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Bree left not too long after that, taking her overnight bag with her and promising once again that she’d contact Bellamy if her powers started acting up in strange ways. It didn’t sound as if she had a gig that night and would probably just be hanging out in her apartment, and for that, Bellamy could only be grateful.

The last thing any of them needed was some kind of strange phenomena busting out in public that would need to be covered up…and quickly.

With her cousin gone, Bellamy knew she had a decision to make. Her boss had given her some grace and allowed her to take Tuesday and Wednesday off, but now it was Thursday morning, and that meant she was supposed to be at Sedona Vines at noon. She still had a few hours, but she couldn’t put this off indefinitely.

Especially since she knew she’d look like an even bigger flake if she waited until 11:45 or something to make the phone call.

“You seem worried about something,” Marc said as they went back inside after walking Bree to her ancient Suburban.

“It’s work,” Bellamy replied. “I’m supposed to be there in less than two hours.”

His mouth tightened. “Well, we don’t have much going on today. What if you just went in?”

The idea was tempting, even though she didn’t much like the idea of leaving Marc to fend for himself while she spent all day at the wine bar. He’d have to check in at the Sky Ranch Lodge without her, which she supposed wasn’t the end of the world, but still.

And those were minor complications compared to all the unknowns that lurked in the equation. What if the Collector or one of his lackeys decided this sleepy August day was the perfect time to go on the attack? What if her powers decided to flare up and cause a scene? True, they’d been pretty quiescent after her experience at Red Rock Crossing the day before, but since they had no real idea what they were dealing with here, she knew she couldn’t discount that possibility, either.

Staring off into space and delivering wind-driven prophecies probably wouldn’t be a very good look for Sedona Vines’ assistant manager.

“I should call,” she said, doing her best to hold back a sigh. “We don’t know what’s going to crop up next, and the last thing we want is for me to be stuck at work if something major goes down.”

Worry was clear in Marc’s dark eyes, but he only said, “Do you think it’s going to be a problem?”

The thing was, she just didn’t know. Jack had seemed pretty mellow about the whole situation when she called him on Monday, but she’d only been asking for two days off, not a sabbatical of unknown duration.

She shrugged, the only response she could really give. “I guess I’ll find out in a few minutes.”

Marc put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, then leaned down to kiss her softly on the cheek. “I’ll be here, no matter what happens.”

That was the only good thing about this whole mess. Some part of her would have been all too glad to have never discovered the real effect Sedona’s vortexes had on the witch population, but on the other hand, she wouldn’t have passed up meeting Marc Trujillo for the world.

His presence gave her the strength she needed to pick up her phone and call Jack. Not at the wine bar, because it was way too early for him to be there, but on his personal cell, the number he’d given to all his employees in case of emergency.

Bellamy supposed this could be considered one. With her having to bow out for the Goddess only knew how long, her boss would be scrambling to cover her shifts, especially with the weekend coming up.

But she knew she couldn’t avoid this. The witch world hadn’t interfered with her life before now, and she guessed it was just making up for lost time.

Jack’s voice at her ear, already sounding suspicious. “Bellamy? Aren’t you supposed to be in at noon today?”

Which was still an hour and a half off. Would Marcy be able to take her hours today, or would Jack have to watch the place by himself?

One could argue that Thursdays in general weren’t party central at Sedona Vines, but all it took was one unscheduled tour bus to upset the apple cart.

“I am,” she said, then made herself to take another breath. “Or at least, I was. This mess with my family has kind of blown up, and I honestly don’t know when I’m going to make it back to work.”

There, she’d said it. Now all she could do was let the chips fall where they may.

A pause on the other end of the line. Then Jack said, “I’m sorry to hear that your family’s having a difficult time. But I need someone I can rely on, Bellamy. I can’t go on indefinitely getting different people to fill your shifts.” Another hesitation, longer this time. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go. You can come in sometime next week to pick up your final paycheck.”

Well, there it was. In a way, it had been almost a relief to hear Jack utter those fateful words, because at least now she wouldn’t have the problem of what to do about work hanging over her head.

No, she was utterly fancy-free.

“I understand,” she said calmly. “You have a good rest of your day, Jack.”

And she touched her finger to the phone’s screen to end the call.

Only a foot or so away, Marc was watching her carefully. “Well?”

She sent him a limp smile. “I got fired.”

“Oh, Bellamy.”

At once, his arms were around her, holding her close, and she let herself relax into the embrace, glad of the strength and reassurance and love she could practically feel flowing from him, giving her the support she needed.

Was that sensation her gift expanding even more, or just the subtler energy of two souls who’d somehow managed to find each other despite everything?

Either way, she thought she was okay with it.

“I’m all right,” she murmured into Marc’s shoulder. “And it’s going to be fine. There’s no way I could have gotten through all this stuff with the vortexes and the Collector and put in eight hours a day at the wine bar on top of it. I’ve got my stipend, and I’ve got what Ike’s paying me every month to watch the ranch. It’s not as if I’m going to be out on the street or anything.”

A fate that never befell those of witch-kind anyway, just because there was always a relative to take you in if you happened to fall on hard times.

Which were generally few and far between, because even though not everyone had the gift of luck like Lucas Wilcox did, witches and warlocks tended to be a bit more fortunate than the civilian population, with odd little windfalls popping up here and there when they least expected it.

“Of course not.” Marc let go of her, but only so he could take a step back and entwine his fingers with hers. “You’re sure you’re all right?”

She looked up at him, at the dark eyes under their emphatic brows, at the finely sculpted mouth she just loved to kiss. With Marc around, she couldn’t be too worried about the future.

“I’m fine,” she said, and realized she meant it. After they got past this stuff with the Collector and the vortexes, then she’d have to sit down and figure out what to do with herself, but she’d worry about that when the time came.

“You’re more than fine,” Marc said, then kissed her gently. “You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”

Bellamy had always thought she was pretty ordinary — well, at least as witches went — but if he wanted to think she was the greatest thing since sliced bread, she wasn’t going to disabuse him of that notion.

“You’re pretty amazing, too,” she replied, then gave his fingers a squeeze before letting go. A smile touched her lips, and she added, “Well, now that we have most of the day free, what should we do with it?”

He smiled back at her. “I can think of a few things.”

They didn’t spend all day in the bedroom, of course, and went out for a late lunch down in the Village of Oak Creek, ostensibly so he could experience the outflow energies at Bell Rock, but mostly, he guessed, so they’d be far enough away from Sedona Vines that Bellamy wouldn’t have to worry about running into any of her erstwhile co-workers…or worse, her boss.

But they had great barbecue at a place called the Colt Grill, which she told him also had another branch in Old Town Cottonwood, and afterward, they walked the Bell Rock trail to get a feel for the place. It was a very easy stroll, not really a hike, although he could tell if you stayed on it, the going would get a lot tougher the higher you climbed.

That wasn’t their intention, though. The early parts of the hike should have been enough to allow him to feel something, but although the spot was beautiful — if hot — he didn’t think he sensed anything different.

He told Bellamy as much when they paused at a spot where the massive rock formation cast enough shade that they could stand comfortably in its shadow. The place wasn’t deserted, but at this time of year, not too many people braved the trails at three in the afternoon when the August heat was at its peak.

They’d taken things slowly, though, and had bought some bottled water at the Ace Hardware store right next to the Colt Grill. Because of that, neither of them was overheated, although Marc was very glad of the shade that sheltered them now.

Her expression thoughtful, she said, “I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I really believe that we have to sleep on or near a vortex for our powers to get enhanced. Otherwise, every time a witch or warlock came here to shop or go to the movies or whatever, they’d get a juice boost, so to speak.”

He had a feeling she was right about that. Of course, the real test would be tonight — or rather, how he felt tomorrow morning when he woke up after sleeping basically on top of the powerful Airport Mesa vortex.

“Do you think the McAllisters and the Wilcoxes realized that, too, all those years ago?” Marc asked, and Bellamy pursed her lips.

“I don’t know. As far as I can tell, none of the McAllisters who first settled here ever mentioned anything about it. And although I can’t speak for the Wilcoxes, it doesn’t seem as if they talked about it, either.” She glanced up at the red rock formation that towered about them, still looking as if her mind was going a mile a minute. “I think some of the people in my family would probably want to say that if Jeremiah Wilcox had known about the vortexes way back when, he would never have entered into that kind of agreement, since the Wilcoxes were always about grabbing whatever power they could. But….”

“But…?” Marc prompted. His clan had had very few negative dealings with the Wilcoxes, just because their territories were located on opposite ends of the state, and they also had the McAllisters as a sort of buffer between them. However, even he’d heard of how grasping, how amoral, some of the Wilcox primuses of the past had been.

Bellamy took a swig from her bottled water, then said, “But my friend Devynn traveled to the past and met Jeremiah Wilcox, so I know he’s nothing like the old horror stories that used to get handed around back before Angela and Connor broke the curse and united our clans. I really think that if Jeremiah had known about the vortex power, he would have brokered that deal just to make sure no one would exploit those energies.”

Maybe that was what had really happened. But since all those negotiations — whatever they’d been — had taken place more than a hundred and fifty years in the past, Marc supposed they’d never know for sure.

Well, unless Devynn McAllister used her gift to go back to the past again, which he had a feeling wasn’t going to happen. Bellamy hadn’t gone into a lot of details, but it seemed to him that Devynn had no intention of using her time-travel ability any time soon, especially with the amulet locked up and no way to use it to help her enhance her magic so she’d be able to guide herself exactly when she needed to be.

“I can see that as a possibility,” he allowed. “And I suppose in the end, the important thing is that the two clans agreed on that one thing. Otherwise, your shared history might have been even messier than it already is.”

Bellamy gave a thoughtful nod, then drank some more water. “It sounds like we mostly stayed out of each other’s hair after those early days, which had to be a blessing. Sure, the McAllisters didn’t trust the Wilcoxes a bit, but with all those miles of open land between our territories, it was easy enough to just…stay away from each other.” A glance up at the sky, and she added, “It’s well after three. Do you want to head back so you can check into your hotel room?

“We’ll have to swing by the ranch first to pick up our stuff,” he reminded her, and she just smiled.

“No worries. It’s probably a good thing if I drop in and out when I can, just to make it look as if I haven’t abandoned the place.”

Her expression was still cheerful enough, but he could tell she was slightly worried about the situation. After losing her main job, she probably didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize her caretaker gig at the ranch.

Marc kind of doubted that would happen, since she’d already told him the owner was in the Far East somewhere. Maybe he had spies among his neighbors, but the houses in that area were set far enough apart that he thought it would be pretty hard to tell whether Bellamy was sleeping at the ranch.

Besides, the most she’d be gone was two nights. After their test with Bree’s gifts and the inflow vortex at the house off Dry Creek Road, he guessed he’d only need the one night at Sky Ranch Lodge to determine whether the masculine energy of that particular vortex had any effect on him, but he figured he might as well go with the worst-case scenario.

“We’ll check on everything and make sure the alarms are on before we leave,” he assured her.

Those words seemed to cheer her slightly, and she said, “Sounds like a plan. Let’s get going.”

They made their way down the path to the parking lot, which was mostly deserted on this hot Thursday afternoon. Bellamy didn’t show any signs of overheating, luckily, probably because they had plenty of water and they’d done their best to stick to the shade where they found it. Marc, of course, wasn’t too bothered by the heat — it might have been in the mid-nineties here, but it would be ten degrees warmer than that in Tucson, and he was more than used to hot weather.

Still, it felt good to get in his truck and start blasting the air conditioning, and to head north on Highway 179, which would take them back to the heart of Sedona and 89A, the only real east-west route through town. Traffic wasn’t too bad — although people tended to be over-cautious whenever they hit one of the roundabouts that dotted the highway — and he figured they’d be at the ranch in twenty minutes at the most.

Everything looked the same when they got there, along with the incongruously blooming barrel cactus near the gate to the courtyard.

“I wonder how long those cactus flowers are going to last,” Marc commented as he pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine.

A hint of a smile played around Bellamy’s mouth. “I have no idea,” she replied. “I suppose I need to get some stories ready about this new super-fertilizer I found, just in case anyone asks.”

He didn’t know whether that would be too much of a concern — he hadn’t seen a hint of the people whose properties abutted the ranch, so either they weren’t even here or they just didn’t choose to be friendly — but he only nodded. “I suppose it’s always good to have an explanation lined up.”

After that, they went inside, where he returned the few belongings he’d brought with him to his overnight bag, while Bellamy got out the bag she’d used when staying at his Airbnb and filled it with a few necessities and a change of clothes. It seemed clear that she didn’t think she’d need anything more than that, not when they were going to be staying only a few miles away from the ranch.

Once they were done with their minimal packing, they drove over to Sky Ranch Lodge, which, as advertised, was perched on top of Airport Mesa. In fact, the Sedona Municipal Airport was only a stone’s throw away, along with a restaurant called the Mesa Grill, a place he thought would be a good venue for dinner. That way, they could stay up here and absorb as much of the vortex energies as possible.

Or maybe not, if Bellamy’s theory that the vortexes only affected them while asleep turned out to be true.

The room was spacious, if a little dated. However, since it looked like the hotel had been built sometime in the mid-twentieth century, he knew the room must have been remodeled since then, because it had luxury vinyl plank floors and quartz countertops in the bathroom, rather than grody old carpet and Formica or something.

But the grounds were gorgeous, as he and Bellamy discovered when they ventured outside. Walkways traversed the property, some of them sporting bridges that crossed over small streams which happily burbled away underneath, and when they got to the overlook at the western edge of the gardens, they found a spectacular view of West Sedona and the countryside beyond, with Mingus Mountain and the rest of the Black Mountain range a bluish-purple smudge on the horizon.

“This place is fantastic,” Bellamy said. “I think Connor and Angela got married right here.” And she spread an arm to indicate the green lawn behind them, which Marc guessed would accommodate seating for at least a hundred people, maybe more.

And to have wedding photos with that spectacular vista behind them?

He couldn’t think of a better place.

The briefest flash in his mind of Bellamy in a white dress and a lace veil, one that vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared. Was that the vortex working on him, or merely wishful thinking?

Possibly a little of both.

They’d gotten a pair of drink vouchers when they checked in, so, after lingering at the overlook for a moment longer, they headed off in search of the bar, which proved to be right around the corner from the hotel office. The vouchers got them a couple of glasses of wine, and they wandered the grounds until they found a spot with a garden bench in a secluded section away from the buildings and the more popular paths.

“This feels good,” she said, after they clinked their plastic cups together and took a sip. “I don’t know if it’s the vortex or what, but I like being up here.”

“Maybe it’s the vortex…or maybe it’s just the fresh air and the feeling of being up above everything.”

She nodded, gaze moving past the little grotto where they sat toward the west, even though they couldn’t really see much of a view from up here.

“It does seem like we’re kind of away from it all,” she agreed, then sipped some more of her chardonnay. Because it was so warm, they’d both opted for white wine, which felt cool and very welcome. “And I could definitely use some of that now.”

The faintest of sighs escaped her lips. Rather than drink more of her wine, though, she only sat there with the cup cradled in her hands, her eyes still seeming to focus on something far off in the distance.

“I’m sorry about work,” he said softly, and her shoulders lifted.

“Well, I couldn’t expect Jack to keep me on after this, especially since I was still in my probationary period. I’ll figure something out, though. I mean, there are a ton of tasting rooms around the Verde Valley, and they tend to have a lot of turnover because you get people coming here for the total Sedona experience, and then they leave when they realize the reality doesn’t meet their expectations.”

“It seems like a pretty amazing place to me,” he said.

Bellamy shifted on the bench, now facing him. “Oh, it is,” she replied. “I mean, it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. But it’s also expensive and filled with tourists. There’s a lot of competition for housing. And although Cottonwood and Clarkdale — and even Camp Verde and Rimrock — take some of the overflow, a lot of people insist on living right in Sedona no matter how much it costs and just make it tougher on themselves.”

He supposed he could see that. After spending a couple of days here, though, he thought he’d be happy to live anywhere in the Verde Valley…although he could already tell that dealing with the ebb and flow of tourists and traffic in Sedona itself might get a little old after a while.

And that didn’t even take into account the vortexes — if they even had any effect on him at all.

Well, they’d find out soon enough.