Caution thrown to the wind, I followed the chill and burst through Kin’s door to find the essence, but not the body of Diana Diamond standing over Kin, her head bent low, preparing to devour whatever dregs of dark energy her magic had loosed into the world.
“No!” The exclamation lurched and caught in my throat, and I lunged toward her with witchlight shimmering in my palm. Diana burst into ether and reconstituted herself on the other side of the room. I positioned myself between her and Kin, refusing to play a game of cat and mouse I couldn’t possibly win in corporeal form.
“It won’t change anything, he’s still mine. It’s too late to break my hold on him,” she taunted. I remembered the way Diana had slurped up the darkness she created, and the ick factor made me shudder again. I would not allow her to make a meal out of Kin. “I plan to savor him right down to the last delicious drop.”
So there was time, Diana just admitted she wasn’t finished with Kin. I thought of the dog-eared card I carried the back pocket of my jeans. Diana seemed fine with gloating, and part of me wanted to let her continue ranting.
“And then what, Diana? You’ll finally be allowed entrance to Olympus? I somehow doubt they’ll sing your praises for wreaking this much havoc on earth. Do you think you’ll be welcomed back with open arms?”
I didn’t have a clue in hell what the gods’ reaction would be, but I doubted Diana would be considered anything other than a trespassing interloper.
Jackpot I thought, as Diana’s eyes narrowed to slits and she pierced me with a hollow, ice cold glare. “Who are you to tell me whether I belong amongst the gods? My mother made the decision to leave Olympus; made it for the both of us before I was old enough to have any say in the matter.”
What was it with demigods and parental problems? First Jett, now Diana, and it’s no secret my issues with my father could fill a psychology textbook.
“Surely there are other ways to accomplish your goal?” I moved a little closer to Kin while Diana’s ghostly form got more and more agitated. “You really feel it necessary to damn all of humanity before you skip town?”
“Humanity. There’s a laugh. That true love you believe in so blindly is a lie. You think you’re so much better than I am, but for all the store you set by true love’s kiss, you should know he was easy to turn to my will, even if his heart is so pure it tastes like poisoned candy to me. Your precious Kin is nothing special, he’s just like all the rest of the sniveling horde.”
I clamped down on all the hot retorts that wanted to fly out of my mouth. Kin was wonderful and amazing, but I needed a level head if I was going to save the day.
“Wow, that ex of yours really scorned you didn’t he?” You know what they say, hell hath no fury and all that. I was beginning to wonder if the phrase had been coined for Diana herself.
Diana stopped pacing and stood utterly, disconcertingly still. “How do you know about that? You've been snooping around in my business. What have you Seen?”
“Enough to know you’ve been working toward your goal for quite some time, and you’re about this close,” I held up my thumb and forefinger for emphasis, “To getting what you want. But you didn’t count on Lexi Balefire causing so many problems.”
Fury rose in Diana’s cheeks, and I knew I’d hit on a sore spot.
“You won’t stop me. Do you hear me, you egotistical bitch? I have few cards left to play, and then you’ll pay. You’ll all pay.” Could she be any more of a cliché?
The room darkened suddenly, and I felt my inner goddess flare to life and settle into my skin like a coat of armor.
There’s something about tapping into the deepest part of your inner power that lends a clarity of vision you might only ever experience once in a lifetime. For me, that timeless moment carried a vast feeling of interconnectedness that I never expected. Every atom of me felt tuned into the universe.
Goddess Lexi picked up the bow, and it became a harp. I both saw and became her as she plucked at the strings and played a tune so sweetly perfect that every note held the sum of all experience. For the first time, I had a glimmer of what it might be to fully embrace my inner Fate Weaver. If this was what it felt like to be a god, I could understand why Diana was so tightly focused on ascending to Olympus. No superlative existed in any known language that could come close to describing the delicious power vibrating through me.
I blinked.
The world went all colors and shapes as if I could see the sounds the harp was playing instead of only hearing them. Diana was there, too. A growing stain against the shifting light of perfect being. An abomination. A thing that had been born of light, but chosen the dark and by so doing, had forced away her own soul.
I felt sorry for her. Not much, but enough to turn me into the form of a lesson. A mirror. A literal mirror for her soul.
When she saw herself reflected from my presence, Diana blanched. Her sneer turned into a silent scream, her body to a bird-like thing with greasy wings that tore at the sky, and then she was gone.
Kin’s breathing hadn’t quickened during the entire confrontation with Diana Diamond, thanks, I assumed, to the steady drip of pain medication flowing from a suspended bag into his good arm.
I placed one of his limp hands in my own, and concentrated on the feel of his guitar string-calloused fingers, remembering how it felt when they tangled in my hair or stroked a tear from my cheek.
The Tarot card Diana had used to curse Kin began to hum with power as I pulled it free of my back pocket, and I knew almost no time remained before its magic would seal our fate.
Bow-song echoed the lingering essence of whatever it was the harp had bestowed upon me, and suddenly an inkling of an idea began to take form. Like the pieces of a puzzle falling into place, snippets of information flooded my memory.
Eris and Aneris were divested of this very same deck of cards when their intentions for the game had been duplicated in the human realm, forcing war and shuttling humanity between order and chaos. And, after all, hadn’t the importance of intention been one of Salem’s and then Gran’s favorite lecture topics?
Your intention guides the spell, Lexi.
Craft your intentions carefully, Lexi or the spell may backfire.
Intentions. Intentions. Intentions.
It was time to put the Queen into checkmate, and I’d already proved myself a worthy opponent. Mona’s proclamation that love was always enough echoed through my consciousness, along with Salem’s advice about releasing my pain rather than letting it pull me down into its undertow.
The sound of a thousand violins wept in my head while Balefire heat rose up in my belly to fill the hole that threatened to eat me alive. My heart felt like a wild thing in my chest, fluttering against my ribcage, trying to break free.
What wanted to come was a primal scream. One that would burst from my throat, rip and tear it’s way free. But this was a hospital and no place for reckless behavior. What came instead were tears.
Tears of sorrow, joy, hope, regret, and most of all love for Kin streamed down my face, dripped onto the Tarot card in sizzles of white light until the surface glowed and shifted from the Lovers Tarot card to a regular queen of diamonds.
Magic whipped into a frenzy around Kin’s body, lifting it off the bed and, filling him with its glow until I had to shield my eyes from the brightness. The inky black of the last of Diana’s magic flowed out of him as the light grew dim, and when it disappeared in a shimmer of sparkling dust Kin let out a sigh, “Lexi.”
I ripped the card to shreds, tore the shreds to tinier pieces still, and burned the scraps to ash with witchfire, then blew on them to disperse the motes and let the air carry them away.
A streak of soot clung to Kin’s forehead when I laid a kiss there and let him sleep.
Chapter Twenty-One
I STEPPED INTO THE kitchen with no idea we had company or I wouldn’t have come down in my pajamas and a pair of unicorn slippers.
“That’s it, just one more signature and it’s yo
urs.” The stately woman who Gran introduced as Ellen Blackthorn brandished a ballpoint pen while casting an envious eye at the curvaceous figures of the faeries’ human glamours which, even toned down would still put a supermodel to shame. If only she could see the real thing.
Gran scrawled her name with a flourish, then handed the pen to Mag so she could do the same. A cold breeze blew in through the cracked kitchen window and rustled the papers, then settled with an air of finality. The room felt quieter afterward, and a tinge of sadness colored the air.
Ellen passed Gran a set of keys, reminded us gently that she appreciated referrals, and bustled out the front door.
Upon her exit Salem, Pye, and Jinx blinked back into their human forms, having spent the last hour circling the poor real-estate agent who had tried to politely avoid leaving with her linen slacks covered in cat hair. Her reluctance to pet any of them made the game all that much more fun because many cats just love to approach anyone who shows disinterest and vehemently prefer to avoid those who would love nothing more than a kitty cuddle. Sadists, cats, each and every one of them.
I’d thought all the drama was over when I walked back into the house the night before, but the morning had brought another surprise. One which explained all the secrecy between Gran and Aunt Mag this past couple of weeks.
“Lexi, are you sure you’re all right with this?” Gran placed a hand on my shoulder and brushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear with a gentle smile. “We wanted to tell you the minute we decided, but things have been a little hectic around here.”
“Does it matter?” I responded, tears threatening to spill over at any second. I will not cry. I will not cry.
“It does matter, dear. But I think you know deep down this is what’s best. You don’t really need us here every day. You have your own life. Your godmothers have their own lives. It’s time your Aunt Mag and I had our own lives too.”
“It’s just under an hour away by car, but now that you’ve learned how to skim, you can drop by anytime. It will be like we never left. And you are all welcome to visit anytime you’d like.” Mag nodded to the faeries who so far had maintained as much distance as they were capable, all lined up against the kitchen island.
Terra, always the spokeswoman for the group, stepped forward, “We hope you don’t feel as though we’ve driven you out of your own house. We could find another place ourselves, if you’d rather.”
Aunt Mag laughed out loud, and Gran grinned from ear to ear, “Now that we’ve had time to get used to the idea, we’re quite excited for this new chapter in our lives to begin. I’ve always wanted to own a shop.”
“Explain to me again why it’s necessary that you move to some podunk town in the middle of nowhere?”
“Harmony is not a podunk town. It’s a quaint little place with a thriving tourist trade. We’ve been called in because the local high priestess has descended rather gracelessly into old age. There have been one or two incidents recently,” Mag and Gran exchanged a glance that made me wish they would elaborate. I sensed a funny story there. “And there are concerns about Hagatha stirring up more trouble. They need someone with a firm hand to run the coven, and with a great deal of diplomacy to keep Hagatha from figuring out she’s no longer in charge.” Gran explained for about the tenth time.
“I don’t see why this is any of your concern. Why don’t they just name a new high priestess?”
Mag, patient for the first time ever, patted me on my arm, “It doesn’t work like that dear, and even if it did, Hagatha would never allow herself to be dethroned. Wouldn’t be pretty, and we’re not in the habit of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Despite her current state, the woman deserves our respect. Besides, Clara and I finally have had a chance to reconnect as sisters. She knows this city life has never been my bag. Too many people. We’ll be happier in the country. Now, speaking of being a skim away,” she grabbed my wrist in one hand, and Gran’s in her other, and with a whoosh, we were no longer standing in the Balefire house kitchen.
When I opened my eyes—because squeezing them shut seemed the rational response to being dragged unexpectedly through space—the sun shone brightly against a sky at least three shades bluer than it ever looked in Port Harbor.
A pair of willow trees, spidery-looking in their current state of nakedness, flanked a crooked brick path leading from a quaint village sidewalk to the front door of the historic two-story building Gran and Mag would now call home. The trees, combined with the yard’s gentle downward slope, and an ivy-bedecked wrought iron fence lent an air of privacy to the property, even though it sat smack in the middle of what qualified as the commercial district.
I could make out the words “Odd’s Ends” scrawled across a faded, rust-covered sign hanging crookedly above the door, and was morbidly curious what sorts of things had once been sold behind the paper-covered windows. I was also dying to follow the footpath around the back of the house to catch a view of the river that butted up against the edge of the property.
“We’ll tidy up the grounds, of course, and it’s going to take the lot of us to hoe out the mess that was left behind.” Gran wrung her hands and watched my stony face with bated breath.
I sighed, waited a few seconds longer than necessary just for effect, and finally let a wide smile cross my face, “It’s lovely. Or, at least, I can see that it will be once you’ve made it your own. Show me the rest.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
I FINALLY LEARNED THAT the ease of skimming is directly proportionate to the level of emotion I’m feeling when I try. In other words, it's gut magic. As much as I’d loved watching Gran and Mag explore every nook and cranny of their new property, I couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye and just vanished. It was silly; they were literally a wink away, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find them in the kitchen every midnight with all the rest of the snack brigade.
Even though they’d only been here a short time, having Gran and Mag around had made me feel closer to my witchy roots than ever before. They were nosy, and they made snide comments about nearly every outfit I put on, but the lack of boundaries made it feel like family. Our connection was innate, and that was something I’d longed to experience my entire life. I would miss them terribly.
What’s the best way to put something unpleasant out of your mind? Focus on the positive, and for me, that meant fixing my pathetic love life.
Nervous butterflies danced in my stomach as I made my way up the curved concrete stairway of Port Harbor Community Hospital. Given I’d dosed him with Jett’s healing potion, Kin should be getting released anytime, and I’d put on his favorite outfit in preparation for our first post-Diana Diamond encounter.
A denim skirt clung to my hips and skimmed the tops of a pair of knee-high lace-up boots that made my calves look amazing. Fuzzy chenille hugged my arms to the elbows, and the sweater was cut low enough to show off enough but not too much.
I flicked a stray ringlet back over my shoulder as I pushed a pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses on top of my head.
“I’m here to see Mackintosh Clark.”
The elderly door attendant trailed an arthritic finger down the list and I shifted my weight from one foot to the other for the approximate ten years it took her to find Kin’s name. “Room 212, go ahead down, dear.”
Apparently, security wasn’t an issue at PHCH after all because nobody cast me a second glance as I turned the corner with bated breath.
“Knock, knock,” I said as I rapped my knuckles on the heavy oak door. Why do people do that anyway? You wouldn’t punch someone in the face and say “punch, punch” while you did it.
“Come in.” The butterflies turned to birds and threatened to fly up my throat and out of my mouth. I swallowed them back down and prepared myself for seeing my beloved soul mate sporting the damage he had undergone during this go-round with my magical karma.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally laid eyes on Kin and saw his color was better today. The only indication he’d
required hospitalization was a two-inch bandage in the center of his forehead, a splint on one hand, and an IV line hanging running from the crook of his elbow to a rack of fluids at the head of the bed.
I rushed to his side and reached for his hand, stopping short when I realized Kin was staring at me with a confused expression. “Can I help you?”
“Um, excuse me?”
“Are you looking for the guy next door? He’s been taken down for more x-rays, but he should be back any minute. What’s your name, I’ll let him know you stopped by.”
“You don’t know who I am?” I squeaked.
“Should I?” Kin quipped, the trademark grin lighting his face like a stab in my heart.
Answers whirled in my head, the first of which being a more profane version of “yes,” while the pieces of the puzzle clicked together. Flix had said that my Kin was in there somewhere and that I only had a limited time to release him from Diana Diamond’s hold before I lost him forever.
I don’t know what I thought that meant, but I certainly hadn’t thought Kin forgetting about me entirely was a possibility.
“Sorry, I...I’m sorry.” Stunned, I stumbled out the door.
It was over. After everything I’d gone through to save him—us—I was too late.
Chapter Twenty-Three
CURLS OF DARK HAIR pooled around my feet, and nothing had ever sounded as good as the snick-snick of the scissors while I honed my outer image to match the inner. No more soft and cute and weak. I needed hard edges, straight lines.
Sure, I could have used glamour to style the new do, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as visceral or satisfying as the touch of metal creating an angled cut that hit just below my chin. Happy with the length, I shook my head from side to side, sent magic down each strand until the curling mass tamed itself in a shock-white, bone-straight curtain tipped with two inches of hot pink.
A wave of one hand over my face altered the sweet and wholesome makeup to something smoky and dramatic—slashing color sharpened my cheekbones, and the eyes looking back at me from the mirror sizzled.
Spell Hath No Fury Page 17