“Hold on for me. Okay? Please believe we are here to help you. I promise you that.”
Eleanor seemed to be uttering something under her breath. A wave of magic passed through Mel, and the world blurred and then doubled again.
Lawson blinked rapidly. “Fuck me. I wasn’t sure I believed this would happen. This is lunacy. Okay. Upstairs we go to talk to that dude.”
Elliot called out again. She didn’t know if they had time for talking. Melanie grabbed off the table that Mitchell had been looking at. The ghosts had to be gotten rid of and that included the man upstairs. She didn’t want to have a whole additional rundown. Lawson could talk to the man. He and Stefan ran upstairs.
She was getting rid of these things.
The book was blurry, but her eyes adjusted. She’d figure out what caused that later when she could actually consider this thing from start to finish.
Humans said words to exorcise demons. They made it seem like it was a religious thing and that was well above her pay grade. Witches were different, but they’d certainly agree that words held power. All of this had started from that.
A man wanted more money, more power, reputation. But boy had it spiraled out of control. Be careful what you wish for—that was something humans said. Witches had their own expression. Be careful what spell you cast.
Well, she’d only started casting again today. Fuck, she’d have to be good enough. She turned to stare at Elliot. He was covered in the ghosts. The poor man. They were going to kill him. But she loved him, and regardless of the circumstances of how they came together, she wasn’t yet ready to let him go.
“Elliot, I’m in love with you. You don’t remember me because you’re sick. That doesn’t change anything.”
He lifted his head like he wanted to say something before falling to his knees.
No, she wouldn’t lose him to this thing. She’d found that fucking journal. Words. That was all that she needed.
She started talking, as fast as she could, anything she could think of that might work. It was the intent behind them that mattered.
This was like a disease, and she would beat it. She just had to remember that the point of magic was your intent.
She awakened her magic. It was hard, much tougher than it should have been, but if she got Elliot through this mess, she was going to see to it that she got back to basics when it came to magic. She was going to remember what it meant to be a witch.
Melanie had to think about the kind of magic that automatically made her own turn on. Solving problems was something that always did that for her. She thought about Evans and the fact that she was still stuck in this house because of him. There had to be a solution to that, something she’d been putting off, because the truth was she’d liked being trapped here with Elliot. She’d liked that she couldn’t leave, that she had him to herself. But much as she did, this had to stop.
Her powers turned on, hard. She jolted. Nothing, not even making the vision spell, had been the equivalent of this. Maybe it was adrenaline or perhaps it just came down to the pressing need to get this done.
She cleared her throat. “I want to see what’s on you, and I want the ability to touch them to move them, to feel the unfeelable.” That was just pathetic, but so help her, it was going to have to do. “Seeing. Touching. Feeling.” She loved this man, so she infused the words with that too.
It was possible to make something mean more by simply staring at the person she loved while she uttered those words. In her whole life, Melanie had never known that. This was why people went to jail for illegal magic when they had been law abiding citizens. She’d never understood it, might never again. But for the first time in her life, she could actually comprehend why people committed crimes for those they loved.
In that moment, she’d have broken every magical law imaginable to rid Elliot of this curse.
“Melanie,” he spoke through gritted teeth. “I can’t keep you safe. You need to go.”
How did he know her? It wasn’t possible. Once they lost their memories, the Boothes didn’t get them back, and yet he hadn’t known her and now he did.
“Elliot, I’m not going anywhere. We’ve figured it out, and we’re fixing this.”
He shook his head. “I love you. I’ve held on for you when I should have vanished weeks ago. Please don’t stay here too long.”
She leaned over and kissed him on his forehead. “I’ve got this. Please trust me.”
“I do.” He took her hand. “But I need for you to listen to me for one second before I lose the words to say this again.”
She almost begged him to stop, to not say whatever it was he thought he had to, because she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was going to be too close to goodbye. “Go ahead.”
“Mel, you are not too much. You always say that, but you’re not. You’re nowhere near too much of anything.”
She didn’t know what he was talking about. “What?”
“That thing you say? That you’re too much? You’re not. There is no part of you that is too much. You are just right. Strong. Brilliant. Capable. Stop thinking you are too much. If he can’t love you the right way, he’s too little. He’s not enough. Not the other way around.”
Mel ignored the lump in her throat and kissed him again. “We can talk about this later.”
“I don’t think we can.” He kissed her square on the lips. “I’m going, Mel. And I don’t know that I’m ever coming back.”
Tears rushed down her cheeks, and she didn’t try to hide them. “You’re not going anywhere, Elliot Boothe. I forbid it.”
He laughed, which was highly inappropriate for the moment, but it was so Elliot that it made her grin. How was he even doing this? “You were gone, you didn’t know me.”
“It’s a void, Mel. I can’t explain it. I pushed through it, but I don’t think I can again. I’ll just be… lost to it. I love you.”
There had never been such powerful words. Yes, those were what she needed. She pushed into the spell she’d made in her head. Ghosts. Visible. Touchable. Beatable. All of it made her body buzz like she’d jolted herself with electrical current.
She waved her hand. Damn it, this had to work.
Stefan popped into the room. “I was talking to the one upstairs and… shit, what did you do? I can feel the magic in here. That’s strong stuff. Did you do that, Mel?”
She nodded. “I did.”
More, she was absolutely certain it worked because she could see the ghosts again. But this time they weren’t translucent. She reached out and yanked on the arm of one woman sucking on Elliot’s energy and actually managed to dislodge her.
Elliot groaned. “Fuck me. What was that?”
That was right. He still didn’t know. “Ghosts. I’m taking ghosts off of you.”
He winced. “Why are they on me?”
“That’s a very long story. But we are all here trying to fix it.”
Elliot grabbed her hand. “Get out of here, Melanie. If there is something happening in this house you need to get away from here.”
That was the problem. It wasn’t just this house. If that had been the case, she would have taken Elliot and run from here as fast as she could, never looking back. No, this would follow him, and she wasn’t going to leave him.
“Tell you what. When this is over we’ll both go see a Bomber play. How does that sound?”
He shook his head. “Who?”
Well, that wasn’t good. Not at all. “Never mind. I’m not leaving.”
Intent, she needed to remember that it all came down to that. In her law life, that had been true. They’d taken it from the humans, or at least that was what the histories said had happened. Did the witch who cursed another witch have murderous intent? Probably not in this case. He’d wanted to be a rich man; he’d never imagined the suffering that his desires would unleash on everyone.
How many people would die in terrible agony, some of them getting stuck here to feed off of his descendants like lee
ches? She’d let Eleanor explain to her later how that happened.
For now, she had to think.
“Be gone, ghosts.” She pointed at them and nothing happened.
Elliot lifted his head to stare at her. “Be gone ghosts?”
Right, that was pretty stupid. She could do better than that. Stefan ran next to her. “We have to get rid of the curse, of what he did to begin with.”
Stefan whirled his hand in the air. “What was changed, undo.”
That was a good start. The house groaned and Elliot held onto his head. “What is going on?”
She rushed to the window and stared outside. It was hard to tell, but she would swear the river was rushing the other way. That had to be a good sign. The problem was the ghosts were still here so it was clearly not going to just be that simple. Nausea roiled through her. This was the same feeling as the last time she’d made the water rush the other way. There was just a general feeling of wrongness.
“The forces here don’t want to be gotten rid of.” She bit down on her lip. “What shouldn’t be here,” she practically shouted in the direction of the ghosts, her voice raising with every word she spoke, “needs to go. Be gone. You’re over.”
The house shook, and as she watched, a hole seemed to open in the ceiling. Wind whipped around, and she backed up, instinct making her move before she forced herself to do the opposite. Fear wasn’t going to dictate her life anymore. She rushed forward, wrapping her arms around Elliot, which was harder than it should have been because she could actually see the ghosts.
Next to her the female ghost’s eyes widened. She looked at Melanie. “Thank you.”
Thank you? Melanie wasn’t even sure what to say about that. Elliot shook as each ghost floated away, into that hole, leaving the house. Lawson popped into the room. “What did you do, Stefan? It’s working.”
“Not me. She did this.”
She held on tighter. “It’s almost over.” She didn’t actually know this, but she was going to say it and hope that her luck stayed on point the way it had. Intention. She had it in abundance.
And just like that, it was over. The ghosts were gone. The house was quiet, and Elliot was still in her arms. She kissed his cheek, once then twice. “Baby, it’s done.”
He didn’t answer, so she pulled back to stare at him. “Elliot?”
Even as she spoke, she could see the truth. He stared at her, breathing, his heart beating, but his eyes saw nothing and his mind… was gone.
She’d broken the curse, sent the ghosts away, and all of it had been too long for Elliot… he’d held on, pushed back from the void, but he was gone now.
Melanie sobbed, dropping his arm to cover her mouth. Lawson knelt down next to her. “Mel?”
“He’s gone.”
“We have to get out of here, you’re exposed.”
She shook her head, fast. “I don’t care.”
Right then, the entirety of Evans’ empire could come and find her. She didn’t give a shit.
Chapter 13
So many things happened in utter silence that Mel could hardly believe they were happening at all. She sat on the floor next to Elliot. He stared straight ahead. Nothing had changed nor would it. She rubbed his hand in her own.
The place swarmed with Enforcers. That was Lawson’s doing. She was exposed. The location spell that Evans had on her would be visible now. She put her head on her knees. Elliot was here, but he was gone.
He’d pushed through the void for her once but this was different. She could feel it. He wasn’t here.
Ava knelt down in front of her. “How are you doing?”
“You should go home. You’ve been up all night.”
Ava tilted her head to the side. “You’re coming with us. You’ll stay with us until this is over.”
She’d been so fearful when this whole thing began. Attacked by an assassin, she’d hardly known what was up or what was down. Oh, who was she kidding? She’d been fearful before that. From the day she’d stepped foot in school and found out there were people for whom she would never be good enough simply because of some status hierarchy, Melanie had lived her whole life afraid.
Elliot would have probably called that a tragedy. Or he’d have put the storyline in a play that he might never get credited for having written.
No, she wasn’t doing this anymore.
“What will Lawson do with Elliot? Someone should call Edward. We’ve skipped over the raving madness and gone straight to brain death. Edward must know what Elliot wanted in this situation.”
Ava sighed. “You’re always working out the logistics of things. Even when we’re trying to do them for you.”
“Ava…”
“No, don’t answer me. You asked me a question. I’m frustrated because my heart is breaking for you as I watch yours break, and I can’t fix this. But this isn’t about me. It’s about you, and I’d want to know, too. Lawson spoke to Edward. Elliot wanted to be sure he was kept comfortable without physical pain while he waited for this to be over. Not that he could necessarily feel anything. But Lawson has a good relationship with a healer. She’s going to take him on in her private clinic. And it will likely not be long.”
Mel got to her feet. “Thank you for that. And… thank you for the offer to stay. I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline.”
“Declining isn’t really an option,” Lawson said from across the room. “You’re coming home with us.”
No, she wasn’t. Melanie bent over and kissed Elliot lightly on the mouth. “I love you, and I will always miss you. We made the curse go away. I’m sorry it was too late. But no one else will ever suffer.”
She stepped forward. “I’m sorry, Lawson. I’m not going with you. I have something to do. I’m under arrest for nothing. I know that you have worked tirelessly on my behalf. You guys have all protected me, endlessly. I am grateful beyond my capacity for words…”
“Mel,” Ava tried to interrupt her, but she kept going.
“I have something to do. And I’m not going to hide from it anymore.”
She couldn’t pop in and out but maybe it was something on her face, maybe it was the way she looked at him, but not one Enforcer chased her from the room when she left. Grief rolled her hard. She could hardly believe that she had the capacity to keep her head up. Still, she wouldn’t fall apart, not until after she had put Peter Evans to bed.
* * *
She stormed to Peter Evans home and knocked on the door. It took him a minute to answer, which didn’t surprise her. If he had banged on her door, she’d have taken a minute to figure out what the fuck to do, too.
This man had sent an assassin after her. She was fully aware that she took her own life in her hands doing this and it was likely a stupid move, maybe even one that would get her killed. Still, there were things to be said and she was tired of hiding.
“Ms. Syed.” He was taller than she was, and as he opened the door, speaking her name, she had to stretch her neck back to look at him.
“Mr. Evans,” she answered him. “I’m not going to hide anymore, and you aren’t going to try to kill me.”
He didn’t answer right away. “I never tried to have you killed.”
That was good. This would have been too easy if he’d confessed. Boom. Confession. The whole thing over. When did anything really work out like that?
“Okay. Fine. We’ll say a person who might want to kill me is going to stop right now.”
He took a long pause before he spoke. “Why would a person do that?”
“Well, I’d assume that if a person wasn’t a total jackass they’d have by now moved their money from where I found it in the first place. Since I am turning over a new leaf and completely disinterested in continuing as I had, I can assure that person that I won’t be going looking for any more money that may or may not belong to the person who wanted to kill me. I was only doing that to help your former wife to begin with.”
He opened and closed his mouth, so she kept speaking.
“I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why you did the things that you did. Why did you marry so many women and divorce them? That isn’t what we do as witches. We share souls. We marry once, and it’s for life. It’s such a strange occurrence for a witch to even cheat. And yet you marry and divorce. Marry and divorce.”
She stepped to the side to get a look inside of his house. It was dark, but she could see all the way to the living room, which was barrenly decorated. One couch, nothing else catching her eye.
“No one else ever gave you a problem. I get that. She went to me, she broke the rules, didn’t use your appointed lawyer to handle the divorce. I know the firm you use. They’re as crooked as they come.”
He flared his nostrils. “You’re skating on thin ice, Ms. Syed.”
“We don’t really skate as witches, much, do we? I mean… I guess we just kind of fly over it. Never mind. That is neither here nor there. She came to me, and I was actually giving her legitimate counsel. We were going to get the compulsion spell that kept her from talking off of her. The secrets were going to spill right out. You couldn’t have that.”
Adrenaline raced through her veins, making her feel elated. If she lived through this, she was going to crash. Hard. Between this and the grief, she might not get up for a week. But she did this for Elliot as much as anything else. He had never gotten to live his life; he’d had a burden not of his own making riding him the whole time. If he’d taught her anything, it was that she wasn’t going to live hers looking over her shoulder because some madman had it out for her. After today, she’d always see him just as he truly was: a whole bunch of nothing special.
“I asked myself over and over… was it about the money? She hadn’t been married to you very long. She wasn’t going to be entitled to half of your estate, and the minimum amount of money you’d have owed her, you’d have made up in no time. It couldn’t be the money, and I don’t believe a person as successful as you in business would have made the mistake of sharing secrets with a person you knew you’d be willing to discard. So what was it?”
Tragic Magic: Wards and Wands #3 Page 15