Casting Spells (33 page)

I was only half kidding. The confrontation that night here in the knit shop had left me drained and shaken to my core. Banishing Isadora had taken all of the burgeoning powers at my command and I was still refilling my well of magick. According to the Book, I had executed the most rudimentary of banishing spells, and as soon as my powers were up to speed, I would need to supplement the original banishment with a few booster spells.

The irony wasn’t lost on any of us. Gunnar was gone forever, but Isadora might return. Whoever said life was unfair had really nailed it.

“After all we did to piece Luke back together again, you’d think he would stay awhile,” Lynette said. “It seems kind of rude if you ask me.”

“I agree with Lynnie.” Janice fiddled with a tiny manger ornament. “Would it have killed him to hang around for the holidays?”

“It’s better this way,” I said. “Like ripping off a Band-Aid.”

They both nodded although neither one of them had ever used a Band-Aid in her life. Over the centuries our two very different worlds had come to share the same references.

Lynette glanced at the clock across the room. “He’s probably nearing the state line right about now,” she said quietly.

Janice pushed a platter of Chips Ahoy toward me.

Three hands grabbed for the remaining three cookies, which proved chocolate truly was universal. We all watched the clock and thought our own thoughts.

“He should cross it in the next ten minutes,” Janice said.

“You’re thinking highway time.” Lynette broke off a piece of cookie and popped it into her mouth. “He has about thirty miles of country roads before he hits the highway. I’d say give him forty minutes more before he gets there.”

I polished off my own cookie and gathered up the crumbs on a fingertip. “It’s more like thirty-three minutes.”

“Not that you’re counting.”

“Nope,” I said. “Not that I’m counting.” I loved them like sisters, but I didn’t tell them that I hadn’t cast the spell over Luke.

“Okay,” Janice said, fixing me with one of her I’m-the-boss looks. “So you’re heartbroken. I’ve been there. But there’s an upside.”

Lynette and I exchanged eye rolls.

“I saw that,” Janice said. “You fell in love. You got your powers. Now it’s time to take the next step.”

“Jan!” Lynette sounded aghast. “It’s only been an hour. Give her time.”

“How about I call my cousin Haydon and tell him your powers came in big time. He’ll be joining us for Christmas dinner. Maybe—”

“No,” I said. “Absolutely positively not.”

“I wouldn’t give cousin Haydon a second chance either,” Lynette said, “but Cyrus met a perfectly adorable werecat at a winter solstice festival last week who would be wonderful for you.”

“A werecat?” Janice was dismissive. “She’s not the werecat type. I see her more with another sorcerer or maybe a selkie.”

“A selkie! You know how she feels about selkies.”

“Where are you going?” Janice said as I pushed back my chair and stood up. “It’s snowing out there.”

“I heard the mail drop,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

They were my friends. They meant well. I knew what they were saying even though they were trying to be uncharacteristically polite. Just because I had my powers didn’t mean Sugar Maple was in the clear. There was the small matter of pushing the Hobbs line forward another generation.

I didn’t want to think about any of it. I wanted to go outside and throw myself into a snowdrift and wait until spring thaw. Luke had no idea how lucky he was. I wished the Book could help me cast a spell that would make me forget him. Anything would be better than the hollow aching emptiness where my heart used to be.

I stepped outside and shivered under the awning. We weren’t at white-out conditions yet but we were getting there.

Holiday lights twinkled from every shop window. The gas lamps shimmered through the snow. A few hardy shoppers trudged by with heads down against the wind, but there didn’t seem to be any knitters among them. The town was blanketed not just in snow but in silence. Except for the steadily increasing wind, there wasn’t a sound to be heard.

I turned to go back into the shop when the crunch of tires through snow stopped me. It could have been anyone: UPS making a delivery, the power company, a day-tripper who wouldn’t let a little thing like a blizzard slow her down.

But I knew it was Luke.

I stood there beneath the awning in my heavy Lopi sweater while the snow swirled all around me and I waited.

But that didn’t stop a totally ridiculous, implausible, doomed-to-disappointment sense of hope from leaping to life in that big empty spot inside my chest.

I know, I know. Crazy, wasn’t it? Like a man would suddenly decide to abandon everything that was real and solid and dependable to throw in his lot with a sorceress-in-training, but I couldn’t help myself. I used to believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Tom Cruise too.

His truck rolled to a stop in front of Sticks & Strings. He cut the engine and I stopped breathing.

The driver door swung open and he climbed out.

I still wasn’t breathing.

He walked around the rear of the truck and headed straight toward me. Who would have guessed that hope could hurt more than a double root canal?

“I couldn’t do it,” he said, stopping just inches away from me. “I tried but I couldn’t.”

“The snow,” I said. “Better to wait until the roads are clear.”

“Let’s give it a shot.”

I stared at him but no words came out.

“Did you hear me?” He looked excited, hopeful, uncertain, and a little scared. “I said I want to give it a shot.”

“You mean stay here in Sugar Maple?”

“I mean stay here with you.”

“But—”

He raised his hand in front of my lips. “You’ve already told me all the reasons why I shouldn’t. Now let me tell you the only reason why I should: I love you.”

I swallowed hard. “That might not be enough.”

“Then we’ll figure it out as we go along. I love you, Chloe. Let’s give it a chance and see where this leads.”

“I can’t guarantee what the future will hold, Luke. I’ve never had magick before. Anything might happen.”

“I’m willing to take my chances as long as I can be with you.”

“Hobbs women don’t have much luck when it comes to happily ever after.”

“That gives us something to shoot for.”

“I can’t convince you to go.”

He met my eyes. “Tell me you don’t love me and I’m out of here. No questions asked.”

“I love you, Luke MacKenzie,” I said as I threw my arms around him. “That’s the one thing that will never change.”

His mouth found mine, and we both jumped as silvery-white sparks shot into the air around us, sizzling against the falling snow.

“A good sign?” he murmured against my lips.

“The best,” I said as fireworks exploded overhead.

I almost thought I heard the voices of three hundred years of Hobbs women cheering me on.

If this wasn’t the happy ending I’d been dreaming about, it would do until the real thing came along.

 

Arrange the stitches (sts) on your needles (ndls), so that the miscrossed cable is next on your left hand (LH) ndl. Slip the cable group off the LH ndl. Pull out each row of yarn from just those cable sts, until you get to the cross. Pull out the miscrossed sts, rearrange them so they are crossed correctly, then place them onto a double point needle (dpn) of the same size as your working ndls.

With a second dpn, knit across these sts using the bottommost free yarn strand. Slide sts to other end of dpn, then knit across them using the next free yarn strand. Repeat until all dropped yarn strands have been knit up, then replace the sts onto the LH working ndl and continue on.

There always seems to be a greater length of yarn hanging free, which causes gaps on either side of the reworked cable sts. To more evenly distribute the yarn, I knit up each st, then pull up a smidge more yarn. You can also pull the extra looseness into the adjoining sts.

Slip the to-be cabled sts (in this case, 4 sts) to the right hand (RH) ndl, pinch the last 2 off the RH ndl and either hold in front or back, as per the direction of the cable, slip the remaining 2 sts from the RH ndl back to the LH ndl, then replace the 2 pinched sts to the LH ndl and knit all 4 in their newly crossed position.

Don’t even try to measure from a purl stitch! I always measure ribbing from the center of a knit sts to the center of another knit sts, being sure to count the first and last 1/2 sts.

Decrease within the cable’s sts, as you bind off (BO), to keep the edge from flaring. The ratio? Approx. 1 st for a 4-st cable, 2 sts for a 6-st cable, aiming for a Stockinette BO gauge.

I always weave in yarn tails as I knit. But to alleviate the bulky ridge that forms as well as alleviate any distortion on the face of the fabric, don’t weave in both yarn tails at once.

I alternate them, as follows: *The old tail goes over the working yarn, knit 1 st, the new tail goes over the working yarn, knit 1 st, the old tail comes up from under the working yarn, knit 1 st, the new tail comes up from under the working yarn, knit 1 st; repeat from * until all tails are woven in. If the fabric seems tight, just give it a stretching sideways to loosen the woven tails a bit.

It can be difficult to keep a loose-enough stranded tension when working on dpns, especially when working socks at tighter-than-sweater gauges. Be diligent about moving the sts over on the RH ndl and always weave in the unused color at the end and beginning of every ndl junction. This will keep the stranding from puckering at the ndl junctions.

Regardless of the height of the heel flap given in a pattern, work your heel flap to your personal dimension. Measure from your ankle bone to the floor, to get your flap depth measurement. Adjust the number of sts to be picked up and knit at the gussets.