Spellbound (11 page)

“
S
orry about your tomatoes
,” Jane read the sticky note that had been stuck to her forehead when she unthawed from the petrifying spell. “Call if you need assistance.”

Jane looked up from the note to her dead tomato plants. When the MacGregors had cast the petrifying spell, they’d killed off seventy percent of her tomatoes. The loss was heartbreaking, but she could hardly fault them for trying to help Iain. Still, what was she going to do now? Tomatoes were her best sellers. She couldn’t grow new ones overnight. Or could she? Looking at her hands, she thought about weeding the MacGregor garden and how the men had reacted to the plant’s rejuvenation.

“Why are you avoiding me?”

Jane jerked in surprise. It took her a moment to process who’d spoken. Sean stood several yards away with his arms crossed over his chest. Guilt instantly assaulted her as she looked at his face. She’d forgotten all about him. “Oh, no, dinner. I’m sorry. Something important came up.” She gestured at her garden. “I—”

“I can take a hint, Jane. I know you’re not happy to see me. I don’t know what I did, what we did.” Sean gave a dramatic pause and looked toward the sky. “Mother was inconsolable when you didn’t come back to see her.”

“I’m sorry about Dana. I know it isn’t easy—”

“I promised her I would find you and try to…” He shook his head and then looked toward the ground. “But you won’t even have dinner with me. You won’t spend any time with me. All I want to do is honor our mother’s memory, and you won’t let me. Tell me what I need to do.”

“Sean, please.” Jane took a deep breath. There was something about his expression, a sadness and desperation, that made her feel sorry for him. She couldn’t do anything about her dead garden, and if she stayed where she was staring at it, then she’d only stress herself out, so she said, “Let me change my clothes. We’ll go right now. Lunch. We’ll talk about whatever you want.”

Sean nodded and quickly smiled. “Splendid, Jane. I’ll wait for you.”

But he didn’t wait, not really. He followed her into her building and up to her apartment as if he expected her to try to escape out a window. Jane changed her clothes with an eye on her bedroom doorknob to make sure he didn’t open it. He was waiting for her in the hall when she finished.

“Ready?” he asked, lifting his hand to indicate she should move past him and lead the way.

Jane did her best to smile. What was one dinner? There was no reason to put it off any longer if that meant Sean would finally be on his way and leave her town once and for all.

“
Y
a should have brought
her here,” Iain said, pulling on a clean shirt. “Ya should not have left her frozen and alone.”

“It was hard enough carting one of ya to the mansion,” Euann defended. He lounged on Iain’s bed, absently gesturing his fingers, so tiny dots of magick sprinkled over his face. “We put her in her home and I left her a note. Ya worry too much.”

“Ya should not have frozen her,” Iain continued.

“We were aiming for our birdbrain brother,” Euann defended, his voice contradicting the easy nature of his position on the bed. “Her arm was in the way. It was easier to freeze the rest of her than to make her suffer. Besides, how were we to know she could talk ya into changing back?”

“Lydia did it for Erik,” Iain said.

“Are ya saying Jane is your
fíorghrá
?” Euann sat up on the bed. “Have ya told Ma? After what we hear Jane did for ya, I’m sure she’ll want to plan another wedding. Ma told us how she saved ya with her garden magick. Only, there is one thing we’re still not clear on. What is Jane? She can’t just be human.”

“She said her birth mother took off when she was very young. Her mother’s heritage is unknown.”

Euann chuckled. “What if she really is half
shellycoat
? I’ve seen pictures of them. She might not age too well.”

“I’m going to see Jane,” Iain said by way of an answer. “Do not follow me.”

“
Y
ou work too much
. You need help.” Sean lifted his fork and took a tiny bite of chicken fried rice like the Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet was the same as snooty five-star cuisine. Jane bit into an egg roll to keep from having to answer. “Someone with business sense. I’d be willing to take over for you and help take your business to the next level.”

Jane choked and began to cough. She reached for her water glass.

He handed her a paper napkin and kept talking. “I think we’d make great partners. You do the manual labor. I can make sure the store is stocked of supplies. You have an entire storefront you are not utilizing properly.”

“You…” She took a drink of water. “You want to be a landscaper?”

“Business is business,” he said. “You said yourself that your mother is out of the picture. So your only relative, I’m already legally able to inherit it from you. Being partners will make that easier. Not to be insensitive, but you’ve been sick for a long time. Wouldn’t you like to know your business is in good hands? My hands? I can have my lawyer draw up partnership paperwork if you like?”

“I’m not looking for a partner.” Jane envisioned him giving all her vegetables to Mrs. Callister free of charge. She needed to change the subject quickly. “Um, you said you wanted to talk about your mother?”

“Oh, ah, yes.” He nodded and set down his fork. “You know, Mother loved you.”

Jane didn’t know that, but she didn’t see a reason to point it out.

“She took you in as if you were her own after your mother abandoned you. Not many women would be as selfless as my mother was. And I never threw a fit about how she treated you. I accepted you as my sister.” There was a slight accusation to his tone.

Jane took another big bite and told herself to keep chewing so she wouldn’t be tempted to answer him. That’s not exactly how she recalled their childhood, but whatever. Arguing the finer points of blended families was not how she wanted to spend her day. If she stayed quiet, maybe he’d get to a point. Probably not.

“She deserved better than to die the way she did because of…” Sean waved his hand and refused to finish.

Jane forced herself to swallow the giant mouthful and gave a small cough. “Because of?”

Sean’s brow furrowed, and Jane could envision the cogs in his brain working. “I don’t remember what I was going to say.”

She didn’t believe him.

“You might not have realized it, but Mother wasn’t perfect. She wasn’t all that good with finances. The reason I wanted to speak to you is I found some money I think you should have. It was in an account in your father’s name. It was left to my mother, but I think she’d want you to have it.”

“I thought all that money was gone,” Jane said.

“She wasn’t hiding it on purpose,” Sean defended.

“I didn’t mean to imply—”

“It’s not like you always make the best decisions,” Sean said. “Take that man you’re seeing. What’s his name? Igor?”

“Iain,” Jane corrected in irritation.

“You can do much better. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy, but Iain? Jane, really.” Sean waved his fork in dismissal. “Mother would have wanted you to have the money. I have the paperwork in my hotel room. You’ll come with me after and—”

“Sean, stop.” Jane put down her fork and slid her plate to the side. “What is this? You want to see me because I’m family? Then you want to run my business and my love life? Now you suddenly have money from my father? Why do I have the feeling you’re not telling me something important?”

“I’m not hiding anything.” He refused to look her in the eye.

“I didn’t say you were hiding something,” Jane clarified. Though, now that he mentioned it…

“So you really don’t know anything about your birth mother?”

“Why do you keep asking about her?” Jane didn’t want to talk about her birth mother. She barely even thought about the woman anymore…well, not until recently when Sean kept bringing the subject of mothers up.

“Just making conversation.”

“Make a different conversation,” Jane quipped. She felt herself losing her temper and took a deep breath.

“You’re overwhelmed,” he stated. “I understand. It’s not easy for you being all alone.” Sean reached forward and grabbed her hand. “It’s all right. I’m here now. You don’t have to act so tough.”

“You’ve already talked to a lawyer about the partnership, haven’t you?” Jane wondered if Sean ever really heard her when she spoke. “The papers are in your hotel room, aren’t they? That’s why you really want me to go.”

“I knew you’d see reason,” he answered with a smile. “You’ll feel better once you sign them and take some of the burden off your shoulders.”

Realizing it was pointless to argue with him, she pulled the plate back in front of her if only to block his attempts at handholding and tried to finish her meal. He spoke. She nodded. He talked some more. She nodded some more and pretended to listen.

When the waitress arrived with the check, Sean stood. “You’ll want to come with me back to the hotel for those papers. I’ll get the car.”

He left without offering to help pay for the check. Jane sighed and grabbed her purse. It’s not like the car was valet parked. It was two stalls from the front door.

Jane had no intention of going to Sean’s hotel room. He’d probably find a way to stick her with the bill for his stay. She wasn’t sure what her stepbrother expected to gain from this family outing besides a way to muscle his way into her business. If she signed him on as a partner, he’d probably drain her bank account and sell off everything the second she turned her back on him.

The MacGregors might have their issues, but they were what a family should be. She’d tried with Sean. It was all she could do. They’d had their dinner and now that it was over, she could go to the MacGregor estate and check on Iain, and Sean could get in his shiny car and drive away into the sunset where she would never see him again.

T
hump
.

Thump.

Thump.

Jane moaned, as her head bounced against the ground.

Thump.

Thump.

At first, it was only the sensation of movement. Then the pain set in. Her arms dragged over her head as she was pulled by her feet. Her head bumped against the uneven forest path.

“Ow.” Jane tried to stop moving. Her fists clenched and unclenched as she attempted to grab on to passing nature. She weakly lifted her head. Sean had her by her ankles. The last thing she remembered was telling him she wasn’t getting into his car and then starting the walk back home. “Sean? What are you doing?”

“Here she is!” Sean called up into the trees. He dropped her legs. “I brought her just like you wanted.”

Jane dug her heels into the ground and pushed back to get away from him. When she tried to stand, she swayed and fell on her side. Sean had drugged her. Her neck ached. Her back burned as if scraped raw. She wobbled as she tried to get on her hands and knees.

“I promised I’d bring her to you,” Sean yelled. He grabbed her foot and jerked her toward him when she tried to crawl away. “Where are you?”

Jane kicked, but the gesture lacked force. “Let me go.”

“Here she is, as promised. Come feed!” Sean searched the tops of the trees before going to peer into the dark forest. “Mother? Mother, can you hear me?”

“Mother?” Jane pushed to her feet. Why was Sean calling for his dead mother? “Sean, what are you doing? Dana is dead. You told me so yourself.”

“Shut up!” He slashed his hand toward Jane. “This is your fault. You left me no choice. You ran away, and it couldn’t find you.”

“It?” Jane held the back of her aching head.

A frightening cackle echoed down from the trees. Jane searched the limbs, finding a white blur of movement jumping from branch to branch. The figure stopped out of reach, and the throat-popping noise grew louder from that direction. The being jumped again, pausing long enough for Jane to make out wrinkled skin and thin arms.

The blur shot forward to stand a few feet away from her. Jane gave a short scream of surprise to see the old woman. Her heart pounded, and she felt her throat tightening. Milky brown eyes were tinged with red. Long white hair flowed around her bony face. The tattered, dirt-stained white robe had seen better days. Long nails curved almost like claws as the creature reached toward Jane. There was something very familiar about the woman-creature.

“Dana? Is that you?” Jane whispered, unable to look away. “What is she? What happened to her?”

“That hideous thing is not
my
mother. It killed my mother because you ran. It couldn’t find you, so it came after us.” Sean gripped Jane’s arm and tried to force her toward the tree creature. “Here she is, banshee. I kept my promise. Where is my mother? You promised if I found Jane for you, you’d give my mother back to me.”

“Washerwoman,” Jane said, realizing where she’d seen the woman. “By the water. You’re a banshee, a
bean nighe.
You’re why the MacGregors have been sensing death around me. You’re a death omen.”

“Little Jane,” the
bean nighe
said, her words much clearer than would be expected from such a physical presence.

“My mother,” Sean demanded. “A deal is a deal. I poured that liquid on Jane and brought her to you just like you told me to.”

“Little Jane, so long.” The
bean nighe
ignored Sean.

“I saw you by the water not that long ago,” Jane answered.

“I do not see when I work, only the clothes that must be cleaned.” The
bean nighe
stared, appearing enamored with Jane’s face. She moved closer, completely docile as if she wished to calm a flighty creature—and Jane was the creature.

“Banshee, your promise. My mother!” Sean yelled for attention.

The docile
bean nighe
instantly changed, opening her mouth to screech in anger toward Sean. The wind around her stirred, blowing leaves from the forest floor straight into the air. When the creature stopped, the leaves fluttered all around them and a worn burlap sack lay at Sean’s feet.

“What’s this? We had a deal.” Sean leaned down and untied the old string around the top of the bag. He pinched the bottom corners and turned the sack over to empty the contents. A pile of human bones fell at his feet. He inhaled sharply and threw the sack aside as he jumped back.

“Our deal is met,” the
bean nighe
stated. “Be gone.”

“What?” Sean made a growling noise of frustration. “You promised to return my mother to me. I saw you take her soul. Give it back. You said you’d…” As if the gruesome realization dawned on him, he looked at the bones. “No. No, you said…you promised. Bring her back. You said you’d give her to me. You said if I found Jane, you’d give my mother back to me. You said. You said. You…” Sean gathered up the bones that had scared him moments before. He hugged them to his chest as he began to cry. “Mother?”

“What do you want from me?” Jane asked. She couldn’t deal with Sean’s crazy right now.

“Don’t you remember me, little Jane?” the
bean nighe
asked.

Jane shook her head in denial. The creature walked with labored steps, as if traveling by ground was much more difficult than flying through trees. Jane worked her feet against the forest floor to keep distance between them. Her body ached with each movement as she scurried back.

“I’m so tired, little Jane,” the
bean nighe
said. The red in her eyes became more pronounced.

“Mother,” Sean cried. “No. No…”

“Sean,” Jane tried to sound stern to get his attention. “We have to go now.”

“You still reek of warlock,” the
bean nighe
continued. “But their magick is not as strong on you.”

“Sean, move,” Jane ordered.

“I looked for so long,” the banshee said. “I can wait no longer.”

“It’s my time, isn’t it?” Jane whispered. “I’m dying. That’s why you’re here.”

“I can already feel the ghosts calling to me. I can’t go back, Jane.” The
bean nighe
lifted both hands as if she expected Jane to come to her.

Though every part of her wanted to live, Jane found herself standing and moving toward the creature. Her body reacted as if the muscle memories embedded in her limbs remembered what to do. The smell of musty death emitted from the
bean nighe
, the perfume of grave dust and moldy clothes. Bony hands reached for Jane’s face.

“Do you remember me now?” The
bean nighe
touched Jane’s cheeks.

Jane gasped at the contact. Sorrow filled her, pouring out of her heart to cause her entire body to ache physically. She did remember this. The story of her childhood was in those red-brimmed eyes and chapped mouth. Part of her soul stirred within the milky gaze peering back into her. The
bean nighe’s
lips parted, revealing the rotted fangs of her teeth. Even as she knew what was to come, Jane couldn’t resist it. This was her fate. She’d known it as a little girl staring into the abyss, as a teenager weakened and resigned and tired of hospitals, and now as a woman who had everything to live for but understood that willpower alone could not create life in death. A small smile formed on the
bean nighe’s
mouth the second realization dawned on Jane’s face. “Hello, my little Jane.”

“Hello, Mom,” Jane answered. With her birth mother’s touch came clarity. Her mom hadn’t left her. Her mom was a
bean nighe.
The sorrow grew, becoming the unbearable depression that haunted her in the darkest of moments. Jane suddenly remembered why she was dying.

“It’s time you take my place so that I can finally rest.” The creature’s expression softened, but Jane did not mistake tenderness for a mother’s love. “You were not supposed to live very long in this human form.”

Jane didn’t need to ask if it would hurt. She knew her answer. The agonizing pull of life leaving her body would burn like the pits of hell were exploding inside her. Forgetfulness was the only real gift her mother had given her, the blank slate that took these horrific moments from her until the next touch, the next feeding. A mother’s touch was supposed to bring comfort. Her mother only brought sickness.

The
bean nighe’s
mouth opened wide. Jane braced herself for what was to come. The tingling started in her toes and fingers, pulling up through her limbs, burning as the blood stopped flowing in her veins. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She’d been prepared for death, living on the hope of an afterlife haunting the forest and greenhouse she’d come to love. But her fate was much worse. She was to become the thing that killed her. She was to take her mom’s place as a
bean nighe
.

The loud squawk of a bird shook Jane from her trance.
Iain.

The
bean nighe’s
body jerked forward without warning. Her grip slipped and she released Jane. The memories of Jane’s past slipped and began to fade.

Sean swung a stick at the creature’s back. “I want what you promised!”

The
bean nighe
screeched and turned her attention to the attacker. She flew forward, blurring toward the man only to reappear in front of him. She pulled his life force from him with a harsh inhale. Severe age marred Sean’s handsome face.

“No, leave him!” Jane yelled. She surged forward. She grabbed the creature’s shoulders from behind. The rush of memory filled her once more at the contact. “Mom, let him go. You can’t feed on living humans. Let him go.”

Iain swooped in from the trees, talons drawn to slice the creature’s arms. The
bean nighe
dropped Sean and turned her attention toward Iain.

“No!” Jane screamed as her mother tried to blur off into the trees. She held on tightly, flying with her. Jane lifted off the ground before their combined weight pulled the
bean nighe
back down. She reached for a sucker tree and grabbed hold with one hand while gripping the
bean nighe
with the other. In her desperation to stop the attack, she felt herself transferring life from the
bean nighe
to the sucker. Despite what she was, the
bean nighe
was still her mother, and that genetic connection fueled her sorrow.
“Mom, I’m sorry, but you have to stop.”

The creature screeched. Even as she did it, regret filled Jane. She felt the hollowness of souls passing through her. The tree truck thickened and outgrew her fisted hold.

This is what the
bean nighe
wanted—her own death. She wanted Jane to replace her, to end her suffering. The screeching stopped. Milky eyes stared at her. Her mom
smiled. There was relief in the expression, a peace that had never been there.

“Thank you.” Her mom’s words whispered through Jane’s mind. Then the creature let go, blowing through Jane, filling her with the pain of death before transferring life into the tree.

All around Jane, the forest bloomed. Plants covered the forest floor in vibrant greens and whites, reaching into the shadowed corners. The sucker tree had become a forest giant with long sweeping branches that reached over her head.

Iain landed on the ground before her. His feet touched the new undergrowth and it triggered a transformation back into his human form. He kneeled before her naked. Blood marred his fingertips where he’d scratched the
bean nighe.

“Jane?” he whispered. “What happened?”

“She’s gone.” Jane shook her head in an effort to clear it.

“Ya called her your ma.”

“She’s my birth mother. She came to me when I was younger. She’s the reason I’ve been so ill. I remembered everything when she touched me. This is what she wanted. Well, not exactly this. She wanted me to take her place so that she could be free of her curse. I don’t think this is exactly how she foresaw that happening.” Jane looked up the giant tree. She felt her mom’s energy flowing inside the bark underneath her hand.

Jane pulled her hand from the tree she’d grown. She frowned, feeling as if her memory was slipping into her subconscious as she stopped touching the back. “She went through me. She gave me…something.” She touched the tree again, and her memories cleared once more. “She wanted me to take her place, but I didn’t. Something else happened. I’m her daughter, so she could feed off me, but she was not supposed to feed off humans. So, when she fed off Sean, something weakened inside of her, and I was able to absorb her and put her into this tree instead of taking her curse into my body.”

“Ya are half
bean nighe
. That has to explain your ability to transfer energy. Legend has it that a
bean nighe
absorbs the energy of the dead in order to live and then transfer the leftovers back into the earth by the act of washing burial clothes in the stream.”

“Don’t let me forget where she is.” Jane patted the bark. She knew when she stopped touching the tree her memory of her mother would fade. Such was part of the
bean nighe’s
nature, a natural defense against discovery. It was why they were only known as myths. She turned to Iain. “How did you find me?”

“I knew ya needed me and I had to find ya. I heard your heart’s call and took flight.”

“And you transformed back. Twice. Your family made it sound as if that wasn’t very likely to happen.” She didn’t even pretend to avert her eyes from the fact he was naked. “I like this look better than feathers.” Jane crawled toward him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, knowing she didn’t want to be anywhere else. Iain held her gently. “I’m glad you changed back. Earlier, I was close to locking you in a birdcage.”

Iain gave a small laugh. “Ya just fought a
bean nighe
and ya want to discuss my shifting?”

“Iain,” she whispered.

“What, love?” He stroked her cheek. As the
bean nighe
blood on his fingers touched her skin, the clarity came back.

“I just killed my mom.” Power surged inside her, exhilarating and painful at the same time. “I did. I killed my
bean nighe
mom. She wanted me to take her place, which gives whole new meaning to joining the family business, but instead I transferred her into a tree.” Jane gave a small, humorless laugh.