How Sweet Magic I

by Amy Boyles

“It is.” Donovan touched my shoulders and pointed me away from him. “But anyway, look up at the sky and listen.”

  “Listen?”

  “But not with your ears.”

  I cocked my head at him in question. “Very hard to do if I’m trying to listen.”

  He wagged a finger toward the park meadow in front of us. “Close your eyes and listen with your head and your heart. Clear your mind. There are creatures out there. That’s what I want you to hear.”

  I closed my eyes and then blinked one open. “So just listen?”

  “Right. Easy as learning to walk.”

  “I think that took time and patience. Pretty sure I fell a lot. I don’t remember it, obviously, but I’ve seen babies and it’s not easy.”

  He rubbed his chin. “Wrong analogy, then. Easy as making a pie.”

  “I don’t cook.”

  He scowled. “Just close your eyes.”

  I finally did what he said, and I had to admit, I didn’t hear one pinch of anything. Not even a blip.

  Not at first.

  But then a ripple of sound, sort of like a low murmur, filled my head. I wasn’t looking for it, I wasn’t even trying to hear it, but I could. It was like my mind was an empty room with amplifiers as the walls and someone dropped a pin in the very center.

  The ping of the pin became a murmur or a hum. I tipped my head and turned my face toward it, hoping it would become clearer.

  It wasn’t until a few moments later that I realized it wasn’t the hum of one animal—what I was listening to was a hundred voices, all synchronized as if they were of one mind and focused on the same thought.

  Eat.

  That was it. Very simple, yet once I realized that there were so many of them, the hum became a drumming in my chest and that drumming then became a thrum until it sounded as loud and distinct as a beating heart.

  Eat.

  Eat.

  Eat.

  My eyes fluttered open. Donovan gazed at me expectantly. He opened his mouth slowly. “What do you hear?”

  I shook my head. “It’s so strange. It’s like a thousand voices all thinking one thought—eat.” I laughed nervously. “Hopefully they’re not thinking about eating us.”

  He shook his head. “Pinpoint the creature.”

  “How?”

  “Call it to you.”

  Panic coursed through my veins. Adrenaline buzzed in my fingers. “What if it’s a thousand fire ants and they all run up my leg and bite me to death?”

  “Fire ants don’t have brains complex enough for us to communicate with.”

  I sighed with relief. “Thank goodness.

  “Okay, so I call these creatures to me and you promise nothing bad will happen? I won’t get eaten or attacked?”

  He shook his head. “You’re communicating with them. These creatures are talking to you. They know you’re here. They probably felt your presence before you knew about them.”

  I squinted at him. “Are you sure?”

  “The animal kingdom is smarter than we give them credit for. They work on instinct, and that often includes heightened senses. Trust me. They know you’re here, so tell them you’re friendly and want to meet them.”

  “Okay,” I said, still unsure about whether or not I would be eaten by whatever it was that was apparently in search of its next meal—which hopefully didn’t mean human was on the menu.

  I squinted at Donovan. “So do I just say, ‘Hi, my name’s Pepper, let’s hang out?’”

  Donovan nodded hesitantly. “You can do it that way, or just open yourself to them and listen more. You’ll feel something call to you, and that’s when you’ll know.”

  Not that his words made a whole lot of sense to me because they didn’t, but I shrugged and closed my eyes once more and listened.

  The hum started again. I heard the voices wanting food and then something else flared in my ears—the beating of wings.

  Help, a single voice said.

  My attention immediately piqued. Hello? I thought.

  I’m trapped, the voice said again.

  Oh, is your wing caught?

  I’m caught.

  The creature was tangled up in something. Had to be.

  Where are you? I said in my head.

  With the others.

  What others?

  Suddenly the night became a flurry of wings. The trees rustled as if a wind had surged through them, tangling its fingers in their leaves.

  Donovan touched my arm. “Up there.”

  I blinked my eyes open. High in the sky, sailing in front of the moon were small black bodies that looked like dots in the night sky.

  I squinted. “Are those…bats?”

  Donovan pushed his glasses up his nose. “Yeah, that’s what it looks like. They came to you. Keep talking to them.”

  This time I didn’t close my eyes, but I did open my mind to the creatures.

  You’re so beautiful, I said to them.

  In response they rode the air currents like waves, spinning and diving, reminding me more of a school of fish than bats sailing the skies.

  But that one voice, that one single voice sounded again.

  I’m trapped, it said.

  I pinpointed the voice to be with the other bats. The creature wasn’t pinned or tangled in a tree or web. What it meant was that it was trapped among the other bats, which I didn’t understand.

  Can you leave?

  No, I can’t. I’m forced here.

  Is there a way I can help?

  There was a pause as if the creature was thinking up a solution. Then the voice rang out again.

  You can capture that stupid vampire who switched places with me and forced me into this bat form.

  I gasped. I stared up at the sky and then turned to Donovan.

  “What is it?” he said.

  I clutched his arm. “Don’t bet all your money on this, but I’m almost one hundred percent certain that I just found Princess.”

  “Where?”

  I pointed to the sky. “Up there with those bats.”

  ELEVEN

  “I’d been wondering if she was here,” Donovan said as we stood in the park staring up at the night sky.

  “Why would you say that?”

  “I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Sometimes magical towns attract magic beings.”

  “And she can get into Magnolia Cove as a bat? She doesn’t have to be a witch?”

  “No, she doesn’t have to be a witch since she’s an animal.” His head swiveled to me as if he’d just made a huge realization. “How did she seem?”

  “She said she’s trapped and wants us to capture the vampire that switched places with her.”

  Donovan groaned. “Oh no. It’s worse than I thought.”

  How could any of this be worse than he thought? It was already a cluster if I did say so myself. “What do you mean?”

  “The vampire cursed her with whatever spell was originally placed on him.”

  I glanced up at the sky. The bats still swirled around, but they were farther in the distance now. “How could the vampire have cursed her with his own spell? I’m confused.”

  Donovan rubbed his neck. “The vampire had been chained to remain in the bat form. You know that.”

  “Right.”

  “From what she told you, it sounds like the spell placed on him was the kind that can be transferred to another being under the right circumstances.”

  “What sort of circumstances?”

  He shrugged. “Hard to say. I’m not an expert on that, but think of the story of the Frog Prince.”

  “The one where the princess kisses the frog and he becomes a prince?”

  “That’s the one. The kiss by a princess broke the spell.” He poked his finger in the air. “But if the curse had worked a different way, then when the princess kissed the frog, he still would’ve become a prince, but at the expense of the princess. She would’ve changed places with him.”

  “And become a frog,” I
said, the lightbulb flashing in my head.

  “Exactly.”

  I pointed at the sky. “So you’re saying that the vampire shucked off his stupid old curse and gave it to the mafia’s Princess like a case of cooties at the playground.”

  He stared at me.

  I shrugged. “I just didn’t think equating it with herpes would’ve been a very nice thing to say.”

  “Yeah, let’s not go there.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  Donovan stroked his chin in thought. “We need to catch her.”

  “Catch a curse-ridden bat who could easily give me the curse and turn me into a bat.”

  “Right.”

  I eyed him. “Have you thought this through? Sounds like whatever she’s got is catching. Not sure I want to spend the rest of my life as a leathery-winged creature eating insects.”

  “Hmm. That’s a good point.”

  “I know. That’s why I made it,” I said, feeling very smart. I snapped my fingers. “So does this mean she’s a vampire?”

  He bobbed his head from side to side. “Not necessarily. She could simply be trapped as a bat.” He paused. “Well, I mean, I hope she wouldn’t pass it on, because none of us know how to break it.” He raked his knuckles over his cheek. “Pepper, can you ask her to come down?”

  “Now?”

  “Now’s as good a time as any.”

  I closed my eyes and concentrated, but the bats had flown off too far. I couldn’t hear them anymore.

  “They’re gone.”

  “Then we need to get back to the house and devise a plan. The bats should return tomorrow night. We need to be ready.”

  I gulped. “For what, exactly?”

  Moonlight reflected off the rim of his glasses, making them gleam. “We’ve got to be ready to catch a bat.”

  By the time we got home, the entire house was asleep. Axel had decided to go home. He left a note on the table for me, which I thought very sweet and a touch romantic.

  I drank a glass of water in the kitchen and then retired to my room, where Mattie and Hugo were both waiting for me. I sank onto the bed.

  “Mattie,” I whispered.

  “Yes, sugarbear,” she said, winking open one eye.

  “You know anybody in town who specializes in curses placed on animals?”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  I shook my head. “No. Why would I be kidding?”

  “Because ain’t that what your man is? A human trapped inside an animal’s body?”

  I toed off my shoes and listened as they plopped to the ground. “Axel? Yeah, I mean, I guess he is. Wait. Are you saying he’s an expert in that field?”

  “I believe so. Why?”

  “Because we found the mafia’s Princess. She’s been cursed into a bat, and we need to break the spell.”

  Mattie stretched. “So many spells lately that have to be broken.”

  “I’m guessing you’re referring to the last one placed on me.”

  “You’re as smart as a nickel, sugar.”

  I rolled my eyes. Mattie wasn’t kidding. A couple of weeks ago my archnemesis had appeared and placed a connecting spell on me. Whenever I worked my magic, it bounced off me and went into him, making it so that he could wield my power however he wanted. Which was not good because Rufus’s intentions were less than noble.

  Way less.

  Like, super way less.

  “So Axel is who I need to talk to.”

  “Unless you want to spend tomorrow chasing around ghosts and folks who don’t matter.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  Mattie yawned. “It does to me.”

  “You’re a cat.”

  “And a smart one, at that.”

  I dug my phone from my purse and dialed Axel’s number. It was late and as much as I enjoyed playing hard to get, now simply wasn’t the time.

  “Hey,” he said in a husky voice that made my heart rate tick up a notch.

  “I hope I didn’t wake you,” I said.

  “Even if you did, it wouldn’t matter. I love listening to the sound of your voice.”

  I giggled so hard I snorted.

  “Maybe not that much,” he said, chuckling.

  “Okay, listen, now that I succeeded in killing all romance in this conversation, there’s been a development.”

  “What kind?”

  “I think I found Princess.”

  I heard him adjust the phone on the other end. When he spoke, his voice came through louder, more crisp. “You’re kidding.”

  “No. Donovan had me listen to the animals tonight to see if I could communicate with any of them. I heard a bat that needed help. She said it would be great if I could free her from the spell the vampire had put on her.”

  Axel whistled. “Sounds like you found our Princess.”

  “I agree. Thing is, Donovan wants to catch her and try to break the curse that the vampire placed on her.”

  Axel paused. “So it was a Reversal of Fortune spell.”

  “That’s what it’s called?”

  “Yes. Reversal of Fortune is when two beings change places—think Freaky Friday. It doesn’t just have to be bodies. It can also mean changing form, which is what happened to Princess.”

  I licked my lips. “Do you know how to break it?”

  “Depends. We first have to know how the transformation occurred, plus we need the vampire.”

  My hopes crashed so far down my chest felt hollow. “Great. And how’re we supposed to find the vampire? He’s probably in South America.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  I sat up. Now he had my attention. “What?”

  “Some transformation spells require the primary, meaning the person who initiated the spell, to remain nearby for a while.”

  “Why?”

  “Because transformation can be a process requiring several steps. That might be the case here, but we’ll have to inspect Princess to know if that’s true.”

  I groaned. “Inspect her? Don’t bats carry rabies? Have fleas? Are overall unsavory little beasts?”

  “They can be, but she hasn’t been a bat that long.”

  “You don’t know how long.”

  “Donovan faked his death almost two months ago, and if Princess is still able to communicate with us, that means she’s probably been a bat for about that long.”

  “Isn’t that too long? Seems to me that in two months some folks meet and get married.”

  A long, uncomfortable pause followed.

  I swallowed down my nerves and spoke. “Not us, obviously, because the last thing I’m thinking about is marriage. But what I mean is that some people rush into things like that—decisions that folks should weigh carefully and understand all the consequences of. It seems that Princess has been a bat for a while. I’m surprised the change hasn’t completely taken over.”

  “You can breathe, Pepper,” Axel said. “I’m not freaking out about what you said.”

  “I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” I lied, knowing good and well he meant the M word.

  He chuckled. “She’s not fully transformed because she can still communicate with us. See, the person who initially carried the spell, the vampire, would still have retained his consciousness. When he threw the curse on someone else, it became a lesser curse, trapping the target in a worse state than the original. The curse warps, changes to the point that eventually Princess will lose that same consciousness—the thing that makes her unique.”

  I pressed my fingers into my temple. That was a whirlwind to think about, and my brain was working on overtime, which meant I felt a headache blooming.

  “I’m not following you.”

  “To put it simply, Princess is running out of time.”

  “I still don’t understand.”

  He sighed. “If the curse that was placed on her is what I think it is, once Princess makes the final transformation, she’ll no longer retain any part of what makes her human.�
��

  I gasped. “She’ll completely become a bat?”

  “Bingo. And when that happens, we won’t be able to help her.”

  I rubbed my forehead. “Because she’ll be cursed to remain a bat until she dies?”

  He sighed. “That’s exactly right.”

  TWELVE

  “So y’all are gonna try to catch a bat?” Amelia said. “A bat that’s literally hidden among hundreds if not thousands of other bats? Isn’t that like fishing with a net and trying to find one salmon out of a million?”

  I slopped a huge mound of cheese grits on my plate. “When you put it like that, it sounds pointless. But we’ve got to help Princess. I mean, what’s the likelihood that Carl Carlsburg would sell a vampire bat to Baron Sensational, who would then sell it to Donovan, and then Carl would be hired to kill Donovan and wind up dead?”

  “That’s a mouthful,” Cordelia said drily. “But you’re right, there’s something fishy in Magnolia Cove.”

  “Good morning,” Donovan said as he strolled into the room, newspaper under his arm.

  “I talked to Axel last night,” I said. “He believes we only have a limited amount of time before Princess changes fully into a bat.”

  Donovan sank into a chair. “I was afraid of that.”

  “As smart as the three of you gals are, you’re not thinking clearly,” Betty said. She stacked a couple of biscuits on a plate and handed them to Donovan. “All we have to do is attract Princess away from the rest of the bats and coax her to us. Now, among all of us, who’s the best at communicating with animals?”

  All our heads swiveled to Donovan. He grinned sheepishly. “I guess that would be me. I’ll spend the day figuring out a way to attract Princess to us and convince her that we can help. By tonight I should have a solid plan. At least I hope so.”

  Betty rolled her eyes. “You’ll have it figured out by then. And if you don’t, I’ll just put a lightning bug on a hook and throw it into the air, hoping she bites.”

  “That sounds painful for everyone involved,” I said.

  “Ha,” Betty said, “the only thing that’s going to suffer is the lightning bug, and they don’t live long anyway.”

  “Not like you,” Cordelia said.

  Betty nodded. “I am immune to disease.”