by Amy Boyles
“Since I don’t know what sort of spell caused the wound, I can only do a basic curing potion.”
She worked while I placed a cold compress on Rufus’s head. “He’s getting hot.”
“I’ll work faster,” she said.
Sherman stood by, his hands twitching in anticipation. “What should I do?”
“Make sure Slug doesn’t wake up. I can only deal with one crisis at a time.”
After a few minutes of Betty stirring, grinding and cussing, she brought over a thick paste.
“Cut his shirt off,” she instructed me.
“Let me get the scissors.”
I started to rise, but Betty pushed me back down. “With your magic. Do it with magic.”
I nibbled my bottom lip, uncertain as heck as to how I was going to do this, but I couldn’t let anyone down. I peeled back Rufus’s coat and stared at the gaping wound.
I closed my eyes and imagined my finger cutting simply through the fibers of his shirt, not slicing any farther.
I opened my eyes and slid my finger from his shoulder to his belly button.
The fabric fell away. I peeled the clothing back and stared at Rufus’s creamy skin.
Betty chanted something as she slathered the concoction of what smelled like roses and lavender over his skin.
“That should dress it,” she said after a few minutes. She studied his form and her work. “His breathing is even. That’s good, but we won’t know anything for sure until he awakens.”
“How long will that be?”
“Hopefully before sunrise. If he’s not awake within an hour, we’ll have to return Slug. We can’t risk being caught in all this, even if it means our plans went wrong.”
I nodded. Part of me wanted to question Slug, but most of me wanted to make sure Rufus was okay first. He’d done so much for us, for my family and me, I hated to think of him in anguish, hurt and suffering because of a plan we’d had.
I took his hand and sat beside him.
Betty pointed to Sherman. “You hungry?”
He patted his stomach. “I could eat.”
“Come with me to the kitchen. I’ll make us some food, and we’ll discuss what happens if we have to get Slug out of here.”
Sherman smiled. “Tell you what. You explain to me what to do, and I’ll make the food.”
A light glimmered in Betty’s eyes. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll inform you on how to worm your way into Amelia’s heart.”
Sherman’s face illuminated. Well, he was sold.
They left the room, and I stared down at Rufus. I squeezed his hand.
“Pepper?” he whispered.
“I’m here.”
Rufus blinked his eyes open. “I can’t see.”
“What? Did the spell make you blind?” Oh no. That would be horrible.
He blinked again. “False alarm. It just took a moment for my eyes to focus.”
I nearly swatted him. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been dragged through the streets.” He smiled wanly and peered down toward his wound. “Should I look?”
I shook my head. “Not for a while. Betty slathered some stuff on it.”
Rufus shook his head. “I don’t know what happened. Out of all the sleeping witches there was one waiting for us, as if he knew what was going to happen.”
I shook my head. “Impossible. No one knew but us and Sherman.” My gaze drifted toward the kitchen. “Do you think?”
Rufus shook his head slightly. “I wouldn’t believe so, but stranger things have happened.”
“I hope he hasn’t betrayed us.”
“We need to talk to Slug.” Rufus started to push himself up.
I placed my palms on his chest, stopping him. “Wait. At least a few minutes. She’s still asleep.”
Rufus gazed down at my hands, and I suddenly felt my face burning. I snatched my hands away.
“Too late,” Rufus said smugly. “I’ve already felt your touch. You can’t take that back.”
“You’re hallucinating,” I said.
His dark eyes bored a hole straight through me. “You should marry Axel. You will marry him. You need to.” He closed his eyes. “And I shouldn’t be saying any of this.”
I pulled a handful of hair over my shoulder and started braiding it. “No, you shouldn’t.”
“You and I can never be,” he said, “not because you’re with Axel, but because it’s my penance.”
“What do you mean?”
His eyelids fluttered, and Rufus glanced into the distance. “Because in my whole life you’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to change for.”
I sucked air. The revelation hit me squarely in the gut. “What?”
Rufus reached out. With the back of his fingers, he stroked at the loose hair around my face. “I wanted to be better because of you. Not for myself. It was foolish of me. For that, I don’t deserve you.”
I pressed the back of my hand to his forehead. “You’re feverish.”
Rufus grabbed my wrist. “No, I’m not, and if I am, I can at least blame this moment on that.”
Rufus pulled me toward him, and I started to sink, felt myself tipping forward.
It felt like I was in a dream, that some otherworldly force was pulling me to him.
And it was wrong.
I jerked back at the same time the front door slammed open. My cousin Carmen Craple stood in the frame.
I rose. “Carmen, what are you doing here?”
She strode over, her red hair sailing behind her and her long legs striding quickly. “Betty called. Said you might need help pulling off a glamour with one of those horrendous witches from the Order.”
I glanced down at Rufus. “Do you think you can do this?”
Rufus’s mouth tucked into a thin line. Then he slowly nodded as mischief sparked in his eyes. “I’m already feeling better. Put on your glamour, Pepper. We need to know the truth.”
NINETEEN
“Why have you called me here, Slug?”
I stood in front of the semiconscious witch wearing a glamour that made me look exactly like Bee.
Carmen held the hairpin after Rufus directed her on what to do. He was still too weak to manipulate it himself.
Slug stared at me with confusion in her eyes. “I haven’t called you here. I didn’t do that. I haven’t.”
I took a menacing step forward, keeping a firm scowl etched onto my face. “You want my seat in the Order. You’re plotting to keep my son from having it. Admit it, you hate me. You’ve always hated me.”
I raised my hands, watching as I shot rays of light around the room. Slug shrieked with fear. “Admit it, you killed me. You did it. You burned me to a crisp so that you could take my seat and so that Lacy wouldn’t have anyone to fight against. Isn’t that true?”
I slammed my fist into my hand. “Apologize to me now, or you will pay in the afterlife!”
I didn’t know if that was true, but it sure as heck sounded great.
Slug recoiled. Fear splashed across her face. “Forgive me, Bee. Please forgive me, I was coerced.”
Hope bubbled in my chest. “So you did kill me?”
She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t me. Another witch came to me in my dreams, told me I had to place a fire stone in the bushes. Told me to put it there.”
I shot Rufus a confused look. He made a slashing gesture across his throat, and Slug froze.
He tipped his head. “A fire stone is a magical stone that helps someone wield fire. If Slug had been told to place it in a particular spot, someone was obviously trying to make it look like she committed the murder instead of them. They may have used the fire stone to kill Bee, but if anyone saw the stone being placed, they would’ve watched Slug do it—not the real killer.”
I frowned. “You’re saying someone would be framing Slug.”
“Right, and more than likely if Slug was interrogated about this, she wouldn’t remember anything in the light of day. But here, since she�
�s in between waking and sleep, she can recall the event.”
“Ask her point-blank who did it,” Carmen said.
Rufus snapped his fingers, and Slug returned to life. “Who told you to plant the fire stone?”
Slug opened her mouth, but no words came out. “Who was it?”
She shook her head. “It was—”
The witch started convulsing, choking on an unseen object. I shot a worried look to Rufus. He raised a hand, and Slug stopped.
He nodded to me to ask again.
“Slug, who sent you the dream? Who told you to plant the fire stone?”
She opened her mouth again. This time a ray of black sludge shot from her mouth and splashed against the wall.
“Ah,” I screamed.
Carmen shrieked as well. Slug rose and seized. Her head snapped back, her shoulders hunched forward and she collapsed to the floor.
I flew to her, picking the witch up and staring into her blank eyes.
“There won’t be a pulse,” Rufus said, stepping over her body to get a better look.
“She’s dead?”
He nodded. “She is.”
Carmen’s expression sank. “You were so close.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “Why? What happened?”
Betty’s voice drifted from the back of the room. “Someone put a gag spell on her.”
I twisted my head and shoulders to face her. “A what?”
“A gag spell,” she repeated.
“That’s so if she ever tried to reveal a person’s identity, she would immediately die,” Rufus explained.
I closed my eyes and sank onto my rear end. Slug’s head rolled from my hands and hit the floor with a thud.
“So we killed her,” I said.
“No.” Rufus’s hand gripped my shoulder. “Whoever gagged her killed her and Bee. They didn’t want anyone to know who they were, so they covered their tracks.”
“We’re dealing with someone incredibly smart.” Betty waddled over to the hearth and stoked the fire. “Perhaps the most powerful opponent you’ve ever faced.”
“But what do we do now?” I said. “How do we find the killer and stop all this madness?”
Rufus picked up the hairpin and pressed his finger against the sharp end. A slow smile curled on his lips. “I think the best thing to do would be to send someone into the camp in disguise. Pretend to be Slug.”
Betty cackled. “Great idea. Who’s going to do it?”
“I will,” Carmen said. “I despise the Order and want them gone.”
I shook my head and rose. “No, Carmen. This isn’t your fight. Lacy came for me and only me. If anyone’s going to take Slug’s place, I’ll be the one who does it. I won’t have anyone else trying to save me.”
Carmen’s expression twisted with worry. “Are you sure?”
I opened my palm to Rufus. “Give me the hairpin. I’ll become Slug and invade their camp. We do this now.”
TWENTY
“You don’t have to do this.”
Rufus strode beside me, his long legs looking ready to sprint past me.
I shot him a sidelong glance. “Of course I do. This is my fight. Mine. If I’m going to figure out a way to truly defeat Lacy and get the Order to leave, then this is it. I can do this,” I said more confidently than I felt.
I was a jumble of nerves, no doubt about that, but I wasn’t about to let Rufus see. I’d made this decision, and I would stick to it no matter what.
“It’s not that I don’t think you can do it,” he said. “It’s that these people are dangerous.”
“Gee, you think I don’t know that, already?”
He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Would you stop?”
I exhaled loudly and turned to face him. The cool night air lifted the hair on the back of my neck, and the smell of grass trickled up my nose. It smelled like home—comforting and good.
It was the only good thing about the camp I was about to join.
I jutted my chin out and glared at Rufus. “What is it?”
“You don’t have to do this.”
Our eyes locked, and before I could do something stupid like crumple into a ball and start crying, I looked away. “Yes, I do. Once the Order discovers Slug is dead, Lacy will probably go ahead and challenge me. She won’t wait, and I won’t be ready. I’ll lose.”
Anguish filled his gaze. “I can help you.”
I smiled. “You already have. You’ve given me so much. You’ve helped this town so much.”
He looked away, scoffing.
“You have.” I took his arm and turned him to face me. “You must believe that. I believe that. You’ve been a great…friend.”
His expression hardened. “As your friend,” he said sarcastically, “I’m telling you this is dangerous.”
“And as your friend, I’m explaining that I’m ready. Sherman is going to take me to Slug’s tent so that I can be ready when the sleeping potion wears off. He’ll show me what I need to know, and I’ll spend the rest of my time figuring out who killed Bee and hopefully Axel will return soon with good news. If anyone can get a band of witches and a pack of werewolves together, it’s him.”
“Yes, he’s a real miracle worker,” Rufus said snidely.
“You can be too,” I said.
We stared at each other for a moment. Rufus opened his mouth, and the words came out barely above a whisper. “You should call him before you go in. Let Axel know what’s about to happen.”
Sherman strode up from the dark. He turned to Rufus. “Are you ready? We have a lot of folks to collect.”
Rufus nodded. “Our plan is to grab your cousins and magically transport them back to the house. We’ll do the same thing with Theodora and Harry. That will give you time to acquaint yourself with whatever you need to.”
“And search whatever I need to,” I said quietly.
“Be careful,” Rufus said. Without another word he pulled me into a hug. I hadn’t expected it. Hadn’t expected to feel his arms around me, to feel his muscles tighten and feel the rise and fall of his chest.
Least of all I hadn’t expected to feel his heart beating against my throat. But it did.
I closed my eyes and listened until Rufus pulled away.
I knuckled a tear from my eyelid and followed the two men into camp.
Rufus helped me with my glamour, making sure the image stuck to me like glue and that it wouldn’t dissolve even in my sleep. The last thing I needed to happen was to wake up looking like myself in enemy territory.
After saying goodbye to Sherman and Rufus, I strode into Slug’s tent and sat. I pulled the phone from my pocket and dialed Axel. Since I didn’t know when I’d be able to talk to him again, I wanted to at least let him know what I was doing in case something happened.
Or maybe it was best that I didn’t tell him at all. Worry him less.
He answered on the first ring.
“I was about to call you.” His husky voice pulled my heart and a lopsided smile tugged at my face. “How’re things going there?”
What to tell him? The truth? It would only worry Axel. The best thing to do would be to skirt the issue.
“There have been some complications,” I explained. “Nothing that you need to worry about, but a few things. How’s it going there?”
“Well. I’ve got both sides sitting down tomorrow to talk over their beefs. I’m hoping to have this wrapped up quickly.”
I clutched the phone and closed my eyes. “It’s so good to hear your voice. I miss you so much.”
“I miss you, babe.” He cleared his throat. “Has Rufus been behaving himself?”
My lids popped open. “Yes. Why?”
“Just making sure. I don’t want him trying to steal my lady while I’m gone.”
“Rufus could never steal me. I’m yours. Always have been, even before I knew you.”
Axel chuckled. “And I’m yours. I’ll call you when I’m on my way back, okay?”
I sighed. “Okay.
Be safe. I love you.”
“Love you more.”
I scoffed. “As if.”
We hung up, and I slid the phone into the witch robes I wore. I took a minute to look around at the contents of Slug’s tent. There was a cot, a trunk that presumably held clothing and whatever else she would’ve needed, a couple of tables and some chairs.
I pushed up my sleeves and headed for the trunk. “No time like the present.”
The trunk didn’t reveal anything of interest. Figuring I had less than an hour before the spell would wear off, I poked around the tents until I found the one Sherman had described as Lacy’s.
It was made of black canvas and covered in silver drawings of moons and suns. It sat squarely in the center of the other tents and was a foreboding presence.
I swallowed a knot in the back of my throat. Yes, the structure intimidated me almost as much as the witch it belonged to. But I wouldn’t have another chance to search it, so this was it.
I lifted the flap and nearly tripped over Lacy’s unconscious body. She lay sprawled on the floor, a line of drool running from her mouth.
My heart ticked up at the sight of her, but I had to remember, I wasn’t me. I was Slug, and Slug was friends with Lacy.
I shivered.
That thought made my dinner crawl up the back of my throat. How could anyone be friends with Lacy?
The room was similarly furnished to Slugs with one exception—Hugo sat in the back of the tent, chained to a post. My heart cracked in half at the sight of him.
He was asleep. The spell had worked on him same as it had everyone else. I crossed to my dragon and placed a hand on his head. His eyelids fluttered, but he didn’t waken.
“I’ll get you out of this, little guy. Don’t you worry.”
I inspected him. Hugo didn’t look to have lost any weight, and there were no signs of abuse. Satisfied that he was being taken care of, if chained, I returned to my sweep of Lacy’s room.
A trunk similar to Slug’s sat in the center of the room. I tiptoed over to it and tugged on the lid.
Locked.
Of course. Lacy wouldn’t leave her trunk unlocked. Where could the key be?