Casually Cursed (6 page)

“Everybody needs to remember his and her manners, and that we”—I gestured to the group of us and continued—“are all on the same team. Rule number one is no fighting with each other in front of the bad guys. And here comes one.”

THE WIZARD WHO’D
come up to us in the terminal was our driver. We’d been taken from the airport to a London neighborhood that featured stately old buildings on big lots of property.

Our destination was a building of beige-brown brick that made it look bronze as we approached. We emerged, and I looked up. Gargoyles perched on stones three stories above us. My eyes widened. Were the creatures real? Did they turn from stone to flesh at sunset? Or were they just decorative? At the headquarters of magic, you never knew.

At the window of a corner turret, someone held back dark curtains. I tried to figure out whether the figure was a man or a woman, but the person stepped back and the curtains swung closed. Another wave of unease rolled through me.

The morning air had an icy grip, frosting the steps and making me pull my new emerald-green wool coat closed around me. Bryn had ordered it for me over the Internet. When I’d tried it on in Texas, I’d thought there was no way the United Kingdom would be cold enough for me to need something so heavy and hot. It wasn’t like we were going to Alaska or the arctic, after all. But luckily I’d trusted Bryn and hadn’t exchanged it for something lighter.

I quickly found that I don’t appreciate it when the weather’s cold enough to make my breath look like smoke. Breath should be invisible.

Andre held the door for us, but I paused on the steps to look at the black sedans that sidled up the street. Those cars with the darkly tinted windows had followed us all the way from the airport. They stopped in the street next to where the van we’d ridden in was parked.

“Tamara,” Bryn said, nodding to the open door.

“They’re watching. Waiting to make sure we go inside,” I said.

“Then let’s give them something interesting to watch,” Edie said, sashaying up the stairs as if her hips were maracas to shake.

“Wow,” Bryn said. “Is she for real?”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I guess so. For now, at least.”

Zach’s narrowed gaze never left the sedans until we were inside and could no longer see them. I wondered if they would stay there, double-parked, to be sure we didn’t bolt out.

The lobby’s tapestries depicted the seasons. One had the four elements with spring flowers, one had the night sky with a witch in a sundress, one showed a storm with blowing leaves, and the last one had an elderly man reclining and a woman holding a bundled baby in the falling snow. I realized they represented the major kinds of magic: elemental, celestial, weather, and blood and bones.

Edie’s shoes clicked across the parquet floor as she followed Andre to the elevator. The elevator doors were brass with square-framed images on the right and left. The right side looked familiar, and in an instant I recognized it.

“It’s the sunburst from the locket,” I said, pointing to the panel. “That looks familiar, too,” I murmured. On the left the pattern was a diamond shape, bigger on top than bottom. There was a large gold gem at its peak, two black stones of equal sizes on the sides, and then a small white gem on bottom. “Where’s that picture from?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Bryn said. “It’s an image one sees in different mystical art representations, but it’s not a constellation or pattern that’s historically meaningful.”

“Edie, have you seen that picture before?”

“I suppose so,” Edie said, shrugging. “I’ve been here before.”

I held the heavy brass rail inside the elevator and wondered why it was there. Would the thing lurch as it went up? But no, the ride was perfectly smooth. We exited on the fifth floor. The corridor was painted burgundy with rose and gold trim, but the door to the office of the president was simple oak, and when it opened there was a whole different decor inside: glass and steel, very cold, very modern.

A fit, tall man in his middle forties stood at a raised workstation of smoky colored glass and metal, typing quickly. He wore trousers and a thick sweater, and had honey-brown hair and wide-set eyes with fine lines around them. If someone gave him a jacket and goggles, he could’ve advertised a ski vacation in the Alps.

He finished typing and lowered the screen to close the laptop.

“Hello,” he said, coming forward. He shook Bryn’s hand first and then mine, introducing himself as Lars Anderson, the interim president of WAM. “I understand that I owe my current position to you.”

I flushed. “Well, you’re welcome, I guess. Though we didn’t mean to get John Barrett fired—or thrown in jail. Is he in jail?” Or had he been tried and executed?

Anderson said, “You have no cause to apologize. His fate was of his own making, yes?” He smiled, stopping in front of Edie, who looked bored. He took her hand and held it for a long moment. She favored him with a smoldering green-eyed look. I cleared my throat.

“Um, Evie, do you have any gum in your purse?”

“No,” she said.

“How about chocolate? Or mints? Can you check?” I asked, wanting to separate her from the president.

She ignored me, but Zach, who appeared to be looking around, hooked a finger in her pearl necklace and tugged. She took a step back to ease the pressure of the necklace on her throat.

“This is Mr. Sutton,” Edie said, adjusting her pearls. Zach’s finger slipped out.

“What are you?” Anderson asked Zach. They were the same height, but Zach had bigger muscles, which was almost always the case.

“I’m just the animal trainer,” Zach said, nodding toward Merc.

That’ll be the day!
Merc and Zach weren’t even friends.

Mercutio prowled around the office, stopping to look at his reflection in the window.

The door opened, and my jaw dropped. It was the Winterhawk, with upswept hair and dressed in tweed. But of course it couldn’t be the Winterhawk, because I’d killed her.

So this was her twin sister, Josephine, my grandma. The one I’d never known about growing up.

While I was little I thought Granny Justine had had Momma and Aunt Mel late in life, but it turned out that she was my great-granny. Momma and Aunt Mel had pretended their own momma didn’t exist. And so far, no one had told me why.

Her hair, a mix of silver and steel gray, was pulled and sprayed into submission in her bun. Her hands were tucked into the pockets of her tweed blazer, making me wonder if she had a weapon. This was the Winterhawk’s twin, after all. But her hands stayed hidden away, not doing anything aggressive. She wore a three-quarter-length wool skirt and black boots. I remembered I’d been told she was a teacher at a school for witches. I could see that. She looked very professorial. She also looked stern, like she might break and breed horses in her spare time.

I hesitated for a moment. I’d killed my grandma’s twin sister, Margaret. If someone had killed Aunt Melanie, Momma would never have forgiven that person. Same for Aunt Mel. Sisters, especially twins, were as close as people could be.

Her light green eyes swept over me. She didn’t smile, but she didn’t frown either.

I stepped forward. “Hi. I mean, hello.” I thrust out a hand. “I’m Tamara Josephine Trask. I’m real sorry about what happened to your sister. I didn’t want it to turn out that way.”

“Yes, well, I can’t say I approve of your choosing to protect a Lyons to the death, but I understand that you owed him a debt. He’d saved your life in the past?”

I nodded.

“Debt discharged, then. Maggie understood duty. As do I.” She cleared her throat, and then glanced at Bryn. “He’s a Granville prizewinner. An asset to the world of magic that it would be a shame to lose.”

Was there a little threat in her tone? Or was I just imagining it because her voice was a lot like her sister’s?

“Except for the eyes, you look just like your mother,” my grandmother said. “You inherited my grandfather’s bright red hair.”

“But not his personality, thankfully,” Edie murmured.

My grandma’s gaze, cool green and sharp, turned to Edie. My stomach dropped. The locket that had held Edie’s soul had been passed down through the family. For a time, this lady and her sister would’ve been the keepers of the heirloom. She knew Edie. If she recognized her in Vangie’s body, would Grandma reveal her identity?

I moved closer to the president’s desk and put myself between him and them. “So, um, what did you want to talk to us about, Mr. President?” I asked, trying to turn the focus back to our WAM visit and away from my double-great-aunt the body snatcher.

“The first order of business is to discuss a rumor we’ve heard that’s raised some concerns.” He extended his arms toward me. “May I have your hands, please?”

I hesitated and felt Bryn’s magic as he approached. The power current was restrained, but readying itself. The heart of WAM was probably the last place a wizard should start a magical fight, and I knew Bryn wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t smart unless it became absolutely necessary. So his readying magic made every muscle in my body tighten.

“Sure, okay,” I said, putting my hands into Anderson’s palms.

Mercutio brushed against my legs. Zach, too, walked casually closer.

“A ring to bind you to Mr. Lyons?” he asked, brushing a thumb over the band on my right hand.

“We have magical synergy. That’s such an incredibly rare phenomenon, I’m sure the Association wouldn’t want its potential to be neglected,” Bryn said, a note of challenge in his voice.

“My predecessor made it clear that your involvement with Ms. Trask was to have its limits until formally assessed by the association. Our caution is understandable, yes? You’ve proven a volatile combination.”

“We’ve brought justice to bear,” Bryn said.

“You also blocked Association efforts to secure a powerful tor in a town whose magical significance has long been kept hidden from us.”

Bryn shrugged. “There is no legal mandate requiring WAM members to report sources of power outside the U.K.”

“No. But if the Association has stated an objective, for an individual wizard to counter that objective
is
against the law.”

“Prior to attempting to create an overseas magical colony, the Association should have announced its intent to do so, and there should have been a vote by the general membership. If the original action was illegal, our efforts to circumvent that illegal act can’t be considered illegal. I cite Whalley, 1543.”

“You looked up your defense.”

“My caution is understandable, wouldn’t you say? Conclave activities in the U.S. have proven volatile,” Bryn said, echoing what the leader had said to us earlier.

Mr. Anderson studied Bryn for a moment in silence. Then he said, “Would you have interfered with a magical colonization of Duvall, Texas, if this young witch had not so strongly objected to the idea of her friends and neighbors being relocated?”

“The residents of Duvall have a long history in the town.”

“That was not the question,” Anderson said with a smile. He raised my left hand and looked at the ring that I’d mostly been trying to keep out of sight. The giant yellow diamond sparkled. “Are you now engaged to this man?” Anderson asked me.

My cheeks flushed, and I barely kept myself from looking apologetically at Zach. Not that I owed him an apology. Our marriage had been over a long time ago. And our romantic relationship was finished, too, though recently enough for things to be real awkward.

“Yes, I’m going to marry him.”

Anderson gave my hands a brief squeeze and returned them to me. “Your grandmother, Mrs. Josephine Hurley, has made a formal objection to the match.”

“No disrespect,” I said, giving my grandma a sharp look. “But she doesn’t even know me or Bryn. This is the first time we’ve met her. And actually, even if she’d raised me, that wouldn’t give her or anybody the right to interfere. Who Bryn and I decide to marry is our business and nobody else’s.”

“That’s not true,” Anderson said with an apologetic expression. He took a file from his desk and handed it to Bryn. “There is legal precedent. For magical lines that are ten generations or older, and in which mixing with a different magical line could damage the integrity of the power of future generations, family members may petition for dissolution of a match.”

My jaw dropped. “Um, we’re not breeding stock. We’re people.”

“Nevertheless, we have two very important magical legacies to consider. The Lyons magic is an excellent blend thus far. We want to cultivate that power in future generations. And you are sixteenth-generation McKenna with exceptional earth magic. You may not realize, but we’ve seen several lines of earth magic die out in the past sixty years. If you and Mr. Lyons marry and his magic were to force yours into recession, we could, in another fifty years, see earth magic become extinct. It’s been completely unexpected, as it used to be the most common. It’s the legacy not just of your family, but of the entire Association.”

Bryn tossed the folder on the desk. “Our magic is synergistic. There’s no reason to think our children would have dominant celestial magic. Earth magic would likely be strong in some of them,” Bryn said.

Some of them! Just how many was he thinking we’d have?

Not that it mattered yet what he had planned, since I wasn’t even sure I could have babies with anybody. After Zach and I had gotten married, we’d never used birth control. We’d made love a lot, and I’d never gotten pregnant. I’d slept with Bryn a few times without protection, too, and so far nothing. Maybe my lady parts were broken like my magic.

“But there is a risk that one magic or the other would be sacrificed. If you each married and had children with someone of similar or compatible magic, or married someone nonmagical, the integrity of each line would be assured,” Anderson said.

“No magic could be considered more compatible when we have synergy.”

“The synergy can be explored, and I would personally support that. I would be negligent in my duties as president, however, if I ignored a legitimate concern raised by a learned member of the Association about the fate of future generations of members.”

“But my magic is already—” I began.

“Spoken for,” Bryn interjected, giving me a pointed look. I’d been about to blurt that my magic was already mixed-race and messed-up. Which would’ve been disastrous! I had to keep that secret at all costs, and I’d almost let it slip out.