Hexed and Vexed

by Rebecca Royce

  This got her mother’s attention right back on her. “Yes. What were you doing in that store?”

  “Retrieving something I gave to Todd.” Her head pounded. She didn’t know if that was from the beating from the shelves or her mother’s accusatory tone. The necklace was gone, that was for sure.

  Emilio sat down in a chair near the bed. “Between the break in at your shop, Todd dying, and now you being attacked in that place, I’m not sure it’s safe for you to be there anymore. There’s too much bad juju happening on that street.”

  Juju was the term her father used when he didn’t want to say the word cursed. Like hexing, cursing was a big giant no-no in their world. Hexing was a person, cursing was a place and sometimes a person but different than a hex. Curses could be picked up by being in a place. Hexes were person specific. While she couldn’t speak for Todd’s store—he had died in there and then she’d been attacked for that necklace—her store was perfectly fine, safe even.

  She’d saved a life in it. Ava groaned. “Maybe we should call the Enforcers.”

  Her mother’s hand went right to her own throat. “No. That is the last thing we need.”

  The human doctor arrived at exactly the right moment. He used lots of words witches didn’t usually have to listen to, like concussion and pain medications. All Ava knew was that she’d been lucky. Todd had died in that store in a so-called accidental fall. Why wasn’t anyone wondering if his bad luck that day had to do with the man who attacked Ava? Didn’t it make sense?

  Still, as her parents chatted the afternoon away, she never heard that mentioned, even once, as a possibility. The police had called his death an accident and her attack a robbery. How could they be related? In her gut, where Ava stored her most worrisome wonders, she had to ask if Todd would still be alive—if he wouldn’t have fallen—had she not shown up with the same necklace that she herself had been attacked for. The necklace her assailant had gotten away with.

  “Dad,” she caught his attention. Before he’d been a politician and so off the charts powerful that he’d been able to entirely quit working, he’d been an attorney. Maybe he would know what to do about the human girls.

  “Yes, love?” Her father had lines under his eyes. This time of day, he was usually eating lunch and drinking human whiskey. She’d terrified him. Ava swallowed. She’d overheard her parents discuss how vulnerable she was, how scared they always were that she’d get hurt.

  In no world could she make this worse. “Never mind.”

  With her head still raging, she climbed into her bed at home and forced her eyes closed. Twenty-four hours being watched in a human hospital was an experience she’d rather not repeat. Her brain was bruised, and no matter how many healers tried to zap it back into health, she was just going to have to wait it out like any human would. Healing magic only worked on witches. Ava sighed. Despite Lawson’s statement about her not being non-magical, she was pretty sure that at this point, she’d lost any touch of her previous abilities.

  The sun was going down, and she hadn’t thought about her store in over a day. She rolled over and groaned, her head throbbing. The doctors had given her some kind of pill she was supposed to take, but given that she hadn’t made it herself and didn’t know what was in it, she declined to take it.

  She’d live with the headache.

  “Ava,” a low voice boomed through the room. Ava shrieked, grabbing her pillow like it could prevent her from being hurt. It took exactly two seconds for her to realize it was Lawson. She dropped the pillow and grabbed her head, which rang from the scare. Nausea rolled through her.

  “Lawson?”

  He rushed to her side, sitting down next to her on the bed. “Easy. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Well…” The lights coming through the window were too bright. “You did. What are you doing here? How did you get in here?”

  Lawson shook his head. “I pretty much come and go as I please, to be honest. I heard you were hurt.”

  Ava pointed at the window. “Could you close the curtains?” He nodded, snapping his fingers. The shades did as he wished. “Thank you.”

  Lawson put his hand on top of her head. She winced, but the pain she expected didn’t come. He narrowed his eyes. “Didn’t they fix you?”

  “Humans don’t get fixed like witches. It’ll take some time.”

  He didn’t move his hand but tilted his head slightly to the left. “You’re not human.”

  “Even the healers can’t reach me now. I’m pretty much human.”

  Lawson ran his hand gently down the side of her face. It was a warm, comforting sensation. “Look, humans are fine. I spend a lot of time with humans, pretending to be one of them. I have to. I can taste it, on my tongue, when I’m in the presence of humans. You are not human.”

  Ava shrugged. “I might as well be.”

  “Makes so little sense to me. But that’s neither here nor there right now. You’re very hurt.” His gaze was hard. “And they have no idea who did this. That story you told has them looking in the wrong direction. That’s fine. I understand why you did it. I even appreciate your efforts to protect us. But they’re not looking for a make-believe serial robber who you happened upon. They think that because you made up that story. What happened to you at the shop has to be something else entirely.”

  Ava forced herself to sit up some more. “You have no idea how much. I was there to collect a necklace I left with Todd. It was given to me the day before.”

  Finally telling someone the story of the human girls and their necklace lifted a weight off her shoulders. She hadn’t known it had so heavily sat there. Lawson listened, his face passive. If he had any strong opinions on what she’d done, he certainly didn’t show them with his expression. Technically, Ava hadn’t done anything wrong.

  When she finished, he nodded. “So there’s every possibility then that the necklace you’ve been dealing with has something to do with this. Either that, or the robber just wanted everything in the store.”

  She shook her head, which shot pain through her again. “The man exerted a lot of effort to get it from me. A small family crest.”

  “That’s true. Here”—he pulled back just a little bit and leaned her back toward the pillow—“lie back, Ava. You need to rest.”

  Having delivered her tale to someone in a position to actually figure things out, she did want to be on the pillow. Lawson scooted next to her, lying on the opposite side of the bed. She should have felt weird or at least discomfort at having him there in the bedroom, lying on the bed with her, but that feeling didn’t come. Instead, he was comforting in a way her parents had not been when they’d hassled her the entire time in the human hospital.

  “I’m going to stay. To make sure you’re okay.”

  She reached out, linking their fingers together. “Thank you, but the doctors said I’m going to be fine.”

  He scrunched up his nose. “Human doctors are not experts on how to treat witches…” He pointed a finger from their joined hands at her. “If you argue with me about being a witch, I’m going to get upset with you.”

  Ava rolled her eyes. “Fine. I won’t. Thank you for coming. How did you find out I was hurt?”

  “I’m an Enforcer. We hear things.” He yawned. “Sorry. I haven’t been to bed in I don’t know how long. Your pillows smell like your hair. What is that? Strawberries, bananas, and what? It’s been driving me crazy since school.”

  “Honey.” Ava tried to control her reaction. He had been thinking about what her hair smelled like since school? “When did you get the chance to, ah, sniff my head during school?”

  Lawson rubbed his eyes. “When you saved my life.”

  “When I did what?” Her slight shout made her head pound harder, and she winced.

  “Sshh.” He touched her temple and then right between her eyes. “You don’t remember. They wiped your memory. Can’t have a Blakely get hurt. Some of the more elite kids used to regularly pick on me. One of the
m, a kid named Josh Leon, tried to turn me into an animal. You shoved him away and took the hit yourself. I changed you back. Then the professors…”

  As he spoke, the memories rushed back in. Yes, that had happened. She’d been a… turtle. The world shifted, her brain hadn’t worked right. “Took my memory of it.” She supposed she should feel riled up or afraid that it had happened. Only, in her current situation, she was in too much pain to really let herself do either. “How did you do that? That’s very advanced spells. I guess back then, spells worked on me.”

  “Spells work on humans, too. That’s why it doesn’t make sense. That’s why we can’t do spells around them. That’s why part of my job is to protect them.” He took a deep, audible breath. “I didn’t know I could do the spell either. I just did. Right then. You were always so…”

  The room was dark and cozy. It felt like a place where she could speak the truth and maybe he could too. “I was what?”

  “Different. And not because you couldn’t do spells. Kind. Beautiful. The kind of pretty that I had to force my eyes off you or I’d never have done anything else.” He shook his head. “Taken.”

  Ava had never, ever noticed his gaze on her. She’d hardly thought about him. The day she’d saved his life—which was probably an exaggeration—she’d barely noticed what Josh was about to do before he’d done it. She hadn’t wanted him to hurt Lawson because Lawson never did a cruel thing, ever. Josh had been a jackass. Actually, he still was.

  “I’m not taken now.” Ava didn’t know why she told him, but she really wanted Lawson to hear.

  “I know.” He shifted, slightly. “Close your eyes, Ava Blakely.”

  She did. She wasn’t going to fall asleep. Not even with Lawson there making the place feel full for the first time since she’d moved in. The throbbing just wouldn’t let her rest. Ava tried for several minutes, and then eventually gave up. She opened her eyes. Somewhere in the front of the apartment, she’d left the human pills. She was going to have to take two.

  Lawson’s eyes were closed and his face relaxed. Their fingers were still strung together, but his grip had loosened. He breathed easily but deeply. The Enforcer had officially fallen asleep in her bed. He was so… soft.

  She tugged her hand free from his, and he reached out to grab her arm. His eyes flew open.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Ava touched the side of his face. “Nothing new. I’m going to get the human pain medication. I can’t continue like this. Close your eyes. I’ll be right back.”

  He shook his head. “Not how I work. The pill bottle is by the front door. I’ll get it.”

  Lawson scooted from the bed, and Ava called out to him. “How did you know that?”

  “I have special powers. It’s hard to explain. Sometimes I know things.”

  Well, that was an incredible piece of information. The ability to just know things? It was a rare, often thought fictional ability that could be downright frightening to other witches. No one wanted anyone to be able to read their thoughts.

  Lawson reappeared, the pill bottle and water with him. “I’m not psychic or pulling thoughts out of your head. It’s more like my power of observation is more astute. I run a low level spell all the time. Helps my senses reach out, notice small details. I run it on myself. Doesn’t work for most people, but I have the ability.”

  She swallowed the pill with the water. Lawson took the empty glass from her and set it on the bedside table before he climbed back in the bed. This time he covered her with the sheet.

  “I thought you were sleeping.”

  He scooted down, taking her hand in his again the way it had been. “I was.”

  “Then how did you wake up when all I did was let go?” This man was very confusing. “I barely moved.”

  His eyes were closed. “I’m never so asleep that I don’t notice if the beautiful woman next to me moves. I don’t sleep deeply or often. I don’t need it.”

  “Now, I know I’m the worst witch in witching school, but even I know that big bad Enforcers who chase hexers around the globe and still show up to babysit women who’ve gotten into trouble need to sleep. Everyone does.”

  He opened his eyes just to wink at her. “Not me, not much anyway. Your head will feel better faster if you close your eyes and try to relax.”

  As it turned out, he was absolutely right. Witching potions didn’t work on her, but the human variety did. She floated, or at least felt like she did, before she slid into darkness.

  * * *

  Ava slept through most of the morning. When she finally roused, Lawson’s side of the bed was empty. The covers were smoothed. The pillow had no indentation in it. Had she dreamed the whole thing? Only the water glass he’d left next to her indicated her memory wasn’t flawed.

  Her headache had dulled. She could feel it, but getting up didn’t seem like such a horrendous idea.

  Lawson Abramowitz had spent the night in her bed, or at least part of it. She grinned. Things were proving to be… strange lately. And not necessarily in a bad way.

  * * *

  Ava managed to open the store after lunchtime. There was a line outside, and she was sluggish serving everyone but managed to get through the throng. Her new customers were proving to be a nice bunch of people. They never rushed her. They didn’t get upset when she couldn’t remember the price of something for a few moments.

  Her normal crew still came and went. They were more hostile, but interested in what happened to her. Ava never ceased to be a source of gossip, and this was one more thing.

  Just before closing, someone came in, and Ava startled at the sight. It was Kim, the woman who had been hexed. She walked slowly, her hand on the wall, then the display case, each bit supporting her, while she made her way to the front. Ava knew an unsteady walk when she saw one. Kim was faking it, but she wasn’t steady on her feet yet.

  “Hi,” Ava greeted before she got to the front, and Kim smiled.

  Kim nodded at her, finally making it to where Ava stood. “Thanks for not rushing over to act like I’m going to collapse. I’m not. Steadier, every day.”

  Ava nodded. “I wouldn’t dare act like that with an Enforcer. Might get my arm cut off.”

  The other woman laughed. “Not my role in the organization. Besides, you could probably get away with anything you wanted with the Enforcers after what you did. I’ve come to thank you, personally, for saving my life.”

  “I’m not even sure what to say. I’m glad that Lawson knew, however he did, that I could help. I’m glad I was good enough at mixing to make it work.”

  “Lawson knows lots of things.” Kim raised her eyebrows. “I’ve been waiting to come in. You do some serious business here. Impressive store. Huge number of customers.”

  “It was always fine, I mean it was growing. Lately, it has boomed. Since the day after I helped you. Someone wrote about it on a message board. I don’t even know which one.”

  Kim grinned. “Oh, that’s a Lawson move. He has this very unusual way of saying thank you. He almost never actually says it. You help him, he helps you.”

  Ava sucked in her breath. Lawson had done this? He’d never said anything. He had literally changed her life. With the disposable income she was going to have now, she could do things she’d been putting off, like… well, she couldn’t come up with anything just that second, but she would when she could think about it.

  “In all seriousness…” Kim held onto the counter so hard her knuckles were white. They’d joked, but now Ava hoped she didn’t have to catch her. “My life could have ended right there. I’m getting married in a month and that never would have happened. Stefan and I thought we knew what it meant to live with the idea that we could lose each other, that we could be committed both to each other and the job. When this hex mess is over, we’re going to rethink some things. We hate to leave Lawson; he’s like our family. Now Stefan can barely see me leave the house. I had to sneak out when he was busy. He’s bound to be a mess when I finally come
home. I turned off my tracker. Since the hexing, he’s overusing it.”

  She had a tracker? “Is it magical or electronic?”

  “Magical.” She shook her head. “Sorry, I forgot. I’m not entirely clear headed yet. You know about us, but you don’t really know about us. At least not yet. Anyway, thank you. If there’s ever something, anything, I can do for you, please let me know.”

  Ava shook her head. “No thanks necessary, ever.”

  “You’re really something, Ava Blakely. In a million years, I’d never have thought a Blakely would save my life.”

  Ava leaned forward. “Spent a lot of time with us? Maybe you know us, but don’t really know us.”

  Kim nodded, pursing her lips. “Fair enough.”

  Truth was, even with all Ava’s bluster, Kim wasn’t wrong. Maybe Ava’s father would extend himself for others, but with the way Lila freaked out about the Enforcers and Zoe’s general disinterest in getting into the middle of any drama she couldn’t see any other Blakelys rushing in to de-hex an Enforcer.

  The blonde smiled one more time before she slowly left the store. Ava watched her leave, a coldness forming around her heart. Lawson was sweet, kind, hot. Ava would be lying if she didn’t admit to having a huge attraction for the man. But he was an Enforcer. If Stefan and Kim couldn’t live with the idea of watching each other at risk all the time, what would it be like for a person who wasn’t an Enforcer dating one?

  Would she be constantly afraid for him?

  In fact, what was he doing right then? Was it dangerous?

  Ava hurried to close the store. Busy hands meant a quieter mind for her usually. By the time she was done, her head ached again and she knew she’d have to take another pill. Closing the front door, she eyed Todd’s store. Or what had been Todd’s store. The Callahan’s sign was down. Maybe it was about to be Monica’s clothing boutique.

  She waited for the shudder that should have come with the thought to present itself. Only, it didn’t. Instead, thoughts of the now gone necklace wafted through her mind. It was a small thing. Someone had long since lost that heirloom—it had been in the human world. And yet…