Southern Wands

by Amy Boyles

  I placed both of my palms on the table and leaned over, glaring at him. “I know, Mr. Franks. You can’t get something for nothing. But at some point have you ever asked yourself if the price you paid was worth it?”

  His jaw dropped, and I turned to Rufus. “Let’s go.”

  Once we were out of earshot, Rufus whirled on me. “You must be joking to have asked an ex-kingpin if the price he paid was worth it. Are you trying to get us killed?”

  “No,” I scoffed. “Of course not. I just didn’t want him to think he held all the power. It annoyed me.”

  Rufus cursed at the sky. “Well, at least we have a bit of information about Sherman.”

  “Well, Pepper Dunn, looking to become one of us?”

  Lacy’s acrid voice sliced through every other conversation in the room.

  I stopped, contemplating whether I should justify her with conversation or simply keep walking.

  I decided I wasn’t rolling over for any witch—especially not her.

  I pivoted on my heel and faced her. Lacy sat at a large round table, looking like she was holding court in Spellin’ Skillet.

  “No, I wasn’t looking to become one of you. Become someone who takes whatever she wants and hurts people along the way? Wait, not hurt, destroy, like you did to that one head witch—the one who became a vegetable after she dealt with you? No, I would rather die than have that happen to me.”

  Lacy sneered. “That can be arranged.”

  I fisted my hands. “I will be ready for you. But I warn you, Lacy, you’re messing with the wrong witch.”

  Lacy threw back her head and cackled. “An untrained head witch is going to tell me that I’m messing with the wrong witch?” Her mouth became a grim line. “You have a lot of nerve.”

  Suddenly something long and thin slipped into my hand. I glanced down and saw a replica of Lacy’s poison ivy wand. I scanned the room for Betty, but of course she was nowhere to be found. How the heck was I supposed to slip the stupid wand into Lacy’s pocket without her knowing?

  The answer hit me like a load of hay. I pulled the wand from behind my back.

  Lacy’s eyes widened. “How did you—”

  I peered down at her and pulled my lips back into a sneer. “I would watch who you call untrained.”

  I handed her the wand, nodded to Rufus and said, “Let’s go.”

  Without another word, I pivoted on my heels and stomped from the restaurant.

  “You learned something today.”

  Hermit and I stood in the Conjuring Caverns. The lantern sat on the floor, the light spinning inside. Shadows danced around the cave, dappling the walls with cutouts of broomsticks, half-moons and unicorn horns.

  “I’m more interested in finding out where my dragon is,” I said, “than discussing whatever I learned.”

  “He’s safe,” Hermit said quietly. “The dragon will not be harmed.”

  I raked my fingers through my hair. “How can I be sure of that?”

  “If Lacy were to harm your familiar openly, that would cause a large disturbance not only within the Order but also in your community.”

  “But taking my powers is fine,” I said bitterly.

  “People get upset when animals are hurt. That’s why animals don’t die in movies.” He rubbed his hands as if to warm them. “You could join her. That is the other option.”

  “Never.”

  Hermit nodded. “But as I was saying, you learned something today.”

  “What’s that?”

  He laughed. “You’re the one who told me you changed the towel into a wall of water.”

  I sighed and sank onto the floor, crossing my legs in front of me. “Yes, I did say that. Sorry. It’s been very stressful lately. I know my true power is connected to love and fear.”

  “It’s connected to clear thinking,” Hermit added. “Before, you weren’t thinking clearly. You have…distractions.”

  I closed my eyes tightly and said words I had to force out. “You mean Rufus.”

  He nodded. “I do.”

  I fisted my hands and opened my eyes. “I don’t understand it. I never have. But I have feelings for him. Not like Axel, though. Not even close. Axel owns my heart, but Rufus seems to just be standing on the outside as a temptation. The time of being wishy-washy is over. Staying in the mire for too long makes me unable to move forward.”

  “No one can move forward when stuck, my dear.”

  I nodded in understanding. “And that’s what I’ve been—stuck. I’ve been foolish, thinking that if I pushed certain parts of my life away, I could ignore them and things would work out for themselves. What I’ve realized is that I need to give myself over to fate and love and stop worrying about what-ifs, and also stop being so darned childish.”

  I rubbed my temples. “It’s because of me that the entire town is in this predicament. If I’d only learned how to use my powers earlier, we wouldn’t be here. The Order wouldn’t have overtaken us, and my town wouldn’t be on lockdown. We could leave. Food could enter. I only hope this town’s patience lasts long enough for me to defeat Lacy. Because if they turn on me before that…well, I couldn’t say I blamed them.”

  Hermit inhaled deeply. “It is a lot you have on your shoulders. You remind me of myself, my dear. When I was your age, I had so much power. Yet I was young, stupid with it. There were those who needed my help and in my haughtiness I believed they should have been able to help themselves, so I did nothing. Doing nothing was the worst possible outcome. Because of me, innocent people suffered, so I understand your plight.”

  “Hermit,” I said cautiously, “why are you helping me?”

  He cocked his head to one side. “Because you should be given a chance to fight, and because I suppose I’m paying penance for my mistakes. I don’t want to see an innocent suffer. I didn’t want to turn away again. I wanted to help.”

  “But why didn’t you help the werewolves instead of me? Convince Lacy to speak to the wolves and figure out the situation?”

  He chuckled. “Because she wouldn’t have listened, and there’s too much ingrained prejudice against them for things to be so simple.”

  He clapped his hands. “Now. Are you ready for your lesson?”

  I rose and brushed dirt from the seat of my pants. “Yes, I am. But Hermit?”

  “Yes, my dear?”

  “What happened? To those people who you regret not helping?”

  Hermit stared at the shapes as they danced and spiraled on the wall. After a moment he answered.

  “They all died.”

  FIFTEEN

  My training with Hermit went about as well as the day before. The occurrence with the blanket of water wasn’t repeated, even though I tried.

  I wasn’t sure what the problem was. Hermit suggested it wasn’t a focus problem, but apparently some things still had to click together that hadn’t already.

  When I got home, it was close to supper. I said hello to everyone and headed upstairs to collect my thoughts before I went back down to eat.

  As soon as I reached my room, my phone rang.

  Axel.

  My hands shook as I thumbed the phone on and pressed it to my ear.

  “Axel?”

  “Hey, babe, how are you?”

  I sank onto the bed. “Better now that I’ve heard your voice. How’s it going?”

  “I’m finding my way in. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is down here to get a meeting with the alpha in the pack.”

  I rolled my eyes. “It’s gotta be better down there than it is here. Every time I run into Lacy, she reminds me that I’m dead meat.”

  “Don’t say that,” he said sharply.

  “Sorry.” I sighed and lay back on the mattress. “But seriously, I’ve made some strides in my magic, and Betty stole Lacy’s wand.”

  “Did she? And is your grandmother still alive to tell the tale?”

  I chuckled. “So far. But I did have an encounter with the wand. Lucky for me I managed to figure out how
to stop it—and made a breakthrough with my magic in the process.”

  “That’s fantastic,” he said proudly. “What happened?”

  I told him all about it. He listened quietly, and when I was finished, he said, “But you weren’t able to replicate it today?”

  “No,” I said, annoyed. “I know I can do it. It’s the key to defeating Lacy. I have to be able to stop her, Axel.”

  “I’m hoping to be finished here tomorrow or the next day. I should be back before you clash with her.”

  I gripped the phone with both hands. How I wanted to fling my arms around Axel’s neck and hug him tight. I missed him so much my heart ached.

  I brushed away a tear that had leaked from my eye. “I wish you would return now. Axel, I’ve thought about your proposal and I want to answer.”

  “No,” he insisted. “Not until we’re face-to-face. I won’t have an answer over a phone call. It’s not right.”

  “You didn’t even give me a ring,” I reminded him. “It’s not like this whole thing has been incredibly traditional.”

  “Just because I didn’t have a ring before doesn’t mean I don’t have one now,” he said.

  My breath caught in my throat. “Oh,” was all I could think of to say. “Well, then.”

  “So let’s wait.” His voice sounded husky. “I’ll be back soon. Just don’t get too comfortable with Rufus while I’m gone.”

  My gut twisted. “Axel, about him…”

  “What?” he growled. “Did he make a move on you?”

  I shook my head. “No, of course not. Listen, I want to be honest with you.”

  “About your feelings for him.”

  I closed my eyes and sat up. “You know.”

  “I’m not a fool,” he said. “But I also know that whatever bond you have with him, it doesn’t compare to us. Never has. Never will. He can be good as much as he wants. Rufus’s core may change, but he’s watery, mercurial. When he wants to be good, he will be. But if something changed and he decided to return to a life of destruction, then he would do that without any regard for you.”

  Axel sighed. “I know that isn’t what you want to hear, but I believe that’s the truth. When it comes to your bond with him, something happened when he placed the spell on you that married your power to his. I think Rufus was able to see good in you and want that. He wanted to change for you, Pepper. Not for anyone else, not even for himself. You’ve helped him in a way I don’t even think Rufus understands. That’s what your bond is with him. It’s two people who shared a connection and who possibly wanted more. But can you both exist in the other’s world?”

  “No,” I answered. Agony filled me. I didn’t know how much, if any, of this hurt Axel, and to be honest, I didn’t want to ask. Yes, I was afraid of the truth.

  “I had to learn that for myself,” I said. “Figure out that my true feelings are with you. I mean, I’ve always known that,” I added quickly, “but there were times, like when you were gone, when you broke up with me and left. Rufus helped me—helped this town.”

  “And I’m glad for that,” Axel said. “He did what he should have. For once it was the right thing.”

  I smiled. “I’m so glad you called.”

  I could practically hear the giant grin forming on his face. “Me too. If anything changes or Lacy decides to move quickly, call me. I’ll leave everything to be there.”

  “I will, but Betty’s got the resistance going and hopefully that’ll keep the Order busy enough that they won’t be too concerned with me—at least for a little while.”

  “And what about Bee’s killer?”

  “I still think it’s Lacy, but need proof. Oh, she took Hugo.”

  “What?”

  I cringed. “I know. I’ve heard he’s okay, but I haven’t seen him.”

  “Pepper, she did that to ruin your chances of defeating her. You’ve got to get him back.”

  Now I was getting worried. If Axel was worried, that meant I should be, too. “How? I don’t even know where he is.”

  He sighed angrily. “Use your family. They’ll help.”

  “Thanks,” I said weakly.

  “And Pepper?”

  “Yes?”

  “I love you.”

  I practically melted into the phone. “I love you, too.”

  We hung up. I lay on the bed for several minutes, recuperating. Finally I went downstairs to find a meal of chicken and dumplings, pinto beans and cornbread.

  Talk about starch city. After I finished that meal, I’d be lucky if someone could roll me away from the table.

  I took a seat across from Betty. “How’s the wand?”

  “It’s stable. I’ve been able to encase it in glass,” my grandmother replied. “That seems to stop it from doing any nasty tricks.”

  Amelia pointed her fork at Betty. “I told her she should give it to me and I’ll take it to the Vault.”

  “That might be the most sane idea you’ve ever had,” Cordelia said.

  Amelia shot her a dark look. “You’re just jealous that you didn’t come up with it first.”

  Cordelia rolled her eyes.

  “What’s going on at the wish store?”

  Cordelia’s father was half-genie and had expressed his interest in opening a shop. Cordelia planned on leaving her position at the inn to take a job with him.

  Cordelia shook her head. “As soon as the Order came into town, they put the shop on hold.”

  “Yeah, it’s too bad we couldn’t wish our way out of this,” Amelia said sadly.

  I thought about that for a minute. “It’s too bad. What I’d rather wish for is to know the identity of Bee’s killer. Oh, and have Axel put this stupid witch/werewolf conflict to rest.”

  Amelia patted my hand. “He’ll do the best he can.”

  “Or,” I said, still thinking about it, “could I wish for Sherman Oaks to arrive so I can ask him about Bee? It seems he might’ve seen her the night she was killed.”

  “How about you just wish to have Lacy swept into a parallel universe?” Amelia offered. “Out of all the possible outcomes, that seems like the best.”

  Cordelia pointed her attention at Betty. “Do you think she’s going to figure out you stole her wand?”

  Betty grimaced. “I’m relying on the fact that she won’t need it until she faces off with Pepper and when she doesn’t have it, Pepper easily defeats her.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sounds like a perfectly ridiculous plan. You’ve got to come up with something better, because I can almost guarantee that Lacy will discover her wand is gone. Since I handed her the dummy, she’ll come looking for me. Thanks for that one, Betty,” I said sarcastically.

  Stevie, who’d been sitting beside me at the foot of the table, suddenly jumped up and scurried toward the door. He pawed at the base.

  “You gotta go potty, little guy?” I wiped dumpling residue from my mouth and crossed over. I opened the door for him, and Stevie scampered into the night.

  “Huh, guess he really had to go,” I murmured.

  Thunder echoed in the sky. The air contracted and shifted. The barometric pressure changed, and the atmosphere thickened with humidity.

  “Uh-oh,” Betty said.

  I turned to her. “What?”

  “That isn’t an ordinary storm.”

  I frowned. “What is it, then?”

  A voice crackled from a bolt of lightning that splintered across the sky. “Who stole my wand?”

  I groaned. “Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag about the wand.”

  “She’s discovered us.” Betty hopped from her seat. “Amelia, I need your help. You must hide Lacy’s wand in the Vault.”

  Amelia’s eyes flared. “Now you want me to hide it? Now, when she’s going to be looking for it? Uh-huh. That woman will kill me if she discovers I took it.”

  Betty smiled. “But you didn’t take it. I did.”

  Amelia rolled her eyes. “I don’t think that’s going to matter. If I get caught wi
th it, I’m dead meat.”

  The voice boomed from the sky. “Your houses will be searched! All of them. Whoever has taken my wand will pay dearly! The Order has been kind to you people of Magnolia Cove, but no more!”

  I knew Lacy wasn’t joking. We would be dead—all of us, if she found the wand here. Amelia didn’t want to take it, but what other choice did we have?

  I stepped toward Betty. “I’ll do it. I’ll take the wand.”

  Amelia gasped. “Pepper, you can’t. If Lacy finds you…”

  “If she finds the thing here, we’re dead. It won’t matter. I have to do this. It must be moved.”

  Cordelia rose. “I’ll go with you. Since Amelia’s too chicken to help, I’ll be the cousin who rises to the occasion.”

  “I’m not chicken,” Amelia fumed. “I just was being careful is all.”

  Thunder rocked the sky, and lightning splintered the night. “We have to hurry. The Order will arrive any minute, y’all. Betty, where’s the wand?”

  Betty clapped her hands, and a glass tube with the poison ivy wand appeared. The wand clinked against its prison, obviously trying to find a way out.

  “Can you hide it at the Vault, Amelia?” I said. “It’s pretty testy.”

  She nibbled her bottom lip. “I’ll try.”

  Another clap of thunder echoed outside. I grabbed a rain jacket from a hook. “We’d better get going.”

  Cordelia snapped her fingers, and she and Amelia were outfitted with rain jackets and boots. She cracked her knuckles. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before Lacy and her goons show up.”

  Amelia peered hesitantly outside. “It’s curfew. Do you think we’ll make it?”

  I zipped up my jacket and tucked the wand under my arm. “We have no choice. Our lives are on the line.”

  “In that case”—Amelia pulled up her hood defiantly—“let’s get going.”

  SIXTEEN

  The wind blew hard through town. I considered that lucky since the wand was beating itself senseless against the glass container.

  “That thing sure is temperamental,” Amelia said.