by Brea Viragh
“When the time comes for me to collect payment for your debt, you will know immediately. Your signature at the bottom of this document—a binding magical contract, by the way—states you will repay the debt in whatever method the spellbinder—that’s me—demands at a future point in time.”
My uncle would drop dead on the spot if he knew I was about to sign a contract without proper representation. Or even reading it first. “I…I’m not sure if I should—”
“It’s an unnamed favor,” Barbara interrupted with a hint of impatience. “You want your cure-all, don’t you?”
The price was not explicitly laid out. This was a terrible idea, and the whole of me felt it. Uncle William would have never allowed one of his clients to go through with this deal. Not without the terms being discussed beforehand.
“Do you want my help or not?” she pressed.
Still I hesitated. Literally promising to do anything for this crazy lady meant endless possibilities and none of them good. What would she have me do? Barbara could demand I kill someone for all I knew.
But I also knew the Fae Academy for Halflings waited. And I’d do whatever it took to get out from under my uncle’s thumb and save myself from Kendrick Grimaldi.
You’ll go when I say you can go.
Before I thought better of it, and with the memory of his voice echoing in my head, I grabbed the pen to sign my name on the contract.
7
Like a poor unfortunate soul standing in front of a sea witch, I signed my life away.
Barbara smiled, the discolored skin around her mouth stretching and revealing wrinkles I hadn’t noticed before. “There you go, Tavi. There you go. Good girl. Now, with our contract out of the way…” She trailed off and snapped her fingers a third time, this time sparks flying up from where her skin touched together. The table in front of us disintegrated. In its place rose a giant cauldron the size of a bathtub, forged of black iron and balanced on four legs.
I felt my face drain of color. The liquid inside the cauldron throbbed like blood pulsing through an artery. As though the damn thing had a heartbeat all its own.
Here were the witchy accoutrements I’d thought were lacking before. Here was the crazed and magical woman who had the power to save or destroy me. Maybe she hid those things away for guests? No, based on the look of the rest of the house, Barbara didn’t have any guests, only customers who were dumb enough, like me, to agree to her terms. And odds were good she didn’t care what they thought of her, anyway.
“Oh, stop shivering,” Barbara admonished, and the snap of her voice drew my attention. “You got the scary part over with! You can relax. It’s all a cake walk from here on out.”
I was a magical being but I’d never had the time or a reason to use my magic, since I’d lived most of my life in hiding as a full-blooded werewolf.
Watching Barbara work her power with such ease…the visual drew me forward and repulsed me in equal measures. What kind of magic did she possess? And how did I know she would use it for good?
I didn’t. I had no idea what this woman would or would not do, only how she had an apocalyptic fantasy that inclined her to shoot people on sight. Maybe I was one of the lucky ones and she already had a sufficient pile of bones hidden in the backyard. Ingredients for her spells.
Sick.
I placed a hand over my belly and rubbed at the slight ache there.
“You’re going to need a little bit of calendula, a little bit of…” Barbara apparently spoke to herself, the cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth. The ingredients were conjured out of thin air. Barbara grabbed them one at a time and dropped in whatever amount she deemed necessary. “A few tadpoles for flavor. Maybe a little bit of black ash. Red string. A large pinch of wormwort—”
“What is the wormwort for?” I tried to ask, coughing at the belch of smoke expulsed from the boiling mess inside the cauldron. It didn’t smell any better than the original concoction smelled. “What else are you putting in there?”
Barbara paused long enough to glare at me. “Hush up and let me work.”
“You can’t blame me for being curious.” I wrapped my arms across my chest and struggled to keep my now blurry eyes on the potion.
“No, but I can blame you for getting the ingredients wrong because I’m distracted.”
Okay, message received and lips zipped.
Finally, she completed the potion. Ten agonizing minutes of watching Barbara conjure random plants and minerals out of nothing and throw them haphazardly into her stew-like concoction. There were things I recognized and more I didn’t, and at the end the air smelled like someone had lit a pile of tires on fire using duck fat.
I hope she knows what she’s doing. Please let her know what she’s doing.
I’d done my best to keep track of the ingredients, to see if this was something I might be able to do on my own or if I’d need to come back to Barbara when I finished this round. The thought had me queasy.
“Almost there,” she told me. “Hold your horses a while longer and I’ll have it for you.”
She closed her eyes and raised both hands in the air like she was praying to the Holy Spirit itself. Twenty-eight glass vials rose from the counter, the black liquid equally divided among them before corks stopped up each one. They settled into a container with slots for each of the glass bottles.
“You can keep the cushioned wooden case. I have plenty of them lying around. Well, somewhere,” Barbara stated, blinking. “Consider it part of your payment. It’s going to help you with storage, because you do not want to leave these lying around. If anyone else tries to take them it won’t be a pretty sight, or maybe your classmates will figure out you have something to hide and report you. You with me so far?”
“Yes, I understand.” At least the case had a handle. Good for traveling.
“You’ll need to ingest a vial every thirteen days on the dot. This batch will get you through the probationary first year at the academy as long as nothing happens to the vials.” She knew about the academy, too, then. Or else she’d put two and two together.
Her finger snap shook me, and when I glanced up, I no longer saw the cauldron. The kitchen table was back in place. I wasn’t sure what shocked me more, how she worked so easily with her powers or how normal everything looked now, as though the spooky concoction equipment had never existed.
“How do you know about the probationary first year?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Barbara ignored me. “If you need more vials for any reason, then the price doubles.”
The price I had no clue about. I nodded to keep her talking.
“And there are rules. There must always be rules, Tavi Alderidge. You would do well to heed them.” I could have sworn her voice deepened. “One: You can come into contact with no saltwater while under the potion’s spell or the spell will break. No saltwater baths, no accidental saltwater splashed on your skin, nothing. Two: The potion cannot protect you from the light of a full moon. If you go out beneath a full moon, your true nature will be revealed, regardless of the potion being in effect the rest of the time.”
The weight of her words echoed through the space and shook something inside of me until it reverberated with a twang. They held my life in each vowel, each consonant.
It was a good thing I was a natural born shifter, even half-blood, because if I had been bitten then the full moon would have held sway over me and the potion certainly would not have worked. Maybe if I had been bitten, I might not be in this position.
“Three: You cannot eat garlic. Garlic will break the potion’s effect and reveal you. Four: Do not under any circumstances touch a quartz crystal of any kind. Quartz is a magical stone which will siphon the spell away from you, revealing your true nature. Five: Don’t look at your own reflection in a mirror or let anybody see your reflection in a mirror after sundown—the spell will break and reveal your true nature.”
My head spun. “I need to write these down.”
�
��No time. We’re done here.” Barbara wiped her hands on the front of her pants. “You’ll remember the rules or else learn the hard way when you break ’em. I’ve got nothing more for you. You have what you need and I have what I need.”
I hated to ask what it was I’d given her, knowing I wouldn’t like the answer. If she even bothered to tell me.
“Good luck with everything, kiddo,” she said, her voice returning to normal. She attempted a smile once more. This time wasn’t any better than the first. “I’ll be seeing you again soon. You can see yourself out.”
The smoke spun around us in a cloud I could not wave away. It swirled closer and closer until I could feel the touch of it on my skin, ushering me to the door like a thousand invisible fingers. The case weighed heavily in my hand and I wasn’t sure when I’d grabbed it.
Wasn’t sure I had in the first place.
“Thank you,” I tried to say. “For helping me.”
Thank me when you pay up, girl.
Her voice sounded inside my head. Barbara’s cackle followed me outside and sent chills down my spine. The door closed behind me and I wondered what kind of deal with the devil I had just made.
I still didn’t feel any evidence of a ward as I walked through the forest, gripping the case tightly to my midsection. Nothing to indicate Barbara had any kind of magical protection around her place at all, and I wondered if she’d made the whole thing up to fool me. To trick me into thinking I’d done something special.
There was no one on the street when I got back to my car. I placed the case on the front seat, pausing for a moment to stare at the closed lid, thinking of the vials inside. Filled with black liquid.
Was I really going to have to drink those? My head still spiraled, dizzy, the effects of her smoke keeping me in a thrall through the rest of my drive away from Everly Lane. Away from the house and the witch and the nightmares I knew she inspired. For a good reason.
Another late night for me, I snuck up the stairs with Uncle William’s snoring echoing off the walls. Shoot, he’d gotten home ahead of me. Good thing he slept heavily after a drinking spree. It was a point in my favor.
Making sure to move as quietly as possible, I placed the box with the vials under my bed and then shoved clothes in front to hide it from view, then straightened out the dust ruffle.
Tuesday was coming faster than I was ready for. I’d need to pack and be gone before anyone knew.
The information in my welcome email gave me a physical address for the campus. When I typed it into my phone, it showed ten hours north. Massachusetts wasn’t too far but still a long drive.
Better for me to be far away when they discovered I was gone.
I couldn’t take my own car or Uncle Will would be able to track me. He kept close track of my movements and I wouldn’t put it past him to have some sort of GPS device enabled. It also meant the cell phone would have to go.
What to bring and what to leave behind? Pausing, I scratched my head, exhaustion weighing me down until I sank to the floor, legs folding underneath me. My chest ached at the thought of leaving Uncle William. He’d been there for me since my father’s death, making sure I lacked for nothing.
Until he sold you out to the Grimaldis, a nasty voice in my head reminded me. Until he used you to get ahead, without thinking of your feelings.
I sighed, dropping my chin into my hands. Too much to think about. And Barbara had all but wrung me out with the visit. How long would I need to recover from meeting her? Still…
“I did it,” I whispered out loud. Although I wasn’t sure why or who I spoke to. Maybe Elfwaite, though she was too far away to hear me. “I did it and I’m on my way out.” The word drew a giggle, ending with a snort.
I couldn’t think about what Uncle Will would do when he discovered I had run away. Or how the rest of the pack might suffer at the hands of the Grimaldi alpha deprived of his prize.
My breast throbbed in remembrance of his rough handling and I shuddered.
All I had to do was get to the school and keep my head down. Get through the selection process without anyone realizing I was really a werewolf shifter—the Fae’s sworn enemy—and make it until graduation.
All I had to do was survive without my fated mate hunting and finding me.
8
While I stared at the Tuesday morning sun rising in the sky, I wanted to puke with the thought of what I had to do next.
I had a plan. My plan would break the heart of the man who’d raised me. Would put distance between me and the only home I’d ever known. But at least I knew what had to be done. Now all I had to do was put my plan into motion.
True to his normal everyday routine, I heard Uncle Will shut the door to his office with a soft snick. “Tavi, I’m off for work.” His voice echoed up the staircase with a deep rumble.
“Okay.” I poked my head out of my room. “Have a nice day and I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Are you sure you can’t come in to the office for a few hours?”’ He peered up the staircase at me, apparently trying to determine if my claim of feeling sick was true or not. “I know your internship with us is coming to an end soon but we can still use you. Come on.”
He wanted to keep an eye on me, I knew. To make sure I didn’t do anything to jeopardize his arrangement.
I shook my head, and it wasn’t a stretch to look as miserable physically as I felt emotionally. There were too many things on my mind to think straight and I hadn’t slept for more than a few hours at a time. “Sorry, Uncle Will. This weekend has been a little stressful for me and I can’t seem to shake this headache. I’ll make it up to you,” I said, lying straight to his face. “I’ll put in extra hours tomorrow.”
He looked as though he wanted to argue further. To debate me, one of his favorite pastimes. He sighed and drew his briefcase tighter against his hip, looking dapper in his double-breasted suit coat and crisp black pants. Ready for battle.
“I do wish you felt better, Tav. I know we haven’t gotten a chance to speak since our dinner and there are certain things I want to discuss further, when you’re back to normal.” His eyes darted around without landing, fingers tapping out an erratic rhythm on the leather briefcase. Too many things on his mind as well. “Things I believe will ease a little bit of the tension I’m sure we all feel with this new dynamic.”
Tension? Nah, try disgust, nausea, dread. “I wish I felt better too,” I told him, and at least it was the truth. “I’ll make it up to you.”
The repetition did the trick.
“Sweet girl, I know you will. Come here.” Will stepped forward and opened his arms. I went down the steps willingly, leaning my head against his chest and breathing in his familiar expensive scent.
Close enough to how I remembered my father. Tears pricked my eyes. I didn’t have many memories of the man outside of a few moments of clarity. Big shoulders, boisterous laugh, and his scent. One he and his brother shared. And now Uncle Will was the only family I had left.
Was I really leaving? Could I do this?
“Take care,” I choked out. Holding him a little longer and squeezing tighter. “Have fun at work.”
William chuckled. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this is a goodbye. You must really feel poorly.”
I tightened my hold again. “I do.”
“Well, get some rest.” He ran a hand over my head for a brief second. “Have Cook make you anything you like. Although I know it’s cliché, chicken soup really does help. I’ll see you when I get home.”
“Thank you for everything.”
He kissed my hair and walked out the front door like any normal day. Except it wasn’t a normal day, not for me, and once I followed through with my plan, things between us would never be the same. If I ever saw my uncle again.
I stared after him for a long time, long after the door closed and I lost the sounds of his car driving down the road. Uncle Will would never forgive me for this. I knew it. The act of betrayal would cut too deep
ly for him to accept me again if I decided to make amends.
This truly was goodbye.
The walk from the house would take me some time. I’d leave my car here, taking only what I might need for the academy and nothing more.
My bags were packed, the vials secured. I’d stuffed them at the bottom of my wheeled suitcase along with clothes and snacks and memorabilia I couldn’t live without. It hurt to leave the laptop at the house, just as it hurt to leave the phone, but both of them were too easy to hack and track. I refused to take the chance and leave a trail.
If I disappeared, I did it for good. A trick I’d learned from Jason had me clearing my internet search history so Uncle Will wouldn’t be able to find out about the academy website no matter how hard he tried.
Vanish completely.
Under any other circumstances, running away from the protection of the pack would be foolish. But the time had come. I gathered my things closer, tightened my grip on the suitcase, and breathed in the familiar scents one last time.
No turning back, Tavi.
I took one last look around. I’d come back to this place one day, if I could.
Part of me knew it was just a pipe dream, though. I wouldn’t be allowed to come back. The pack would never allow it. The betrayal would cut too deep.
Now. I had to go now. I couldn’t even say goodbye to Cook and the others—not when I knew they would go straight to my uncle and tell him I was acting squirrelly. He would turn the car around without hesitation. Catch me in the act and punish me. Lock me up, most likely.
I couldn’t take the risk.
I dragged my suitcase, purse, and duffel bag downstairs as quietly as I could manage, then moved quickly through the den toward the French doors leading to the backyard.
My eyes stung and I swiped the moisture away, then silently opened one of the double patio doors. This would make less noise than leaving through the front, and with fewer prying eyes to report my movements.
I let the sound of my footsteps and the low hum of the wheeled suitcase drown out any lingering doubts as I took my only shot at freedom.