“Not that,” Danica replied, knowing she sounded desperate. In that moment, though, she didn’t much care. “Why…me?”
Why did you spare me, when you bled Roslyn dry to power your hideous spells?
That was the question which lurked, unspoken, in her mind, but Matías seemed to understand. He shifted on his stool, eyes moving away from hers. For the first time, he appeared almost nervous. Nervous? That was a laugh. Matías was too full of himself, even stripped of his powers as he was now, to ever be truly ill at ease.
Then he said, “I liked you.”
“Oh, please.”
“No, I did.” This time he did look at her, dark eyes narrowed. “You think I’m lying?”
She gave a helpless little shrug. Right then she didn’t know what to think.
“That was my plan at first,” he went on. “You know, to use both of you, alternating, so you’d last longer.”
She shuddered. Maybe he didn’t notice, because he went on,
“But then I decided that I didn’t want to do that.”
“Because you liked me.” Why he would have preferred her over a golden girl like Roslyn….
“Yeah. I thought….” The words died away, and he shook his head before beginning again. “I don’t know what the fuck I thought. That sure, I’d get Zoe because I needed the access to her prima powers, but that would just be for show. I’d still have you.”
“What, as your little piece on the side?”
“I guess.”
What the hell was she supposed to say to that? Was she supposed to feel grateful that this sociopath had thought she was hot, and so he’d keep her around as his bed buddy, even while he used the prima-in-waiting of the de la Paz clan as his personal steppingstone to power?
“That’s messed up, Matías.”
“It’s the truth.”
A long pause. He seemed to be watching her, waiting for her reaction, but all she could feel was an odd sort of numbness. It somehow seemed even more awful to know that Roslyn had died because Matías had decided he didn’t want to use Danica in the way he’d originally intended.
“Okay,” she said at last. “Thanks for being honest, I guess.”
This time she did hang up the phone.
He made no move to stop her.
* * *
On the drive back to Caitlin’s house, Danica kept wishing she’d had the guts to throw her belongings in the back of the Land Rover so she could have driven straight home to Flagstaff from the Florence prison facility. But she’d told everyone she’d be spending the weekend down in Tucson, going over wedding stuff with Caitlin, and if she’d bolted like that after being in Tucson for barely a day, her behavior would have raised even more eyebrows.
Actually, this whole wedding thing was making her a little crazy. Danica knew that Caitlin had tried to take as much of the burden off her as possible, had asked Roslyn’s older sister Jenny to be her maid of honor, even though Caitlin had once hoped that Danica would fill that role. But no way could she do all the wrangling that being maid of honor involved. Jenny was still grieving over her sister’s death, but she was also Caitlin’s cousin. She’d already been maid of honor at several other McAllister weddings and knew the drill. And it seemed as if Jenny was glad to have something to take her mind off Roslyn’s death.
Whereas Danica couldn’t seem to focus on much of anything at all. She’d dropped out of school for now. Her parents told everyone that she’d be back, that this was just a temporary sabbatical, but was it?
She didn’t know. She’d been intent on coming down here to confront Matías, to ask him the question that had been preying on her mind ever since she’d woken up enough to understand what had really happened during those days when she’d been the dark warlock’s captive. And now that she had her answer, what the hell was she supposed to do?
Nothing, probably. She’d been doing a whole lot of that lately. Her parents had wanted her to see a shrink, but that experiment had been a dismal failure. No one in the Wilcox clan was a psychologist or even a counselor, and so she’d had to try talking to a civilian. And what was the point of that? She couldn’t discuss any of the real details of her situation. No, she’d had to basically lie her ass off and say that she’d been drugged by Matías, when she’d actually been controlled by his unique — and extremely dangerous — magical powers of coercion.
After three visits to the psychologist, she’d put her foot down and said no way, that now she felt guilty about lying to her shrink on top of everything else, and that was the end of that. Ever since, she’d been loitering around her parents’ house — she couldn’t have stayed in the apartment she once shared with Caitlin, since Caitlin had moved in with Alex and Danica’s parents wouldn’t hear of their daughter living alone after what had happened to her — and not doing much of anything. Watching TV. Eavesdropping on other people’s lives on Facebook. She’d probably be as big as a house, except the one thing that seemed to help was walking around the neighborhood. Her family’s home was located in the Country Club Estates section of Flagstaff, and so there were plenty of artificial lakes to roam around, lots of tree-lined streets where she could walk and breathe in the clean air and not think about much of anything at all.
When Danica got back to the house Caitlin shared with Alex, there didn’t seem to be any sign of him, even though it was almost six thirty. She parked the Land Rover on the street, and went up and rang the doorbell.
Caitlin let her in, eyes full of questions, but she appeared to realize that Danica wasn’t much in the mood for conversation.
“Alex?” Danica asked briefly.
“He called about a half-hour ago. Something came up, so he won’t be home for dinner.”
“That sucks.”
“I know. This is his dream job, so I’m trying not to say anything, but this is the fourth time in the last two weeks that he’s gotten stuck there late.” She sighed and pushed a lock of bright copper hair away from her face. “I’m doing my best to be understanding, but it’s just tough sometimes. I want to be with him, you know?”
“I’m sure it’ll be okay,” Danica said, glad that she could focus on her friend’s problems rather than her own. “He’s new, so he’s probably just trying to prove himself.”
A nod, although Caitlin didn’t look all that convinced. “Maybe. Anyway, since we’re free agents, we might as well go out. I’ll take you downtown.”
And that was where they headed, to a restaurant Danica had wanted to try for a while, since it was owned by the same company that ran a couple of eating establishments up in Flagstaff. They ordered some truffle fries to nosh on, and each got a glass of wine. That was about all Danica thought she could manage; she’d never been much of a drinker.
Then again, after the day she’d had….
“You want to talk about it?” Caitlin asked, sipping at her glass of pinot grigio.
“Not really.” How in the world could Danica tell Caitlin that her cousin had ended up dead because Matías had gotten a hard-on for her instead?
Luckily, Caitlin only nodded. Unlike a lot of people, she knew when not to push. “So…what now?”
“I don’t know. Go try on those shoes you picked out. Get stuck full of pins at the bridal shop one last time. Go home.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Danica felt like telling her friend that she was the one who could see the future, so she should be advising Danica on what was supposed to happen next, not vice versa. But it didn’t always work that way.
The malbec she’d ordered suddenly tasted sour, but she took another swallow anyway. “I’m just…I don’t know. It’s like I know that that asshole did a number on me, but I can’t figure out a way to fix it.”
“Maybe you don’t have to fix it,” Caitlin said gently. “Maybe you just have to learn how to live with it.”
That option didn’t sound very appealing. It wasn’t as if Matías had given her an incurable disease. He’d messed with her head, messed with her body, but
she was still alive, wasn’t she? There had to be some way to get past what he’d done.
Her expression must have been dubious, because Caitlin shook her head. “I’m not saying it’s something that’s going to happen instantly. It hasn’t even been six months yet.”
“Six months is a long time. Look at how much your life has changed in the past few months.”
Somewhat to Danica’s surprise, Caitlin didn’t smile at that comment. Her expression remained serious as she regarded her friend. “Yes, it’s changed. And yours can, too. You just have to give yourself permission to change. Don’t give Matías the power to permanently mess up your life.”
When Caitlin made that suggestion, she made it sound so easy.
“Well, I’m trying not to,” Danica replied, “but it’s not going so great right now.”
Caitlin opened her mouth to answer, but then she paused, her blue-green eyes going glassy. A casual observer might have thought that she’d simply had too much to drink, but Danica knew her friend better than that. She wasn’t drunk.
She was having a vision.
“What are you seeing, Cate?”
A blink, and then Caitlin swiveled her head toward Danica. Her gaze was still a little unfocused, but she sounded normal enough as she said, “You need to go back to Flagstaff.”
“Well, yeah, I was heading back on Sunday.”
“No. You need to go back tomorrow.”
“What about the shoes?”
“Okay, we’ll go to the bridal store first thing in the morning. Then you need to go home.”
“Do you want to tell me why?”
Another blink. “I can’t say exactly for sure. I just get this feeling that you need to be there. I saw pine trees…quiet. It wasn’t a neighborhood like where your parents’ house is, though. Someplace near town, but not really in it. I did see part of one building…it looked like it might have been a log cabin.”
“‘A log cabin’?” Danica repeated. What the…. Then, as understanding seemed to roll over her, “Our log cabin?”
“You have a log cabin?”
“Well, I don’t,” Danica replied. “It belongs to the clan. I guess it was the cabin that my great-great-whatever grand-uncle Jeremiah built when he brought all the Wilcoxes out to the Arizona Territory in the late 1870s.”
“That cabin,” Caitlin said firmly. “So it’s seriously a for-real log cabin?”
“Kind of. I mean, we’ve updated it, because we all sort of share it for weekend getaways in the summer or whatever. But it still looks like a log cabin on the outside.”
The dreamy look returned to Caitlin’s eyes. “Getaways. That’s exactly it, Danica. You need to get away.”
“To the cabin?”
Caitlin nodded.
“By myself?”
Another emphatic nod.
Great, Danica thought. My parents are just going to love this….
2
“You want to do what?” Olivia Wilcox demanded, staring at her daughter as if she truly had lost her mind this time.
“I want to go stay at the cabin for a while. No one’s using it, right? I mean, everyone’s kids should be back in school, and — ”
“No, it’s not being used at the moment,” Olivia said. “That’s not the point.”
Danica bit back a huff of annoyance. This was no time to sigh or roll her eyes or impatiently shift her weight from one foot to another the way she might have back in high school when her mother decided to be difficult about something. If Caitlin believed it was important for Danica to go to the cabin, then, damn it, Danica was going to that cabin. Even if Olivia Wilcox thought it was a crazy idea.
“Look, Mom,” Danica said. “I just think a change of scenery might be a good thing. I can be quiet and still there, sort through some things.”
“You can be quiet and still here. Mason’s moved out, and your father’s at work all day. And I’m gone half the time volunteering at the hospital.”
Yes, her mother definitely liked to be the lady of good works. And it was nice of her to volunteer when she could be spending all day at the golf course or at Pilates or whatever it was the other über-fit housewives in their upscale neighborhood did to fill their days. But even though Danica had the house to herself a good deal of the time, it still wasn’t the same as being truly, truly alone.
“I can…and I can’t. Sometimes you need a change of scenery. It’s just the other side of town. It’s not like I’m planning to go rent a flat in Paris or something.”
Now, there would be a change of scenery. Unfortunately, because of the territorial nature of the witch clans’ world, such trips rarely happened, if ever. The Wilcoxes were now on more or less friendly terms with the de la Pazes, who held sway over the southern half of Arizona, and so it was no big deal for Danica to go and spend a weekend with Caitlin in Tucson. But Paris? Not going to happen.
Olivia’s expression was a study in uncertainty. On the one hand, she probably thought it a good sign that her daughter was trying to strike out on her own instead of spending another day brooding in the house. On the other, that same daughter hadn’t exactly exhibited all the signs of mental stability lately….
But because Olivia hadn’t yet given a definitive no, Danica decided to push on. “I can be home in twenty minutes if something comes up. I know when you’re there, that cabin feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere, but we all know it really isn’t. There’s a phone and electricity and everything.”
A long pause. “Have you talked to your father about this?”
“Well, no. I figured I’d ask you first.”
Danica’s mother didn’t look exactly thrilled to have the burden of the decision placed on her, but then she shrugged. “If he’s okay with it, then I guess it’s all right. But how long are we talking about here?”
Good question. Danica really had no idea, but she knew if she left her plans completely open-ended, her mother would probably freak out. Olivia Wilcox was all about nice straight lines and not a whole heck of a lot of thinking outside the box, which was part of the reason she’d had such a difficult time dealing with her daughter after the whole Matías incident. Suddenly, Danica wasn’t acting like Danica anymore, the go-getter daughter Olivia had raised gone, maybe forever, and she didn’t know what to do about it.
“A few days to start,” Danica said, hoping that would be enough. To tell the truth, she really had no idea how much time she’d need to spend at the cabin. Caitlin hadn’t been very specific. “I’ll see how it goes from there.”
That answer didn’t appear to reassure her mother, but neither did she raise any additional objections. And that, Danica figured, was probably as good as it was going to get.
* * *
Joseph Wilcox also didn’t put up any roadblocks, except to say that Danica should call him if she found anything at the cabin that needed fixing. “It should be fine, but your cousin Cody was out there with some of his college buddies last, so God only knows what shape they left it in.”
A warning Danica appreciated. Cody definitely knew how to party.
Her cousin Lucas was the keeper of the key to the cabin, so after she’d loaded up the Land Rover with enough changes of clothes and supplies to last her for a few days, she swung by his house first. She felt weird about calling, and figured someone should be around. It turned out Lucas wasn’t home, but his wife Margot answered the door. At her side was their little girl Mia, who was probably the most beautiful child Danica had ever seen. And well-behaved, too, unlike Angela and Connor’s hellions. Okay, Ian and Emily weren’t exactly hellions, but they did tend to keep their parents on their toes.
“I’ll get the key,” Margot said, stepping aside so Danica could come inside the entryway. Her gaze was curious but friendly. “So you’re going up to the cabin?”
“Just for a few days,” Danica hedged, since she really didn’t feel like going into any detail.
“It should be pretty right now,” Margot replied, somewhat diplomatica
lly, since it was a little early to be going out there to see the fall foliage. Even at this elevation, the trees didn’t really start to turn until the end of September.
“I think so.”
Margot seemed content to leave the matter there for the moment, because she excused herself to get the key from Lucas’ study. As Danica waited, she tried not to be too put off by the way little Mia just stood there and stared up at her with big brown eyes. The girl was only around two, but she seemed awfully serene for a two-year-old.
“Um, hi, Mia,” Danica said.
Mia blinked, then extended the stuffed rabbit she held in one hand. “Bunny?”
“Yes, that’s a bunny.”
The little girl shook her head. “No, bunny.”
Even spending time with her cousins’ myriad offspring hadn’t made Danica entirely comfortable around very small children. She was okay once they were old enough to more or less talk to, but toddlers were an entirely different matter altogether.
“It’s a very nice bunny,” Danica offered. Well, in actual truth, it was looking a little shopworn, but she supposed that tended to be the fate of most stuffed animals.
Mia shook her head, then marched over to Danica and pushed the toy up against her nearest hand. “Bunny.”
Oh, lord. Danica took the stuffed animal, mostly because she didn’t know what else to do. But what if Mia started to cry once she realized she wasn’t holding on to her beloved toy?
Luckily, Margot reappeared at that moment. Obviously fighting back a smile, she said, “I see that Mia’s given you her bunny.”
“Yeah, she seemed kind of insistent about it.”
“Well, it’s no ordinary rabbit. It’s magical.”
Of course it is, Danica thought wryly. From the twinkle in Margot’s dark eyes, she guessed that the other woman was playing along with some fantasy of her daughter’s. “That’s great, but, um…why did she give it to me?”
“Obviously, she thinks you need it.”
Maybe I do need a magical bunny. That wouldn’t the weirdest thing that’s happened to me lately.
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