by Summa, S. E.
“The Judge?” Khat asked.
Finn said, “Judge Pearce. He was Savannah’s most powerful judge and just happened to run the bootlegging and gambling underground. His position helped keep the entire city of Savannah under his control. All who crossed him were either run from town or jailed. And those who worked for him weren’t even questioned by the police.”
“How convenient that your father could decide who went to jail and who walked free,” Khat said. “Mine had to spell or kill anyone who threatened the family business.”
In the present, Seraphina laughed, but it sounded hollow and without humor. “Convenient. I guess that’s one way to look at it. Daddy also controlled most of the upper brass in the police force and placed several leading politicians in office.”
“So, you and Seraphina met through Judge Pearce?” prompted Marceau.
Finn said, “No, the Judge didn’t like his only child associating with his employees. But she was strong-willed even then. My reputation as a driver drew his attention, and I started running routes for him. Seraphina spent most of her evenings singing and playing cards at The Phantom. I rented a room in the upstairs boarding house that disguised the basement level bar. We became quick friends.”
Our lives were simpler then. I played the good daughter and Finn drove like a madman, until Daddy forbade our friendship, at least, that was when the trouble started.”
“Why would the Judge try to keep you from being friends?” asked Khat.
“He thought we were sweethearts and it didn’t fit into his plans. No one dared cross Daddy in Savannah. But for men like him, there was never enough power. He wanted to expand his territory and, for that, he planned to use me as a pawn. A marriage would forge a stronger bond with the Callaghans.”
“Who were they?” Marceau asked.
As soon as he said the name, the scene in front of him changed. He stumbled forward, tripping on an uneven wooden slat. In the regression, he tried to throw out his arms to catch his balance. The weight of Khat and Finn’s hands in the present was confusing.
“What is it? Why did you jump?” Finn asked.
“I’ve moved to a different location. I was in The Phantom with Seraphina, but now I’m on a wooden deck? There are some…” Marceau stopped speaking as Finn walked by farther down the pier. He too appeared more solid in form. Finn wore a light, Oxford shirt, a buttoned vest, and dark pants. His sleeves were rolled up and even with the absence of color in the vision, it was clear Finn’s hair and skin were darker. There was a relaxed ease, a calm, the future Finn no longer possessed. Finn took off his cap and shook hands with a tall, broad man. The man gestured toward Marceau.
“Some what?” present Finn asked.
“Sorry, this is a bit confusing. It’s as if I’m in two places at once. Some barrels. Near a stack of large ones, I see you, Finn, talking to a man in his late twenties. He has short, dark hair, and a large frame. Something about his demeanor tells me—he’s in charge.”
“Kieran Callaghan. You just described one of the docks where the Callaghan rum was unloaded. But Kieran rarely came on shore. He preferred the safety of his ship.”
“Tell me more about him.”
Finn replied, “After the fall of the McCoys, the Callaghans became the premiere rum runners to Savannah. The McCoys were famous for refusing to pay off politicians or gangsters, and also for never sampling their merchandise. The Callaghan brothers shared none of those hang-ups. Aedan Callaghan, the younger brother, was a brilliant captain. But he was reckless. He gambled, and his quick temper wasn’t helped by drinking from morning until night. Kieran was the older and more serious brother. He ran their smuggling business. Together, they made a formidable team. They ran a fleet of three ships into Rum Row and made money by the fistful.”
“Rum Row?” Marceau leaned forward in the present. Several men approached in his vision. They each tipped a barrel and rolled them down the pier. The barrels bounced loudly across the uneven wood planks.
Seraphina answered, “Ships anchored three miles offshore in neutral international waters. Daddy would send out smaller boats and sneak rum in through the swamp. Drivers, like Finn, loaded up and drove the hooch into town. Daddy had a good thing going with the Callaghan group, but he wanted them to stop selling to his competitors. Plus, he wanted to expand into the Florida panhandle, so he needed even more rum. That’s where the bargain for my arranged marriage came in.”
“Arranged? To marry who?” Khat asked in a high-pitched voice.
“Aedan Callaghan,” Finn answered.
“Aedan Callaghan,” repeated Marceau testing the regression’s power.
Once again a wave of dizziness overcame him. Marceau stood in a narrow cobblestoned alleyway between two buildings.
Shadowed figures moved farther down the dim lit alley. Sounds of a scuffle and a thick thud, followed by loud coughing, set Marceau in motion. Ahead, someone kicked a man lying on the ground with enough force to raise the victim from the ground.
Marceau asked, “Was Aedan prone to fights? Lighter hair, and a wiry frame? Taller than his brother?”
“Yes,” Seraphina said, her voice soft.
“Tell me about him.”
Marceau could do nothing for the man Aedan was beating senseless, but he still flinched with each blow.
“Kieran knew his brother liked me. He’d come listen to me sing at The Phantom. Tried to impress me with his money and charm, but I saw through him.” Seraphina added details to what Marceau was envisioning. “Aedan had a deep, inner cruelty. No handsome smile could hide that. I refused his advances, especially after he beat up a friend over a stupid poker debt.”
In the regression, Aedan laughed and spit at the now unconscious man before walking down the alley. Marceau followed.
Finn said, “Kieran agreed to sell rum only to Judge Pearce if Seraphina married Aedan. Thought his reckless brother would finally settle down and stop gambling every night. His transgressions hurt business and Kieran needed Aedan’s focus back at sea.”
“Okay, so the booze brothers had you cursed when you refused to marry the meanie then?” Khat asked.
“The Booze Brothers?” Finn chuckled. “No, the Judge arranged the hex with Mirela Dufrene.” Finn cleared his throat. “Young and half crazy, she was the most powerful curseweaver in Savannah. Well, other than her older sister, Liv. But Liv didn’t use her powers for dark curses, so the judge paid Mirela to hex his own daughter.”
Khat said, “But why? If he needed Seraphina to marry this Aedan guy, why hex her to die?”
“The hex was supposed to make me fall in love with Aedan and stop resisting the marriage. Daddy thought I’d be a rich wife and he’d get his precious rum. I have to believe he didn’t know more. He gave Mirela the perfect opening for exactly what she’d been dreaming of, revenge.”
Marceau interrupted, “Give me a moment, I’m somewhere else now.”
He’d followed Aedan down a darkened street where the guy had hitched up his pants and ran his fingers through his disheveled hair before walking into a small, ramshackle house. A woman with tangled, long hair stood from a rocking chair beside a lantern. Her expression was guarded, vacant.
“Miss me?” Aedan slurred. “Don’t I even get a smile?”
She peered at Aedan for a moment before answering with the requested smile and a nod. The woman took a small step toward him. Aedan stumbled forward, kicking up a cloud of dirt from the floor. Her smile dropped. Aedan grabbed a half empty liquor bottle from the table and took a long drink. He laughed and fell back on a bed next to the table.
Marceau turned and walked out of the shack. He stood on the dirt road and wondered where he should try to go next. “Okay, I am trying to… Well, for lack of a better term, navigate again. Please tell me more about the judge. Let’s go back just a little, before Mirela. You said the judge tried to forbid your friendship and set the curse in motion? Why did he to want to keep you two apart?”
Finn cleared his throat. “He th
ought Seraphina was in love with me after an incident he’d misunderstood. He thought a little love hex would fix all his problems in controlling his daughter.”
“An incident?” Marceau asked.
“A car accident. I was determined to leave Savannah to avoid the marriage, so I begged Finn to teach me to drive.” Seraphina’s brow wrinkled.
Marceau focused his mind and tried to visualize Seraphina driving an old-fashioned car. Nothing happened. He was still outside the house of Aedan’s female friend.
“During one of our lessons, Seraphina was overconfident around a curve and drove the car into a ravine. I was ejected, but Seraphina was trapped by the steering wheel. The engine caught fire. I managed to pull her out, but she’d stopped breathing from smoke inhalation. One of the judge’s goons drove up and saw me giving her mouth to mouth. The idiot reported back he caught us kissing.”
“So naturally, Daddy believed some jerkface over me. He forbade me from ever seeing Finn again. When that didn’t work, he came up with the idea to use a curse.”
Marceau didn’t like picturing Finn’s mouth on Seraphina’s. “I’m stuck,” he said. “I’d hoped I could get back to either of you or to the judge. Let’s try Mirela. You said she wanted revenge?” Marceau needed to see her weave the hex. He whispered her name. His head began to ache, but he tried to push his consciousness toward the curseweaver. Again, nothing.
This time, Finn answered, “Mirela misunderstood the nature of our relationship, in that she thought we had one. She and I had some good times, but I was clear from the start there’d be nothing more. She was jealous and believed the rumors about Seraphina and me.”
“A woman scorned,” Khat said.
Marceau’s head was beginning to pound. He said, “And what do you know of the curse? So far, I am unable to see Mirela.”
Finn said, “From what we know, Mirela hexed Seraphina to love Aedan, but she also wove it to kill anyone Seraphina touched if she was in love with them.”
If the judge and Mirela were both beyond his reach in the regression, Marceau needed to find a way back to Seraphina. He tried to visualize her, but nothing happened.
Khat asked, “So she fell instantly in love, touched this Aedan guy, and then died?”
“No, I killed her,” Finn said.
Real life Seraphina exhaled and sounded tired when she responded, “Finn, we’ve been over this a thousand times. You didn’t kill me and neither did Aedan.”
“Seraphina’s death,” Marceau whispered. His chest tightened. He didn’t want to watch her die, but he needed more answers to help her in the present. He pictured the way her red hair had blown around her face in the Arcade. The air spin around him and Marceau’s head rolled back as he fought vertigo. Shapes swirled. Marceau blinked, trying to get his eyes to focus.
A shadowed Finn grabbed Seraphina’s elbow. She glared at him and wrenched her arm free.
Marceau’s energy was slipping. He asked, “What did you feel when the hex took hold? What did you do?”
Seraphina ran her fingers along the back of a wooden chair as if she wanted to sit, then paced in front of The Phantom’s door. She smoothed her dress down and paced again.
“It’s hard to describe. I was drawn to Aedan, and it seemed as if I had to be near him or I’d hurt forever. I thought I’d go crazy while I waited. The love hex was so strong, I ached. I was convinced only his touch could soothe me. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t even sit still. Finn and I argued. He didn’t understand my sudden need to be with Aedan, someone I’d always disliked. I didn’t understand it either but knew I had to be with him. Finn tried to reason with me, but I couldn’t think straight.” Seraphina reached up and patted along her short hairline. The door opened. She cried out and ran right through the shadowy Marceau.
Aedan appeared confused until she collided with him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then he smiled a cruel, predatory grin at Finn as if he knew about the hex.
A complex web flashed over Seraphina’s body when her hex activated. Thin strands floated from her body and reached out to Aedan. Seraphina gasped and her body went stiff.
Marceau asked, “When you hugged him, what did you feel?”
“A cold burn. It traveled through my veins and squeezed. The only way I can describe it was somehow my insides were being constricted. Even then, I recognized what it meant. Death.”
Finn stumbled forward into a nearby table. He held his sides and knocked over a chair. A dark web surrounded him, his hex reached for Seraphina.
“Finn, what did you feel? Why did you stumble?”
“A blast of cold had seized me. Freezing pain all the way into my bones.” Finn winced while remembering.
Seraphina’s body shook. Tears streamed down her face as she gasped for air. Aedan was restraining her, too busy reveling in his triumph to see something was wrong.
Finn stumbled forward and grabbed her arm. He tried to pull her free from Aedan.
“We each held one of her wrists. I felt a connection the moment I touched her. A link and something unnatural, dark. I realized later it was death under her skin. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I think Seraphina could have pushed darkness into either of us. I could have died, or Aedan. Either way, she would have been free of the curse. Seraphina would have lived. But of course, she didn’t.”
Seraphina tucked her head down and tried to pull her wrists to her chest. Finn said something Marceau couldn’t hear. Seraphina shook her head and grimaced.
Aedan grabbed Finn’s shirt and jerked him forward.
Finn let go of Seraphina’s wrist to pull free.
Seraphina’s body crumbled to the floor, Aedan’s grip on her wrist still holding her up.
Finn dropped to his knees and cupped her face with his palm. He whispered something and leaned in, his forehead against hers.
Then Aedan kicked Finn’s shoulder and let go of Seraphina’s wrist. She fell back.
Finn screamed her name. He dove forward and caught her shoulders, but the back of her head hit the concrete floor.
Finn gently laid her back on the floor and spoke to her, but she didn’t move. He leaned one ear on her chest to search for a heartbeat.
Aedan grabbed Finn and pulled him to his feet, but Finn swung and punched Aedan so hard the crack made Marceau jump, both in the regression and in the present.
Aedan flew backward, landing on a table. The legs collapsed, and Aedan crashed to the floor.
Finn was already back on his knees listening at Seraphina’s chest. He looked up. His expression a mask of outrage and pain. The scene froze.
A deep, grinding jolt of pain through Marceau’s head made him cry out. He jerked his hands free and pressed hard against both of his temples. Rocking back and forth, he took a couple slow breaths before opening his eyes. His head was only inches above the tabletop.
“Are you okay, Marceau?” Seraphina asked.
“Yes. Fine.” A lie. “It’s over. The regression stopped. Your death must have ended it. I’m… disoriented.”
“You watched her die? How I killed her?” Finn demanded.
“Stop it, Finn, I mean it. My father sealed my fate. He took my free will when he paid Mirela to weave that damned hex. It was my father’s actions, whether he understood them at the time or not, that led to my death.”
Marceau said, “From what I saw, she’s right. You were the only one who realized something was wrong. I’m still unclear why, though. Why did you feel the curse too?”
“I’ve wondered for more years than I’ve cared to count. I felt a jarring, cold pain the moment Seraphina touched Aedan. Yet I can touch Khat, and Seraphina feels nothing. If we are bound by the same hex, then why can I touch Khat without consequence? Without dying?”
Seraphina looked at Finn and then to Khat. She seemed surprised. Finn had just basically said he was in love with Khat. That fact had been obvious to Marceau from the moment he’d seen Finn and Khat together.
“I may be able to answer that. Y
our hex is darker, shadowed. It lacks the color and vibrancy most active hexes have. I believe you’re linked to Seraphina, but the curseweaver wasn’t actually trying to hurt you.” Marceau was slowly understanding more about the situation.
He visualized the scene again. Finn had stumbled forward before he touched Seraphina. Finn’s hex reached out for her, but her hex had reached only for Aedan. “Finn, I think your curse is dormant and has only one path to activation and becoming deadly.”
“And what would that be?” Finn sat straight in his chair.
“If you and Seraphina fell in love and touched, I believe your hex would then flare with power and it would kill you both. I’m pretty sure the curseweaver intended to punish Seraphina no matter what and make sure she never knew love with anyone. But you said Mirela wanted a relationship with you, right Finn?”
Finn nodded. His eyes widened as the pieces of the puzzle fell together in a new way. “So, Mirela left me free to experience love, hoping I’d eventually be in love with her.”
Seraphina looked away.
Finn sat quietly a moment, tipping his glass from side to side, then shook his head. “But something else doesn’t make sense. She disappeared. I never saw Mirela again.”
Marceau shook his own head. It made perfect sense after examining the strength of their combined curse. “I’m almost positive Mirela died the day she wove the hex. Curse power of this magnitude is unusual. It demands a hefty tithe.” Seraphina stared at him. He exhaled and said, “You each bear the strongest and most intricate hexes I’ve ever seen, and I have examined many.”
Seraphina’s palm hit the table. “All of this pain. This stupid curse. All because of petty jealousy and people trying to control others. It’s just more than I can sometimes take.” She sucked in her lip and bit it.
Finn reached over and held her hand. “All these years I wondered why I survived. I have blamed myself, thinking I caused your death. I never understood until now.” Finn stared, eyes vacant as if lost in his memories. He downed his drink and sat back. “It’s all so clear.”