Barely Bewitched (9 page)

Chapter 13

My satisfaction at escaping Bryn’s property was fleeting. I was cold and wet and, with the last of the fake fae magic receding, I realized Bryn had been right to lock me up. What had I been thinking rounding up my neighbors’ kids and turning them into my miniminions?

It had felt so right at the time. I shivered as I shuffled toward home. That trickster tree had seemed to have me all figured out, and I’d wanted to believe I was a faery who’d accidentally crossed over. For once, I’d felt like I knew exactly what I was doing outside a kitchen.

I passed the tor and heard music blaring in the distance. Hank Williams Jr. sang “Country Boy Can Survive.” As I rounded the corner, I stopped and squinted at the scene before me in Magnolia Park. People danced around a huge bonfire. They were half naked with bottles hanging from their hands and little men, brownies, hanging from what was left of their clothes.

“Oh. My. Gosh.”

People were obviously under the influence of more than alcohol. I should never have listened to that tree and unearthed the box.

“Where you been, Red?”

I turned to find Incendio walking toward me with his arm around a girl who couldn’t have been older than sixteen. “Home mostly. I was real busy.”

“So I see,” he said, nodding at the park.

“No, this isn’t my magic,” I sputtered.
Liar, liar, pants on—oh, please don’t set me on fire!

“No? Well, someone invited the fae out to play. Wasn’t me or English. Sure wouldn’t have been Lyons. Who does that leave? Maybe the baby girl whose mother knows the way to the center of the Never?”

I waited for him to say more about Momma, but he just looked at me.

“If you want to know the truth,” I said, “your curse-spell made me dig up some faery dust that did all this. Why would you do a random spell on me?”

“Who said it was random?” he countered.

“Wasn’t it?”

He shook his head. “We took a taste of your power.”

“But I heard the verse. It didn’t say any thing—”

“That’s what the symbols on the table were for. What I’d like to know is how someone who’s supposed to be new to the craft managed to counter that spell in less than twenty-four hours? Felt you recover your power. Who taught you such complicated magic?”

I sure wasn’t going to tell the truth about Bryn unspelling me. The blank-faced girl snuggled against Incendio’s chest, making me grimace.

“She’s way too young for you,” I said and grabbed the girl’s arm, dragging her away from him.

“Hey,” she complained. “Lemme go!”

“Come back here,” Incendio said, holding his hand out to the girl.

I planted my feet and held on to her with all my might. She weighed at least ten pounds more than me, but I was determined.

“You can’t have her. She’s not legal,” I said, trying to back-pedal while holding on.

“Depends what laws you follow. Myself, I don’t follow too many,
comprendes
?” he said, walking toward us. He jerked my arms off her waist and yanked her to him. She flung her arms around his neck as he swung her away from me. “Go wait on my bike,” he told her.

I jumped in front of his path and put my hands out, slamming them into his chest. “You’re not taking her.”

He grabbed my hands, holding them flat against him. “You offering to come in her place?” he snarled.

“No.”

“Then get lost,” he said, shoving me aside. I stumbled back, and he turned, walking away from me. As I started forward, flames burst up in front of me. I ran and jumped over them just as they flared higher. I landed on his back with the hem of my dress smoking.

“What the fuck!” he shouted.

I clamped my arm across his throat, realizing that my feet had committed me to something that the rest of my non-action-hero body thought was a real dumb idea. It was going to hurt like crazy when he flung me off. I held tight, trying to postpone the landing as long as possible.

“If you take her, I’ll report you to the police. They’ll come and arrest you for statutory rape.”

“She’s eighteen,” he growled as I dangled from him.

“If she’s eighteen, I’m forty-five!”

He walked to a tree and spun, slamming me into it. Sharp pain vibrated through my back. I held on, but howled in his ear, raking my nails across his throat. He cursed and slammed me again, knocking the breath from my lungs.

“Incendio!” Jordan snapped.

“What?” Incendio asked, hauling me over his shoulder and dropping me on the ground at his feet. Despite the throbbing pain everywhere, I hadn’t given up my suicidal determination to stop him. As he stepped over me, I grabbed his leg and held on with both hands. He dragged me along, but I’m pretty sure I slowed him down by at least a few seconds.

Jordan walked next to us, looking down at me. “What are you doing, love?”

I spit out the leaves and grass that had gotten nearer to my mouth than is strictly pleasant for a non-elf. “I’m stopping him,” I said.

“Really?” Jordan asked, clearly skeptical.

“He’s not taking some underage teenage girl off on his motorcycle.”

Then, surprisingly, Incendio stopped walking. I rolled to a kneeling position, ready to clip him. We’d see how well he walked with only one good knee.

“Damn it!” Incendio grumbled.

I looked past him and saw the girl walking off with a boy in a Duvall High letter jacket.

Incendio raised his arm, but Jordan held out his hand. “Don’t. The fae are here. Plus, so many human witnesses.”

“Like I give a fuck about them or you.” He glared at the flames of a lit barbeque, and they roared higher. Most people turned toward the grill. When they did, Incendio took advantage of the distraction and lobbed a ball of fire into the air toward the girl.

“Look out!” I screamed.

The couple turned their heads, spotted the blaze, and jumped back. It landed only a foot from them.

“Run!” I yelled, and they darted into the woods.

Incendio glared at me, bent down, and grabbed my arms. He flung me away from him and raised his hand like he was going to roast me.

“Incendio, for pity’s sake, think about this!” Jordan said.

Fire raged in Incendio’s eyes, but it slowly died out. He pointed a finger at me. “Not tonight, Red. But soon.”

Incendio stalked away, and I stood up, trying to reclaim my dignity as I brushed off my dress. After my muddy yard, the saltwater swim, the flaming leap onto Incendio’s back, and now sliding through the grass, I doubted even Oxiclean could put it right.

My body shook from the adrenaline rush as I looked around. I saw what Jordan had meant about the fae. It wasn’t only the brownies playing with the people. There were hobgoblins in the trees and nymphs on the fall flowers. Small eyes sparkled and watched us from the darkness.

“Incendio’s crazy. Do the people in charge at WAM know that?” I asked Jordan.

“He’s never been this bad. Working for the Conclave has gone to his head. He thinks he’s above the law, that they’ll cover up whatever he does,” Jordan muttered. “He’s wrong.”

“But they’re not here. Do you have the power to stop him right now?” I asked.

His scowl grew harsher. “That’s not your concern.”

I kind of disagreed since he’d brought Mr. Torch and his taste for young girls to my town, but I decided not to argue, since it sounded like Jordan was going to talk to his bosses about Incendio. I had another problem. One that was all my fault . . .

“Jordan, some faery magic seems to have been let loose today while I was under the influence of your curse from last night. What spell can we cast to undo it?” I asked, pointing to the wild-eyed people.

“This isn’t witch magic. We’re under no obligation to do anything about it,” he said.

“But—”

“Concentrate on your own survival! You’ve lost Incendio’s help for good, and a whole day has been wasted. We have a near-impossible task ahead. You have to prepare.”

“What’s the point if the fire part of the challenge is going to be so hard that only a Class Eight guy can get me ready for it?”

“The challenge can be adjusted, but you have to show some effort. No more skipping our training sessions.”

“It was your spell to ‘taste my magic’ that messed things up. I was planning to come to train with you.”

“We wanted to evaluate your power, to assess its nature. The spell shouldn’t have affected your judgment.”

“Well, it did. Around me, magic never works the way it’s supposed to.”

He raised his brows slightly, looking skeptical.

Then I got distracted when I spotted retired shrink Doc Barnaby. He’s seventy-two, and, tonight, like Incendio, he was trying to romance a younger woman. But in the case of the Widow Potts, who was sixty-one, it was a better match. A week ago, the doc had been trying to raise his dead wife from the grave because he was so lonely. So actually I wasn’t sorry to see him and the widow holding hands. Though I could’ve done without seeing them French kiss. Jiminy Crickets!

“Look, I’ll train with you tomorrow, but tonight I have to break this up. See that woman over there? That’s Arlene. See who she’s dancing with? The man whose beer belly is hanging over his Aggie belt buckle? That’s not her husband. Her husband’s a Longhorn. This kind of thing can only end one way.” I paused. “Yep, gunfire.”

“Good Lord.”

“Exactly. Can you please help me do something about this mess?” I said, waving my arm toward the park.

“I’m sorr y, love. Even if I knew anything about faery magic, I’d never interfere with it. Everyone knows witchfolk who directly cross the fae end up with an arrow or a sword through the heart.”

I shivered at the thought. “What if a witch unleashed some faery magic by accident? Wouldn’t they want her to fix it?”

“I think not. The less meddling, the better.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.” I clamped a hand over my mouth. Doc Barnaby had taken off his shirt and was two-stepping Mrs. Potts around the bonfire, nearly tripping over a bunch of mismatched couples who were lying in the grass, kissing like they were warming up for prom night.

Oh boy.

Raised voices made me narrow my eyes. A pair of guys across the park was arguing loudly about whether Coach Cal was to blame for the high school football team’s losing streak. Punches erupted, and I started toward them, but the scuffle ended before I got there. I heaved a sigh, but knew this was only the beginning. With people’s inhibitions gone, there would be trouble. It was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.

“All right, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, turning to the street.

“Where are you going?” Jordan called.

“To eat some crow,” I grumbled and broke into a run.

When I got to Bryn’s house I was doubled over, rubbing a stitch in my side. I pressed the buzzer, sucking air.

“Yes?”

“Steve?”

“Tammy Jo?”

“Yep, turns out I’m back,” I said between gasps.

“Are you hurt?”

“Only my pride. Can you open the gate?”

“No.”

“No what?”

“No, I can’t open the gate.”

“But I’m on the list. Bryn’s list of people you’re supposed to let in automatically.”

“Not anymore.”

I leaned against the iron bars and shook my head. Well, this was a fine how-do-you-do. One little fight and Bryn had told his security guy that I couldn’t set foot on his property? And speaking of feet, I’d run all the way from the park without shoes. My soles were stinging along with my ego.

“Tell him I’m here to say I’m sorry.”

“I can’t do that. I’m not allowed to tell him when or if you show up.”

My jaw dropped open. “What if I was bleeding to death or something?”

“I’d call nine-one-one.”

I rested my forehead against the nearest bar and squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t believe this. People did occasionally get mad at me, but nobody had ever locked me out before. “Look, Steve, this is an emergency. The town has lost its mind, and I need Mr. Lyons’s help to put things right.”

“Sorry.”

This was not good. I had a spellbook of my own that I’d acquired the week before, and I’d flipped through it more than once. Faery folk were mentioned very briefly, along with some other magical creatures, but there were no spells directed at them or their magic. I definitely needed access to Bryn’s library and his brain.

“Steve!”

“I’ve been working for him for almost two years, Tammy Jo, and I’ve never seen him so pissed,” Steve’s voice said from the intercom. “I overheard the way you talked to him. No one talks to him that way.
Ever
.”

Zach talks to him that way. Of course, without a warrant, Zach probably couldn’t get past the security gate either.

My heart sank to my ankles. I could see it from Bryn’s point of view. He had been helping me a lot over the past couple weeks. I owed him probably a half dozen favors. And it had been ungrateful of me to mouth off to him, but I’d been under the influence of a magical curse, for pete’s sake.

Anyone would’ve gotten angry about being trapped and kept prisoner. I know I’d never have let him spell-cast on me otherwise, but he could’ve tricked me instead of trapping me. What was the point of him being so brilliant if he didn’t use it to manipulate his friends into agreeing to stuff that was for their own good?