“Why, yes, my pants are rather smart, now that you mention it. In fact, they’re somewhat of an expert on the topic of—”
“Alright, alright,” Lily interrupted him, and pursed her lips in that adorable way she did to hide a smile. “I get the point. The day Sebastian Blackwell doesn’t have a sarcastic quip ready to fly is the day the sun falls from the sky and the stars implode.” Then, she gave up the battle and let her lips curl upward in a fond smile.
“Good grief, Lil, way to put on the pressure. You better not do anything that leaves me speechless or I’ll be responsible for single-handedly destroying the universe.”
Lily raised one imperious brow, though laughter still sparkled in her eyes.
“Er, I mean Lily. Sorry, I’m a nickname kinda guy. It just slips out sometimes.”
Her expression softened. “Ohhh, I don’t know. I think...I think maybe it’s growing on me.”
A slow grin spread across Sebastian’s face. “Well, I hope these sweatpants are growing on you too, because Pip and her posse trashed my apartment and it’s pretty much all I have left to wear.”
“What? Why that wretched little pixie! How dare she—”
“Don’t worry about it, Lil, really. Not right now.”
Lily’s lips made a thin line, but she nodded.
“Oh, I have something of yours.”
“You do?” she asked, vexed expression melting away.
It was difficult, forcing himself to let go of her, but Sebastian did so and dug one hand into his pocket. When Lily saw what he drew out, she gasped.
“Oh, Sebastian. My charm bracelet. I thought I’d never see it again.”
“I, uh, know I didn’t do a good job fixing it, but it’s only temporary. We can take it to the jeweler to have them replace the broken pieces.”
New tears shone in Lily’s eyes as he gently fastened the bracelet around her wrist, and she examined his jury-rigged paperclip. When she looked up, it was to give him a watery smile.
“It’s perfect the way it is, bent pieces, scratches, and all. Just like you, Sebastian. You’re perfect just the way you—”
Lily got out no more because Sebastian leaned forward and captured her lips with his, heart too full of joy to hold back any longer.
For a horrible moment she stiffened, pushing against him almost reflexively as if she were afraid of his touch. But the moment Sebastian began to draw back, terrified he’d done something wrong, Lily clutched him and pulled him closer.
Her desires clear, Sebastian set aside his worry and concentrated on the kiss. He poured himself into it, trying to express all the emotions he’d kept locked away and all the things his heart yearned to say, but had no words for.
You are my dawn after an endless nightmare.
I want to breathe you in for all eternity.
How have I survived this long without you?
He might never figure out what Kip really meant with all his “sacred” business, even if it was true. But Lily’s love made him feel invincible in a way no amount of metaphorical knight’s armor ever could. He could face anything—anything—with her at his side.
Lily finally broke their kiss and pulled back, looking a bit breathless while her eyes shone overbright. She met his eyes and gave him a firm poke in the ribs. “That’s twice you’ve broken your promise.”
“Uh…” Sebastian felt a spike of anxiety and his mind raced, trying to remember which of his many broken promises she was talking about.
“Remember that night at the Shorter Mansion in Eufaula when you kissed me to get away from the security guard? You promised you would never kiss me again without asking first, and now you’ve done it twice.”
At the sight of her mischievous, not-at-all-upset smile, relief soared through him. “Well, I promise I’ll never make such a silly promise again,” he said, and pulled her back in for a third un-approved kiss.
Their lives were still a royal mess. But for the first time since Lily had disappeared—actually, for the first time since Sebastian had met her, or maybe even for the first time since his parents had died—he felt at peace.
Epilogue
Lily was impressed. After watching Madam Barrington’s fellow caretakers get started on cleaning up the mess in the warehouse, she decided that if she ever committed a crime she needed to cover up, they would be the first people she would call.
It wasn’t that they made the evidence of the battle disappear. More like they made the various substances—silver paint, blood, ash—break down on a molecular level until what was left would be unrecognizable to even the most skilled forensic scientist. It was a fascinating process, though she was too exhausted to fully appreciate it or ask the questions zinging around in her brain about how their spells worked.
She most definitely didn’t ask what they planned to do with the bodies.
The Silvester wizards were the first to leave, bearing their fallen relative. Lily’s mother had very briefly introduced them all just after the battle. The awkwardness Lily had been dreading when she finally had to meet her mother’s family was absent—they were all too tired and beaten down by the night’s events to do more than nod at each other. Still, she hoped she would have a chance to get to know them better, from her teary-eyed cousin Lucia and her uncle Nicolas with fiery eyes to rival her mother’s, to her great uncle Gregorio whose resemblance to Anton Silvester made her sure of what she’d wondered about for some time now. None of them spoke of their sheet-wrapped burden, and Lily felt an ache in her heart, knowing she would never meet her fallen relative who, along with the witches and Richard, had paid the price of John Faust’s schemes and Morgan’s power-hungry insanity. All of the Silvesters gave Lily and her mother quiet but fierce hugs and kisses on both cheeks before departing—something which Lily endured with suppressed alarm. The Italian side of her family would certainly take some getting used to.
Lily’s mother was next to leave, giving herself the task of driving Ethel’s Buick back to Atlanta with Jamie—who had surprisingly stayed far away from the battle. Lily couldn’t believe her mother had let him come, but it seemed her little brother had finally decided to start acting like an adult. Sebastian had warned her mother about John Faust’s construct trussed up in the trunk, and Lily made a mental note to ask him for that story later. Freda had tried to coax Trista—well, Mallory, now, as Lily had been informed—into coming along, but Lily’s half-sister had said in emotionless tones that she was not letting John Faust out of her sight until he was safely locked up.
Lily still couldn’t quite wrap her mind around Mallory’s presence. Questions burned in her throat—where was her sister living? Why had she stayed away so long? Why had she come back?—but one look at Mallory’s face was enough to know she wouldn’t be getting answers any time soon. She kept trying to sneak peeks of her half-sister without seeming to stare, fascinated without knowing why. At least fixating on Mallory gave her something to look at other than her father.
Heavens, her father.
Just the thought of him made her tremble with emotion—all emotions, from longing to hatred to confusion and everything in between. How his mere presence could simultaneously spark hope and the deepest loathing in her heart, she had no idea. Was he truly starting to see the error of his ways, or was this just another masterful manipulation? The need to know was eating her from the inside out, and so she forced herself to put it from her mind. She did not ask what would become of him, where they would take him, or what they would do to him. If it weren’t for Sebastian’s comforting presence at her side, stalwart and unwavering, she might have broken down again.
Ah, Sebastian. How wondrous it was to think of him and feel warmth and joy instead of conflict and anxiety. It was such a relief to stop fighting her own emotions. She loved him, he loved her, and that was that. There was no telling what would come of it—or what she even wanted to come of it. But they’d made a start, at least, and had already been through so much together that nothing in their future could be m
uch worse. She hoped.
Glittering red eyes.
Weight pressing down on her.
Screams in her ears.
No. She would not think about that. Each moment was an exercise in not remembering, in forcibly redirecting her thoughts every time a terrifying memory of her enchanted sleep tried to ambush her.
Over Lily’s weak protests, Madam Barrington insisted they leave once the caretakers had gotten a handle on things and taken over management of the situation from their group of battle-weary wizards. The old woman accompanied her, Sebastian, and Sir Kipling through a second portal to the Basement, bringing the ring and demonology tome artifacts with them. Ethel was a little vague on how she’d gotten her rescue party to Mega Cavern in the first place, but Lily gathered it had been by very non-traditional—which in magic-speak meant experimental and highly dangerous—means, and she was too spent to question her mentor further. When Ethel attempted to return to the warehouse to “oversee the proceedings,” Lily and Sebastian both put their respective foot down and flatly refused to hear of anything but her going home to rest and recover. Despite Ethel’s stubbornness, the old woman was so obviously at the end of her strength Lily had no idea how she was still upright.
Fortunately, Lily’s car still sat in the McCain Library parking lot, and she used the spare key hidden in one of the wheel wells to unlock it. She wanted to take Sebastian to the hospital after she noticed how badly he was favoring his right side, and she thought it would do her mentor good as well. But it was her friends’ turn to put their feet down, and both refused to go. So, by unspoken agreement, she drove to Madam Barrington’s house. She was not leaving her mentor alone in her current state, and the house was much bigger than her apartment. Plus, she didn’t want to think about the fact that her heart rate picked up and a shiver of dread ran through her whenever she thought of being alone in her apartment. Asleep. Dreaming.
She hoped she would never dream again for as long as she lived.
They got Madam Barrington settled and, without talking about it, both ended up in Sebastian’s old room. Sir Kipling jumped up on the twin bed and gave them a look, as if to say, “this one’s taken, find your own bed.”
“Wait here,” Sebastian said, then disappeared out into the hall.
Lily went and dropped heavily onto the bed beside Sir Kipling, somehow finding the energy to bury her fingers in his silky fur. After a moment, she gave in and gathered him up in her arms, scratching him behind the ears with one hand while lowering her head to press her cheek against his body and listen to him purr.
“You were with me the whole time, you know.”
“Was I?” Sir Kipling said, managing to sound surprised and knowing all at the same time.
“Well...someone was with me. Or maybe something. And it looked a whole lot like you, except sometimes he was bigger.” She pulled back and grinned down at her cat, who gave her an affronted look.
“I am the perfect size, thank you very much.”
“Of course you are, Kip. But you have to admit that a house cat is way less threatening than, say, a lion.”
“Hmph. That’s only because people don’t understand how deadly house cats can be.”
Lily settled him in her lap and began to scratch him on the belly. “Well, you can’t blame them. Most people don’t have you around to enlighten them. It’s a pity, but it can’t be helped.”
“Too true. There is only one of me, after all.”
There was a brief silence, and Lily could hear Sebastian rummaging around in the bedroom next door.
“You saved my life, Kip. I think you saved my soul too, if that’s really a thing.”
She looked down at him, and her blue gray eyes met his yellow ones, half-lidded in contented relaxation. When she continued to hold his gaze, her silent expectation clear, he blinked lazily and stretched.
“Mmm. You’re my human, Lily. What did you expect?”
Lily shook her head, mystified as ever by her enigmatic feline who, she was beginning to suspect, was much more than just a dozen pounds of feline floof.
“Sometimes I think there’s a lot more to you than I’ll ever understand.”
“I’m a cat. That is as it should be.”
That got him a well-deserved snort, but after a moment of silent belly scratches, Lily spoke again, working to push the words out through her suddenly tight throat.
“Thank you for being there, however it happened.”
“I will always be with you, Lily,” he purred, making tears well up in her eyes. Then he ruined it by adding, “It is my job, after all.”
“You rotten little stinker,” Lily complained as she wiped her eyes. “Remind me why I put up with you?”
“My winning personality?”
“You wish,” she said and stood up, forcing him to vacate her lap. She’d heard Sebastian’s grunt of pain from the hall and, staunchly ignoring her own weariness, went to help him with whatever he was trying to do.
When they were finished, Sebastian’s bed was pushed back and there were two twin mattresses on the floor covered in a pile of pillows and blankets. Looking down at the arrangement, Lily had a flash of memory from when she was very young, before her mother had met Tom and remarried. They used to do this when times got hard: pull the mattress onto the floor and sleep together on a pile of blankets. Had Sebastian somehow known? Or was it just a universal impulse?
She was too exhausted to ponder it, so she sank down without a word. When Sebastian hesitated, hands shoved awkwardly into his pockets—he’d changed into a clean set of clothes that had been lying folded on his dresser—Lily grabbed one of his wrists and pulled him carefully down after her, mindful of his ribs. She couldn’t form the words to ask him what she wanted, but her need for his comforting warmth at her back was stronger than her awkwardness or embarrassment.
Sir Kipling curled up against her belly while Sebastian hugged her from behind, and thus surrounded by warmth and safety, she finally found the courage to close her eyes. She didn’t know how long she lay awake before she finally succumbed to sleep, but she did know her slumber was mercifully free of dreams.
***
The Denver Municipal Hospital was the last place in the world Lily wanted to be, but she had made a promise, and she intended to keep it.
The caretakers had not, to Lily’s relief, made Richard’s body disappear. She wouldn’t have been able to bear that burden in eternal silence, knowing the FBI would be forever searching for him. They had left the body, however, in the heart of Atlanta’s most dangerous neighborhood—an area known for its gang violence. No medical examiner would ever find an answer for the agent’s terrible wounds, but he had been working a case involving strange and inexplicable murders just before he’d gone missing. Who knew what kind of conclusions the FBI would draw, but at least everyone had some kind of closure. Through some careful and not strictly legal enquiries—Sebastian wouldn’t tell her, but Lily suspected it involved hacking—they found out that Richard had been buried with full honors, and his survivor benefits as well as a large life insurance policy had gone to his ailing mother. He was an only child, never married, and had no other living relatives.
Mrs. Sophia Grant, sixty-five and ten years widowed, had spent the last five years in and out of the hospital with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. During the past year it had progressed to stage four, and Mrs. Grant had been in intensive chemotherapy treatment since then. Lily could only imagine what John Faust had promised Richard in return for the agent’s loyalty. Had he flat-out lied and said he could heal Mrs. Grant’s cancer with magic? More likely it had been a subtler form of manipulation. Perhaps John Faust had merely dangled the hope of healing in front of Richard, stringing the agent along while the man compromised himself more and more with each new task John Faust had put him to, until he was in so deep that the wizard had complete control.
And it was all to save his mother.
The knowledge had eased the sting of Richard’s betrayal, even if
it didn’t justify it. The whole situation was tragic and depressing, and Lily didn’t know if she could have seen her promise through if Sebastian hadn’t unhesitatingly assured her he would be with her every step of the way.
That was why they both stood in the hospital elevator as it slowly dinged its way up to the floor where long-term chemo patients stayed. When they arrived at Mrs. Grant’s room, they found it to be as cheerful as any hospital room could be, with framed pictures of a smiling Mr. Grant and a young Richard taking up every surface not occupied by flowers. Mrs. Grant, despite the tubes and IVs and other indignities her disease-ravaged body had long endured, had a smile on her face as they quietly entered her room. Even so, it took all Lily’s strength to open her mouth and greet the woman.
“Hello, Mrs. Grant. Thank you for seeing us. We’re—we’re so sorry for your loss.” Lily almost didn’t get the words out, and for a moment she couldn’t see the hospital bed in front of her. All she could see was the blood bubbling from Richard’s mouth as his eyes begged her to forgive him.
“Thank you, dear,” the old woman sighed, her voice thin and frail. “He always told me not to worry about him, that his job wasn’t dangerous and I should just focus on getting better.” Mrs. Grant paused to cough, then she slowly reached up to grasp a cup with a straw in it and bring it to her lips. After she set it down, she smiled sadly. “I’m proud of my boy. He dedicated his life to a worthy and honorable cause.”
“H-he did,” Lily agreed, trying to swallow down the emotion clawing up her throat. Her hand sought out Sebastian’s, and his strong, warm fingers curled around hers with reassuring steadiness.
“You’re right to be proud of him, ma’am,” Sebastian said, voice soft. “We...did a little work together, and... Well, I think whatever happened to him in the end, it was because he did the right thing.”
“Thank you, young man. I’m sorry, my memory isn’t the best these days. Who did you say you were?”
Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus Identity Page 37
