The Cat's Meow

by Stacey Kennedy

  I took another drink of my tea, and then I asked, “Where’d you get the book?”

  “Many years back, I was gifted the spells from a fellow Enchantress.”

  The Goddess flared to life in my body, sending a searing through my veins, and I almost rolled my eyes. Okay, I get it. You like her and I should listen.

  Magdalene continued with a smile, “It’s time to pass the spells on to someone who can use them. I’m an old witch and no longer work for the…coven.” I wasn’t deaf to her hesitation, nor was Kale—he stiffened, but she hurried along. “The spells are now yours. Make the Goddess proud.”

  Once I finished off the remainder of my tea, I ran my hands over the lace cover of the book and it seemed warm beneath my touch. Tingles, as if my limbs had fallen asleep, soared through me making my breath catch, and I shuddered. The reaction always told me the Goddess approved, and right now she was ecstatic. I smiled, experiencing her happiness.

  Without a doubt, she wanted me to accept the book, and I never questioned her guidance. While I didn’t exactly know what they could do for me, and I needed to investigate this further before I dove in headfirst, I believed in the Goddess’s nudge to listen to her. “Do you want me to return the book after we’re done with the case?”

  Magdalene shook her head. “No, dear, the spells now belong to you.” Her smile was knowing, and held warmth I found myself trusting. “I’ve watched over the book until you came to me in need of it.”

  I cocked my head, totally confused. “You knew I’d come?”

  “Not you necessarily.” She finished off the last sip of her tea and leaned back in her chair. I detected no hint of deception. “But I knew one day I would pass it along. Just as you know one day you’ll do the same.”

  Made sense and all, but one thing didn’t. “If these spells could help any Enchantress, why is this not part of the training?” In all the years I’d trained with both my coven and the Alchemy’s Enchantress, I’d never heard of this book. “Why wouldn’t you produce the spells so we could all learn from it?”

  Magdalene’s lips thinned. “Not every Enchantress can use these spells, Libby. You are special.” Her gray eyes darkened, and all the warmth vanished to be replaced by her stern look. “These spells are yours and yours alone, until you find no use for them. When you gift the spells, you’ll do so with thought and care, and only give them to one who is worthy.”

  I snorted at that ridiculous statement. “I’m worthy?”

  Magdalene tilted her head toward Kale, and her features once again filled with tenderness. “Kale thinks you are.”

  “Oh.” My cheeks burned, and I really did hate that; hated my fluttering heart at the thought of Kale speaking so highly of me, hated that I wanted to reach out and cup his face, kiss him, and say thank you. Even though Magdalene was there, it was obvious by the yearning in his eyes that he wanted me to.

  After a short pause, Magdalene cleared her throat, aware of and amused by our heated exchange. “If that’s all then, I do believe you should leave. You have quite the task ahead of you and need to study.”

  I tore away from Kale and noted that her eyes shone. “Thank you for this. Um…if it doesn’t work…or something…I’ll bring it back.”

  Magdalene stood, cupped my shoulder, and gave a gentle smile. “M’dear, it will work. I have no doubt. Trust the Goddess; she’ll guide and protect you.”

  With that, she strode toward the front door and I followed with Kale on my heels. His presence at my back burned my flesh, and his stare on me felt as if his fingers caressed the spots his gaze traveled.

  Once Magdalene opened the front door, she turned. “Bring this one back to me, Kale.” Her voice sounded sharp, like the crack of a whip. “After the matter is dealt with, so I can have a longer chat with her.”

  Kale inclined his head. “Of course.”

  Magdalene leaned forward and kissed his cheek, her voice softening. “Bring yourself home safe, too.”

  When she backed away from him, he smiled down at her. “That’s the plan.”

  She gave him a firm nod, and then shifted those kind eyes onto me. “While you’re used to using spells like a witch’s brew from ingredients, these spells tap into the Goddess within you by the use of powerful chants. She’s there for you, and all you need to do is trust in her and she will aid you.”

  “Okay.” What else was I going to say? I was still stuck on my interaction with Kale and a little dumbfounded over the tenderness between these two—something else to get to the bottom of.

  After good-byes, I could’ve sworn before Magdalene closed the door she whispered under her breath, “Good. Now I can leave.” But I wasn’t confident. Hell, as of late, I wasn’t confident of much.

  Kale approached the SUV and I trotted up behind him as the warm wind brushed across my skin. “How do you know her?”

  “She’s my mother.”

  My eyes went the size of the teacups we drank from, and I skidded to a halt. “Your mother?” I wanted to smack my head as I remembered her eyes being the same shade of gray as Kale’s, plus the sweet looks she gave him. But then I groaned as I realized my error. “I wish you would’ve warned me before I was so mouthy with her.”

  He turned to me, eyebrow lifted, and amusement flashed over his features. “You care what my mother thinks of you?”

  Good question. Why did I care? It’s not like I had to impress her.

  I cursed under my breath because I knew exactly why I cared. I did want to impress her.

  Before I could stammer out a reply, Kale chuckled. “Not to worry. You made quite the impression on her, just as I knew you would. My mother could equal you with her smart mouth and tough attitude. She wouldn’t have asked for you to return if she didn’t like you.” He tapped the book’s cover. “Now read. You have one night to learn as much as you can and find anything to help us.” Then without my permission, he took my car keys from my hand and strode off.

  “I hate to state the obvious.” I opened the passenger side door and dropped into the seat. “But what if the spells don’t work?”

  He slid into the driver’s seat and put the key in the ignition. “They will.”

  “How can you be so sure?” I countered.

  He turned to me then, placed a hand on my shoulder, and lowered his head. His gaze met mine dead-on and never, not once, had he looked at me like this—no hint of doubt showed in his features. “My mother wouldn’t have given you the book otherwise. Those spells are centuries old, Libby. The book has been safeguarded until the right witch could use the spells, and that witch is you.”

  He leaned away, faced forward, and then started the engine. “Besides, I noticed your reaction when you touched the book.” As he glanced at me, his eyebrow arched with the same stern set to his eyes. “You smiled and did a sexy little shudder, I might add. Maybe you didn’t realize it, but I certainly did. The Goddess wanted you to find those spells.”

  The world did a flip around me and I exhaled the breath I’d held. It wasn’t about my reaction to the book—I couldn’t have agreed with him more—it was how he looked at me now.

  I saw for the first time what he looked like when he told the truth, and the fact that I hadn’t seen that until this moment discouraged me. For all we’d been through, I should’ve seen the same level of honesty many times and I hadn’t.

  Why did Kale have to keep so much hidden?

  He tapped the book. “Read.”

  The hum of the engine roared beneath me as Kale drove off. I flipped open the cover to the first spell and my breath sucked in as I read the passage, and then I burst out laughing.

  “What is it?” Kale asked.

  I shook my head, keeping my attention fixated on the page. “Nothing.” I skimmed my fingers over the page and absorbed every single word of the spell.

  Goddess, you never disappoint, do you?

  Chapter Fourteen

  The night table light cast a warm glow over my bedroom as I sat cross-legged on top of m
y duvet. I had studied the book for two hours now. My eyes were heavy and I rubbed the tiredness out of them, but exhaustion wasn’t my biggest concern. The next step took a push from within myself that hadn’t arrived. The spells intrigued me, and I thought I would try one now to prove to myself this would work.

  Only problem?

  Something stopped me from going any further, a deep-down hesitation I couldn’t ignore, and a little voice in my head telling me to think this through before I jumped in.

  “You do realize you’ve stared at the same page for half an hour?”

  I glanced away from the faded parchment paper and found Kale at the doorway leaning against the frame. “That long, huh?”

  He smiled, stepping into my bedroom with a teacup in his hand. “I thought this might soothe you.”

  The gesture was so Kale, caring in odd ways and confusing at best. He offered the teacup and I accepted it, and then I considered him. “Why do you do this?”

  He laughed. “Bring you tea?”

  I nodded and inhaled the warm sugary scent that did comfort me. “Yes, do sweet things.”

  He frowned. “I can’t do nice things?”

  “Of course you can.” I rolled my eyes since he totally missed my point. “But why?”

  He released a deep breath, sat on my bed, and watched me with troubled eyes. “Did you know when you’re stressed you rub your eyes?”

  “Ah…” Did he pay that much attention to me? “Yeah, I guess I do.”

  A little smile quirked up the side of his mouth. “You’ve been doing it for the past hour.” His smile faded, yet his intense stare never left me. “I noticed at my mother’s you seemed to like tea, so I hoped it would make you feel better.” His eyebrow arched. “Is that so awful?”

  “Not at all.” Yet he still avoided the question as to why he did such caring things for me when he didn’t have to. But maybe I already knew the answer, which was because he cared for me and wanted to make me happy, and perhaps I did my best to avoid it.

  “So…” he looked over the book, then back at me, “have you tried one?”

  I sipped my tea. Clearly he’d watched me make mine at his mother’s because it tasted perfect, and my stomach danced with butterflies—even if I did my best to quash them—to know he was so attentive. “I’m working up to it.”

  His head cocked. “What’s the problem?”

  “Life-changing moment,” I replied honestly. “I’m still trying to decide if I’m ready for this if it works.”

  The Goddess loved my having this book and these spells, but her warning came with it. All I knew as an Enchantress would be forever changed and, strangely enough, the warning was more powerful than usual, and I couldn’t make sense of it.

  What would change so drastically by my using new spells? It didn’t add up and that worried me.

  “A good change?” Kale inquired.

  “I’m not sure.” I sipped my tea, and the warm liquid gave a boost to my energy levels. “That’s the problem.”

  He considered me a moment. “Most would be thrilled to receive a higher power and grow in their abilities.” His look became measured. “So, why does it worry you?”

  “Not worry necessarily.” I shook my head and tried to sort it all out in my own mind—exactly what I’d been doing for half an hour, apparently. “But the Goddess is lit up inside me right now.”

  He paused as if I had totally stumped him. “Lit up?”

  I glanced at the book, placed my hand on top, and heat rushed through my veins as if I had a high-grade fever. “She’s confusing me.”

  “Confusing how?”

  “She likes me having this book and these spells are mine to use, I don’t doubt it, but she’s so active it almost feels like a warning. As if something is going to change the moment I use them.”

  He smiled. “Maybe you have never practiced this level of magic and it has awakened her in ways you’ve never experienced.”

  “Possibly.” True enough, the Goddess would feel different to me now. I’d experienced that even while in training. A shift in power always made me feel stronger and more confident, but this was different.

  Kale must have read the hesitation in my expression because he asked, “You think there’s more to it?”

  I nibbled my lip, running my hand along the rough paper. Tingles tickled my fingertips and rushed up my arm. I cleared my thoughts, attempting to read her, see past my own thoughts and focus only on her. “She’s normally active like this when she’s warning me of danger. Right now I’m not in any, so, yeah, it’s confusing.”

  “The danger tomorrow night, maybe?” he offered.

  “Another possibility.”

  Too many possibilities were laid out before me and without a solid one to grab, it was troublesome. “But it’s more than that and, like I’ve said—life-changing. Almost like by using the spells more danger awaits me, yet at the same time she wants me to accept it.” I shook my head in frustration. “Now you get why I’m confused.”

  Kale shifted on the bed, bouncing the mattress under both of us. Some tea spilled over the ridge of my cup onto my jeans. “How do you think your life would change?”

  I wiped at the dampness on my leg. “I wish I knew.”

  “Because it would give you answers?”

  I snorted. “Because it’d make deciding whether to go down this road or not a lot easier.”

  His expression turned gentle, as it usually did when he noticed my stress. “You’ve got a bright future, Libby, regardless of if you use those spells or not.” He placed his hand over mine and a shot like electricity sped up my arm. “The choice is yours to make. You don’t have to do this.”

  I drew in a long breath and stared at our hands, wishing it was that easy. “No big decision has ever been mine, really. The Goddess led me and I followed. I’m not sure if I’m hesitant now because…”

  Kale allowed my pause for only a few seconds before he said, “All the distrust around you right now is causing you to have a hard time cutting through the bullshit to see what the right thing to do is.”

  Wasn’t that spot on? “Exactly.”

  I looked down again to our hands. As odd as it was, a strong connection existed with Kale, and it made me sad because he was a big part of the bullshit I needed to sort out. “I don’t trust my judgment.”

  Kale stayed silent for a few long moments, and then he removed his hand. “Soon, Libby, life will settle.”

  “Yeah, well, any time would be great.”

  He glanced down at his lap, hesitating long enough that it was clear something serious was on his mind. “I know I’m not entitled, but can you answer something for me?”

  I took another sip of tea. “Depends on what it is.”

  “When I first met you, you seemed to think the worst of warlocks and then your behavior since—even with Jace—has only confirmed it.” The intensity in his eyes deepened. “I understand in part because of what happened with Bryon, but there has to be more to it than that.”

  Oh, I so didn’t want to go there with him. But truth was, deep down I wanted to tell him. Besides, maybe I could use this as an advantage to get him to talk, too. With that hope, I pressed on. “It’s complicated.”

  He smiled in his tender way, and said equally softly, “It can’t be that complicated.”

  I glanced down at the now-half-empty teacup. “I had a shitty father who wanted nothing to do with me. Plus, in my job, with the gifts I have, warlocks can get competitive.”

  “Have you met your father?”

  Of course he’d focus on that. “Never.” I finally lifted my head, and the sadness in his eyes stormed into me and raised my defenses. “Don’t pity me. Honestly. Don’t.”

  “It’s not pity, Libby.” He shook his head slowly. “Sympathy, yes.”

  “I don’t want it,” I countered. “I don’t think, or care, about him.”

  “I beg to differ. That broken relationship drives you.”

  What was this, a therap
y session? “No, that relationship set the foundation.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I had a predisposition to dislike warlocks because one wronged my mother. It’s her you should pity. Her heart holds the scars of his actions.” I loosened my fingers when I realized I was gripping the teacup too tightly. “Warlocks had to prove themselves to me. Guess what, none did. They were exactly as I thought.”

  “Because they were competitive?”

  I nodded. “They were always out for the glory.” I offered him a pointed look. “Arrogant. Secretive. Not what they said they were.”

  His jaw clenched, but that was the only sign that what I said affected him. “But what if they had no choice?”

  I sipped my tea, watching him. The torment that ran through him was a fierce thing to behold. “Then that’s on a case-by-case basis, isn’t it? I can forgive, Kale, but some things are unforgivable.”

  Kale’s expression twisted as if this troubled him, and I wondered if the remaining secrets between us might be unforgivable.

  “Do you know who your father is?” he asked.

  I allowed the shift in topic since I wasn’t too keen on it anyway. “I have no idea who he is.”

  “Your mother never told you?”

  I took another sip of my tea. “I never asked.”

  His brow furrowed. “You didn’t want to know about him?”

  “Why would I?” I retorted. “He walked out on my mother after she told him she was pregnant. I know all I need to about him. I want him in my life as much as he wanted me in his.”

  “I see.”

  Kale stared at me for so long it became awkward, but he obliged me with a no-pity look. Maybe he realized this conversation was done, because after a few moments, he tapped the book. “Decision time is now. You need rest if you intend to help tomorrow, and it’s almost dawn now.”

  I glimpsed the lightening sky through my bedroom window. It was now or never.

  Fate gave me this book, the Goddess approved, and right now I focused on that. Even though my own thoughts were more confused than ever, I looked past my doubt and apparent lack of confidence, and did what I always did. I accepted my path because the Goddess led me to it. “All right. Let’s do this.”