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

by Heloise Hull

  Suddenly, heat seared up my back, wrapping around my front and down my arms. The wheat grew rapidly, snarling their wet bodies with its sharp edges and trapping them in its hold.

  I felt like dancing or howling. I’d really done… Oh, never mind. The serpents thrashed their bodies a few times and broke free without so much as a paper cut.

  Aurick stood next to me, both of us tense and ready, come what may.

  “Any other grave goods?”

  He shook his head. “Technically yes, but my glassware did nothing, and they were among my most powerful.”

  “That’s what those globules were?”

  “Yes. Molten glass I can manipulate.”

  The serpents hissed, slithering closer and destroying everything in their wake. We were next.

  I pictured my boys, a lump forming in my throat. “Aurick, I—”

  But I was cut off by a spout of water smashing into the serpents. It was as strong as the tides, and they writhed and gurgled in agony as a lithe woman in a chiton landed in front of us, gently stepping off the crest of a wave.

  “Thessaly!”

  “I can’t believe it,” Aurick muttered. “The demon came back.”

  “Of course, she did,” I said, as surprised as he was. “I never doubted it for a second.”

  Thessaly raised the serpents with her water magic and held them over the ground, trapped in her vortex.

  She turned to us, her eyes terrifying, her hair raised above her head like Medusa’s, who I hoped to never meet in person. It was magnificent. “Aurick, can you fix the tears in the veil?” she asked through gritted shark teeth. “I can’t hold them back for long.”

  “Possibly.”

  Nonna stood next to us now. “Together we can.”

  “I can give you at least five minutes.” Thessaly gathered herself, arms back, and pushed the serpents like she was launching a shot-put ball. We heard the screeching of the sea beasts, and they were expelled from the shores in a tumble of rancid blubber and hissing spit.

  Nonna and Aurick hurried to the edge of the cliff, conversing in low voices. As he passed, Aurick pulled a stalk of wheat and dropped three seeds back into his pocket. The stalk disintegrated, and I glanced around the yard. What wasn’t drenched in two inches of water was slimed or covered in scorch marks.

  I turned to face the siren. “I thought you were leaving.”

  “I was, but I sensed something… malicious. Gods, I never want to be wet again!”

  “You came back for us?”

  Thessaly tried to look indifferent, but I could see past her cold exterior. She had an affinity for me, probably because I listened. I must have been the first person to talk to her in centuries. As I tried to tell Jim a million times, sometimes a woman just needs someone to listen to her and commiserate. Someone she wasn’t paying two hundred dollars an hour.

  Thessaly smoothed down her hair and avoided eye contact. “It was nothing. I looked at the ocean and I simply did not want to be in it. I wanted to be dry. I will wait here until I feel like swimming again.”

  “Okay,” I said slyly, wrapping my arms around her.

  She was stiff as a board. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s called a hug. I’m showing my gratitude and affection.”

  Thessaly began to relax under my grip. I didn’t have to say anything else as her arms slowly returned the gesture.

  Soon, Nonna and Aurick came back from the cliff, weary and dragging. “The veil is patched,” Nonna announced.

  “It’ll hold for now, but it’s like putting a Band-Aid on a geyser,” Aurick added, thick wrinkles forming at his temples.

  I looked between them and read the worry in their eyes. “I should warn the town.”

  Aurick shook his head. “We can’t separate now. It’s too dangerous. We don’t know if anything else slipped inside. We need to do a proper sweep of the island.”

  The thought made my stomach twist, but I put on a brave smile. “I’ll be okay. I’ve got the best siren this side of the Mediterranean to protect me.”

  “At least take this.” Aurick reached inside of his non-magical, but pretty darn cool pockets and gave me the world’s tiniest waistcoat. It fit perfectly in the palm of my hand, yet despite its size, I could tell it was of the finest quality. Brilliant saffron and gold threads were woven intricately together.

  “Another grave good?” I asked.

  “Yes. In my mortal life, I clearly loved clothing. I have many, but the waistcoat expands to act like a straitjacket. If you should meet something less potent than a primordial being.”

  “Like what?”

  “Vampires, werewolves, garden gnomes. Whatever.”

  “Ah, garden gnomes. Right.” But I tucked the little jacket into my own pocket.

  “What other tricks do you have?”

  “Not many. But there is something lurking here. Thessaly is right about the evil inside. I am not a Council member,” he stared pointedly at me, willing me to understand his words at dinner were an omission, not an outright lie, “but I was sent here by the Council to investigate strange disturbances around the veil.”

  I stabbed him in the chest. “You half-truthed me!”

  “I should still. There’s so much you don’t yet understand, but I want you to know the full truth.”

  “So, are you the Council or not?” I asked him directly.

  “Only a hired hand. The Council has known about the tears for a while now. That’s why they sent me to investigate, but something attacked me the second I touched Aradia’s land. The last thing I did before staggering to my room in the villa was put a protective spell around my body. That way, whenever anyone thought about checking on me, they promptly forgot. It was the best I could do on such short notice.”

  “I knew it!”

  “It wasn’t mind control, Ava.”

  “It amounts to the same thing in my book.”

  “I’m sorry for misleading you. It hurt to do so.” Aurick stood, looking almost as awkward as the first day I saw him. “Ava, before we separate, do you know what you are?”

  “I do,” I said carefully.

  “Tell me then, because it’s driving me crazy.”

  “How do I know I can trust you? You just admitted you work for some shadowy organization.”

  “Ava…” His voice was low, almost pleading. At my silence, he said, “You’ve done powerful magic. That sort of thing is going to draw attention. Let me protect you.”

  “I’m only a wolf,” I protested. “The She-Wolf, sure, but I don’t have much power.”

  “The She-Wolf of legend was never known for using magic. Yet you did.”

  “So?”

  “So, everyone will want to know why and how. Not just the Council.”

  I won’t lie. I didn’t like the sound of that. “Maybe she hid it at the time.”

  “She is you.”

  “I know that, but it’s a little confusing at the moment.”

  Aurick gave me a last, lingering look. “Be smart. Don’t engage if you can avoid it. I’d hate to lose you, Ava Falcetti. I’ll meet you in town as soon as I can.”

  Thessaly and I left on Vespas, a warm spot growing in my chest from Aurick’s words and a pit gnawing at my stomach from everything else. The situation was accelerating, and I felt helpless to stop it.

  Out of the cypress trees to my left, a familiar ghost in crusader armor darted through the trunks to keep up with me, his paunch heaving with effort. It was the Knight.

  A stab of panic hit my chest, and I slammed on the breaks. “What are you doing out of the grove? It’s not safe here.”

  “Signora, I have come to warn you. No one is safe. On the ghostly plane, I hear rumblings of a powerful necromancer. You need to find—” The Knight started to flicker and his face twisted in fright. “He’s taking me! He’s corralling my essence into a vessel. Help me, Signora! I’m not ready to go!”

  “Get back to the ghost plane,” I yelled. “Go to the grove and stay there
.”

  “The pull is too strong,” he wailed, writhing while his face and armor rusted away.

  Something he said made me pause. “What does the vessel look like?” I asked frantically. “Tell me about it!”

  “It’s bright, like silver and...”

  There was a loud popping noise and the Knight disappeared, just like Piero.

  Chapter Thirty

  Thessaly’s eyes were wide. “The necromancer is getting stronger. We need to find him, quick.”

  Something niggled in the back of my mind. One of my earliest conversations with Nonna. “Luca came here ten years ago. That’s when Nonna said all of this weirdness began.”

  “Luca? Who is that?”

  “Supposedly the only MILF on the island. But as Coronis said, either he got through in a weak spot or…”

  “He’s not a MILF,” Thessaly finished for me.

  I nodded. “I saw a jar at his house. It caught my attention because it was odd. Moss grew on top and a substance bounced around the glass.”

  “A substance?”

  “A silvery one. It looked magical.”

  She restarted her Vespa. “Sounds like we need to pay this Luca a visit.”

  Three minutes later, we roared into town, and I pounded on Rosemary’s locked door. When nobody answered, I saw the same feeling of foreboding in my heart reflected in Thessaly’s eyes. “She’s probably on guard at the basilica,” I said uneasily.

  “Why are you watching the basilica?”

  “Thoth sleeps there, under the crypt.”

  Thessaly recoiled. “On purpose?”

  “We have no idea. Only that he’s stuck in a sleep cycle.”

  The siren shivered. “That does not bode well. A god hiding on Aradia? I don’t like it. Especially not Thoth.”

  Thessaly’s mouth formed a thin, worried line, but we marched forward, nerves on fire. I took deep, cleansing breaths, hoping it wasn’t my last time seeing beautiful Aradia.

  I tried ordering myself to stop being fatalistic. I had my siren squad. We were powerful women—a harpy, a demon, a crow-shifter and, apparently, a wolf. But just because we were powerful, didn’t mean I wasn’t apprehensive. I’d feel better once we found them alive and well.

  We turned the corner. Coronis and Rosemary were sitting together by the basilica, their outlines silhouetted against the setting sun. They stood quickly when they saw us, and by their narrowed eyes, I could tell Thessaly’s presence surprised them.

  Rosemary gave me a fierce hug. “Darling, you smell like…”

  “Sea monsters?”

  “I was going to say seaweed. What happened?”

  “I’ll tell you everything once we survive the necromancer.”

  Rosemary stared, her eyes darting between us. “Cosa?”

  “Another ghost disappeared,” I told her in a rush. “He described an object I saw in Luca’s house. I think we need to investigate. Now.”

  “Luca?” Coronis laughed. “He’s harmless.”

  “I sincerely hope so, but I can’t deny the jar. Let’s go look. I’ll ask to use the phone, and one of you can distract him while the other pokes around.”

  Rosemary’s face whitened as I spoke. “Necromancer? Here? And you want to confront him? Dio mio, this is madness. Then what?”

  “We’ll be subtle and see how he reacts when we find it. Last time…” I cut myself off, remembering our date. He’d jumped in front of the jar so quickly and then drew me into that toe-curling kiss. I’d completely forgotten about everything else. “Last time, he seemed rather protective of it.”

  “Okay,” Rosemary said, flapping her arms. “Okay,” she repeated. “Okay.”

  I took her hands. “It will be fine. It’s four against one.”

  “But a necromancer, darling? They have armies of dead soldiers they can call upon.”

  I put on a brave face. Since I knew next to nothing about necromancers, it wasn’t hard. Ignorance was bliss in this case.

  “Thessaly, can you stay here and stand guard? If I’m wrong and Luca is actually a MILF, then he doesn’t know he lives on an island full of supernaturals, and well…”

  Thessaly crossed her arms. “Is it because I’m blue?”

  “Yes. It’s hard to be subtle when your friend is the color of the sea. Also your hair is still crackling with energy.”

  “Your teeth are still pointy, too,” Coronis added. “That must have been some battle.”

  “Fine. I’ll stay, but I don’t like it. It could be dangerous.”

  We left her sitting on the steps, a sense of quiet enveloping us. By now, dusk had begun, and a sliver of moon peeked out from over the trees. The last time I’d seen it, I’d freed Thessaly from her curse. An involuntary shiver ran through me as I remembered the feeling of untainted power coursing through my body.

  “The moon,” I whispered.

  “Yes, it’s lovely,” Coronis said. “But we have bigger problems. Like a possible necromancer.”

  “No, the moon. It’s what supercharged my powers.”

  “Let’s hope you don’t have to use them.”

  We turned a corner and stopped in front of Luca’s apartment. From a distance, everything looked normal. No glowing windows, no skeleton army standing guard, no hounds of Hell. In fact, nothing seemed amiss, and I began to wonder if I had been mistaken. Like when Nonna had us break into Rosemary’s Bakery.

  We stepped onto the porch and the door swung open, creaking eerily on its hinges. “Okay, that was weird,” I said.

  Rosemary shivered next to me. “Yeah, that gave me the creeps, and I’m a harpy.”

  A cold wind blew through the door, and I tried to peer inside, but it was black as tar. Then I saw it. A ghost sparked into the room, and I recognized it immediately. The Italian housewife.

  She was screaming, tearing at her hair. The agony on her face was unbearable, and I almost looked away. As she fully shimmered into view, I saw for the briefest moment what looked like an oil slick on asphalt on the hottest day of the year. “The veil,” I whispered. “Luca is the one causing the veil to tear.”

  “With his blood magic,” Coronis whispered back. “Dio mio, how did we not see this?”

  “Where is he?” wailed the housewife, and I knew she was talking about the Knight. I hadn’t been able to save him.

  Without thinking, I ran forward to help. That was my first mistake. The moment I crossed the threshold, I felt a pop, and when I turned around, Coronis and Rosemary were banging on an invisible barrier, unable to enter.

  “Come back,” they mouthed. “It’s too dangerous alone.”

  But it was too late. A dark, hooded figure stood in a circle of candles, holding the glowing jar as it trapped the essence of the Italian housewife inside. His head snapped up at my arrival, the candles illuminating his face. It was Luca. He barely looked himself. He almost didn’t look human at all. His entire bearing had changed. Tall, terrifying, vengeful. His eyes glowed in hatred—or desperation?

  “What are you doing here?” he boomed, tucking the jar safely under his arm. “You’re early.”

  “Did you think we had a date tonight?” I asked, utterly confused.

  “It doesn’t matter. I have all I need. Almost.”

  Our eyes met, and I recalled the look he gave me at the fountain when our fingers touched. I remembered thinking it read like hunger. It was the same look on his face now. I took a step back at the ferocity of it. It was like watching a starving man staring at a feast before him.

  “Luca?” I asked, a waver in my voice. “Please tell me this is some weird kind of yoga.”

  Luca almost laughed at that. “There’s no point in hiding it anymore,” he said. “Yes, I’m the necromancer.”

  I looked back at my friends, still frantically trying to get inside. “And you’ve been stealing the veil’s power to hide your activities.”

  “It makes a wonderful barrier, especially when it’s so concentrated.”

  “But why? The veil protects
the town, and now it’s weakening. Those are your friends you’re putting at risk.”

  “All great ideas have a price.”

  My eyes narrowed. “And what is this great idea you’re referencing?”

  “You look so much like her.”

  I gasped, everything finally clicking into place. “You’re trying to resurrect your wife?”

  “Of course. How could I ever live without her?”

  “And the ghosts are what?”

  “An excellent source of energy. Now, all I need is a body.”

  Luca drew a blade across his hand and sprinkled blood over the flame. It hissed as it fell, and cords as thick as my leg shot out of the darkness and wrapped around my chest, pinning my arms to my sides.

  “Yours.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Turns out, Luca only wanted me for my body after all. I’m not sure if that made Jim right or wrong, but I hated the idea that my last thought was going to be about Jim.

  Nope. I would not let that happen.

  Luca stalked closer, examining my bonds to make sure I couldn’t escape. He tugged here and there, muttering continuously under his breath, but it sounded more like the ravings of a madman than any spell work.

  His breath was warm and smelled like salami. I tried not to gag. I couldn’t believe I’d ever kissed him. Perhaps I’d die of embarrassment before he got the honor of killing me.

  “I don’t plan on killing you,” he said, as if he could read my thoughts.

  “What?”

  “I’m not a killer,” he said dismissively, as if he were offended I’d even considered the idea. “Plus, it would never work that way. You’ll still need to be there to keep the body alive.”

  “Ummm…” I began, not sure how to respond. “You’re expecting me to co-habitate with my own body?”

  “She’ll be in charge, of course, but you’ll be inside. Think of it like a long dream.” Luca took his wife’s picture out of his pocket, and even from this distance, I could see the similarities. It must have pained him when he turned around at the taverna and spotted me. A tiny part of me felt compassion. If he wasn’t a crazy necromancer and all.