"First you need some glass," Defiance stated.
"Or a bowl of water," Havoc added.
"Glass works better," Defiance immediately argued.
There didn't seem to be much agreement on how the scrying should be done. It seemed as if each of the gargoyles had his opinion on how the procedure should be performed. In the end, I tried everything. We found some glass in the garage that had fallen out of a double-paned window. I tried the glass and water and mirrors but nothing worked. I even tried laying the piece of glass over a map on the table and hanging a needle above it on a long piece of thread.
I saw that in a movie a few years ago. It worked spectacularly in the film.
"You have to believe in your power," Defiance lectured as he braced his hands on the table and scowled down on me.
"And you have to want the magic to work," Victor said.
"I do want the magic to work," I insisted since I couldn't claim I believed in my power. "I want to find your cousins so you guys can quit worrying about them."
"You need to want it more than that. You have to want it…for strong personal reasons," insisted Defiance.
"For emotional reasons," Havoc added.
"I'm sorry," I mumbled. My shoulders slumped. I felt like I was letting them down. "Maybe if I had met your cousins, it would make a difference. I'm sure I could find one of you guys if you were missing."
"I'm sure you could," Dare replied encouragingly. He looked at his brother sitting at the other end of the table as if to say, "Can we get some help, here?"
"Why don't you take a break?" Valor suggested when he noticed Dare's pointed look. "You've been at it for more than two hours."
"I guess you were right about me," I muttered in a low voice as I lifted my eyes and looked at him. "I'm not much of a witch."
Dare's mouth tightened into a flat line and he gave his brother a blunt stare. He was probably thinking I'd never be able to "access my powers" as long as I believed Valor didn't want me to.
"I know what you're thinking," I told Dare. "But you're wrong. Valor isn't stopping me from finding the rest of the pack. I just don't have the ability. Maybe the power of red hair has died over the centuries. Or maybe…"
"What?" he demanded with an edge of impatience that was unusual for him. "Maybe there never were any witches? Maybe a witch didn't scry my location and give it to that harpy who kept me prisoner all those years?"
"She didn't say that," Valor murmured, defending me as he rose to his feet. "Come," he said, and offered me his hand.
I was surprised when he didn't let go of my hand as we stepped through the front door. It was just starting to get dark and maybe he thought we were safe from the sight of any harpies that might be hanging around. He took me out to the edge of our property line and picked out the widest tree that faced the tree-slayer's house. Blocker's lights were on which meant he was probably at home.
"Lean back against the tree," he told me. "And put your hands behind you so they're touching the bark."
I did as he instructed. "What's the plan?"
"You're going to cast a spell," he informed me.
I looked at Blocker's house and figured the spell I was going to cast had something to do with my neighbor. "Is that why I'm leaning against this tree? Because wood is necessary to make magic?"
He nodded. "Live trees are best and oaks are the strongest source of power. But this pine should work for a simple spell like this one."
"What if there isn't a live tree available?" I asked, trying to be a good student.
"Leaves will work for small spells. Even dried leaves. Pieces of wood can be used if you have nothing else."
"Like a piece of wooden furniture?" I queried as I leaned against the tree and waited for his next command. "Like the dining room table?"
"Exactly like the dining room table. But a clever witch will keep a piece of wood with her at all times."
"Like a wand?" I suggested eagerly. I liked the idea of a wand. Wands are cool.
"A staff would be better."
"Why?"
He chuckled. "Because there's more wood in it."
My mouth tilted wryly. I guess I should have been able to figure that out. Now that I gave it some thought, I decided a staff might be just as nice as a wand. And it could pass for a walking stick.
Valor propped his shoulder against the side of the tree. "Now focus on the house and cast your spell."
I sent him a blank stare. "What spell would that be?"
"Do I have to do all the work?" he sighed, although his eyes glinted with amusement. "What spell would you like to cast, MacKenzie? What do you want for strong personal reasons? For emotional reasons?"
I decided a kissing spell would be very nice but I didn't say so. "I'd like my neighbor to stop cutting trees," I admitted. "How do I do that?"
"Be careful not to make the spell too vague. If you only wish for your neighbor to stop cutting trees, he might have a heart attack." He sent me a sly look "I know you wouldn't want that."
"No," I snickered. "I wouldn't want that."
Valor waved his heavily knuckled hand toward the house. "Just suggest that he change his mind about the trees."
I fixed my gaze on the neighbor's house though my attention kept wandering to the gargoyle standing so close to me. "Do I have to say the spell out loud or can I do this in my head?"
He leaned in front of me and rested his hand on the tree beside my face. As I gazed into his thickly lashed eyes, I noticed his lips were mere inches from mine. "Something tells me you aren't taking this seriously," he murmured with a stern smile.
"I'm sorry," I apologized. I tamped down a rebellious giggle while my eyes locked on the firm, hard line of lips.
"You have to believe in your power if you want this to work," he lectured gently.
If that was true, then there wasn't much hope for this spell ever getting off the ground.
"I believe in you," he added quietly. "I believe in your power."
"You do?" I asked softly, wondering if that meant he was finally ready to accept me for what I was…and what I might be. Even though I still thought the whole witch business was silly, it was nice to know Valor's feelings for me were strong enough to overcome his eight-hundred-year-old prejudices.
"Aye," he answered. "You're probably the most powerful witch I've ever known."
Feeling suddenly shy, I twisted a wild strand of my hair around my finger. "Because my hair's so red?"
"No," he answered. "Because only very strong magic could have changed me to my living form without the sun's help."
I realized he was talking about when the tool chest fell on me. "You really think I did that?"
He held my gaze and nodded.
"Are you sure?" I argued stubbornly. "Have you tried to make the change since then? Without the sun's help?"
He watched my eyes and lifted his chin. "I tried every day when your mother was home and we were stuck in our packing boxes. We all tried. When I told the others what happened on the morning I met you, Victor thought maybe our powers might have increased during the eight hundred years we were dormant. Defiance suggested maybe the Colorado sunshine was stronger than the sun in England. Before your mother got home, we even checked the roof of the garage for cracks to make sure a stray ray of sunlight hadn't reached me."
"So you're convinced I spelled you out of your stone form?"
He nodded seriously. "I am. Now, do you want to stop your neighbor or not?"
I took a deep breath, determined to do my best. "I want to stop him," I answered firmly. Which was true. I did want to stop my neighbor…almost as much as I wanted Valor to kiss me, which hadn't happened in a long time.
His face moved closer and his head tilted. I felt his warm breath wash against my mouth. I closed my eyes. As I've said before, sometimes you just have to plan for the best.
"Then open your eyes," he commanded. "And cast your spell."
When I peeked out from beneath my lashes, Valor was leaning his
shoulder against the tree again, as if he hadn't just almost kissed me and had no intention of ever doing such a thing. Disappointed, I banished him from my mind and concentrated on the house that sat about a hundred feet away.
"Oh," he added suddenly. "I guess I should mention it's best if your spell rhymes."
"You're not serious!" I exploded in a loud whisper.
He shrugged. "All the spells I ever heard rhymed."
"Then why don't you just give me one of those spells?" I demanded.
"Because they aren't in English. They're in the old Celtic tongue. And if you don't understand them, they won't work."
I pushed out a sigh and took a moment to make up a rhyming spell, not entirely convinced that he wasn't just winding me up. "At this time, change your mind," I commanded beneath my breath. I felt like a complete idiot, standing in the dark while chanting bad poetry. "You don't want to cut another tree. You didn't realize how hard it would be. It was a bad idea anyhow. Change your mind and stop right now."
Valor looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. "Well," he said in a strained voice. "That's…not bad. I'm sure it will get easier with time."
"Do you think it will work?" I asked sourly.
"I have complete faith in you," he insisted. His eyes sparkled with humor as he took my hand again and pulled me back toward the house. The laughter in his blue gaze was almost enough to melt my bones.
Chapter Twenty
For the first weekend in at least a month, the menacing snarl of a chainsaw didn't echo through the forest on Saturday morning. 'Course that didn't mean I was a witch. It was going to take several days of no-tree-cutting before I'd even begin to consider the idea that I had somehow changed my neighbor's mind.
But at that point, the creepy next-door tree-slayer didn't seem like our biggest concern because we were all so worried about the missing gargoyles. Even the threat of a harpy attack didn't seem to be our most immediate problem. That's not to say we got sloppy and careless. We didn't. We still kept the curtains drawn and the guys remained vigilant, Valor taking the day watch after a week on the night watch. But he was ready to consider the idea that the missing harpy might have been a dead artifact all along.
When it was time to crate up the gargoyles on Sunday morning, the guys went into their boxes a lot more willingly than they had ten days earlier. 'Course it helped that I let them wear their jeans since I didn't expect my mother to fully open the crates again. Valor was actually smiling as he helped me install the bottom panel on his crate. "No chainsaw again, today," he pointed out.
I nodded. Yesterday had passed without the sound of the chain saw roaring to life. That meant a whole wonderful day without the shriek of tearing wood and crashing limbs. But it was only two days of silence and I wasn't convinced my spell had caused the change.
"Will you come out and tell us if you hear any news?" Valor asked as he stood in his tall packing crate.
"Of course," I answered. I knew he was talking about Reason and the rest of the missing gargoyles.
Valor leaned down and touched his lips to the corner of my mouth. "See you soon," he said softly.
I was smiling as I attached the top panel to his crate, my heart expanding at the tiny, half-kiss offering. There was no doubt I had it bad for the dark-haired, blue-eyed gargoyle. Unfortunately, my happiness was interrupted by Hooligan's low growl. A few weeks earlier, I probably would have ignored anything Hooligan had to say. By now, I knew enough to take his opinion seriously. A chill wrapped my spine as I looked around the garage and out onto the driveway, half afraid my neighbor was somewhere nearby. "What is it, Hooli?"
My wolfhound lifted his head and barked at the rafters.
I thought maybe a squirrel had gotten into the garage and was looking for a cozy place to spend the winter. That was a reassuring idea but it didn't last long. Hooli's growl deepened and I heard a scraping sound overhead, like a large raven walking on the roof. Alarmed, I turned toward the open garage doors just in time to see a long, dark shadow move across the driveway. I moved quickly across the garage, but when I stepped to the edge of the concrete slab and searched the skies I couldn't see anything.
Creeped out, I decided to move my car when my mom got home. I closed the garage doors and headed back into the house with Hooligan. When I was safely inside, I peeked through the drapes in the living room at the driveway in front of the house. But everything looked normal. The sun spilled down on the evergreen forest and the wind rustled comfortably through the pine needles while the trees waltzed in place.
At least the forest seemed at peace.
I gathered up the guys' notebooks and climbed the stairs to make my bed. When I stepped into my bedroom, I glanced at my curtains and made sure they were still drawn. Again, nothing looked unusual.
"What are you worried about?" I asked Hooligan, who had followed me into the room and sat alertly at the end of my bed.
But Hooligan wouldn't be distracted. He maintained his watchful stance.
"You look like one of those guards at Buckingham Palace," I informed him as I hid the notebooks and readers in the back of my closet. "All you need is a red coat and a tall hat."
While Hooli stood guard, I made my bed. As I fluffed up my pillow, a piece of wide-ruled notepaper floated to the floor. Puzzled, I picked it up and turned it over. Written in neat, square handwriting was one sentence saying, "I love you Mackenzie".
The note was signed by Valor.
I sank down onto the edge of my mattress and stared at Valor's note. I felt like laughing. And crying. I felt like running down to the garage and breaking Valor's crate open to give him a big hug, even if he was solid stone and couldn't hug me back. But I didn't want to be too over-the-top and scare him off. Not after waiting so long for him to admit he liked me.
But I couldn't wait until it was time to let him out of his packing box again. Grinning like an idiot, I opened the top drawer on my dressing table and placed the note carefully beneath my T-shirts.
Mom would be traveling back to California on Thursday, which was Thanksgiving Day. It was kind of sad that she had to work, especially since just about everyone in the country has a four-day weekend to celebrate the holiday. But my mother was testing the foundations on a new bridge that was being built to replace one that had fallen down during a recent earthquake. The construction project was on a tight schedule.
She'd invited some of her friends over on Wednesday to help us celebrate an early Thanksgiving. So we spent most of her break cleaning house to get ready for their visit.
When I saw all the food spread out on the dining room table, I couldn't help but think how much the gargoyles would have enjoyed the feast. Havoc would have raved over the huge, roasted dead bird.
I saved a drumstick for him.
"I haven't heard the chain saw lately," my mother commented as we cleaned up after dinner. "In fact, I haven't heard it the entire time I've been here."
"I meant to tell you," I said. "The neighbor stopped cutting trees a few days before you came home."
"Do you think maybe he's done?" she asked.
"I hope so," I answered as we stacked the dishwasher together.
When the dishwasher was running, Mom headed for the living room and turned the TV to the weather station. The temperature had dropped about ten degrees while we were eating dinner and we'd noticed the change when we'd gone outside to see her friends off. "They're forecasting snow in the morning," she called out to me in the kitchen where I was wiping down the counters.
I wasn't surprised. The snow was long overdue. We didn't normally get a lot of the white stuff before Christmas but we always got some. "How much?"
"Only a couple of inches," she replied. "It shouldn't affect the roads or traffic."
"Well, be sure to wake me up before you leave tomorrow morning so I can say goodbye." I usually saw my mother off anyway but I wanted to be up before sunrise tomorrow to open Valor's crate. I'd decided I was gonna kiss him while he was in his stone form. That
way he couldn't stop me.
I was also keen to tell the pack about the shadow I'd seen on the driveway and Hooligan's reaction to the sounds on the roof in case they thought it might be important.
"Have you talked to your father, lately?" Mom asked as I filled Hooligan's bowl in the mudroom.
"I'm having dinner with him on Sunday," I yelled back.
"He didn't ask you over for Thanksgiving Day?"
I washed my hands and joined my mother in the living room. "He's having dinner with Natalie's parents tomorrow so we're getting together on the weekend."
"Say hi to everyone," she told me.
I promised I would. Natalie's kids are really cute and I was looking forward to chasing them around the house. I thought I might even take Valor with me to help with the chasing.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
"I'm making dinner for some friends," I answered, which was a slight exaggeration since Havoc would probably do most of the cooking.
"Are Mim and Whitney coming over?"
"No," I answered. "They have to spend the day with their families."
Right away, her romance sensors went into overdrive. "Are you making dinner for that eighteen-year-old bow maker you met?"
I nodded. "Along with his brothers and a few of his cousins."
"So you guys are…still together?"
I just nodded casually like it was no big deal for me to have a boyfriend.
"When do I get to meet this guy?" she asked slyly.
I wasn't ready for her question and had to do some quick thinking to explain why she couldn't meet Valor. "I don't want to scare him away by asking him to meet my parents, Mom! He'll think I'm…really serious or something."
Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Good point. Better to play it cool."
"You'll meet him eventually," I assured her.
She bobbed her head cheerfully. "So, how many are you expecting for dinner tomorrow?"
"Five altogether."
"Five teenage boys? You're going to need a lot of food," she decided. "I'd better wire some more money into your account tonight. Don't forget to go to the grocery store before it closes at noon. Are you planning on getting a turkey or a ham?"
The Greystone Bundle (Books 1-4) Page 17