Page 7

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Indigo stared at her apartment door, wishing Niko would walk back in. When she’d woken in his arms that morning, she’d had a brief moment of pure happiness. She’d wanted to live in his arms forever. But then reality had kicked in, and not only had her hands started to shake, but her head had also started to pound.

Thank the goddess and her grandmother for the potion. While she still didn’t feel her best, she certainly was functional, and that was pretty much all she could ask for after burning herself out the day before.

What she really wanted to do was have a leisurely breakfast with Niko and enjoy his company while she put everything else out of her mind. She knew that if she called, he’d come back over, but that was out of the question. He’d want answers. Answers she didn’t have. And until she knew who had spelled that woman and why, she couldn’t tell him.

Not this time.

That was a mistake she wasn’t willing to make again.

She turned from the door and went into the kitchen. Suddenly she was ravenous, and her stomach felt like it was eating itself. When she opened the fridge, she found the takeout that Niko had ordered the night before. And even though it was morning, she heated up the soup and the grilled cheese and ate it as if she hadn’t eaten in a week.

“Thank you, Niko,” she said as she cleaned up her kitchen and grabbed a flavored water from her fridge. “That was just what I needed.”

A half hour later, she was showered, sitting at her desk in her office, and ready to face her day. Except instead of checking inventory and invoices, all she could think about was the spell that she’d neutralized the day before.

Who had cast it, and why?

Where had they learned it?

And why had they targeted the woman who just happened to be across the street from her store?

Her skin started to tingle. And not in a good way. She had to stand and shake out her limbs, trying to dispel the feeling.

It didn’t work, and she found herself pacing her office.

Every time she passed the safe under her desk, she paused and stared at it. The pull to revisit her past was strong. It had been years since she’d looked at those journals. Since she’d let herself think about everything that had gone down her last year in college.

A dull ache took up residence in her chest, and she unconsciously rubbed at her breastbone.

Her movements were mechanical as she moved toward the safe. As if she were on autopilot, she spun the combination until she heard the telltale click and the safe popped open.

Her hand was shaking again when she reached in and pulled the leatherbound journal from the top of the stack. The one she hadn’t touched in over a decade. The leather was cool to the touch, but as her hand tightened around it, she could almost feel the magic that was written within.

She sat at her desk, running her fingers over her journal until the compulsion was too much and she finally cracked the book open.

Immediately the memories rushed in, her present fading as she was consumed by the past.

“Indigo!” Tricia called. “Look, it’s working.”

“Finally,” Indigo said, staring down at the now tattooed daggers on her forearms. They were glowing with magic, just the way they were supposed to. “I knew if we just kept at it, we’d get there.”

They were in their apartment, working on their senior project, one that every witch was required to complete before they could graduate from Olympic Witches University. The goal was to create a spell or potion that would better society.

And this was the moment of truth.

Tricia and Indigo locked eyes as they chanted the incantation that would concentrate power into the tattoos that could be accessed later without having to invoke a chant or create a witch’s circle. It was meant to make life easier for busy witches who wanted to use a little magic to help them with their daily tasks while working or raising a family.

“Imprint the power into the daggers, let it be called on for future endeavors,” the two of them chanted until finally an intense zap of magic sizzled over the tattoos, making them glow with what looked like fire.

Indigo sucked in a sharp breath but then immediately let it out when the fire extinguished.

“it’s done! Oh. My. Goddess. We did it!” Tricia said as she threw her arms around Indigo, hugging her tightly.

Indigo felt an intense sense of pride at their accomplishment as she hugged her best friend and roommate, holding on for a long moment. They’d been working on this spell for months, and finally, all the hard work had paid off.

“Now we need to test it,” Tricia said, her eyes sparkling with pride. “Go ahead. Give it a shot.”

“What should I do first?” Indigo asked. “Clean the fireplace or the bathroom?”

Tricia glanced at the ashes that had accumulated around their hearth and nodded at the fireplace. “I just cleaned the bathroom a couple of days ago. Try for the fireplace.”

“Okay. Keep your fingers crossed,” Indigo said and then concentrated on the dagger tattoos that were inked on the insides of her forearms. Holding the images in her mind, she imagined the fireplace sparkling clean.

The tattoos came to life, glowing with a cool fire before they quickly winked out.

Indigo turned to watch the fireplace, waiting for all the ashes to be magically swept away.

But nothing happened.

Indigo bit on her bottom lip, wondering what she’d done wrong. “Tricia—” she started but was cut off by her roommate’s cry of alarm.

“Ouch! Son of a bitch!” Tricia called out. “What’s happening to me?”

Indigo spun to find her friend staring down at her arms in horror. The dagger tattoos had appeared on her arms, but Tricia hadn’t ever gotten a tattoo. Only Indigo had while they tested their spell. Then the images lit with the fire and Tricia froze, seemingly unable to move.

“Tricia, what’s happening?” Indigo cried as she quickly moved to her friend’s side.

The other woman ignored her as she focused on the fireplace. With robotic movements, she walked over to the hearth and started to scoop the ashes and toss them out the window.

“Tricia, stop! What’s going on?”

But Tricia seemed not to hear Indigo and was singly focused on cleaning that fireplace. Horrified that it seemed she’d spelled her best friend to be some sort of robotic cleaning lady, Indigo hurried over and grabbed her arm. The magic pulsed beneath Tricia’s skin, powerful and burning hot. Not knowing what else to do, Indigo latched onto the magic and ordered it back into her daggers.

Tricia screamed as the daggers once again lit up with flames.

Tears were streaming down Indigo’s face as she held Tricia’s hands and said, “Send the fire back to me! Clear Tricia of this spell! I call on the Befana ancestors to unring this bell!”

Blue magic poured from Indigo, covering Tricia’s arms, and then suddenly the burning magic released Tricia and poured back into Indigo.

The magic overwhelmed her, making her feel as if she were burning from the inside out. And just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, she collapsed and didn’t wake up for forty-eight hours.

Once Indigo recovered, her faculty adviser informed her that the spell they’d created was one that possessed humans to do their deeds and that it was not only banned, but illegal. If they ever tried to do it again, both would be arrested.

Indigo had gladly agreed to put the spell in her vault and never mess with it again.

Three weeks later, someone got their hands on the spell, and that was when all hell broke loose.

Indigo slammed the journal closed and quickly tossed it back in the safe. Memory lane wasn’t a place she’d wanted to visit. Ever. But now that the spell had come back to haunt her, she hadn’t had a choice.

The spell was here, and someone other than her had cast it. Now the only question was, who had access to that spell and why had they used it on the woman who’d been across from her shop?

She was certain she’d find out. She just hoped she’d figure it out before someone got seriously hurt.