The Hidden Grimoire

by Karla Brandenburg

  Georgia snuggled closer, setting off more warning bells inside my head.

  “Is Remy sleeping?” LeAnne asked Georgia.

  “Yes, Mommy.” She pulled away and rubbed her eyes with her fists—eyes that looked bruised from lack of sleep.

  “You look tired, too,” I said. “Is it nap time?”

  “The baby doesn’t sleep through the night,” LeAnne said. “He’s keeping us all awake, I’m afraid.”

  “Would you like a nap now?” I asked Georgia.

  Georgia glanced at LeAnne, then nodded and burrowed closer. I carried her to the sofa and sat down, but she was in no hurry to leave my lap. Ash leapt up beside us, nuzzling Georgia’s legs.

  LeAnne sat in a chair opposite. “I’m so pleased she’s taken to you,” she said. “Think how much the rest of Jason’s family would love her if they had the chance to meet her.”

  The rest of the family. Like Jeannine? Not that Jeannine didn’t love her, more like she didn’t know how. Georgia represented what had been stolen from Jeannine. What would Aunt Theresa do when she discovered Jason had not one, but two children?

  “Georgia has been a blessing,” LeAnne went on. “She’s such a help to me with Remy, and I can tell he already loves his big sister.”

  I shifted while Georgia’s sweet, warm weight grew heavier. “I’m sure that’s true, but there’s only so much a three-year-old can do, right?” I eased her onto the sofa and Ash curled against her.

  “She sings to him. And she likes to give him his bottle.” LeAnne tilted her head. “It’s the funniest thing. You remember that old Beatles song? Not Bluebird, the other one. I can’t think of it just now, but she sings it to him. I can’t imagine where she might have learned it.”

  From me. Or had Jason sung Blackbird to her? He might have heard my mother sing it to me. Then again, Jason didn’t seem the type. Once again, I considered how little I knew about my cousin.

  “I’m surprised your mother isn’t here to help you out while Jason’s gone,” I said. “Is your family in the area?”

  “I suppose that’s one of the things Jason and I have in common, our strained relationships. My parents kicked me out when I was eighteen.”

  Something we had in common, too—sort of. “I’m sorry to hear. You seem to have landed on your feet. How did you and Jason meet?”

  “I had a health insurance claim the company was disputing,” she said. “They assigned Jason to my case. We talked on the phone fairly regularly for a while. He was so helpful, and when the issue was finally resolved, I had to pick up my check at the insurance office. As soon as I met him, I knew there was something special about him. I guess he felt the same way, because when I asked him to dinner to celebrate, he accepted. I ended up getting a job working at Wisconsin Global and the rest, as they say, is history. We were married three months later.”

  I wasn’t able to hide my surprise. “That was quick.”

  “When you know, you know. We spent hours talking. Him about his family, me about mine. And then when Jeannine told us you lived right here in Hillendale, I couldn’t believe he wasn’t interested in reconnecting. You’re the one person I wanted to meet most.”

  I twisted as if a spider crawled up my spine. “Why me?”

  In the other room, the baby cried. Georgia startled, sat up and rubbed her eyes. She cried, too, but hopped from my lap and ran down the hall.

  LeAnne smiled after her. “She’s such a little mother.”

  Ash sat tall and issued a mournful meow, one of few I’d ever heard from her.

  “We should see if anything’s wrong,” I said.

  LeAnne sighed. “I suppose he might need a change. Georgia can’t manage that quite yet.”

  I pinched my fingers, widened them, fighting the negative energy, calling on the white light. I pushed to my feet and forced a smile. “I’ve been waiting to meet your new little man. Sounds like now’s my chance.”

  I headed down the hall Georgia had followed and found her inside the bedroom I’d seen in my astral visit. Her sock monkey was still where I’d left it.

  Tears streamed down Georgia’s face as she clutched the slats on the side of the crib. “Don’t cry, Wemy.”

  My heart wrenched. This was not normal behavior, new mother or not. Maybe LeAnne had post-partum depression. I walked past Georgia and scooped the little boy from his crib.

  “What’s wrong, little man?” I crooned as I rocked him in my arms. Immediately, the baby quieted, staring at me with blue eyes. I held him out and sniffed his bottom, which reeked of urine. “Let’s change your diaper, shall we?” I looked around the room and found the changing table and a package of diapers.

  His diaper weighed almost as much as he did, and his skin was red and mottled. “Oh, baby,” I whispered.

  “I swear,” LeAnne said, whooshing past me to take over. “It comes out faster than it goes in. I can’t believe how much this kid pees.”

  I wanted to believe I’d misjudged LeAnne’s inattentiveness, or rather, she wanted me to believe that, but the whole scenario didn’t feel right. Before she fastened the new diaper, a fountain rose from the baby and hit LeAnne in the chest.

  “Now I have to change my shirt,” she fumed, and walked away from the baby. Who was still on the changing table, his diaper half-changed.

  Georgia cried again.

  I set Georgia on the changing table beside the baby and finished diapering Remy. “Mommy’s tired, like you’re tired. She needs a nap.” I winked for emphasis, and yet my heart broke for these children. Was LeAnne like this when Jason was home? I considered how frightened Georgia had been when I’d visited her dreams the first time, telling me Daddy was mad.

  Outside the window, a mourning dove perched in the tree, cooing softly. Echoing Georgia’s unhappiness.

  “I knew you’d understand,” LeAnne said. She stood behind me, wearing a new sweatshirt. “When Jason told me about you, I’d hoped by combining our bloodlines my daughter would be a powerful witch, but I never expected her power to manifest itself so early. Think of all the things we can do with that power.”

  Well. No beating around the bush there. She undoubtedly saw the magic in me as plainly as I saw it in her.

  “What does Jason think of all this?” I asked.

  “I can manage Jason. He’s never guessed that I’m different, and I’m sure he’ll have a change of heart with you. In fact, we could hire you as a nanny.” Her eyes glittered, sending me an uncomfortable jolt.

  “I have my business to run.”

  LeAnne ignored me and turned to Georgia. “What do you think? Shouldn’t Aunt Brynn live with us?”

  “Aunt Bwinn?” Sniffling, Georgia tucked her head into my neck once more.

  Time to go. And I wanted to take the children with me. “I promised Kyle I wouldn’t be long. Let me send him a text.” I laid the baby in the crib and Georgia on the floor. Ash dashed in and walked circles around Georgia. When I tried to pull my phone from my pocket, I couldn’t move.

  Chapter 40

  Just a cramp. After holding Georgia’s weight, and adding Remy’s, the strain had seized my muscles temporarily.

  “Not used to holding so much weight, I guess,” I said to LeAnne, flexing my arms. I tried again, and pulled my phone from my pocket.

  What could Kyle do? I’d be putting him in danger. While I stared at my phone, LeAnne glanced over my shoulder at the text. “Maybe you should text him you won’t be home tonight.”

  No. That wasn’t going to happen. I sent the text and found new confidence. “You know I can’t. How is it that Jason doesn’t know about you?”

  “What’s the old saying? Love is blind? With all the fussing he did whenever he talked about your—what did he call it? Genetic malfunction?—I didn’t dare tell him. He still doesn’t quite understand, and meeting you has confused him further. I wasn’t sure you shared the legacy when I met you in the shop, either, what with my pregnancy hormones. All those extra senses you take for granted—I couldn’t tap
into them, you know?” She tittered. “Oh, I don’t suppose you do know. You don’t have children. Even when I stopped in after my doctor’s appointment, I wasn’t sure Jason wasn’t exaggerating. That’s why I invited you over today, to see if we truly did have as much in common as I thought. Imagine what we can do. Together.”

  LeAnne bent to pick up Georgia, but Ash hissed and swatted at her.

  “Call off your cat.”

  “I don’t control what Ash does,” I said.

  LeAnne reached for Georgia once more, but wasn’t able to breach the circle Ash had built around her. She pulled back, assessing. “You know,” she went on, “we wouldn’t even need Jason. I’ll leave Remy with him, and us three can go wherever we want.”

  She’d leave Jason? And the baby? “I like it here.”

  She turned to me, a flash of disdain in her eye. “You need to think bigger picture. What we can do is nothing compared to what Georgia can, and she’ll do whatever we tell her to.”

  I took a step back, dumbfounded. “I still don’t know what you’re hoping to achieve. You know the rule of karma, don’t you?”

  “Except it wouldn’t be us. It would be Georgia, and with double the power, she should be able to manage karma.”

  My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. “You wouldn’t put her in harm’s way, though. Right?”

  LeAnne’s eyes glittered. “She would never be in harm’s way. Not with her power.”

  The baby cried again and LeAnne rolled her eyes. “Will that brat never shut up?”

  “Don’t cry, Wemy,” Georgia blubbered. “Mommy’s not mad at you.” She reached through the sides of the crib, outside the circle Ash had walked off. LeAnne put Georgia into the crib beside the baby. Georgia cradled Remy’s head in her lap and smoothed his forehead with her little hand while she sobbed. LeAnne just shook her head.

  I picked up the baby, bobbing as I carried him away. LeAnne lifted Georgia out of the crib and Georgia took hold of my pants leg, following me out. Ash trotted alongside and LeAnne made a move to kick her, but Ash raced ahead. Instantly, I wanted to kick LeAnne.

  “You can’t imagine what it’s like with him crying all day and all night.” LeAnne sighed.

  I settled onto the couch and Georgia curled beside me once more, petting her little brother while I held him. “Go to sleep, little one,” I whispered to Georgia. “Is he hungry?” I asked LeAnne.

  “Who knows. I’ll get him a bottle.”

  When she disappeared around the wall to the kitchen, I texted Jason, and damn the consequences. Even if this was post-partum depression, LeAnne needed help. His children needed help.

  “What are you doing?” LeAnne asked as I hit send.

  “I’m rocking Remy.” With a mental block firmly in place, I reached for the bottle she carried. The baby had quieted, staring into my face.

  “I meant with your phone,” she said.

  “Well, you did tell me to let Kyle know I might be longer.” Even if that wasn’t what I’d done. I offered the bottle to Remy.

  A moment later, LeAnne set a glass down in front of me. “What kind of hostess would I be if I didn’t offer you something to drink?”

  Something red. I flashed on the spell the grimoire had shown me multiple times, the spell to separate a witch from her powers, and the potion. Rosemary. Dandelion. Clematis. Mix it and let it combine until it turns red. I picked up the glass and sniffed. Definitely rosemary.

  “It’s my own recipe,” she said. “It helps me keep my strength up.”

  “Then I wouldn’t want to deprive you,” I replied.

  “Oh, I have enough for both of us.”

  I glanced at the innocent child in my arms, at the little girl asleep beside me. “I’m afraid I have my hands full at the moment.”

  “You don’t have to drink it right away.” LeAnne’s eyes glittered, and a wave of negative energy rolled toward me. With my arms full, I couldn’t call on the white light.

  Her phone buzzed with a text. She checked it, and LeAnne’s face grew red. Her lips drew tight and the muscles in her jaw pulsed. “You told Jason you were here?”

  “I didn’t feel right sneaking around behind his back. He is family, after all.”

  “What else did you tell him?”

  Georgia whimpered and snuggled in tighter. “Mommy’s not mad at you...” she murmured.

  “Shhh.” I rubbed Georgia’s back and she startled awake, crying again.

  “Thirsty,” she whined, reaching for my glass.

  “That’s for Aunt Brynn,” LeAnne said.

  Without a doubt. Would she let her daughter drink a potion meant to take away her power? Somehow, I doubted she’d allow it. “I don’t mind sharing,” I said as a test.

  Georgia leaned closer to the glass and LeAnne batted it away, spilling the contents on the floor.

  “I told you that was for Aunt Brynn,” LeAnne shrieked.

  “Let me clean that up for you,” I offered.

  “Leave it alone,” LeAnne said.

  Georgia cried harder. I set the baby on the couch beside me and wrapped an arm around Georgia, trying to comfort her. “Go back to sleep, sweetie.” Ash hopped onto the couch and paced back and forth. Creating another wall of protection?

  LeAnne spoke an incantation under her breath. “Cure her gifts like fired clay.”

  A line of green fire licked across the floor toward the spilled potion. My muscles tightened in response, like squeezing a sponge whose expelled droplets coalesced into an ice cube. If she meant to take my powers, she would lose hers in the process, a risk I was willing to take to protect Georgia. I pinched my fingers together, calling on the white light.

  Ash issued a low growl and arched her back, prancing sideways. She brushed against me, easing my chill.

  “Like fired clay,” LeAnne repeated.

  Georgia tensed beside me. Was she in range of the spell? “Momma stop.”

  Someone knocked on the door, but LeAnne ignored them. “Cure her gifts,” she whispered. “Like fired clay.”

  I tried to get off the couch and couldn’t move.

  “We aren’t finished,” LeAnne said.

  Kyle called from the other side of the door. “Brynn, are you okay?”

  “Hands full at the moment,” I called.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” LeAnne said.

  Georgia wiggled free and hopped to the floor. She stomped her foot and the green wave rippled toward LeAnne, causing LeAnne to stumble. “Mommy, no!”

  “Mommy’s not mad, Georgia, honey.” The same phrase Georgia had repeated to her brother and in her dream.

  Georgia repeated the incantation. “Cure her gifts like fired clay.”

  LeAnne raised her arms. “No, Georgia. That isn’t nice.”

  If Georgia cast the spell, intentionally or not, it would mirror back on her. “No, Georgia. You don’t know what you’re doing.” The vise inside me eased and I crouched beside Georgia. “Why don’t you go back to sleep, honey?”

  Georgia, overtired, overstressed, and shushed one too many times, wasn’t finished. Her eyes shone with an eerie light. She turned on me and the force of her energy knocked me to my butt. “Don’ wanna nap.” She turned to her mother and repeated the spell.

  Did the spell work without drinking the potion? In either case, the spell clearly stated the person casting and the intended target would both lose their powers.

  “Brynn?” Kyle called, still knocking on the door.

  “I’m okay.”

  LeAnne seemed transfixed by Georgia, her mouth open in an expression of shock.

  I reached for Georgia, cringing against the tightness that bound me. Georgia repeated the words her mother had spoken a third time, then pointed at LeAnne.

  LeAnne took two steps backward. A ripple cut through the air between them. The green waves leapt into the air until they culminated in a flash. I shielded my eyes.

  Remy cried and I picked him up from the couch, rocking him and humming. The ball of ice insi
de me trickled as it melted. Georgia lay on the floor, curled into a ball. LeAnne leaned against the wall, staring blindly.

  The front door burst open.

  “What the hell is going on in here?” Jason shouted.

  LeAnne tried to speak, but appeared too stunned. Jason rushed to Georgia and lifted her into his arms, shooting me a glare. Georgia wiggled and started to cry again.

  Nope. He wasn’t going to believe me. Not for one single second. This was all going to be my fault. I knew he’d blame me as clearly as I saw the hate in his eyes.

  Kyle followed him in, assessed the room, and circled my waist with his arm.

  I sighed, drew a deep breath. “She asked for help,” I told Jason. “I came. Now that you’re here, I can leave.” I extended Jason’s son toward him—his gurgling, contented son.

  Jason blinked. Set Georgia down and took the baby. Remy seemed to quiet Jason’s temper. “LeAnne?” he said, not taking his eyes off me.

  “She forced her way in here,” LeAnne screeched. “Tried to get me to drink a noxious potion.” She pointed at the spilled glass on the carpet.

  “Time for us to leave,” Kyle said.

  “Not so fast,” Jason sent me a heated glare. “I told you to stay away from my family. You’re trespassing, and I’m inclined to press charges.”

  Georgia hurled herself against my legs once more, still crying. “Aunt Bwinn.”

  I crouched beside her. “You’re okay, sweetie. Daddy’s here.”

  “Daddy mad.”

  “Yes, he is, but he loves you very much.” I shot Jason a glance. “Don’t you, Daddy?”

  “Of course, I do.”

  I took hold of Georgia’s hand and stood tall. “She needs sleep, and she needs to be three years old and not be taking care of the baby.”

  Jason straightened. Tilted his head as he looked at LeAnne. I recognized the stunned expression from when Kyle first understood Narcy had bewitched him, as if he’d come out of a cave into bright sunlight.

  If what Hannah had told me was true, I might have expected him to see through LeAnne while she was pregnant, when her powers were weakened. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I chose to believe he was doing what he thought was best for his family and making the most of a bad situation. I suspected things were about to change, and he wouldn’t want an audience.