A Match Made in Spell (Fate Weaver Book 1)

by ReGina Welling

  By good mood, what Salem really meant was playful, which had the potential to be almost as bad as angry. Kitted out in their best glamor, my faerie godmothers couldn't pull off normal even when they tried. Bustling around the kitchen wearing a pastel fantasy number from the Disney princess collection--belled skirt, nipped waist, snug bodice with a sweetheart neckline. Terra was halfway done cooking breakfast for twenty.

  "Come in, come in. It's been so long since we've had guests. Sit right down, Kin is it?" She picked up a glitter covered, star-tipped wand to match her dress and I almost died.

  "Kin, Terra. Terra, this is Kin." Terse, but all I felt up for in the way of an introduction.

  Since I turned six, I've been able to see past even the best glamour. Under hers, Terra watched Kin like a hawk.

  "Just you? Salem said he told everyone to come," I said to Terra.

  "We're here." Three voices chorused from three faces of supermodel caliber beauty. They were dressed the same as Terra, save for color. Salem's snort sounded distinctly catty and not in a feline way. I risked a curious glance at Kin, who was so determined not to stare he barely dared to look up from the empty plate in front of him. And now they were going to think he was shifty. Well, what did I care? I might never forgive him anyway, so his veracity was a moot point.

  Right. Following the second round of hasty introductions, I bypassed the smaller coffee mug sitting at my regular spot at the table and grabbed one of the over-sized ones from the cabinet because slurping down the entire pot in one gulp would have been rude.

  "Was all this really necessary?" Dry doesn't begin to describe my tone.

  "What? You're the one who decided to let him in on our secrets, why not give him the full experience?" Goddess forbid if that ever happened. I decided to cut my losses and go with the mild version of life in the Balefire house.

  "I'd really like to get this over with. Kin, eat something, or Terra will be offended. She really is a good cook." And then, while he did, I repeated his guitar story.

  "Where is the instrument now?" I detected more than curiosity from Evian.

  Kin flushed. "It's outside."

  "What? You thought if you brought it inside I might go all braindead fangirl on you?"

  "No. I was so concerned with apologizing to you I forgot."

  "I'll get it." Salem darted from the room and returned seconds later carrying the familiar case. Instead of handing it to Kin, he laid it at the other end of the massive table. Carefully, like it might go off if he jostled it. Then he backed away. "Strong magic around that thing. Comes off it in waves and makes me dizzy."

  "Odd. It normally only affects women." Kin's comment was innocently meant.

  "Are you calling me a girl?" Salem bristled.

  "Salem," I growled. "Give it a rest."

  The four faeries crowded around the instrument, poking it, tweaking a string here and a string there. Kin gasped when Soleil took her smaller form and flew into the sound hole for a better look.

  "Play it for me." Vaeta handed the guitar to Kin. He struck a chord, then played a few bars of something with a boogie beat. "Okay." She held up a hand. "Stop."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kin, Salem, and I sat in awkward silence while the faeries indulged in a short, whispered discussion. The weight of each sidelong glance from Kin fell on me like a blanket. I ignored them all and stared straight ahead.

  "Put the guitar back on the table. We have an idea," Vaeta said.

  "It's a stupid idea, but apparently we're going to go ahead with it anyway," Terra cast a hard look at her sister.

  "Don't start." I pushed back my chair and pinned the two of them with a pointed finger. "We don't have time for one of your stupid fights right now. Kin, do as Vaeta says." He did, and I felt the prickle of magic across my skin.

  "Reveal." Vaeta stepped forward to whisper into the sound hole while we waited to see what would happen next. Shimmering motes rose from the hole to form the vague shape of a man standing next to the table and I heard Kin's quick intake of breath.

  "Crystallize." A complicated wave of Evian's hand accompanied the command and the motes formed into a solid outline that reminded me of the way they make things look invisible in movies. It looked like a man made from liquid.

  "Solidify." Terra's contribution was some next-level stuff. The man-shape flickered as bits of matter appeared. In under a minute, the lifelike figure of Skip Stark stood there.

  "Animate." Soleil laid a hand on the figure and lightning shot from her fingertips to jolt into Stark's body. He opened his eyes.

  "It's alive." I quelled Salem's mutter with a hard look, even if I could see the humor in it. Later we could have a good laugh about Frankensinger, but for now, seriousness was the order of the day.

  "Unbelievable." Kin's voice came out on a quavering note. "Love your music, man."

  "You're not bad yourself, kid." Stark's voice sounded a little rusty and he cleared his throat.

  Before this turned into a love fest, I interrupted. "Mr. Stark..."

  "Call me Skip, sweetheart."

  "Skip. Can you tell us how you ended up in that guitar?" This might be a simple haunting that the dealer had embellished into a more complicated backstory in order to sell the guitar to Kin.

  Stark quelled that faint hope with a word, "Wizard." He pulled out a chair, flipped it around and sat straddling it with his arms resting on the back. A blur of pastel at the corner of my eye had me turning my head in time to see the faeries leaving the room, and I was torn between following them and listening to what Stark had to say. Okay, that's not true. Wild horses couldn't have dragged me from my chair, and I knew that whatever happened while they were gone, they'd hear anyway. If they wanted to, that is.

  "All I wanted was to get my mojo back, you know? Another shot at the big time. Hell, at that point, I would have settled for a permanent gig singing in a bar. I was broke--my own fault for throwing money around like confetti. Take it from me, son, you got the chops, don't let this business go to your head. That'll get you all kinds of messed up."

  Kin only gulped and nodded. I think he was having trouble forming full sentences.

  "Anyway," Stark snagged a piece of bacon off the platter and crunched with evident pleasure before he continued. "I shoulda known the guy was up to no good. He had shifty eyes." A second piece of bacon went down his maw. "He did his mumbo jumbo, nicked my thumb with a little knife and scattered the blood into my guitar."

  "Blood magic. A powerful binding spell from the sounds of it. He bound your soul to the guitar so that whenever you played, it was your amplified essence and intention that went out to the crowd." Privately, I thought his intentions toward women were not remotely honorable, but there wasn't anything I could do about that now, and a discussion of his skeezy ethics would be counterproductive.

  Now Kin spoke up. "You know it wasn't my intentions that made those women act like that, don't you Lexi? I would never..."

  "I know." I cut off that line of discussion because it smacked of the out-of-bounds relationship topic. "What else can you tell us, Skip."

  "Things were pretty quiet for a while there. This young fella bought the guitar and played it so pure and clean that I felt the dark hold on it slipping away." Skip turned to Kin, "You had me halfway to the light. I thought I was finally going to go to my rest. Stupid wizard never told me I'd be stuck in that thing forever."

  "What happened next?" Normally clothed now, the four faeries suddenly appeared. Kin jumped about a foot.

  "We were outside a coffeehouse, and this one was playing so sweet I was halfway home when something grabbed me and yanked me back. Next thing I know, there's some guy with a funny looking beard and a heart-shaped scar on his face talking about breaking true love's hold on the world, and I got sucked right back inside. Dude was a real freak. He got so keyed up he sprayed spit all over the place."

  Vaeta made a choked sound at the mention of the heart shaped scar, but I ignored her for the time being and circl
ed a hand to indicate Skip could continue his story.

  "That's when all the crazy started. I'm not a bad guy, I swear I'm not. Sure I liked women in my day; as many as I could get. What's not to like, I mean, come on. Boobs. Right, man?" Skip looked to Kin to back him up. Kin flushed red and zipped it. I admired his restraint.

  "What can you tell me about last night? Do you remember being thrown in the water?" The question came from Kin. "I'd like to know how the guitar got back in the case."

  "Don't know anything about that. When you're not playing, I kind of go to sleep."

  Evian clapped her hands, "I think we have learned everything we could from Mr. Stark. Would you all agree?" When there was no word of dissent, she gestured to her sisters. "Shall we?"

  "Sleep," Soleil reversed her spell.

  "Dissolve."

  "Shatter."

  When Vaeta uttered the final command, nothing remained of Stark but a few motes of light. "Release."

  "No," Evian cried out. "What have you done?"

  Stark's essence coalesced into a column of light that sucked upward from the bottom and disappeared.

  "You let him go before we had a chance to reverse the original spell on the guitar. What is wrong with you?"

  "I'm sorry. I thought we were finished with him, and he wanted to move on to the next plane so badly." Even to my ears, Vaeta's protest sounded weak.

  "Kin, think hard. Have you ever cut yourself on or around your guitar? All it would take is a trace of your blood to transfer the spell to you." Terra picked up on an aspect of this whole debacle that no one else had even considered.

  "Well, sure, I guess. E strings are thin and can be sharp on the ends. Nicks during restringing are common."

  While her sisters questioned Kin more thoroughly, I pulled Vaeta out onto the patio.

  "What's his name?" Birds chirped in the trees, but Vaeta remained silent for a beat, then another. "You thought I didn't notice your reaction to Stark's description. You know the man who put the whammy on Kin's guitar, and if you try and pawn off one of your half-truths on me, I'm going to tell your sisters about it."

  "Tattletale." Gone was the slightly spacey demeanor that Vaeta tended to present in public. For a split second, I saw the crafty faerie in her truest light.

  "And proud of it. Spill it, Vaeta."

  "It's Striker. Jett Striker."

  "And..." Knowing there was more, I prodded.

  "He has..." Vaeta searched for the right word, "...ties to two different worlds."

  "Dangerous?"

  "When he wants to be--which isn't often. He's a trickster. Gets his laughs mostly by pulling lovers apart."

  "Like what? An anti-matchmaker?"

  Vaeta's eyes widened slightly. "Something like that."

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  "A simple location spell is all we should need." I watched Kin's face as I reached into the Balefire flame; he looked stricken until the wall popped open and my hand emerged unharmed, and then his expression transformed into one of complete and total disbelief.

  This time when I approached the book and touched the spine, it opened to a page in the middle all by itself, as if it knew exactly what I needed. There, in delicate calligraphy were the words "To Locate An Enemy" and below it, a description and a list of ingredients for a simple spell. I scanned the items, picked up the ritual broom, and started the process of cleansing the circle, all while barking out orders.

  "Evian, I need a goblet of water; Terra, sandalwood and myrrh incense; Salem please tell me there's a mugwort infusion in those supplies; Soleil, four blue candles at the four corners; Vaeta, a map of the city--we'll assume he's nearby and start there--and the clearest quartz crystal pendulum you can find."

  Kin's eyes were wide as he looked around the room, and if it weren't his soul on the line I might have found his incredulity cute--or his fear a bit funny, considering how he had been acting over the past twenty-four hours. I vowed to harden my heart just as soon as we were out of this mess.

  "What do I do?" He asked.

  "Just sit there and be quiet." I snapped, and Salem chuckled from across the room, earning an irritated glare from Kin. "Enough, you two. It says we need a part of Jett's essence to solidify the connection. We have to hope some of his spit remained in or on the guitar." Kin passed it to me quickly and wiped his palms on the front of his jeans as soon as he let go.

  "Forensic science meets magic." Kin observed. "It would make a great TV show."

  I carried a low table into the center of the pentacle, pretending to struggle a little as I did and managed to simultaneously avoid making eye contact with Kin despite his obvious internal struggle regarding whether to remain seated as commanded, or give in to his chivalric instincts and insist on helping me; and convey that any attempt to help me would only be met with contempt and/or more verbal abuse. I think it was something about the upward tilt of my nose or the infinitesimal narrowing of my eyes that kept his butt firmly planted on the sofa.

  Carefully, I laid the guitar across the middle of the table, the map spread out on one side, the goblet of water on the other and anointed each of the four candles with the mugwort infusion. Then I sat down cross-legged, facing west. Soleil lit the candles with a flick of her wrist, and each faerie took her place at her respective corner: Vaeta and Terra to the east and the north; and Soleil and Evian to the south and west.

  "Goddesses of the east, bless this water. Imbue it with the power to locate the demi-god Jett Striker. Help us find our foe, and bring him to justice." I dipped my right index and middle fingers into the goblet of water, swirled it in a clockwise direction seven times, then picked up the pendulum with dripping fingers and swung it seven times counter-clockwise over the city map.

  As soon as the droplets of water hit the map, it promptly burst into flames. Red smoke curled up from the spreading fire. I grabbed the goblet and poured the contents on top, which only made the hungry fire reach toward my bare fingers. I wound up a scream, but Terra was on top of the situation and immediately doused the fire with a pile of sand, so there was no need for it, and I awkwardly shut my mouth and stepped away from the circle.

  "Was that what was supposed to happen?" Kin asked, and I nearly bit my tongue in half trying not to shout at him.

  "No, genius, it wasn't," Salem spoke the words for me and directed his next snarky comment in my direction. "You're still adding too much power; this spell is delicate, and it's like you're using a meat cleaver when you should be using a fillet knife. Let me think."

  "It's because..." Vaeta broke off, "Never mind."

  "I'm trying to hold back, but this kind of thing keeps happening." It wasn't a whine, but it was close. "Aren't you guys supposed to do something? Isn't it your job to help a witch in trouble?"

  "Well, we're really more of a clean up service than a preventative one," Soleil chirped. Sometimes her sunny nature got on my last nerve.

  "That's rich given the number of times I've had to put the house back together after one of your battles. I'm starting to think someone got the Cinderella story wrong and it was the faerie godmothers who worked her fingers to the bone."

  "Lexi, come look at this. I think it might help." Salem interrupted from the Grimoire's pedestal.

  "To Balance New Power" I read from an entry written in a different hand than the one for locating an enemy. This spell was closer to the beginning of the book, and the pages were tattered and worn.

  "You have Seen

  And now you know

  Where the Balefire burns

  Your powers grow

  You listened well

  And braved the flame

  But still must work

  To earn your name

  When at last

  You know your way

  This spell you cast

  Shall fade away

  If balance be

  Your heart's desire

  Then speak your wish

  Unto the fire"

  "What kind of cryptic nonsense
is that?"

  "Clearly, it's a sort of binding spell. For your fledgling powers. I think it might help you control your magic. It's worth a shot. But this one is all you; the rest of us can't help."

  Everyone took a step back from the circle, and Vaeta magicked a collection of supplies onto the altar in front of me. I rang the tiny bell, anointed the white candle in Bergamot oil, and whispered my wish for balance into the flame before blowing it out.

  For a moment the wick sizzled, and the bell began to tinkle all by itself as my entire body was enveloped in a warm breeze. I could smell fresh laundry, the salty scent of the ocean, and the crisp odor of cut grass. A golden glow of light surrounded me, and I floated off the floor as my senses were flooded with stimuli.

  Just as quickly, it was over, and I was seated back on the floor as if nothing had happened. "Did it work?" I asked, looking around at the six people who were staring at me like I had sprouted a second head, or a couple of extra limbs.

  "I don't know, dear, you tell us." Terra gestured to the candle and I leaned in, focusing all of my attention on reigniting the wick using only my will and a breath of air from my lungs. I blew gently, and the candle flared to life once more. We were all silent, expecting some sort of fallout, but nothing happened.

  "I did it! I finally did it!" I shouted, relieved that I had hit another milestone on the path to controlling my powers. If we were going to go up against Jett, I was going to need every ounce of discipline I could muster. He had experience on his side, and probably more than one wild card, but I had four elemental faeries on mine. It's my job to match souls, and I'd sooner eat a whole plate of live beetles than stand around and let some jerk tear them apart. Plus, there was no way I was going to let Kin's soul be anchored to an inanimate object, whether he was the one for me or not.

  "Quick, let's try the location spell again," Terra exclaimed, and everyone rushed back into motion, resetting the candles, guitar, and the goblet of water. Last time, I had been in the dark, but now, with my head clear and my brain working at full potential, I could sense that something was missing.