The Accidental Witch (8 page)

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Wicks and Things is one of those little hole-in-the-wall stores that most people completely ignore. It is tucked away in some terrible strip mall beside an out of business movie store and a Christian bookstore called Jesus and Me. Wicks and Things was also the only store in all of Dismal that sold more than five colors of candles. It was filled with cute gnomes and doll-eyed statues of too-cute children that always made me feel a little afraid, but despite my fear of doll-eyed children, I went to Wicks and Things right after work and bought out almost every candle they had. I also bought several cloth dolls, some tumbled gemstones, some lovely colored glass bottles and some tea.

I drove straight home after that and waved to Lawson and his crew as I sprinted out towards my altar. I was giddy with the feeling of power that washed over me. I had spent my entire life feeling powerless. The magic changed all that.

I went into my cabin and began building another candle garden. I lit candles for Stephen, Harry, and Elisa again just to be sure, but the main candles were for George, Candy, and Ellie.

I lit a candle for George. I said, “May George know only peace. May his fear be washed away like mud in rain.”

I lit the candle for Ellie and I said, “May Ellie find happiness. May her sorrow leave her and may she find joy in all the little things in life.”

I lit the candle for Candy and I said, “May Candy find a place that will embrace her for who she is. May she find safety and love and happiness.”

I raised my hands when I was done and said, “The magic is spent and sent.”

Again, the candles sparked and the flames leapt. They danced and rose larger than they should have. The wax around the candles caught on fire and the sparks flew up into the air and drifted out the window. There was a sudden silence. The birds stopped singing and the wind stopped blowing. It became chilly. The light of the candles grew until it was overwhelming. I sheltered my eyes, the light was so bright. Eventually, the light began to fade and the candles were almost spent. I sat in silence and watched the candles burn. When the last candle had flickered out, the birds began to sing again and the wind whispered through the trees. The air became hot and humid again.

I stood up and cleared the altar. As I wiped the old wax away, my phone rang. I jumped. I had been in such a trance, I had forgotten about the real world. I shook myself out of my stupor and answered the phone.

“Hey,” a voice said.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Do you want to get dinner?” It was Aaron.

“Sure,” I said.

“I’ll be there in an hour,” he said.

I didn’t have time to tell him to wait. He’d already hung up. I began to wonder if the love spell had been a mistake. Perhaps it had been too strong. I looked at my phone for a minute and then I shoved it in my pocket and ran home to get cleaned up for dinner. I tried to dodge the workers as much as possible as I got ready, but it is hard to dodge people that are laying down hardwood floor in the hall in front of your bedroom. I stepped over them politely and smiled, but they seemed irked by my presence.

One of the men laying the flooring down called out to me as I stepped into my room.

“Hey, lady,” he said in a Mexican accent. “What did you do to scare the ghosts away?”

“What?” I said.

“My wife was here. She’s psychic. She says this place used to be the most haunted place around, but now there is nothing here. She wants to know what you did.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Don’t you have work to do?” I asked.

I slammed the door before he had time to respond. At least my room was my own. I turned on the television and the shower. I undressed slowly as I watched the news. I don’t know why I watched the news. It never helped my disposition. It always made me cranky and mad and hopeless. I stepped in the shower and let the hot water wash over me. I felt better already. All the tension and irritability melted away. I stood there for a minute and then I leapt back out of the shower and began to get ready. I had gotten used to being on my own and this dating thing was stressing me out. I liked Aaron and he seemed like a nice man, but every day? Really? Did grown people want to see each other every day if they weren’t married? Of course, I had no idea what the answer to this question was. The last time I’d been on a date, dinosaurs had roamed the Earth.

I slipped into an old dress I used to wear in the summer when I had been thinner. It didn’t look that bad, but it reminded me that I desperately needed to go shopping. I had really stopped caring about my appearance over the last year. I dug around in an unpacked box and found a necklace and some earrings that matched it.

I stood back and looked in the mirror. I’d seen worse. The doorbell rang just as I slipped on my shoes. I skipped over the workmen and down the stairs to meet Aaron at the door. He smiled at me and whisked me away into the night.

That night he took me to a little café off the highway. It wasn’t much, just a greasy spoon, but as far as I could tell, they had the best barbeque in the country. Aaron reached over and grabbed my hand while we waited. I really didn’t know what to do. John had hated public displays of affection and Blake and I had always had to be very secretive due to the cheating and sleeping with your client aspects of our relationship. I looked at my hand in Aaron’s on the table and then at Aaron’s bright, smiling face. I wasn’t sure what to do at all.

“Do you go to church?” he asked.

“Not if I can help it,” I answered honestly.

“Would you like to go with me this Sunday?” he asked.

“Why?” I asked.

“I’m gonna be honest here,” he said. “I really like you. I like you more than any woman I’ve been with in a very long time and I think we could make something of this. I think we could be together, you and I. I’m not big on commitment, so I can’t really even believe I’m saying this, but if we are going to be together, I think we should share our faith and our life.”

“Okay,” I said. This was moving way too fast. I wondered if I could change the dose of a love spell. I had no idea what to do with a man asking me to go to church. John had been an atheist. I had always hated organized religion, not so much because I didn’t believe in God, but because my father and step-mother’s faith had become a form of torture in my childhood. Religion aside, this was our second date. On the other hand, Aaron was hot and probably the best thing that had happened to me in the last … my entire life. My track record with men had been terrible and Aaron seemed sane and normal, and church-going behaviors were usually a sign of some degree of mental stability.

“Why not?” I said.

“Really?” he asked.

“Really,” I said. Our food arrived and he smiled at me. He was absolutely beautiful. It was possible that I would say yes to anything this beautiful man asked me. Would you like to join the Hari Krishnas with me? Sure. Would you like to join a Mormon polygamist cult? Of course.

“I was afraid you would say no,” he said as he ate. “You have a bit of a reputation, you know.”

Small towns. Everyone has a reputation in a small town. “What kind of reputation do I have?” I asked.

“You know, everyone says you were better off in Chicago. They say you’re one of those big city folks that doesn’t believe in God.”

“I believe in God. You’re not from here,” I said. “Aren’t you big city folk?”

“My mother is from Wales. Wales is not London and I grew up here and my mom married an Alabama man and we still go to his church. My entire family does.”

“Ohh,” I said. “So you’re an Alabama boy after all.”

“Yep,” he said.

“So, how’d I miss you in high school, then?” I asked.

“My family lives in Haysville,” he said.

“Oh,” I said, “so we are going to church in Haysville on Sunday?”

“Yes,” he said. “And I would like you to meet my family.”

Oh, crap. Crappity-crap-crap. This was way too fast. There was no part of me that wanted to meet his family, but then he looked at me with his blue eyes.

“Okay,” I said.

“I’m so glad you said yes,” he said and he actually stopped eating to kiss my hand. His eyes were filled with something that terrified me.

I smiled and ate. Crap. I wondered if there was a diagnosis for me. We went home and he did things to me that would have made angels weep. It was hard for me to believe he was a good Christian boy. He fell asleep next to me in the bed and for some reason, I didn’t ask him to leave. I sat up wrapped in the sheets on my bed watching him. I touched his chest, his arms. I had always loved beautiful things. Finally, I put my head on his shoulder and fell asleep next to him.

I didn’t sleep long. It was about two when I was awakened by an enormous crash downstairs. Aaron didn’t seem to notice the noise. He slept peacefully. I got up and looked out into the hall. Everything seemed quiet. I walked down the stairs and into the front parlor. A bookshelf had fallen over and all the books had spread out across the floor. The spell book was on top of the pile and it was open. I glanced at the spell on the open page and shivered. It was an awakening spell. It was a spell to awaken a witch to the spirit world around her. I closed the book and pushed the bookshelf back up against the wall. It would take too long to put the books away, so I left them and went back to bed.

C
HAPTER
3

O
PEN
S
ESAME

The next day, I expected everything to be better. I expected things to work as easily as they had worked the first time I had built a candle garden, but as soon as I saw Candy screaming at the nurses, I could tell something had gone wrong. The nurses that day were Emma and Sandra and they were two of our better nurses. They worked hard and got the job done. The only bad thing that could be said about them was that they liked to gossip. When things were quiet on the floor, they would talk so loud, you could hear the director’s secrets all the way at the ER. I pretended to be above this, but secretly, I loved it.

Apparently, Candy didn’t love the gossip. She was yelling as loud as she could and her face was red with the effort that came with her screaming. In fact, she looked so red and breathless, I half expected her to explode.

“What’s going on, Candy?” I asked in my therapist calming voice.

“This bitch won’t give me my oxycodone. I’m in pain!” Candy shrieked.

“Calm down for a minute,” I said softly. “You’re going to pass out. Just take three deep breaths.” Candy shook her head and opened her mouth to fight, but I cut her off. “No one is going to help you until you calm down.”

Candy took her deep breaths and her face turned from alizarin crimson to a soft pink. Tears of frustration formed in her eyes.

“Now listen,” I said softly. “You can leave if you want narcotics, but we won’t give them to you. You didn’t have them when you came in and there is no reason for you to have them now, and cursing at Sandy isn’t going to change that. Do you want my help finding a place to go? Do you want the doctor to get you stabilized on your medication so your moods are under control? Or do you want us to discharge you to the streets and see how things work for you there?”

Candy took two deep breaths. “I want help,” she whispered.

“Then take the meds you’ve been given and go eat your breakfast,” I said.

Candy nodded and reached up to the counter to take her medication. She swallowed her pills and wheeled away.

“Thanks for that,” Emma said. “I was just about to kill her.”

“I can see why,” I said.

“How are you doing?” Sandy asked. “I heard a rumor, but I know it can’t be true.”

“What rumor is that?” I asked.

“I heard that you and Dr. Becket are a thing,” she said with the devilish smile she got when she’d found a particularly delicious piece of gossip.

I smiled and shrugged.

“Nooo,” Sandy said in a southern accent that wrapped around the word like icing.

“Yes,” I said.

“Well, someone’s been busy,” Sandy said.

“Shame on you,” Emma said with a delighted tone. “And you didn’t even tell us. That ain’t very nice, you know. How long ya’ll been going out?”

“Less than a week,” I said.

“That is one fine lookin’ man,” Emma said. “Does he look as good with his shirt off as he does with it on?”

“Shame on you,” Sandy said, but you could tell she wanted me to answer.

I leaned over. “He looks even better,” I said.

“Damn,” Emma said. “If I weren’t a married woman, I would give you a run for your money, you know?” Emma was well over fifty and had grown children that were older than Dr. Becket, but that didn’t stop her from looking. She kept herself up pretty well. Her platinum blonde hair was always pretty and she had long fake nails with little hearts on them. She was always the first to comment on what a waste it was if a good looking man wandered onto our floor. I couldn’t help but like Emma.

“I’m glad you’re not single,” I said. “I don’t think I would survive the competition.”

“Oh, honey,” Sandy said. “You do just fine with competition and you know it. It’s about time you got over that man up in Chicago. All of us were tired of seeing you drag around here like there was nothing more to life than saving these people.”

“You can’t save ’em all, you know that, don’t you?” Emma added. “You go crazy trying.”

I smiled broadly. “I’m on a bit of a roll these days. I’m gonna save everyone,” I said as I walked toward Ellie’s room.

That day was a disappointment all around. It wasn’t that anyone was doing worse, but they weren’t doing any better. Ellie, George, and Candy were disappointingly spinning in the same circles. Candy was belligerent, Ellie was weepy, and George was George. I had been expecting a repeat of the first spell, but there didn’t seem to be any magic that day. I must have done something wrong.

When I left work, I went straight home and picked up the book. It was a long day and I got home late. The workers had all left and the house was quiet. Aaron had already stopped by and left flowers on the front porch. I took them inside and put them in water. I found the book and sat down with a beer and opened it. There was an introduction. Shit. It was really long and it was badly written. Since I left graduate school, I had made a specific point of avoiding any book that was educational. I had caught up on my novel reading because I had spent the better part of my life buried in books I really didn’t enjoy reading. I had promised myself that I would enjoy reading again and I had, until I started on the introduction of that spell book. It was worse than graduate school.