by Amy Boyles
He rubbed his lips together. “So you think that she sent one to spy on you.”
“How did you guess?”
“Because I know how your mind works. Also, it’s the only plausible explanation.”
I sighed, relieved that he understood. “So you see things my way.”
He draped an arm over my shoulder. “I see things. Not sure I see them your way, however,” he teased.
I knuckled his chest playfully. “So you’re just humoring me.”
“Right.”
I stopped and tipped my head back to stare at him. “Could you at least say you think I’m right?”
Axel took my hand and kissed the back of it. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s to never argue with a woman.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and sighed into him. “Sounds about right.”
He stroked my shoulder. “Come on. I can’t wait to show you this surprise.”
“Do I need to be blindfolded?”
Surprise filled his eyes. “Why yes, I think you do, ma’am.”
I shook my head, laughing. “Okay. Blindfold me.”
Axel waved his hands across my face, and suddenly the world disappeared. He took me by the shoulders. “Don’t worry, I’ll cast a spell so that you can still walk without stumbling.”
“This, I have to live to believe,” I mused.
And he did. He threaded his fingers through mine and led me down the sidewalk. At first I walked with hesitation, afraid of tripping on a rut in the sidewalk. But after a minute or so I realized that I could indeed walk at a regular pace and not stumble.
I couldn’t hide the grin that spread across my face. “I like this magic.”
“It’s easy enough to recreate. I can show you.”
“You can show me a lot more when we’re married,” I said.
He laughed. “Almost there.”
“I’m beginning to wonder exactly what this wedding present is. Are you giving me a new cast-iron skillet to ride and had to bring it out here because it’s too big to fit into the store?”
“First of all, that would be a huge skillet.” Amusement filled his soft voice. “Secondly—no.”
“Well, it was worth a shot. I thought that was a pretty good guess.”
“It was a brilliant guess. Smartest idea ever.”
“Now you’re making fun of me.”
“I would never do that.”
I squeezed his hand. “I disagree.”
“You might be right. Ah. Here we are.”
Axel stopped in front of me. He turned me slightly to the right. “Are you ready?”
“I’m not sure. Should I be?”
“Don’t be a chicken. You’ve fought evil witches and won. This is easy.”
“If you say so,” I murmured.
Axel took off the blindfold, and I found myself standing in front of a cottage with a thatched roof. Seriously, thatch. The front door was painted aqua, and it was curved at the top. Knockout roses and azalea bushes lined the front, and a small white picket fence bordered the sidewalk.
The place was cute as a button.
“Oh, it’s so cute,” I said, waiting for the ball to drop.
Axel smiled. Little lines crinkled in the corners of his eyes. “You like it?”
“Yes. It’s adorable. What’s it for?”
Axel shut his eyes. “Us. It’s for us.”
Then the reality of the situation landed like a snowball on top of me.
“Oh my gosh! This is for us? This house?”
Axel nodded. “That’s the idea.”
A gush of emotion zipped through me from my head to my heels. I threw my arms around Axel’s neck.
“I love it! It’s beautiful. Oh my gosh, you bought us a house!”
Then my happiness faded. “But what about your place? I thought we were going to live there. The woods behind it would have been perfect for Hugo.”
Axel wagged a finger at me. “Come on. Let me show you.”
I followed him through the fence and straight into the home. The inside was even better than the outside. Dark wood framed out the walls. Plenty of built-in bookcases and cabinets were constructed inside. It was a gorgeous, gorgeous home.
I ran a hand over the smooth shelving. “It’s stunning.”
He pointed up. “There’s an upstairs. Two bedrooms. We can add more if we need it.”
“How?”
“Magic,” he said. “Of course. But let me show you the backyard. You’ll understand better then.”
He pulled me through the house to the back. Whereas I expected to see another house butting up against ours, the backyard was like a forest. An expanse of lawn led to tall trees that swayed in the wind.
Fairy lights blinked in the leaves, their glow making my heart ache at how beautiful the scene was.
“Wow,” was all I could say.
“The house itself isn’t enchanted, but the gardens are. The witch who lived here before had a connection to nature, and she built this backyard to reflect that.”
I stared at a stream that bubbled just off the concrete pad of the house. “I can see that. How far back does it go?”
“It’s twenty acres,” he said.
My jaw dropped. “Twenty acres? That’s a lot of room for Hugo.”
Axel draped an arm across my shoulders. “That’s why I bought it.”
I tipped my face up to his. Our gazes locked and my heart ballooned. I thought it would break my ribs, it was so full of love.
“You didn’t have to do this.”
“I wanted to.” Axel cocked one eye. “Do you want me to take it back?”
“No!” I gripped his arm. “Absolutely not. It’s perfect and wonderful and so many other things. Thank you.”
He brushed his lips against mine. “You’re welcome. I’m glad I was able to do it.”
We kissed and Axel drank me in and I drank him in, curling my fingers into his shirt and relishing the smell and taste of him.
He was almost too good to be true. Almost. But he was true. Though Axel was plagued with the curse his werewolf form brought with it, we’d worked through the wild that had lived deep inside him.
We had come so far as a couple and I loved him for it.
And I loved this house with its quaint rustic charm and its classic storybook feel, and I adored the beautiful back garden.
“When did you get it?” I said.
“Just today.”
I pulled away from him. My hands slipped from his hard chest to my side. “Today?”
“Came on the market and I snagged it,” he said proudly.
Something seemed strange about that. I’d met Misery for the first time today. Then I received the dream catcher and the house.
Were these things coincidence or was there more to it?
To look a gift horse in the mouth was rude, so I brushed my trepidation aside. I was being paranoid, no doubt.
I threw my arms once again around Axel’s neck, kissed him hard and said, “I love it. I can’t wait to move in.”
Chapter 5
By the time I returned home, I was floating. I was counting down the days to the wedding and eagerly anticipating when all the guests would arrive.
I flung the door to Betty’s house wide open, barely able to contain the great news about the house that Axel had bought.
Instead of me speaking, I was met with shouting.
“Well, you should have invited me,” Amelia yelled.
“I didn’t think it would be a big deal,” Cordelia retorted.
Betty was nowhere to be seen, but my cousins stood on both sides of the dining room table, staring hard at each other.
“All I ask is for a little consideration,” Amelia said.
“You’d been complaining about how busy you’ve been,” Cordelia explained. “It didn’t seem like a good time.”
I dropped my purse on the floor. That seemed to jolt my cousins into realizing they weren’t alone.
Amelia’s gaze shot to me. “Pepper, maybe you can help my inconsiderate cousin and me with something.”
“I’m not inconsiderate,” Cordelia said.
Amelia sucked on her teeth. “Sure could fool me.”
Cordelia rolled her eyes.
Though I was almost afraid to get involved, I did feel like my cousins could use a mediator. “Ladies, would you like to explain what’s going on?”
“I would be happy too,” Amelia said snottily. “Cordelia invited a whole bunch of our cousins to your wedding, which isn’t a big deal. You need to meet more of your family because some people live in other towns. I mean, the world exists beyond Magnolia Cove.”
There were times when I actually wondered if that was true or not, honestly. It did seem like our tiny microcosm of existence was all that lived and breathed, but all I needed was housed here.
I mean, I hadn’t left in ages, and last time I did leave, it was to meet some folks who were ghost hunters, of all things.
Hmmm. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get out of Magnolia Cove more often. Axel and I had our honeymoon. We’d be leaving then. But I could always use a breath of fresh air even before.
I was especially reminded of that since I’d walked in on my cousins arguing.
I folded my arms and willed Amelia to continue. “And?”
“Now she’s going on a day trip with our cousins,” Amelia explained. “And guess who wasn’t invited?”
Cordelia slapped her thigh. “I was about to invite you. You didn’t give me a chance.”
“You were going to hike down to the great tree in the Cobweb Forest. You know how much I’ve always wanted to visit the great tree. I’ve talked about going for ages.”
Cordelia pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. I had a feeling she was counting to ten. “I know you’ve wanted to go. That’s one reason why I put the trip together. I get that. Like I said, I was going to invite you, but you didn’t give me a chance.”
Amelia glared at her. “You invited Molly instead.”
Cordelia sucked in her cheeks. “You just had to bring that up, didn’t you?”
Confused, I dared ask the obvious, even though it could mean I would be in serious trouble. “Who is Molly?”
“Molly,” Amelia snapped, “is our cousin who liked to play nasty jokes when we were kids. One time she put a lit firecracker down my pants.”
I cringed. “Oh no. That’s horrible. You could have been seriously hurt.”
“You don’t even know the half of it,” Amelia said, glaring at Cordelia. “She always acts better than everyone else, and thinks she knows it all—oh, I can’t wait for you to meet her.”
Molly sounded awful. “Do I have to?”
“Yes,” Amelia said. “And who did I find out that Cordelia invited first? Molly.”
Cordelia’s face burned bright red. “That’s because if Molly found out that she hadn’t been invited, there’s no telling what she would have done. She probably would have dogged me in front of a whole bunch of people, or worse, made a big scene about it.”
“The fact is”—Amelia crossed to Cordelia and poked her hard in the chest—“you invited Molly so that I wouldn’t come. Go ahead and say it.”
“I’ve already told you—I was about to invite you.” Cordelia threw up her hands. “I give up. There’s no explaining anything to you.”
It seemed a lot of folks were getting their panties in a wad over invitations lately. Maybe we shouldn’t invite anyone to anything. Perhaps that would solve our problems.
Or make them worse.
Cordelia moved to leave. Amelia lifted a hand, and a wall of magic stopped Cordelia. “Who said I was finished talking about this?”
Cordelia shot me a panicked look before slowly turning around to face our cousin. Cordelia glowered at her, her face contorting in anger.
“Did you just physically block me from leaving over a conversation about Cousin Molly?”
Amelia nodded curtly. “I sure did. We need to discuss this. I want you to uninvite her.”
Cordelia scoffed. “There’s no way I can do that. She’s already said yes, she’d like to go. If I uninvite her now, there’s no telling what will happen.”
Amelia smirked. “I knew it. You’re just as afraid of her as I am; you’re just too chicken to say it.”
Cordelia folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. “Are you going to let me go or is this about to be a big deal?”
Amelia leaned forward. Her hands slid across the top of the table, making a sucking noise. “This is already a big deal. Tell Molly she can’t go.”
“I won’t do it,” Cordelia refused.
Amelia shrugged. “Fine. I’ll tell her.” She leaned back as if about to run and immediately tell Molly what the deal-io was.
Cordelia raised her finger, and a second wall of magic flared to life, blocking Amelia from leaving.
Amelia, fists tight, whirled on Cordelia. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Cordelia shook her head. “If you get to play with magic, then I get to play with magic.”
Amelia narrowed her eyes. “It isn’t just magic I can play with. I can play with wishes, too.”
Cordelia snorted. “There’s nobody’s wishes to play with.”
Amelia pinned her gaze on me. Oh, crap. I should’ve left the room ages ago. Now I would be dragged into this catfight.
“Pepper, don’t you wish that Cordelia was a tiny mouse?”
No, I did not.
Cordelia’s mouth dropped. “Don’t you dare, Amelia. You can’t bring Pepper into this. That’s fighting dirty and you know it.”
“I’m not the one who started fighting dirty to begin with.”
“It’s not the end of the world,” Cordelia shouted.
“It is to me,” Amelia retorted.
“Get a life,” Cordelia shot back.
Then Amelia’s face twisted into an angry expression, one I’d never seen before. It was so angled and so sharp that fear spiked down my spine.
This was about to get seriously ugly.
Amelia lifted her finger. A bolt of magic hit Cordelia on the top of her head, turning her hair bright blue.
My cousin glimpsed herself in a wall mirror. “What? You little wench!”
Cordelia whirled on Amelia and shot her with her own stream of magic, right on her crown.
Amelia shrieked when she realized her own soft locks had been turned to yellow yarn. Literally. She looked like an old-fashioned doll. All she needed were red circle cheeks and blue eyeshadow. The look would have been complete.
Trust me, I didn’t tell Amelia this. She might have killed me.
I liked my life too much to risk it.
“Ah,” Amelia screamed. “That’s playing dirty!”
“No dirtier than what you’ve done,” Cordelia said proudly. She wiggled her fingers at Amelia in challenge. “Bring it on, cuz. Bring it on.”
Amelia exhaled a deep breath. “Gladly.”
She fired off a line of magic at Cordelia. Cordelia was suddenly dressed in a doll outfit. Another shot of magic and an oversize pacifier jutted out from between her lips.
Cordelia spit it out. The pacifier hit the wall and fell to the floor with a thud. “Now who’s being a baby?”
“You,” Amelia said in a childish taunt.
“We’ll see about that.” Cordelia lifted both hands. Magic hit Amelia hard. She bowed back, her arms flailing forward. When she righted herself, I gasped.
Her yarn hair had turned into snakes, and her eyes glowed red.
Amelia screamed. “You turned me into Medusa.”
“Well, if you’re going to act ugly on the inside, you might as well be ugly on the outside,” Cordelia said mockingly.
Amelia curled her fingers until they looked like claws. “That’s it!”
Then magic flew in both directions, from cousin to cousin. They ducked, they dodged, but much of it hit them. When my cousins weren’t hit, objects in Betty’s house w
ere. Vases shattered. Pictures fell. One line of magic drilled a hole straight into the wall, and part of it crumbled away.
Oh, Betty was going to be so mad about this.
Curtains ripped, a window broke but still Cordelia and Amelia fought on.
“You turned my hair to snakes,” Amelia shouted in an accusing voice.
“You made my feet as large as a caveman’s,” Cordelia shot back.
A line of magic came in my direction, and I dropped to the floor, cowering under an end table. From my spot, I glanced up the stairs and saw Mattie the Cat sitting atop the landing, staring down at me.
The cat showed no concern for the house being sliced to shreds.
I had to hand it to her. That amount of lack of interest was truly a gift. Part of me wished I had her same nonchalance.
But I cared too much for that. Which meant I had to bring my cousins back from the edge before there was no house left.
I slipped my fingers into my mouth and whistled hard and loud.
The fighting stopped. I slowly rose and sucked down a deep breath.
Magic, in its raw form, dripped from the walls like honey, except the colors were more like fuchsia, robin’s egg blue and gold.
Never in my life had I seen such disaster. Cordelia’s doll dress had been torn at the shoulder. Her nose had been magicked to the size of an apple, and her bare feet looked like a giant’s—including the poky hairs on the big toes.
Amelia, on the other hand, along with the snake hair, also had purple skin and wore a purple dress with shoulder pads that stuck out about a foot on each side.
I wasn’t sure who had gotten the raw end of this deal, but both my cousins were in for it when Betty got home.
With chests heaving, they pivoted to glare at me. If looks could kill, I would’ve been fatally wounded.
I placed a hand on my hip, and feeling much more confident than I felt, I gave each woman a hard stare before opening my mouth to give them what for.
“Take a look at yourselves. Seriously, y’all. I want each of you to see what the other has done to you. Then I want y’all to see the havoc you’ve caused to this house. Betty will have a hissy fit when she sees this mess. Y’all will be lucky if you’re alive after she gets through with you.”
Each cousin glanced in the mirror. Then they turned to each other and burst into a fit of giggles.
