by Amy Boyles
She wasn’t kidding. When the entire town got messed up during Halloween, the hillbilly giants that live just outside town almost destroyed us. Not because we’re bad people but because I wasn’t able to keep a promise.
Ugh. It was such a mess.
Anyway, I figured if a snowman came to life, there’d be two scenarios—sweet and wonderful Frosty or the evil Stay Puft from Ghostbusters. With our luck, we’d end up with Stay Puft.
I sighed. I didn’t want Christmas to be ruined. Betty and my family would blame me if that happened since clearly I was the only person who could save it.
I had my doubts, but what other choice did I have? None. I had to do what Betty wanted.
“Since I don’t want Christmas to fall apart, what do I need to do?” I said.
“We need Axel here since I can’t help you.”
The doorbell rang.
I clicked my tongue. “Right on time.” I opened the door and found Mint and Licky standing on the porch. “Oh,” I said flatly. “It’s y’all.”
Mint reached for me. “Pepper, we’re so sorry about what happened.”
“Did everything turn out okay?” Licky said.
“We’ve been so worried,” Mint said.
“Is that why you didn’t call?” I scowled at them so hard I was surprised I didn’t singe their eyebrows.
Mint fidgeted. “No. That isn’t why. We’ve been busy.”
“There was an important phone call.”
I fisted a hand to my hip. I was still holding the doorknob and hadn’t allowed my aunts to enter yet. Yes, I was barricading them from the house almost as much as I was bricking them out of my life.
“Oh? What sort of important phone call?” I wasn’t buying it for a second.
Mint’s gaze darted into the house. She met my gaze and lowered her voice. “One that involved ghosts of Christmas past.”
“What are you talking about?” It was a bunch of baloney. I knew it.
“Two men,” Licky hissed.
They glared at me. “Oh!” I realized what they meant—Cordelia and Amelia’s fathers! My aunts had been talking to them. Great news!
“And are we having any visitors for Christmas?” I whispered.
“No,” Mint screeched. “Absolutely not.”
I rolled my eyes. “Then why bother calling them?”
“We didn’t,” Licky snapped. “They called us.”
With that, Mint and Licky shot each other a look that said they wouldn’t be telling me any more than that.
My aunts could be so annoying at times. “Okay, well, thanks to Cookie Mobley’s dog, Arsenal, the animals all went back inside.”
“What did he say to them?” I heard Amelia shout from the dining table.
I turned around. “He doesn’t talk—at least not to me. I can’t hear him.”
Arsenal and Hugo, newly minted best friends, toppled into the living room, growling playfully at each other. I smiled. I hoped their happiness wouldn’t be cut short by the evil Ellis Mobley.
Just kidding. I didn’t know if he was evil—though I suspected it was a possibility.
An SUV rumbled to a stop in front of the house. Axel hopped out and practically raced up the steps.
“Evening, ladies,” he said to Mint and Licky.
Mint eyed Axel in a way that almost made me want to fight her. My aunts could look. I didn’t blame him. Axel didn’t have the nickname Mr. Sexy for no reason.
Mint clicked her tongue. “Well, since we don’t want to make the rooster feel like he’s stuck in too much of a henhouse, we’ll leave.”
“Sounds good,” I said cheerfully. Honestly, I was done talking to them for the day. Or night. Maybe for the week.
Axel wrapped an arm around my waist. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” I waved goodbye to my aunts and closed the door.
Betty had cleared the rest of dinner from the table. “Amelia, Cordelia, the fewer people in this room, the better. We’ve got serious magic to perform.”
Amelia huffed. “I’m insulted. It’s not like we’re our moms. Besides, what if we need to know how to do this sometime? It’s always better to have more than one person as backup.”
Betty plucked a wiry hair from under her chin. “Just what we need.” My grandmother eyed my cousins as if she expected them to steal the china off the table. “Fine. The two of you can stay, but no sounds. Not one word.”
“Fine by me,” Amelia said.
“I’m not sure if I want to stay,” Cordelia said.
Amelia gaped at her.
“Fine. I’ll stay.”
With the hair pinched between her fingers, Betty crossed to me. “Pepper, I need something of yours. Preferably an annoying hair.”
I stared at the white strand. It reminded me of dental floss. “I don’t have any of those.” And if I did, dear Lord, I wasn’t going to mention it in front of Axel.
“Find one,” Betty said.
I sighed and plucked a hair from my scalp. The glossy golden line curled at the end.
“Come to the fire.”
I followed her over. Axel stood close by. I wasn’t sure of his role in this, but I knew it would be revealed soon enough.
Betty tossed her hair in. The fire roared like a lion, enveloping the entire hearth. She turned to me. With a glint of mischief in her eyes, my grandmother said, “Now throw yours.”
I took a deep breath and tossed the hair into the fire. Here went nothing.
FIFTEEN
The flames reared as if alive. Tendrils whipped and lashed as if reaching for me. I shrank back.
“Don’t be frightened,” Betty said.
“Speak for yourself,” I said. “This thing’s gone haywire.”
The fire reminded me of an octopus searching madly for something. Hopefully that something wasn’t me.
Scorching heat roared in my face. I jerked away. One of the aimlessly searching tentacles coiled around my arm.
I screamed.
“Ah!”
“It won’t harm you,” Betty called.
Axel wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “Stay calm. It won’t hurt you.”
I twisted and fought. What the heck were they talking about—it wasn’t going to hurt me? It was a fire, dagnabbit. A raging inferno heck-bent on coiling around me and snuffing the life from my body.
I wasn’t even thirty years old yet. I hadn’t crossed that milestone. The milestone when my body parts started failing. When I started falling apart. When gray hair started sprouting from my head.
Wait a minute. Was I sure I even wanted to turn thirty?
Yes, absolutely. I was one hundred percent certain that was a milestone to be achieved.
As all these thoughts filled my brain, I yanked my arm. But as I pulled back, the fire tugged me forward.
Panic clawed at my throat. “What does it want?”
A face pushed up from the flames. It reminded me of A Christmas Carol when Jacob Marley’s face appears in the doorknob. It does appear in the doorknob, right?
You think a lot of strange things when faced with certain death. That’s how I felt—that my death was inches away, staring at me from the flames.
The mouth opened. In a grating, grumbling voice, the fire spoke. Yes, girl, it spoke. “Who is this?”
I swear the entire house shook. From behind me, Arsenal whimpered. Or maybe that was Amelia. It was probably Amelia.
“This is your granddaughter.” Betty stepped forward. “You need to bond with her.”
“And why would I do that?”
Boy, was this a cranky old man or what? I’d met some cranksters in my day, but this guy did not like to be disturbed. For real.
“Because my magic is broken. We need you to bond with her to fix the things I’ve done.”
The face peered at me. The tendril pulled me closer until my nose was inches from it. “You have the magic?”
Was that a trick question? “I have some.”
“Bah! Some!�
� I swear the fire spat. “Some isn’t enough to control me. To house me. To wield me.”
“I…I guess so?” I sounded pathetic. The words crawled from my throat in a quivering whisper.
The fire released me. I rubbed my arm.
The face dissolved into the flames. “Bring me a worthy granddaughter. Take this one back to where you found her.”
What the heck? Who did this guy think he was? If there was one thing that ticked me off, it was a person insulting my capabilities.
When I’d first arrived in Magnolia Cove, I wouldn’t have cared. I would’ve said, That’s fine by me. Get me the heck out of this scary witchy place.
But that wasn’t me anymore. Now I had some confidence. I wasn’t the most capable person when it came to using my powers, but I could work some magic, push bad people away, do other stuff. But the fact that this ancient fire seemed to think it knew best really got my panties in a wad.
I was just one bite of banana pudding away from having an all-out hissy going-on-conniption fit.
I was about to be wide open, and I don’t mean wide open in the sense that I’m a three-year-old running wild. No, I mean wide open in the sense that I was open to losing it on great-great-great or whatever granddaddy stuck in a stupid old fire.
“Excuse me?” I bellowed.
The face snapped to. A faint hint of a smile curled on his flaming lips.
He was going to find out what Pepper Dunn was made of. “What exactly do you mean? Are you saying I’m not worthy?”
“You guess you have the magic? You must know. You must own it. Or else my power will destroy you.”
Oh, well, was that all? “Listen, buddy, I can handle whatever you’ve got.” I leaned in until my nose was nearly touching his. “I’m a head witch.”
“A head witch with little confidence.” His gaze swept to Betty. “I’ve never seen such a thing in all my life.”
“I’ve got confidence, sir,” I argued. “I’ve got confidence up to the ceiling.”
“Prove it.”
Was that a challenge?
I thrust out my wrists. “Lash your little fire tentacles onto me. I can handle whatever you’ve got. I’m made of steel.”
He cackled. “When you should be made of putty.”
I blinked. “Sorry. What?”
The fire swooshed and churned, tightening into a coil. “You must be made of putty. You must be pliable. Even steel, under too much pressure, will crack and break.”
I shrugged. “Okay, I’ll be putty then.”
The fire kicked up from the coals. I lurched back. It crested at the ceiling and shot down, stopping inches from my face.
“Are you ready then, Pepper Dunn? To take on the everlasting fire? Once we are joined, you can leave, but I will always be a part of you.”
“You’re not going to be weird and say things in my head, are you? Because I don’t need to wonder if I’m schizophrenic or anything like that.”
“Silence,” the fire roared.
“Okay,” I whimpered. Wait. I wasn’t afraid of him. If Betty could handle the flames, so could I. I cleared my throat. “Okay. I’m ready. Let’s begin.”
“No, let’s end,” he said.
“Why do I even bother?” I raked my fingers through my hair in frustration. “You just say the opposite of everything I do. Whatever. Let’s end. No idea what that means, but I’m ready to go for it.”
In a flash the fire coiled around me, squeezing me like a cobra. I sucked in air. The fire constricted. It wasn’t hot. It wasn’t cold. It simply was.
A finger of flame rose. It whipped back, reminding me of a head snapping up. In one fluid movement, flowing like mercury, the finger lashed out and pierced my chest.
I sucked a mouthful of air and bowed back. Whereas the fire didn’t hurt, this did. Like, intensely. It felt like a needle had been rammed directly into my chest and was pumping me full of white-hot flames.
There was no going back. I understood exactly what the fire had meant when it said we were ending instead of beginning. There was no start to the pain or the heat. We were at the end. I felt like I was ending.
The fire spun me. I could see Axel and my family. They looked on, fear and suspicion filling their faces. Except for Betty, of course—she simply looked proud.
Now we are joined, the fire said. You can access my power. It is the power of centuries.
Stupid question I knew, but I needed an answer. How do I use you?
I cannot answer that question. It is for you to learn.
Great. Was this thing kidding? I’m going to pierce your heart with my flame of power, but I’m not going to instruct you on how to use said flame. Brilliant.
Do you feel me?
It was an odd question, and I inwardly chuckled because of how stupid it was. Of course I felt it! I thought I was going to die from pain.
However, the magic within the flame connected me to the magical world in a way I’d never experienced.
It was like I was a single shining star. Sprouting from my hands and feet were thin weblike strings that connected me to the rest of the magical world. I could analyze magic differently, deconstruct it, reimagine it in a way that was mind-blowing.
It was like looking at a pointillist painting. I could see every individual dot and understand the construct in a deeper, more meaningful way.
That’s what he meant by the ending. I didn’t see beginnings, I only witnessed endings—the very pinnacle or last piece of a puzzle shifting into place. Magic made sense in a new way, like a brilliantly shining star exploding from my chest and igniting me with information that could explain the very moment time began.
As quickly as it all started—or ended, rather—the flood of information stopped.
I was dropped to the ground. I landed on my rump with a thud that zipped up my spine and made my jaw ache. Axel’s strong arms wove around me.
“Are you okay?”
He hauled me to my feet. “Ah. Sore,” I croaked, rubbing my rear. “Very sore.” My fingertips brushed his skin. His flesh felt different under the pads of my fingers. It felt alive, as if I was touching every cell individually and not the whole of him.
I rocked back. Even that small movement was magnified. My head swam as my body pitched.
Betty rested a hand on my shoulder. “Slow down. All of this takes time to get used to. The effects of the fire will wear off in a few minutes. For now, go slowly.”
“I don’t understand any of this.” The surprise quickly turned to anger. “Why didn’t you tell me what would happen? That the fire would lift me up and poke my heart?”
Betty shoved her corncob pipe between her lips and lit it with a match. “Because you never would’ve done it otherwise, now would you? You go around telling folks they’re going to be wrapped up in flames and poked by a fire that has a heart in its center and they think you’re crazy.”
“You are crazy,” Amelia said from the other side of the room. “But Pepper, I have to tell you that looked really cool. Very amazing. I wish I could’ve done it.” A hopeful smile flashed across her face. “Can I?”
“No,” Betty snapped. “Two hearts is the most the fire can be in at two times.”
I wrung out my ear. “The fire is in me? Is that what you’re saying?”
“You sure are quick,” Betty said.
Axel squeezed my shoulder. It felt like I was being juiced. Not that he was doing it hard, but I was so raw, I felt like my nerve endings were exposed.
“The fire that lives in the hearth is old magic. When your grandfather died, a spell was created that placed his heart, his life force within this very fire.”
Shock slapped me across the face. “Axel? You knew all this?”
“Only what Betty and Donovan had shared with me.”
“Not everyone knows,” Betty said.
“I didn’t know.” Amelia raised her hand.
“That’s because you’d tell everybody,” Cordelia said.
“Would not.”
Cordelia glared at her.
“Okay, I might,” Amelia admitted. “But only because it’s really cool and not because I would be trying to sabotage anything.”
“Anyway,” I said, directing the conversation back, “so the fire literally contains a dead man’s heart?”
“Yep,” Betty said proudly. “Your grandfather’s. I protect it. The heart has been in the family for generations, as I’ve said. Its power is strong. Now it’s in you. You must wield this power and hone it in order to keep Christmas stable.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand. If it’s so magical, why does it need me?”
“It needs a host to direct the power through. Usually that’s me, but since my magic’s broken and until we find a solution, you’re the conduit.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “But I still don’t understand. What’s so special about the heart? Other than the fact that it’s a dead ancestor’s?”
“Because,” Betty said slowly, “the heart in this hearth is what makes Magnolia Cove magical—the Prophecy Pools, the Conjuring Caverns, even the prison beneath the town—none of it would exist without this heart. If anything ever happened to it, Magnolia Cove would cease to exist.”
SIXTEEN
“What? This fire is the reason our town exists?”
“Yep,” Betty said. “This fire has gone through many hands, but it has always remained with our family. It’s not only the heart of this home; it’s the heart of the town.”
Betty pulled the pipe from her mouth and chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t want more on you than necessary, kid. Trust me, I don’t. But a powerful witch must be in control of the fire at all times. Everything’s now riding on you.”
No pressure.
“What do I do?” Run and hide under a bridge and never come out? What if something happened and I lost the power? Or it got stolen?
“You don’t have to do anything,” Betty said. “Just be. Be and the power will live inside you.”
“Okay. I’ll just be. So. What about the rest of it? Like the candy on the house? Can I fix that?”
Betty glanced at Axel. He stood, arms crossed with his thumb tracing his chin. “The candy? I don’t know. It was Betty’s spell. We’ve got one heart and a house that might be swallowed by peppermint. We need a way to stabilize the cottage—at the very least.”