Bespelled

by Dani Kristoff

  It was no comfort to her that it was actually Drew Penderton who had hexed Jake, but at least they had something to go on.

  As Elena walked out of the hotel, her mobile phone rang. She didn’t recognise the number.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Elena?’

  It was her father. Butterflies took flight in her stomach. ‘Hi. How are you?’

  ‘Fine. I thought I’d ring to see how things were going with the hex. Any developments?’

  Elena scanned the traffic, hoping to catch a cab. She checked her watch. A ferry was due in ten minutes, so she began walking toward the quay. ‘Royston is still affected by the spell.’

  ‘Jake is a Royston?’

  ‘Yes, why?’

  He hesitated. ‘Nothing important. Any leads on who did it?’

  She bit her lip, hesitating. She could imagine the hurt. She didn’t know the full story of what passed between father and son, but she had developed a soft spot for Rory Penderton. She was pretty certain that he wasn’t involved in the placing of the hex. ‘Yes. I’m sorry, but it was Drew. I’ve had confirmation that he was working at the hotel. He served the wine and quit straight after.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We need to find him, fast. I need to get Jake back to his old self and back to work by tomorrow. Drew has to remove the hex.’

  Penderton let out a groan. ‘Are you absolutely sure it’s Drew?’

  Elena understood that he didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to accept. ‘Yes, I showed the waiter that served us a photo.’

  ‘That does place him in the prime suspect spot, doesn’t it?’ Rory let out a sigh, but didn’t speak. Elena didn’t have time for the delay.

  ‘Yes, it does. Please, I need to find Drew.’

  Rory grunted. ‘I don’t know where he is. We didn’t part on the best of terms. I’ll do what I can, chase up a few leads.’

  Elena ended the call, and her phone rang again straight away. It was Grace. A tremor passed through her. She stopped walking and held her stomach; the butterflies had turned to pecking crows. It was bad news. Grace couldn’t stop her negative vibrations reaching her.

  ‘Grace?’

  ‘He’s gone. I’m sorry but he tricked me.’

  Elena knees weakened. ‘What do you mean he tricked you and he’s gone?’

  ‘The spell went bad. He’s so depressed about what happened with you this morning. I think he’s suicidal.’

  ‘What?’ She remembered how cold she’d been. She had no idea he was so fragile, that her rejection had really wounded him. Maybe that was what she told herself, so she wouldn’t feel bad. If anything happened to him, she’d be heartbroken. Who was she kidding? She was heading smack into a wall of heartbreak regardless, with no functioning brakes.

  ‘He hit rock bottom,’ added Grace. ‘There wasn’t anything I could do to make him feel better.’

  She shook her head. ‘How can that be? He’s so strong-minded, a hard ass lawyer.’

  ‘It’s the spell. It went bad.’ Grace’s voice took on a lecturing tone.

  ‘I didn’t know a love spell could do that.’

  Grace let out a long, sad sigh. ‘They can. Learned it in school.’

  Elena ground her teeth. She’d missed out on that training, and was suffering for it. Now it looked like Jake would, too. ‘Why didn’t you say something?’

  Grace gave a low growl of irritation. ‘I tried to this morning, but you were so het up and angry that I couldn’t get a word in. I didn’t realise Jake was bad until you had gone. He was devastated by your rejection. Why did you do that?’

  ‘You know why.’ A passer-by looked up at the tone in her voice. She turned away and walked toward a wall. ‘I couldn’t continue to take advantage of him. You don’t know what I did when you left last night. I…drank too much. I just went with it. Seduced him. I’ve sought judgement from the coven council.’

  Grace didn’t bother masking her groan of exasperation. ‘You what? No one is going to get upset about this. You didn’t cast the spell. You’re the victim.’

  ‘Grace, I don’t see it that way.’ Pending disaster loomed, and she was caught up in it. She’d caused Jake hurt and no amount of apologising was going to fix it.

  ‘Well, you’re wrong. Now it’s a bloody mess. You like him, Elena. Maybe you’re in love with him. How could you hurt someone you care about? It’s not like you.’

  As she replayed the scene from this morning, her gut churned. She’d avoided looking him in the eyes, not wanting to see his pain. She’d been brutal and cold while he’d been vulnerable and exposed. That was probably worse than enjoying his body. At least in that she couldn’t help herself. Her rejection had been deliberate. She was angry at her own weakness, and took it out on him. She held her hand to her forehead. ‘Okay, I hear you. What happened?’ She paced, and then had to stop to avoid colliding with another pedestrian. Being Sydney, the man kept walking and didn’t appear to notice she was having a crisis phone call.

  ‘When he found you had left, it was like the life drained out of him. I saw that the spell was going bad. You know how the spell amplifies feelings of attraction? Now it’s magnifying feelings of rejection. He couldn’t cope with your brush off. I tried to talk him around.’

  ‘And then what? He stormed out?’

  ‘No, no. I spelled him a little, so he’d take a nap until you came back. He seemed to succumb. Although when I checked the spare room an hour later, he’d snuck out.’

  Elena ground her teeth. She hoped that he’d gone to the office rather than somewhere else. Then she had a thought. ‘Grace, your sleep spell is pretty strong. Are you sure you spelled him?’

  She could hear Grace grinding her teeth. ‘Of course I did. But only a light one. He should have stayed under for at least two hours. But it is rather odd that the sleep spell slid off him so easily. It’s like he has some immunity and that’s, well…maybe the spell going bad interfered with my magic. But that hasn’t happened before. How weird…’

  ‘Grace, pay attention. Do you know where he is, or where he might go?’

  ‘I don’t know. The car is gone. He’s gone.’

  ‘Can you track him?’ Elena’s heart was beating frantically. Grace had such a range of talent. It was her best hope of finding him.

  ‘I tried already, but he is under my radar.’

  ‘Okay. Try this. Get the coven to scout for Drew — better still, find his mobile number. Someone must have it. We have an emergency on our hands.’

  ‘So it was Drew?’

  ‘Yes. We need to find him ASAP. This could turn nasty.’ Elena’s tears stung her eyes. A wrong decision could ruin Jake Royston’s career. Suicide would ruin his life. She tried not to entertain the possibilities.

  ‘Okay. I’ll hail Robertson. He’s lead councillor this month. I’ll get him to do the round up. Together, they should be able to hail mother, get her attention. I’m sure after that they will look for both of them. I’ll call you when I hear something.’

  ‘I’ll try to find Jake. I’m near his office.’

  Around the corner, the AMP building loomed above her. Jake’s office was located on the 35th floor. As it was Sunday, the offices were closed. Elena had never broken into a building before. She wasn’t familiar with the tech.

  In the street, she looked around for Jake’s car, then realised he was likely to have a car space inside the building. She navigated around the block, discovering that the parking entry was on the other side.

  Metal roller doors covered the entrance to the car park. No easy entry for a pedestrian without an access card. Standing in the driveway with her hands on hips, she jumped when a car tooted behind her.

  Moving out of the way, she watched the driver trigger the doors. Maybe she could sneak in behind, tailgate. She had to adapt a spell that would leave the image of her standing there so the driver wouldn’t see her sneak in. Again, she regretted her lack of talent. This spell would tax her, but she could do it. She had to do it,
create a freeze frame image of herself standing outside, and hold it long enough for her to dash inside along the shadowed wall.

  The red tail-lights glowed in the dim light. The driver hadn’t noticed her sneaking in so her shadow spell must have worked. Resting inside in a dark niche in the wall, she waited a few minutes to gain her strength. The spell had left her weak.

  Wiping sweat from her forehead, she wrinkled her nose. The smell of urine was very strong near the entry ramp, no doubt courtesy of late night revellers relieving themselves while they waited for buses or cabs. Not able to stand it any longer, she was grateful to find the smell of urine decreased the further she moved away from the entry. Her strength returned after a few minutes and she moved on.

  The sound of her footsteps echoed against the concrete floor and walls. Now she was inside the building, she needed to confirm Jake was there before trying to get to his office, and that meant finding his red BMW.

  There were a few cars on the first level, but none were Jake’s. From there, a ramp spiralled down. On the next level she peered around a large, concrete pillar to scan the cars parked there. There was no sign of Jake’s car.

  She reached the next level. A fluorescent light flickered above her head. She peered into the dimness around her. There was a red car, and her heart beat faster. As she neared it, she realised it wasn’t Jake’s, and her mood crashed.

  Her phone rang, sounding overly loud in the quiet space. She took it out and looked at the caller ID.

  ‘Finally,’ she said as she accepted the call. ‘Aunt Elvira. Nice to hear from you.’

  ‘Elena,’ Aunt Elvira said in her smooth tone. ‘What is going on? Grace told me the most extraordinary thing.’

  Elena blinked as she wondered which extraordinary thing. She didn’t think Grace would tell her mother about her father.

  ‘Elena?’

  ‘I’m here. What thing?’

  Elvira took in a huge breath. ‘My stars. It’s true then. All of it?’

  ‘Aunt…’

  ‘Drew Penderton hexed the lawyer, nearly hexed you?’

  ‘Yes, I believe it was Drew.’

  ‘What are you doing now?’

  ‘I’m looking for Jake.’

  ‘Everyone is. Not easy in this city. It’s full of people.’

  ‘Perhaps you’d have better luck finding Drew. You have talents in that area.’ Elvira was highly skilled in the art of tracking people. ‘Perhaps you could start with his father.’

  The phone went silent.

  ‘Aunt?’

  ‘I heard you. I can’t stand that man. There is no way on this earth I am going near him.’ Elvira’s voice was a hiss of distaste. Grace had not spilled those beans.

  Elena rolled her eyes. ‘You wanted me to have babies with his son. Believe me, the son is much worse than the father.’

  ‘It wasn’t quite like that… You’ve been to see him?’ There was a slight edge to her aunt’s voice.

  ‘Yes, I have. Look, I have to go. Call me when you have something.’

  ‘Fine. I’m looking. I’ll try to hone in on Drew.’

  Elena ended the call, doing her best not to shake her fists at the ceiling. Elvira decides to turn up now after being so unavailable, and then refuses to even speak to Rory Penderton, despite their predicament. She’d have it out with the old witch soon enough. She’d had enough with these games and petty dislikes; Jake’s life was at a stake.

  Elena continued walking around that level of the car park. There was nothing else in the flat flickering light, except a pink Jaguar.

  Descending to the next level, her hope dissolved. Here she imagined the weight of the building pushing down on her. She was far from sunlight and far from warmth. She walked around the pillar and pulled up short, sucking in a huge breath.

  It was Jake’s car. Empty. Lonely. Red.

  Elena’s heart thumped hard in her chest, almost causing her pain. He was there. She had to confront him.

  Turmoil fed the anxiety she was feeling. She shouldn’t care about him, but she did. She should have been stronger and not let the relationship get this far, but there was nothing she could do about that now. She thought about that morning, and the look in his eyes when she had so hard-heartedly rejected him.

  She’d thought she was doing the right thing; she hadn’t known the spell was going bad didn’t know it could. Now that rejection was causing him harm, she was even more culpable than before. If anything happened to him, it would be her fault. If anything happened to him, she’d die of a broken heart. What was she thinking? A broken heart was the least of her worries. He’d probably sue her arse.

  She checked around the car park, looking for a way into the building. The lift didn’t arrive when she pressed the button, so it was obviously locked down. She looked around for the stairwell. She found one, locked up tight. Groaning in frustration, she swung around, looking for another way in.

  There was a stairwell on the other side of the building. She ran over to it. A little card stuck out — the kind of card you see when security had checked the doors, except this one appeared to be stopping the spring latch engaging. She leaned on it. The card dropped to the ground as the door opened. She was inside the stairwell. Looking up, she realised she had a long way to go and not much time.

  Taking off her sandals, she held them in her hand and started to climb the stairs. The stairwell was dimly lit. The concrete was cool under the soles of her feet. After about ten flights, her calves started to cramp. The trim on the risers had begun to rub against her bare soles. To soothe her hurt, she let out some healing magic and continued up.

  Occasionally she heard a clang and a rumble as the elevator engaged. She hoped it wasn’t Jake leaving the building while she was climbing up the stairs. Not that she didn’t deserve such torture, given her behaviour. Perhaps she could reach out, like Grace did, and try to see if it was Jake. She stopped still and concentrated. There was nothing there, as far as she could feel. Nothing that resembled the strong personality of Jake Royston.

  Returning to her slow climb, she wondered why she hadn’t heard anything from the coven. Surely someone knew something by now and could give her an update.

  She dragged out her mobile phone and glanced at the display. There were hardly any bars. The metal and concrete impeded her phone’s efforts to get a clear signal. She sped up; she needed to get to level 35 really quickly. She had a bad feeling.

  Finally, the 35th level was reached. Elena fretted that the door would be locked. She turned the handle and it opened. Giving silent thanks to the deities, she slipped into the carpeted hallway. Still holding her shoes in her hand, she wandered around the corridor looking for a sign that read Jake Royston and Associates.

  The phone rang as she was tugging on the locked door. She slapped her palm against the thick glass panel. He wasn’t there.

  ‘Hello?’ It wasn’t a number she recognised. But as she had mobilised the whole coven, anyone could be ringing her.

  ‘Elena? This is your father. I have news. I’ve contacted Drew. I’m texting you his number. I’m afraid he hasn’t admitted anything, doesn’t believe what we discovered, that you are brother and sister. He thinks I’m saying it to lessen the dent to his pride.’

  ‘Thanks…Dad.’ As tense as she was, she liked the sound of that ‘Dad’ in her mouth. It was something she never thought she’d say.

  ‘Where are you?’ he asked softly, concern in his voice.

  ‘In Jake’s building but he doesn’t appear to be in his office.’

  Her phone began to vibrate, signalling another call was coming in. ‘Look I have to take another call.’ She didn’t even say goodbye before she hit the button.

  ‘Yes?’

  It was Grace. ‘Elena. Jake’s on the roof of his office building. We think he is going to jump. How far away are you?’

  Chapter 14

  Elena nearly dropped the phone in her haste to run to the stairwell. She pulled up short in front of the elevator. She pres
sed the button repeatedly but it wouldn’t light up. She glanced around and saw she needed a security pass. ‘I’m on the 35th floor outside his office. I’ll keep heading up. Penderton is sending me Drew’s number. I’ll send it on. We’ve got to put a stop to this.’

  ‘I’ll let the others know what you’re doing,’ Grace replied before hanging up.

  In a hurry, Elena left her shoes outside Jake’s office and re-entered the stairwell. She had another nine flights to go. As she ran up the stairs, she prayed she wouldn’t be too late.

  Elena checked her messages. Drew’s number had not arrived. Damn network reception was weak in the stairwell still.

  Her faster pace was not doing her muscles any favours. Shaking her head in disgust at her own weakness, she pushed little bit more magic into her muscles. It was enough to relieve the immediate pain as she took the stairs at two at a time. The messages would have to wait until she reached the roof.

  A wave of relief hit her as she made the final floor, and reached the door that opened out onto the roof. It was hard to push open. There was a strong wind coming in from the harbour. She shoved, and the door flew out of her hands when a gust caught it.

  ‘Jake!’ she called. The wind snatched the words out of her mouth and twisted her hair around her face.

  Clinging to the wall, she edged around the staircase housing to see if she could spot him while dragging hair out of her eyes and mouth. The huge air conditioning unit blocked her view so she crept around it, swinging her head to keep her windblown hair from impeding her vision. Then she saw the view. Her knees trembled as she realised how high she was, and how precarious her foothold with the wind buffeting her.

  Jake stood by railing on the other side of the building, looking out across Circular Quay. She brought her phone close to her face as Drew’s number flashed up. She forwarded it onto Grace. She couldn’t do two things at once. She needed to talk to Jake before calling Drew.

  Jake was awfully close to the edge. It was a long way down. When she took a step in his direction the wind grabbed her dress, making it fly up. She held on to it as she made her way over. A sharp gust nearly knocked her off her feet.