by Tasha Black
“What do you think about the highway, Ainsley? Will it ruin the town?” Grace’s father asked.
“I know that at first it will be noisy and messy,” she explained as she had to Erik, “but the convenience to Philadelphia will draw people. I think property values will climb. Of course that will change things.”
“You know I bumped into Erik Jensen this morning, and he told me the same thing!”
Ainsley colored and took a quick sip of wine.
The topic changed, and soon enough they were all carrying the dishes into the kitchen.
“We’re going to take Abuela for a walk, Mama, okay?” Grace asked.
“Sure, honey. We’ll see you in a little while.” Grace’s mom put both hands on Ainsley’s shoulders and looked her in the eye. “Now, Ainsley, remember what I said. One of the rooms upstairs is yours – we set up a bed and a dresser for you. Move a few more things in while you have movers at your parents’ house if there’s anything from the house that you want to keep here. You’ll come home as often as you want, but I meant what I said. I will expect a visit before Halloween, okay?”
Ainsley felt an uncharacteristic rush of emotion and she embraced Mrs. Cortez fiercely. As she pulled back, she heard the older woman whisper, “Love you, mi hija.”
Chapter 8
The night had only cooled a few degrees by the time she and Grace and Abuela made it outside, and the air still felt thick enough to drink. They walked the three blocks back to Ainsley’s house slowly, in deference to the old woman’s sore knees.
“So,” Abuela said, “Grace tells me you’d like to know more about your mom.”
“Yes,” replied Ainsley. “Please.”
Her heart raced in a mixture of anticipation and dread at what she might find out.
“Well, that will take me back a ways.” The old woman stopped and stared into the distance. Her brow furrowed, as if she were gathering her thoughts. She stayed that way for the span of a few breaths. Just as Ainsley was about to break the uncomfortable silence, the woman spoke.
“Your mother’s family was in Tarker’s Hollow forever. Magic was in her blood, but no one in her family had a gift quite like hers.” Abuela studied her face. “Did you really not know she had the gift at all?”
Ainsley shook her head. They continued to walk.
“Well, she did. I’ve never seen anything like it. We all have our strengths, types of magic that we come by more easily than others. Your mother’s was nature. She could make anything grow. There was a reason everyone in town went to her for plants and gardening tips.”
Ainsley stopped to think about the lush garden at her house, and the way the plants from the plant sale always had a way of surviving the car trips and sunny tables.
“So Mrs. Cortez knew?”
“Oh lord, no, child. She had no idea! Grace’s parents don’t believe in any of that nonsense. And she doesn’t have the gift, herself. But she’d have had to be blind not to see that Sylvia had a green thumb!”
“Like Poison Ivy…” Grace said dreamily.
“Are you talking about comic books again?” Abuela scolded. “Get your head out of the clouds. How do expect to find a decent husband when you spend all your time in a fantasy world?”
Grace smiled indulgently and gestured for her grandmother to continue.
“Now, your dad was certainly the catch of the wolf pack. His daddy was the alpha, so we knew Michael would follow him. He was very handsome too, so tall and strong. And he was soft-spoken and a thinker.”
Ainsley blushed at hearing her dad described that way.
“But it’s true. Even the human women seemed to gravitate toward him. Your mom was one of them. Though she certainly didn’t throw herself at him like some of the others. And maybe that was part of why he fell for her so hard. Sylvia was the studious type – like you, Ainsley, and Grace.
“When the two of them got together, the wolves pitched a fit like nothing the town had ever seen. For those of us that knew what was going on, it all made sense. For the poor townsfolk who weren’t in on the secrets, it was hard for them to understand why half the town was boycotting Sylvia’s daddy’s store. Or why the girls at school were throwing themselves at Michael Connor with a desperation that bordered on criminal. Or why everyone was suddenly so angry with your mama, a soft-spoken honor student.
“The pack elders tried to reason with Michael, to help him understand why he needed to choose a wolf. But you can’t be reasoned out of something you were never reasoned into. In the end, your grandfather put his foot down. He told them all that he was still alpha and that he was sick and tired of hearing about his son’s high school girlfriend. They all left off, some more reluctantly than others.
“Then your parents got married. And when your grandfather passed away suddenly – there they were.
“Now some of the wolves thought that your mom had bewitched him, even though everyone knows wolves have a strong resistance to magic. They never did accept her. But in the end, she helped the town with her gift and so she earned the respect of most of the pack. Do you know what she did?”
“Uh, create the tree canopy?” Ainsley guessed weakly.
“What?” Abuela said with a smile. “No, honey, that’s the town Shade Tree Commission – run by plain old human persistence and rules about cutting down trees – ask my daughter-in-law. No, your mom didn’t just have a knack for nature magic, She was also very,very good at helping hidden things stay hidden. She used it whenever she could to keep Tarker’s Hollow off the map.”
They passed the construction site on Yale. Ainsley tried not to look for Erik but couldn’t doing a quick visual sweep over the lot. He wasn’t there.
“But progress marches on,” Abuela said, indicating the lot with her hand. “We certainly could use your parents now. Without his leadership and her magic, this town is headed into a lot of trouble.”
At that, there was a rumble of thunder. The first fat raindrops began to fall. They stopped talking and sped up their walk. The smell of wet pavement filled Ainsley’s nose and the temperature immediately began to drop.
Chapter 9
By the time they helped Abuela up the stairs of the Connors’ front porch, they were all damp, but no worse for wear. The light rain felt good after the sweltering heat, but the worst of the storm was still to come.
Ainsley led them back to the kitchen where she filled the copper kettle and put it on to boil. While she pulled down three mugs, Grace helped Abuela into the sturdy wooden chair at the head of the oak table.
“Give me that candle, Grace,” the old woman said.
Grace passed the ‘Smores scented Yankee Candle to her grandmother, who immediately fished a zippo out of her enormous pocketbook and lit it.
“Does that help to contact the spirits?” Ainsley asked, excited about what might happen next.
“No, but it will cover the smell of this,” Abuela replied, cutting the end off an enormous cigar and lighting it in the candle flame. “I always have a cigar and a walk after dinner.”
Ainsley bit her lip. She didn’t want a disgusting cigar being smoked in the house- but she certainly didn’t want to offend Abuela.
As she wavered, the hint of vanilla in the scent of the cigar began to remind her of the pipe her father used to smoke occasionally. She decided not to insult her guest and to enjoy the reminiscent smell.
Ainsley poured the tea and placed a mug in front of each of them. Abuela stumped out her cigar on her saucer.
“Okay, are you ready?” she asked.
“Don’t you need anything else?” Ainsley asked, surprised.
“Did you think I was going to ask you to cut the head off a live chicken?” Abuela asked with a booming laugh.
Ainsley was embarrassed. Of course she didn’t think that. Not exactly. But she suspected the process would be a little more elaborate than a Yankee candle and a cup of peppermint tea.
“Ainsley,” Grace chimed in. “That stuff is just in the movies. We wo
n’t be speaking in tongues either.”
“We do hold hands, though, that part the movies get right!” Abuela said.
“The circle amplifies our magical strength,” Grace explained.
“But, I don’t have any magical strength,” Ainsley said.
“Don’t be so sure. That sort of thing usually runs in a family. And it runs strong in some. That’s how my Grace got it from me.”
“Abuela,” Grace said. “You know I’m adopted.”
“Nonsense,” said Abuela. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything. ”
“I don’t know,” Ainsley muttered.
“Grace told me all about the blue light, Ainsley. No need to be so modest.”
Ainsley shot Grace a look. She should have know Grace wouldn’t keep a secret from her grandmother.
Grace shrugged.
“Silly girls,” Abuela said, reaching for their hands. “Always did think you had all the answers.”
As soon as they joined hands, a peculiar buzzing filled Ainsley, like an electrical current passing through her. Her eyes met Grace’s and she saw that her friend’s pupils were beginning to dilate.
Abuela’s voice rang out.
“Hello!” she called, like she had just banged on the neighbor’s screen door and was about to let herself in.
Nothing.
“Hi, Sylvia? Michael? Are you there?”
Ainsley felt a tremor in the air. Goose bumps rose on her arms.
“That you, Sylvia?” Abuela asked casually.
Another tremor.
“Well, I know you’ll be happy to know that Ainsley is here. She’s doing very well for herself and she would like to say hello to you. She has the gift, Sylvia, doesn’t that make you proud?”
A crack of lightening illuminated the room entirely for an instant. Thunder boomed immediately in reply. The kitchen light went out.
Ainsley bit her lip until it bled trying not to scream.
Outside, the skies opened in a torrent of rain.
“Was that?”
“That’s just from the storm, sweetie,” Abuela explained calmly. “Your mama didn’t do that. I’m having a hard time reaching her.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Ainsley managed.
“It’s sort of like getting a busy signal,” Grace explained. “It’s like Abuela is calling, and it’s not exactly like no one is picking up. It’s more like the call can’t even go through.”
“It’s blocked, is what it is,” Abuela declared knowingly. The distinctive lines in her face were rendered even more impressive by the sweet scented candlelight.
“How can it be blocked?” Ainsley asked in dismay.
“Powerful magic,” Abuela shook her head in consternation. “But I don’t know why. And someone is trying to come through - just not your mama.”
“My dad?”
Abuela shook her head.
“Again, if you think of it like a telephone call, it’s like we’re hearing part of someone else’s conversation on the line,” Grace explained.
“On purpose?”
“We don’t know.”
Ainsley sucked her lower lip where she’d bitten it. This was insane. Had she really expected anything to happen? Maybe she was just going crazy from too much time in a small town.
“Abuela, can we try to open a portal for them?” Grace asked quietly.
Abuela only stared at her.
“This is important. She needs help. Badly.”
“We can’t leave it open long. Just enough that if they’re in trouble they can get through quickly. Then we close it again.”
“Of course.”
“Ainsley, this is going to be a little more intense, honey. Are you ready?” Abuela asked.
“What are you going to do?” Ainsley asked nervously.
“Getting through just to talk is like opening a keyhole to peek though. If we open a portal, that’s like opening the whole door. Your parents can appear to us themselves. If there’s some reason they can’t talk they may be able to step through the portal and be able to communicate with us.”
“Will I be able to see them?”
“That depends on your gift, sweetie. But…yes. Yes, I think you will be able to see them.”
Ainsley swallowed. Then she nodded. Grace took her hand immediately. Abuela took her other hand. The electrical current surged through them again.
Abuela spoke.
“We’re going to open a portal to Ainsley, Sylvia. We’re going to count down from 7 and then we have to close it again. Michael, Sylvia, if you can hear us, please come to us. NOW!”
The air was crackling with the electricity that flowed between them now. There was a swirl of moving air at the center of the table. It made Ainsley think of the last inch of water draining out of a sink.
“Seven!” Abuela said.
The swirl of air picked up speed.
“Six!”
It began to expand.
“Five!”
Ainsley could feel the suck of the air as it expanded enough to pull at their hands.
“Four!”
The pull grew stronger.
“Three!”
It felt like a black hole. Ainsley struggled to breathe.
“Two!”
There was another flash of lightning outside. And there was a winnow of movement within the circle. It was almost imperceptible. Without the lightning at that exact moment, she might have missed it. A pulse of energy moved through her and out of the circle.
“One!” Abuela cried.
Grace and Abuela let go of Ainsley’s hands. Instantly, the tornado in the table disappeared.
In the stillness that followed, Ainsley swore she heard a soft sound, like a curtain brushing against the wall. She spun around to look, but there was nothing there.
She turned back to see Abuela and Grace staring at her.
“What happened?” she asked.
Grace quickly looked down at her hands. Her lips were pinched tight.
Abuela looked into Ainsley’s eyes sadly.
“Your parents aren’t here. Something is blocking us from them. But…it seems that someone else may have come through.”
“What do you mean ‘it seems’?”
“I didn’t see or hear anything once the portal was closed,” Abuela said. “But you did. Didn’t you?”
“No,” Ainsley said. “I didn’t see anything. I mean, I thought I heard something just now, but when I looked there was nothing.”
Abuela gave Grace a meaningful glance.
“Ainsley, an open portal means all bets are off. Close your eyes and reach out. See if you can feel anything.”
Ainsley closed her eyes obediently. She heard the sirens for the fire department – which was typical when the power was out. She heard the songs of crickets and the beating of her companions’ hearts. Somewhere in the basement she heard the gentle footsteps of a mouse scurrying to its nest. She smelled the candle and the cigar and the shoe polish Grace used on her police shoes, even though she wasn’t wearing them now. She could taste the moisture on the air, and feel the cool breeze evaporating the tiny beads of sweat on her skin.
That was all.
She shook her head in disappointment.
“We’ll try again another time!” Grace said brightly.
“One thing’s for sure, young lady, you do have the gift.”
Abuela’s approving smile warmed Ainsley to her toes.
She blushed and smiled back.
Chapter 10
Erik caught her scent her before he heard her footsteps. She smelled like Southern Comfort, CK One, and trouble.
“Erik!”
Cressida’s stage whisper was about as subtle as a train whistle. Before he could answer she scratched at the screen door and finally opened it. She strode across the room, letting it slam behind her.
The house was a fixer, for sure. Erik had fallen in love with the wooded lot and the big screened porch overlooking the hillside. He still ha
d a lot of work to do to bring it back to its prime. But it always annoyed him when Cressida banged the door like it didn’t matter.
“Hey, Cress.”
“Hey yourself, big guy,” she teased, kicking off her shoes and flopping down on the sofa beside him.
Immediately she began kneading his thigh with her bare feet. Cressida was always in motion. It was usually one of his favorite things about her. When she failed to land bigger game, she would often stop by for some fun. That was fine. He liked their arrangement, what the college kids in town would call “friends with benefits.”
But tonight he had work to do.
“You want a beer?” he asked, afraid to tell her he was about to leave.
“No, I don’t want a beer!” Cressida slid forward and tugged at his T-shirt. “Take this off.”
Erik laughed, “Steady, Cress. I’m leaving in a minute.”
She pouted, then rallied.
“Are you going to babysit that goofy city girl?” she asked innocently, stretching to reveal a few inches of her tanned waist.
“Cressida, she’s important to us.”
Cressida nodded in mock thoughtfulness and then slid into his lap in one fluid movement. The smell of her arousal was heavy in the air.
“No. She’s not.”
“She’s choosing the next alpha,” he replied carefully. “She’s important.”
Erik had other reasons he thought Ainsley was important, but he didn’t think Cressida would want to hear them.
“She’s not choosing anything. In case you didn’t notice, she’s emptying the house and getting the hell out of dodge!”
Erik lifted Cressida off his lap and unceremoniously deposited her back on the sofa. He began to pace. Talking too much about Ainsley was making him a little crazy. And Cressida was the last person he wanted to talk to about it. But he could tell she wasn’t going to take no for an answer tonight. Movement caught the corner of his eye and he turned to see her sliding her shirt over her head.