Grim Tempest

by Amanda M. Lee

“I definitely intend to.”

  11

  Eleven

  “I will punch you if you don’t stop doing that.”

  Redmond, his arms folded over his chest, glared at Griffin as he kissed me before leaving for his shift.

  I ignored Redmond, but Griffin offered a wry smile.

  “If you don’t like it, don’t look,” Griffin suggested, giving me another kiss before taking a step back and focusing on me. “I know we’re working under the assumption that you’re immune from whatever this is, but do me a favor and stay out of the rain today, okay?”

  I shifted my eyes to the clear sky. “I don’t think it’s going to rain today.”

  “It wasn’t supposed to rain yesterday either,” Griffin pointed out. “I’m not sure how I feel about this storm theory, but I promised to do my best to stay out of the rain. I want you to do the same.”

  “That shouldn’t be hard. You know how I feel about getting my hair wet. Unless it’s for a sexy bath, I’m just not into it.”

  “Oh, merciful Zeus, someone come and save me,” Redmond complained.

  I grinned as I smacked his arm. “Stop being a baby. I’m ready to go.”

  “What do you think Madame Maxine will tell you?” Griffin was curious. “Do you think this is a topic she might actually know something about?”

  “She knows a lot about everything,” Redmond replied. “It can’t hurt to ask. The worst we’ll have to put up with is Aisling’s whining when Madame Maxine insists on getting a gander at her future.”

  “Why is that a problem?”

  “Because Madame Maxine likes to mess with me,” I answered. “I’m convinced that’s how she stays young. Seriously, the woman never ages. She uses my pain and suffering to smooth her wrinkles. She probably makes a lotion out of it or something as soon as I leave.”

  Griffin stared at me for a long beat, his face unreadable. “Well, have fun.” Griffin yanked open his door. “Text me a couple times today so I know you’re okay. I’ll do the same.”

  “Dirty texts?”

  “I will kill you if you don’t stop saying things like that, Aisling,” Redmond threatened. “I’m already at my limit and it’s barely eight.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I waved off his complaints and held Griffin’s gaze for a lingering moment. “Be careful.”

  “Right back at you.”

  MADAME MAXINE’S SHOP was straight out of a movie. Most people would describe it as cozy, but I wasn’t most people. I found the shop uncomfortable and I hated the overwhelming scent of lavender and lemons.

  “Well, well, well. Look who it is. What did I do to get so lucky as to deserve a visit from you two on this fine spring day?” Madame Maxine, her ankle-length skirt glittering under the pink gel lights, smiled as she approached. “It’s good to see you, Redmond.”

  My brother, always the people pleaser – especially when it came to women – stepped forward and engulfed Maxine in a bear hug. “It’s good to see you, too. I meant to stop by after the whole zombie fiasco, but I hadn’t a chance. How are you doing?”

  Maxine shrugged. “I’ve been better. I was sorry to hear what happened with that whole deal. I want you to know that I had no idea what was going down when it happened. I knew something was going on – I’ve always known that woman was evil – but I had no idea what.”

  “That’s convenient,” I muttered under my breath as I feigned interest in an odd-looking hat on a nearby shelf.

  “I see you’re still full of sunshine and light, littlest Grimlock,” Maxine said, offering up a pointed stare when I risked looking in her direction. “How are things for you?”

  “They’re super,” I said with a bit too much enthusiasm. “Thanks for asking.”

  “They’re not actually super,” Redmond corrected. “We have a … um, situation … to discuss with you. We’re kind of at a loss.”

  “I see.” Maxine’s eyes never left my face. “Well, I would be happy to share information with you.”

  Redmond beamed. “Great.”

  “For a price,” Maxine added, causing my skin to crawl. “I believe you know my price, little pouter.” She held out her hand for me to take.

  I heaved out a sigh, resigned. “I knew it would come to this.” Instead of taking her hand right away, I grabbed the flamboyant hat – which featured a feather and small fake skulls as accents – and plopped it on my head. “Why am I always the one who has to pay the price?”

  “Because you’re the one with the intriguing future,” Maxine replied without hesitation. “Don’t get me wrong, Redmond will have a lot of fun, but you will lead the rest of your family forward.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. “Why do you think that? If your answer is that it’s because I’m the only girl, I’ll be incredibly disappointed. That’s very sexist and narrow-minded.”

  Rather than be offended, Maxine merely snickered. “You’ll say anything to distract people, won’t you?”

  “It’s not limited to words,” Redmond offered. “She did a dance earlier. It was annoying, and I kind of want to strangle her for it.”

  “Oh, big words from a big brother.” Maxine made a tsking sound as she shook her head. “You don’t mean them. You secretly liked the dance.”

  “I really didn’t.”

  “You did … other than the fact that it apparently turned on this one’s boyfriend.” Maxine gestured toward me. “You didn’t like that part.”

  Redmond didn’t bother to bank his amazement. “How did you know that?”

  “I know many things.” Maxine patted his arms. “Your emotions are always right on the surface. They’re easy to pick through. Now your sister, on the other hand, she does a better job of hiding her feelings and innermost thoughts.”

  “I don’t believe that. Her emotions always seem easy to read to me.”

  “Because you see what she wants you to see.” Maxine held my gaze and flicked her fingers. “You know the price for information.”

  “Ugh.” I wrinkled my nose but held out my hand all the same. “I freaking hate it when you do this. It gives me stomach issues and gas. It also gives me a headache and premature PMS. It might also give me the vapors, even though I’ve only read about that in books. Have I mentioned that I hate doing this? It’s so stupid.”

  “Shh.” Maxine pressed her eyes shut as she tightly gripped my hand. For lack of anywhere else to look, I studied her face and found that I profoundly disliked the way her eyes seemed to careen from side to side under her lids. It was disconcerting and kind of creepy. “Hmm.”

  Maxine was thoughtful when she finally released my hand.

  “Well, what did you see?” I asked after a beat. I didn’t really want to know, but not knowing somehow felt like torture. “Am I going to be swallowed by a giant turtle and disappear into another realm?”

  Maxine chuckled as she shuffled toward a table in the corner of the room. She took the time to pour three cups of tea before gesturing for us to sit.

  “I saw what I always see when I consider your future,” she replied after a moment. “I guess that’s not exactly true. I used to see darker things. I still see a few darker things, but they’re disappearing rapidly. Your future looks much brighter than it used to.”

  I didn’t know what to make of that. “So I’m going to move to Disney World and reside in the princess castle? That’s what you’re saying, right?”

  “I would’ve thought you’d be happier moving into Hogwarts at Harry Potter world,” Redmond noted.

  Hmm. He had a point. “Okay, I switch my vote. I want to move to Hogwarts.”

  Maxine didn’t bother to hide her eye roll. “You won’t live in either spot, but I don’t think you really care about that. As for your future, it makes for an intriguing sight. I’m kind of curious to see how things will play out.”

  “You’re a seer,” I reminded her. “Don’t you already know how things are going to play out? Isn’t that your entire shtick?”

  “No one’s future is
set in stone, little Grimlock. Every change involves a choice. Your future could go one way with a certain choice or completely the opposite with another. It used to be that when I looked at your future I only saw the potential for dark choices. Somehow you’ve managed to turn that around, although you haven’t done it by yourself. I believe the man who gave you that ring is partially responsible.”

  I glanced at my engagement ring and frowned. “Are you saying I needed a man to be happy? If so, I disagree. I love Griffin, but I don’t need him to be happy.” Even as I said the words I wasn’t sure they were true. I needed him now to be happy – “now” being the operative word. Before, though, I certainly didn’t need him to be happy. It was a convoluted thought process to undertake.

  “You don’t need a man to be happy,” Maxine clarified. “I would never say that. I don’t have a man and I’m perfectly happy.”

  “I’ll be your man,” Redmond offered, his eyes glowed with teasing. “I’ve always wanted that job.”

  Maxine chuckled as she patted his hand. “You will be the man of many women before you find one who can handle your personality. You still have time. Your sister is different. She found her match relatively early, and he’s certainly shifted things for her. I can’t help but be impressed.”

  “I don’t really want to talk about Griffin,” I argued. “We’re here to talk about something else. Griffin isn’t a part of that. Er, well, he’s not a big part.” Technically Griffin was the reason I was so worried about the storms, but now wasn’t the time to take the conversation in that direction. “We need to know what you know about the magical storms.”

  I decided that asking if she believed the storms were real and capable of affecting moods was the wrong way to go. I wanted her to understand that I already believed in the storms and lying about what they could do would only irritate me.

  “I wondered if anyone would pick up what was happening.” Maxine remained calm and cool as she lifted her teacup and sipped. The floral mix she served us smelled like Easter and tasted like grass, so I did my best to avoid it even though I knew I might appear rude. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you were the first to figure things out.”

  “I don’t know that we’ve figured things out,” Redmond countered. “Aisling was the first one to float the idea last night and we all thought she was crazy.”

  Maxine smiled. “Did that drive you crazy, little Grimlock?”

  She had no idea. “I was fine with it,” I lied. “I’m used to being underestimated.”

  “That’s an interesting way to look at it.” Maxine sipped again before returning her cup to its saucer with a loud clink. “I’m not sure what to make of the storms. I’ve heard of people possessing the power to control the weather before, but I’ve never seen it. Even so, what’s happening now is somehow different.”

  “Different how?” Redmond prodded.

  “Well, for starters, controlling the weather and influencing moods through storms are not the same. In truth, I thought the power to influence moods through storms was long lost to this world … and that was for the better.”

  “Who developed the power?” I asked.

  “It depends on who you ask.” Maxine shifted on her chair. “Some believe the voodoo practitioners in the south somehow managed to harness the weather and used the storm power for rituals.”

  “But you don’t believe that.”

  Maxine shook her head. “It doesn’t feel like them, if you catch my drift.”

  “Not really.”

  “The power to control moods is dangerous. It was abandoned by all those who embraced the light centuries ago,” Maxine explained. “At first it was used merely at parties and gatherings to make people have a good time. It was started for good reasons, but like anything else, it was co-opted by those who wanted to use magic for more nefarious reasons.”

  “You’re basically saying the spell was taken by the dark side of the Force so the Sith could use it to defeat their enemies,” I noted.

  Maxine chuckled. “I’m pretty sure that’s not what I said, but you’re not wrong. Evil people saw they could use the power and decided to experiment in multiple ways. That included causing soldiers to turn on each other rather than the enemy during battle. It also turned into a way to distract adults so children could be taken for other rituals.”

  My stomach flipped at that. “I would say that’s using the storms for evil means.”

  “Definitely,” Redmond agreed. “Why do you think someone would pick this area to unleash the storms now?”

  “I don’t know, and I’m troubled by it,” Maxine answered. “I’m sure there’s something bigger at work here, although I have no idea what. Causing humans to fight for no reason other than entertainment seems off unless I’m reading the signs incorrectly. It’s far more likely that whoever is doing this is trying to distract people so he or she can either steal something big or take down someone even bigger.”

  In a weird way, that made sense. “So who would have the power to do this?” I asked. “Someone couldn’t simply read a book and make it happen, right? He or she would’ve needed training?”

  “A novice couldn’t stumble across an old spell and make this happen,” Maxine agreed. “That means we’re dealing with someone powerful. Our biggest problem is that we need a motive to track a culprit, and I can’t come up with an acceptable motive other than outright mayhem. Nothing in the storm trails makes sense.”

  “So what do you suggest we do?” Redmond asked. “We need information. Cillian found a symbol in a book and Aisling claims she saw the symbol the other day at a police officer’s house when she was there to do a job. Do you know anything about this?” Redmond held up his phone so Maxine could study the screenshot.

  Maxine stared for a long time before shaking her head. “I don’t recognize that. I wish I did because that would give me somewhere to look, but that’s not familiar to me.” She swiveled in my direction. “You saw it in a police officer’s house? On what?”

  “It was on a silver disc. He had a bunch of metaphysical stuff on a shelf and that was one of the items.”

  “But you didn’t see anything else?”

  “No. I didn’t think anything about it until I saw the symbol again this morning.”

  “Hmm.” Maxine tapped her bottom lip. “That doesn’t exactly clear anything up, but I think I can track down a book of ancient symbols and learn more. That will be my top priority this afternoon.

  “As for you two, I think you should go to a local shaman I know,” she continued, grabbing a sheet of paper from a notebook on the corner of a table and scrawling an address. “His name is Zake Zezo. He’s very knowledgeable about long-forgotten spells. If anyone can give you direction, it’s him.”

  “Zake Zezo, huh?” I stared at the address, which was in the heart of Detroit. “What kind of shaman is he?”

  “The kind who doesn’t suffer fools but enjoys a good conversation,” Maxine replied. “He will be intrigued by both of you. Be careful not to share too much of yourselves. He will read surface emotions, so do your best to shield.”

  “Oh, well, I’m so good at shielding my emotions,” I muttered.

  Maxine snickered. “Yes, well, you might fascinate him for other reasons. He can’t delve deep, so you should be safe.”

  “Okay. At least we have a place to start.” I moved to pluck the hat off my head as I stood. “This is pretty cool. I might come back and get it for Halloween.”

  Maxine’s smile was enigmatic as she pushed back my hand. “Keep the hat.”

  I balked. “It looks expensive.”

  “I don’t care about price. I am intrigued as to why you gravitated toward it when there were so many others to choose from. That is a conversation for another time. For now, I believe you were meant to have that hat. Take it.”

  I remained dubious. “Are you sure?” I glanced to Redmond for help but he merely shrugged. I felt caught in that cloudy space where it might be considered rude to turn down a gif
t but tacky to accept it. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

  This time the laugh Maxine let loose was high-pitched and full of mirth. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that, little Grimlock. No one takes advantage of me, just like very few people can manage the same with you. Keep the hat. Before everything is said and done I think the hat will serve you well. It belongs with you.”

  “Well … okay.” I returned the hat to my head and beamed at Redmond. “Do I look like a cowboy?”

  “You look like a moron,” Redmond replied without hesitation. “But if you wear that for dinner I bet Dad and Griffin will think you’re cute enough to spoil you rotten. I, however, am immune to your cute factor.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since you learned how to talk.”

  I knew better, but we had bigger things to worry about. “Come on. We need to track down a shaman. The quicker we get answers the better off it will be for everyone.”

  “You and I finally agree on something, little Grimlock,” Maxine said. “We definitely need answers. We should all keep in touch with one another. Pooling information at this time can only help.”

  “We’ll be in touch,” Redmond promised. “Come on, Aisling. Let’s see if the shaman wants to see you dance.”

  12

  Twelve

  Zake Zezo was not what I expected. He was a tiny little guy, bald, draped in loose-fitting robes. His shop was essentially the size of a closet, wedged between a Chicken Shack and a Middle Eastern restaurant on Woodward in the heart of Detroit.

  Redmond put a hand to my back, his stance protective. He looked Zake Zezo up and down with something akin to dislike before speaking. “Madame Maxine sent us.”

  Zake Zezo was blasé. “I know.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked, sitting in one of the chairs across from him. The small table he sat behind featured a pile of items I didn’t recognize – potions, powders and oddly enough, mirrors of varying sizes – and it squeaked when I accidentally bumped my hip into it.