Interrupted Magic Page 13

She shot me a nervous glance and approached the clothes racks. “How’s Kyle doing? I heard he got hurt.”

  “Dislocated his shoulder. He’ll be good as new in no time.”

  Toni nodded. “I also wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed meeting you last weekend. Whatever happens, I hope you might still consider me a friend.”

  I shouldn’t be surprised she knew the local gossip. Chip was one of Kyle’s posse, after all. “Of course,” I replied. “Although I’m not sure how often our paths might cross, with you living in Milwaukee and me...” I stopped, unsure of what my future held. I cleared my throat. “Although my cousin lives in Milwaukee, so I do get there from time to time.”

  She nodded again. “I probably sound pushy. I’m sorry. It’s just you were so nice to me. I could tell something was off between you and Kyle on Saturday, but what do I know? Some couples are just distant. They like it that way, you know?” She winced. “This is none of my business. I’ll shut up now.”

  I squeezed her hand. “You’re fine, although I’m surprised Chip didn’t try to convince you what a witch I am and warn you to stay away from me.”

  “No,” she said vehemently. “He likes you, too. He says Kyle’s been sulky and rude for months and he’s surprised you hung around this long.”

  I chuckled. “I knew I liked Chip.”

  “Any suggestions for how to keep things moving along with him? I hear you have special scents that attract men.”

  I wondered if any of those scents still worked, although many of the bath salts on display had been mixed before my magic had developed constipation. “You can sniff a few. You might know better than me what smells Chip likes.”

  She approached the table and unscrewed the tops of several different fragrances, taking a second whiff of Brynn’s Mix. “I like this one.”

  The vanilla, clove and coconut oil scent I’d first mixed with Nora. It had worked for Lisa and Dylan. If Chip had invited Toni to town for dinner, he must have more than a casual interest. “Worth a try.”

  As I rang her up, Chip walked in. He greeted Toni with a kiss to the forehead and laced his hand with hers. “I thought I saw you come in here.” He smiled at me. “Hey, Brynn.”

  “Hi, Chip.”

  “I hear you’re closing shop.”

  I nodded.

  Toni’s eyes widened. “Oh. What if I want more of this stuff?”

  “I have an internet store,” I said. “I intend to keep on with that. You can always order my botanicals there.” I handed her a brochure from the counter.

  Chip took a step closer. “You did the right thing,” he said. “I couldn’t believe you took him back the last time. I wish you the best, Brynn. Really.”

  My eyes watered again. “Thanks, Chip.”

  “We have reservations at five-thirty. Better get moving. See you around?”

  I nodded.

  “Thanks,” Toni said as they walked out.

  When Cassandra hadn’t returned by six, I closed the shop and gathered Ash. Cassandra texted me while I walked home.

  My friend is meeting with Barry tonight. She wants to officially present the offer tomorrow morning. Meet me at the shop early?

  I hesitated before I typed a response. “What do you think, Ash?” I whispered. “Time to move on?”

  The purr rumbling from her carrier was good enough for me. I told Cassandra I’d meet her at nine and left the footpath for my street, where I paused once more. My house. The one I’d bought from Nora. From the ecru painted cinder stone exterior, to the red slate shingles, to the triquetra on the chimney, it was all mine. If I moved in with Ian, I’d have to give that up, too. The house represented my independence.

  Ian would never strip me of my independence. I knew that soul-deep. I wouldn’t be giving up a piece of myself, I would be filling in a part of me that had been missing, like Nora had done when she’d moved away to be with Fletcher.

  I continued down the street, and stopped one more time. A woman was on my front porch, eyes trained on me.

  Chapter 24

  The stranger waited while I closed the distance between us. She had hair so black it was most likely dyed. The make-up around her eyes was also dark, framing light hazel eyes. She wore black leggings and a lacy black top that showed off a tattoo on her shoulder depicting the phases of the moon. Another tattoo, rose crystals wrapped in sage, snaked from her cleavage. Half-moon earrings hung at her ears and she sported a nose ring.

  “Can I help you?” I asked when I reached my front door.

  She glanced at the chimney, then at me. “That depends. Are you Brynn Taylor?”

  I checked Kyle’s house to see if he was home, more from habit than anything else. He had been a policeman, after all, in case I was in danger.

  Nora had always told me people would find me, and with the closing of the boutique, I should get used to more strangers stopping by. I straightened and raised my chin. “I am.”

  “I’m Madeleine Stephens.” Her hazel eyes flashed with a familiar glow.

  Ash hissed inside her carrier. Madeleine’s gaze shifted, and the carrier rebalanced with Ash’s movement.

  “To what do I owe the honor?” I asked.

  “What kind of person would undo another person’s magic?” The question was simply stated, but I knew better than to accept it at face value.

  “One who was shown a recipe,” I replied. “I’m sure you know how it works.” I wasn’t about to invite her inside, and yet this was my opportunity to ask for her help in person. I nodded toward the back of the house. “Would you like to sit on the patio?”

  She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. “Maybe for a moment.”

  I walked around the house and let Ash out of her carrier. The cat made a mad dash for her cat door into the workroom.

  “Are you telling me Daria came to you?” Madeleine asked.

  “I am. I gave her rose tea and sent her away, but she returned, and when she came back, the recipe was waiting for me.”

  Madeleine waved a hand in the air with an extravagant show of sarcasm. “Please go on. I’m all ears.”

  “She was upset. I believed she was sorry for her part in your brother’s misfortunes. I didn’t realize my mistake until she finished drinking the draught.”

  “Judging by your email, the magic traveled,” she said.

  I nodded. “The sediment in the rose tea identified you as the author of the spell, and when I asked Daria, she told me about you.”

  Madeleine surveyed the yard, taking in the garden and long windows of the sunroom where I mixed my recipes. “Nice setup you have here.”

  I sat at the patio table. “The property has been in the family since the early nineteen-forties.” I crossed my arms. “Have you changed your mind about canceling the spell? You’d mentioned your brother’s appeal looked promising.”

  She studied her long fingernails. “I’d have to wait until September 2 to be sure the terms have been satisfied and my brother is set free.”

  If I admitted to having problems with my magic, I ran the risk of her hexing me for interfering, something she’d already demonstrated herself capable of. “Then I suppose I’ll go ahead with my plans to return the spell to Daria.”

  “I have no argument with that.” Madeleine set her hands on the back of the chair across from mine. “Are you sure you can? I’m not seeing the magic in you.”

  “I choose to keep it to myself.” I’d met other people who had masked their abilities—much to my detriment. Would she believe me? Or call my bluff? “However,” I went on, “since it was your spell to begin with, you might prefer to return it to Daria.”

  “Do you have the ingredients you need?” she asked.

  “I do.”

  She waved a hand in the air and made a sound of dismissal. “I guess that wouldn’t matter if I decided to help you.”

  If she decided to help? I sat silently, waiting for what came next.

  She wandered toward my workroom and looked through the windows. Then
she turned toward the woods. “You have the perfect setup here.”

  She gave me another insincere smile. “I’ve been thinking of buying a house. Everywhere I go I tuck away ideas for what I might like. Room for a garden, a place to work, a comfortable home. I don’t need much.” She cast a glance at Edith Knight’s house next door. “The people around here, they don’t mind what you do?”

  I rose from the table. “As long as they don’t have to know for sure.”

  She laughed. “Got that right.” Her eyes glittered. “I can see how you might have felt sorry for Daria, but she did bring it on herself.”

  “Understood.” Was she going to help me?

  “Let’s just see how this plays out, shall we?”

  I frowned. Madeleine didn’t seem the type to care if Kyle’s future was at stake. “Why, exactly, are you here?”

  “I don’t meet many people like me,” she said. “Call it curiosity.”

  I sighed. With nothing to lose, I pressed on. “Look. When I disrupted your spell, it traveled to a guy who used to be a police officer. He was laid off and he’s looking for another PD to take him on. If he’s charged, that becomes more difficult. As you’ve mentioned, since you cast the spell, it would be easier for you to correct it. Am I right?”

  She sent a bored look over my shoulder. “I’ll think about it.” Her gaze met mine. “Lovely to meet you.”

  Wish I could say the same.

  She started toward the side of the house to leave and then stopped. “Do you know other people? Like us?”

  “I do.”

  She lowered her head as if considering this. “I lived with Daria for a year. Trust me when I tell you you don’t know anything about her. She deserved what I did.”

  “I believe you. If I’d have known, I might have acted differently.”

  “What we do—it sort of isolates us, doesn’t it?”

  She was looking for a friend? I shouldn’t have trusted Daria, which made me hesitant to trust Madeleine. “It does.”

  “Sharing information makes us better informed, don’t you think?”

  “I can give you the name of a Wiccan coven that meets regularly,” I said. “If you want a support group.”

  She stiffened. “I don’t need a support group...”

  “For lack of a better term,” I added. “They’ve been helpful for me. I met them at a solstice celebration.”

  “Solstice celebration?” Madeleine echoed. “My aunt died when I was in junior high. She barely had time to teach me the basics.”

  Another attempt at friendship? Since she’d shared, I figured I could offer some of my own history. “I didn’t learn about my talents until I graduated high school. My aunt didn’t take me to the solstice celebration until I finished college.”

  She hesitated a moment longer. “I need more time to think about this.”

  I raised my eyebrows. It seemed I had a bargaining chip. “You know where to find me, but the clock is ticking.”

  Chapter 25

  After I’d hastily packed a bag and gathered Ash, I headed to Ian’s castle-slash-folly. On the way, I used the Bluetooth to call Hannah Noonan, the head of the coven in Brown’s Landing. The call went to voicemail, and I briefly outlined my encounter with Madeleine.

  As I disconnected, Nora called. “How goes your project?” she asked.

  I relayed Kyle’s lack of faith, Yvonne’s eagerness to move me out of the boutique, Ian’s reluctance to help me with the spell reversal, and Madeleine’s unexpected visit.

  “Then your magic still isn’t working?” she asked.

  “The books aren’t laying out any recipes for me, and I can’t even summon a blouse from my closet.”

  “This all started around the time you met that man at Gupta’s?”

  Dread rippled over me. I pulled into the lot of a strip mall and parked the car. “You think this has something to do with Ian.”

  “It’s entirely possible. It’s also possible you’re experiencing a side effect of reversing Madeleine’s spell. You didn’t ask her while she was there, did you?”

  “I didn’t want her to know I’m currently at a disadvantage.”

  “That’s probably wise.”

  I breathed out a slow breath, considering my infatuation with Ian. “Nora, do you think I’ve been bewitched by Ian? He keeps asking me the same thing, though.”

  “You know how Kyle responded when he was bewitched,” she said. “I suspect if Ian had bewitched you, you would have forgotten about Kyle, and forgotten your desire to correct the transferred spell.”

  “Not bewitched, then. How else could he interfere with my magic?”

  “Sweet Brynn, I didn’t tell you he was responsible, I merely pointed out his arrival around the same time,” she said.

  “This is all happening so fast. In my willingness to let the magic lead me, am I sacrificing good judgment?” Tears welled in my eyes. “Now I feel like Daria. Why are all these bad things happening to me?”

  “Which is why I also suggested the problem with your magic might be related to your interrupting Madeleine’s spell,” Nora said. “Are you sure you don’t want to hang onto the boutique until her spell is satisfied? Things might turn around.”

  “I don’t think so. We’ve been struggling for a while. Cassandra and I agreed to give it a year. Our year is up, and Yvonne came in with a buyer right away when I suggested we might want to sell.” I sniffled. “I asked her to put us on the September agenda, but she didn’t even bother with an emergency meeting. Feels like the association meant to put us out of business.”

  The world was closing in around me, the way it had when I’d first arrived in Hillendale, except this time Nora wasn’t there to rescue me.

  I didn’t need to be rescued. I’d learned early on to rely on myself.

  I couldn’t go to Ian. Not while I worried he might have a part in my current lack of abilities.

  I was an ethnobotanist. Whether I mixed “special” orders or not, I knew the properties of the vegetation I grew and how to best use it for natural remedies. I could find a job using my degree. If all else failed, I could try to get back my old job at the botanical garden near Winnsboro.

  Tears streamed down my cheeks.

  Nora’s voice sliced through my sadness like a ray of hope. “Hold on another day, honey. I’ll be there on Sunday and we can talk everything through. Will you be okay until then?”

  “Yeah. I have to go.” I ended the call and struggled with whether to call Ian to tell him I wouldn’t be coming.

  Ash chirped a half-meow from her carrier—Ash who’d immediately taken to Ian, climbing to his shoulders and purring, the same way she’d adopted me when I’d found her wandering my garden. “You don’t think he’s the problem?” I asked her.

  Her loud purr rumbled inside her carrier and I chuckled, swiping at my tears. “Would be easier if you could talk.”

  Over the past several years, I’d learned to trust my instincts, and every fiber of my being told me Ian wasn’t responsible for the glitch in my magic, and yet common sense told me not to forget the hard lessons life had taught me.

  I opened the cat carrier and Ash stared at me with her dark blue eyes. She meowed through a purr and I drew a cleansing breath. “You made your feelings about Madeleine pretty clear. And Narcy. And Ian.”

  She purr-mewed again.

  “You think we should keep going? Not turn back?”

  She crawled out of her carrier and nudged my arm with her head. I petted her reflexively. My cat had been a pretty good judge of character, and she’d woven her own protective spells around me in the past. Even if I didn’t trust myself, I trusted her.

  I pulled out of the parking lot and continued to Pratt.

  I stopped in the cottage driveway, working on my resolve. The dichotomy Ian presented continued to tug at me, from I hardly know this man to I feel like I’ve known him all my life—the irresistible pull of him which made me question my judgment.

  The cottage doo
r opened and Ian stood there, watching me decide.

  I’d made my choice. Now I had to face it.

  I gathered Ash and my overnight bag and walked to the door.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  I considered all the excuses I could give him, but if I wanted honesty from him, I owed him the same. “I’m overwhelmed.”

  I rubbed my forehead, aching to be with him, but needing to find my own way out of this mess. My thoughts flashed to the car accident that brought me to Hillendale, to the treachery of my Aunt Theresa who’d tried to steal my future. The loneliness of being different. For the situations life had thrown me into. Orphaned. Unwanted. Lost.

  The business Nora had sold to me had failed. I was in danger of losing my friends. I was no longer able to exercise my unusual abilities.

  I’d found direction with Aunt Nora, and I’d made a few friends along the way.

  Sometimes bad luck has to run its course.

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked.

  Ash leapt to his shoulders, purring. Ian chuckled, a familiar, comforting sound. She accepted him as he was. I forced a smile. “Can you figure out why my magic isn’t working?”

  Ian scooped Ash off his shoulders and set her down inside the cottage, then pulled me inside, into his arms. “When my uncle passed, I was overwhelmed, too,” Ian said. “Moving to Pratt. Dealing with the folly he’d built—I mean, who builds a castle, right?”

  I gave way to a smile.

  “I miss him so much. Moving into this house, I see him everywhere I look. All the things he taught me. All the things we did together. He was as dear to me as my own father.” Ian sighed. “But that doesn’t solve your problem, does it? I have to wonder if what you’re going through is some sort of defense mechanism, a temporary hiccup until the road ahead straightens out. We can consult the books.”

  I shook my head. “No, you’re probably right. Can we go to the tower? To your workshop? Working with the herbs and oils always calms me.”

  He studied me a moment before he nodded. “Sanity from the mundane.” He took my hand and led me toward the tower. “Tell me, how was your day?”