That Touch of Magic

by Lucy March

  He smiled. “You can’t expect me to give all my secrets away. It’ll kill the mystery in our relationship.” But even as he spoke, I could see a hint of doubt in his eyes: He didn’t know. That gave me what was probably my only advantage in this fight, so I changed the subject.

  “So, let me get this straight. You’re going to keep us dependent upon you to provide this stuff for a few months while you use us as lab rats until we all go crazy and die? Have I got that right?”

  “Not at all,” he said. “I will willingly give you the cure, in time.”

  I relaxed a bit at that, but I knew we were far from done here. “But not until you get what you want.”

  He gave me a small smile. “Yes.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “And what do you want?” He leaned forward and smiled lecherously at me, and I said, “Yeah, you’ll have to kill me before you get that again.”

  He laughed. “As much fun as our time together was, that’s not what I want from you.”

  “Yeah? What do you want, Desmond?” I said, my nerves zinging with tension.

  His eyes flickered up to meet mine.

  “All I want,” he said, simply, “is one.”

  Chapter 13

  My mouth went dry, and I swallowed, hard.

  “One what?”

  “One of you,” he said, “to go with me.”

  “Go with you? Go where?”

  “Back to Niagara Falls, to my lab. I’m so very close to gaining the data I need to publish, to prove what I have done, what I can do. I just need one subject with me who can control her magic and show it to the world.”

  “No,” I said, pushing myself out of the chair and backing up until my ass hit the radiator under the window. “You can’t have one of us. What are you, crazy? You dosed us all without our consent, and now you want one of us to be your lab monkey for the rest of her life? God, didn’t they teach you anything about free will? You do know those consequences come back to hurt the conjurer, right? That would be you, idiot.”

  “Rubbish,” he said, waving his hand as he stood up. “There are no magical consequences. What, do you actually believe there are little consequence elves who trace your actions back to you and take their pound of flesh? Really, Stacy. I expected more from you than silly superstition.”

  “I believe in right and wrong,” I said. “There are some things you just don’t do.”

  “Yes, well I believe in reality,” he said in a low growl, moving closer. “Those women sacrificed for a reason, and I won’t have that sacrifice rendered meaningless because some upstart bitch is having a crisis of conscience.”

  I flinched back a bit, and the dark aggression slowly left his face, as if by force of will. When he smiled again, his eyes were completely blank.

  “It’s not my intention to hurt you,” he said, his voice softer. “But this is my work, and I’ve given over everything that ever meant anything to me for this. I can’t stop now, no matter what. I will let you, your friends, and everything you love die if you thwart me on this. All I have to do is leave, disappear into the world, and you’ll never have your cure. And how many vials do you have left? Six? Seven?”

  I had seven. I’d counted them the last time I was in my shed. Apparently, so had Desmond.

  “Divided among four people … that won’t last long. At the rate your mother is going, she’ll use them all up before the more restrained of you needs her first dose. Or…” His eyes lit up, the emptiness gone as excitement and greed took over. Apparently, he was only sociopathic with regard to specific emotions. Sadness? Guilt? I tried to remember the specific times I’d seen his eyes deaden that way, and it was then that I realized he was still talking and I hadn’t been listening, so I snapped back to attention.

  “… in the long run, it will be worth the sacrifice,” he said. “The world will be forever changed.”

  “Right,” I said. “You’ll out magic, and scientists will descend on my friends wanting to cut their brains out. You know there’s a reason why magical people stay in the closet, right?”

  “It’s not like that anymore. We can study the human brain without making a single incision, without harming anyone. You needn’t worry. I will be kind to her. I will treat her like a queen. I will protect her. I will honor her. You have my word.”

  “Oh, good. The word of the man who raped her brain that he will honor the woman he abducts. All my worries are put to rest now.”

  He shrugged the comparison off. “I did what I did. It’s done. Now we simply need to move forward, working with what we have. One of you will go with me, or all of you will wither and die.”

  I let the radiator hold me up, unable to hear anything but the rapid beating of my heart as the bile rose in my throat. There were no choices here, and no way out. I was the one who’d started this whole mess in the first place by trusting Desmond, and even though the thought of subjecting myself to whatever he had in mind made me sick, this was my mess. I had to clean it up.

  “Fine,” I said, moving toward the door. “I’ll go pack my things. We leave in the morning.”

  “I’m touched,” he said, “but you’re not my first choice.”

  A sick feeling came over me, probably because I knew the answer even as I formed the question. “Who do you want?”

  “Why, the merry Widow, of course,” he said. “You give me your mother, and I give you the cure. Then we go on our happy way, and you save the world. Considering your feelings about your mother, it sounds like a win–win to me. If you play your cards right, you might never see her again.”

  I was surprised at how not mixed my feelings were on that. She was narcissistic and often cruel, and there were times when I wished she’d move away to Florida like Peach’s parents, but she was my mother. More than that, she was Nick’s mother, and no way in hell was I putting Nick through that.

  “The Widow isn’t mine to give away,” I said, “and she’s not yours to take.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Are we on the free-will thing again? What makes you think she wouldn’t want to go with me? She and I got on quite famously at the wedding.” His mouth curled up at one end in a cold smile. “She might jump at the chance to run off with a younger man.”

  “To be your lab rat? I don’t think so.”

  “If there’s resistance, that’s where you come in,” he said. “You know her better than anyone else. You convince her to go with me. I can see where it might be difficult for someone of your high moral fiber”—he said this with more than a hint of sarcasm—“to make this choice, but I do believe it’s an easy one. Everyone lives versus everyone dies.”

  “You son of a bitch,” I spat.

  He gave me a cool nod. “Based on the number of purple vials you have left, and the rate at which your mother will need them, I’d say you have about a week or so. Once your mother is in my custody and we have safely disappeared into the ether, I will provide you with cures for the remaining three. That is the deal. Take it or … well.” He met my eyes, and again, I saw nothing but blackness in his. “You have a few days to think about it. No action need be taken today, if that’s any comfort.”

  I stood there with my hand gripping the doorknob, my body shaking with fury and panic. “Before I go,” I said, releasing a breath, “I want you to know one thing.”

  He looked almost bored, the bastard. “And what is that?”

  I met his eyes, holding his gaze for a moment so he would see how serious I was. “You’ve made me very angry, and I think you should be warned. I can be really ugly when I’m angry.”

  He stood up and walked toward me, his eyes locked on mine. He was close, too close, by the time he stopped, raising one hand up to gently graze my cheek.

  “Ugly?” He chuckled. “How can someone as beautiful as you ever be ugly?”

  “Trust me.”

  His eyes grew heavy-lidded and his breath escaped in a slow vent of steam. The bastard was getting off on my fury.

  “Stacy Easter, how I do enj
oy you,” he said, and knocked on the door, his eyes still on mine. “Guard! My visitor is ready to go.”

  There was a click in the lock. I pulled on the knob and stepped out of the room, my legs wobbly beneath me, but I didn’t let them visibly buckle until Addie shut and ceremoniously locked the door behind me.

  “Honey?” Addie said, looking at me warily. “What did he do to you? You’re white as a ghost!”

  I took her by the elbow and walked her down the hallway. “Do you have any other guests here?”

  She shook her head. “They all cleared out after the wedding.”

  “You guys still have that apartment above the antique store, right?”

  Addie nodded, her face concerned. “Yes. Why?”

  “Pack some things. Plan on staying there for a while. I’ll pay for the empty rooms here, just until he’s gone. It’ll be…” I took a breath. “Six or seven days, at the most.”

  “Nonsense,” she said. “I can just kick him out—”

  “No,” I said. “At least here, I know where he is. I just don’t want you or Grace or anyone else near him.”

  Addie lowered her voice and leaned in. “You don’t need to worry about us. We’re tough old lesbians.” She moved down the hall and took a letter opener off the half-moon hall table. She tucked the tip of the blade under the top and wiggled it a bit, and then a hidden drawer popped open.

  “Oh, my God,” I said.

  “I know,” she whispered proudly, showing me the edge of the letter opener, which had some uneven serrations at the tip. “It’s a key.” She pointed to the stash inside the drawer and lowered her whisper even more. “I have pepper spray, Mace, throwing stars, and a tranq gun. He gets out of line, he’s gonna regret it.”

  I stared at her, unable to speak for a moment. “Wow.”

  “I look sweet, but seriously, you don’t wanna fuck with me.”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t think I do.”

  “I can stay here, keep an eye on him. It’ll be fun.”

  I glanced back at the room, then shook my head as I carefully shut the drawer. “Thanks anyway, but … think of it like termites. Just close up the place and go. Please. Promise me.”

  Addie nodded, eyes wide, then looked back at Desmond’s closed door. “He’s really that bad?” she whispered.

  “No,” I said. “He’s worse.”

  * * *

  An hour later, I walked into my mother’s hospital room, a purple vial filled with tea in my hand. Leo hopped up from the visitor’s chair when I walked in.

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  I ignored him, just moved toward my mother’s bed. He grabbed my wrist lightly, but I still winced as the pain shot up my arm. He released me immediately and looked at my wrist, which was blotched with purple.

  “Stacy…,” he said, his voice softer. “What happened?”

  “I went to see Desmond,” I said, and uncapped the vial. “Help me raise her up?”

  Leo did as I asked, his expression concerned, but to his credit, he remained quiet, allowing me to pay attention to what I was doing. He lifted her up and I tilted her head back and emptied the vial into her mouth. Absently, automatically, she swallowed. I capped the vial and nodded to Leo, who laid her back down on the bed.

  “She’ll be fine.” I put the empty vial back into my purse. “We just have to wait.”

  I started for the chairs, but Leo put his hands on my shoulders and turned me to face him. “You’re shaking.”

  “Still?” I let out a small laugh. “You’d think an hour in the car would take that down a notch.”

  “He hurt you.” Leo’s face was grave, and there was a dangerous light in his eyes. “What happened?”

  “I’ve got it under control,” I said, although I wasn’t at all sure that was true. I’d had some time to think, to come up with a plan, sort of. I needed more time, but I didn’t think I was going to get it.

  Leo led me to the chairs and we sat down. He turned his chair to face me and leaned forward to lightly take my hands in his.

  “What do you need?”

  I blinked in surprise. “What, no third degree about what happened? You’re not going to insist that I tell you everything so you can take action while I wait safely at home?”

  He met my eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on here. I’m so far out of my depth, I can’t even begin to see the surface of the water. All I can do is offer you … well, me. If I can help, just tell me what to do and it’s done.”

  I touched his face. “You are the best man I’ve ever known.”

  He let out a small laugh. “You obviously need to get out more.”

  “Shut up.” I leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “I love you. Whatever happens, I want you to know that.”

  A worried expression washed over his face, but before he could say anything, there was movement from the bed, and a moment later, the Widow spoke.

  “Where am I and what in God’s name am I wearing?”

  * * *

  They decided to keep the Widow overnight for observation, but by the time we left the hospital, she was in typical Widow form, enjoying the attention of the doctors and nurses and the many, many flowers and gifts that came flooding in, while also being horrified at the hospital gown she was being forced to endure. I hoped that indignity would be enough to keep her from glowing while she was still in the hospital, but there wasn’t much I could do about it, so I decided not to worry about it. Liv and Tobias returned to check on her again, and by the time visiting hours were over at eight, the Widow was happy. I didn’t tell Liv or Tobias or the Widow about anything that had happened with Desmond, and I kept the sleeve of my shirt pulled over my injured wrist. There was nothing anyone else could do, anyway.

  This one was on me.

  “We’ll be back to get you tomorrow,” I told the Widow as Leo and I were leaving. “But no funny stuff, okay? If you glow, they’re gonna keep you here longer. Possibly forever.”

  She crossed her finger over her heart just as a nurse came in with another floral arrangement. I was going to need to get the ’Bago driving again in order to transport all that crap from Buffalo to Nodaway, but that was tomorrow’s problem. I turned to wave once more before we left, but the Widow was so enthralled with her gifts, she didn’t notice.

  The ride home was long, and quiet. Leo tried to start a few conversations of idle chitchat, but I couldn’t keep up with it. I tried, but my mind would wander back to work on the problem with Desmond and I’d trail off mid-sentence. Eventually, Leo just allowed the silence and drove us back to the ’Bago while I stared off into the horizon, watching the sun set.

  It was dark when we got home. I took Leo by the hand and led him into the ’Bago. I made some coffee and told him every detail of what had happened with Desmond, leaving nothing out. Leo’s face grew stony over the course of my narration, and by the time I hit the end, there was nothing to give me any clue what he was thinking aside from the tiny light of fury in his eyes.

  “Okay,” he said after a while, staring down into the mug of coffee he’d let grow cold. “What’s the plan, then?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I haven’t quite gotten that figured out yet. But I do know the backup plan.”

  He raised his eyes to mine. “What’s the backup plan?”

  I hesitated a moment, knowing this wasn’t going to go over well. “Me.”

  Leo didn’t seem to react much. “What does that mean?”

  “It means … the one thing we have over Desmond is that we know how the magic evolves. It’s the emotional supply—”

  “No,” he said, his voice firm.

  “—and if I can develop my power—”

  “Out of the question. That’s what put your mother in the hospital, pushing that magic. And you only have enough vials to keep her going for a week. If both of you are pushing it—”

  “What else am I going to do?” I said. “I can’t give him my mother. I’m certainly no
t going to give him Clementine, or Ms. Troudt. I made this mess. It’s my job to clean it up.”

  “You think I’m going to let him just take you? Do you think there’s a universe in which that would ever, ever happen?”

  “I don’t think it’s your call,” I said, keeping my voice as even as I could.

  “Yeah, it is,” he said, slamming one hand on the table and pointing the other toward the door. “I’m your source. If I walk out that door—”

  “If you walk out that door, that monster takes my mother,” I said quietly.

  He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. He ran his hands through his hair and said, “I hate this.”

  “Me, too,” I said. “But right now, he’s how the four of us are going to stay alive, so let’s focus on that.”

  “Okay,” Leo said. “You’ve got some vials. You think there’s any way you could reverse-engineer that formula? Maybe buy us some more time?”

  I shook my head. “I’m nowhere near that level. There’s a friend of Liv’s, though, a guy named Cain. He’s a conjurer, the one who got me started. He’s smart, and he knows way more about this stuff than I do. He might be able to do that. Maybe.”

  Leo stared at me for a long time, then said, “You’ve thought this through, then.”

  “Yeah. But … that’s only a temporary solution. What we need is that cure.” I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. “Right now, I’ve got six vials left. I’ll have to give one to Cain to try to figure out what it is. If I push my magic, I’m going to end up needing to take some, too, and assuming we can keep Clementine and Ms. Troudt away from their sources, then we’ve got about three, maybe four days to figure out what we’re going to do before the Widow and I need more. And once we’re that desperate, the game is over. We’ve lost.”

  Leo was frozen so still, for a moment I wondered if he was even breathing. “We can’t lose.”

  I touched his arm. “We won’t.”

  “Yeah? You can guarantee that?”

  “No, Leo. Of course I can’t. We don’t know anything, and what we think we know could be wrong. But … fuck it. The world could get hit by an asteroid tomorrow. The super volcano could blow and make one big Pompeii out of North America. Aliens could land and destroy the White House.”