Bewitching Fire

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  Krystal was in the middle of looking up the proper procedure for shutting down the coffee shop when someone knocked on her office door.

  “I’m busy,” she called out, never taking her eyes off her laptop screen.

  “Not for me, you’re not.”

  Krystal’s hands went motionless over her keyboard when her mother’s voice rang through the wood, clear as a summer day. “Come in,” she said with a sigh. If getting an earful from her sister wasn’t enough, she was about to get it from her mother too.

  The older witch stepped in and closed the door behind her, the knitted scarf dangling from her neck told Krystal that she must have just arrived. She pushed aside her laptop and waited for the verbal lashing that was to come.

  “They told me you’ve been in here all day,” Catherine said as she sat down in the chair across from her desk.

  Krystal motioned toward the somewhat straightened piles of papers. “I’ve been working on getting all this together, so when we shut down, it’ll be easier to haul out. I still have taxes to file in the spring.”

  Her mother’s dark eyes went wide, the wrinkles around them deepening. “Shut down? Honey, you can’t shut this place down. It’s your dream.”

  She leveled a look at her mother. Just like Devin, she appreciated honesty and if her mom was going to try and cajole her into thinking all was well, Krystal was going to have none of it. “Have you talked to Sierra lately?”

  Catherine blinked at the turn of conversation. “No, why? Should I?”

  “I highly doubt that she hasn’t told you everything already,” Krystal said, crossing her arms over the tabletop. “Why else would you be here?”

  “I’m here, because I sensed a great sadness in you and I knew I had to come see what was going on.” Catherine’s gaze roamed over what she could see of Krystal. “Does this have to do with Devin?”

  Now it was her turn to be shocked. “Sierra told you about Devin?” Perhaps it was like confessing that she was guilty before she was even accused of the crime, but there was really no use in playing stupid with her mother. She saw through everything.

  “I knew about Devin since Monday, dear,” her mother said with a little shake of her head. “Mrs. Macy told me all about the cop from Boston and how you two have been sweet on each other.”

  Krystal took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You don’t have to worry about him, mom. It’s not going to work out like I hoped.”

  Her eyes narrowed upon her daughter with that wordless look that demanded more information. So, Krystal told her about how Devin summoned the dark magic within her, how she felt about him in the beginning, and how it all came crashing down around her ears that night when they had sex on the couch. Of course, she didn’t mention the sex part, because her mother would have throttled her. That couch belonged to their grandmother and she sewed the cushions together herself. It was as much of a family heirloom as the entire house was.

  “I thought he took the news really well, but he said he needed time to think. We haven’t really talked since then.”

  A slow smile crept across Catherine’s face. Such an incongruous expression when Krystal’s world was still crumbling to pieces like a dry autumn leaf under a heavy boot.

  “Do you love him?” she asked.

  Krystal shrugged and rubbed her cheek against the soft knitted fabric of her sleeve. “I don’t know what I feel anymore. All I know is I hate that it’s come to this.” She looked back up to her mom. “Remember how Missy Thompson lost her virginity in my freshman year and the guy dumped her a week later? Now I know how she feels.”

  Catherine nodded. “You gave Devin a precious jewel when you told him your secret for the first time, and now it feels like he’s tossed it into the dirt.”

  “Exactly,” Krystal replied, slightly surprised that her mother could be so intuitive about something she really didn’t have a clue about. “I know you’ve always been with dad, so you can’t really relate, but it hurts so bad not to hear from him, not to talk to him.”

  The knowing smile on her mother’s face prompted her to wonder what was going to come out of her mouth next.

  “Darling, I know it’s hard to believe, but I know how you feel. I loved a non-magic man once.”

  Krystal gasped. “No way.”

  Catherine, her eyes twinkling with reminiscence, nodded. “I did. It was James Nickels, actually. Now, he’s the chief of police, but we used to get into a lot of trouble back in the day.” She laughed. “I could tell you stories and stories of how we sprayed graffiti on the water tower and stole things from the neighbors all the time.”

  A contagious smile made its way to Krystal. “I never knew that. Does dad know?”

  “Of course, he knows,” she replied. “He was the one there to pick up the pieces when your grandmother told me that I could never be with James.”

  Krystal nodded. “Just like you’re going to tell me that I can’t be with Devin.”

  Catherine scooted to the edge of her chair and grabbed at the front of the desk. “No, dear, I’m going to tell you to go after that handsome cop. If he wants you, if he loves you like I suspect that he does – because you know that I know things – then you need to grab him up before some other girl in town tries. That’s what happened with James. He moved on, found another non-magic girl, and I fell in love with your father. That is our love story, but yours is with Devin, I know it.”

  To have a scrying witch tell Krystal that her fate was to be with Devin shined a bit of light into her dark and gloomy heart. Perhaps they did have a future together, but she wasn’t about to force anything. She’d doubt every nagging hope until she knew for certain that Devin did want her, magic and all.

  To know her mother had dated and run around town with a non-magic was a far more interesting story. There wasn’t a single witch alive that frowned upon mixed couples more than her mother. Krystal could remember her and other members of her family gabbing about the scandalous relationships in other parts of the country and how her mother suspected they would lead to ruin. Catherine even predicted how Alexa’s parents would eventually split up just before their half-magic baby was born.

  Mixed couples could work, but her mother always seemed the pessimist toward them. Whether it was because Krystal was on the brink of having her own outrageous matchup with Devin, or if she had seen things come up in the council that put the idea in a new perspective, she didn’t care. As long as her mother wasn’t going to yell at her for it, or disown her as a daughter, Krystal was content to hope again.

  “If he wants me, he knows where to find me.” Krystal shrugged. “At least, for now.”

  Catherine grunted as she grabbed the arms of the chair and pulled the chair closer to the desk. “What’s this nonsense about you closing down the shop, then? If it doesn’t have to do with Devin, does it have to do with the murders?”

  Krystal shouldn’t have been surprised that she knew about that too. “Did Mrs. Macy tell you about that too?”

  “No, the newspapers did.” Catherine gave her a cunning look. “I don’t have to gossip or scry for everything, you know.”

  Bracing herself for the long story, Krystal took a breath and told her mother about the murders, Alexa charming the coffee under her orders, and everything they’ve tried to do over the last five years. Maybe since her mother was on the council, she could put a good word in and the punishment wouldn’t be so severe. She left Alexa and Valerie out of it, of course. The coffee shop had been her idea in the first place, so it was only right that she take the fall for it. She claimed her two friends as completely blameless.

  Catherine didn’t show one hint of violent or distressed emotion in all the time she confessed her sins. There was no greater rule than the one stating that witches should not use their powers on a non-magic, and Krystal had done just that. She was a disappointment to her family, and to the magical community. She could already hear the lessons years from now, where her story was told to teach young witches and wa
rlocks the consequences of using their magic improperly.

  When Krystal was done, she waited for Vesuvius to blow, but nothing came.

  “So, you’re going to close your shop, because you made a bad judgement call?”

  Krystal flattened her hands over the stack of papers she had been leaning on. “Mom, I broke the rules. I broke the one rule a witch should never break. This isn’t just a bad judgement call. This is a whole five years of risking exposure and you’re acting like I just gave you the weather report.”

  Catherine held up a thin hand to hold back Krystal’s growing mania. “I’ve known what you and the others have been doing here. I’ve known for a while now.”

  It didn’t happen often, but Krystal fell speechless. Something must have happened after Catherine took her position on the council. She had always been the picture of straight-laced, no nonsense, follow the rules or die sort of woman. Now, she seemed to be the complete opposite. First, she approves of Devin. Now Krystal learns that her mother had known about the coffee shop and Warlock Enforcers weren’t dispatched to take care of the threat to the magical world.

  “Honey, don’t look so shocked,” Catherine laughed. “I admire what you’re doing here. You may be breaking the most important rule, but you’re also following the witch’s creed to never do harm and help others. How could I possibly be mad at that?” She sat back and shrugged. “Your father, on the other hand might not be so lenient, but I keep plenty of things from him. This would be no different.”

  The witch’s creed wasn’t so much as a dogma tenet as it was a simple way of living. To do unto others as they would do unto you sort of mentality when it came to interacting with others, whether in the magical world, or the non-magical.

  Krystal buried her face in her arms and let out a long groan of relief.

  “Did you think I would come here to tell you not to follow your dreams?” her mother questioned. “I know this coffee shop means the world to you. And now that I know there’s a man for you in that world, I’m overjoyed that you’ve found everything I’ve ever wished for you. Yes, it would be easier if you came to work on the council and had a nice warlock husband. But you have to know that I’ve only wanted the best for you, and wanted you to be the happiest you can be. You’ve made your own path in life and I’m proud.”

  Krystal heard the whisper of fabric as Catherine stood up and came to wrap her arms around her daughter’s shoulders in a motherly hug. Grateful tears burned in her tired eyes as she swiveled in her chair and hugged her mother in return.

  She was right. The coffee shop was her dream, her world, and her life. Yes, they had been careless, but they learned their lesson the hard way. Charms would be kept to a minimum, maybe only five a week instead of five a day. Krystal would find a way to check each of them to make sure that this second-hand charm mess wouldn’t happen again. They could charm those they knew, but risking a charm on a stranger, who was unpredictable and maybe as volatile as Jacob wasn’t worth the trouble.

  “Thanks, mom,” she whispered against the older witch’s silver-streaked hair as a single tear spilled down her cheek.

  “Any time, my fire baby.”

  They pulled away from one another and Krystal scrubbed at the tear with the edge of her sleeve.

  “Speaking of fire,” her mother continued, “you have a visitor.”

  Not two seconds later, another knock came at the door and Valerie invited herself in. She looked from Catherine to Krystal and then cleared her throat, probably wondering if this was a bad time.

  “Krystal, Devin’s here and he wants to see you.”

  Krystal’s heart began to palpitate, and a faintness swept through her at Valerie’s declaration. Devin was there? And he wanted to see her? This was far sooner than she had expected. Before she realized it, her mother escorted her out of the office and into the hall.

  The air was filled with that rich, coffee aroma that had a strange way of clearing her head and welcoming her back to the land of the living. The coffee shop was buzzing with activity, the way it had been before the big serial killer scare earlier that week. The newspapers were quick to let out the announcement that the murderer had been caught and was safely behind bars. That wasn’t only good for business, but good for the town. The community could breathe easier, knowing they were safe once more.

  Behind the counter, Alexa and Valerie were sipping on their afternoon dose of caffeine, both as happy as they could be after a long night of battling charms and psycho killers. Alexa, in better spirits than she had been, seemed to recover and accept what happened. Though, Krystal knew they weren’t out of the woods quite yet. There would be days when the terrible guilt monster would come to pay them a visit.

  Devin stood near the front door, clad in his officer uniform, and not attended by Aaron as he usually was. Her mother gave her arm a reassuring pat and went to join her two friends at the counter. Krystal knew exactly what her mother would order too. She adored their house blend latte with lots of whip cream and cinnamon on top. That foamy pile of white paired well with her personal burgundy mug with the words “World’s Best Mom” written on the side in a childish hand.

  Catherine looked over her shoulder, casting a knowing glance toward her daughter. Just a gentle reminder that Krystal was still a woman and allowed to make her own decisions about life and love, now that she had left the nest. It was all the permission she needed.

  Krystal approached him, keeping her eyes on anything but Devin, because she didn’t want him to know she had just been crying.

  “Can we talk in private?” he asked, his voice like a soothing balm to her churning stomach.

  She made the mistake of meeting his gorgeous eyes and caved. He seemed neither mad, nor fearful in her presence. His expression was carefully neutral, unreadable like the first day they met when she predicted his personality based on his coffee choice. That seemed like a lifetime ago, and she knew him so much better than that now. Yes, he was still a realist, but also flexible, kind, funny, an amazing kisser, and so much more. Coffee could never tell her all of that.

  “Sure,” she agreed.

  Without a single look back to her mother or her friends, she walked out the door with Devin, feeling her spirit a little lighter as she stepped out onto the sidewalk along Johnson Avenue.

  When Devin asked Krystal if she wouldn’t mind going to the park for their private talk, he was surprised to hear her suggest the marina instead. He hated the silence that filled the cabin of his Dodge once they were moving down the residential streets to get to the bay. He didn’t know what to say, what to ask. He had requested a few hours off from Chief Nickels so he could have this time with Krystal, but he hadn’t really prepared what he would say to her. They needed to sort things out and now that the state officials could take over with Jacob, his boss was more than willing to give him as much time off as he wanted. In the chief’s eyes, Devin deserved it.

  But to Devin, he played a significantly small role. He was just the guy to arrest the perp. Krystal and her friends were the true heroes. Of course, no one would know that. He didn’t mention any of them in his report, not even when Krystal called him in front of Father Frank’s house.

  As they turned onto Orchid Crest Road, Krystal finally broke the silence. “What did you put in your report?” she asked, her voice soft and gentle, like a feathery touch on his skin that made him shiver. It didn’t matter what she was saying, as long as he could hear her voice.

  “I said that we were passing by and saw Jacob pull out the gun before going into the bar. We arrested him and upon questioning, he confessed to the murders. He’s being transported to the state prison for holding until his trial. I think his lawyer may go with the insanity plea, because he wouldn’t stop raving about his wife’s affair that led up to their divorce.”

  Beside him, he saw Krystal nod in understanding. “Valerie said that she cleared his memories, so he won’t say anything about us binding him in the circle. All he’ll remember is going into the
alley and then when you arrested him.”

  Devin had a feeling that was what the tap on Jacob’s forehead was about, but he didn’t have the chance to ask. “What exactly did you do to him? What was that green stuff that came out of Jacob?”

  Krystal, as coolly as if she were explaining a recipe to him, detailed about the binding circle, the charms, the second-hand charm, how to negate the charm, and everything in between. He stayed quiet, letting her talk, not just because he loved to hear her speak, but because he wanted to understand. If he was going to be cast headlong into his weird world of magic, he needed to at least make an effort.

  They came to the harbor and walked down to an empty pier where no boats were moored. Along the other docks, he could hear the fishermen and other sailors talking and shouting back and forth to one another, but out here, they could be alone.

  There was a wonderful lack of tension in Krystal as they sat themselves down at the very end of the dock, their legs hanging just a few inches above the water. To know she wasn’t afraid anymore, or at least not as afraid as she was, gave Devin hope that one day he could truly conquer his own fears. That day could be much sooner than he thought. Even going through the therapy sessions in Boston, he didn’t think this would ever be something he could just get over.

  “I didn’t know if you’d ever want to talk to me again,” she said, her feet kicking beneath her, in a slow, steady rhythm.

  Devin watched how the breeze tickled the fine dark hairs around her temples, and how the sun gave her a glow that made him stare, breathless and longing for her even more. “It didn’t take me long to figure everything out.”

  Krystal risked a glance his way and the corners of his lips tugged up into a smile that was completely involuntary. She had that effect on him. She always would.

  “What did you figure out?”