by Amy Boyles
Better late than never, right?
Lady reappeared from the grass that she’d dived into forever ago. She padded up to me slowly, and I laughed at how exhausted she looked.
“Come here, girl.” I scooped her into my lap and smiled at Shane, only to find him staring at me.
A tendril of hair had fallen onto my face, and Shane tucked it behind my ear. A shiver ran down my spine. “I’ve had a nice time tonight.”
“Me too,” I said breathlessly. We were sitting so close. The distance hadn’t seemed so small before, but now, with his fingers lightly touching my ear, I realized that really we were only a few heartbeats away from each other.
He studied me, and I felt myself become heavy under the weight of his stare. “We should do this again.”
I nodded, hypnotized by him. “Yes, we should.”
Shane started to lean in, and here it came—the kiss! We would kiss, and it would be awesome.
Behind him, down off the bluff, I saw lights—a lot of little lights dancing on the ground. My heart clenched.
Magic. Someone was working magic.
I jerked my head up, away from Shane’s lips.
“Oh!” I said.
Concern filled his eyes. “Everything okay?”
Oh no! Oh crap! Panic clawed at my throat as a sea of small orbs lit up the forest below. I could not have Shane see them. He would ask questions about magic. He might want to investigate. We needed to leave. Now.
I gently put Lady on the ground and rose, folding my chair. “Listen, I just forgot that I…left my oven on! How could I be so dense. I’m sorry, but we’ve got to go.”
Shane slowly rose. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, it is. I just need to get back.
I handed him my chair and then folded his up. “Sorry to cut this short.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “No, it’s no big deal,” he said, sounding super confused.
I could have kicked myself in the head for being such an idiot. Left my oven on? That was the lamest excuse, like, ever.
I handed him the chairs and kicked dirt on the fire. Shane started to turn toward the lights, but I steered him in the direction of the truck, which faced the opposite direction, thank goodness.
I scooped up a snoozing Lady from the ground and followed Shane back to the pickup, all the while seething.
Someone was down on the other side of the bluff working magic, and it ticked me off. If some idiotic witch started shooting off her powers in a town of regular folks, they would start to ask questions. People would look at each other funny. They might look at me funny. No. I had created a solid life in Peachwood, and under no circumstances would I allow it to be ruined by some dum-dum out fooling around.
I tugged Shane gently toward his pickup. “Come on. We’ve had such a nice night. I’m such a dolt for leaving the oven going. Plus, I’ve got to get up early if I’m going to deal with Dooley and all his craziness.”
Shane nodded absently as he unlocked the pickup. “No problem at all. I totally understand.”
He tossed the chairs in the bed and smiled. “We should do this again.”
Feeling the heat from his stare, I nodded. “I would like that.”
But first I needed to get down to that bluff and find out who the heck was trying to ruin my life.
Chapter 6
Shane dropped me off at my house a few minutes later. The romance from before, when we sat in front of the fire, had been broken. Besides, I was preoccupied to say the least. I needed Shane to drop me off and drive away so that I could hop back in my truck and get on over to the bluffs and find out who the heck was up there messing around with magic.
“I had a nice time,” Shane said, his arm resting on the steering wheel.
I did my best to look like I wasn’t distracted, which was hard because I was seriously distracted, y’all.
“Me too.”
“Listen,” Shane said, “about last night at my bar. You sure that you weren’t hurt by those two guys?”
“What guys?” Apparently I had a short memory.
“The ones you said were knocked out by that other woman?”
Gosh, why were we discussing this right now when I had a witch or wizard to catch? I thumped my foot against the seat well impatiently.
I placed a hand on his arm and just about jumped at the electricity that snaked down my fingers. “Shane, please don’t worry. I promise they weren’t bothering me. I think they saw you were gone and decided to hit on that other woman, who was having nothing of it. Next thing I knew, she had socked them both.”
He frowned and stared out the window.
“Why are you so disturbed by it?” I asked.
Shane hiked a shoulder to his ear. “It’s just that they didn’t seem to remember anything about what had happened.”
“I guess she really got ’em good, huh?” I joked.
“Maybe so.”
We stared at each other, and the pressure in the cabin increased. Trust me, I wanted to kiss him, but time was dragging on. Kissing could wait; whoever was down on the other side of the bluff could leave.
It appeared that I had made my decision. I cuddled Lady closer to my chest. “I had a great time. Thank you for that.”
He smiled and started to open his door. “Let me walk you up.”
“Okay.” I mean, it would have been rude not to let him walk me up, right?
He came around, popped open my door, and as I slid out, my purse caught on the latch of his glove box. As I worked it out, the lock sprang and the lid fell open, revealing a handgun.
“Oh.” I didn’t hide the startle in my voice. “Didn’t expect to see that.”
Shane leaned over and shut it. “I carry a lot of money on me sometimes, making deposits to the bank. I need protection. You never know when someone might try to rob you.”
“In Peachwood?” I nearly laughed. “It’s such a safe place.”
His eyes darkened. “You never know.”
A lot of folks carried guns around. It shouldn’t be a big deal to see that Shane carried one, too. So I shrugged it off and let him lead me up the sidewalk.
“I’d like to see you again,” he murmured.
“Sounds good to me.”
“How about this weekend?”
I smiled widely. “I’m free.”
“Great. Maybe this time we’ll do something more official.”
“Wow,” I joked, “sounds so serious.”
Shane chuckled. “Not at all.”
We reached the front door, and Shane stared at me, his green eyes shining with affection. My heart thundered in my chest as he leaned down.
Lady suddenly jerked in my arms. I lost my balance, and the only way that I could keep from falling was to lunge forward.
“Lady, be careful.”
She jumped down and darted into the bushes.
“Lady,” I called after her.
“Need me to help look for her?” Shane asked, the kissing moment shattered once again.
I waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. She does this sometimes. I’ll nab her in a few minutes.”
“I’ll stay,” he said.
“No, go on. I’ll see you soon.” I shot him a wide smile.
Shane returned it. “Okay, but if she stays gone for too long, call me and I’ll come back to catch her.”
“Thanks.”
After he left, I chased Lady into a hedge, where I found her rolling around on a pile of leaves.
“Boy, you sure do have crappy timing. Come on, girl. Let’s get you inside.”
Lady shot me a guilty look before I scooped her into my arms and hauled her in. As soon as she was settled with a fresh bowl of water and food, I headed back outside and into my truck.
It didn’t take long to reach the same spot that Shane had taken me to. The balls of magic still glowed in the distance.
“I’m going to catch you now,” I murmured.
Shane had told me that a trail led
down to the woods below us. I pulled out my phone and fired up the flashlight. The trail was well-worn, making it easy to follow. When I reached the bottom, I paused, watching.
A person stood in shadow, surrounded by orbs of all hues. They drifted about, flashing to different colors. One blinked red, then green, then yellow.
I sucked in a lungful of air as I realized exactly what they were—spells. The witch was resurrecting spells from the ground. There was no telling exactly what spells were being summoned. They could be dangerous, unstable, things that could hurt any and all of us in Peachwood.
The shadowy figure moved among them, taking one and inspecting it before letting it fall to the ground. The witch searched for one in particular, but what?
The shock that ran through my body locked me to the ground. My legs wouldn’t move. They were pinned in place.
How had all these spells gotten here? This wasn’t a magical town. The only other times that I had seen spells roaming freely like this was when I visited a town full of magic.
Why were they here, and why was this witch resurrecting them?
I inhaled a deep breath. Two choices lay before me—I could either run and confront the witch or…walk in and confront the witch. If I ran, whoever stood out there might get scared and start fighting me. Better to walk.
With fists clenched, I stalked forward. The last time I confronted a wizard, I barely escaped with my life. I could feel it now, his magic wrapped around me, trying to drain all the power from me.
My skin crawled at the thought. I stopped, my breath coming in staggered clumps. I could not let this undo me. After all, Clementine Cooke was a survivor, not a scaredy-cat.
Magic surged at my fingertips, reminding me that my power waited to be used. It would not abandon me like a boyfriend scared of commitment.
Ha. Where did that thought even come from? Didn’t matter. Time to focus on the witch and what she wanted.
I stood behind her, maybe twenty feet away. She hadn’t heard me because of her search. She plucked orbs from the air, studied them and then, deciding they weren’t what she wanted, let them fall away.
I cleared my throat to get her attention. She kept right on with her business. Great. Now I had to speak.
“Excuse me.”
The witch did not turn around; instead she spoke. “What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy?”
The witch was not a witch at all. A wizard stood before me. His voice was low and gruff, with a hint of velvet lacing it. The velvet part got to me; it made me shiver. Strange that a voice could do that. A knot twisted up in my chest. Why did the voice have that effect on me? Maybe it wasn’t the voice at all, but the manner in which he had spoken—dismissive, as if what I wanted held no importance.
Forget that. This wizard was in the wrong territory.
“I can see that you’re busy, but whatever it is you’re looking for, you’re not going to discover it here. This isn’t a magical town.”
“Oh really?” he replied, amused. “And what do you call all these spells? Simple balls of light?”
How irritating! Why couldn’t he turn, face me and have a real conversation? Why was he being so difficult?
I studied his outline and wondered why I had ever thought this was a witch. Straight, strong shoulders were lit by the moonlight and halo of the orbs. Well-defined thighs flexed, and dark hair brushed his collar. But that was the extent of the discernable details. Shadows hid his face from view.
In answer to his sarcastic question, I said, “Of course they’re not simple balls of light. But no one in this town works magic. They don’t know about them.”
“Then what are they doing here? Some traveling wizard stopped by and dropped them off?” He plucked one from the air—a golden orb—and studied it. “No, you’re not right either.”
“Listen, you need to leave. One human nearly saw you tonight.”
“But he didn’t because you stopped him, right?”
I bristled. “I didn’t say that.”
“Of course you did. If you’re so worried that some human will see me, you would make sure that they wouldn’t. Hence, you didn’t let him get a look.”
Heat flared on my cheeks. Oh my gosh, this wizard was so irritating. Why the devil couldn’t he just leave? And what was with his weird verbiage. Like, who used the word hence?
Apparently he did.
“That doesn’t mean that someone else won’t see you and come down.”
His spine straightened and his head rose. Of course, he still faced the opposite direction, so I couldn’t make out his features. “Then I suppose you’ll have to help me, now won’t you?”
“I am not helping you.” I wasn’t about to offer my services to some cocky wizard in the middle of the night. There was no telling what spell he searched for. It could have been a spell to bind me.
He sighed dramatically. “If you help me, this will go faster. I assure you that I want out of your hair as quickly as you want me gone from your territory.”
“I doubt that,” I murmured.
“Now, I’m searching for a particular spell.”
“Why are you searching here?” I tapped my foot impatiently. “There are plenty of other actual magical towns where you can find what you’re looking for.”
“I don’t know any others. I found this place.”
I scoffed. “Unbelievable—a wizard who doesn’t know where there are other magical towns? What? Were you just born into being a wizard today?”
“Something like that,” he muttered.
“Well, you can un-wizard yourself from my town and leave.” I took a menacing step forward. “Now.”
He tutted, and it was very annoying because I had magic, a lot of magic that could seriously screw him up, but this guy didn’t care.
He said in a singsong voice. “The sooner you help me, the sooner I can go. Besides, I don’t buy your whole belief that your little town isn’t full of magic.” He palmed a blue orb. “This right here proves that there is magic nearby—and a lot of it.”
“Whatever.” I nearly cursed under my breath but managed to stop myself. Boy, I could really do with a chocolate bar right now or, better yet, a chunk of that Coca-Cola cake Malene had made me. Yes, I could absolutely sink my teeth into a square of that.
As soon as I got home, that’s what I would do. It would be my reward for helping this wizard before I blasted him into the sky.
Okay, so I wouldn’t blast him because that would cause much too much of a spectacle. Once again, someone would see.
Deciding that my only option was to help, I shoved up my sleeves and moved closer. “All right. I’ll help but as soon as you discover the spell you want, you leave. Got it?”
He nodded. “Trust me, I don’t want to be standing in the forest with you either. You’re not particularly pleasant.”
I cackled. “You don’t know the half of it. Now, what am I looking for?”
He touched a pink orb and shook his head. I still couldn’t get a good peek at his face, and I started to fantasize about what he looked like. Did a handsome face go with that husky yet refined voice of his?
Oh my gosh, what was wrong with me? I’d just gone on a date with Shane, and here I stood fantasizing about a faceless wizard. I must have hit my head somehow between my house and here, because surely I had lost my mind.
“I am looking for a memory spell,” he informed me.
I reached for a purple orb and paused. “A memory spell. What sort of memory spell?”
He sighed, annoyed with my question. “When one looks for a memory spell, I would think it would be fairly obvious that one needs to regain a memory.”
I scoffed. “Don’t be rude. I was only asking.”
“Apologies, but if you were in the situation that I currently find myself, your fuse would be short as well.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, trying to digest what he was saying, “so do you only need a small memory spell or a large one.”
“When one
loses their entire memory, I would think a large one would be required to fix it.”
“You’ve lost your entire memory. As in, you have amnesia?”
“Yes,” he said, annoyed, “I’ve lost my entire memory, so I suppose the correct diagnosis would be amnesia.”
How horrible. Suddenly I felt sorry for this brusque man. I inspected a green orb and found it to be an enchantment spell, so I dropped it. “What happened? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”
“I don’t mind because I don’t actually know.” He took a few steps forward and stopped in a patch of moonlight that fully illuminated him. Yes, my initial survey of him had been correct—straight, muscular shoulders, taut thighs. He wore leather. No, that hadn’t been in my initial observation, but I noted it now.
“You don’t know what happened?”
He shook his head. “I only know that I found myself not far from here, in a cornfield. Seeing as cornfields and men in leather pants do not go together, I left until I found this place.”
“Did you walk?”
“Again, no memory, and with no memory, that means I don’t actually remember how to work spells, though I can sense where they are, and if in physical form like they are here”—he tapped a white orb—“I can read them.”
My heart broke for him. His bristly demeanor made perfect sense. He was wounded, and I understood wounds. Heck, they were second nature to me.
“Let’s see if we can find a memory spell and get you out of this mess,” I said.
“That would be most kind… I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”
I saw no reason not to tell him. After all, he wasn’t here to harm me. “Clementine Cooke.”
“Clementine Cooke.” The words on his lips sent a fissure of electricity running down my spine. “I would tell you mine, but of course, I can’t remember it.”
He turned around, giving me a perfect look at him. His skin was luminescent under the moonlight, which highlighted a strong brow, dark, glittering eyes and refined features. In his eyes lived a world of sorrow, a depth that I didn’t recall seeing the last time that I had gazed into his face.
My gut clenched and my chest constricted so hard I thought it might squeeze my heart to a standstill. Before me stood the man who had taken me that night, long ago. This was the same wizard who had tried and failed to steal my magic. He had attempted to drain every drop of magic from me.