Southern Magic Wedding

by Amy Boyles

  My stomach dropped. “Oh my gosh. You’re right. Maybe by suspending the wedding, we’re actually saving the something from being stolen.”

  “Whatever it is, that person will want it eventually,” Betty said. “It won’t be safe forever.”

  I dropped my face into my hands. “And whatever it is, it has to do with us.”

  “So it seems,” Betty confirmed.

  I lifted my head and stared at my fingers as I clenched and unclenched them. We needed a big event—a huge event. Something that would pull everyone’s attention. The only big event that could be would be a wedding—my wedding to Axel.

  Oh, there were so many problems with that! First off, I couldn’t ask him to marry me when he didn’t even know me.

  Then it hit me. But he would know me. He would have to. Okay, so our plan to find out who had spelled him hadn’t worked, but there was another way, wasn’t there?

  Didn’t the Memory Mirror seem a real, tangible option?

  I shot up from the chair.

  “Pepper,” Betty said, her voice full of warning, “where are you going?”

  I grabbed my coat from a peg by the door and slid into it. “Out. Just for a bit. Don’t wait up.”

  Betty rose. Alarm filled her face. “Kid, you’d better tell me right now where you’re headed.”

  “It would be better if I didn’t.”

  I opened the door. Then, an invisible force pulled the door from my hand. It slammed shut.

  I clenched my jaw and whirled around. “Betty,” I said. “I’m not going to do anything crazy.”

  She folded her arms and glared something fierce at me. “Then why do you have a crazy glint in your eyes.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe because you’re imagining it.”

  Betty shook her head. “Pepper, I need you to stay sane in this. Don’t go off half-cocked and doing anything stupid.”

  “I’m not going to do anything stupid.” It was a total lie, but the less she knew the better.

  Betty narrowed her eyes. “It’s for your own good that I’m doing this.”

  My gaze darted to Cordelia and Amelia. Both of them looked as confused as me.

  “Doing what?” I said to Betty.

  “This.” She brought her hands together in a thunderous clap. Next thing I knew, I was in my bedroom.

  As I started to leave, the door shut hard in my face. “Oh no,” I said. “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.” I yanked the knob and pulled with all my might, but the door didn’t budge.

  “Crap on a stick!” I rushed to the window, unlocking it. I tried to throw up the sash, but it wouldn’t move, either.

  “You can’t lock me in here,” I yelled.

  “I can,” came Betty’s voice. It sounded like she was in my room, standing right beside me. I jumped nearly three feet. “Until I feel that you’re not going to do anything stupid, you’re staying in your room.”

  “You can’t keep me here forever!”

  Betty’s voice sounded ominous, scary. A chill swept down my backside as she said, “Oh yes, I can, and I will if I have to.”

  Chapter 17

  I sat on my bed, determined to find a way out of my room. “She can’t keep me in here forever,” I mumbled. “There’s no way.”

  A scratching sound coming from the corner grabbed my attention. I glanced over and saw Mattie stretching.

  “So it’s finally happened to you, too,” she said through a yawn.

  “What?”

  “Betty’s locked you in.”

  My jaw fell. “This isn’t new?”

  “Course it ain’t,” Mattie explained. “Used to happen to your mama all the time.”

  I collapsed onto the mattress, letting my back sink into it. “And how long would she end up stuck here?”

  Mattie jumped onto the bed and poked my face with her paw.

  “Ugh, why’d you do that?” I whined.

  “Because.” Her green eyes glittered with intelligence. “I’m a cat. It’s what we do. But anyway, in answer to your question—how long your mama ended up staying in here depended.”

  I hooked my hands behind my head. “On what? Betty’s mood?”

  “No, sugar. On how long it took your mama to figure out how to sneak around the spell.”

  I bolted up. “What?”

  Mattie wiped a paw over her nose. “Well, let me rephrase that. It depended on how long it took your mama and me to sneak around it. Your mama never did it alone. I always helped.”

  I jabbed a finger in my ear and shook. “Am I hearing you correctly? Betty used to get mad, lock Mama in here and then y’all would escape?”

  “That’s the ticket, sugar. What’re you in for? Disorderly behavior?”

  I exhaled a shot of air. “Being reckless. I have a plan that could get Axel back his memory. It could actually create a lot of chaos, too. Which means whoever has spelled Axel may come out in the open and reveal themselves. But in order to do any of it, I need to get out of here.”

  Mattie jumped to the window. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let me help you out.”

  “How’re you going to do that?”

  “First, we have to wait until everyone’s asleep. That’s the main step. Then, while Betty sleeps, the cracks in her spell will show.”

  My eyes widened in disbelief. “Is that always how it is? The weakness in a spell appears when the maker is asleep?”

  Mattie shook her head. “Not always. But it does with this spell and with Betty. I don’t know that I’d try it on anyone else.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Well, I’m game to try. So we wait?”

  Mattie nodded. “We wait.”

  I have to admit, the warm comfort of my bed called to me and within minutes my eyes were closing, no matter how hard I tried to keep them open.

  It wasn’t until I felt the prick of a paw against my cheek that I was awakened. “Ugh. Seriously. You have annoying little paws.”

  “Takes one to know one,” Mattie said saltily. “Now. Come on. Everyone’s asleep,” she whispered.

  I bolted up, inhaling a deep breath to help wake me. I blinked and opened my lids wide, trying to force my brain to sharpen.

  When I felt sufficiently able to function, I nodded to Mattie. “Okay, what do we do?”

  “I walk around and you look.”

  I frowned. “That’s all?”

  She smacked her lips in annoyance. “You have to look with your inner eye, your magic eye. You can’t just be watchin’ me and expect a miracle to happen. This ain’t Christmas, sugar.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said defensively. “No need to get testy.”

  Mattie jumped down from the window. Her tail whipped back and forth restlessly. “Now open your magic eye and watch.”

  I focused on the cat and inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to tighten my concentration. As I inhaled, I could feel the room filling with my energy.

  This was like meditating on steroids. Every bit of focus I had seemed to balloon inside the room, filling every nook, every cranny with my power.

  The hairs on the back of my neck rose to attention. They wavered under the thick magic, a heavy blanket that shrouded the room in energy.

  As I observed, Mattie slowly walked around. At first I didn’t notice anything strange. Nothing different about her. But then as my focus sharpened and my magic buzzed in the air like an electrical storm charging up, a green aura haloed her body.

  Instinctively I knew this was the bond of power. That was Betty’s spell cocooning around the cat, wrapping her up so that she couldn’t escape.

  My mind drifted to what Betty’s intentions had been. Possibly she wanted me to calm down, to sleep off my frustration. Perhaps in the morning I would see things differently. After all, it was a strong possibility.

  But then I realized that wasn’t what was latched to my heart. I was wounded. My heart cracking more in two every time I thought about Axel telling me he didn’t have any feelings for me.

  That wound wouldn’t heal by itself.
It needed help. It needed Axel to be back the way he was. The way he had been.

  He needed to be healed. Only then would I be healed.

  That was when I saw Mattie’s color waver. The green halo blipped and became red.

  “Stop,” I said. “That’s it. Right there. A break.”

  The cat whisked her tail against the outside wall. “Here?”

  I nodded. “That’s what it looks like.”

  She sighed. “It’s as good a place as any, I suppose.”

  “But it’s not even beside the window.”

  The window was a good three feet away from her. I would have preferred a break being there. That at least would be easy to deal with. All we would have to do was slide it open and I’d be outside, lickety-split.

  But at it was, I was staring at a blank wall.

  Mattie stretched, placing her front paws on the drywall. “It’s a good spot.”

  I rose and padded over to her. “What do I do?”

  Mattie blinked at me. Her little cat face filled with boredom. “You magic yourself through it, of course.”

  “We’re on the second floor,” I pointed out.

  “As if that’s ever stopped you before.”

  “Before we’ve gone out the window.”

  “Potato, pahtahto.”

  I smoothed my hand over the cool surface. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  “No. It’s supposed to give you perspective. Which is what you need right now. Perspective. Now. If you don’t go through that wall, I’m going to push you and I know you won’t like it if I do that. There’s no telling how you’ll land.”

  I grimaced. “Fine. I’ll go. Don’t wait up for me.”

  “If you’re not back by morning, I’m going to let Betty know,” she said. “She’ll be worried, and I’ll be feelin’ responsible for ya.”

  “Okay, I’ll return by then.” I placed my palms flat. “Here goes nothing.”

  With that, I pressed on the wall until I felt it give. I walked straight through it and bent my knees, anticipating the fall I would have to break.

  A moment later I landed on the ground silently. “Thank goodness for magic,” I mumbled.

  I stared up at the house to make sure no lights came on. When none did, I trotted down the street.

  My watch blinked midnight, which meant I only had a few hours before sunrise to do everything I needed. And I had a lot to do.

  I headed across town, keeping to the shadows to avoid anyone seeing me. The last thing I needed was for a nosy neighbor to see and ask Betty what I was doing out so late? Did I spell my own fiancé? Maybe I had a secret boyfriend that no one knew about?

  I mean, you never knew about some folks—the way their imaginations ran wild. The last thing I needed was for rumors to get back to Betty.

  It was a long trek on foot, but it was better this way than traveling via cast-iron skillet or even dragon.

  I passed Bubbling Cauldron and headed for the outskirts of town. I was nearly to the forest, to the end of Magnolia Cove proper when a shadow moved up ahead.

  I darted behind a tree.

  “I’ve already seen you.”

  My skin prickled. From my head to my feet it felt like beetles were walking up and down my flesh.

  I inhaled deeply, forcing my focus to sharpen. I did not want to be caught off guard by the vampire.

  “What are you doing here?” I said.

  Blake Calhoun stepped out into the moonlight. The moon’s glow on his skin illuminated his flesh, making him almost seem to shine.

  “I’m guarding this town,” Blake said.

  I cocked a brow. “Oh?”

  Blake stepped closer. “I offered to help Garrick. I heard about the giants and the problems that have been happening.”

  “It’s not the giants we need to fear,” I said coolly.

  Blake chuckled. “Are you saying it’s someone here? Possibly a vampire?”

  I lifted my chin and stared into his seductive eyes. “Drew told me that you have a lot of powers.”

  His smile fell. “Powers that I can’t control, I assure you,” he said.

  “You can’t control enticing women?” I laughed at that. “I’m pretty sure you know what you’re doing when it comes to women.”

  “You don’t even know me.” He took another step. His chest was inches away, and I could see the faint rise and fall as he breathed. “Why would you judge someone before you even know them?”

  I shook my head, forcing myself to think clearly, to brush away the cobwebs from my head. “I’m—I’ve had a lot of stress.”

  Blake placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry for that. I truly am, but going up there, to the Hillbilly Hills isn’t going to help.”

  I raised my chin in defiance. “I’m going to walk around you now, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone you saw me.”

  I started to move, and Blake’s hand, quick as lightning, snaked around my wrist. “I can’t let you do that. I’ve made a promise to Garrick.”

  “We have police to keep us safe.”

  “Ah, but I’m faster than any of them.”

  “And more lethal.”

  He softened his grip, but Blake’s fingers brushed my skin, sending a line of fire straight up my arm. “I’m only lethal when I have to be.”

  “You don’t have to be now.”

  “I made a promise.”

  “Not to me, you didn’t.”

  Our gazes locked, and I felt myself falling into Blake, being sucked into those dark eyes. The world fell away. The sound of the wind in the trees died down, and all I could focus on was him and the power that suddenly tethered me to him.

  The vampire’s body tensed.

  “Let her go.”

  I jumped and Blake’s fingers slipped from me. His lack of response at the voice made me realize that Blake had either heard or smelled the intruder before he spoke.

  Actually it wasn’t an intruder at all. I whipped around to see Axel standing under the trees. Shadows and light slashed across his face, making him look like a black-and-white photograph. Only there was nothing ancient about Axel.

  My breath caught in my throat as he approached. His brow was drawn, his jaw flexing.

  He wasn’t wearing a coat, only a thin dark sweater that hugged his shoulders, chest and tapered waist.

  His blue eyes looked inky in the darkness, and the scowl on his face was enough to make me want to run and hide underneath a chair.

  The wind sliced over my skin, and I realized how exposed I was—standing between a werewolf and a vampire, two of the deadliest creatures I’d ever known.

  Axel stalked forward. Every step he took was deliberate. In every movement he made, anger wafted off him. I could almost see it drifting off him like smoke.

  “Leave her alone,” he growled to Blake.

  “I wasn’t doing anything except what I’ve promised Garrick,” Blake spat. “No one is supposed to go up into the hills.”

  Axel stopped a few feet away. His gaze washed from Blake’s head to his feet and back up. His eyes softened, and Axel cracked a smile.

  “Thank you for protecting us.”

  Blake stared at Axel a moment before nodding. He wasn’t sure what to make of Axel. Neither was I.

  Blake nodded. “You’re welcome. Like I said, no one’s to go into the hills. The giants are making threats. Garrick wants to keep everyone safe.”

  Axel reached for me. I was busted. My plan obliterated. There was nothing to do except tuck tail and go home.

  An opportunity wasted. But what could I do? Zip past Blake only to be captured by him a moment later? There was no telling exactly how quick the vampire moved. When it came to a physical confrontation, I would be over my head.

  So I backed down.

  I smiled at Axel and slid my palm over his. His skin immediately warmed me. It was like slipping on a warm blanket, one I could snuggle into.

  I let Axel lead me back away from the f
orest. We didn’t speak for several minutes.

  “What are you doing here?” Axel growled.

  I bristled at his tone. What right did he have to question me? “For your information, I’m out here trying to help you. Trying to win your memory back. What are you doing prowling around?”

  He shot me a scathing look. “I wasn’t prowling.”

  “Well you weren’t going for a jog, not in boots.”

  He stopped and whirled on me. Rage burned in his eyes. “For your information, I was out here trying to save myself, too.”

  His admission surprised me. My heart softened toward him. “You were going to find the mirror?”

  He scowled. “I’m still going to.”

  “But Blake said—”

  “Forget what Blake said. He can’t be everywhere at one time.” Axel studied me. The coldness in his eyes melted and he smiled. “Want to go for a midnight hunt?”

  My own lips curled devilishly. “Why not?”

  Chapter 18

  “Why were you so angry with him?”

  Axel and I moved quietly through the forest. We walked away from Blake until Axel figured we were far enough that we could start directing ourselves back toward the hills.

  We had breached the Cobweb Forest and were thick in the woods. The ground sloped upward as made our ascent into the giants’ territory.

  “I wasn’t angry with him,” Axel countered.

  “You weren’t happy, either.”

  “I didn’t like him touching you.”

  My stomach tightened. He was jealous? Jealous? That could only be what Axel meant. That he didn’t like Blake touching me because of an emotion that it triggered.

  Was Axel’s reaction simply forged from primal jealousy? A byproduct of his werewolf instincts?

  “You don’t have anything to say?” Axel asked.

  I exhaled a shot of air. “No. Not really.” But then my mind clicked into gear. “Okay, maybe I do have something to say. Why? Why did it bother you?”