Page 10

Chapter

Nine

T he drive out of Desmond’s neighborhood went smoothly. No pissed-off witches chased us, no thwarted husband popped up around the corner, and no hex bag curses followed us.

On the other side of town, I pulled into a fast-food drive-through and turned to Maya, who’d leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes.

“Are you hungry? I pay Cecil in French fries and chocolate sundaes, so it’s no trouble to pick up a burger for you.”

“I’m pretty nauseated at the moment.”

“Understandable. Will the food smell make it worse?”

“No. Actually, I could use a Dr. Pepper. Feels like I haven’t had one in ages. Desmond disapproved of soda.” She said through clenched teeth. “I don’t have cash on?—”

“I’ve got it. Don’t worry. I’ll grab an extra order of fries in case you feel up to having something in your stomach. Don’t eat unless you want to, though.”

“Maybe I’ll have a couple. The salt might do me good. I haven’t eaten much in the last few days. ”

I had Cecil put in the order through an app on my cell and pulled into an unmarked parking spot since the others were filled.

“They’ll never see us here.” I scowled at the busy restaurant. “What’s everyone doing here so late? Was there a football game at the high school or something? It’s a weeknight.”

Cecil made an impatient noise.

“The drive-thru is packed.” I unhooked my seatbelt. “I’ll just run inside and grab the order. Cecil, Fennel, keep watch. Maya, keep your head down and stay in the car, okay?”

Scared brown eyes met mine. She nodded.

“Fennel, show Maya why she doesn’t need to be afraid.”

“ Meow .”

My partner made a low, roaring sound. His eyes went from his normal gold to bright, glowing green. He slapped both paws on the dashboard, and electricity crackled in the car, a ticklish, nonlethal force for us, but …

“Watch,” I said and threw Ida’s keys at the windshield.

They hit the electrical field and rocketed into the backseat. Cecil leapt into the air and caught them, juggling the red-hot metal pieces until they cooled.

“Oh,” she said.

“Yeah. And that’s not counting whatever Cecil’s carrying in his bag of tricks.”

Maya, Fennel, and I turned as one to face the gnome. He snickered and held up a lit match.

“Why am I more scared of him?” Maya whispered to me.

“Because Fennel is lawful good. You know he’s on your side. Cecil is somewhere between chaotic good and chaotic neutral. He wouldn’t hurt you on purpose, but you could easily see yourself living without eyebrows after being hit with the backsplash from one of his spells.”

“That sounds specific,” she said.

“It does, doesn’t it?” I narrowed my eyes at the gnome.

His snowy beard parted around his lips, and he blew out the match.

Fennel took down his spell, and I pocketed the keys. There was no need to leave them in the car, since Ida didn’t have a security system on the LTD. No one in their right mind would steal it. It was a V-8, which meant you practically needed to take out a home equity line of credit to fill the tank.

I was halfway between the car and the door when I felt a disturbance in the force, so to speak.

“Moonlighting at DiscMart, trailer trash? What’s the matter? Isn’t my son taking care of you? Or is he already tired of your bullshit?”

Nails on a chalkboard, fork tines squawking across a ceramic plate, ice cream applied directly to the exposed nerve of a broken tooth. There were myriad words to describe Floyd Pallás’s voice, but it wasn’t enough to say he sounded mean and rude. One had to get visceral.

I chanted a protection spell under my breath. It wouldn’t stop a bullet, but it would keep his claws from slitting my throat.

I hoped.

“Are you following me, Alpha Pallás?” I asked, without turning around.

“I don’t need to follow you, witch. I always know where you are.”

Great. I was sure that unwelcome thought wouldn’t repeat inside my head right before I fell asleep tonight.

“What do you want?”

“You know what I want. Everything you have on me.”

“Is that right?” I pivoted on the ball of my right foot and faced the elder wolf. I was suddenly less scared, though he was no less physically threatening than before.

He was still tall and solid with a gut that added to his dense build—the kind of man who looked like he worked hard and drank harder. Because Floyd treated the disparity in our sizes as a cudgel, he came across not as a solid man but a spiteful bully. Someone to fear, not respect.

“Ready to hand it over?”

“Do I look like I took stupid pills this morning?”

Floyd’s already flushed face went florid. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If I give you the incriminating information—and let’s be clear, it’s incriminating as hell—I’m as good as dead. Thanks, but I believe I’ll hang onto every scrap of leverage I have on you, Alpha Pallás. And you can’t possibly fault me for it, since we both know that in my place, you’d do the same.”

Something happened to him then. The blood retreated, leaving his face its natural shade of golden brown. Eyes like small round pellets searched my face. It annoyed me that they were the same hazel as Ronan’s, though Ronan’s were beautiful and not at all cruel.

“I’m going to kill you,” he said, “but first, I’m going to watch you suffer.”

His clawed hand shot out and gripped my throat. Pain tore through me as he raked the tips of his nails over my carotids.

He released me as suddenly as he’d grabbed me and was gone. He wasn’t in the parking lot or the restaurant or down the block as far as I could see in the darkness. The speed with which the entire encounter had happened was breathtaking.

A shiver broke over me.

He’d gotten past my protection spell, which meant either he was just that strong or my magic was that weak.

Neither was a good thing.

Fennel stared at me through the rear window, Cecil beside him. They were unhappy. They’d seen everything and were likely upset he’d gotten that close to killing me under their watch.

“You did the right thing,” I said, and though there was a thick layer of glass between us, Fennel’s expression told me he’d heard me loud and clear. “I told you to protect Maya. ”

The cat hissed once and leapt off the rear seat, the gnome following him.

Unhappy might be an understatement.

Thankfully, it didn’t appear that Maya had seen anything. She was still scrunched down in the passenger seat the way I’d left her.

They weren’t deep cuts, and I managed to stop the bleeding with a spell, but it took two tries to get it right. I blamed the rapid blood loss and the shock of being attacked, but I was lying to myself.

It was my magic.

My weird, random, and unreliable magic.

We pulled into the Siete Saguaros parking lot ten minutes later. The guys took their food and went to the garden room, where Cecil gave me a healing charm and Fennel gave me the cold shoulder.

After apologizing to them both for getting myself attacked—a strange thing to apologize for, but it seemed to mollify my partners—I escorted Maya to my place. She wanted to shift, but she wanted to shower first. We were around the same size, so I gave her one of my few new outfits—a pair of leggings and an oversized sweatshirt—some toiletries and underclothing and left her to it.

I set the kettle to boil and picked up my cell. I needed to call in a favor.

The call didn’t take long, and neither did the tea, so when Maya emerged in a cloud of steam twenty minutes or so later, I was on my second cup.

“I’d like to shift soon—if that’s all right with you.” She ducked her head. “If you’d prefer I stay in human form, I will.”

It was as if the spell still had a grip on her despite the charm. Though I knew it was waterproof, I didn’t know how well it was working in general. My experience tonight had left me even more insecure about my magic than usual .

“You’re free to do anything you want, Maya. If I were you, I’d stick to the park grounds to stay safe, but the choice is yours.”

“Gods, I sound pathetic. I’m so…” Her hands flopped around like they weren’t connected to her. She let out a sob.

“Strong,” I said. “You’re so strong, so brave, and so done with that dumpster fire of an ex. It’s okay if you don’t feel like yourself yet. You were under a very strong spell for an extended length of time. Give yourself a little grace.”

“Thanks.” She tapped the charm around her neck. “Can I keep this? I’ll pay you. I have money Desmond doesn’t know about. He was too stupid to ask, and whatever that spell was, it didn’t force me to tell him.”

The bitterness in her tone was welcome. I wanted to see her pissed off. “It’s yours. Bronwyn paid for it. I also have a sleep charm ready if you need it.”

“I might.” She sighed, long and sad. “ Bronwyn . I can’t believe she sent you. She’s part of Desmond’s coven, after all.”

“She’s also your friend. The coven thing was tricky, but she found a way around it.” I smiled. “Me.”

“She’s lucky to have you. I’m lucky she has you.”

“Oh, if I hadn’t been around, she’d have found another way to get you out of there, even if it meant charging through the front door herself. You can bet on that.” After seeing how worried Bronwyn had been, I was certain this was true.

“I wanted to tell her what was happening the last time I was in Wicked, but I couldn’t make my mouth say the words. It was like my true self was locked away.” She pressed the charm tight to her chest and sighed. “It still feels like that.”

“The effect will wear off.”

“Because of you. Thanks.”

“No more thank yous. I already know you’re grateful.” I pushed a cup of tea toward the chair across from me. “I made mint with fresh ginger. It’ll ease your stomach, if it’s still bothering you.”

“It is, though I thoroughly enjoyed the soda. Thank— it smells good .” She sat down and picked up the delicate teacup. She’d trimmed and filed her nails, and her hands weren’t shaking anymore. “I appreciate the clothes, by the way. I didn’t want to bring anything from that house here.”

I nodded at the grocery sack beside the living room sofa. “You brought something.”

“That’s true. You didn’t peek?”

“It’s your property. I figured you’d tell me about it if you wanted me to know.”

She tucked her damp hair behind her ears. “You weren’t worried that it might be dangerous?”

“No.”

If it’d been actively dangerous, or she’d had any bad intentions, the park would’ve alerted me when she crossed the protection spell. It was why I’d made her carry it inside.

“It’s something he values more than anything else.” She looked me in the eyes and smiled. “And I’m going to destroy it.”

I grinned. “Good. Let me know if you need any explosives. I know a guy.” A tiny, magical guy with zero moral qualms about blowing up someone else’s property.

Her feet bounced under the table, and she drummed her fingers on the teacup. She needed to shift, but I wasn’t going to tell her to do it.

“Hope it’s okay,” I said gently, “but while you were in the shower, I called some friends to go on a run with you—if you want to. When you want to.”

“Who?”

“A couple shifter friends.” I moved my head back and forth, weighing that idea in my mind. “ Friends might be stretching our relationship. They owe me a favor, and they’re mostly harmless. They agreed to guard you while you run.”

“Really?” Her eyes lit up in a way I hadn’t seen since the video of her and Bronwyn at the movie theater. She slurped down the rest of the tea and rose. “I’m going to go shift in the bathroom. It’s been a while, and I’m a little rusty.”

It didn’t take her long. Maybe her animal was primed for it after being suppressed for so long.

She scratched at the bathroom door, and I opened it slowly, in case she was behind it. Her clothing was folded neatly on the closed toilet and atop the pile sat a cute white rat with shiny black eyes and a pink nose. Her whiskers were broken—or cut—nearly at the base, which might make it difficult for her to navigate in the darkness. I knew that much about rats, at least.

I also knew that white rats were considered good luck in some cultures. Excellent. We could use some good luck around here.

There was a knock at the door, and Maya’s tiny head whipped to the side. Then she buried herself in her clothing.

“Don’t be afraid. I called these guys, remember?”

I left her there and went to the front door, ushering the two men into my living room. Both were shirtless and barefoot and dressed in a pair of nylon shorts. Shifting clothes.

“Hola, Witch Betty,” Kale said in Spanglish. He was Latino, young, and good-looking in a burn-out sort of way. “You aren’t still pissed at us, are you?”

Earlier in the year, they’d attacked me when I showed up on their doorstep to bust up their little Mictlantecuhtli cult. Fennel had shown the guys the error of their ways with his razor claws, and Bronwyn had appeared a few minutes later to drive the message all the way home.

The men had been apologetic when they realized I wasn’t there to kill them and even helped me take down their—false—god.

“No, dude, remember? She told us she was calling in her favor.” Denzel was whip-thin and as white as sugar on a paper plate. “You said there’s a rat here who needs protection?” He stood up tall, which made him look even skinnier. “We’re glad to help.”

Kale nodded, suddenly serious. “Yeah. If a sister rat needs our protection, we’re here. ”

“She’s not in the pack and doesn’t know any rats in town. Gods help us all, you two will be the first.”

“We’ll take good care of her.” Kale immediately shifted. A brown rat poked out of the shorts and scampered onto my coffee table.

“Hang on, Denzel,” I said, when he appeared ready to do the same. “I need to explain a couple of things.” I gave them a brief rundown of Maya’s situation. I needed to hammer in the danger of allowing her to leave the protection of the park grounds.

Denzel nodded at all the right parts then said, “No whiskers, huh? That really makes it tough. We’ll be extra careful with her, right, Kale?”

The rat stood on his hind feet and nodded.

“Inside the park grounds only. Watch out for witches,” I repeated.

“Got it.”

“Okay, Maya,” I called over my shoulder, “you can come out now.”

A pink nose appeared around the bathroom door. Slowly, cautiously, the small white rat made her way into the living room.

Kale’s rat brought his tiny hands to his mouth in a comical look of surprise.

Denzel gasped. “H-hello.”

Maya climbed onto the coffee table and touched noses with Kale, who continued looking stunned.

“Maya, this is Kale and Denzel. Guys, this is Maya. Please keep her safe. She’s important to me.”

Denzel was nodding before I’d finished speaking. “We will.” He ducked his head. “Nice to meet you, Omega.”

“Omega?” I’d heard some talk in the shifter world about omegas, but I had no idea what they were. “I’d heard white rats were good luck, but what’s an omega?”

“Her color doesn’t matter. It’s her presence.” Denzel smiled. His shoulders dropped, and the lines in his face smoothed. “An omega is a peacemaker. The presence of an omega in a pack is a gift. Why didn’t we know you were in Smokethorn?”

“She mentioned not being allowed to shift for a long time.”

“I’m sorry.” His mouth drooped and his voice softened. “That must’ve been awful.”

Maya lowered her head.

“Will you let us out, Betty?” Denzel asked. “I’m going to shift now.”

“Of course.”

His rat was a little darker brown than Kale’s, but they were similar in size. About the length of a woman’s size eight shoe.

All three made a fast dash to the door. I gathered up their clothing and let them out, showed them how to get into the garden room to change when they were finished running around, and watched as they scampered off.

I set to work puttering around the garden room. It was nearly eleven, but the interior had plenty of illumination from the sparkling fairy lights I’d strung up. I loved this room at night. It looked as magical as it was.

And yet, even my beautiful, peaceful room couldn’t stop my brain from spinning in circles.

There was nothing wrong. Not really.

Our rescue plan had gone off without a hitch. Well, one Floyd-sized hitch, but that had ended without anyone dead, so I considered it a win.

Maya was safe. I’d alerted Bronwyn and Margaux through an anonymous text message on a burner phone. Desmond hadn’t shown up on my doorstep to kill me, and we hadn’t brought any hexes home. The protection spell would’ve alerted me.

The problem was, I was dying to know what Maya had in that paper bag she’d brought from the house. What was so important to Desmond that she’d risked going back into a place she was terrified of being trapped inside? I was insanely curious.

And yet…

Maya’d had her autonomy stripped away from her in a terrible way. She was fragile and broken. Betraying the cautious trust she’d placed in me seemed a deeply wrong thing to do.

So, I’d sit with my curiosity a little while longer. And tomorrow morning, I’d ask her to show me what was inside the bag and respect her wishes if she decided not to.

Being a witch with ethics really sucked sometimes.

A little past midnight found me showered and in pajamas. I’d fluffed up the pillows on Mom’s old bed— my bed—and was under the covers reading the magic tome Beau had loaned me. I was still wound up from the excitement of the night and sleep was playing a crafty game of hide and seek with me.

I glanced at my cell charging on the nightstand. I hadn’t heard from either Margaux or Bronwyn, which was odd. Though it wasn’t unheard of for a coven meeting to last until the early morning hours, or even longer if they were casting a difficult spell, so there was no reason to worry.

“There’s nothing you can do about it. Leave it, Betty,” I kept telling myself.

But I wasn’t listening.

Fennel let Maya into the house sometime after dawn. I heard them come in. I’d been dozing, but deep sleep had evaded me. I still hadn’t heard from the witches.

Maya went directly into my old bedroom—I’d set it up for her earlier in the evening—and closed the door. Fennel sprang onto my bed and threw his body against my hip twice before curling into a fuzzy black ball and drifting off to sleep.

“Thanks for bringing her back,” I whispered. “Did the rats go home?”

“ Mreow ,” he murmur-meowed, which I took to mean both “you’re welcome” and “yes, they did.”

I managed to fall back to sleep and woke at seven a.m. with a crick in my neck and a cat on my chest .

“ Me-ow .” He smacked me across the cheek with his paw. Claws retracted, thank goodness.

“What the heck, Fennel?” I sat up, and he leapt onto the other side of the bed and paced. His purr was too loud to be soothing and his ears were plastered to his head.

Wide awake now, I jumped out of bed and ran to Maya’s room. Threw open the door.

She was sound asleep, her chest rising and falling in a steady, even rhythm.

I caught the door before it hit the opposite wall and woke her. Quietly closed it.

“If it’s not Maya, what is it? What’s wrong?”

He pointed a paw at the door then stomped his feet while I grabbed a sweater and slipped into a pair of rubber slides I kept by the door. It was early May, and Smokethorn was warming up, but it was still chilly in the mornings.

I chanted a shielding spell I’d found in one of the magic books last night, keeping it at the ready in case I needed it. Fennel didn’t alert to just anything. What I was about to face was either dangerous or important to him in some way, and I was betting on the former.

With the spell spooling in my consciousness, I opened the front door. There was no one on my porch. From the corner of my eye, I saw Cecil dart out from behind a cluster of dandelions on the lawn. Fennel and I followed.

The gnome stopped at Red’s grave and peered over one of the stones surrounding it. He chittered and pointed to a pile of black clothing on the ground.

Not clothing. A person. A familiar person.

“ Margaux ?”

Ten feet from the mailboxes, just a foot or so from where my old trailer had been, lay Margaux Ramirez. Next to her was a pool of vomit that she appeared to be continuously adding to.

She lifted her head, her chin trembling, eyes glazed with pain. “Your magic is stronger now. ”

“Compared to what?”

Margaux leaned over and threw up again. She swiped a hand over her mouth. “The last time I was here—and before she died.”

Mentioning Mom was a dumb thing for Margaux to do, and she had to know it. Fennel weaved around my legs in an attempt to ground me. We’d done this last night with magic, but now it seemed more like he was comforting me rather than helping me prep for a spell.

“Lila told me about you.” She heaved but didn’t throw up. “Everything. I know everything.”

“When you say everything, what exactly do you mean?”

“I know who your grandfather is. I know who your father is. And I know how to bring back the saguaros.”

Three years.

I’d suffered for three years, and Margaux had been sitting on all the answers. Of course, there was a chance she was lying. Bronwyn could’ve told her about Sexton, and she could’ve extrapolated from that and made up something about a father I knew nothing about. But the saguaros? I didn’t talk about them with just anyone. I didn’t think even Bronwyn knew how badly I missed them.

“I need your help,” she said.

“Why in the world would I help you? Not only did you desert my mom when she needed you most, you?—”

“ I didn’t desert her, ” she yelled as loudly as she was able, which wasn’t very. “I’d never do that to Lila. She was my b-best f-friend.” She heaved again, and this time did throw up.

I looked at Cecil. He shrugged. I glanced down at Fennel, who’d stopped twining between my legs and was now sitting on my shoe.

“ Meow .”

“Fine.” I stuck my hands on my hips and muttered, “I can’t believe these words are coming out of my mouth. Margaux Ramirez, you have my permission to enter this property up to, inside, and no further than, my house .”

She flopped over onto her back. The lapels of her coven robe were shredded. Her throat was bruised, and there was blood on her chest and the purse she’d slung over her shoulder.

“What happened to you?”

“Desmond Mace made a play for the coven tonight and won. I’m no longer coven mother.”

“Oh shit.”

This was not good. Very not good. For Maya or me.

“It gets worse. Bronwyn is missing.”