Page 26 of Bewitched By the Djinn (The Bewitching Hour #8)

Chapter

Nineteen

I can’t shake the strange achiness in my chest.

It doesn’t settle, even as I lower myself onto the same couch as before. Bennet sits beside me, close but not touching, his hands in his lap.

Helen stands in front of us, her expression focused. Power hums in the space around her, the air growing thick and charged.

She lifts her hands, her fingers moving through the air like she’s weaving something invisible. “I’ll need you both to stay still.”

Bennet doesn’t move. Neither do I, though my heart thuds a little harder.

The air shimmers around us, gold and violet threads of magic spinning into existence, wrapping around Bennet and me in a delicate web. It reminds me of the connections I saw when Bennet was doing breathwork with Jackie, the forces that link the world and everything in it.

The gossamer strands make contact, tingling where they touch my skin. It’s not painful or anything, it’s like the moment before a static shock, energy coiled and waiting to snap.

Helen’s brow furrows in concentration. She speaks words I don’t understand, her voice low and firm. The threads tighten, pulse, then?—

Nothing.

A flicker of unease crosses her face, but she smooths it away. She tries again, her magic pressing against the bond between Bennet and me, probing, searching for a weak point to unravel.

I shut my eyes and breathe, searching for that silent place inside. The awareness rushes over me, faster than before, and the bond throbs to life in my mind’s eye.

Is it getting larger?

The gold cord is brighter and thicker than before. Helen’s magic weaves around it, probing and poking.

It doesn’t budge.

Helen exhales sharply.

I open my eyes.

A bead of sweat rolls down her temple.

Bennet shifts beside me, his thigh brushing against mine. “Something wrong?”

Helen’s fingers twitch, the magic around us flickering unsteadily. “The curse—” She shakes her head as if to clear it. “I thought I could sever it, or unweave it, but...” She presses her lips together. “It’s not working. It’s not a normal bond.”

My stomach flips. “What does that mean, not normal?”

“I don’t know. Let me try once more.” She waves her hands wider, the threads of her magic brightening as her face darkens with strain.

The power crackles and flexes—but still, the bond holds.

A shudder ripples through her magic before it snaps apart entirely, sending a burst of light through the room.

I flinch. Bennet tenses beside me. Helen stumbles back, blinking rapidly.

Silence hums loud in my ears.

Helen rubs her temples. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

Bennet leans forward. “Meaning?”

Helen looks at me, then at him, her brows furrowed. “The curse is stronger than I expected. It’s deeply woven into your magic, Bennet, and into Cassie’s now too. I was trying to break it apart like unraveling a knot, but it’s not a knot—it’s fused, welded together.”

I bite my lip. “The vamp said it was like a braid.”

She shakes her head slowly. “It does appear that it was a braid at one time. But now there are no separate parts. Only one.”

I stare at her. “What does that mean?”

She hesitates. “It means I don’t think I can break it.”

Bennet sits back, his jaw tight. “There has to be another way.”

Is he upset? Does it bother him so much, being tethered to me?

“There might be,” Helen says slowly. “But not with the kind of magic I have.”

The weight of her words settles over me. This whole time, we’ve been working toward this moment, breaking the bond so we can go our separate ways. I can get back to my life and he can get back to his.

But we’re still bound, the bond apparently even more unbreakable than before. I don’t know whether the fluttering in my chest is panic or relief.

I clear my throat. “What do we do now?”

Bennet’s gaze is distant, lost in thought.

Then, slowly, he reaches across the space between us, placing his hand over mine.

His warmth seeps into my skin, calming me.

“I’m sorry.” His hand squeezes mine. “We’ll think of something.

In the meantime, we need to mask our presence from the ifrit that have been stalking us, and figure out what Uncle is really up to. ”

I nod, trying to tamp down the uneasiness curling in my gut. “How?”

Helen tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I can take care of the masking, and then use deeper magic to see into Aetheria and spy on him, but it’s difficult. I’ll need time to rest and prepare, and we don’t know if we’ll learn anything relevant.”

Only in the movies would a villain just so happen to be doing something incriminating at the exact moment they were being spied on.

Bennet taps a finger on his chin. “We may be able to see what’s happening with Lord Wallace or the other visiting families too.

Is he still there waiting for your marriage, or did Uncle truly ‘take care of’ the upcoming nuptials?

Perhaps we can eavesdrop on the staff as well. They’re always gossiping.”

Helen’s mouth twists in contemplation. “Maybe. We’ll have limited time. It’s a lot of magic and I’m the only one who can do it.”

“If we do it when the veil is thinnest, that may help.” Bennet leans forward, elbows braced on his knees.

Helen glances toward the sky beyond the window. It’s barely three, so we have a few hours, at least. “It’s worth the attempt.”

Bennet straightens. “Dusk tonight?”

She gives a short nod. “Dusk. When the night meal is served at court. If anyone of note is in residence, Uncle must attend, so we can listen in on their conversations and find out what he is telling them. We’ll need to gather some supplies.”

“What kind of things help with spying across the veil?” I ask.

“There are multiple herbs and stones that aid vision, but I’m not sure what’s easily accessible in this realm.” She counts off on her fingers. “Mugwort, star anise, and blue lotus, maybe. And for crystals, labradorite, clear quartz, amethyst, and obsidian work well.”

I perk up. “We have some of those at the house.” Relief washes over me at the thought of going home, even if just for a short while. It’ll be good to check on how Jackie is doing.

Bennet nods. “Write down a list, and we’ll help gather what we can.”

Helen smiles, the tension in her shoulders easing a fraction. “Thank you. Now, let’s mask you two before we’re attacked.”

Familiar scents wrap around me the moment I step into our house, garlic and basil and lemon and a touch of Mimi’s perfume.

She’s making spaghetti and garlic bread.

It’s only Thursday. So much has happened since Monday, when I brought home the lamp.

Has it only been four days? The smell is comforting, a tether to normalcy, even when everything else is spiraling out of control.

Mimi walks out into the front room, sharp eyes scanning me from head to toe. “Took you long enough. You look like you’ve been through hell.”

“It wasn’t exactly a spa retreat.” I drop my bag onto the nearest chair. “Where’s Jackie?”

“Upstairs, resting.” Mimi pats my shoulder. “She’s better than she was, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

We head into the kitchen, where Bennet and I fill her in on everything—the ifrit, the swamp witches, Helen’s father, and the scrying spell we’re planning for tonight. Mimi listens, nodding along, only interrupting to ask occasional questions.

When I finish, she pinches the bridge of her nose.

Kevin thunders down the stairs. “You’re back from the swamp. Did you bring me anything? A cursed amulet? A cool dagger? Crocodile skin boots?”

Bennet laughs and rubs Kevin’s head. “None of the above. We need some herbs and stones. Will you help me search in the office?”

“I know all the best places to look for rocks.”

“Not rocks. Stones, like crystals,” Bennet says as they head out of the kitchen.

“What’s the difference?”

Their voices retreat up into the house.

Mimi turns to me, lowering her voice. “Did you jump his bones yet?”

“Mimi!” Heat fills my face.

She smacks the table. “You did, didn’t you? I hope you did, otherwise you’re turning bright red over nothing.”

“It’s nothing. It meant nothing. I mean, nothing happened. It’s just this curse.”

“Uh-huh, that’s what I said about your uncle too, God rest his soul. Man was an animal in the bedroom though.”

I slap my hands over my ears. “I do not want to hear this.”

She tsks. “Bennet not much of an animal then?”

My mouth pops open. I force it shut and grind out the words, “I do not know if he’s an animal or not because we didn’t sleep together.”

Her eyebrows lift. “You didn’t sleep while you were in the swamp?”

“We slept together but not together, together.”

She nods. “So you thought about it.”

“Yes,” I answer without thinking. Wait. “No!”

She laughs.

I groan. “I am not having this conversation with you. I need to go check in on Jackie.”

Mimi’s laughter follows me up the stairs.

Jackie is in her room, curled up in the chair in the corner with a book.

Her complexion isn’t as ghostly pale as before, but lavender shadows pop out like bruises underneath her eyes.

“Hey, you.” I cross over and perch on the arm of the chair, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “How are you feeling?”

She sets the book face down in her lap. “Better, I think? I was worried about you and Bennet, that something bad might happen to you.”

Great. My sleepless anxiety is rubbing off on her. “We’re fine.”

“That’s what Mimi said. Kevin said if something happened to you, he would know.”

“He’s probably right. I would haunt all of you for eternity.”

She smiles.

“Have you been doing the exercises Bennet taught you?”

She nods. “Yes, and I did my schoolwork and I’ve been eating all my food and drinking lots of water.”

I lift my hands in surrender. “Okay, okay.”

“You found his sister?”

“Yes.”

Her face brightens. “So you can stay home now? It’s over?”

“No. Bennet and I are still connected.” I give her a much abbreviated, much sanitized version of events.

When I finish, she watches me with dark eyes, so similar to my own. “Is he your boyfriend now?”

My hands flap and I stand. “Are you and Mimi in on this together?”

She lets out a peal of laughter.

I try to hold on to some righteous anger, but she hasn’t laughed like this since Mom and Dad disappeared.

My heart clenches in my chest. I bend over and kiss the top of her head. “Keep reading your book, munchkin. I’m going to check on Bennet, make sure Kevin isn’t traumatizing him with more reality shows.”

I make my way up the stairs, stopping by my room to grab fresh clothes.

Up in the office, Bennet is over by the bookshelves. He opens a small wooden box, sniffs the contents, then sets it back down.

Kevin is in the corner where an old chest sits open, rifling through shoe boxes of stones and leather pouches filled with dried herbs.

“Any luck?”

“We found labradorite and black obsidian,” Bennet says.

Kevin squints at the list in his hand. “Still looking for quartz and amethyst.”

“We can get the star anise in the kitchen. I know we have an amethyst on one of these shelves.” I move over next to Bennet, reaching up to a higher shelf, fingers seeking a jewelry box. It’s around here somewhere. “It’s an old brooch, Mom kept it around here somewhere.”

An object shifts, sliding against the wood above my head, not visible from below. A whisper of movement that makes the hairs on my arms stand up. A corner appears over my head, a box sliding along the very top of the bookcase.

“What the?—?”

Then it falls, aiming straight toward my head. I duck.

Bennet, quick as lightning, reaches out and snatches it out of the air before it can knock me in the head.

“Kevin. Did you ask the ghost to help us?” I ask.

He shrugs, standing up and wiping his hands on his jeans. “Maybe.”

“Could you maybe have asked for him not to brain me with the object?”

“He can’t help where it was.”

Bennet opens the jewelry box. It’s a butterfly-shaped brooch, the wings lined with amethyst. He holds it up. “That should be everything. Or close enough.”

I glance around the office one last time. There’s something about being here, going through these things—my parents’ things—that makes me painfully aware of their absence.

Bennet must sense it, because he rests a hand on my back, and the tension ebbs.

I inhale deeply and nod. “All right. Let’s go see what Helen can do.”