Spandex, Spells and Shadows

by Melinda Chase

  Before I could make my move, though, I felt a weird, semi-familiar tugging in my chest. Then, completely against my will, my body started to drag across the slick cave floor, crawling closer and closer to John Luther with every passing second.

  I remembered this. Hunter had used this magic on me when he’d thought I was the fae killer.

  “No!” I gasped, struggling.

  Fear overtook me, and I felt my magic switch off like a light, disappearing from my fingertips and falling away from me.

  “Shannon!” Hunter’s murderous growled followed my name. I struggled and pulled, trying to get away from the spell, but it was impossible.

  Suddenly, a pair of strong hands grabbed my shoulder and yanked me backward, fighting with me against the spell. I pushed and pulled with Hunter, and both of us took slow steps toward the gaping black hole, trying to get away.

  But the force was too strong. We’d never make it in time. I could already see the portal growing smaller and smaller by the second.

  “You have to go,” I whispered into Hunter’s gray eyes. “Leave me behind. Save yourself.”

  “No.” He gritted out. “I didn’t come all this way to leave you here. Keep pushing, Shannon. Call up your magic.”

  “I can’t.” I hated the whine in my voice, the way I was almost pleading with him to leave me to certain death. But I couldn’t stand the thought of him dying, too. Which is precisely what I knew would happen if he stayed with me.

  “I’m. Not. Leaving. You.”

  The gruff determination in his voice managed to light a fire under me. If I wasn’t fighting for myself, I was fighting for Hunter.

  I swung my gaze over to John Luther, who was already wearing a prideful smirk, as if he’d won.

  “No way,” I murmured.

  Something inside of me took over then. It was my magic, but it wasn’t working on its own. It was as if my subconscious self knew what to do, and she rose to the surface to win this fight, just as she had done when the fae woman had attacked me, the very first time I’d ever accessed my magic.

  With a mighty scream, I let my internal force loose. It cut through the magical lasso John Luther had forced around me, springing me free from his grasp.

  And then Hunter and I fell backwards into complete and total darkness.

  19

  Swirling black enveloped me, pressing down on all sides as I swung about, turning over and over in the black. I was just vaguely aware that I was even conscious. Everything was so hazy, and my lower stomach felt like it was on fire.

  And then I was falling. I slammed down on damp, hard earth. The wind was completely knocked out of me, and I gasped for a few seconds. My body clicked into overdrive and my synapses ceased firing while the rest of me attempted to survive.

  That pain in my stomach was growing stronger, until it burst up into my lungs like a bomb.

  “Sanare!” Marcella’s voice yelled out above me. I was engulfed by a flash of white light, and then the pain in my stomach disappeared completely.

  I was still in a slight daze, but it started to fade away as I sat up and looked around.

  We were back in the meadow near home. Thank God. John Luther and the rest of the hunters were nowhere to be seen.

  I was safe.

  Hunter and Tanya were safe, too.

  I managed to sit up, and Mom and Grams both rushed to my side.

  “Are you alright?” Mom demanded. “What happened?”

  “We rescued Tanya,” I pointed out, gesturing toward the brunette, who looked like she was still recovering herself.

  “Thank you for that information,” Grams rolled her eyes. “Because Lord knows we weren’t able to see it ourselves. What else happened? Who is that?”

  I followed her finger to see the old elf as he stood up cautiously, his arms outstretched to take in the space around him.

  “That is a long story,” I sighed. “He’s a friend of Grandfather’s, apparently.”

  Grams gasped, slapping her hands across her mouth. Her eyes went watery, and she turned to look at the old elf.

  “He’s an elf,” she murmured.

  “Yep.” I nodded.

  “He’s an elf!” She shrieked again.

  The old man turned to follow the sound of her voice, and a tiny smile ghosted across his lips. But it was quickly followed by a grimace as he clutched a hand to his chest. His knees buckled beneath him, and he started to sway. The old elf was just about to hit the ground when Tanya leaped forward and managed to catch him.

  “Inside,” Mom gasped. “Get him inside.”

  “Good idea,” Marcella murmured. “We need to get behind the cloaking spell and away from prying eyes.”

  Mom and Tanya helped the half-conscious old man inside, bringing him into the living room where they laid him on the couch.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I asked nervously.

  “I’m not sure,” Mom murmured.

  The elf was in and out of consciousness for the next hour, while Tanya, Hunter, and I relayed to the other witches the details of our journey into the land of the hunters. Every once in a while, the old elf would stir and mutter something incoherent, but for the most part, he seemed completely out of it.

  Tanya thought we should bring him to a hospital, until we explained just why that was an absolutely terrible idea. For one thing, human doctors had no idea how to treat an elf patient. For another, they wouldn’t even know he was an elf, which meant that if he just so happened to need surgery, or something equally invasive, they’d probably catch on to the fact that he wasn’t normal pretty quickly.

  Like when his blood was a dark, forest green, as Hunter pointed out.

  “Are you sure you don’t know him?” I asked Grams for what was probably the millionth time.

  “No,” she shook her head, for what was also the millionth time. “I didn’t even know what your grandfather was until he was already gone. He didn’t introduce me to any of his friends. Even the colleagues I’d met at his job weren’t real. They were just the product of a spell.”

  We were standing in the opening to the living room and watching the old elf as he slept, though not very restlessly. My guess was that he’d had a heart attack, probably brought on by the immense stress of that jailbreak. I’d almost been sure I was about to have a heart attack, for that matter.

  “Tell me again what he said?” Grams murmured.

  “Nothing much,” I sighed. “Just that he knew Laslow and had heard rumors of a child and grandchild. I think he knows who I am, though.”

  “What gives you that idea?”

  “The way he was looking at me,” I shrugged. “He just had this sort of… all-knowing look. Like Dumbledore.”

  “You know I refused to read those books,” Grams pointed out.

  “Are we having a secret pow-wow?” Marcella whispered, coming up behind Grams and I and slinging her arms around the back of our necks.

  “Yes, we are,” Grams nodded. “And you’re not invited.”

  She not so subtly shifted away from Marcella’s grip, making it clear she had still not forgiven the witch for the abrupt way she’d left.

  “Oh, come on, Adora,” Marcella groaned. “How long are you gonna be mad at me for?”

  “As long as I feel like it.”

  “Well, that’s not fair,” Marcella pouted. “Especially when I tell you what I was doing while I was away.”

  That got Grams’ attention. She lifted an eyebrow and glanced over her shoulder at her friend.

  “And what was that, precisely?” She demanded.

  “Forgive me first.”

  “Not happening.”

  “Then you don’t get to know.” Marcella shrugged and started to flounce away.

  “That woman is absolutely infuriating,” Grams hissed in my ear.

  “Oh, Shannon, your friend is leaving,” Marcella called out, gesturing toward the door.

  “Hunter?” I called, dashing down the hallway with far too much urgency. It wasn�
�t like he was abandoning me, after all.

  As luck would have it, Hunter wasn’t the one standing at the door. Instead, Tanya was there, pacing in the little entryway with her arms crossed and her lips set in a very thin line.

  “Tanya, you’re leaving?” I asked as I approached.

  “Oh, yeah,” she nodded. “I just wanted to say goodbye first.”

  I stopped a foot away and squinted at her, debating whether or not I thought she was about to run for good.

  “You have a lot to learn, you know,” I told her. “I’m happy to teach you. Well, actually, I’d probably be learning right alongside you. But, I’m sure Mom and Grams would love to have another student attend their little magic school.”

  “I’m not ditching this, Shannon,” Tanya chuckled. “So you can stop with the worried offers. I promise, I don’t plan to just up and disappear.”

  “Oh,” I replied sheepishly, kicking my foot against the wooden floor. “Good. I was worried you might not want to be a part of this world, after what happened today.”

  “I considered it, that’s for sure,” she laughed, tossing her brown hair back off her shoulders. “But then I realized that I am a part of this world, whether I like it or not. The truth is, that monster that killed my mom wasn’t aiming for her. It wanted me. I’ve known since I was thirteen that there’s some sort of power inside of me. I just didn’t want to admit it until now. So, I suppose I owe you my thanks.”

  Tanya bit her lip and shrugged a bit, making it clear that gratitude was a new emotion for her. Suddenly, I felt terrible for my friend. She’d probably never had anyone to rely on before.

  “I should thank you, too,” I told her, pulling her in for a quick hug.

  “Why?”

  “Because you reminded me I can be friends with people who don’t share my last name,” I laughed.

  “Good reminder,” Tanya chuckled.

  We stood there for another long moment, each one mulling over whether there was anything else we thought needed to be said.

  There wasn’t. We’d see each other again, possibly even the next day. This wasn’t a fleeting friendship we’d formed today. Rather, this was a deep, lifelong bond.

  Which was good. Because it seemed like she and I had a heck of a long life to go.

  “Bye,” I murmured as Tanya left. Mom had called her an Uber, and I waited until she was safely inside before I turned away.

  Hunter was right there in front of me. He’d crept up, silent as a ghost. I had no idea how long he’d been watching for. I almost wanted to be mad, but the devilish grin on his face made that pretty darn hard.

  “Are you stalking me?” I teased.

  “Kind of hard to stalk a woman in her own house,” he pointed out.

  “Touché,” I nodded. “I have to give you that one.”

  Hunter returned my smile, and the two of us fell into a slightly tense silence. There was so much to say, and yet, neither of us really wanted to say it just yet. I don’t think we were ready.

  “I should go, too,” Hunter finally said.

  “Oh, right,” I nodded. “Back to the hotel?”

  The question was subtle, I hoped. I just needed to know whether or not Hunter planned to leave town. Maybe he had bigger plans for his new mortal life. Plans that didn’t involve running from magical creatures with absolutely no way to defend himself.

  “Actually, no, I’m not going back to the hotel,” he replied.

  I tried not to show it, but my heart sank. I was sure the disappointment was clear on my face, but I couldn’t find the strength to shove it back down into its little box.

  Just when I’d finally thought Hunter and I were getting somewhere.

  “I rented a house,” Hunter said suddenly. I looked up at him in absolute shock. Even when he’d been lying about his identity, Hunter had always made Portland seem like a temporary thing.

  “You really want to stay?” I asked, just to be sure.

  “I do.” He nodded, stepping closer to me and staring into my eyes.

  Hunter’s gray eyes were so expressive. I could see everything he was thinking and feeling in them. And some days, I could see more than that. Sometimes, I could see the things he wanted to think and feel.

  Like right now.

  He wanted to kiss me. And I desperately wanted to kiss him.

  “I’m glad,” I murmured, taking my own step toward him and making it clear I was open for whatever glorious kiss he wanted to wrap me up in. I just knew that any kiss from Hunter would be absolutely earth-shattering.

  But, in true Hunter fashion, he didn’t do what I expected. Instead of planting one on me, he leaned down and pecked my forehead before sweeping past me toward the door.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Shannon,” he said as he left. “When we’ve had some sleep and settled down.”

  It was only after he left that I realized he was probably referring to my hands, which still hadn’t stopped shaking from the adrenaline.

  Still, Hunter’s promise of tomorrow was enough to let me go to bed happy. Or, as happy as a woman like me could have been considering the horror fest the rest of my life was turning out to be.

  I didn’t think I needed love to be happy, and I definitely didn’t think that loving Hunter would somehow solve all of my problems.

  But I did think that it might make my life a little easier. Things were always better when I could turn to someone at night, look in their eyes, and silently lament about the day we’d both had.

  I passed the old elf’s sleeping form in the living, and could just barely make out the outline of my mom’s shape. She was asleep in her favorite rocking chair, probably too worried about the elf dying in the middle of the night to sleep in her own bed.

  Grams and Marcella were already asleep, and Lemon Drop had gone home long ago. I was the only one awake in the entire house.

  Despite my best efforts, slivers of the terror crept their way into my dreams. I may have ended the day on a good note, but there was only one thing I knew for sure:

  There was a heck of a lot more to come.

  20

  Laslow

  The waning purple moon sat high in the sky, lighting the field beyond my prison cell in a wondrous shade of lavender. I couldn’t help but think that, had Adora been with me then, she would have gasped in delight at the gorgeous color.

  Of course, I was more than glad that my darling angel wasn’t occupying the tiny little cell with me, nor any of the surrounding ones.

  Sixty-five years. That was how long it had been since I had seen her. Sixty-five long years. For me at least. For Adora, they had probably passed quickly. Humans always felt that their lives went by in the blink of an eye.

  I hoped she was happy. Over the years, I’d made stories up about how she was doing, who she was with, and what her life looked like. It was oddly comforting for me to imagine her with someone else.

  A businessman, maybe. Portland had been full of them when I’d met her. A good man with a good job, who could bring home a good wage. I just wanted her to be comfortable. Of course, I knew Adora had never much cared for the comforts of the modern world, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t want them for her. She didn’t even know what she’d wanted- that was the truth.

  Her husband’s name was Pete. I’d chosen it because it was a name I’d heard often when I was exploring the world of humans.

  Pete.

  It was simple. Elves didn’t have simple names. In fact, my name was deemed easy by their standards, which was something I absolutely loathed. Names didn’t have to be long, complicated ordeals. It was an absolute waste, especially since they were often reduced to nicknames, anyhow.

  She had children, too. Two of them. One boy and one girl. The girl was older, of course, so she could knock some sense into her little brother. Her name was Jeanine, and his was John.

  I liked the matching first letters.

  They were a wonderful, happy, normal family. Of course, by now Adora also had grandchildren. F
ive of them, and one more on the way. I wanted to picture her surrounded by love and happiness until the day she died.

  I had no way of knowing if any of that was real. I truly doubted it was, but I had to hold out hope that she’d managed to bring some semblance of normal back into her life after I’d nearly destroyed it. That day at my cabin, where the fae bounty hunter had managed to arrest me for breaking the law and cavorting with a witch, was a day I would regret for the rest of my life.

  “Hey, Laslow, what are you doing in there?” A voice hissed through the dark.

  “Ephraim,” I murmured, leaping from my seat on my sad little mattress and striding up to the bars of my cell.

  Ephraim was my favorite prison guard here in the king’s castle, and it wasn’t just because he managed to sneak me a loaf of bread or a few sweets sometimes.

  Ephraim was a genuinely good elf. He had murky brown eyes and dirty blonde hair that he wore to his waist, and a crooked smile that made him seem both a naive young boy and a charming man all at once.

  My friend appeared then, right in front of my cell with that lopsided grin on his face.

  “I brought you something,” he whispered, and then reached into the pocket of his dark blue guard uniform. Seconds later, he produced a tiny, perfect pixie truffle. It was a clean white, with specks of blue pixie dust dotted throughout. My mouth was already watering as I imagined the way it would taste, how the sweet inner juices would explode onto my tongue before the sour outer shell made my face pucker.

  “Thank you,” I grinned, holding my hand out for the treat. Ephraim gladly dropped it into my palm, and I rushed to take a bite. “My goodness.”

  I loved that phrase. I’d picked it up from Adora. Everyone at home thought I was strange for using it, but it managed to express everything and nothing in just two measly words, so I decided I wanted to keep it.

  “Yes, they were wonderful today,” Ephraim nodded excitedly as he watched me eat my truffle. He blew out a breath and bit his lip, which I had learned were the classic signs of a rather stressed out Ephraim.