Three sounded about right to him, especially with what he’d been reading about magic on various Internet sites. That meant he needed to test his theory before he used up one guess. He’d spend some time with her magic books, too, and look for corroboration of what he thought might be the key to his escape.
He hadn’t found any clues until he’d gone back to old fairy tales about magic. There he’d found a common theme. If someone had been hexed, they could sometimes earn their way out of it by doing good works.
Jasper started putting together his recent activities—coming to Anica’s rescue when she’d faced the fairies, saving the mother cat and kittens, accidentally giving away two grand to animal rescue. Those things might have been what had awarded him extra time on the clock.
It was only a theory at this point, though, and he needed to test it through his actions tonight. If he extended his time significantly the following night, he’d ask Anica if he was on the right track.
He’d definitely decided to write e-mails of apology to his exes tonight, although he was still debating exactly what to say. His original intent had been to clear his conscience, but those e-mails might help his cause. Maybe he’d give more money to animal rescue while he was on the computer, too.
Besides those two things his theory had another angle, one that made it his absolutely favorite theory of all. Maybe he’d unknowingly earned minutes giving Anica great orgasms. If he concentrated on her pleasure in bed, that ought to count, right? It certainly would in his world, so he’d go with it. Tonight would be all about good works.
While Anica cooked dinner he paced the apartment, impatient for the twinges that would signal he was changing. He thought about the animal rescue site. Leaping up on the desk chair, he called it up and gave another five hundred bucks. If he knew for a fact that worked, he’d be willing to empty his bank account.
But he didn’t know, so he’d keep it reasonable until he was sure. The clock ticked with maddening slowness.
Chapter 19
For the first time in years, Anica wished she had a television and cable. Once she’d cleaned up the kitchen after dinner she couldn’t settle down to anything. Jasper’s impending change hovered in the air, keeping her from enjoying the book she’d started a few days ago. Flipping through channels with a remote would have been the perfect distraction.
She tried putting on some calming music, but turned it off almost immediately because the insipid sound made her want to scream. Pulling out her favorite deck of tarot cards, she shuffled them and started to do a reading. Then she realized she didn’t want to know what the future held. Too scary.
Jasper’s pacing didn’t help matters. She knew he was antsy, too, but she wanted him to just settle for Hera’s sake. She wasn’t settling, either, but at least she hadn’t started to pace. When she caught herself walking back and forth in the living room, she knew something had to be done.
“I’m going up to see Julie and the kittens,” she said, knowing Julie would be there because Julie was always there, and now she’d be even more there because she had caretaking duties. “I’ll take my cell phone. In case you’ve forgotten the number, here it is.” She wrote it on a slip of paper and put it on the coffee table. “You can use the landline to call me . . . if you . . . well, just call.”
Anybody watching her say that to a black cat would think she was insane, but that cat would—she hoped—turn into a man sometime this evening. In the meantime she and the cat were driving each other bonkers, and she was the only one who could leave. She could be projecting, but she swore Jasper looked relieved as she went out the door.
Fleeing the apartment seemed right, but maybe she should have called Julie first. Thanks to the wonders of cell phones and having Julie’s number stored, she could. She sat on the stairs and made the call.
“Hi, Anica!” Julie sounded like a whole different person. “Did you get my message?”
“I did, and I was wondering if I could come up and see how Persephone and her babies are doing.”
“Absolutely. I’d love to show them off.” Julie sounded like the proud mother of a newborn.
Smiling, Anica climbed the stairs to Julie’s apartment. She’d been in it only once, and she remembered it being a dark and spooky place with dark paint on the walls and college-kid furniture—a futon that had seen better days, brick-and-board bookshelves, one rickety floor lamp and a scratched metal desk. Julie’s computer, flat-screen TV and sound system, though, had been state-of-the-art.
Julie answered her knock immediately, and she was wearing a pair of old plastic-rimmed glasses and no makeup.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Anica said.
“Mostly I wear contacts, but I just couldn’t be bothered with them today. Too busy. Come on in!” She ushered Anica into a room that was much better lit than Anica remembered.
It took her a while to figure out that the living room had been turned into a stage set, with movie lights ringing the perimeter. Julie’s video camera, which had always been trained on the street, was now pointed at the center of the room where Persephone and her babies lay like royalty in a nest of pillows covered with a blanket. Persephone’s food dishes sat within easy walking distance, and so did her litter box, which looked like it had started life as a turkey roaster.
“I borrowed the lights from my brother, Pete.” Julie pointed to a large carpeted scratching post with multiple perches. “He brought this over in his truck, too. It’s a present for Persephone and the kittens.”
“So he’s not upset that you have cats?”
Julie laughed. “He’s totally fine with it. He had no idea I didn’t have cats because of him. He thought I just didn’t want the bother. When he comes over, he’ll dose up on some OTC meds and not worry about it.”
“Perfect.” Anica thought she might be imagining things, but Persephone already looked as if she’d put on weight. Her gray coat looked glossier, and her white paws were no longer covered with dirt.
The two kittens nursed greedily, kneading Persephone’s tummy with their tiny paws. One was gray, but with only three white feet instead of four, like Persephone. The other one was a black-and-white tux.
“You can go over and pet her if you want,” Julie said. “She won’t care. Once she got used to being here, she’s been very loving.”
“But she doesn’t know me.” Anica crouched down to cat level as she looked into Persephone’s eyes. “Do you, sweetheart?”
Persephone meowed softly.
“I think she recognizes a kindred spirit,” Julie said.
Anica stood and moved slowly and carefully until she could kneel next to the bed of pillows. “What a good mommy,” she crooned, reaching out to gently rub behind Persephone’s ears.
The cat leaned into the caress.
“She belonged to someone,” Anica said.
“I think so, too. She’s not wild at all. Should I . . . put a notice in the paper or something?”
Anica glanced up and saw the yearning in Julie’s expression. She’d only had Persephone and her babies a short time, but she’d already bonded.
“I see no reason to do that,” Anica said. “She was so skinny when we found her that she’s been on her own a long time. It’s a good guess she was abandoned on purpose.”
“That’s what I think, too.” Julie hesitated. “Do you like her name?”
“It’s a great name. Persephone’s the one who got taken to the underworld by Hades.”
“I know. I’ve studied all that. And I wanted her to have a magical name.”
“You did, huh?” Now, there was a brilliant response. “I mean, that’s interesting.” Even more brilliant.
“Anica, I have something to show you.”
Anica wasn’t as intuitive as she would have liked, but she had a strong feeling this wouldn’t be something she wanted to see. “You know, maybe next time. I should probably be getting back.”
“It’ll only take a minute.” Julie flicked the power switch o
n her DVD player and the flat-screen TV. Then she pulled a DVD out of a cabinet under the screen and loaded it into the system.
If only this DVD could be another one of Pete’s lame cable shows, Anica would be grateful. She didn’t think that was it, though.
Julie hit PLAY, and Anica recognized the street in front of their apartment building. Down the street a ways, near the little park, a man and woman faced each other, obviously having an argument. Even before the camera zoomed in on the couple, Anica recognized who it was. She’d known all along, from the moment Julie had suggested showing her something.
Anica watched, holding her breath, as the most fateful moment of her life played out on the screen. The woman pulled a small wand from her purse and pointed at the tall, good-looking man. A moment later, the man pulled the woman into his arms, she shoved him away and the man became a pile of clothes.
Someone whimpered in the room, and then Anica realized it had been her. She covered her mouth and stood as she tried to imagine what she could say to this girl who had captured her worst moment on camera.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Julie said. “I wanted you to know that I know. And I want to help!”
“If only you could.” Anica gazed at her.
“I have a great-aunt who is a witch,” Julie said. “Once my parents found out, they would never let me visit her. But now that I’m on my own . . . sort of . . . I keep in touch with her by e-mail. She lives in California, and I’m not big on traveling by myself so I haven’t gone out there, but I’ve been studying and . . . I think I . . . that is . . . I might be a witch, too. But I can’t let my parents know or they’d stop sending money.”
“They support you?”
“Yeah, both me and Pete. It’s no big deal. They have a ton of money, and I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. Well, I do. I want to practice magic.”
“But I doubt you’ll be able to support yourself on it.”
“I know. I was thinking since you’re a witch, too, you could help me figure out what’s the best job for people like us.”
“Well, I—” Her cell phone kept her from having to come up with a response. “Excuse me a minute.” Her heart hammered as she flipped open the phone. “Hello?”
“I’m about to make coffee,” Jasper said. “Do you trust me with this machine?”
He could have been her live-in boyfriend calling with a simple comment. Except nothing about Jasper was simple. “No.” Her voice wasn’t quite steady. “I’ll be right there.” Flipping the phone closed, she glanced at Julie. “I have to go.”
“Were you talking to him?” Eagerness shone in Julie’s dark eyes. “Does he change back for a while?”
“I have to go.” Anica turned and headed toward the door. But she couldn’t leave without offering Julie something. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll talk.”
“I’m serious. I want to help.”
Anica glanced at her. “If you can, I’ll let you know.” Then she went out the door and hurried down the steps. She glanced at her watch. Nine forty. If Jasper was ready to make coffee, he probably transformed at nine thirty. Through good deeds of some sort he’d gained another two hours.
Jasper was wearing clothes for the first time since Tuesday night. He’d expected to be happy about that return to seminormal living, but instead the clothes felt restrictive. He left them on, though, because he had e-mails to write and donations to make.
First he rummaged through the refrigerator and found the other half of the chicken breast Anica had cooked for his dinner. She’d probably saved the rest for tomorrow, but he gave it to Orion.
“Eat fast, buddy. The diet police will be here any minute.” He hadn’t really needed to say that. Orion always ate like a teenage boy at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
The key turned in the front door lock. Jasper walked out of the kitchen as Anica came through the door, clutching her cell phone in her hand.
She looked rattled. “You’re dressed.”
“I thought I could risk it.” He wondered if she was disappointed not to find him naked and ready for sex.
He wasn’t naked, but the moment she’d come through the door he’d felt a familiar ache in his groin. After all, that was the primary activity they’d engaged in while they’d been together in the apartment. She hadn’t been around when he’d transformed this time, and he hadn’t immediately started thinking about sex. But he was thinking about it now.
He liked that red sweater and skirt on her. He’d like it a whole lot better off her, though. The sweater buttoned up the front, so that wouldn’t be much of a challenge. She’d worn knee-high boots today, so maybe that meant that under her skirt she didn’t have on a pair of those god-awful pantyhose that were worse than a chastity belt.
Anica locked the dead bolt and turned back to him. “Julie has a video of me changing you into a cat. I just saw it.”
A sense of being personally violated wiped out his fantasies of pulling off Anica’s sweater and skirt. He didn’t want anybody to see that transformation, ever. “How the hell did that happen?”
“Julie’s hobby is pointing a camcorder at the street outside the building and seeing what she gets.”
“Isn’t that illegal? I’m impressed that she took in the mother cat and kittens, but that doesn’t give her the right to invade people’s privacy.”
“She’s a kid, and she thinks it’s an art form. She always scrambles the image so nobody can tell who it is before she puts it on her brother’s cable show.”
“Cable show?” Jasper felt steam coming out of his ears. “She has a video of me turning into a cat, and she’s planning to broadcast it?”
“No, I’m sure she’s not.” Anica walked over to her antique desk and tucked her cell phone into the ceramic dragon holder. “She’s been waiting for a chance to broach the whole subject of witches. By showing me the video, she eliminated any chance I’d deny I’m a witch.”
Jasper found this extremely alarming. “So what now? Blackmail? People coming with burning torches?”
“I doubt it. I think she wants me to be her mentor.”
“Good grief.” Jasper had enough problems with the idea of witches in the city without imagining the concept spreading.
Anica approached him. “What are you afraid of, Jasper?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Dating a witch who turned me into a cat shouldn’t be a big deal, I suppose. A guy should take that kind of event in stride, shouldn’t he?”
“You’re talking as if such a thing could happen at any time with no consequences. Have you forgotten that once I did that, which is strictly forbidden under current code, I lost my magic?”
Sometimes he did forget that she’d been penalized for her behavior. He got so caught up in his own frustration that he forgot about hers.
“Witches and wizards are not a danger to society,” Anica continued. “All our prayers end with the words with harm to none. I broke that vow when I changed you into a cat, so I’m no longer allowed to work magic.” Her lower lip trembled. Not much, but enough to hint at tightly contained emotional distress.
He closed the distance between them and took her by the shoulders. “It wasn’t all your fault.”
“Mostly my fault.”
“You held the wand, but I provoked you to use it. Nothing happens in a vacuum.” He hadn’t been willing to admit that until now, hadn’t been willing to take responsibility for his present situation. But he’d arrogantly assumed that she wanted him even though he’d lied to her. Now that he’d lived with her and knew her better, he understood that he’d pushed her into reacting.
She took a shaky breath. “I appreciate your saying that,” she said. “It helps.”
“Good.” He gazed into her blue eyes and then, out of habit, his attention moved down to her plump lips, which looked so kissable right now.
She could use a kiss, and he knew that as surely as if he’d been reading her mind. But if he started kissing her, he would nev
er accomplish anything he’d promised himself he would do with his time.
He’d tucked a condom in his pocket to replace the one he’d had there Tuesday night. No doubt the cleaners had thrown that one away. Just because he had a condom handy, though, didn’t mean he had to use it now.
“I have some work to do on the computer.” He massaged her shoulders and watched her eyelids droop. “But you must be tired. You haven’t been getting much rest.”
Her eyes opened, and her gaze was definitely not sleepy. “Adrenaline’s kicked in.”
“Oh.” It would be so easy to say to hell with his program and take her to bed. But tempting as that was, he had a plan and he would stick with the plan. “Did you mention coffee?”
“I’ll make some.” She stepped smoothly away from him and walked into the kitchen. “How do you want it?” she called over her shoulder.
“Strong and hot.”
“Don’t flirt with me, Danes. Not unless you’re planning to take your clothes off.”
He was glad to hear the sass coming back into her voice. “I’ll take my clothes off.” He’d turned on the computer the minute he’d transformed, so now he was able to walk over and pull up the animal rescue site. “But not yet. The way I have it figured, we have until two thirty in the morning. We should pace ourselves.”
“Speak for yourself, wimp.” She bustled around in the kitchen, talking trash as she put the coffee on. “If you have no stamina, just be a man and admit it.”
He clicked the donation button and gave the organization another two thousand bucks. If he was right about good deeds being the answer, it was a cheap price.
Then he stood and walked into the kitchen. Plans were made to be broken. “You shouldn’t taunt a man who’s packing a condom in his pants pocket. Especially when you promise him counter sex and then welsh on the deal.”
She gave him a saucy look guaranteed to get her laid. “Don’t you have something to do on the computer?”
“I’ll get to it.” He swept the cat food bowl out of the way and lifted her up on the counter. “I have until two thirty in the morning.” He fished the condom out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Open this.”
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