Page 119 of A Taste of Bliss

Aunt Liz.

She could help us. I fish out my phone and call her. She answers immediately.

“Bliss! How are you? It’s actually funny you just called?—”

“Liz, I need your help,” I say, interrupting her.

“What’s going on?” Immediately her tone is serious.

“Tubbs, and a couple other friends, it’s like they’ve been hexed. They’re coughing up blood and we’ve tried healing them, but it’s not working.”

“They haven’t improved at all?”

“No, in fact, they seem worse.” I look back to Evan and Niamh. “Can you tell us about a spell, or?—”

She cuts me off. “I’ll be there in about five minutes.”

“What?”

“I came to the festival! I wasn’t gonna miss all of Amelia’s shows, especially not your first gig back as their band manager. I just got here.”

My mind spins with the synchronicity. Maybe the stars are looking out for us after all. I give Liz directions to the townhomes, instructing her to come here.

“My aunt, she’s good with this type of thing. She’s already on her way.” I look at Pisces. “Can you go get the others? Have them bring Tubbs here? Better to move him than both of them.” Evan and Niamh are coughing up even more blood now, barely any breaks between fits. Benny crouches down between them with damp towels, trying to comfort them as much as possible.

Pisces nods and without a word he’s gone, racing down the street to the others. I told them I’d be right back, but I wasn’t expecting to stumble in on this.

Aunt Liz arrives first. I let her in, sweeping the door wide open, and glance down the street to see Pisces and Taser helping Tubbs walk. He stumbles and they switch to carrying him between them.

Amelia, Reese, and the rest of the band is behind them.

Liz has immediately gone to her patients. “Bliss!” she calls. “Get my bag.”

I take her duffle bag she’s brought with her. She takes out a leather case and sets it down on the coffee table, unrolling the straps that bind it closed. “Thank the stars I didn’t leavethis at home.” She glances at me and then at all the other faces watching her. “Give them all some room, everyone, okay?”

She takes Evan’s wrist, checking his pulse, doing the same for Niamh. “Bliss, mix me up some bloodroot.” I immediately sit down to do as asked.

“What’s bloodroot?” Simon asks, curiously watching, though remaining a good distance away as per Liz’s orders.

“It’ll slow whatever it is that’s attacking them. Help replenish the blood they’ve lost.”

I run to the kitchen, mix the ground bloodroot powder with water, and separate it out into two glasses. Liz gives one to Evan. I give one to Niamh.

Finally, Pisces and Taser get Tubbs into one of the armchairs, though they have to support him so he doesn’t topple forward. I go back and mix up one other glass of the tonic for Tubbs. I catch Amelia’s eyes. They’ve gone straight to Evan. She looks terrified.

“He’ll be alright. Liz is helping them. They’ll all be okay,” I tell Amelia, giving her arm a squeeze. I go to Tubbs, helping him drink the bloodroot.

Liz straightens up. “Okay, so now we need to figure out exactly what this hex is. How the hell did someone get all three of them?”

“Could it be something they ate?” Simon asks. “Like food poisoning?”

Liz shakes her head. “No, this was deliberate, and targeted.” Her eyes zero in on the inside of the jacket Evan is wearing. Shaun helps Evan out of the bloodstained jacket.

Liz holds it inside out and points to something smudged on the inside. On closer inspection it looks like some sort of wax seal with a pentagram and some other symbol etched into it. “This is the culprit. It’s a blood-clotting hex.”

“How do we stop it?” I ask.

Liz sets about mixing up some powders and casts an enchantment over it. The powder shifts as if moved by an invisible wind. She sprinkles it over Evan and the little wax hex seal. The seal breaks apart upon contact. She turns to Niamh. “We need to find that wax seal. It’ll have been placed on her person.”