Hexed and Vexed

by Rebecca Royce

  She cleared her throat. Ava needed more water, but she would wait until they got through this and out of this shed. “I can’t fly. The tsunami was coming.”

  Lawson groaned, and in a second, she was transported back to her apartment. She blinked rapidly, the change in light significant enough to cause a glare over the whole room. She was going to have a headache.

  “I see my apartment made it.”

  He nodded, setting her down on the couch. “This side of town was fine.”

  “I was talking to Stefan.”

  The muscle ticked again. “He has something to do. You were saying to Stefan? You can’t fly.”

  “So the water was coming.”

  Lawson knelt in front of her. “This is what I was afraid of. The whole time it took me to get back here, all I could think was that you wouldn’t be able to get out of the way of the wave if it came for you. And then you were gone. The shop destroyed. I didn’t know if you’d been there… You’re okay. Tell me what happened.”

  She touched the sides of his face. “I’ve been trying to.”

  “I know. I’m listening. Go.”

  “I ingested something that would let me breathe underwater. The problem is that when you’re not in the water, you die.”

  Lawson blinked several times. “What?”

  “I took…”

  He shook his head. “I followed what you said. I just can’t believe you. You purposefully ingested poison. Why aren’t you dead? You’re breathing air.”

  “I was pretty sure I was a goner. Then I woke up with Elmer. He kept saying we were alike. That we could hear the earth. Lawson, I don’t know what that meant, but he did somehow keep me alive. I feel like hell, but I’m here. And, honey, it worked. The herb worked.”

  Lawson got up and moved to sit next to her on the couch. In a second, she was in his arms, her head nestled on his chest. Lawson’s heart beat strong but too fast. His passive face really wasn’t showing just how worked up he still was.

  “I’m okay. You can breathe.”

  He let out a sigh. “I was very far away, or I’d have been here much, much faster. I keep letting you down.”

  “Nowhere in your job description does it say you have to take care of Ava Blakely. You have real criminals to hunt. You can’t rush back because you’re worried about me. That being said, you saved me. I really don’t know what he wanted from me.”

  A pop sounded, and Stefan was there. He had his hand over his eyes. “Lawson. Are you in here? I’m not looking.”

  “Totally dressed, dipshit.” Lawson spoke, and Ava could hear the fatigue in his voice.

  Stefan took down his hand. “That’s how I’m going to enter a room anytime I know you’re with Ava from now on, so get used to it.”

  “Report?” Lawson abruptly asked Stefan. For his part, Stefan didn’t even blink. Was Lawson in charge?

  “The guy is escaped from Bonnetville. They lost him about a year ago.”

  Lawson shook his head, squirming beneath her. “Um, what’s going on with people getting out of these places? We put them in there. Do the guards think keeping them there is optional?”

  “I don’t know. They weren’t happy to have him back. He’s ranting about hearing the earth about how he isn’t crazy. How Ava is like him.”

  She rubbed at her eyes before she got off Lawson’s lap and headed for the kitchen. Water was the most important thing right then. Either the residual effects of the poison had hung on, or whatever Elmer used on her dried her out.

  One glass wasn’t enough, so she took a second then a third. Lawson’s hand stroking the back of her neck was the first time she was aware he’d come in the room. “You okay?”

  “I need to get to my store.” She took another sip. “Or wait, it was destroyed. All my herbs are gone. I… I have to figure out what to do.”

  Stefan spoke from the doorway. “After what happened with Kim, Lawson had us stock up on stuff. What do you need? I’ll go get it.”

  She was pretty sure Stefan didn’t like her, so that was sweet of him to offer. “What I really need is just some good old fashioned charcoal. I need to make myself throw up. If you could get me some? And then both of you should leave.”

  Lawson shook his head. “Isn’t that generally done for the humans in a hospital?”

  “I think so.” What was his point?

  “I’m not leaving you here to do this alone.”

  Stefan popped away, and Ava sighed. “You have a major job I’m afraid you haven’t completed because you keep coming home to me.”

  “That’s not true, and even if it were, that’s my choice. Day by day, I’m starting to think I am entitled to a life I have denied myself. I get to be with you. Other Enforcers have full lives. Screw my schedule. I’m not leaving you here to manage this alone.”

  Stefan popped back and handed her a container with liquid charcoal in it. “Thank you Stefan.”

  He shrugged. “Lawson thinks of everything.”

  Ava held up the charcoal, nodding at Stefan before he popped away. She then turned her attention to Lawson. “I’m serious. I know how to do this and the last thing I want is to go through tonight with you watching.”

  “Then I’ll sit out in the living room, but I’ve got news for you, toots. You’re not going to be alone while you detox from the poison you purposefully took.”

  She set down the charcoal. “It was do that or die. Which would you prefer?”

  Lawson pointed a finger at her. “You aren’t allowed to die. I can’t fathom a world spinning without you on it. Do you understand that? Even when we didn’t know each other, I liked thinking about you occasionally doing things, even if I didn’t know what that was, exactly. I couldn’t find you for half a second tonight, and it was an eternity. You don’t get to die.”

  She ran her hand down his cheek. “We’ve never had sex. There’s all kinds of things that we don’t know about each other. And yet… I feel so strongly about you, too. I told my family we were dating.”

  He raised both his eyebrows. “How did that go?”

  “Fine.” She smiled at him.

  Lawson leaned forward. “Liar.”

  They grinned at each other, saying nothing. There was something so special about having a moment that didn’t require words. Still, she was dizzy. As much as she would have liked to have stood there all night and just enjoyed being with Lawson, she wasn’t feeling well. Ava held up the charcoal. “I’ve got to use this.”

  “Not alone.”

  She closed her eyes. “It’s not going to be sexy.”

  “Damn it, Ava.” He was quiet for a long moment, which made her open her lids. “Okay, if not me, then someone. Wait here.”

  Where was she going to go? He popped from the room. It was so bizarre that she’d gotten used to his coming and going like that when it wasn’t so long ago she hadn’t even known such things were possible. A few seconds later, Zoe and Elijah were there. They both gasped when they appeared, Zoe falling forward and Elijah grabbing her before she did.

  Lawson shook his head. “Easy there. What is it with your family and transport?”

  Elijah grinned. “That was so cool.”

  “I’m sure you could do it. It’s not like it’s hard. Zoe’s here, Ava.”

  Zoe rushed to Ava’s side and held on. “I’ve been sick all afternoon. The twin thing. Whenever she feels awful, I do. And vice versa.”

  She was right. They never knew who actually had the flu. One would get it, and the other would feel awful with them until the Healers fixed them up. That was until those things stopped working on Ava.

  “Thanks for coming.” She held up the charcoal. “I don’t want to do this in front of Lawson.”

  Zoe nodded. “Right. You can go, Lawson.”

  “I’m not leaving. Not yet. I’ll sit on the couch with…” He looked at Elijah. “Remind me your name.”

  “Eli. Nice to meet you. You crashed my wedding.”

  Lawson stuck out his hand to shake E
lijah’s. “Right. Sorry. I guess. He and I will sit on the couch.”

  Zoe took her hand. “Let’s get you better. I can’t believe you were in the wave. How did I not know?”

  Because, like everything else in her life, who she had been had faded away until she could hardly recognize herself anymore. She let her twin lead her to the bathroom. Ava threw a glance at Lawson over her shoulder. The strangeness of everything didn’t mean there weren’t good things to come. Just different.

  He’d come to save her.

  She stopped moving. “Lawson, how did you find me?”

  “I’ll always find you.”

  That wasn’t an answer. But, because she felt like hell, for right then, she’d take it. Living with Lawson’s inability to answer certain things was going to take some getting used to. For then, she needed her twin, the charcoal, and to get the remainder of the poison out of her system.

  * * *

  She lay in the cool darkness. Zoe, or maybe it was Lawson, had the thought to cool down the air in her apartment. She was done puking, and despite the fact her hands were shaking, she could feel the poison was gone. How much easier would the whole thing have been if the Healers could have just fixed her? Zoe tried some simple spells but none of them had gotten through.

  The poison worked, the healing not so much. It was a good thing the charcoal got the job done.

  But now she was raw, sick, and hot. Her throat hurt. Lawson scooted into the bed next to her. His sandalwood smell wafted over her before his weight came down on the bed. “Zoe says you’re doing okay.”

  She nodded, not wanting to use words right then. He seemed to get it. “None of it makes sense to me, darling. The healing works on humans when they can get someone to do it. Why wouldn’t it help you?”

  Ava shook her head. Tears she never shed in front of people leaked from her eyes.

  “Sorry, so sorry.” He tugged her to him, and she closed her eyes.

  “Thank you for saving me, Lawson.”

  He nuzzled the top of her head. “Get some sleep.”

  * * *

  In the morning, she expected an empty house—her sister, Elijah, and Lawson all having left sometime during the night. But that was not what happened when she opened her eyes. All three of them were in her kitchen.

  And they were cooking… but not using spells. They were using knives and heating food over the stove with the fire lit. Like she would have to do.

  “Hey.” Lawson nodded to her. “Good morning. Are we doing this right? With the bacon?”

  She nodded. “Smells like you are. The question is why are you? I mean the way that you are.”

  “Your apartment.” Zoe grinned at her. “Lawson thought we should all do it this way in your place.”

  She walked over to him, watching the scene as they all tried to be non-magical in the things they did. As much as Ava appreciated the sentiment, there had never been a more awkward looking moment in the world than the one she witnessed. Not one of them—all successful, capable people—was managing to slice vegetables the right way.

  “I appreciate the sentiment, but it might be better if you just, you know, spelled us some food. Unless you’d like me to do it.”

  “No.” Zoe shook her head. “We’ve got this.”

  Lawson put his arm around her. “Feeling okay?”

  “Weak, but on the mend.”

  “So.” Elijah laughed. “Lawson is awesome. Do you know he’s been to the pyramids, and not just the human part but the abandoned witch kingdom underneath?”

  She turned to Lawson. “You have?”

  He nodded. “A couple times actually.”

  “Do you get to take vacations?” She needed to come to understand his job.

  “Um.” He scratched his head. “Not usually. But I suppose I could. I mean, I’m doing all kinds of things I didn’t used to do. I could demand a week off here and there.”

  Ava tried not to wince at the thought that he would never stop working and instead crossed to her coffeemaker. No one had made any. Maybe they didn’t know how. The pop sounded, and she knew without turning around that someone had come to get Lawson.

  “Sorry…”

  Lawson sighed. “Thanks for the night. I guess you didn’t catch him.”

  “Wish I had.”

  Ava turned to look at Lawson. “Good luck. Be careful. Thank you for the rescue.”

  He nodded to her, an unreadable emotion crossing over his face before he disappeared. Elijah let out a funny snort-sound. “So weird how he does that.”

  “Weird.” Ava nodded. “Right.”

  Zoe touched her arm. “Ava-bear.” If her twin was pulling out their childhood nicknames, then she was really worried. “What’s the matter? Just not feeling well?”

  She leaned against the counter. “I’m falling in love with him.” He’d twice slept in her bed but that was more information than Elijah needed to hear. She loved her brother-in-law, but there were things saved for sisters and best friends that brothers-in-law were not privy to.

  “That’s good right?” Zoe grinned. “He’s dreamy. He’s powerful. I’d wager he could take on Mom in an argument and win.” Elijah groaned and Zoe waved her hand in the air. “It’s okay, sweetheart, no one wants you to pick a fight with Mom. I know you could defend me. Anyway, he’s clearly head over heels for you. He stuck around while you puked for hours. And he saved your life. So this is all very yay for Lawson stuff. What’s your major malfunction right now, love?”

  Sometimes the way Zoe said things made Ava grin. “The way he pops in and out. The never knowing what he’s doing thing. The danger. The he can’t talk about his day. Stefan appearing at really uncomfortable times. Don’t you like knowing about your husband’s life?”

  Her smile faded. “I do, actually. I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t sure where Eli was every day.”

  Her husband crossed to her and kissed her cheek. “Sometimes I go to lunch and you don’t know.”

  I groaned. They were so ridiculously cute. “Thank you two for coming. I hope I didn’t screw up your night too much. Well, I know I did. I’ll take you to lunch.”

  Zoe shook her head, but it was Elijah who spoke. “When I married Zoe Blakely, when I bound my soul to hers, I knew that I was marrying Zoe and that she was your twin. You two had a soul bond before there ever was me. I’m always here for you, Ava. We’re never too busy.”

  Tears burst from her eyes so fast she had no time to rein them in. Ava loved Elijah, always had. He and Zoe were perfect for one another. But she had worried that sometimes she was too much for the new couple.

  “The thing is…” Ava sobbed, and Zoe hugged her tightly. “My whole life has been figuring out how to settle for what my reality is and not what I wanted it to be. Even when I was with Mitchell. I knew I’d always be the problem in his life, that his parents would like our last name, but not me as I was. And Lawson does not make me feel that way. But I would always have to be second place in his life, to his duty. I want Lawson out there catching bad guys. I feel selfish. He just saved my life. What’s wrong with me?”

  Zoe snapped her fingers, and Ava’s face dried up. She managed to suck back in the rest of her weeping. Blakelys didn’t cry if they could avoid it. Their mother always called it unseemly.

  “Ava, a year ago you were publicly humiliated by a man who is so socially superior that our parents never even called him out for what he did to their daughter. I want to hurt him. Every time I see him. And instead, he was at my wedding. A lesser person would have crumbled, but not you. In a matter of weeks after his abandonment, you were back at work, smiling at customers, and trying to make other people more comfortable with your pain. It kills me to see, and yet I had to let you do it because that is how you have always coped. You don’t want attention on your pain for too long. This is after years of disappointment after disappointment.”

  Ava shook her head. “I’m sorry, Zo-Zo.”

  “No.” Zoe pointed a finger at her. “I am th
e one who is sorry. I think sometimes—did I do something to her in utero? Did I take her powers?”

  As her sister spoke, Ava gasped. “No. Don’t you dare think that.”

  “Nothing is ever perfect. Those are some big issues you’re naming about Lawson. Maybe you guys can work them out, maybe you can’t. I don’t know. I’ve never had to face them. But you get to feel as you feel. And don’t you dare feel bad for having feelings and worrying about issues that would be big in anyone’s life.”

  Ava elbowed her. “Don’t say that thing about in utero again. Every Healer we’ve ever spoken to about this has said time and again that I’m just an anomaly.”

  “Ah, ladies.” Elijah pointed at the burned eggs. “What should we do?”

  Zoe snapped her fingers and the overdone eggs were gone, the plates cleaned in the sink, and on the table were three servings of perfectly cooked food.

  “We do that. Sorry, Ava. I wanted to do it your way this morning.”

  She patted her sister on the arm. “It’s okay. I appreciate you trying. Let’s sit. What am I going to do about my store?”

  Eli waved his hand. “I fixed it. Last night. Lawson and I went and did that for a bit while you were occupied.” Ava grinned at his very polite way of not mentioning the fact she’d puked all night. “That’s when he told me about Egypt. You know, we had lots of Enforcers in our neighborhood where I grew up. They come and go a lot.”

  Zoe glared at him. “Thanks for that, Elijah. Because she wasn’t at all uncertain about his ability to hang around. Or anything.”

  He turned pink. “Sorry, Ava.”

  “Don’t worry. You’re only speaking the truth.” And that truth was the reason she couldn’t let herself fall in love with him, even though she was half there. Could she settle for having the man in her life only be with her… part of the time?

  Was it settling? Maybe she’d like the independence. Maybe she didn’t need someone full time.

  “Well.” Zoe smiled. “I like that he knew right where to go when you needed someone. He came right to me.”

  Ava liked that, too.