Southern Dreams

by Amy Boyles

  I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I don’t blame you for any of this.”

  “Kid, I don’t need your pity,” she said gruffly.

  “It’s not pity. It’s love for my grandmother.”

  Betty glanced at me, bright-eyed. “Okay, then. I’ll accept that.”

  We started ringing doorbells and handing out flyers. We’d been at it for a few minutes and found ourselves back on the streets, facing a quiet late afternoon.

  “So tell me,” I started, “why’d you want to bring me out here, instead of letting me walk with Axel?”

  “First of all,” Betty said, “I wanted to see my granddaughter. In a few short weeks you’ll be all his and I won’t see you as much anymore.”

  I chuckled softly. “You’re kidding, right? He bought a house only a little ways down the road.” Excitement filled me. “He bought me a house, Betty. A house. Granted, I didn’t see it before he bought it, but it’s perfect. I have my own workroom.”

  “That’s very nice,” Betty said. “When I was younger, I thought I might want my own workroom; then I realized that all I needed was a cauldron and the heart fire.”

  I clicked my tongue. “It works great for you.”

  She surveyed me from head to foot. “You remember me telling you that someday the heart fire is going to be your responsibility, right?”

  “Do I recall that?” I frowned. “Seems to me that a burning heart that keeps Magnolia Cove magical should probably go to someone more like Axel.”

  Betty glared at me.

  “I’m joking,” I said quickly. “Sort of.”

  Betty stopped and turned to face me. Her beady eyes bored into my flesh. It was such a fierce stare my knees quaked.

  “That heart fire will belong to you when I’m gone. Goodness knows I don’t expect to die, well, ever, but if something happens to me, it’s yours. Or if I decide that the heart should become your responsibility before that time, then you will take on the challenge.”

  I didn’t like all this talk about taking on the heart fire. The heart would eventually be mine to take care of, but I didn’t expect that to happen for a long, long time. Like maybe a century from now.

  “Why are you talking about all this?” I asked. “Nothing is going to happen to you, and nothing is going to happen to the heart fire.”

  “It’s just this situation with Misery got me thinking.”

  “About sociopaths?” I joked.

  She shot me a look that nearly burned the hairs right off my arms. “No, about other witches or wizards who might be jealous about your marriage to Axel, about folks who may either want to harm y’all or take advantage of a situation where there are a lot of magical beings, a lot of chaos, open borders, that sort of thing.”

  I racked my brain trying to figure out exactly what Betty was pushing toward. “Are you saying you think someone might try to steal the heart fire?”

  She shrugged. “I’m saying I don’t know, but it’s a possibility. The heart fire in the wrong hands would be a dangerous combination.”

  “But the fire itself wouldn’t just go with any old witch or wizard.”

  “Kid, I’m not worried about any old witch. I’m worried about the one we least expect. The one who’ll sneak in with incredible power and wreak some serious havoc. That’s what I’m worried about.”

  “Oh. Well, that makes sense.” I shrugged. But I could only worry about one problem at a time. There wasn’t time to worry about the heart fire. “Then we’ll just have to make sure someone guards it.”

  “I want to make sure you understand, as the next in line for the heart fire, what your duty to it will be.”

  I nodded. “I have to make sure it stays safe. Is that it?”

  Betty narrowed her eyes. “At all costs. You will have to do anything you can to keep that heart fire safe for us. You’re the next person in charge, and I’m an old woman.”

  “Nonsense.”

  I nudged her shoulder, trying to put a little humor into the heavy conversation. Betty smiled weakly, but she was absolutely serious.

  “You’re an important witch, Pepper. Make sure you remember that.”

  A knot suddenly formed in the back of my throat. I swallowed it and forced a smile. “I’ll remember. Heck, I’ve got a great family to keep me on track, don’t I?”

  Betty nodded. She gestured to the flyers. “Come on. Let’s get the rest of these handed out. See if we can beat those other slow pokes and get back to the house first.”

  I laughed. “Is this a contest?”

  A sparkle lit in Betty’s eyes. “You better believe it’s a contest. Now let’s get going.”

  In half an hour we had the rest of the flyers distributed. Most of the residents were happy to know about Misery. No surprise, they’d been wondering why their dreams were so screwy lately.

  We told people to be on the lookout for Misery—basically someone they didn’t recognize in town. Anyone they saw who appeared suspicious, they were supposed to contact Garrick as soon as possible.

  “Come on, let’s see if we’ve beaten everyone else back,” Betty said.

  Boy, was she competitive. We returned to the house, and sure enough, we were the first ones to return.

  Betty clapped her hands. “We won!”

  But I wasn’t sure exactly what we had managed to gain, other than a few minutes of quiet.

  “Check on the bird, will you?” she asked while grinding up dried herbs in her hands. “Make sure he’s okay.”

  I saluted her. “Will do.”

  The crow’s cage lay on the dining table. I crossed to the crow and sat. “How’re you holding up?”

  The bird glared at me.

  I dipped my hand in a bowl of seeds and sprinkled them in the cage. “No one wants you to go hungry. No one wants you to be mad at us. We’re only trying to save ourselves from your crazy owner.”

  The crow’s eyes glinted at the seeds.

  “You could use some water.” I waved my hand, and a bowl of fresh water appeared. “I hope that helps.”

  The bird stared at the bowl but made no move toward it.

  “I can only lead you to water; I can’t force you to drink.”

  I sighed. “The bird’s still mad at us.”

  “Until it gets returned to its owner, that’s how it’s going to be.”

  I supposed that was the truth. I rose and crossed to the front window, peering out. The sun had sunk, and the moon was rising.

  The moon.

  I gasped.

  Betty wiped her hands on a towel. “What is it?”

  I pointed out the window. My hand trembled. “Something’s wrong. The moon! It’s not supposed to be full.”

  Betty’s eyes widened. She crossed to the window and looked out. “That’s not supposed to happen for another week. Axel—he won’t be prepared.”

  Her hands clenched to fists. “None of them would have been prepared. If Misery can make the moon rise…”

  “Then Axel won’t be in control of his senses,” I finished. “He’ll be wild, unable to keep from going feral.”

  Betty grabbed her cast-iron skillet. “There’s no time to lose. We must warn everyone!”

  Chapter 22

  Before we had a chance to move, the door swung wide open. Grumpy, led by Garrick, entered.

  Grumpy’s clothes were torn, ripped and his hair disheveled. My heart lurched in my chest.

  No one had to tell me what happened. I knew. Betty and I exchanged a charged look.

  “Was it Axel?” she asked Garrick.

  “The moon took us by surprise.” He settled Grumpy in the recliner. The creature exhaled a shot of air. “It took Axel by surprise most of all. I heard him scream for help. I told Cordelia to run for cover and headed over. Grumpy didn’t know what was about to happen. He looked on in awe as Axel changed.”

  Garrick peeled back Grumpy’s ripped sleeve. A gash ran down his arm.

  Garrick nodded to Betty. “Let’s get t
his healed up.”

  Betty worked quickly mixing herbs, adding a little spit and honey. After she ground it into a paste, my grandmother applied the substance to Grumpy’s arm.

  “Thank you,” Grumpy said.

  “You’re welcome. It should heal quickly.” She focused her attention back on Garrick. “Where’s Cordelia?”

  “With Sherman and Amelia. They were going to help track Axel. I told them to stay downwind of him. Otherwise they’d be putting themselves in serious danger.”

  “They’re already in danger,” I said.

  My mind leaped back to the dream Axel had told me. I thought we’d be safe, but somehow Misery had managed to make the full moon rise on a night when it wasn’t supposed to.

  “Garrick,” I said slowly, “Axel dreamed about this. He saw that he’d change into the werewolf and that he’d become feral. The only difference is that I was in his dream. I tried communicating with him, but I couldn’t reach him.”

  Garrick rubbed his straight jaw. His brown eyes were full of sadness. “As much as I hate to do it, I’m going to have to pull my men from Misery’s and use them to search for Axel. It’s going to take all the manpower we’ve got to find him.”

  “I want to help,” I said.

  Betty magicked a wet steaming towel from nowhere and slid it down Grumpy’s arm. The gash had vanished. “All healed. You look good, Grumpy.”

  My grandmother turned her attention to me. “No way, kid. You said so yourself that you can’t help Axel right now. This is what Misery wants. To trap you. Hurt you. You have to stay away from him. If not, you may really end up hurt.”

  I couldn’t sit here and be useless. I understood the risks, there were many of them but I also wouldn’t allow Garrick’s men to hurt Axel.

  “He’s a big werewolf,” Betty said. “He might have run up the mountain by now. There’s no telling where he is.”

  Just then the walkie-talkie on Garrick’s belt crackled. “Sheriff?” came a voice.

  Garrick pushed the talk button. “I’m here.”

  “Sir, there’s a disturbance in the park on Bubbling Cauldron.”

  Garrick groaned. “What sort of disturbance?”

  “The kind that involves a werewolf.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Garrick clicked the walkie-talkie back onto his belt. “I’ve gotta run.”

  “Take me with you,” I pleaded.

  I know how it seemed—that I was running into a fire. But you have to understand, my dream with Grumpy had ended differently than it was supposed to. We’d become friends. He hadn’t eaten me.

  There was no guarantee that the ending to Axel’s dream would wind up exactly as it had presented itself when he slept.

  There was room to make a change. Grumpy was living proof.

  I said all this to Garrick and Betty, pleading with them to let me go. I felt like a child, a helpless kid unable to make a decision for myself.

  But I was no kid. I was a witch, and I had powers to defend myself against Axel if need be.

  Let’s hope things didn’t get to if need be. But you never knew. In Magnolia Cove the craziest things happened. That’s just how this town was.

  Garrick didn’t look convinced it was a good idea to take me along, so I threw my shoulders back and jutted out my chin. “That out there is the man I’m marrying soon. He will be my husband. If you’re telling me that you’re going after him without giving me the chance to help, then that’s crazy.”

  I crossed to Garrick and poked his chest. “You need me. You know you do. Let me help. I may be able to reach him and we can put this entire situation behind us.”

  Garrick shook his head in frustration. “Dangit, Pepper, but you strike a hard bargain. Okay. You can come.” He wagged a finger at me. “But first sign of real danger and I want you out of there and back here. Understand?”

  I had to stop myself grinning from ear to ear. “Got it.”

  “Let’s go.”

  I said goodbye to Betty and Grumpy. Betty glared at me the whole time. I know she was ticked, but what other choice did I have?

  None, if you asked me. Absolutely none.

  I grabbed my jacket, zipped it up and was about to follow Garrick from the house when Betty stopped me.

  “You need insurance.”

  I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  She pointed to the crow in the cage. “That sort of insurance.” She clapped her hands. Next thing I knew the crow had disappeared and it was sitting on my shoulder.

  I screamed. “Ah!”

  I mean, I was afraid the crow would peck my eyes out. It wasn’t exactly thrilled to be hanging out with us.

  “I don’t think it’s going to hurt you,” Betty said calmly.

  I gestured to her. “Then why don’t you let it sit on top of your shoulder?”

  She smirked. “Because I’m not the one this whole mess is about. It’s about you. Listen, I’ve spelled the crow so that it’ll stay near you. It doesn’t have to remain on your shoulder the whole time, but it won’t be able to fly off and find Misery, if that makes you feel better.”

  I scoffed. “How about—it does not make me feel better at all.”

  She rolled her eyes. “With that crow attached to you, Misery, if she’s out there, won’t hurt you.” She scratched her chin. “At least it’ll make it harder for her to. That old witch will be worried about damaging her crow too much. See?”

  Betty tapped her temple. “I used my smarts to keep you safe, kid.”

  “I don’t know about that,” I grumbled.

  The crow’s talons curled into my shoulder. It wasn’t painful, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable, either. “You sure it’s not going to peck my eyeballs out?”

  Betty shrugged. “Nope. Can’t be sure about that. But the crow knows that if it’s mean to you, that you can be mean right back.”

  Good point. I craned my neck back and glared at the bird. “You heard that, right? You be mean to me and I’ll be mean. How far of a radius does it have?” I asked Betty.

  “About twenty feet. Not far. Just enough to give it some space if it needs some but not enough that it can get too far out of sight.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  I wasn’t sure if I was grateful or convinced this was the worst idea ever. For the moment I decided to focus more on the grateful part.

  Garrick peeked his head inside the door. “Come on, Pepper. We’ve got to go.”

  I gave Betty a quick hug and fled the house. The crow, much to my surprise, remained stuck firmly to my shoulder. I had the idea that the creature enjoyed being attached to me.

  Well, at least one of us did.

  As soon as I met Garrick at the bottom of the steps, he pointed toward downtown. “We’ve got to run.”

  He meant that quite literally. We kicked it up into high gear and sprinted down the streets until we reached Bubbling Cauldron.

  The scene was absolute chaos.

  Witches ran screaming. Wizards threw magic. At each other. It was as if a madhouse had exploded in the middle of Magnolia Cove.

  It reminded me of absolutely every single zombie apocalypse movie I’d ever seen. Except luckily there weren’t any zombies around.

  Hopefully Betty’s prediction about that wouldn’t come true, because I didn’t know if the town could handle any more chaos.

  “Where’s Axel?” I said to Garrick.

  He pointed at the back of the park. “There!”

  Sure enough, towering in the back of the park stood Axel, surrounded by half a dozen of Garrick’s men.

  “Come on,” I yelled.

  Without thinking I sprinted across the field, dodging flying magic here, a zip of power there.

  Wizards screamed at each other. Best friends had become enemies, and enemies were joining up to hurt their former friends.

  I created a magical shield to stop any of the stray streams of magic from hitting me. Honestly I would have rather faced Axel than this madness.<
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  That time came soon enough. Moments later I stood outside a ring of deputies as they tried to bring down the werewolf.

  “Rope him,” one yelled.

  The werewolf howled and snarled.

  “No,” I shouted. But no one heard me.

  I flung my thoughts to Axel.

  Stop this! Remember who you are.

  Silence greeted me. The man who lived inside the beast had been locked away.

  The only thing I could do was try harder. Axel, I know you’re in there. Talk to me! You can do it!

  But only more silence greeted me.

  I had to think. Had to figure a way to unlock him before the deputies would be forced to hurt him. What would bring Axel back?

  I thought of movies like King Kong, where the woman somehow manages to tame the beast. I wondered if I could pull something off like that, where I would literally be able to tame Axel.

  But in order to tame him, I’d have to get super close. The deputies had circled the wolf. There wasn’t much room to squeeze through unless I made a hole myself.

  Which meant that was what I’d have to do. Garrick had moved to one side and pulled a lasso himself. He threw the rope, but Axel easily evaded it.

  The werewolf hissed and snarled. Saliva dripped from its fangs. He was savage, ready to devour and slaughter, but I still knew Axel was trapped inside somewhere.

  I just had to find him.

  Which meant I had to take a huge risk. One I normally would never have taken. In fact, Axel would probably kill me if he knew what I was about to do. It was crazy and extremely dangerous.

  Y’all, I was scared out of my mind but excited at the same time.

  As much as I was sure that I could break through to him, I also knew whatever spell Misery had cast on the town to up the ante on the curse could keep Axel blocked from me for good.

  It was a risk I would take. I had to. There was no telling when this curse would be over, so I couldn’t count on anyone breaking the spell. I had to just jump into this and see what happened.

  “Hang on, crow,” I murmured, more for my sake than the bird’s. I didn’t want its talons to slice into my shoulder out of fear.

  I saw an opening in the deputies and I took it, running straight toward Axel.