“Sweetie, this has been a wonderful experiment, but I’d like you to change the toads back now. Can you do that for me?”
I was curious to see how her magic worked. She obviously didn’t have a wand and she couldn’t utter an incantation. How could she perform magic?
I pondered my own magic, how sometimes it burst from me without warning. As a sorceress, I didn’t need a wand like witches did. I only used the wand as an instrument, as a way to focus my power. Until I met the witches here, I didn’t know I could do magic at all, so I learned with a wand the same way they had.
I gazed at my daughter. If she was like me—and it made sense that she would be—then she could probably use magic through sheer willpower. It was possible that she willed the toys into toads simply by imagining it and wanting it to be so.
I watched as Diana scrunched her beautiful face into a ball. Either she was working on undoing the magic or she was about to need another diaper change. I’d know in a minute.
The toads dissipated in a puff of air and toys materialized in their places. The floor was now littered with toys, but I didn’t care. At least she was able to turn them back.
I stroked her head and kissed the top of it. “Good girl. Well done.”
Daniel and I were going to have to find a way to control her powers until she was old enough to wield them properly. I thought we’d have more time to prepare given her unremarkable reports from the healer’s office. Now I wasn’t so sure.
I noticed Gareth’s foot slice through the wall and tap around the floor, checking for toads.
“It’s safe to come back, Gareth,” I said.
The vampire ghost slipped the rest of his body into the room. “You didn’t miss any, did you?” He cast a nervous glance around the bedroom.
“I doubt it. It was done in one fell swoop.”
“Just in time, because the handsome wizard and his entourage are ready to bid farewell,” Gareth said. “They’re on the front porch talking to that angel who sheds feathers around the house and makes a mess.”
“His name is Daniel.”
I plucked Diana from the crib and carried her downstairs to the front porch. I realized how disappointed I felt to see them go. As much I loved my friends in Spellbound, Ember was someone who understood my life better than anyone and it was comforting to have that special rapport with her.
I passed Diana to the messy, feather-shedding angel and hugged Ember. “It was great to see you again. I’m so glad you were here.”
“Same.”
I released her and gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry you didn’t get the answers you were looking for.”
“No big deal. It was good to take a break from Starry Hollow. Plus, I wrote an article for the paper and Florian took copious notes on the festival for Starry Hollow, so it was still a worthwhile trip.”
“And we got to see you, lovely lady,” Florian added, ever the flirt.
“You always have a place to stay in Starry Hollow if you decide to visit again,” Ember said. “Maybe another babymoon?”
I felt the heat flood my cheeks at the thought of another baby. “Diana is enough for now, but you never know.”
I waved goodbye from the front porch. Daniel stood on one side of me, holding Diana in his arms, and Gareth hovered on the other side.
“I’ll miss those incredible shoulders,” the vampire ghost said wistfully.
“You’re worse than the harpies,” I said. It was probably best Florian had stayed at their B&B after all.
Magpie trotted onto the porch and took his place beside Gareth.
“I hope you turned off the faucet,” I said. If that cat could manipulate doorknobs, he could very well turn off a tap.
Incoming, Sedgwick said. The owl swooped down and landed on the ledge.
I inched closer to Daniel and leaned my head against his sturdy frame as I watched my friends depart. Ember and I had both embarked on lives we never dreamed of and ended up finding where we belonged.
Daniel shifted Diana to his hip and snaked a hand around my waist. “You look happy. What are you thinking?”
“That I’m lucky to have found this place—and you.”
He gave a solemn shake his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. We’re the lucky ones.”
“About the will,” I began, “I saw Josie…”
The beating of hoofs interrupted me. My head swiveled to the right where Calix arrived riding on a horse-drawn chariot. He looked like he was about to race Ben-Hur rather than visit his daughter.
Maybe my luck had finally run out.
The horses slowed to a stop in front of the house and my father hopped to the ground with his arms open wide for an embrace.
“Greetings, beautiful family,” his deep voice boomed.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I’ve decided that I’ve given you enough space.” He kept his arms open, waiting for me to acquiesce.
“I thought that was up to me,” I said.
“It was, but you took too long. I was lonely and bored.”
“How could you be bored?” I asked. “You have an entire world to catch up on.” Given that he’d been in a supernatural coma for years, I would’ve thought there was plenty to keep him busy.
His arms dropped to his sides in defeat. “Others are so tedious. I would much rather spend quality time with my own kin.”
The image of the burning village replayed in my mind. The screams and the destruction. It was difficult to reconcile what I’d seen in the Grey sisters’ cave with the genteel man standing before me now.
“It’s nice to see you, Calix,” Daniel said, shaking his hand.
The demigod held out his arms to Diana. “Come to your grandfather, sweet pea. I’ve been dying to pinch those chubby cheeks again.”
Diana smiled and reached for him.
“That’s it, tender heart,” he said in a soothing voice. “You’ve missed me, haven’t you?”
I allowed Diana to glide into his arms.
“Welcome back, Calix,” I said and then corrected myself. “I mean, Dad.”
His mouth split. “I do like the sound of that word.”
A strong gust of wind blew past us, chilling me to the bone. Dark, ominous clouds gathered in the sky and momentarily blocked the sun.
“Wow, we don’t see that every day,” Daniel commented as he gazed skyward.
“No,” I said, hugging myself. Spellbound’s climate was magic-based. Dark clouds and a sudden drop in temperature could only be interpreted as signs of trouble.
My father pointed at the darkening sky with his free hand. “Look at that, little princess,” he said to Diana. “Something wicked this way comes.”
A lump formed in my throat.
I was fairly certain something wicked was already here.
Be sure to preorder Eat Prey Spell, the next Spellbound Ever After, and catch up with Ember in the next Starry Hollow Witches, Magic & Misfits.
Halo Effect Page 18