Pawsitively Cursed

by Melissa Erin Jackson

  He wore his true face now, and Amber knew her mother was thrown by the sight, given how she took a tiny step back and hunched her shoulders closer to her ears. Just as quickly, she stood straighter.

  “I’m a woman of my word,” Belle said.

  Neil winced slightly at that, clearly recognizing a dig at his character when he heard one. He approached her slowly, gaze roving her face. Searching, Amber guessed, for any sign that Belle still loved him. That she’d give him a chance despite the lies and deceit.

  “I was a little surprised you wanted to meet at our spot,” he said, then walked past her.

  She turned to see him approach a heart carved into the bark. NW ♥’s AH.

  Neil ran a fingertip along the grooves of the heart, then the letters. He swiped a hand across the front of the heart and the W changed into a P. He turned to Belle then, the hopefulness in his expression almost enough to break even Amber’s heart. When he was half a foot from her, he carefully reached out to take her hands, which had been hanging by her sides. Belle stared down at their clasped hands for a long time before she looked back up.

  The clearing was rapidly growing darker.

  “Have you made a decision?” he asked.

  “Can you tell me why you had me create that spell?” she asked. “The truth this time.”

  Neil sighed and dropped her hands. He ran his fingers though his black hair, then rested his palm on the back of his neck. “Rumors about the Henbane girl who can manipulate time have been going around the Penhallow clan for years. I can’t tell you how many of them have been trying to find you.”

  “Delin Springs is warded to high heaven,” Belle said. “How did you get in? The wards sense Penhallow blood. You shouldn’t have been able to get past our defenses.”

  Amber wondered why the wards hadn’t reacted once he reverted to his real self. She supposed there weren’t any contingencies for what to do about a Penhallow inside their protective spells, as they hadn’t anticipated anyone being able to get through in the first place.

  Neil managed a soft smile. “My glamour spells are so strong, I can truly become someone else, even down to what runs in my veins. Perk of the curse.”

  Belle folded her arms. “Who was the real Neil Winters?”

  “A guy I met on one of those ridiculous magic retreats in the mountains,” Neil said. “He was a Fellway or a Grinnell or something. He didn’t have any living family and was trying to find people he could connect with at the retreat. I needed someone no one would miss.”

  Amber’s blood ran cold and she wondered if her mother’s had too.

  “What?” Belle asked, voice barely above a whisper. “You only glamoured yourself to look like him, right? You didn’t … you didn’t actually …”

  “I had to become him, Anna,” Neil said. “I needed more than his magic. I needed his life—as sad and lonely as it might have been. I needed to live as him for a while for the glamour to really take hold.”

  “So you … you killed him and assumed his identity just to get into Delin Springs? You did all this for me?”

  Neil’s grin was a bright flash of white in the dark. Amber knew he thought she sounded awe-struck, but Amber had heard incredulity. “Yes, baby. I did this all for you. I admit I had a one-track mind when I got here. I had a mission to complete. I’m a dedicated man. But then I saw you and … I was head over heels immediately.”

  Something in the forest beyond them cracked, like someone had just stepped on a thick stick. Neil’s head whipped in that direction.

  Belle reached out and placed a hand on his face to bring his attention back to her. “Did you expect me to create the spell, and then run away with you?”

  “Yes,” he said simply. “The world will be made better by your spell. The clan will be ecstatic. You, a Henbane, bringing the spell to the clan would be the first step in bringing all the clans back together. It would be a way to ensure you and I can be together.”

  Amber saw the massive shape of her grandfather materialize out of the shadows just behind Neil. Amber wondered if her mother had kept her expression neutral. Amber would have fainted dead away.

  In seconds, Miles had hold of Neil on either side of his head, his massive hands clapped over the boy’s ears. Belle jumped back, pulling her grasp from Neil’s. Neil howled, thrashing in Miles’ grasp as Miles began an incantation. Amber could hardly make out the words, thanks to Neil’s screaming fit. The boy scratched at the older man’s hands, kicked backward with his heels.

  He sunk to a knee, still screaming while Miles held fast to his skull. Belle stood back, tears blurring her vision, hand pressed over her mouth.

  Just as some of the fight seemed to go out of Neil, Miles was hurled off his feet. He hit the dirt path, rolling across it like a vehicle flipped in an accident.

  “Dad!” Belle cried out, rushing over to him. She crouched beside his body and gave him a shake. She clearly sagged with relief when he groaned. Still alive.

  Belle glanced up to see a man emerge from the darkness of the trees. “Mr. Gregory?”

  The man checked on Neil. Satisfied the boy was still breathing, he stepped over his prone form and moved toward Belle, who was still crouched by her father.

  Then, just as it had happened with Neil, Mr. Gregory’s face melted away to reveal a black-haired man around her father’s age underneath.

  Belle stood. “You’re his father.”

  He grinned. “Working at the Gas & Stop was a good cover, wasn’t it?”

  Before Belle could reply, Neil shrieked in pain, back arched as he writhed on the ground, hands clutching his head.

  “What have you done to him?” the man snapped, pointing behind him without tearing his gaze away from Belle. “Reverse it, Henbane.”

  Miles got to his hands and knees, shaking his head like a dog, then unsteadily got to his feet. “He’ll be fine, Penhallow. Collect him and get out of Delin Springs and we’ll pretend none of this happened.” He stood beside Belle now.

  Neil still screamed and thrashed in the tall weeds behind them.

  The man tsked. “Not without the girl and her book.”

  “Absolutely not,” Miles said, taking a step forward and placing a protective arm in front of Belle. She peered around him.

  “There are more Penhallows here in Delin Springs, you know. You really think we trusted this mission to a twenty-year-old boy? And a lovesick one at that.” He laughed. “Allow the girl to come willingly with us, and I can promise you that every Penhallow will leave with me. Neil will take good care of her. Once they know about the spell and that I have it—and its creator—with me, they’ll follow me to the ends of the earth.”

  “So they don’t know about the spell yet?” Belle asked.

  Miles pushed her a little further behind him.

  Neil howled in pain. The man hardly reacted.

  “I’ll be the first to admit that we’re a volatile bunch,” the man said. “It’s not news to toss around lightly. But if you refuse to cooperate, well, I’ll be forced to let all the little spies know, and then your life will be shredded to pieces. And then your bodies will follow. No stone will be left unturned until the book is in Penhallow hands.”

  “No,” Belle snapped.

  The older Penhallow’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You want to do this the hard way, I see. I wonder what poor Ivy Henbane will think when a weeping Mr. Gregory comes to her door with the news that her daughter and husband suffered a horrible wild animal attack in the woods.”

  Without warning, he thrust his hands toward them. Amber saw the magic shoot from his hands like black tendrils. The polar opposite of the aimlessly wafting fog on the ground; this mist had a purpose.

  Belle thrust out her own hand half a moment later and the entire scene froze, save for Belle and her father. The black mist, which almost looked like a clawed hand, had stopped mere inches from Miles’ chest. He gasped and stumbled out of the path of it.

  “Dad! Are you okay?” She scanned his face, and pa
tted his chest, checking for anything bleeding or broken.

  “I’m fine.”

  Whimpering, she threw her arms around his middle. “What are we going to do? They can’t find the book.” Without letting him go, she peered up at him. “Sara says it would be disastrous. Every foresight spell she’s cast to show her what happens if they get the spell—”

  Miles sighed, rubbing a hand up and down her back. “I know.” He paused, then said, “What if we make sure he can’t tell anyone?”

  Slowly, Belle pulled away. “Dad, we can’t. We’d be no better than them …” she said, but her gaze was focused on the frozen Penhallow.

  “He threatened your mother,” he said. “Raphael would be on their list too. Your friends. Your friends’ friends.”

  Belle blew out a long, audible breath. “How would we even do this?”

  He stepped away from her to examine the thick thread of black mist. “If we place a protective shield at the right angle, we could make the magic ricochet and hit him. This,” he said, motioning to the magic, “was meant to be a killing blow.”

  “We have to hurry,” she said. “The spell won’t hold long, and his fingers are starting to move.” Amber watched as the pinky of one outstretched hand and the thumb of another gave a couple of faint twitches.

  Belle and Miles worked quickly, determining the best place to erect the shield. They spoke as if they were planning the best way to make a creative shot in billiards, not the most effective way to kill a man.

  At the same moment Miles cast the protection spell, Belle dropped the time freeze. The black mist slammed into the shield so hard, Miles was shoved back a few feet, the heels of his boots leaving gouges across the dirt path. The Penhallow’s own magic careened into his body, his eyes going wide a mere millisecond before impact—registering what was about to happen before it actually did.

  He gasped, then pitched backward into the tall weeds.

  Neil’s cry now was that of a wounded animal.

  “What about Neil?” Belle asked, her voice shaky.

  “Can you hold him still while I complete the job?”

  Belle nodded.

  When her father joined her, Belle dropped to her knees by Neil’s side and pressed her hands to his shoulders. Miles took the spot by Neil’s head, then quickly grabbed the boy’s skull as he’d done earlier. Neil gave a few violent jerks, like a fish tossed onto the bottom of a boat, and then relaxed. By the time Miles had finished the spell, beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. He swiped his sleeve across his skin.

  Seconds after Miles sat back, Neil began to stir. He sat up, looking nothing short of disoriented. “I feel … very strange.”

  “This isn’t something we decided to do on a whim, son,” Miles said.

  Neil scrambled onto his feet, moving away from the older man. He was several feet away before he spoke. “I’m not your son. I’m no one’s son now, thanks to you.”

  Neil thrust out a hand. Nothing happened. He tried again and again. He brought his hand before his face, staring at it as if it had betrayed him.

  “Those powers you had weren’t yours,” Miles said. “You stole them from Neil Winters just like you stole his identity. I know the void you feel must—”

  “That’s just it,” Neil snapped. “There’s no void. The desire for more power is gone.”

  Belle’s attention whipped to her father. “Did you somehow break the curse?”

  Miles looked bewildered. Shaking his head, he said, “I only severed his connection to the stolen magic.”

  “I think you did more than that, old man,” Neil said, almost sounding wistful. “I think you cut me off from magic altogether. I can’t even feel it anymore.”

  “Dad …” Belle said slowly. “What did you do?”

  Miles visibly swallowed.

  Neil lunged for him, a battle cry tearing from his lips.

  Belle threw a sleep spell at him, sending him crashing to the ground at Miles’s feet. A cloud of dust rose in his wake. Moments later, he was snoring softly.

  “Dad, this is bad,” Belle said. This is really, really bad. We completely stripped one Penhallow of his magic, and oh by the way, we also murdered his father.” She paced back and forth in a tight line as she ranted.

  “Anna!” Miles snapped. “We don’t have time for a meltdown. Plus, I didn’t actually sever his connection to magic. I just needed him to believe that.

  Belle abruptly stopped pacing. “What?”

  “Halfway through, he was still fighting it too hard and I was wrung out,” he said. “Instead, I buried his powers so far down, he thinks they’re gone. And it sounds like it buried his obsessive drive, too. Best of both worlds. Now, come on. When he wakes up, we need to be gone. And by gone, I mean out of Delin Springs. We leave tonight.”

  Belle didn’t respond right away, her attention shifting between Neil’s sleeping form and his father’s deceased one.

  “Anna, let’s go, hon. We don’t have long before someone realizes what happened out here.” He paused. “Anna?”

  Belle turned to him. “I don’t think I want to be called Anna anymore. A new life. A new name.”

  He thought about that for a moment. “What about Belle?”

  Belle’s vision swam with tears. “Perfect.”

  Then she hurried after her father, leaving the Penhallows abandoned in the dark.

  Chapter 19

  When the bright light faded, Amber was momentarily disoriented. Mostly because when the memory had started, she’d been sitting upright on a stool next to Willow. Now, she was flat on her back behind the counter of her shop.

  Willow’s face popped into view and Amber let out a strangled gasp. “Oh you’re back! You scared the bejesus out of me!”

  Amber pushed herself into a sitting position. “How’d I end up on the floor?”

  “It was like you were talking in your sleep. Your eyes were closed but you kept saying really weird things, like you were reacting to a show only you could see?” Willow shrugged. “I guess maybe that’s accurate.”

  Heat flooded her cheeks. “What did I say?”

  “Hmm. One time you said, ‘Neil Winters, not Neil Penhallow?’ Another time you said, ‘Look behind you!’ You were silent and still for most of it, though sometimes you flailed your arms around. That was one of the longest fifteen minutes of my life. I kept wondering what would happen if you got stuck in the past or something. I am not equipped to handle that.”

  Amber smiled briefly.

  “Did you see something helpful?”

  She huffed a humorless laugh. “Let’s go talk to Aunt Gretchen.”

  Ten minutes later, the three Blackwoods were in the same positions they were in the last time Amber recounted what she experienced during a relived memory. Willow and Aunt Gretchen sat at the end of Amber’s bed, Tom hid underneath, and Alley watched from the window bench seat, where she was currently fastidiously cleaning the spaces between her back toes. Amber paced.

  “I knew Belle had been involved with a Penhallow,” Gretchen said. “I had no idea that she’d been duped into falling in love with one, though. Goodness. No wonder she never wanted to talk about it.”

  “Poor Mom,” Willow said, hugging her arms close to her body.

  “Even though I know what he did was wrong—not even counting the fire … I can’t think about the fire,” Amber said now, measuring her words carefully. “I somehow still felt bad for him in the moment. He really did love Mom. He really thought somehow it would work out. Then he lost his father and his powers that night. Anyone would crack under those circumstances. He just really went off the deep end.”

  “But … wait,” Willow said. “So does that mean Neil found a way to unearth his powers again? Grandpa buried them, didn’t he?”

  Amber nodded. “Yep. So burying powers is only a temporary fix.”

  “If you want an old lady’s opinion …” Aunt Gretchen said. “We need to get the grimoire from Edgar. The time travel spell is real, yes, but wh
o knows what else is in there. It could help us with Kieran. Knowing Belle, a spell for severing powers from a witch would be in that book. Either one she’d learned from her father well before all this Neil business happened, or one she crafted after the fact as a backup plan, should Neil’s powers ever return.”

  Amber knew, since her magic seemed to take after her mother’s more than her father’s, that if they were to get hold of such a spell, she’d have to be the one to do it. Her stomach gave a lurch. “How are we supposed to get the book from him? Not even he knows where it is. We have five days before Kieran starts targeting innocent people.”

  “We can assume the witch who attempted to poison me was also Kieran, yes?” Aunt Gretchen said. “I’ve only just started to feel better, but I haven’t left the building that much. What if I were to have a relapse and we all really play up how sickly I am. I won’t come down to help in the shop in the morning, so if Kieran is wandering outside the store, he won’t see me. Then sometime during the day, one of you can take me to see a doctor. We can make him think I’m truly ill.”

  “You’re not really going to take more of that stuff, are you?” Willow asked.

  “No, dear, it’ll all be for show,” said Gretchen, seeming to warm more and more to her own idea. “The following day, before we come down to the shop in the morning, Willow can glamour me to look like Amber, and then Amber can find a way to sneak out and get to Edgar’s.”

  “Should I be worried about how fast you came up with that?” Amber asked.

  “It’s been cooking for a while,” Gretchen said with a laugh. “That’ll teach him to mess with a woman’s bava leaves …”

  Amber snorted.

  “How is Amber going to get out, though?” Willow asked. “She can’t sneak out a second-story window. How will we know he’s watching us and not tailing Amber?”

  Aunt Gretchen deflated a little. “I hadn’t gotten that far …”

  But Amber’s mind had taken off at a gallop. “Wait. I have an idea. Okay, remember how I said Neil claimed he was able to track down Aunt Kathleen, and then Mom, because Kathleen had been using more magic than ideal? He tracked her using her signature.”