Making Midlife Magic: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (Forty Is Fabulous Book 1)

by Heloise Hull

  Coronis pointed out a few. “Here are the stories of Aradia’s founding,” she whispered, surely feeling the power in the air the same as me.

  I pointed to a beautiful woman sitting on a rock, surrounded by waves. “That looks like Thessaly.”

  “That is Thessaly, as you call her. We mostly refer to her simply as the siren. Legend has it that she was sent here as punishment by the gods. Then, the gods were banished during the Archon Wars thousands of years ago, and she was never able to appeal her sentence.”

  “The what war?”

  “The Archon Wars were a series of great battles between the gods and supernatural creatures. The archons were our intermediaries to the gods. In most cases, direct contact with the gods meant dismemberment and death. The archons went between the realms with ease. Their name in ancient Greek means ruler, but we know them as Rulers of the Realms. During the war, they sided with the gods.”

  “What happened next?” I breathed, barely above a whisper.

  “The archons were also banished.”

  “To where?”

  Coronis lifted her shoulders and gave me an elegant shrug. “To another realm, I suppose. According to the Greeks, there were three. There is our realm here on Earth, the in-between is called Nibiru, and finally the realm of the gods is called Axis Mundi. Only demons, ghosts, and archons can pass through Nibiru. And only gods and archons visit the Axis Mundi.”

  “Wow.”

  “Life has been quiet in the thousand years since the wars. We supernaturals stick together. There are other islands like Aradia, but we are all shielded from most MILFs. Which is why Luca’s and your presence is interesting.”

  My stomach dropped. “Is it?”

  “Yes,” Coronis said. “It means one of two things. Either the power around the island that keeps MILFs out is weakening…”

  “Or?”

  “Neither of you are human.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  My fingers tingled with energy. Not human? I felt altogether too mortal. Thanks to my nighttime visit to the ocean, my muscles ached, including one knot in the middle of my back I couldn’t even reach. And there weren’t enough lotions and potions in the world to keep my crow’s feet away.

  I glanced guiltily at Coronis. I wondered if that was considered a slur in her world. I didn’t mind the wrinkles. They weren’t that deep yet, and they proved I used to laugh. I had had good times. My boys were a shining one, despite their naughty kid years and rebellious teen ones.

  Clearly, I had been avoiding speaking to them. How exactly does one tell one’s kids their father is a cheating jerk without destroying their relationship with said jerk? No matter how pissed I was at him or what he had done to me, they deserved to have us both.

  I vowed to call them as soon as we finished touring the basilica.

  “Over here,” Coronis called, lifting up a dusty cloth that covered the altar. “It’s the names of the original priests.”

  We looked through the books for a bit, but they were rather boring. Finally, I got up the courage to ask about Thessaly.

  “Is there anything here that would help us un-curse the siren? It seems unfair she has to be punished for eternity.”

  “She’s a demon. Worse, she’s a demon that got herself cursed by the gods.”

  I shifted my weight. “She was so wistful. I mean, what’s the worst she could do?”

  “You mean besides swim across the open waters sinking ocean liners at random?”

  “Could she do that?” I asked, aghast.

  “No idea. Most of the sirens I’ve met—which are like two and that was mostly by accident—aren’t malicious and certainly not powerful enough to take down a whole cruise ship. It took a dozen sirens singing together to sink ships in ancient Greece and those were triremes.”

  “You lead a crazy life.”

  Coronis grinned. “You have no idea.” She turned to look at the golden mosaic of the siren. “Oh why not? She’s never been murderous to me. In fact, I haven’t heard one instance of her luring someone from the island to their death. She just stays in the water away from prying eyes. At most, we hear mournful songs at night.”

  “So you’ll help?”

  “Yes,” she confirmed. “I’ll get Rosemary to help, too.”

  “There is one thing,” I said. I knew if I was going to ask for their help, I should be completely honest. It was how I would want to be treated.

  “What?”

  Deep breath. “Thessaly mentioned a secret. Something only she knows. She promised to spill once I un-cursed her.”

  Coronis raised an eyebrow. “Now that is interesting.”

  “Do you think she really has a secret?”

  “No way to know until we do it. Oh, how exciting. While Rosemary had a point and we do enjoy the quieter life, a little innocent adventure never hurt anyone.”

  “Is it still innocent if it includes freeing a demon?”

  “Good point, but we haven’t had a real problem to solve in way too long. Then you show up, and suddenly, we’ve got flickering ghosts and secret-wielding sirens!”

  “I aim to please.” In all honesty, Aradia was going to have to pry my cold, dead fingers from her island before I left. From the mundane to the extraordinary, this was the most purpose and fun I’d had in a long time.

  Coronis led me to a part of the church that felt older than the rest. “The manuscripts of our founding are over there.”

  Suddenly, the church rumbled, and I had to grab onto a stone column until the tremors stopped. Wide-eyed, I looked at Coronis. “Do you get earthquakes often?”

  “Earthquakes?”

  “Yes, didn’t you feel it?”

  Coronis looked at me with concern in her eyes. “Ava, are you quite alright?”

  The shaking started again, more violently this time. Cold sweat broke out across my palms. It was happening again. Like I’d taunted Aradia into action.

  Coronis reached out to help, but the earth threw me to the ground. My arm caught on the sharp edge of a wooden pew, and a gash opened from my elbow to my wrist. I screamed, and Coronis rushed over to cradle me. “Shh, let me look at it,” she said, gently lifting my arm to the candlelight. “Has anything like that ever happened to you before?”

  “Once in St. Louis on the morning I found Jim and Marla together. The same day I found Aradia and decided to leave.”

  “Did it feel the same as this one?”

  “Exactly the same,” I replied fervently. “What if neither of them was actually an earthquake?”

  Coronis made a sound suspiciously like a caw, her head bobbing up and down. “You’re right. That was no earthquake. It was Aradia reacting strongly to you for some reason.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that, but then Coronis closed her eyes and covered my arm with hers. Immediately, a warm, watery sensation flooded my senses.

  “Coronis?” I interrupted, unsure of what was happening.

  “Give me a moment, darling. All magic comes at a price.”

  “You’re a healer?”

  “You don’t know much about mythology, do you?” At the slightly hurt look on my face, Coronis burst into laughter and patted my hand. “Don’t worry about it. MILF schools are notoriously bad about teaching our true history. Crow shifters like me are descended from the original protector of the Greek princess, Coronis. Apollo, god of light and music and a bunch of other shit, fell in love with the princess, but she was unfaithful during her pregnancy.”

  “Sounds juicy.”

  “It gets better. A white crow, dispatched to spy on her, told Apollo. In his godly wrath, he killed the princess and her lover and scorched the crow black. When he felt remorse, he saved the baby by cutting him out of Coronis’s womb and named him Asclepius—the god of healing. Crow shifters were gifted in healing matters during the Archon Wars as an incentive to side with the gods.”

  “Wow. So your parents named you after the princess, even though she wasn’t a crow?”

  Coronis
blinked. “Something like that.” She took her hands off my wound. “There. Better?”

  “That’s amazing!” I turned my arm back and forth. The blood had crusted over, and where there once was a huge gash, I could only find a thin, watery line. “Wait, so Princess Coronis had an encounter with the gods. It sounds like the archons weren’t always needed.”

  “Even in a benign encounter, the princess still ended up dead,” Coronis spat. “Tell me where the glory of the gods is in that?”

  I noticed her ice white hair beginning to rise as if touched by static electricity, but then Coronis smoothed it down. “I’m sorry. The gods tend to get me worked up. Their cruelty knew no bounds. Our world is much better without them.”

  “So, the crow shifters didn’t side with the gods even after their gift?”

  “No,” she said shortly.

  “And the archons are bad or good? I’m having a hard time keeping up.”

  “Neither bad nor good, but they did side with the gods. I’m of the mind that we’re better off than we’ve been for centuries. The gods would have held humanity back, keeping them as their slaves. Not that humans aren’t their own worst enemies, but at least they’re beginning to learn.”

  “I won’t lie. I feel like my head is spinning. Between the shaking earth and a whole new world…”

  Coronis put her arm around me and helped me to my feet. “It’s a lot to take in. I’m also of the mind that you’re not a MILF. Aradia is much too careful about who she lets into the veil. This is a haven.”

  “So how did Luca get in?”

  “That was the year everything was askew. Right place at the right time. Maybe the island sensed he needed healing. Maybe it sensed you needed it, too.”

  “Then why does it keep trying to hurt me? Honestly, it’s all wonky now, too. It could very well be another case of the veil failing,” I said, feeling a teensy bit disappointed.

  I was already preparing myself to accept that I was nothing more than Ava Falcetti, human being. Maybe it was the sudden blood loss. Maybe it was the magic that had now worked its way through my veins. More than likely, it was finally looking at the loss of my former life—the only one I’d known for twenty years. Whatever it was, it brought hot tears to prick at my eyes.

  “I think I need a minute,” I told Coronis and weaved my way through the pews to the sunshine-filled doorway.

  Once outside, I took a few deep breathes, resting against the doorframe. Coronis came up behind me and gently led me to the steps. “You don’t want to hang around in liminal spaces. They’re extremely weak parts of our world.”

  “Liminal spaces?”

  “Yes. Gateways. Door frames. The in between places. The ancient Greeks used to think that was where demons hid, waiting for their victims, so they skipped over them. They were right. Demons do. Remember what I said about Nibiru? It is the ultimate liminal space where all demons are born. Your Thessaly was banished here to our realm for her punishment.”

  Feelings of being completely in over my head threatened to engulf me. I sat woozily on the steps and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. “I don’t know if I’m cut out for this. What if I just went back home? Would all of this knowledge leave? Would I go back to being a clueless MILF?”

  Coronis gave me a sad look. “I’m honestly not sure. Is that what you want?”

  I looked around the beautiful, travertine marble of the buildings, the black cobblestone streets, the relaxing fountains. I pictured Rosemary and Marco. I remembered our apertivo hour and how Rosemary had offered me a job.

  And, yes, I pictured Luca. Who wouldn’t? For the first time in years, I felt like I was finally waking up. Life could be so much more than ironing underwear and sitting in a cubicle. I’d needed a kick in the pants to get here, but now it was done and I’d arrived. How could I let anybody—or anything—take that away from me?

  “No, but I need to contact my sons. Let them know I’m here and what happened. Do you know how I can get a signal?”

  “We have one working landline that we use to order supplies. We’re always trying to get Luca to add lipstick to the list, but he insists on ‘essential’ supplies only. Which to him are food and toilet paper.”

  I jumped to my feet. “Wow, you just answered seventy-five percent of my questions. Well, maybe forty-five percent. I don’t know. I have a lot of questions.”

  “You talk a lot, too.”

  “It’s the hustler in me. And I definitely need him to add women’s underwear to that essentials list. I’ve had to wash the ones on my ass every day. So,” I rubbed my palms together. “Where’s this phone?”

  “Luca’s. I thought that was obvious.”

  I sat back down. Of freaking course.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Luca’s apartment was like his style of communication. Sparse.

  He opened the door wearing a suspicious expression and a pair of low-slung athletic pants. He was bare foot and bare chested and clearly waking up from an afternoon nap.

  Despite the nap, he looked exhausted. He had sunken, shallow cheeks and dark bruises under his eyes. Did he have a secret girlfriend no one knew about keeping him awake at night? I resisted the urge to peek around his shoulders, but it hardly mattered. The one-room apartment was empty except for brown boxes stacked against the walls and a twin bed with a thin, cotton sheet.

  “Ciao!” Coronis said happily, explaining in rapid-fire Italian that we’d like to use his phone. She’d told me on the walk over that his place used to be the old storage room for supplies, but when he came, they just shoved a bed in the corner and let him stay. He’d been so sad and out of it that he was more than thankful for a place. In exchange for room and board, he took care of their little spats and complaints. No major crimes ever happened, and he wasn’t technically connected to the mainland’s polizia.

  Luca opened the door wider, but I had the distinct feeling he didn’t want to let us come inside. His scowl deepened and he blocked half the doorway with his body so we had to scoot around him. Maybe someone should tell him about liminal spaces. Not me. After our failed kiss, I did my best not to make eye contact.

  Coronis secured the line and I gave her the boys’ number. Once it started ringing, she led Luca to the table in the far corner so I could have some privacy.

  While I was positive they wouldn’t pick up a strange international number, I planned to leave a voicemail with a time I’d call back tomorrow. It rang five times until it went to their recorder. My heart swelled at the sound of their voices, and I had to turn around to make sure Luca didn’t see a tear slip down my cheek.

  “You’ve reached Josh and Jacob Longsworth. If you’re calling about class notes, we didn’t take them. If you’re a chick, leave your name, number, and place of meeting.”

  Okay, I’d kill them.

  “Leave a message!”

  I sucked in a breath. “Hi boys, it’s Mom. I love you both so much. I’m in Italy, but don’t worry. I’ll call you tomorrow at five p.m. your time. That will be fine, right? I don’t want you to miss the dorm dinner time. Shoot, maybe six? No, no, let’s stick with five, and if you can’t make it, I’ll just leave another message and come up with a better time.” My voice began to crack. “I love you both,” I repeated. “Study hard. Don’t worry about me. Italy is wonderful. I can’t wait to see you in a few months. Bye, I love—”

  The recording cut me off because I was a rambling lunatic. I hung the phone in the cradle and sniffed up the snot already working its way down my nose. I couldn’t believe how amazing it was to hear their voices, even on a recording. Even talking about women as “chicks.”

  Oh God, crying twice in one day had to be some sort of record. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so emotional. Jim called me “checked-out”, but I merely kept my emotions close to my heart where they were better protected. Once the kids started elementary school, life became hectic. We found ourselves snapping at each other for little things and not saying sorry. Or the apolog
ies were couched in defensive excuses until it didn’t feel safe or even worth it to air our grievances. Instead of divorcing, it was easier to get up, make breakfast, send the kids to school, go to work, eat dinner, watch television, go to bed. Rinse, repeat.

  I guess now that we didn’t have the fear of messing up the boys with an ugly divorce, Jim decided it was time to pull the ripcord. The bastard didn’t have the grace to do it without Marla in my bed, and for that, I doubted I’d ever forgive him. Give me twenty years and a hot Italian lover. Then I’d consider it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I woke up in the ocean again, but this time, I was more prepared. Which is to say only a mouthful of sea water went down my lungs before I remembered to hold my breath.

  “Are you trying to kill me?” I asked peevishly as I dragged my body up Thessaly’s rock. “I have my first day of a new job tomorrow. Now I’m going to have puffy eyes, and I’ll probably burn all the bread and spill the coffee. Rosemary is going to wonder why she hired me, and I’ll have to quit to save us both the embarrassment, but it’ll still be awkward and she’ll never talk to me again.”

  Thessaly sat with her arms crossed over her bared chest. For however many thousands of years old she was, they were still perky as hell. “You said you would un-curse me.”

  “I said I would try, and I am trying. I went to look at old manuscripts in the basilica today, but Aradia stopped me.”

  “Aradia knows what you are.”

  My fingers went cold as I watched the sea demon toy with her blue-green hair. “Do you know what I am?”

  “Of course. I think others know as well.”

  “Who?”

  What if my new friends were lying to me? Wouldn’t that just take the cake? Then I might have to let Thessaly drown me, since I’d been so desperate for friendship that I believed any old thing out of their mouths. I was pathetic. I—

  “What are you doing?”

  Thessaly’s voice snapped me out of my fog. Waves swirled around me, keeping their distance, as I stood on the sea bottom. Little fish flip flopped around me, gasping at the sudden night air. With that moment of clarity, the water gushed back in, and I was drowning. The water was cold and dark. It was a sucking vortex taking me away. Thessaly dove under the waves and held me to her cold body as she swam to the rock.