To Spell & Back Read online

  “Good job, babe, you played that perfectly!” I exclaimed, depositing a kiss on Kin’s cheek. Fortunately, he turned in the opposite direction to vomit, so it didn’t end up all over my face. Or, more importantly, my shoes. They were really nice shoes.

  “Oh, you weren’t faking it, were you?”

  “Definitely not.” He squeaked.

  “Let’s go back to my place. The godmothers will fix you right up. I’ll drive.” I knew he needed one of Terra’s home remedies when he didn’t protest to me driving his precious Betty.

  I dragged Kin inside and dosed him with the Faerie version of Pepto Bismol, relaying how our evening had played out while Kin’s coloring returned to normal.

  “We’re going to have to start going out of town for date night if things like this keep happening.” Kin commented ruefully. “We can’t go anywhere anymore without seeing someone you’ve set up. I love that they love you, but an evening without interruption would be nice.”

  “Why bother? You don’t need to go anywhere—we throw the best parties right here in the backyard.” Soleil rolled her eyes toward the rear end of the house. “What more could you ask for on a Saturday night?”

  “Date night isn’t supposed to be a party. It’s supposed to give us a little alone time in a romantic setting. I like a good party as much as the next guy, but...” Kin might as well have uttered a sentence made of nonsense words given the lack of attention Soleil paid the ones he did say.

  “You need to relax, and I know just the thing...” Soleil bounced with excitement, which set things jiggling and cost Kin the will to disagree. Bouncing breasts tend to do that to a guy, and how could I begrudge him for it? They were excellent breasts.

  “Hot tub.” Entering the room, Evian tagged on the tail end of the sentence. “Perfect.”

  “Lovely. I’ll grab the wine and tell the others.” Soleil dissolved in a puff of red smoke and Kin shot me a questioning look. As much as I loved him, it hadn’t even been an hour since he’d tossed his cookies at my feet. Faerie remedy notwithstanding, I could use a little time soothing in frothy water to wash away that visual.

  “One hour and then we’ll kick them out, I promise. I’ll wear that bikini you like,” I waggled my eyebrows at him, and he gave in without a fight. If the possibility of seeing any one of the faeries in a bathing suit had anything to do with his decision, he hid it well. Even though we all appeared roughly the same age, thinking of the godmothers as mother figures was a well-ingrained habit that Kin lacked the history to understand. Plus, since we were in the middle of the great no-fighting-party-planning compact, he remained blissfully unaware of their true nature. Talk about a honeymoon phase.

  Back in my room, Kin ousted Salem from the polka-dotted beanbag chair at the end of my bed and settled in to watch my hunt for clothing ritual. Every week I added organizing my clothes to my master to-do list, and every week, it topped the unfinished items column. Instead, I preferred to rummage through the jumble of clothes jammed into my drawers and closet. Faerie magic kept the rest of the house neat and tidy, and I allowed Terra just enough access to clear up dust and grime twice a week, but I refused to let her go through my drawers. A woman needs her privacy. Using my magic for housekeeping smacked of personal gain, even though I did bend that rule just enough to have charmed my workshop into a dust-free zone.

  “Is Lover Boy spending the night again?” The transition from cat to man ended with a naked Salem lounging against my pillows.

  “Put that thing away and stop talking about me like I’m not here.” Accepting that Salem was a cat in human form had not been easy for Kin. And Salem’s habit of forgetting to put on clothes when he morphed failed to speed up the process in any measurable way.

  “Yes. There you are..” Considering Salem’s role in putting me together with Kin in the first place, I knew his annoyed tone had more to do with being kicked out of my room at night than anything else. Kin is a prince among men, but he draws the line at making love to his girlfriend with a man/cat lounging at the foot of the bed. Don’t tell Salem, but I'm totally with Kin on that one.

  “Found it.” I spied a bit of purple material peeking out from under a disordered pile of tank tops and yanked the bikini to light. “We’re doing hot tub night, Salem. You’re welcome to join us.” The sweetly phrased invitation was met with wide-eyed horror. Salem’s run-in with Clara’s water fountain was still fresh in his mind, and he shuddered at the thought. Served him right.

  “No? Okay then.” I grabbed a towel.

  “What am I supposed to wear?” As often as I slept in Kin’s bed, he’d only just begun spending the occasional night in mine. I really did need to prioritize the clothing storage project so he could have a drawer of his own.

  “Your undies will do.”

  “Men don’t wear undies. Or panties. It’s not manly. We wear boxers.”

  I snorted. “Manly? Your boxers have Yoda on them, and you’re calling that manly?”

  He had no reply, so I pinned my hair up, tossed him a towel, and led him back downstairs to watch the transformation in the back yard.

  Because she considered this a party, Terra went all out calling the earth into her desired configuration. A circling hand hollowed solid rock into a basin complete with seats while the other drew white sand from some sun-warmed beach. She completed the oasis with a pair of palm trees and a Bird of Paradise plant. Delicate flowers bloomed from hardy New England plants that had adapted to survive harsh winters, not carry such fragrant beauty.

  Evian’s contribution—water from a green-blue sea—shot into the basin where Soleil added enough heat to coax wisps of steam, tossed a few sparks under the surface to make a gentle glow and sent more glittering embers to circle the trunks of the trees.

  “Now that’s what I call a set of fairy lights.” Kin said.

  With a flick of her fingers, Vaeta added the bubble and froth.

  I had one anxious moment when I feared all four of them might strip naked in front of Kin and give him a heart attack. They’ve done worse. But, tonight, modesty was in order. One piece suits skimmed other-worldly curves closely enough to turn a man’s head but covered all the bases.

  Soleil had been right; this was just what I needed.

  We spent a little more than the hour I promised, but before long, Kin and I were alone in the wet heat.

  “Finally.” His voice turned husky, and he leaned in close to trail a line of burning kisses from my neck to my lips while his busy hands slid under the water and did things that shortened my breath.

  When he stopped to ask, “You don’t think they’re watching, do you?” I wasted no time setting his mind at ease. Calling the image of an enclosure firmly to mind, I satisfied Kin’s modesty by releasing enough intention to make it so and turned my attention to spending some well-earned private time with my man.

  Chapter Seven

  “WHAT ARE THEY DOING in there?” I put my green tea and strawberry smoothie down on the table and checked my watch. The ring still wasn't working, the office phones had been ringing off the hook for days, and I’d finally hit my limit. Flix talked me into meeting up with Kin and Carl after their kickboxing class for lunch and a much-needed furlough from the chaos.

  We’d have been better off simply dealing with clients, but there are limits to patience, and I’d reached mine around the time the third cup of coffee had cooled to tepid before I’d managed more than two sips. Flix had increased his efforts, campaigning hard for my blessing to hire an assistant, but given the supernatural nature of our business, that sounded like a problem waiting to happen unless we could find a nice witch in need of a job.

  What would that wanted ad look like?

  “Is Carl one of those long shower types? Kin is a speedy washer.”

  My comment elicited a pained look from Flix. “Too much info,” he said. “Way too much info.”

  Funny, I don’t remember him ever censoring details about his conquests. Carl was turning Flix into a bit of a prude, w
hich was saying something, coming from me. I’m not into smut or toilet humor, and I don’t understand why some girls think it’s cute if they can belch the alphabet. But that doesn’t mean I won’t share some details with my nearest and dearest. A tiny sideways grin let me know he was only joking.

  Half an hour had passed while we sat in the café-style seating of the juice bar attached to the health club. “Can you go check on them? I have another appointment in an hour, and if they don’t hurry, I'm going to have to skip lunch.” I drummed my fingertips on the table.

  With a sigh, Flix skirted the table and made his way toward the locker room/shower area. While he was perfectly willing to pitch in when I needed him and give me a hard time when my life got in the way of work, Flix lacked a certain sense of urgency with regards to deadlines and appointments that probably came from being long-lived. Most of the Fae in my life tend toward a this-too-shall-pass attitude, which isn’t always a good fit for the human world. They adjust and adapt, but they never really understand how a shortened life span makes things operate on a finite and foreshortened scale.

  Witches can live for centuries, so my perspective falls somewhere in between the human and Fae, and well closer to the human side of the equation considering I’d only recently resolved my null status and hadn’t expected a long lifespan. Consequently, I was feeling the strain. Plus, I was starving, and it was all you can eat shrimp day at Jericho’s. Visions of succulent pink yumminess weren’t improving my mood.

  Less than a minute after he’d left, Flix’s solemn face appeared in the doorway leading to the showers. He motioned for me to come quickly. I met him in the section between the men’s and women’s separated areas.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Spell. You need to come see.”

  “I can’t go into the men’s shower room.” I felt the flames of embarrassment wash my face with redness. “There are naked men in there.”

  “You are familiar with the concept,” dry tones did not hide the amusement at my discomfort.

  “Shut up. Of course, I am. It’s just that it will cause a scene if I waltz in there like I don’t know any better.”

  In answer, Flix waved his hand, and I felt the tingle of a glamour settle over me. “Fine, now you look like a dude. Can we please go now?”

  Keeping my eyes focused forward, and well above waist level, I followed him into the men’s locker room—and guess what? It didn’t look like anything you’ve seen on TV. There were no towel-snapping fights going on; the men weren’t all oiled up and flexing. The scent of athlete’s foot spray mingled with whatever the latest craze in men’s body spray happened to be at the moment, and a faint whiff of something else I recognized but couldn’t place.

  I could also hear a commotion coming from around the corner where I guessed, from my trips to the mirror-image ladies’ room next door, the showers were located, “What’s going on?”

  I followed Flix, who declined to answer, as Kin and Carl’s raised voices met my ears.

  “Well, so that you know, your butt doesn’t look as good as you think it does in those stretchy pants you like so much!” Kin had his arms crossed in front of him, his jaw clenched, and he was glaring at Carl with an expression of barely-contained contempt.

  One of Carl’s hands landed on his hip, the other hand raised in an oh no, you didn’t gesture, forefinger extended toward Kin’s nose, “Well yours really does look amazing in those jeans you wear when you strut around on stage!” Carl countered, “Wait, that’s not what I meant to say!”

  “What’s going on?” I asked for the second time, my voice approaching a shrill tone that didn’t remotely match the male face Flix had given me. Carl’s eyes widened, and Kin nearly jumped out of his skin.

  He glared in my direction with suspicion in his eyes, “Lexi? That’s incredibly disturbing, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to get the image out of my head later tonight when we’re...” Kin clasped his hands over his mouth, eyes wide with shock as he realized what he had just stopped from coming out of it. Flix waved the glamour away, and I was back to looking like my regular self. Their argument must have driven everyone else out of the locker room anyway, because the four of us were alone.

  “What happened to you two? I smell magic—and cheap perfume.” Suddenly, I realized the scent I couldn’t place before had been copious amounts of knockoff Chanel No. 5. “You know who this was, don’t you? Serena Swampgrass.” I turned to Flix, putting the pieces together before either Kin or Carl could answer my question.

  “You’re sure?”

  “Oh, it was her, all right. What did she do to you?” I asked again.

  “Truth serum,” they both said in unison.

  Flix and I looked at one another, sharing a look of panic.

  “What did you tell her?” I directed my question at Kin.

  “That you have no idea how to get to the Faelands. And that you’re trying to fix the Bow of Destiny,” Kin looked down at the floor, refusing to meet my gaze, “and that your godmothers aren’t currently welcome in Faerie.”

  Carl piped up before I could express my feelings about Serena knowing another one of my secrets, “She asked me the same thing—I told her I didn’t have any details. Now I understand why you’ve been so unwilling to talk about it. If I’d known more, I’d have spilled my guts. Fortunately, Serena heard the door open and climbed out that window.” He pointed toward a pane of glass barely big enough for a teenage girl to squeeze through. Good thing Serena was built like one.

  With a shudder, Carl added, “It was like watching my grandmother trying to put on skinny jeans.”

  I suppressed a giggle at the unkind image. Serena always brought out the worst, snarkiest side of me. “Well, she’s long gone by now. Speaking of which, is there another way out of here?”

  None of us were getting through the window, and traipsing through the gym with two men suffering from verbal diarrhea would attract unnecessary attention. “We’ve got to get them home and let it wear off. Neither of them can go back to work, and really shouldn’t be out in public.”

  “I’ll check.” Flix was gone a long time while I sat between the two anxious men and held onto Kin’s hand for reassurance. He and Carl were both attempting to keep a lid on it, and I resisted the urge to ask a few questions of my own. When Flix returned, it was from the same direction we had entered the first time.

  “Side door for employees only, and it’s closer than going all the way back to the main parking lot, so I pulled the car around and circled back. You’d better cancel your afternoon appointments.” Controlled fury put a chill in Flix’s voice that I knew wasn’t aimed at me even though it probably should have been. It was more my fault than his that Carl had become a target in Serena’s game of revenge.

  When Flix sent Jett to the darkest region of the Faelands, it had been for my protection, and I don’t think either one of us considered Serena much of a threat. Though I doubted there would be any lasting effects from the serum. If anything serious happened to Carl, Flix would make the gawky witch wish she had never been born.

  “She hurts Kin and I’ll hex her so hard her kids will feel it,” I muttered darkly.

  Not content to let either man leave our sight, we led Carl and Kin out the hidden exit and settled them in Flix’s convertible Jaguar. My hands were shaking from the roller coaster of emotions I’d just experienced: fear-fueled adrenaline had hit the second Flix motioned for me to follow him into the men's room, morphing into confusion and then amusement and relief.

  Now, all I could conjure was anger that Serena had summoned the nerve to strike when Flix and I were mere feet away from the scene of the crime. Either she was gaining confidence or becoming increasingly desperate.

  Serena had just taken a step over the line, and as I canceled my afternoon, it was with one part of my mind playing out scenarios for dealing with her. The woman had already driven me to the brink of my dark side once, and even though I’d vowed never to lose control like that again, she
’d been the one to pull out the can opener. I was more than happy to supply the worms. Or the whup-ass. Or both.

  I made the calls and reshuffled my schedule to free up the rest of the day, debating, for the hundredth time in the past few weeks, whether Flix was right. Maybe there was a way I could hire an assistant without them finding out too many of my secrets. Probably not, but I’d listen more intently the next time he broached the subject.

  “Nice car, man,” Kin said.

  “And he doesn’t even need to compensate for the size of his...”

  Flix managed to stop Carl from finishing that sentence, but only just.

  “It’s pretty. Just like you.” Kin continued as though no one else had spoken. “But not as pretty as my Lexikins.” Now it was my turn to blush red.

  Of course, when I come home looking for a little peace and quiet, I'm more likely to find a swamp in my foyer, but when it would be convenient for at least one of my godmothers to be there, elsewhere is the place to find them. I rummaged through my purse for the faerie godmother equivalent of a panic button and pulled out one of the seashells that made up Evian’s direct communication hub. White as snow outside with a pale pink interior, it was pretty as well as useful.

  “Evian,” I spoke clearly into the shell.

  “What’s wrong?” Her voice boomed back.

  “Tone it down a bit. I’m fine. That’s why I didn’t call Terra directly.” Had there been a real emergency, she was only a whisper away. “Serena hit Kin and Carl with some truth spell or potion. Trying to find out how to get to Jett. We’re at home now, and I thought maybe one of you could check them over, make sure I didn’t miss anything.” One of Terra’s tonics wouldn’t go amiss either—not that a tonic would lift the spell; that would have to wear off on its own.

  “We’ll be right there.” The shell went dead in my hand.

  “You sure you didn’t just stir the pot?” Flix knew firsthand the weight of faerie godmother wrath.