Cauldron Bubble (Toil & Trouble Book 1)

by Wendy Knight

  Destiny wanted to melt through the floor with embarrassment. Could he have dismissed the idea that they might be together any less quickly?

  “Do you know how to unlock the door?” Quin asked.

  Oh. He was talking to her. She shook her head.

  “She doesn’t know how. I don’t think she’s been trained — Yeah, hang on.” He handed Destiny the phone. “There’s a spell. She’s going to teach it to you.”

  Destiny wasn’t sure she had any magic left, but she took the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hi, honey. Are you okay?”

  Destiny didn’t know this woman, but the kindness in her voice nearly drove Destiny to tears again. She nodded, realized the woman couldn’t see her, and finally answered a meek, “Yes.”

  “Okay. I just need you to stand in front of the door, and hold your wand so it’s touching the knob. Can you do that?”

  Destiny didn’t have a wand. But she didn’t want to admit that, so she got up and stumbled quite ungracefully over to Quin’s side and held her hand against the knob.

  “Okay, concentrate all your energy on turning the lock, and repeat after me: Recludam for me, let thee free.”

  Obediently, Destiny repeated the words. She felt the magic pulling at her, warming her blood, rushing to her hand. Concentrating was nearly more than her poor brain could handle, but the magic within her knew what to do, leaping from her fingers in a burst of air, shaking the knob. It rattled under her touch and then there was a distinct click.

  “Nice work.” Quin took the phone. “She did it. Thanks so much, Hope. I’ll clean up any messes.” And then he laughed. “No, there will be no messes. Yeah, thanks.” He hung up and ushered Destiny inside. “She said no parties. Control yourself, if possible.”

  Destiny thought of rolling her eyes, but decided she was too tired. When she didn’t, Quin’s eyes widened in alarm.

  “Are you going to be okay?”

  “I’m starving,” she said quietly.

  “Okay. Hang on, let me see what we’ve got.” He slid his shoes off and padded across the apartment as Destiny shut the door behind them. She was incredibly aware that they were alone together. Good thing they hated each other or this could be really awkward.

  ”We’ve got cereal, or I can run to the store for pancake mix if you want.”

  Please don’t leave me. “No, that’s okay. Cereal would be great. Thank you.” Well. Look at her all able to use full sentences and stuff.

  Quin wasn’t big on talking, instead seeming to prefer watching her suspiciously, although he did eat with her. Not five minutes later, she was downing the last of her cereal and felt more human than she had in a few hours — but still with a long way to go, and now that she was safe and not dying of starvation, she couldn’t keep her eyes open.

  “Luca said you’d need sleep,” Quin said when Destiny’s head slid off her palm and she nearly smacked her face into the table. “Bedroom’s this way.” Quin led the way through the apartment, into the bedroom. Without a word, he closed the blinds. Destiny slid off her shoes and climbed under the covers as Quin backed out. “Let me know if you need anything.” He cleared his throat and looked away before he shut the door behind him.

  She burrowed deeper under the covers, wishing she could get warm. She’d been so cold for so long.

  Quin’s voice carried through the wall. “Hey, Fate. Yeah, she ate and now she’s sleeping. Everything’s fine.”

  There was a clink, like change being dropped into a jar, and then the sound of dishes in the sink. How rude of Destiny, forgetting to wash her own dishes. Her mother would not be impressed.

  The thought of her mother brought fresh tears to Destiny’s eyes. Mama.

  Quin sighed, and it sounded like he was right next to her head, but on the other side of the wall. “Don’t worry, Fate. I’ll keep her safe.”

  ****

  QUIN FELL ASLEEP ON THE COUCH. He hadn’t meant to, but he was beyond exhausted, and the thought of Destiny sleeping in the next room was driving him crazy and doing strange things to his chest. He was used to her walking through school like she owned the place, always confident, usually smirking — unless she was looking at him, in which case she was glaring. But this side of her, scared and confused and always on the verge of tears; it made him sad. He wanted to protect her with a fierceness that surprised him, to tell her she was going to be okay and hold her close enough that he could feel her heartbeat and know she was still alive. Having her out of his sight made him a nervous wreck, but he’d already checked on her twice, and he wasn’t sure his sanity could handle watching her sleep anymore.

  So he gave up and passed out on the couch.

  Fate’s text woke him. Almost there. How is she?

  He stretched and groaned, finally rolling to his feet. He started toward Destiny’s room when the front door distracted him.

  It was wide open.

  Swearing, he bolted down the hall, dread coiling in his stomach. The bedroom door, too, was wide open. Out the window, two stories below, he caught sight of a dark blur. He spun on his heel and sprinted down the hall, jerking his shoes on with one hand while he called Luca with the other.

  “What’s wrong?” Luca asked by way of hello. Quin ran out the door, jumping down the stairs. He was a running back. He ran every day for football. His coach said he was one of the fastest they’d ever had.

  And he couldn’t catch her. He could see her in the distance, but no matter how fast Quin ran, she stayed ahead of him.

  “She’s running. She gave me her truck keys, told me not to give them to her no matter what,” Quin paused for a breath. “I thought she was taking a nap. She doesn’t even have shoes on. Damn, Luca, she’s fast!”

  “Keep an eye on her. Can you call for a ride? Can you tell where she’s going? Fate, can you go any faster?”

  In the background, he heard the big truck’s engine roar.

  Quin hung up and ran harder. He chased her through the city to the highway beyond, but she didn’t slow, even when Quin’s lungs burned and his legs threatened to give way. He finally stumbled to a stop, breathing hard, his hands on his knees. He couldn’t see her anymore, but this road only went one way and she had seemed pretty intent on staying on it.

  He barely heard the truck over the pounding blood in his own ears, but he heard Fate’s bellow. “Get in!”

  He didn’t hesitate, even though every muscle screamed when he climbed inside. Fate, her white blond hair wild and her eyes full of fear, barely waited for him to shut the door before she slammed on the gas, the big truck leaping forward.

  When Quin had started this, all he’d wanted to do was save his mother. He maybe, if forced to admit it, had had a small crush on Destiny at one point. But worry for his mom had sent that from his mind. Now, though, after seeing Destiny so vulnerable, watching her sleep and listening to her whimper through her dreams, that had changed. Now, he was just as afraid for Destiny as he was his mother.

  “Where was she headed?” Fate asked.

  “Straight down this road. The last time I saw her, she’d past the sign for Craters of the Moon.”

  “She’ll be okay, Luca.” Fate nodded, even though her white-knuckled hands shook on the wheel. “She’s the strong one.”

  Luca smiled over at her. “I know. You’ve mentioned, two or three hundred times.”

  Fate ducked her head, blushing.

  “Have you—has your mom ever said anything—anything about something like this?” Fate asked, glancing over her shoulder at Quin.

  He shook his head. “Nothing I can remember.”

  “Me either,” Fate said sadly. “And Luca—Luca is a doctor and he hasn’t, either. He’s a witch doctor.” She half-smiled at her little play on words.

  “Something like that,” Luca said.

  Quin knew someone who would. His mother, obviously, but since she wasn’t available, the witch who had made the potions. The one Eldest didn’t think really made the potions. Eldest would actually be the bes
t choice, but he was fairly positive she didn’t have a cell phone.

  Unfortunately, Quin didn’t have service.

  Luca spoke up again, because Fate’s entire body trembled so hard her hands shook on the wheel. “So apparently your sister is quite the runner.”

  Fate gritted her teeth, glancing again in the rearview mirror. “She’s been running since we were little. She likes the peace in the forest. I always told her that stupid habit would get her into trouble.”

  Quin would have smiled if they weren’t all so terrified.

  Several more seconds passed in tense silence. Quin had just checked his phone for the eight thousandth time, wondering why he didn’t have service, when from the front seat, he heard Fate swear.

  His heart stopped and he spun around in his seat. Red and blue lights flashed behind them as Fate slowly pulled the big truck to the shoulder. “Never a ticket in my entire life. This is coming out of Destiny’s share of our Etsy store,” she muttered.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Luca said.

  Fate hesitated, twisting her fingers in her lap. “Okay.”

  Goosebumps rose on Quin’s arms. That word, the voice behind it, did not bode well.

  Fate’s hand shook as she hit the button to roll down the window. “Hi.”

  “Do you have any idea how fast you were going, young lady? Get out of the car.”

  “I’m really sorry,” Fate whispered.

  “Sorry doesn’t slow the truck down,” the man said, his voice softening just a bit.

  “Not for that.” Fate bit her lip, glanced at Luca, and then back at the police officer who suddenly had his hand on his gun at his hip, his entire posture changing in an instant.

  Fate raised her hand, slowly. The man relaxed almost imperceptibly, but his scowl deepened. “Not for that,” Fate said. “For this.” She twitched her finger, twirled her hand in a half-circle, and seemed to dot the whole thing with her pinky. The man’s knees buckled and he sank forward.

  Fate was out of the truck and able to catch him before his face hit the dirt. She tugged him back toward his car while Luca and Quin both just stared at her in horror.

  “Did you kill him?” Luca bellowed. “That’s not what I told you to do!”

  “I didn’t kill him. He’s sleeping. Help! He’s heavy.” Fate grunted, pulling him back toward his car.

  Quin moved faster than Luca, jumping out after Fate. He picked up the man’s feet and helped Fate carry him back to the squad car. “Do you know how to work their radio?” Fate asked breathlessly.

  Because he’d been in so many cop cars. Quin shook his head.

  She reached over the policeman and snagged the radio. She pushed a few buttons before it made the beep she apparently wanted. “Hello?” She released the button.

  “This is dispatch. Who is this?”

  “Hi. My name is Fate. This policeman pulled me over, but he—he passed out or something, and I’ve gotta go. We put him in his car, and he’s safe, but someone should probably come check on him. We’re on US Highway 26.”

  She dropped the radio, stared at Quin with wide blue eyes for half a second, and then booked it back to the truck. Quin shut the door and ran after her, because he wouldn’t put it past her to drive off and leave him if he took too long.

  Fate shifted into gear as he climbed in. The door wasn’t even shut before they were roaring back down the highway, just as fast as they’d been before.

  “How did you do that?” Luca asked.

  Quin had wondered, too. In all his life, he’d never seen his mother do anything magic-related without a potion or her wand. Never had she even mentioned that it was possible.

  Fate shrugged. “I used to do it to Destiny when she wouldn’t go to bed when I wanted.”

  “Fate…”

  “What? She does it, too!”

  Luca glanced at Quin and then back to Fate. “Does your mother know you do this?”

  Fate nodded. “I did it yesterday, you know. The blanket at the meet? You saw the whole thing.”

  Luca ran a hand over his face. “I was distracted yesterday. Lost love of my life and two new daughters, you know.” He took a deep breath. “She never said anything about it?”

  Fate half-shook her head, and then paused. “There was once. We did it in front of Winnie and my mom got really mad. She told us we should never do that in front of Winnie.”

  “Winnie!” Quin yelled. “That’s her name!”

  Fate nearly wrecked the truck.

  “Quin!” they both yelled.

  “Sorry. There was a witch. I was going to have my dad find her so I could talk to her. I thought she might know what Destiny is doing.”

  “Are you friends with this witch?” Fate asked. Her voice was completely flat, her eyes dark as the watched him in the mirror.

  He shook his head. “No. She came to my mother’s room. Eldest wanted to talk to her about some potions she created…”

  Fate’s hands on the wheel jerked and the truck swayed. “What!” she yelled. “Potions she created?”

  “Well… Eldest seemed to imply that she didn’t create them, but Winnie was pretty adamant. And I thought maybe she would know—”

  “She didn’t create them,” Fate bellowed. She turned to Quin. “She said she took our potions to the potion witches at the Coven and they would recreate them!” To Luca, she said, “She is taking credit for our potions!”

  Luca scowled. “That…” he snapped his mouth shut and glanced, ashamed, at Fate. “…is not very nice of her.”

  Yeah. Totally not what he’d been about to say.

  “So…You know her then?” Quin asked after they both fell silent.

  Fate snorted. “She’s my aunt.”

  “And the woman who ruined my life,” Luca growled.

  Quin nodded. “Okay. So I guess I don’t call her and ask about all this then.”

  “No!” they both shouted.

  “Got it.”

  The truck leapt forward again.

  Luca turned to Quin, resting his arm across the back of the seat. “That is a good idea, though. Do you have anyone else you could ask? An aunt or grandmother, maybe?”

  Quin shook his head. “They’ve all been killed. Years ago.”

  Fate met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “It still hurts, you know? But it was a long time ago. My mom really struggled for a while. Went all avenging angel and stuff.”

  Fate nodded. “I would, too, if anyone hurt my sister. Or my mom.” Her face paled as her eyes lost focus. “Except that the person who hurt my mom was me.”

  Luca turned from Quin to Fate. “You couldn’t have known what she planned, Fate.”

  Quin leaned forward between the seats so Fate didn’t have to keep checking on him in the mirror. “Look. The warlocks were the ones that hurt Destiny. Your mom took Destiny’s pain, hence—” he held up a finger. “—the warlocks hurt your mom. Be angry at them.”

  Fate smiled sadly. “I’ve spent my whole life trying to convince my mom and my sister that anger doesn’t solve anything. Love rules!” She held up her pinky and pointer finger. “And now look at me. All angry and bitter and searching for revenge.”

  “Technically,” Quin sat back against his seat because he’d just caught site of the speedometer and decided he’d rather not know how fast they were going. “You’re searching for your sister. That’s not angry and bitter at all.”

  Fate’s shoulders tensed. “You wouldn’t say that if you could hear the conversations I’m trying to have with her in my head.”

  “Tell me more stories, Fate. Tell me what I’ve missed.” Clearly, Luca was trying to distract her.

  Fate started talking, the tense set of her shoulders relaxing. She told Luca about Destiny, about their loyalty to their mother, the mischief they were constantly in, even their Etsy shop.

  Quin realized he didn’t know a dang thing about Destiny—the girl he’d simultaneously crushed on and hated
at the same time. He should hate her for this. Her determination to run away was taking time that could be spent saving his mom.

  But he didn’t. He’d seen how scared Destiny was. Fate had cried when she told Luca Destiny couldn’t control herself.

  When Luca let the conversation lull, Fate whimpered, fear taking over without a distraction to keep it at bay. She would randomly close her eyes, and just when Quin was worried she had fallen asleep or passed out or that they were going to die in a fiery crash, her eyes opened again, more hopeless than before.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  DESTINY HAD SEEN PICTURES OF CRATER of the Moon State Park. It looked like Mars, or at least how she thought Mars should look. She’d always wanted to go, but this, trapped in her head the way she was, this was not the way she had hoped to go about it.

  “Fate? Help.” She sounded small and pathetic in her own head, and she knew Fate couldn’t hear her.

  She was also exhausted. She could feel how tired her body was physically, but whatever had taken her over wasn’t letting her stop. She walked right up to the pay station like it was the most normal thing ever and she didn’t need a truck at all.

  My truck.

  I miss my truck.

  The woman with the ranger hat on did look at her oddly, but she took the money Destiny gave her and handed her a map that Destiny didn’t even take. The poor old lady held it out helpfully and Destiny just took her receipt and walked off.

  I’m so sorry!

  One day, when she was in control of herself again, she would come back and apologize to the cute lady.

  She walked down the road as cars flew past. For a second, she forgot everything and was dumbstruck by the scenery. It was like nothing she’d ever seen before. Black, petrified lava every which way. It looked smooth and she wanted to feel it, but her body wouldn’t agree.

  “Destiny Stafford, you stop right there, young lady, or I’m. Telling. Mom.”

  In her head, Destiny cried in relief.

  Fate. Fate was here. Fate had found her. Everything would be okay.

  But her body didn’t agree. She took off running.

  Destiny screamed. In her head. But no sound came out of her mouth.