To Spell & Back Read online

  With blond hair hanging in loose waves over tanned shoulders, eyes bright and sparkling, Mona’s good mood was contagious, and one of the things I appreciated most about her.

  Plus, the man I’d set her up with happened to be a friend of Kin’s, and since Kin was my first and only long-term relationship, I’d never been in a position to need “couple friends” before. Having friends at all was sort of new to me, and the “couple” part was a milestone I’d aspired to but never really thought I’d achieve.

  “How’s it going, Mona?” Flix flashed her a smile that would have made most women turn into a puddle on the floor, but she was used to it by now and too happy with Mark to give him a second glance. I couldn’t tell if that irritated Flix or impressed him, but he returned her friendly, proffered hug anyway.

  Mona settled into one of the comfortable chairs positioned beneath two windows across from the entrance door and fingered a flier that had fallen from the stack. “Why are you printing an advertisement for a month-old barbecue chicken dinner?” she asked, a puzzled frown spreading across her face.

  “Oh, that was just a test,” Flix covered quickly, snatching the rest of the pages from the paper tray and making a beeline for the door, “I’ll see you both later.”

  Mona still looked a bit confused, but I knew just the distraction to make her forget about the incident, “Come out back with me. I just received an assortment of sandals from one of my contacts at Macy’s. Want to come stake a claim on a pair of the size sixes?”

  “Um, yeah, like I’m going to say no to that,” I remembered when Mona had first tiptoed into my office; she’d vehemently opposed the idea of charity and questioned my motives for loaning her anything from the closet. Once I explained that the clothes were for one, basically free (traded for my services), and for two, my way of bringing some of the more apprehensive clients out of their shells and definitely not a commentary on my customers’ fashion choices, she couldn’t get enough. “I was going to ask if you’d mind if I borrowed something for my date with Mark tonight. We’re going to the movie in the park, and I want it to be special.”

  “Of course, anytime. Here, try this on,” I handed her a cherry red dress with a hemline so high that even on Mona’s petite frame it would show a dangerous amount of leg, “just for fun.”

  “You should meet us there,” Mona said brightly. “Come on; a double date would be fun.”

  It did sound fun.

  “How do you feel about a triple? We were planning to do something with Flix and Carl later.”

  “Love it. Now, what do you think about this dress?”

  I’ll spare you the ‘80’s montage of Mona and me trying on umpteen outfits while pop music blared in the background, but an hour later we lay amid a pile of discards, our chests heaving with laughter.

  “So tell me more about you and Mark. I never get to pry into my clients’ lives after they’ve ridden off into the sunset. But since we’re friends, I’m hoping you won’t mind...” I waited for her face to break into yet another grin before continuing, “Can I ask how you were so sure Mark is the one.”

  I know, you’d expect me to ask a better question than that, I mean, how many times has that phrase been uttered over the course of history? Probably some long number with the words mega or giga inserted somewhere. But can you imagine what an honest answer might mean to a person who has spent years as the impetus for the merging of souls—someone who has always been the cause, but never the target? Now, since I’d fallen in love with Kin, I was even more curious as to how my experience compared.

  “Well, it was kind of like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz—when I met Mark, my world went from black-and-white to Technicolor. I’m not going to say love at first sight, exactly, but there was an immediate attraction. The night of Lemon’s wedding we went out for coffee, and somewhere through our second order of pie I just knew. All of the other men in my past paled in comparison. I think that even if, for some reason, it doesn’t work out, I’ll still never look back. This would be the relationship to which I compared all future relationships because now I know it’s possible to feel this way, and I’d never settle for less.”

  I was silent for a long moment. “I think I know exactly how you feel. The first time I met Kin, I had this urge to kiss him—like it would have been natural, even though he was a total stranger.”

  “You totally should have; can you imagine the look on his face? Even if he were a crazy person and didn’t find you attractive, it would have been one hell of a story to tell!” Mona giggled.

  Our conversation continued in this nature until a thought struck me, out of nowhere, as epiphanies tend to do. I had been fostering this idea that wielding the Bow of Destiny was going to require me to acquire or utilize some previously unbeknown-to-me skill, but wasn’t it much more likely that it would amplify the power I already used every day?

  Maybe “Fate Weaving” was just a fancy way of describing the action of matching two people whose destinies were intertwined. I’d watched multiple outcomes of the same person’s fate; seen what might happen when mates are ripped apart—and knew there were other forces out there intending to do just that.

  What if Cupid’s arrow reinforced fate’s hold; amplified the connection between two people to ensure the longevity of the relationship and the most positive outcome? I was sure there was a much more complicated explanation, and a healthy dose of nuance thrown in for maximum effect, but I felt certain my conclusions were at least partially correct.

  I still wasn’t keen on shooting people in the heart with a pointy object, though.

  Then again, I’d had that vision of shooting Joshua Owens which didn’t fit in with this theory at all. Amplifying his current emotional picture seemed counter-intuitive to getting him happily matched. I’ve always assumed there were larger forces at work in my life. Something pushing the right people into my office at the right time.

  None of my problem clients had ever presented a challenge like Joshua, though. Maybe he was a sign that my work was taking a new turn and the bow would be a bigger part of things from now on. No use speculating while it was still in pieces, though.

  Right in the middle of pulling a cocktail dress with a flippy skirt over my head, my LPS flared to life along with that feeling of compulsion I'd occasionally been having ever since my powers kicked into high gear.

  The last time I'd felt this way the god's bounty hunter had been tossing matches at me in order to get my attention. It had worked, but not quite so well as the sword she'd pointed at my throat.

  Still, I could not resist the urge. Someone needed me and it couldn’t wait.

  Scoff if you will, but love is important. It's vital, really. Sure, there's a scientific explanation for why the world goes around, but if you ask me, the force that set it spinning in the first place didn't have anything to do with big bangs. Love drives creativity, it's the basis for books, and songs and poetry and art. It's important, I tell you.

  “Mona, I’ve just realized I’m terribly late for an appointment. Do you mind if I give you a call later?”

  “No, not at all. I can hang these dresses back up and lock the door behind me if you like.” Mona offered.

  “Don’t worry about cleaning up, but please stay and finish deciding on your outfit for tonight. Anything you want.” I left Mona drooling over a rack of handbags and raced away on Pinky without giving the enchanted ink still installed in Flix’s printer a second thought.

  Chapter Eleven

  “LEXI? IS THAT YOU?” Mona’s cheerful voice thankfully interrupted an ongoing conversation about some boringly technical aspect of the big block Chevy motor. I’d tuned out as much as I could, but there seemed no end to the topic. Under most circumstances, I could count on Flix to provide a certain level of relief from entirely male-dominated conversation. Except when the subject turned to cars—then it was only my eyes glazing over.

  “Hey, there you are.” I welcomed the female company, and since Mona and her boyfriend, Ma
rk, were still carrying folding chairs, I assumed they’d just been running late for Tidewater Park’s weekly open-air classic movie night.

  I'd been late myself, since the couple I'd been compelled to match had not only been all the way across town, but they also presented a challenge requiring me to take extreme measures. I was sure their insurance would cover the fender bender Id caused.

  Tonight’s offering was one of my all-time favorites starring Jerry Lewis in The Nutty Professor. “We’ve got popcorn and drinks,” I picked a spear of grass from Mona’s hair, and she blushed a pretty pink.

  “We’d love to.” Mona happily plunked her chair down next to mine and chose a drink from the cooler. “Sorry we’re late, it’s been a long day. Six tier wedding cake with an outdoor theme.” She flexed fingers that had spent the afternoon squeezing an icing bag and sighed.

  “Outdoor?” I tried to picture what that might entail and came up dry.

  “The bride and groom topper was a couple in a sleeping bag. I had to make a tent out of fondant, and then iced the entire first tier to look like grass. First time I ever made a trout out of sugar.”

  “Tell me you have photos.” Mona keyed them up and handed me her phone. Despite the rustic sound of it, she’d managed to create an elegant cake. “How did you get the sides on that third layer to look like birch bark?” It was so realistic you could see the pale yellow on the back of the places where the bark peeled artistically into curls. Uncanny.

  “Icing sheets and edible ink.”

  “You have a real gift.” Mona’s cheeks pinked again. “I mean it; this is just fantastic. You’ve made a few cakes for my aunts, haven’t you?” Aunts was the easiest explanation to give outsiders since the faeries certainly didn’t resemble mothers. “ Are they treating you well?” I couldn’t come right out and ask if they’d done anything blatantly magical in front of Mona, but at least I could gauge how well the godmothers were passing for normal humans.

  Mona didn’t skip a beat, “They’re fantastic. Some of the stuff they come up with is just epic. Did you know they rented ten hot air balloons for a wedding last week? All the guests got rides, and it was spectacular. They’re certainly creating a buzz around the industry.”

  I bet. At least Mona didn’t seem to think anything was amiss.

  “Oh, by the way,” Mona piped up before I inadvertently cut her off.

  “Ouch!” My body jerked in response to the painful sensation of Kin’s fingers tensing around mine. “Kin, that hurts. What’s...” Sweat broke out on his palms, and when I turned to look, his face had gone sheet white. “What’s wrong?”

  Another spasm convulsed through his hand, and I yelped again.

  “I don't feel good.” He panted into my ear. “It hurts.”

  “Flix, something is wrong with Kin?”

  “Got my own problem going on at the moment,” came his terse reply. When I leaned forward to get a better look, I realized Carl was also a target of whatever had hit Kin.

  Oh, no, not again. Why couldn’t the miserable twit just come after me; I was the reason Flix lashed out at Jett, though if he’d stayed out of my business, he wouldn’t have been banished in the first place. He’d had no right to the bow—he wasn’t a Fate Weaver and as such couldn’t be allowed to get his hands on it. Jett had blatantly stated he’d like nothing more than to suck all the love out of the world, and he’d use our father’s tool to do it if he got the chance.

  “What's happening? Do you think someone spiked the drinks,” and Mona spiked hers, too, literally, into the air. Like it happened by reflex, she lobbed the bottle away from her without paying too much attention where it went. I heard a startled exclamation in the distance but didn’t have time to worry about possible repercussions.

  I pried Kin’s fingers away from mine and wondered why Flix's wards weren't working. After the last incident, he'd insisted on protecting both his man and mine.

  What on earth was Serena trying to accomplish? First information, and now a blatant attack? Salem had been very clear that if a witch tried to use magical means against someone warded with Fae magic, all she’d get was her own spell returned threefold.

  It made no sense, but then again, it was Serena we were talking about.

  “Probably a bad reaction to their workout smoothie. Stay here. I'll get them some Pepto or something.” I ordered Mona. “Flix, why don't you come with me?”

  “Shouldn't we take them to the ER?” I was going to have to come up with something to tell Mona, but for now, the best I could do was take care of the source of the problem. Explanations could wait until I had time to do them justice. A hundred years ought to be long enough.

  "Let's try over the counter, first. We'll be right back."

  In the dim glow from the movie screen, we picked our way around the grassy hill dotted with clusters of people in lawn chairs or lounging on blankets. The mingled scents of insect repellent and movie-time snacks covered up the one odor I was hoping to detect: the overpowering perfume Serena habitually bathed in.

  Flix and I made our way toward the screen and then reversed to circle back behind where our party of four still waited, having detected no sign of the scrawny witch we knew must be at the heart of the attack.

  Shadows leapt from the handful of flame I conjured once we were far enough away from the crowd, making it harder to focus rather than easier and I quickly turned down the intensity to a low glow. The sound of moaning is what led us to a fetal-positioned Serena, who cringed even more at the sight of us.

  “What did you do to me? It’s like fire in my blood. Make it stop.”

  “I didn’t do anything to you. You’re the one tossing nasty magic at people under Fae protection; it shouldn’t come as a shock when it bounces back. Harm none, ring any bells?”

  Serena growled. “All I was doing was eavesdropping, I didn’t do any spells, for Hecate’s sake.”

  “She’s telling the truth.” Flix muttered through clenched teeth, “You deal with her; I’ll cause a scene we can’t afford.”

  Flix’s hand landed on my shoulder for a hard squeeze; then he was gone.

  Before I could blink, Serena yelled at the top of her lungs, “Lexi Balefire is trying to kill me,” changing tactics and attempting to call attention to herself—and me. My hastily-erected barrier dropped to the ground around us with an audible thud, and Serena hissed in outrage. Fortunately, the enclosure had absorbed her screaming, and every person close enough to have heard the ruckus remained focused on the film.

  “Who are you to talk to me about harming none?” The gawky witch uncurled from her protective position and gracelessly regained her footing. I had to give it to her; the girl didn’t give up. In the wan light thrown by my witchfire, I could see that Serena had become even more gaunt over the last few weeks if that was possible—she’d been little more than skin and bones before. “You attacked me.” Her voice rose to a squeak.

  “I did not. I didn’t even know you were there until you went after Kin. This is on you, and it was the worst move you could have made, Swampgrass. If anything happens to him, the only thing they’ll find is the slime stain you leave behind.” The witchfire in my hand went black for an instant, and Serena’s beady eyes registered shock. Her momentary loss of self-control let something else slip, and I heard Kin’s voice coming from somewhere on her body.

  “...a weird cramp, it just cut off like someone flicked a switch. I feel like I ran a triathlon.”

  “You didn’t cast any spells? Care to revise that statement?”

  “It was just an amplification charm so I could hear if you said anything about Jett. It wasn’t hurting anyone.” Not a nice thing to do, but not super aggressive, either. For once, the pain she caused hadn’t been intentional.

  “Kin is under Fae protection, so you’d better steer clear of him from now on.”

  “Get that over-moussed Fae to help me find Jett, and I’ll leave you alone forever!” Serena wailed, her face screwed into one of the rawest, honest expres
sions of pain I’d ever seen on a person. “Jett needs to know about...” she shook her head and started again. “I have to find him, and I can’t get a single faerie to help. What a bunch of jerks.”

  “He won’t do it, Serena.” Well, that wasn’t true, Flix would be happy to send her along to her doom if it wouldn’t have weighed so heavy on my conscience. I can’t stand Serena Snodgrass, but I won’t be responsible for anything that might end in her death. Sympathy for her spilled across my emotions and, apparently across my face, because when she saw my expression, Serena’s turned bitter. Well, more bitter, anyway.

  “I hate you, Lexi Balefire.”

  “Right back at you.” Sensing all the fight was gone out of her for the moment, I dropped the silencing bubble. Those things take a lot of energy to maintain. “Stay away from Kin and do yourself a favor. Forget about Jett. He’s not worth it.”

  A burst of loud static from the speakers near the movie screen distracted me for a few seconds, and when I turned back, Serena was gone.

  “I’m going to have to start bottling this stuff.” Terra poured a second dose of her famous tonic and handed it to Carl, who wrinkled his nose at the smell. If no one had been looking, I’m sure he would have found a way to get rid of the cup’s contents that didn’t involve any of the liquid touching his tongue. Nasty stuff, but it packed a revitalizing punch. On second thought, bottling it wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “What kind of kick-butt wards did you put on Kin that a simple charm would trigger that kind of backlash?” I chose an apple slice and a wedge of cheddar from the platter in the center of the table.

  “I didn’t...” Flix pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Just the standard repel and redirect like you asked. The worst that should have happened was her spell bouncing back on her.”

  The vigorous nods of agreement from the four sisters were unnecessary; Flix spoke the truth not only because he was mostly bound by Fae law to do so, but also because there was no reason to lie.