by Bella Falls
Lorelei narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t.”
“Why not?” he scoffed. “I’ve got nothing to lose at this point. Everything you wanted to happen in this small town that has done absolutely nothing to deserve you is completely off the books. You were trying to collect the contracts without Daddy Dearest knowing so that you could show up with your grand prize just to earn his attention. Pretty pathetic.”
The petty squabble between the brother and sister made me grateful for my own sibling but worried for my biological cousin. Abigail didn’t get to come back here to experience what a happy family life could be like. Instead, she was somewhere out there belonging to a bloodline that valued what you could do for them over who you were. If they were anything like Nick’s family, then my cousin could be in serious trouble.
“What’s pathetic is that Dad wanted to spend any time grooming you at all. I told him we should have killed the both of you,” Lorelei spit out. “But he wanted to keep you to become his good little lap dog.
Nick’s rage floundered. “What do you mean killed the both of you?”
A slow, revengeful sneer full of disdain and mockery spread on her lips. “Did you really think your mother died from a broken heart? Boo-hoo and all that?” She reached out and smacked the side of his head. “To make sure that she didn’t escape again, Dad sent me to end her life. I’m just sorry I never followed my instincts to take care of you, but that can easily be remedied. Who would come looking for you in this backwoods hick of a town?”
Nick doubled over, stretching his hand out for me to take. I grasped it and held on as he shook with unshed grief.
The situation had gotten well out of hand, and I considered calling out my safe word, so that all of my friends waiting in the perimeter of trees would descend on such a foul excuse for a being. But as much as Lorelei liked to win, I truly hated to lose. Making a rash decision, I decided to push for the goal.
“Lorelei, before you do anything to your brother, you might want to consider what you’d be losing if he was right and I am a tracker,” I said. “Because that’s what I am. A pretty skilled one, too.”
Her beady eyes held doubt in them. “How can I verify that?”
The words don’t and dangerous floated to the surface of my consciousness, but I ignored them. “Tell me something that you’ve lost that you had a real connection to. Something you’d want to find again.”
Nick’s sister’s expression morphed from haughty derision to thoughtful consideration. “My mother’s ring. It’s one of the few things she treasured. My father let me have it on my eighteenth birthday.”
If I had any compassion for the girl, I would ask her what happened to her mom. But since she’d threaten both of us, I stuck to my new plan. “Give me your hand and I will tell you where it is.”
“I’ve never heard of a tracker who could find things from a distance,” Lorelei doubted.
Neither had anyone else I knew. Mason and I had been testing the limits of my returned magic for a few months now, and I had been able to project my talents further than ever before. However, we’d kept it a secret even from Nana and Matt in order not to gain the kind of attention that might get back to my biological family. Revealing it now to this shrew put me at huge risk.
“Here’s what you’re going to do. You let me try it my way. After I give you the information, you can call whomever you want to and verify,” I suggested. “If I’m right, then you’ll know exactly what you’re getting, and we can solidify our deal.”
“You must care a lot about the people around here,” she said, pondering my offer. “There’s not one person in this world I would sacrifice my own life for.”
Nick snorted. “I believe that.”
Lorelei told her half-brother to shut up. Holding out her hand, she agreed to my terms. “But if you fail, then I will kill you both right where you stand.”
Images of the young woman with her throat torn apart invaded my sight. I squeezed my eyes shut and willed Dash’s thoughts to stop pounding into me.
“You look like you’re second-guessing your abilities,” Lorelei said. “I hate to get blood on my clothes, but I always uphold the promises I make.”
Yanking her hand away from her purse, I gripped it in mine, squeezing it a little harder than I needed to. After a few deep breaths to calm my nerves, I muttered a simple spell under my breath. “Prove my power to locate a thing. Help me find her precious ring.”
Tendrils of power wrapped around my feet and wound their way up my body. Since the tree and I had connected before, its power didn’t shock me as much. I grabbed hold of it and supercharged my spell just to make sure.
Instead of a golden thread, a flash of brilliant sparkles appeared in front of me, and I cackled in disbelief. I didn’t have to find out if my talents reached far outside our small town. The item she wanted was right here with us.
“Check your bag,” I told her.
“I’ve already done that several times and it’s not in there,” Lorelei protested. “Plus, how do I know that you’re not trying to trick me? Quick, describe the ring to me. If you can visualize where it is, then you should be able to tell me what it looks like.”
With the extra energy from the tree working through me, I didn’t have to exert much effort. “It’s silver-colored, so I’ll assume that it’s platinum. There’s a large cut green stone in the middle shaped like a rectangle. Diamonds surround the emerald like a frame. And there are larger diamonds flanking the emerald on either side of the setting.”
Lorelei’s eyes widened as she gazed at me like I was entirely made of the same jewels I just described. “Where is it?”
“There’s a hole in the liner. The ring worked its way through it, and now it’s caught in between the leather and the silk,” I explained. “If I’m telling the truth, then you know my worth. If I’m lying, you get to kill me. You can’t lose.”
Nick’s sister pulled one of the handles of her bag further down her arm and dug inside. “It’s too dark for me to look,” she whined.
I conjured a light orb and floated it over her.
“Neat trick.” In a fit, Lorelei groaned and dumped all the contents out on the ground. One lone scroll rolled to a stop at my feet.
She dug her hand into the cavernous bag and searched. “I feel something underneath the lining.” After a few more grunts and grousing, she pulled her hand out. The ring hung off the end of her index finger.
“My apologies, Nicky, for doubting you.” His sister slid the ring back on. “Although I think it’s better that we both acknowledge the truth, don’t you?”
After admiring her substantial piece of jewelry under the light from my conjured orb, Lorelei waved her hand, and her own parchment and pen appeared. I went through all of the details from before, making sure to beef up the details.
“As for protecting Honeysuckle Hollow, I want you to also include any visitors to our little haven. Not just residents,” I insisted, trying not to look down at Nick.
“Fine, fine,” she dismissed, rushing to keep up with my demands.
“And all those bottles you found, including the one I saw you try to slip back into your purse,” I accused. “Those will stay here with me.”
“You don’t even know what to do with them,” she complained.
I refused to back down. “That’ll be my problem. But it goes in the contract.”
“Is that all?” she huffed.
“One more thing.” Seeing Nick’s sister for who she was inspired my last request. “That contract you have for Leonora Walker Irwin. I want it transferred into my name.”
Lorelei stopped writing. “You want to keep a fulfilled contract?”
“Yes.” I didn’t know if my final demand would ruin the whole thing or not, but I wanted the one thing that caused all of our troubles. Despite how horrible she had been to me, she didn’t hold a candle to the she-devil in front of me.
Nick’s sister looked over all my terms. “You want an awful lot. And
it’s a huge risk for me to bet on you when you didn’t really show off all your skills. But since I did get Mummy’s ring back, I’m feeling generous.”
She threw the contract in the air, and it floated for a second before settling in front of me. It unfurled as if being laid on a desk. “Sign here and here with the date. Initial here, here, and here,” she pointed out with her pointy nail.
“I’d like to read over it, if you don’t mind. It is my soul on the line.” Leaning over the parchment, I ran my finger across the page to scrutinize every word.
Lorelei tapped her foot on the ground as she waited with impatience. “Could you hurry up? I’d like to take my brother and leave. I’ll have to get another Brazilian blowout to battle the frizz that the humidity here has caused.”
My finger paused over one passage, and I tapped the page. “What’s this say?”
She groaned and looked over my shoulder. “That’s the section where I am guaranteeing that no one in Honeysuckle Hollow—residents, future generations, visitors, et cetera—will be harmed or approached by me, my family, or our kind again.”
I disagreed with her. “Your handwriting is atrocious. Show me where you wrote that.”
“Right here!” she yelled in my ear. “See? It says, ‘no one in Honeysuckle Hollow…blah blah blah…will be harmed or approached by me, my family, or our kind again.’”
I backed away from the floating parchment. “I don’t believe you. Say it to my face and I’ll sign.”
Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath and held it. After a second, she blew it out and looked at me. Through gritted teeth, she spoke with great clarity, “No one in Honeysuckle Hollow, not the living or the dead, current and future residents, and including any visitors who stumble upon your backwoods town will be harmed or approached by me. My family. Or any of our kind. Forever and ever. Satisfied?”
The red-capped mushrooms that encircled us came alive and glowed in the darkness. A slight tinkling of chimes echoed in the air, and I relaxed for the first time. Pride that didn’t come from me bloomed in my chest.
“Absolutely. Now I’m ready to sign.” I initialed and signed in every spot.
The second the pen left the paper the parchment shook and flew away from me. It curled into itself, and a red circle of wax appeared out of nowhere and sealed the edge. Lorelei’s initials glowed like embers.
Nick’s sister snatched the contract out of the air and shoved it into her purse. “Here. You can have these.” Producing the glowing jar and the sealed rolled parchment, she thrust them at me.
I cradled the fragile bottle with care and handed it to Nick. My fingers wrapped around Aunt Nora’s deal. She’d have to face the consequences for her choices, but at least she wouldn’t lose her soul for them.
Lorelei snapped her fingers. “You belong to me now, so let’s go. You, too, Nicky D.”
My feet didn’t move. “No, I don’t think I will.”
“The moment you signed on that line you forfeited your ability to make choices. Now, do as I say,” she demanded. “It’ll hurt a lot more if you make me use your contract to get you to obey.”
I shrugged. “Go ahead.”
With a spoiled shriek, Lorelei snatched the rolled parchment out of her bag and held it up. “By the terms of this contract, I command that you do as I tell you.”
All three of us waited to see what would happen. When the only thing I felt was the bite of a mosquito, I couldn’t contain my laughter. Nick joined me in ridiculing his sister.
“Why is this not working?” she screamed.
Nick tried to touch the parchment, but she yanked it out of his reach. “Because, dear sister, she already beat you.”
“How?” Lorelei demanded.
A new scent filled the air, and I knew with animal instincts that the demon feared me. No longer at risk, I relished the sweet smell that marked the prey.
“My soul wasn’t mine to offer,” I said. “I already bound it to someone else. You might even say that they own it.”
“That’s not fair,” she whined. “You cheated.”
“No, I came prepared,” I countered. “Call it taking out a little insurance. You’re the one who wanted to use my magic so much that you didn’t do your due diligence to check.”
Nick put his hands together in slow claps. “Well done, sis. Since you guaranteed the terms, they all must be fulfilled by our laws of magic. You executed a contract in which she gets everything she negotiated, and you receive absolutely nothing in return. A completely worthless transaction in the end.”
Lorelei screamed and threw her expensive handbag down on the ground. She flicked her arms out to the side and two glowing knives appeared in each hand.
“I’ll show you who’s worthless. You’ll both die for this, and I will take great pleasure in ending your lives. I don’t lose. I never lose,” she wailed, raising her weapons against us.
“That’s all I needed to hear,” Lucky’s voice called out.
A radiant vertical line appeared right beside her. It grew in size until it tore apart, revealing a sparkling portal.
All my friends surrounded us, staying just outside the circle of mushrooms. Dash positioned himself to the left of me. In such close proximity, it became almost impossible to distinguish where his influence stopped and mine started.
Lorelei jerked around, gazing at all the people from our town ready to stop her from doing anything else. “What’s going on?” she squeaked.
“Ye are familiar with creating deals and making people pay the price?” Lucky said. “You should know that your kind is not the only ones who puts a premium on promises.”
She sneered at the shorter man. “I didn’t promise anything to you.”
“Ah, but surely ye know where ye be standin’.” The leprechaun pointed at the mushrooms. “You’re in the middle of a fairy circle. That which is promised three times within its boundaries must be upheld. If a vow is broken, we have our own ways of making ye pay.”
It had been a while since I’d traveled on a fairy path. But my destinations had always been within our town boundaries. I was pretty sure Lorelei wouldn’t like where she would be taken.
Lucky stepped over the mushrooms and approached the door. He raised his hands in front of it. “By my command and with my authority, the liar that stands before ye shall pay for her crime of breaking a vow thrice made.”
Several green luminescent vines outstretched from the supernatural door. Despite her protests and fighting, they wrapped and tangled around Lorelei’s body.
“Nick. Nicky,” she crooned in desperation. “Don’t let them take me. I was only kidding. We’re family. I care about you.”
Her brother clenched his jaw. “If that were true, you never would have murdered my mother.” Nick wiggled his fingers in farewell. “As for family, I’ll be sure to tell father how you failed.”
“No! You can’t do this to me!” she wailed as the vines retracted, pulling her into the glowing void. Before the magical egress closed, she got in one last parting shot. “I wish Daddy had been happy with just me. I wish we’d never found you.”
Silence followed the portal’s disappearance, and I held my breath. Nick ran his hands through his hair. When he looked at me, he had tears running down his face.
“You did it,” he choked out. “I can’t believe you pulled it off.”
I reached out to embrace him, but strong arms whipped me around and picked me up off the ground. “You were amazing,” Dash whispered in my ear.
The knowledge that my actions pleased him warmed me from head to toe. Insisting he put me down first, I threw my arms around him and reveled in the cocoon of his hug. The longer I stayed wrapped up in him, the more confusing my emotions became.
With great effort, I pushed away from Dash and put a little distance between us. Mug, Nug, and Bug zipped over my head in celebration. I received high-fives, hugs, and gushing gratitude as my friends passed me around.
Lucky gripped my free hand in bo
th of his. “You did good, girly.” He eyed the contract I held. “That wasn’t part of the plan, but I think ye will be glad you saved it in the end.”
I shrugged. “She’s family. And thank you for all your help, King Fergus.”
The leprechaun wrinkled his nose. “It’s been so long since I’ve heard someone call me that. I think I prefer Lucky.”
“Me, too, your majesty.” I winked and flourished a grand bow. A few of the fae hovering near us followed suit, and I giggled at his embarrassed grumbling. “See what you started?”
I stared at the space where the portal had appeared. “What will happen to Lorelei?”
“Tis fae justice she’ll have to face. She struck a bargain and sealed it when you tricked her into repeating it thrice,” Lucky said with a bit of a frown. “I’ll have to cross over into a realm I have dared not set foot in for quite some time.”
In all of our rush to make plans to beat Nick’s sister, neither Lucky nor I had discussed what would happen if we won. Or what the consequences might be for our choices.
“I’ll bet you can find someone who will go in your place,” I suggested.
He considered the idea. “No. I think I will claim me old identity regardless of what comes of it. I cannae lie, it felt good to stand at the ready for battle. I have not lost all me skills after all.”
“Or your luck,” I added. “I have a feeling that might have tipped the scales for us tonight.”
The leprechaun chuckled. “No, darlin’. Ye had a mighty hand in all of this. Enjoy the spoils of success tonight, for tomorrow ye will have more work to do.” He nodded in the direction over my shoulder and left me alone.
I sensed Dash before he sidled up to me and did my best to block his influence with little success. With emotions running high, our connection played merry havoc on us. Now that our mission was complete, we’d have to fix things to get back to normal along with everyone else in Honeysuckle.
Although the instinct to stay close to each other gnawed at me, I kept a little space between us. Pain and regret poured into me, but the shifter respected my decision.