Fatal Charm (18 page)

“What about Jacques?”

“Jacque’s cool.” She waved her hand, dodging out of the way of a mother pushing a baby stroller. “I get really turned on when he talks about art and shows me his paintings. But a girl can have some dessert with the main dish, you know. So dish, Sabine—what really happened last night?”

I cheated on my boyfriend. I committed a crime. And I witnessed a murder—that turned out not to be a real murder, just a realistic dream, so now my dad hates me.

“Nothing,” I told her.

“You are so pathetic,” she said with a playful tug on my long hair. “But I kind of respect it. I mean, you’re like the most honorable person I know … well, except for Josh. You two really are the perfect couple.”

“No one’s perfect,” I said with a sad smile.

I didn’t say much else, listening and letting her talk until we reached Nona’s house.

The ranch house was strangely silent. I could sense this as I approached. Lilybelle wasn’t in her usual perch on the porch rail, and even the penned farm animals made no sounds. No music or scent of herbal tea drifting from within the house. With curtains drawn and windows closed, the house seemed like a tomb.

“No one’s inside,” I said knowing this for a certainty.

“How can you tell?” Penny-Love asked as she opened the door and peeked inside the dimly lit living room.

“It’s too quiet.”

“You’re right—her office door is open but she’s not there. The kitchen is all dark, too. So where is Nona?”

I looked around, noticing for the first time a car parked beside Nona’s car. “Velvet’s car,” I murmured. With a look over to the barn I saw that Dominic’s truck was here also. There were lights on upstairs in the barn loft, and I sensed strong energy emanating from them.

I headed for the barn, pushing open the double doors and going up the staircase that led to Dominic’s loft room. Mixed in with fresh manure and hay scents, I smelled something unusual; a strong aroma that made my nose tingle and my heart pulse. The whole barn seemed aflame in a lavender aura.

I pushed open Dominic’s door and stared at the three figures gathered in a candle-blazing circle where crystals hung from the ceiling to ward off darkness and a small pan bubbled with an eerie green-black liquid.

Dominic, Nona, and Velvet looked up.

At the same time I heard a gasp behind me, realizing too late that Penny-Love had followed me—and I’d led her right into a den of sorcery.

“What’s going on?” Penny-Love exclaimed, her eyes almost bugging out.

Dominic’s expression was bland except for a slight arch of one brow. Velvet covered her mouth and shook her head. I had no idea what to say, so I remained silent. It was my grandmother who stepped up to the situation.

“I’m so glad to see you, Penny-Love,” Nona said, smiling.

She came over to her “Love Assistant” with a casual manner, as if being caught stirring up a mystical brew was nothing out of the ordinary. I wanted to applaud Nona’s quick reactions. You’d have never known she recently had memory lapses and would have died if we hadn’t found the remedy.

The remedy! Velvet must have deciphered the book. That’s why Nona, Velvet, and Dominic were gathered in shadows and candlelight. Secluded in the privacy of Dominic’s room, they concocted the cure for Nona’s illness.

“Penny-Love, I could use your help,” Nona was saying.

“My … My help?” Penny-Love looked around uneasily. “Doing what?”

I watched with admiration for my grandmother as she convinced Penny-Love that they were mixing up scented soap to sell at Trick or Treats. I didn’t think she’d had time to take the remedy yet, so it must have been the healing fumes—or perhaps hope—that sharpened her mind. She answered questions before Penny-Love had a chance to ask them. Why candles? Because the scent of burnt candles was part of the recipe. Why were they in Dominic’s room? Because when the soap hardened it let off a noxious odor and Dominic’s room had large windows to quickly air out bad smells. Then Nona sent Penny-Love to the house for a small electric fan to clean the smoky air.

“Soap, huh?” I asked my grandmother. “With poisonous smells?”

“There is a strong odor in here,” she replied.

“Which we all know has nothing to do with soap,” I said with a pointed look at my grandmother, Velvet, and Dominic.

“I can always use herbal soap for my shop,” Velvet said.

“Sabine knows what’s going on,” Dominic said.

“But Pen didn’t.” I chuckled. “She sure left here fast. I’ll bet she takes her time finding a fan so the ‘poisonous smells’ go away. Nona, you knew how to handle her.”

“Just think how brainy I’ll be when I take the remedy,” my grandmother joked. “I can almost feel my memory improving. You two really came through for me.”

“Dominic did most of the work,” I said, scooting next to him on the rug.

“Teamwork,” he added. Stirring the bubbling concoction, Dominic gave me a private look that I knew meant we’d talk about us when we were alone later.

Still our eyes met a lot as we stirred, clocked the boiling time so it lasted no more than seventy-five seconds, shredded odd-smelling herbs, and mixed them in slowly. It was all complicated and tedious. Velvet showed us a typed paper with the translated remedy. Even spelled out in simple language, it looked like a chemistry-quiz nightmare.

We were all exhausted and sweating when at last Velvet pronounced the remedy finished. She and my grandmother took it into the house for cooling.

Dominic and I were alone.

Naturally he asked the one question I dreaded.

“No, I didn’t,” I answered with a sigh.

“Why not?”

“I never found the right moment. You have no idea how hard it is. Josh thinks everything is great with us.”

“You can’t have us both.”

“Why not?” I asked half-joking.

“Sabine,” he said firmly. “You have to tell him.”

“I know … I know.” I sank onto a cushioned chair, draping my hand over my forehead. “But I can’t do it yet.”

“Don’t you want us to be together?”

“I do, only our timing sucks. There’s this horseback campout in a week and I promised to go along as a mentor for the young riders. The kids are disadvantaged or homeless. This campout will mean so much to them, but there aren’t enough teen mentors. If I drop out, some kids might not be able to go.”

“Tell me more about this trip,” he said as he sat across from me.

“It’s called Hoof Beats in Moonlight, and a dozen kids are signed up. You know how Josh loves kids.”

“Yeah, he’s a real hero,” Dominic said sarcastically.

“I know you don’t like him, but you have to admit he’s a good guy. He’s working hard on this campout and is counting on me to go.”

“So go.”

“But if I break up with Josh, the trip will be torture.” I noticed Dominic’s blue eyes narrowing and added, “I will break up with him. I promise.”

“When?”

“Um … ” I hesitated. “After the campout.”

“You want to spend two nights alone with Josh?”

“Who can be alone with a bunch of kids and other mentors?”

“What will you do if he wants to kiss you?”

I glanced away, guiltily. Josh had kissed me at school and talked about finding some way for us to be alone on the ride. “I don’t know … ”

“I do.” Dominic stood, his mouth set in a grim line.

“What do you mean?” I demanded.

He walked over to his dresser, turning to ask me. “What’s Josh’s number?”

Automatically, I rattled off the number. Then I looked at Dominic’s hand on the phone with horror. “Wait a minute! You wouldn’t actually call him … would you?”

He lifted the receiver.

“No!” I choked out, rushing over ready to wrestle the phone from him. “Don’t you dare! You can’t call Josh!”

Dominic shook me off and turned his back on me.

“Please, don’t do it!” I begged. “I said I’d break up with Josh and I will. It has to come from me—not you.”

But he ignored me. My gut twisted when I heard the dialing tones on his phone. I held my breath, afraid of what would come next. My intuition wasn’t buzzing in with any advice, only dread.

My new boyfriend shouldn’t break up with my old boyfriend. That went against all the dating etiquette rules. But there was no predicting what Dominic would do.

Unable to watch, I shut my eyes, as if not looking could stop it from happening. I’d handled this badly. All my fault. I should have let Josh down at school today. Because I was a major wimp, Josh was going to be hurt far worse. But if I argued too much with Dominic, he might think I was still hung up on Josh. Guys were weird that way. So I waited helplessly, hearing a rumble of a one-sided conversation, but unable to make out the words.

Minutes later, Dominic hung up and faced me solemnly.

“Well?” I asked in a miserable whisper. “Did you do it?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I told him.”

“Oh, no.” I groaned. “How did Josh take it?”

“Good.”

“He didn’t get upset?”

“No. He thanked me.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“It’s true.” Dominic smiled wickedly. “He thanked me—twice.”

“You can not be serious!” Pursing my lips, I shook my head. “Are we talking about the same person? Josh DeMarco? The guy I’ve been dating for the last three months?”

“That’s him, all right. A little pompous, but overall a decent guy.”

“What was his reaction when you told him I was breaking up with him?”

“We didn’t talk about you.”

“You … You didn’t?” I felt dizzy. “Then why did you call him?”

“To volunteer as a mentor for the Hoof Beats in Moonlight ride.” Dominic playfully punched my arm. “I’m going on the campout with you.”

* * *

The next few days relaxed into my usual routine of homework, talking to my friends, and helping Nona prepare for the upcoming holiday. Now that she was taking the remedy, she was busy with her business, on the phone or meeting clients, with a renewed excitement about life. And she never forgot her keys or client names. She was feeling so great she wanted to celebrate by inviting friends and family for Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately a lot of people already had plans. My parents and sisters were invited to a party by one of Dad’s law partners. Penny-Love couldn’t come (she came from a large family and was in charge of cooking the turkey this year). I invited Thorn, too, but her mother (a minister) had the whole family volunteering at a homeless shelter.

I was saved from inviting Josh when he emailed me that his family was going out to dinner with Evan’s family. Once upon a romance, Josh choosing Evan over me would have hurt, but now I didn’t care.

I was truly over him.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know it yet.

Until he did, I had to act like everything was normal. So it was a relief not to see him, although I did wonder why he seemed different lately. Now that I thought about it, his aura had been different, too; still bright in the center but edged in gray. And that whole tattoo thing was out of character. Josh was a big talker and liked to tell stories about his achievements. I always loved to listen and admired his dedication and ideals. Sure, sometimes he came off a little arrogant—like when he talked trash about slackers who didn’t give back to their community—but everything he did came from his heart.

So his furtive behavior struck me as odd. Not that it was my concern. Soon we’d be completely yesterday’s couple. Girls would be all over Josh once the news got out that he was available. He’d be happier with a nice, normal non-psychic girl.

Because of a combo of teacher in-service days plus Thanksgiving holiday, I had the entire week off from school. I kept mega-busy making pies, cleaning the house from closets to cupboards, and getting some riding in on Nona’s oldest horse, Stormy (a name that so didn’t suit this gentle horse).

Being busy kept me from thinking too much and left me so exhausted each night, I slept without dreaming or astral traveling.

The night before Thanksgiving, Nona, Dominic, and I had a solemn ceremony outside under a full moon. Dominic fanned a small fire in a dirt pit while I recited a harvest prayer about “refilling the well of time and seeding renewal of life.” A little mysterious, deep, and meaningful. When Nona pulled a bunch of wrinkled papers out of her skirt pocket then flung them into the fire, I almost cried. We watched reverently as the papers flamed yellow and red, edges curling black until there was nothing left of Nona’s memory notes. We’d come so far to reach this moment; months of searching for charms that crossed several states, always haunted by the fear that Nona might sink into a coma and never recover. I whispered thanks for all my friends who helped on the way.

The fire faded to smoke, but we didn’t move to go inside. The night was so beautiful, the shimmering moon casted shadows that followed our footsteps. Although it was past midnight, no one was ready for sleep.

It was Nona’s idea to carve pumpkins for Thanksgiving, and although I argued that it was too babyish, I had to admit it was fun, sitting on the porch in the quiet night with only rustling wind through trees and soft chirping of insects. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d carved pumpkins. My mother always hired a professional decorator for major holidays so Thanksgiving at the Rose house was a glittery event with wax-fruit centerpieces, life-sized automated scarecrows, and holographic pumpkins with creepy faces. No messy pulp oozing over Mom’s manicured fingers.

But being messy didn’t bother me—and I couldn’t resist flinging a glob of pulp at Dominic. When it landed on his cheek, he faked like he was mad, then flicked a sticky orange seed at me. I retaliated, of course, which led to a full-scale pumpkin-seed war. Nona came out to see why we were laughing and pretended to be stern, ordering us to stop acting like children. So we pummeled her with pulp.

I awoke on a foggy, cold Thursday morning feeling happier than I had in a long time. When I’d first come to Sheridan Valley, hurting over betrayals and being kicked out of my home, all I’d wanted was to be “normal.” But that hadn’t really happened … and it was okay. At school I had good friends like Manny, Thorn, and Penny-Love, and at home I had a wonderful (healthy!) grandmother … and Dominic.

On this day of thanks and giving, I was very thankful.

Nona and I made four different kinds of pies: apple, pumpkin, pecan, and banana cream. The table was set and there was a toasty fire in the fireplace. The aroma of herbal dressing and a nineteen-pound turkey wafted into every room of the house.

Our Thanksgiving party consisted of Nona, Velvet, Grady, Dominic, and me—a cozy group with enough food prepared to stuff a small city. We planned to have an early dinner, play cards for a while, then return for dessert. Thanksgiving was like an Olympic event that lasted an entire day and gave our stomachs a workout.