by Renee George
"There's only one Goddess," I said, "and you will never be her equal."
Marlow shook me, the edge of the blade slicing the side of my face. A noise of agony escaped me.
"Let her go!" Monty shouted.
"Control your man, Pepper, or I'll throw you into the doorway now."
"I'm not Pepper," I ground out through clenched teeth.
"You think you can fool me, but you can't. You just take and take, but now it's Mar-mar's turn." She struggled to pull me back to the circle, and when I resisted, the knife sliced into my cheek and hit bone.
"Stop! I'm not freaking Pepper Rain. Look at me, you idiot." Okay, maybe antagonizing the witch with the knife to my eye wasn't a good idea, but since I was out of them, I would take any chance to throw her off her guard. I reached up and ripped the mask from my face. "Look at me!"
She spun me around. "Who are you?" she demanded as she shook her blade in my face.
"I'm Gigi Wise. Welcome to your ass kicking." I brought my knee up and nailed Marlow in the gut as I grabbed her head and threw her to the ground. Monty nodded. "We have to stop this," he said.
"How? We don't have any magic."
"But they do," he said, pointing to the witches and warlocks who hadn't bloodied the compass. They desperately looked for a way to stop the ritual and called up their magic to slow the F5 tornadic door to Father Time's lair.
The entire space began to quake and shake beneath us, and I crashed into Monty. The licks of the winds tugged at my heels, pulling me toward the vortex. I'd offered my blood, and the summoning spell was accepting my sacrifice. Marlow was crab crawling backward, her skin glowing red with angry energy. She laughed as I was pulled toward the circle. Monty grabbed my hands, tugging me in the opposite direction.
"Let me go!" I shouted. "You can't save me." All the humans had scattered, pressed against an invisible wall, as far from the whirling doom center of this crazy, magical Tootsie pop as they could get. "Help them," I begged. I didn't want Monty taken down with me. He needed to get as far away as possible.
"I won't leave you," he said.
"You both are dead!" Marlow laughed maniacally as if she'd been tearing pages from the evil handbook. "Don't fight your fate."
Fate! Gah. I'd forgotten about her in all the chaos. This fiasco was her fault. She'd put me on this path. Why? Had my failure been her plan all along? What was it she'd said to me. The fate of the witches was in my hand. She'd drawn a line across my palm with her finger. In my hand... I didn't have any magic? Maybe she'd been trying to warn me not to cut my palm with the stupid sickle and kill my own damn magic.
My arms felt as if they were ripping from their sockets as the vortex pulled me closer, and Monty slid forward with me. "Please, just let me go," I said. My pleas made him hold on tighter. He wasn't going to let me go. We'd made things personal, and it was interfering with work. "Do your damn job, Montrose Abadose!" I shouted, pouring every ounce of anger I could muster into my voice. "I'm a lost cause, but the mission still comes first."
"Don't give up on me," he said. "Not now."
"I wouldn't save you," I lied. "I'd do what I had to do to get the task done. Now quit thinking with your dick and think with your head."
My words startled him enough that his grip loosened, and I yanked my arms back, freeing myself of his grasp as the vortex whipped me inside. I shrieked as the hurricane tore at my flesh.
You are a child of destiny. Trust in fate. The words were as whispers in my ears. The same phrase Fate had written on the card. Once again, I remembered her drawing the line on my palm. Saving the witches was in my hand. My hand.
You are a child of destiny. Destiny's child. Like the band. But they broke up, so maybe not. The wind around me died, and I simply fell and kept falling, the path seemingly endless. Destiny had a soft spot for Chance. It's why I was here. That's what Fate had told me. I was a child of destiny. Why did I keep going back to that?
How long had I been falling? Minutes? Hours? Days? Years? Long enough, my bladder felt like it would explode if a bathroom didn't show up in this corridor to Cronus soon. I guess when you were the master of time, it was all relevant. I'd also had way too much time to think about how hurt and horrified Monty had been when I let him go. I'd said so much that I hadn't meant. I would have done anything to save him. My being here was proof of that. I cared about him in a way I'd never felt about anyone. Was it love? Maybe. Since I'd never had parents, I'd never experienced it before. I didn't know what it was like to have someone want to risk everything for me, but now I knew what it was like to want that for someone else.
Never had parents. The thought played in my head. Child of destiny. It was in my hand. I looked at my palm. The slice was still there, but the bleeding has stopped. It's in my hand. The wound was in my hand. It stung a little. I traced it with my finger the way Fate had. Take a chance. My eyes widened as the cut began to knit shut, and a loud, uncomfortable giggle burst from my lips when it healed completely. I touched the gash on my face and kept my fingers there until I could no longer feel it.
I'd healed myself. How? I was a creator witch. Not a healer. That was Monty's gig. I looked at my hand again.
You are a child of destiny. Destiny always had a soft spot for Chance. I'm good at being unseen, and you're good a being unheard. Oh, Fate, you crazy bitch. I'd finally figured out what she'd been hinting at. I would embrace my fate and take my destiny. My parents were no longer unknown. They were Destiny and Chance. Now, how was that going to help me escape this doomsday scenario and stop the witch in time?
Chapter Eleven
I sat at a dinner table filled with pot roast, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, hot rolls, freshly made cream corn, pudding and whipped-cream salad, and three table settings. At the head of the table sat a perfectly ordinary, but handsome blonde man. "Hello, daughter," he said.
At the second plate setting, a woman with darker blonde hair, and my amber eye color. She smiled. "It's so nice to meet you."
They looked exactly the way I'd always imagined. Exactly. "What is happening?" And why wasn't I falling anymore? "Where are we?" My bladder was still stretched tight. “And do you have a bathroom?”
"Fate said you were a little dense," the woman said, completely ignoring my request for a facility. "We. Are. Your. Parents," she said slowly and with exaggerated enunciation.
"I. Am. Your. Father," the man said, in the same way.
"Look, Darth. I don't know who the hell you are or why you've brought me here, but I will not let you take me without a fight." I stood up and raised my fists, knocking my chair over in the process. It disappeared before it hit the floor. "What the--"
"I hate loud noises," the woman said. "Icky to the ears."
The man sighed. "I knew this was a bad idea."
"For a guy who personifies chance, you sure don't like to take any. Chances that is."
I groaned. "You're my parents," I said.
"See," the woman said brightly. "I knew she'd get it."
"Just to get the formalities out of the way, you both suck."
"Chance sucks," Destiny disagreed. "I'd much rather blow." She giggled at her joke.
"Har har, and super gross. Why do you two look like a couple from a fifties television show?"
"Because this is how you picture us, dear," Destiny said. "We wanted to make you feel... comfortable."
"Too late for that."
"We're here to offer you a chance," Chance said.
I widened my eyes. "Let me guess? To fulfill my destiny."
Destiny clapped her hands. "She's not dense at all!"
"Goddess help me."
"She is," Destiny said. "She's allowing us to interfere on your behest this one time."
"How?"
"She's all-powerful and omnipotent," Chance explained.
I shook my head. "No, I mean how is She allowing you to interfere."
"She will let us send you back in time to one single point so that you can make a different choice and chang
e your--"
I held up my hand. "I get it. And what do I have to do in order get this boon?" I asked suspiciously. There was no such thing as something for nothing.
"You have to be willing to give up the thing you love the most."
"My job?" I said, hoping they'd accept it. Up until a day ago, it would have been the truth.
"Oh, child. The Goddess knows your heart," Destiny said. "You can save yourself. You can save him. If you're willing to let him go."
I fought down the anger and sorrow clawing at my chest and throat. I couldn't say it. Not yet. I wasn't ready. So, I stalled. "What am I?"
"What do you mean?" Chance asked.
"If I'm your daughter. Why did you drop me at an orphanage for witches?"
"Because you're a witch, Gigi," Destiny said.
"How can that be? Why am I not like you?"
"There can only be one of us," Chance said as if stating the obvious. "So, when you were born, we rolled the dice on your destiny, and fate chose to make you a witch. It's much better than a vampire or a banshee, isn't it?"
"I could have ended up a vampire?"
Destiny shook her head, "I might have nudged the dice in the right direction."
"What's your decision, daughter?" Chance asked. "If you wait too long, we might not be able to move you to a fixed point before the ritual."
Tears came unbidden. It tore me up inside to think about life without Monty, but if I didn't make the choice, none of us might make it. Chance handed me a hanky like a good fifties dad would.
"Sometimes you have to take the hard path in order to get the best result."
"But it's ultimately your choice, dear," Destiny added. "Free Will would have a fit if it was any other way."
"What are you willing to give up to save your species?" Chance asked. "You must say it."
I would lose him either way. At least if I chose to give him up, he would have a shot at a happy life. "I am willing to give up Montrose Abadose as my one love to save him. To save us all."
Destiny got up and walked around the table to me. She took my hand. "Think about the point in time where you want to return."
Chance stood up and took my other hand. "Be specific."
I wanted to go back to the point where Monty held me in his arms after we made love, to bask in the heat of his body one last time, but that would be selfish on my part. I knew if I were going to give him up, it would have to be a complete break. But somehow, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the moment he held me as the death curse left my body.
"There," Destiny said. "Hold it."
"Wait," I told her, but was silenced with Monty's mouth against mine. I let the kiss linger longer than it should have, the taste of him igniting my passion once again until a sob escaped my lips. "Stop," I said. "We can't." I pushed him away. "We can't do this."
"But you--"
"I know. I asked for it. But now, I'm saying it won't work." I shook my head and looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "Besides, we have a job to do. The cult is doing the ritual tonight, and the humans aren't the sacrifices."
"How do you know that?" Brita asked as she came in from the balcony.
"The same way I know three candles means to send in the cavalry. I suggest you get to lighting them," I told her. "Marlow Marshall is the mastermind behind this whole thing, and she's planning to sacrifice the entire cult to capture the power of time."
"That sounds a little outlandish," Monty said.
"Try a lot." I crossed the room and picked up the MAN. "An hour ago, I would have agreed with you. But you'll just have to trust me on this one." I shook my head and handed him the nullifier. "We're going to need this."
"Candles are lit," Brita said. "You know, Cas still might be distracting Marlow. My face her face," she said, and once again looked like the stuff of my nightmares. "I can maybe take her place."
"She's more dangerous than you think," I told Brita. "Go back downstairs. Find Cas. And tell the Council they need to bring all the bobbleheads they can find and meet us on the top floor of the resort..." I looked at the time. "...in one hour."
"What will you both do?"
"Wait for the call that sends us upstairs," I told her.
She nodded and left. When it was just the two of us, Monty stared at me with an intensity that made me squirm.
"What happened during those few moments when the curse left your body? Did you have a vision?"
"Something like that."
"What did you see?"
"I saw my destiny,'' I told him as longing and grief threatened to choke me. "Nothing more." The pressure on my bladder was getting intense now. “I’ll be right back.”
One potty break and two hours later, Shirley and a fifty-man team of warlocks had shackled the Divinus Paradiso witches and warlocks together and poofed them all to jail cells in Salem, where they wouldn't be allowed to practice magic for a very long time. Doyle’s face when he realized I was responsible for his arrest, and that I’d infiltrated the cult by wearing a Pepper skin, had been nearly worth the price of admission.
The only one who had no chance of parole was Marlow Watts. That witch wouldn't be able to practice spellcasting ever again, thank the Goddess. She'd confessed to the death curse. The witch had confessed she’d wanted to take Pepper out of the equation. She'd hated her and had figured out that she didn't need twenty-three sacrifices, only twenty-two, which equaled eleven pairs. Eleven was a power number for witches. And since she'd had no plans to sacrifice herself, she'd had one extra person. Me.
She'd almost succeeded. I could still see the look on Monty's face when I'd been whisked away. Chances were, he'd been sucked in as well. I'd made the right choice. Really, it had been the only choice.
After it was all said and done, Monty and I gave our statements. I left out the part about meeting my sucky parents and went with Monty's theory that my brief death had given me a glimpse of the future, an act I had no interest in repeating. Saying goodbye to Monty had been formal and complicated. What could I do? I had no idea what the ramifications would be if I went against the Goddess. She'd given me the chance to make things right. If I crossed her, she might take it all back. That would be worse than knowing I could never be with Monty. At least, that's what I told myself.
All I'd wanted to do was fling myself at him and profess my feelings. Instead, I shook his hand and thanked him for a job well-done.
"See you at the divorce hearing," I said, my hand still in his. We'd have to wait a mandatory one week before we could file. It was witch law.
He nodded. "You mean the annulment," he corrected.
I swallowed back hot tears. "I..." I'd fallen in love. It had made the marriage real, even if I'd turned back time to before we'd had sex.
He let go of my hand. "It will have to be a divorce," he said, his tone bitter. "I'll see you then." His gaze pinned me. "Goodbye, Gigi."
"Goodbye, Monty."
Chapter Twelve
When the week had passed, Drag went with me to the Council offices for our hearing. From the door, I saw Monty seated on the other side of the mediation table with Brita and Cas. He looked as unhappy as I felt.
"Nothing to hear," I said. I grabbed Drag's hand. "I can't go in there, but I have to. Help me do this."
"He loves you," she said. "You know that, right?"
I didn't respond.
"According to Brit, he was willing to die with you when you drank that hex. He stayed with you no matter the cost. You cannot deny that he loves."
I knew the truth in her words. It was why we had to divorce, at least from Monty’s perspective. Monty fell in love. He'd sealed the marriage binding by losing his heart. I'd lost mine as well, and now it was broken in a million pieces. But I'd made the deal.
"I don't deny it," I told her. "I just can't have him. Go in and wait for me. I just need a moment to regroup."
I took a seat on a bench outside the room. Someone sat down next to me, and I noticed the camo pants before I could even lo
ok up. "Hello, Fate." I couldn't keep the anger from my voice.
"Hello, niece." She propped her elbows onto her knees and planted her chin in her upturned palms and focused her metallic gaze in my direction. "Why so glum?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I gave up my best chance at happiness to save our kind, and all I get for my effort is a lousy divorce."
"And the knowledge that you did the right thing. That you saved a lot of witches and warlocks."
"Yay me."
"The fact that you were willing to give up true love for such a noble cause is a true miracle. Most wouldn't have had the strength. They would not have been so willing."
"Would you stop saying willing over and over and rubbing it in my face," I snapped.
Her hair flew up, and the air around me stirred.
"I'm sorry," I apologized. Jeesh, she was touchy.
"I'm willing to forgive you," she said. "It doesn't mean I have to, but in this case, I will because I know you're having a bad day."
"I'm glad you're willing to--" I blinked at her. "But it doesn't mean you have to? You just have to be willing? Goddess on a stripper pole!" They were all assholes. Destiny, Chance, Fate, Free Will, and even the Goddess, who I hoped was not reading my mind at this moment.
I jumped up from the bench.
Fate smiled. "That's my girl."
I stopped myself from telling her to kiss my ass. Instead, I stormed into the mediation room.
"Monty, I love you," I declared.
"What?" he said.
"I love you," I said again?"
"I can't hear you," he said. "Do you have a silence spell up?"
Shoot. "Release."
"Whatever you have to say, Gigi, you can say to the mediator, the Honorable Mysty Laramie," a council representative said.
"Fine," I huffed. "Honorable Mysty, can I speak?"
A bored-looking brunette, sitting at the far end of the table and wearing a black robe, nodded. "Go ahead, Ms. Wise."
"I am in love with Montrose Abadose. I think I've been in love with him since the first time I saw him at the training academy. Or at least, I was in lust with him. But now, it's love. From the moment he kissed me at our wedding, I was hooked. And, when he saved me from a deadly hex, risking his life to protect me, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, even if it had been just those few short seconds. I would have died happy, knowing it was in his arms."