’s go see if we can find Mama.”

  I rounded a corner and hit a wall. Literally. My body bounced off a hard substance. I staggered back and shook the stars from my vision.

  “Ugh. What?”

  My head throbbed. I pressed my temple, hoping to calm the ache. It took a moment, but my gaze finally focused on Dash Borden.

  What was he doing here? My mind couldn’t quite put all the pieces together.

  Without thinking, I grabbed his hand. “Dash. You’ve got to get out of here. There’s someone dangerous up ahead.”

  Reese’s trembling voice wafted into my ear. “Charming?”

  Reese’s face filled with fright. Straight-up horror screamed from her eyes. I followed her gaze to see what had frightened her so much and realized her fear was fastened fast to Dash.

  He stared at me. “You okay, Charming?”

  After two unsuccessful tries, I finally completed the task Kimberly wanted me to do. I focused my attention on Dash and allowed my matchmaker magic to snake up his arm.

  From the look on Reese’s face, the odds were about 532,674 to 1 that Kimberly was Dash’s soul mate.

  An image bright as light, hot as fire and strong as iron flashed quick and sharp in my brain.

  In that moment I saw exactly who was Dash’s soul mate. Saw her bright and fierce.

  It wasn’t Kimberly.

  No, Kimberly wasn’t Dash Borden’s soul mate. The woman who held his heart was dead.

  Corley Duvall.

  I dropped Dash’s wrist like it had seared straight into my flesh. “You?” I said, trembling. “You killed Corley.”

  Dash’s expression darkened. His gaze snapped to Reese. “Had to bring her with you, didn’t you?”

  “It’s him.” Reese’s voice trembled. “David Ash.”

  He shook his head and sighed with disappointment. Dash pulled a pistol from behind him. “You two. Turn around and go back. This night’s not over yet.”

  Chapter 23

  “You’re not going to get away with this,” I hissed.

  Dash shoved the nose of the pistol into my back. “Sorry, but it looks like I already have.”

  He led us to Rots. So Reese and I were screwed. Completely. But I still hoped Mama and Rose would see us without getting caught and tell Thorne what was going on.

  My stomach knotted in fear. Yes, my mother and Rose could do it. They could save us and stop Rots and Dash’s evil plan.

  “Charming!”

  We’d reached the clearing where Rots had hidden the machine. My hopes turned to ashes when Rose shouted my name again.

  “Charming!”

  Rots had Mama and Rose at attention. He’d pulled the crystal from the large machine and strapped a smaller machine to his chest so that apparently he could be mobile in his evil machinations.

  Yay, us.

  “Well, what a happy reunion this is,” Mama said snidely.

  Rose adjusted Pig in her arms. “If we’d known you’d meet us here, Charming, we could’ve all just told each other to head here after we first arrived.”

  I nearly slapped my head in frustration. “Mama, Rose. Reese and I ran into Dash. I believe Reese recognized him from somewhere—like the train, for example.”

  Mama’s gaze swept from Dash to Reese. “Stop right there,” Dash commanded. “That’s far enough. Go stand beside the others.”

  Rose and Mama got a good look at the pistol then.

  “The two of y’all are lucky I don’t have my power right now,” Mama said. “Otherwise you’d be wishing you weren’t holding that gun.”

  Dash scratched his knuckles over the dark stubble sprinkled on his cheeks. “Is that so?”

  She nodded curtly.

  Rose, exasperated, stared at both men. “Would someone like to tell us what’s going on here?”

  Dash and Rots exchanged a glance. “Don’t tell them anything,” Rots said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Please. I already heard you monologuing about how you’re going all super villain and plan to rule the world.”

  Dash glared at Rots. “You told them about our plans? This is top secret.”

  Rots gestured toward me. “I didn’t tell her. She must’ve been hiding somewhere. These women have been bothering me for days. They broke into my house. I couldn’t prove it, and that vampire chief of police wouldn’t listen to me when I to
ld him.”

  Rots pointed at me. “He’s been sniffing around that one’s tail over there. So I’m not surprised.”

  I bristled. “What are you talking about? Thorne is not sniffing around my tail.”

  “Well actually, Charming,” Rose said. “He sort of was. I mean, if you count giving flowers sniffing, then he’s been sniffing around all our tails, but you got to have dinner with him.”

  “Quiet!” Dash scowled. “It’s bad enough the four of y’all are here, witnessing what we’re doing. At the most, I thought I’d only have to get rid of one of you.”

  I scoffed. “Which one of us was that?”

  Dash cocked his head, and Rots scurried into the bushes and dragged out Kimberly.

  I gasped. This had gone from bad to worse. It was one thing that Reese was involved. She had been willing. But Kimberly? I felt guilty about her being there as I stared at the fear shining in her eyes.

  If only I’d made sure to touch Dash sooner, I would’ve known everything.

  “I’m so sorry, Kimberly,” I said.

  Dash grabbed her by the arm and threw her into our cluster. “It won’t matter because soon the five of y’all will be dead, your magic taken.”

  “Wait a minute,” I protested. “Are you saying the machine is going to kill us? Because my mother touched it and all it did was take her power; it didn’t kill her.”

  Dash glared at me. “No. First we’re going to suck the power away; then I’m going to shoot you.” An evil smirk lit his face. “Feel better knowing the order of events?”

  “I do,” Rose said. “If I’m going to die, I always think it’s better to know exactly how it’s going to happen.”

  Had to stall the men. Had to figure out a way to get us out of here without Rots using that stupid machine. Would my power work on it?

  Dash took center stage as I thought through a plan. “If Reese hadn’t recognized me from the train, I might’ve let the two of you go. But I saw that expression on her face.” He pointed the gun on her. “You remember me, don’t you?”

  Her lower lip trembled. “Corley told me she was running from you. We saw you in the dining car. She was afraid of you.”

  He clutched his heart. “Corley Duvall, the one true love of my life. Sorry, Kimberly,” he said to her, “you’re cute and all, but you don’t compare to Corley. We met and fell in love. At first I was only pretending. I needed her to get into the Duvall’s vault and get the crystal so that Rots here”—he clasped the other man on the shoulder—“could create the device that’s going to make us rich beyond belief.”

  Dash tsked. “Of course, once I got the crystal and Corley discovered what I’d done, I had to stop her from telling anyone. Rots and I tracked her here. I tried to get to her on the train, but I couldn’t. She was staying around you too much,” he directed to Reese.

  “Really a shame. Just think,” Dash mused, “if I’d been able to kill Corley on the train like I planned, none of y’all would’ve been involved. We wouldn’t be standing here like we are now, and y’all wouldn’t be about to die.”

  “I still would be,” Kimberly sniffed. “You lied to me, Dash.”

  He shrugged as if leading a woman on and making her think he cared about her was no big deal. “Sorry, but that’s the way the dice rolls sometimes. I wish it wasn’t so, but that’s the way it is. And then of course I didn’t kill Corley on the train. Instead she thought that by pretending to be someone else she’d be safe. That she could just slip away into the great unknown with that stupid surfer guy.”

  He scoffed. “That didn’t exactly work out for her, did it? I still got her in the end with the poison.”

  Dash clapped the butt of his gun and sighed with pleasure. “But my friend Rots here has developed a device that will steal magic and put it into this suit. Anyone can use the suit, though we plan on selling it to other wizards or witches.”

  Here was my chance. I cocked a suspicious brow. “Really? That’s not what I heard. Rots said he planned on using the device himself.”

  Dash’s gaze snapped on mine, sharp and hard. “You’re lying.”

  Reese latched on. “No, she’s not. The two of us stood in those bushes and heard him say he was going to steal the suit for himself and become the world’s most powerful wizard.”

  Dash’s cheek twitched. He pinned his focus on Rots. “Is that true?”

  Rots shook his head, cowering. “Of course not. Why would I go against our plan? I’m only the person who created the technology, of course. Only the person who understands how the suit works. But why would I go behind your back when we can make billions? Plus, I can always make a new suit.”

  Dash glared at him with suspicion. “You’ve mentioned something like this before.”

  As Rots argued, Mama jerked her head, getting my attention. She nodded toward the device as if to say that all I had to do was shoot it from Rots and we’d be safe.

  But I figured I could do better than that. Perhaps I could destroy it and, by destroying it, give Mama back her power and save Witch’s Forge.

  A crystal was an earth stone. The counter to earth was air. If I focused all my air magic on that gem, I might be able to shatter it.

  I took a deep breath and called on the power of wind. I stared hard at the crystal, putting every cell of my attention on it.

  I could feel it vibrating, could hear it even.

  The crystal buzzed at a high, nearly ear-splitting octave.

  Rots broke away from his conversation with Dash. He stared down at the stone on his chest. “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t try to backtrack now,” Dash demanded.

  Rots grasped at the cage surrounding the crystal. “I’m not. Something’s happening.” His face twisted in fury. “It’s one of them!” He focused his glare on us. “They’re trying to destroy it!”

  Sweat poured down my face.

  Dash aimed the pistol on us. “They’re not going to get far.”

  This was it. The one moment I had before Dash started shooting. I flared out my arms.

  Dash directed the gun on me.

  A surge of power flew from my hands.

  I heard the hammer pull back.

  The crystal shattered into a thousand pieces.

  The bullet exploded from the gun.

  Bullets travel fast, y’all. So quick you can’t see them. But something happened in that moment. It may have been because of the amount of air magic I used. I wasn’t sure.

  But the one thing I was certain of was that I could see the bullet heading straight toward me.

  It would hit my chest. I would die.

  In another breath, the bullet was careening to the side, away from me.

  My jaw dropped and I looked around to see my mother give me a satisfied grin. “It’s good to have my powers back.” She pointed a finger at two Venus flytraps behind Rots and Dash.

  “Wrap those two up,” she said.

  Quick as mercury, the plants coiled around the wizards, wrapping them in a tight embrace.

  “It’s good to have a little earth magic,” Mama cooed.

  I agreed.

  Just then a siren split the night. “Thorne,” I exclaimed. “He must’ve tracked where I called him from.”

  Mama’s eyes flared. “We broke into the gardens. We can’t be found here.” She cringed. “Charming, why did you call him?”

  “I was going to tell him I’d received a tip about the machine. We have to get out of here.”

  Kimberly picked up the gun Dash had dropped and sauntered over. “Y’all go on. I’ll watch these two. I’ll tell the officers everything when they arrive, but be sure to leave y’all out of it.”

  It was perfect. The four of us could disappear and Kimberly, who’d been taken hostage by Dash, could explain everything and conveniently omit me and my family from her story.

  I shot Mama and Rose a look. “What do y’all think?”

  “Well,” Rose said, “Pig didn’t poop anywhere, so it might work.”
/>
  Mama nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “We can’t forget Broom.” I gave Kimberly a squeeze. “Are you sure you can do this?”

  She shot Dash a dirty look. “Oh, I’ll be glad to watch them. For as bad as that sucker stole my heart, I won’t hesitate to shoot at the first sign that he thinks he’s going to escape.”

  “But baby,” Dash pleaded. “It was all a joke. I care about you. All that I said about Corley was a lie.”

  Kimberly cocked the gun. “Sure it was.”

  “Charming,” Mama said impatiently. “We’ve got to leave.”

  I gave the scene one final look and, satisfied that the men were safely stowed until the vampires showed up, which would be any second now, I left.

  “I’m pretty sure that Thorne knows my scent,” Rose said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he arrives because he smelled me out.”

  The four of us sat in the kitchen, hunching over cups of coffee.

  She was right. Thorne would smell us out. I cringed. I only prayed I wasn’t in too much trouble for breaking and entering.

  The doorbell rang. Reese, Rose and I froze.

  Mama rose proudly. “I’ll get it.”

  My nerve endings were frayed. I stared at the brown coffee, my stomach knotted into a pretzel.

  I heard the door open. A moment later Mama announced, “Reese, it’s for you.”

  We all shot each other confused looks. Reese slowly stood. “Coming.” She glanced at me. “Who do you think it is?”

  I shrugged. “No clue.”

  But as soon as she exited the kitchen and reached the door, Reese said, “Jamison!”

  The door shut as the two of them stepped outside, into the beautiful late summer night.

  Reese had been gone no less than maybe a minute when the doorbell rang again. My shoulders tightened. Thorne had arrived, ready to rip us a new one.

  I rose this time. “I’ll get it.”

  Mama’s face filled with concern. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. “I am. It’ll be fine. What’s the worst that could happen? We wind up in jail?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  I grimaced. “Well, I guess I’ll take that chance.”