Reaper (44 page)

“Not at all. I didn’t even know I was a witch until last fall,” I reminded him. I sighed and leaned back, carefully extending my sore knee.

“Then do the spell,” he urged and held up the notebook.

“I don’t know if it will work. I combined a lost and found spell with a friendship spell. I don’t think it will work.”

“It’s worth a try, right?” he asked gently. He smiled broadly. “Do it!”

“Now?” I shook my head. “I’m tired.
Still
tired, I should say.” I grabbed a handful of popcorn. “Tomorrow,” I told him with my mouth full. I chewed and swallowed.

“Perhaps another spell?” he tried.

“Oh, remove the curse. Right. I’m not sure what exactly to do,” I confessed.

“Let’s work on it!” he gushed.

“Ok,” I agreed. “Would you mind getting my book? It hurts to go up the stairs,” I admitted shamefully.

“Of course my lady!” he agreed and sprung up. I feebly got up and hobbled to the kitchen. Hunter eyed me, conveying his slight annoyance to the shine Buffy had taken to him. Worn out from playing with Nik and exploring the house, Buffy decided snuggling as close to Hunter as possible was the best place to sleep. He inched away from her and she moved closer. I stifled a laugh; I had no idea Guardians were dog magnets.

“Before we get started,” I told Nik as he sat at the table across from me. “You need to answer some questions.”

“Ask away,” he said and handed me my BOS.

“Ok, faeries have magic. What can you do?”

“You’ve seen most of my magic,” he said. “I can bring plants to life, hide myself with a veil, and change sizes, which some consider to be shape-shifting.”

“And there are different kinds of faeries?”

“Right you are, my lady. Much like different races of humans; we are mostly the same but have a few differences.”

“Huh,” I mumbled. I looked at Nikolai and blinked. “Ok…the spell.” I flipped through my book. “Do you know what kind of curse she put on you?” He shook his head. “It was kind of like an anti-love spell, right?”

“I guess so. Maybe more of a stay-away spell.”

I flipped through the pages. “Oh!” I exclaimed. “She totally hexed your free will! This one,” I tapped the page, “might work.” I jotted ingredients on a piece of paper. I turned the page. “Do you have faery dust?” I asked suddenly.

“Yes,” he replied and rubbed his hands together. Iridescent, sparkly sand fell from his fingers. Almost apprehensively, I reached out and touched it. The substance was lightweight and gritty. I rubbed it between my fingers and held it up to the light.

“It feels…ancient,” I said slowly, searching for the words. “What does it do?”

“A temporary enchantment.”

“And you didn’t include that in your powers, because?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t seem powerful to me. It’s just part of who I am. You don’t consider your bewitching good looks a power, do you?”

“What?” I dumbly asked, wrinkling my nose in shock. “Bewitching good—” I shook my head. “Never mind. What does the enchantment do?”

“It makes people in a very good mood, almost like they are drunk; sometimes I can get someone to agree with me. But it wears off quickly. It’s our get out of jail free card. I can always get away if I sprinkle faery dust on someone.”

“I see.”
 
I wiped my hands on a placemat. “Will it work on me?”

“No,” he said with a shake of his head, sending his hair falling into his eyes. “I tried it when I first saw you,” he admitted shyly.

“Oh, that’s what it was,” I recalled.
 
“Interesting.” I spent twenty more minutes flipping through the BOS and cross referencing my notes with my magical herb guide. “Ok,” I said after the spell was written. “I need supplies. Can you go upstairs and grab stuff?”

“Of course, my lady,” he said. “What do you need?”

“Five white candles and—what’s your favorite color?”

“Green.”

“And one green candle. The candles are in a blue box on the top shelf of my book shelf.” Nik stood and hurried upstairs. I was expecting my knee to hurt when I stood, and was happily surprised by the minimal amount of pain. Nonetheless, I carefully made my way to the cabinet. I grabbed a jar of thistle, dumped a small amount into the mortar, and ground it into a powder.

“I got what you need!” Nik chimed, startling me a bit. He was awfully quiet.

“You can set them down for now,” I told him. I dumped a jar of salt into a bowl and added the thistle. I held my hands over the mixture to draw up the powers of the herb. “Sit,” I told Nik and poured the salt in a circle around him. I placed the candles on the circle to represent the five points of the star. Using a prong of a fork, I etched Nikolai’s name into the green candle and handed it to him. “You need to anoint the candle with an element of yourself.”

“Get me a knife, then.”

“A knife? Why?” I asked.

“An element of myself; blood.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Gross. No blood-letting here. A piece of hair or even some faery dust would work just fine,” I promised.

“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” he said with a smile and rubbed his hands together.

“Alright. I’m going to light the candles and be your source of power.”

“What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re saying the spell. I’m being your power source to lift it.”

He frowned dubiously. “Can’t you say it?”

“I wrote it in first person,” I pointed out. “You have to.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Stop arguing and find out!” I urged and laughed.

“Fine,” he pouted. I lit the candles, stepped inside the circle, and handed Nik the spell. He read over the paper three times before he set it in his lap and took my hand.

“Element of fire, to you I implore. Under her spell, I wish to be no more. Lift the curse that has been put on me; a slave to the sea, I will no longer be,” Nik whispered. His grip tightened on mine and the candles burned a little brighter.

“Well”?” I asked.

“I don’t feel any different,” he told me and let go of my hands.

“There’s only one way to find out.” I stepped out of the circle and turned on the sink. Nik apprehensively stood. He held his hand out, closed his eyes, and stuck it in the water.

“I didn’t change!” he exclaimed and jumped for joy. He wrapped his arms around me, squishing me in a very tight hug. “I didn’t change!” he repeated. “You did it! I knew you could. Well, actually I didn’t. I’m sorry I doubted you. It’s just, you’re new and all and—hey! I can take a shower! Not that I didn’t shower before, I did, just not in human size!” he gushed. He let me go and took my hands. “Thank you, Anora! Thank you so much!”

I shrugged, feeling a bit awkward at the attention. “You’re welcome.” I looked at the salt on the floor. “You’re cleaning this up,” I joked. Before I could help Nik sweep up the salt, my phone rang.

“Ethan?” I answered, my heart automatically racing at the unknown number.

“Hey, Annie,” he said.

“Are you ok?” I panicked.

“Yes, yes,” he assured me. “My doctor came in to take care of another patient and I convinced him to discharge me.”

“What?” I asked, my voice shrill. “Are you ok to come home?”

“I’m not dehydrated anymore and my fever’s down. I don’t feel one hundred percent normal, but if a demon is doing this, they’ve done all they can for me here.”

“But why now? Why not wait until morning?” I asked, not because I didn’t want Ethan home—I did—but because I was confused.

“If I stay past midnight, we’ll get charged for another day. The doctor was surprisingly accommodating.”

“Oh, well good. I miss you. And I’m on my way.”

“Thanks. I love you, Annie.”

“I love you too.” I hung up the phone and turned to Nik, quickly explaining the situation. “Don’t take offense, but let’s wait until morning to, uh, break the news to Ethan, ok?”

“What news?” he asked innocently.

“The news that I have a faery-house worker.”

“Of course, my lady. Go, get your lover. I will attend to the dog and clean up the house.”

“Thank you,” I said sincerely. “I don’t think I’ll be gone long. See ya later.”

“Goodbye,” he said with a wave. I mentally told Hunter that I was leaving and hurried out of the house.

~*~

“I have a surprise for you,” I told Ethan as I opened the kitchen door.

“Sexy nurse?” he tried, hopefully.

I shook my head. “No. Buffy!”

“The show?”

“No, the dog. I picked her up this morning.”

He smiled. “How is she doing?”

I don’t really know
, I thought guiltily. Nik and Hunter had taken care of her more than I had. “She’s obsessed with Hunter. She won’t leave him alone. So I’d say she’s doing well. Except she’s not housetrained,” I added quietly.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. It’s not her fault!”

Ethan took off his jacket and threw it on the table. “I know.” He laughed. “She’s the first real dog you’ve had.”

“I said the same thing to Ni—Laney,” I laughed and felt blood rush to my cheeks. I hated lying to Ethan. But it was better to not tell him, right? Hunter ran to greet us…and to tell me that Buffy had peed on the carpet by the front door. I cleaned it up while Ethan showered.

Nik was nowhere to be found. For a split second I thought he used me to break the curse and left. Hunter told me to look upstairs in his room. I hobbled up the stairs and detoured into the spare room. Hallway light spilled in, illuminating a doll house sized castle set on the dresser. I remembered seeing it up in the attic last year. Though I hadn’t had a chance to fully inspect it, I was impressed with the detail put into the toy.

I tiptoed into the room and peered inside the castle. Nik was fast asleep in a mini four-post bed he had moved to the highest tower. I smiled and silently slipped out of the room. I attempted to crate Buffy for the night. She whined nonstop for ten minutes. Feeling bad, I let her out.

“She’s never gonna learn if you do that every time she cries,” Ethan told me. His voice was scratchy and he had circles under his eyes. He dropped the towel on the floor, put on a pair of boxers, and climbed into bed.

“I know,” I sighed. Buffy nudged me, trying to lick my face. She pushed me backwards onto my butt, her stumpy tail wagging. “I’ll work on it tomorrow. I don’t want her to keep you up; it’s already late.”

Too tired to argue, Ethan nodded and layed down. To be safe, I took Buffy outside one more time. I stood on the back deck and watched her sniff around the fenced in section of the yard. I was beginning to feel uber sore. Yawning, I turned to call her in.

Something flashed in the reflection of the glass in the sliding door. My heart skipped a beat and my brain flashed to scrappers. I curled my fists into balls and was prepared to telekinetically smash them into the ground until their heads cracked open.

“Buffy!” I called before realizing the dog didn’t know her name. “Come here, girl,” I urged. When she didn’t respond, I pulled my socks off and hopped down into the cold, dewy grass. Buffy looked up at me hopefully. “It’s bedtime. We can play tomorrow.” I slipped my hands under her collar and took her inside.

Ethan was already sleeping by the time I wiped off Buffy’s wet paws and went upstairs. She weaseled her way onto the bed in the spare room next to Hunter. He let out a deep breath and rolled over to make room for her.

“Love you,” I whispered to Hunter and hurried to get my own butt into bed. I pulled the blankets up to my chin. The last time I saw something in the mirror, it was Clarice’s doing. And she was dead. She couldn’t mess with me anymore. She couldn’t haunt me; her spirit had moved on.

I saw only two explanations for this: I was overly stressed and tired and my eyes were playing trick on me or—and more realistically—Melcovel had found another puppet.

Chapter 17 - Nobody’s Fool

“What do you know about faeries?” I asked Ethan.

He frowned at his toast. “They don’t exist,” he said. “You don’t think a little jelly would hurt, do you?”

I shook my head. “It’s up to you. Your stomach isn’t used to solid food. Take it easy and stick with bland food today.” I sat at the table next to him, cutting into my waffles. “Why do you think they don’t exist?”

“Because they don’t. Faeries, unicorns, elves, mermaids…none of that is real.”

“So you don’t believe in them at all?”

“Of course not, Annie.”

“But you believe in demons,” I said. “And up until last fall, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure magic was real.”

Ethan shrugged. “If I see a faery, I’ll take it back. Until then, they’re not real.”

I set my fork down. “What if I told you I met a faery?” I asked shyly.

“I’d say I was worried that Clare’s hold is still over you.”

“And what if Hunter met a faery too?” I pushed.

“Annie, what are you getting at?” he asked while peeling the crust off of his toast.