This was what Isabel Castillo had seen all those years ago. She’d seen that her clan would be in danger, and that their prima would be of no use to help protect them. And she saw the child my mother was carrying, and realized it was that very girl who would come to this clan and help save them.
My fingers were cold, but I still slipped my hand into Rafe’s. He took hold, his grip strong, reassuring. “We have to do this,” I said. “I understand now. It’s — it’s what your grandmother wanted.”
He stared at me for a few seconds, and then comprehension flared in his eyes. “I understand, too.” His mouth lifted in a crooked smile. “It’s what we were planning anyway. I just thought we’d have something besides a courthouse quickie.”
No doubt that was what everyone had expected, but we didn’t have time for elaborate ceremonies now. “It’s all right,” I assured him. “The important thing is for us to be together.”
“Then go,” Louisa said. “You have less than an hour before the courthouse closes.”
“I’ll come with you,” Cat offered. “You’ll need a witness.”
Right. I vaguely remembered hearing something about that part of the ceremony, although knowledge of courthouse weddings was not exactly my forte. I’d always known I would marry Rafe Castillo, but I’d imagined a big church wedding, full of the sort of pomp the marriage of the Castillo prima’s only son required. Well, I’d almost had one like that, except one of Simon’s horrible spells had interfered.
So Rafe and Cat and I hurried out to the driveway, where we got in Rafe’s Jeep and set out for the courthouse. As we were turning onto the main road, Oscar’s Subaru passed us. I could just barely see him staring at our vehicle in confusion — no doubt he was wondering why the hell we were all leaving now that Louisa was awake — but we didn’t try to roll down the window and offer any explanations. Louisa would be able to fill him in on everything that had happened once he got home.
Within fifteen minutes, we were downtown. Fate smiled on us, because someone was pulling away from one of the meters on the street right in front of the courthouse just as we approached. Rafe slid into the open parking space, and then we all got out and hurried into the building.
“Upstairs,” Cat said after quickly reading the directory.
The three of us headed up to the second floor, where we obtained the necessary paperwork, got our names added to the list, and hurriedly began filling out the forms, which to my surprise were paper and not an electronic file that could be sent to our phones. At least Rafe and I had gotten there before the cutoff, and so didn’t have to worry about not making it in time.
My writing was cramped and messy; I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had to fill out anything by hand, rather than having a form autofilled on my computer or phone. But as long as the clerk entering the information could read it, I supposed it didn’t matter all that much whether the paperwork was neat and clean.
Most of the other couples waiting their turn had tried to dress up for the occasion. I saw men in suits or at least in ties and dress shirts, women in cocktail dresses or actual wedding gowns. Looking down ruefully at my sweater and jeans, I said to Rafe in a murmur, “Sorry about my clothes. When I got up this morning, I didn’t think I would be getting married this afternoon.”
He offered me a flash of a grin, the kind that always managed to make my knees weak. “It’s all right,” he replied. “I’m not exactly dressed up, either.”
No, he wasn’t, since he had on a long-sleeved T-shirt, faded jeans, and scuffed hiking boots. But he looked so handsome, I really didn’t care one way or another. The important thing was that very soon he would be my husband, although under circumstances I could never have imagined.
We’d just finished filling out the paperwork when our names were called. Almost at once, my heartbeat began to speed up, and I could feel a sort of eager, nervous tension fill my body. No, I wasn’t worried about being married to Rafe — not so very long ago, that prospect had filled me with trepidation, but now I knew he loved me and I loved him. I knew what it was like to have our bodies joined in ecstatic union. We were meant to be together.
What worried me was the prospect of becoming the Castillo prima. Louisa had sounded sure of herself, but was this even going to work? And if it didn’t, what then?
Although maybe I should have been more worried about what would happen if her crazy plan did work. I wasn’t sure what frightened me more — having to confront Simon and somehow prevail, or facing the Castillo clan and trying to explain that I, someone not even of their blood, was now their new prima.
One step at a time, I told myself as Rafe and I went to stand in front of the judge, Cat a little off to one side. Louisa hasn’t transferred her powers to you yet.
In a way, it was almost reassuring to hear the familiar words of the wedding ceremony spoken by the judge. He was a balding Hispanic man, probably in his early sixties, with friendly brown eyes and a way of speaking that made it seem as though this was all new and exciting, even though he must have performed hundreds of these ceremonies over the years.
When we got to the part about the ring, however, Rafe looked blank for a moment, right before his features became a study in consternation. “We didn’t think about that,” he murmured to me.
My hands were bare. I wasn’t even wearing a ring on my right hand that could have stood in for a wedding band.
Cat stepped forward, pulling a garnet ring off her finger. “Here,” she said. “You can borrow this.”
“I’ll get you a real one,” Rafe promised me, “as soon as all this is over.”
I nodded. “It’s fine.”
He took the ring from Cat and slipped it on the ring finger of my left hand. Luckily, it fit pretty well. “With this ring, I thee wed,” he said quietly.
A little shiver went through me. We hadn’t made it this far in the abortive ceremony in Loretto Chapel, because Simon’s terrible spell had kicked in and forced Rafe to say all those awful things to me. This time, though…this time I knew it would be real.
I didn’t have a ring for Rafe, either. We sort of fumbled our way around that part of the ceremony, and then at last got to the part I’d been waiting for.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the judge said. “You may kiss the bride.”
Rafe bent and touched his lips to mine, and a welcome warmth moved all through me. How I wished we could go straight back to his house and make love again, reaffirm our connection to one another! Unfortunately, we didn’t have that luxury at the moment. Once this was all over….
If we succeeded. That was what frightened me the most. Louisa was willing to relinquish her prima power to me, but what if it turned out that wasn’t enough?
I couldn’t allow myself to dwell on such defeatist thoughts, however. The only way to make this work would be to trust in myself, in the powers that had been awakened within me, and trust that combining Louisa’s prima gift with those powers would be enough to beat Simon.
Even as we thanked the judge and left the courtroom so the next lucky couple could slip in before the four-thirty cutoff, I couldn’t prevent my brain from churning away at the confrontation that loomed. Would I have to kill Simon? Could I, despite everything he’d done?
The whole way back to Louisa’s house, Rafe drove one-handed so he could hold my left hand in his right. I could tell he was nervous, too, wanted to stay as connected with me now as he could. Despite his obvious tension, it was reassuring to feel his fingers entwined with mine, to look over at his fine profile and know that he truly was my husband now. Simon hadn’t been able to prevent our joining, despite all his machinations.
I could only hope his defeat would be just as inevitable.
When we got to the house, we could hear raised voices inside. Oscar and Louisa, quarreling. I didn’t have to guess what they were arguing about, although they stopped as soon as Rafe rang the doorbell. Oscar answered the door, his expression tight with anger.
“Y
ou’re married?” he asked, although I noticed he only looked at Rafe, seemed to be doing his best to ignore my presence.
“Yes,” Rafe said. “Look, Oscar, I know this is rough for everyone, but it’s Louisa’s decision.”
“You’re right — it is,” she put in as she appeared at Oscar’s shoulder. “Let them in, for God’s sake,” she added, an edge to her voice seeming to indicate that she was just as irritated with her husband as he was with her. “We don’t have a lot of time to waste.”
Reluctance clear in every line of his body, he stepped aside just enough that Rafe and Cat and I could squeeze past him into the foyer. We followed Louisa, who led us into the living room.
“Miranda, go ahead and sit down,” she said, gesturing toward the couch. “I’ll sit next to you.”
This felt more uncomfortable by the minute, but there wasn’t much I could do at this point. I’d already agreed to this crazy plan of action, and so I had to go ahead and follow Louisa’s instructions.
I sat on the sofa and she took a seat next to me, shifted sideways so she faced in my direction. Realizing she wanted me to do the same thing, I changed my position slightly so I could look directly at her. It was strange to sit this close, staring into her face. I was able to see some of the resemblance to Rafe now that we were only a few inches apart: the fine arch of her brows, the warm brown of her eyes, although her nose was sharper, more like their mother’s.
“Give me your hands,” she commanded me, and I couldn’t do anything except reach out with both hands. She took hold of them, fingers laced tightly with mine. Her skin was cool, her grip stronger than I had thought it would be, considering she’d been in a coma only an hour earlier. “Ready?”
There was a question. Of course I wasn’t. How could I be? I’d never heard of such a thing ever happening before, despite her story about that former Castillo prima and her daughter. You shouldn’t be able to hand over your magical gifts like some kind of white elephant present at a holiday gift exchange, especially to someone whose own powers were so newly awakened.
But because I’d agreed to this, all I said was, “I’m ready.”
She closed her eyes. I didn’t know whether I should do the same thing, because she hadn’t told me to. However, I figured it might be better to shut my eyes as well, partly because it might help me to focus…and partly because I was scared shitless of what was going to happen next.
A second or two passed, and nothing happened. I began to wonder whether this was going to work at all.
But then I felt it — the warm glow of my magic within me, only growing brighter and brighter by the second, a glowing ball of white-hot power unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. It shimmered within, pulsing, a supernova of magical energy that felt as though it wanted to burst out of my fragile human frame.
It didn’t, though. After a moment, it seemed to calm down, to withdraw into itself, although I could still feel it there, waiting for the time when I might call on it.
Louisa’s fingers still gripped mine. Once a few more seconds had passed, she finally let go of me. “It is done,” she said, her voice only a spent whisper.
Oscar made an incoherent sound of despair, even as Rafe came toward the couch and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Miranda, are you okay?”
I tried to laugh, although the sound came out more as a hiccupy little cough. “I don’t know if ‘okay’ is exactly the right word. I’m…I’m all right, I guess. And the power…it’s mine, Rafe. Louisa gave it to me. What the hell am I supposed to do now?”
In response, he took me by the hand and raised me from the sofa, then folded me into his arms. “Give yourself a little time to adjust,” he said quietly as he held me. Yes, I was thrumming with so much power, I felt like a human nuclear reactor, but it still felt so good to have Rafe next to me, to know that my gifts didn’t frighten him. “No one expects you to run off and face Simon Escobar right this second.” He looked over at his sister, who had just stood up as well, looking pale and shaky. “Louisa, are you all right?”
She nodded. “I’m fine. My — my own powers are still there. Giving away the prima energy doesn’t seem to have changed anything. And really, I was only prima for a few days. It wasn’t enough for me to really get used to having those powers.”
Was she telling the truth, or merely putting a brave face on things? I suddenly got the sense that, if I wanted to, I could look inside her mind and see for myself whether she was lying to herself…and to the rest of us.
No. If I did something like that, I would be no better than Simon. Louisa should be allowed her privacy. If she was trying to fool herself, well, she should be permitted to do so without any interference. I had taken on these extra powers to help protect the clan, and that was the only reason I would use them. The implications of anything else were far too frightening.
“You’re sure?” I asked, and she nodded again.
“I’m sure. They’re in better hands with you.”
I was relieved to see Oscar come up and wrap his arm around his wife, offer her his own comfort. Whatever harsh words they might have exchanged over her decision, it seemed that now he was willing to put their differences aside and accept what she had done. In the long run, he would probably be relieved. As the daughter of a prima, I could safely say that it wasn’t always that fun to be the head of a clan. Everyone looked to you for guidance, came to you when disputes arose that couldn’t be solved by the elders. And I realized that the Castillos apparently didn’t even have elders, so all that responsibility would end up on my shoulders.
It was overwhelming. I wished I could push it all away, say that I was only going to use the magic Louisa had given me to fight Simon, and that I had no interest in being the head of their clan. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way. I had the prima powers…and that meant being the prima in word and deed, not just in name.
But I could push that aside for later. Right now, I had something far more deadly and dangerous to focus on.
Simon Escobar.
“Okay, I’m locked and loaded,” I said, gently pulling away from Rafe. He let me go, although he still held on to one hand — the one with the ring I’d borrowed from Cat. “What next?”
“Well, we know where Escobar is,” Rafe replied. “I guess what we have to figure out is the best way to approach him.”
“I could teleport in — ” I began, but he immediately shook his head.
“That won’t work, because none of the rest of us have that ability, and you can only carry one person at a time, right?”
“I think so,” I replied. When I’d grabbed Rafe and gotten the hell out of Simon’s compound in Tesuque, I hadn’t been thinking about much more than fleeing as fast as I could. However, it was probably safe to assume that I could only carry one person with me when I teleported.
“And there’s no way you’re going in alone,” he said. “Simon might not have the Lord of Chaos to do his dirty work, but I’m sure he can still call in his flying monkeys.”
“‘Flying monkeys’?” I repeated, not sure what he was talking about.
“His demons,” Cat said.
“Right.” I’d almost forgotten about them, since they paled in comparison to the demon lord Simon had called to this plane. However, since his lordship was occupied elsewhere and no longer under Simon’s control, he wouldn’t be a factor. Those demons, however…. “Who in your clan has the kind of magic that might work against them? We need offense, not defense.”
Louisa and Oscar looked at each other. He cleared his throat and said, “I can call the fire, direct it where it needs to go.”
“Good,” I said, although I hated to have Louisa’s husband dragged into this. Still, I couldn’t scruple at bringing him along. We needed all hands on deck for this confrontation. “Who else?”
“Our cousin Arturo can call lightning…but he’s all the way down near Las Cruces.”
“How far is that?” I asked. I was still hazy on a lot of New Mexico’s g
eography.
“About a four-hour drive from here,” Rafe said. “We can’t afford to wait that long.”
“I could teleport and get him — ”
“You need to save your strength to face Escobar. If you teleport all over the place gathering your troops, how much energy are you going to have left?”
Good question. I honestly didn’t know, because at the moment I felt absolutely bursting with energy, thanks to the prima powers Louisa had given me. However, I couldn’t consider them inexhaustible. As Rafe had said, I needed to conserve my energy, know that I had enough in reserve to make sure Simon didn’t prevail.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But you’re probably right. I need to be careful. So I guess the question is — who’s local who has a helpful power?”
“Our cousin Tony,” Cat suggested. “He’s not a weather-worker, per se, but he can control the wind.”
Wind control against airborne creatures could be very helpful. Then again, Tony didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would necessarily be all that good in a fight. His careless attitude could get him in trouble.
But maybe I wasn’t being entirely fair. After all, the only time I’d had any real interaction with Tony had been at his Halloween party, when he’d been — well, “drunk” was too strong a word, but definitely elevated. I couldn’t judge how he’d act when sober and in a fight, based solely on that one encounter.
“That’s good,” I said. “I guess we’d better contact him.”
Cat nodded and dug out her phone, and began texting away. Rafe said, “You know my talent is helpful.”
Yes, it was. I wished I could keep him out of this — I worried that Simon would try to target him specifically — but there was no way to prevent him from coming along. In a confrontation between a wolf and a demon, I wasn’t sure who would prevail. About all I could do was hope for the best.
“I know,” I said. “Of course you’ll be there with me. Anyone else?”
The Witches of Canyon Road, Books 1-3 Page 72