A Little Mistletoe and Magic: Ho Ho Howls Romance Holiday Edition

by Marianne Morea

  She laughed, but her heart wasn’t in it. If Talan knew what she planned, why didn’t he try to stop her?

  ***

  “She doesn’t look as bad as you made it sound, Sam.” Jack looked at Tess lying in the ICU bed. “Like she dressed up as a mummy for Halloween, but only her head.”

  “Seriously, Jack?” Jenny smacked his gowned arm lightly. “We’re lucky Sam charmed the nurses into letting us visit at all.”

  “Jack’s just trying to make lemonade out of lemons, Jen. Tess would laugh if she could hear him.”

  Jenny put her hand on Tess’s arm. Closing her eyes, she sent out her senses. She no longer waffled about her abilities. No matter how or why, the gift was hers to claim.

  “She can hear us, Sam. Every word. She knows we’re here, and she knows you’ve been with her every second.”

  Sam’s eyebrows hiked up. “Tess said you fit the town as much as the town fit you. I guess she was right, though it’s a little creepy.” He took Tess’s hand, giving her fingers a squeeze. “Creepy or not, I’m glad you know I’m here. I love you, Pinky.”

  “Pinky?” Jack raised an eyebrow.

  Sam shot him a look. “What of it? Tess’s hair was pink when we first met.”

  Jack squeezed Sam’s shoulder. “Relax, dude. I think I need to buy you a beer.”

  “It’s barely noon,” Jenny replied.

  “So?” Both guys answered in stereo.

  She waved them off. “Go ahead. I’ll meet you in the parking lot in a sec. Tess and I need to have a little girl talk.”

  “If Tess can hear what you tell her, am I going to be able to look her in the eye once she wakes up?” Jack’s unease was priceless, and Jenny couldn’t help but laugh.

  “What do you think I’m going to say? How I rated you on your dismount?”

  “He should be more worried about the actual mount!” Sam snorted.

  Jack shot him a look. “Hey!”

  “That was for your Pinky jibe.” Sam smirked.

  “On that note, you two need to leave, or I will tell Nurse Nelly just how un-charming you can be.”

  The guys left, and Jenny slid a chair next to the ICU bed. Tess’s monitors beeped taking routine readings, but at least she breathed on her own. Her feeding tube was thin, and not as bad as she imagined, but she wasn’t the one with it shoved up her nose.

  Jenny slipped her fingers under her friend’s palm, and stroked the top of Tess’s hand. “I know you can hear me. I saw you in my head, laughing at the guys. You’re in there and you’re aware of everything and everyone, so I know you’ll wake up when your body is ready.

  “You have my full permission to tease the crap out of Jack for that mummy comment, and you’re right about Sam. He loves you so much.” She paused. “Jack and I finally sealed the deal. All I can say is it was amazeballs.” Jenny inhaled, and then squared her shoulders. “I have to something to tell you. I can’t tell Jack because he’ll try to stop me. I know you’re going to wake up, eventually. You’ll remember what I said, so you can explain to him if I don’t get the chance.

  “I’m going back, Tess. I’m going to save my girls. If fate brought me to Whisper Falls, then it’ll bring me to Whisper Falls again. Only this time it won’t just be me. I’ll have my children with me, and if Jack can love me now, he can love us, then. I hope.”

  She brought Tess’s hand to her lips and kissed her knuckles. “You’re my best friend, Tess. I love you.”

  Jenny rested Tess’s hand on the bed and then got up quickly. Wiping her eyes, she nodded to the nurses and left. The countdown had begun.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jen licked the envelopes, and then stacked them on the rolltop desk in her bedroom. The top one was a note for Jack. The others were bequests in case things went south. She knew the risks. Talan and Jack had talked enough about Time Walking for her to connect the dots.

  Talan’s wolf-tooth necklace sat on the desk as well. She picked it up, and it seemed to vibrate with power in her hand. Opening a side drawer, she took out a silk drawstring bag.

  “This will keep you safe until the moment of truth.” She slipped the necklace carefully inside the silk, and then knotted it closed with a tight bow.

  She wasn’t bringing a purse tonight. Just her driver’s license, two credit cards and some cash. She was still up in the air about her cell phone. If everything went as planned, she’d find a way to keep her kids out of Charlie’s car. Even if it meant doing something drastic. Like kidnapping them.

  Hell, she was their mother. They’d have no clue there were actually two of her in that moment. They might be confused at first, but a trip to Serendipities for ice cream would take care of that. All she needed was to buy enough time to spark an argument with Charlie that didn’t involve speed and crushed metal.

  After the vision quest, there were no more memory gaps. She was seething that day, and on a hair trigger. Charlie showing up late, and the girls going missing would send her spiraling. It could work.

  She chewed on her lip. She’d watched the Harry Potter movies enough times with the girls to remember the warning given to the character, Hermione, about turning time. Don’t be seen.

  “Yeah, well. We’re just going to have to roll with that one.”

  “Jenny! You ready?” Jack called up the stairs. “The tree lighting is in thirty minutes, and parking in town is next to impossible.”

  “Coming.”

  Slipping on her coat and gloves, she wrapped a scarf around her neck and then grabbed the silk bag, stuffing it in her pocket with the other items.

  She turned for the door, hesitating one last time about the cell phone. “What could it hurt?” she muttered, grabbing it from her purse.

  Rushing down the stairs, she stopped midflight. Jack was by the front door. It hit her then tonight might be the last time she saw him, and her heart nearly stopped. She was in love with him. There was no denying it, but she had to do this.

  “Hey, handsome. Ready?” she said, stepping off the bottom stair to wrap her arms around his neck.

  “Wow. If that’s the kind of greeting I get when we’re rushing to be somewhere, we will never be on time again.” He swung her around, kissing her quick. “Care to go back upstairs with me? I’m sure we can think of something to do that’ll make us really late.”

  She grinned, despite the sad sinking feeling in her stomach. “Sam’s waiting for us. Raincheck?”

  “You certainly know how to keep a man waiting, and the anticipation is deliciously excruciating.” He kissed her again. “But you’re worth the wait, so yes, raincheck.”

  They drove to the Christmas tree lighting, finding a parking spot three blocks from town square. The two walked hand in hand through the bustle. Holiday tourist season was in high gear, and the town sparkled with excitement and joy.

  Every inch of their small downtown was covered with lights. Bright whites, twinkling snowflakes, and multi-colors lit up the place like Times Square. They even had their own version of the Times Square New Year’s ball atop the town’s clock tower, and tonight it glowed red and green.

  The Christmas tree stood thirty feet tall, and was bedecked with red and silver lights. Three elementary schools from the area had their kids decorate ornaments, and Main Street Bake Shoppe donated two hundred gingerbread men, decorated and shellacked, to be hung as well.

  “Now there’s a sight,” Jack teased, gesturing to Esther and Edgar Crane handing out candles to the crowd for the lighting ceremony. “Think she pulls a Mrs. Robinson on him, and uses the leftovers for melted wax?”

  “A Mrs. Robinson?” Jenny didn’t get it.

  “That scene from the movie The Graduate where Mrs. Robinson ties Benjamin to the hotel bed, and then pours wax on him during foreplay.”

  Jenny snickered. “I’m starting to worry about you, Jackie-boy.”

  “Stick with me, kid, we’ll go places.” Jack winked, mimicking the famous line from Casablanca.

  He slipped his arm around Jenny
’s shoulders, and then wound their way through the crowd to where Sam waited toward the front.

  “You’re late. I figured you two got tangled up in the tinsel or something.” He pecked Jenny’s cheek. “Good news. Tess’s eyes fluttered open tonight. Just for a moment. I was there, thank God. Whether she recognized me or not, who knows, but at least I got to look in those violet eyes again.”

  “Does that mean she’s still unconscious?” Jack asked.

  Sam nodded. “Yeah, but the doc said it’s encouraging.”

  The music teacher from the high school took the stage, and his students filed in on either side of the tree. He raised his hands, and the crowd went quiet. Dropping them promptly, the choir began with “Deck the Halls.”

  By the time they got to “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” the entire crowd sang along. Jenny dropped a glove on purpose, using it as an excuse to break away from Sam and Jack.

  She worked her way through the crowd, hoping she’d get to the car before Jack realized she’d gone. Doubts crept across her head as she crossed the street to where they’d parked. Standing with the extra key fob in her hand, she hesitated. She looked over her shoulder toward the echo of the Christmas carols blocks away, half hoping Jack would catch up to her the way he did at the hospital.

  Squaring her shoulders, she clicked the fob and unlocked the car. She slid in, and closing her eyes, steeled herself against the unknown.

  “Don’t be a coward. You want to do this.” It started snowing, which gave her pause, but she pressed the ignition button anyway, and then pulled out of the parking space and into the street.

  Driving away, she thought she caught Jack’s reflection in the rearview mirror, but she didn’t stop. It was now or never, and never wasn’t an option. She had to try.

  The snow came down heavier the farther she drove from town. Jenny turned on the wipers, and put her car into four-wheel drive. It wasn’t too bad, and she made it onto the desolate backroads without much problem.

  She went slow, unsure of the side road Jack took that night. The snow didn’t help, but she remembered a collapsed sign at the turn off. Seeing it ahead, she made the right, and headed up the mountain.

  The snow was thicker and heavier the higher she drove. Even with the four-wheel drive her car whined and struggled in the snow. Unpaved roads were not helping, turning the dirt to wet mud.

  The car’s high beams only made things worse, so she switched to fog lights. At least she could see, though not that far ahead. The fact there was no moon tonight didn’t help matters.

  The temperature gauge on the car’s dashboard read 18°F. The outside temperature had dropped fifteen degrees just since town.

  “You’re in the mountains, dummy. What did you expect?”

  The turn off on the mountain was not as hard to identify as the one down on the street. It was a large cut out, designed as a turnabout.

  Jenny saw it ahead, and pulled to the far end. This was it. “Okay. First, get to the falls. Second, put my hand over the pool to make them glow like Jack said, and three, use Talan’s necklace to…to…” she stopped counting. Reaching into her pocket, she took out Talan’s ritual instructions. She’d read them over and over. Maybe she could figure something out from them, now.

  Jenny,

  The new moon represents the start of a new lunar cycle, it symbolizes new beginnings. I’ve translated the ritual mantra prayer to manifest your release. Power lies in your intentions, but the universe governs all. Move forward, my child. Not back.

  Onęh go’ hyaˀ

  Talan

  She quickly read over the mantra. Power lies in your intentions. Her intentions were to go back and fix what she destroyed. If she hadn’t lost it in the car, ratcheted the tension levels to earsplitting, Charlie wouldn’t have been speeding.

  Of course, that was ridiculous reasoning. Charlie was a grown man. He made his bed and had to lie in it. Except he wasn’t lying in the bed he made. He and the girls were in their graves.

  “He can rot in his. My girls deserved better.” Jenny sniffed, pulling on her gloves. She tightened the scarf around her neck and got out of the car into the billowing snow.

  The wind bit at her the moment she stepped away from the car, chilling her to the bone. Her hair whipped at her face and she pulled her scarf over her head, wrapping it around her face so that only her eyes were exposed.

  Keeping her head down, she plowed ahead. The falls were only a ten-minute walk along the path. Except she couldn’t find the path, and the wind was so loud in her ears she could hear the water.

  She needed the fates to cut her a break, so she whispered Talan’s ritual, hoping that would help.

  “I stand on the edge of becoming. As I release the baggage of my past, I grow into a higher version of myself. I am complete in my truth. I bow to the purpose residing in me. I allow myself to be reborn, and my intentions take root. I own my magic and my light. Spirits of the universe, guide me home.”

  The wind made the snow a curtain of white, and she dropped her head to plow forward. Freezing rain pelted her in the mix, and she tripped, falling to her knees.

  “So much for cutting me a break,” she muttered, wiping the snow from her eyes.

  In that moment, she saw two black feet ahead. Two furry black feet standing in the snow. She lifted her face and her breath caught. Standing six feet from her was an enormous black cougar.

  She froze. Cougar attacks weren’t common in New York, but then again, nothing about Whisper Falls or the surrounding area was common.

  The narration from a Nat Geo special came back in that moment. If a mountain lion attacks you, you probably won't see it coming. Even though they're big, they're also very quiet, and will generally stalk and pounce. If you are lucky enough to see the mountain lion before it's on you, do not run away or turn your back to it, as that signals you are prey.

  She got up slowly, remembering you needed to make yourself as big as possible. Make noise, yell, anything to detract from them making you a hot lunch.

  “Roar! Scat! No dinner bell here, dude! GO! SCAT!”

  The big cat laid in the snow in the middle of the path. Jenny kept her arms out, flapping her scarf like wings. The animal rolled onto its side, like Kitto did when he wanted his belly scratched.

  Jenny waited, shivering in the wet snow and ice. Her teeth chattered, and she knew she needed to get to some kind of cover and wait for the storm to pass before she could do what she came to do.

  The cat moved and she froze in place. Adrenaline spiked in her blood, and her fight or flight instincts kicked in. She had nothing with her to fight this animal if it decided she was a midnight snack.

  Shifting to its belly, the cat got to its feet. It shook the snow from its dark fur and then turned to leave. Jenny exhaled relief, but the cat only went half a dozen feet, before it looked over its shoulder.

  The wind blew the scarf from her head, and she distinctly heard the word, follow.

  The big cat chuffed, and turned for the woods off the path. Jenny followed, the whole time arguing with herself on her own stupidity.

  The voice that whispered on the wind sounded an awful lot like Talan. Maybe he sent the Manachaw ghost cat to keep watch. Wasn’t that what the legend said?

  The animal’s green eyes glowed though there was no moonlight to refract, and that was evidence enough to end her doubt.

  She followed the cat into the dark, and she fished her cell phone from her pocket, turning on the flashlight app so she didn’t end up face first in the snow.

  Jack was probably spitting mad, and if she knew him at all, he probably got Sam to drive him to the inn once he realized she took the car. Without a doubt, he was in his truck looking for her. Would he head up the mountain? She didn’t know.

  The cougar trotted ahead and then stopped. Jenny flashed the light beyond where the cat stood. In the trees was a derelict building. A shack, really. It was most likely an abandoned hunting cabin. The walls were stone, some of them crumbled and
scorched, but the roof was wood, though half collapsed.

  “Any port in a storm, Mr. Ghost Kitty, so thank you.” She waited to see what the cat would do, and when it laid in the snow again, she moved past him, not taking for granted the cat was still a mountain lion.

  She pushed the door open, and the wood splintered in half. Didn’t matter. The inside was sound enough for the time being. She hoped.

  Old pine needles covered the derelict floor, piled six inches high in places. There were old newspapers in the corner. Curious, she walked over for a better look.

  Squatting down, Jenny picked up the top copy, half expecting it to crumble in her hands. The faded banner read, Whisper Falls Gazette December 21, 1921.

  “Holy Hundred Years,” she murmured, but then stopped cold. She scanned the front page, stunned.

  Under the headline, Local Man Saves Solstice Ball, was the photograph of a man, the spitting image of Jack.

  “It’s got to be his great grandfather, or something.” She scanned the article, and there it was in faded black and white: Jackson Wilde.

  Holding the old newspaper, she sat on the pile of pine needles. “That doesn’t mean anything. People are named for relatives all the time, right?”

  As if answering her question, the cougar chuffed in the doorway. He padded in and shook his fur, sending snowflakes and droplets everywhere. Its silent steps moved him closer to where she sat, and he stretched his back, extending his paws the way she’d seen Kitto do dozens of times. The cat laid on the pine needles, purring as it closed it eyes.

  “Okay, then. Not that this isn’t completely mental.” Jenny looked at her cell phone still in her hand. “Ghost cat, I appreciate the company, but nope.”

  No signal. She locked the phone, preserving the battery, and then stuck it in her pocket. Chilled to the bone and exhausted, her eyes drooped. She tried to keep them open knowing it was the first sign of hypothermia, but it was no use.

  She lay beside the cat, grateful for its warmth. “Just don’t eat me, okay? There’s a giant ball of yarn and a truck load of cat treats waiting—” she drifted off, hoping she didn’t die.