Slightly Spellbound (32 page)

“None of the gifts I got made up for it. From the moment I’d clapped eyes on those shoes, they were the one thing I wanted more than anything else.” I shrugged. “Bryn is the grown-up version of those patent leather shoes.”

Zach shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, looking like he’d swallowed a bug.

“Sorry,” I said.

He shook his head. “Don’t apologize. The truth goes down hard, but it makes things easier in the end.”

“I’m going to take a walk. I won’t go far.”

His quick nod told me what he didn’t say: At the moment, he’d be happy to be rid of me.

34

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” BRYN asked me when he found me twirling circles in the woods.

“There’s a faery path here,” I said with a wide smile. I bent down and brushed a hand over a row of dandelions. Glowing golden, they tickled my skin when I touched them. It was the most amazing find ever. My gaze darted along. The dandelions stood in a line, like soldiers, marking the path. I wondered how I’d missed them before. My witch magic, no doubt, had been obscuring my faery senses. It was a real problem.

“See these?” I said, pointing.

“What? The broken weeds?”

“Broken?” I murmured, cocking my head. Did they look trampled to him? They had been a little limp as I’d approached but became perfect when I stepped onto the path.
Camouflaged
, I realized, since faery paths were kept hidden.

“Come stand here,” I said, beckoning him. “Right next to me. It’s a thin path that’ll lead out of Duvall. A Seelie path that I don’t think the Unseelie know about. I bet they couldn’t find it with a magnifying glass and the greatest tracker they’ve got. Jerks.” My brows drew together. Why did I dislike the Unseelie so much? Other than trying to kill me that one time when I blocked them from coming into Duvall, I’d never even met any of them besides Nixella. Still, they
were
the enemy. I knew that as surely as I knew that up was up, down was down, and chocolate was heaven.

“Come away from there,” Bryn said, holding out his hand.

“Not yet. Have a look, Bryn. Can you see the trail? I see heather in the distance. I think the path leads all the way to the British Isles. You’re from Ireland. You’re one quarter fae. Squint your eyes.”

“Tamara, come here. We have things to do, remember?”

“Yeah, but this is incredible. It feels like home!” I enthused, but even as I said the words, I knew they didn’t really make sense. Duvall was home. Always had been. Hadn’t it?

The path has a secret. It’s the key to filling the emptiness inside me. You know something’s missing.

For a blink, I saw myself. I had green eyes and gold hair. In the Never, I’d be transformed.

“I can catch up with the lych after,” I said. “You should smell it. The air’s so fresh here, like cars and factories were never invented. It’s fantastic. C’mon, I want you to feel—”

“Tamara,” he said sharply, making me turn my head. Bryn shoved the sleeve of his sweater up and showed me a dark circular mark on his forearm. The poisoned magic he’d taken from me had infected him. “We need to catch up to that lych sooner rather than later.”

There was still a slight ache in my calf, but it didn’t trouble me. “I feel fine.”

“I don’t.”

I glanced longingly at the wisps of green and gold curling through the woods. But the pull of Bryn was stronger even than the path’s. The bluest eyes, the blackest hair, the cleverest wit. Magic dusted him like powdered sugar. I sighed and stepped off the path. The lantern glow of the dandelions faded. The air’s purity drained away so that it wasn’t so achingly fresh. As it became regular old air again, I felt Bryn more clearly. A fair trade.

My toes dug into the dirt as I approached him. I put my hands on his cool cheeks and pressed a kiss to his lips. He tasted of peppermint cocoa. My arms slid around his shoulders, and I licked magic from his lips.

It took him a moment to untangle my arms and draw back.

“For the love of St. Patrick—” he murmured, rubbing a thumb over his lips dazedly. “You taste like the ocean at night with a side of melted caramel.”

I smiled at him and laced my fingers with his, holding his hand tight. “Did you bring me a bow and arrow?”

“Do I deny you anything you ask for?” he said ruefully.

I brought his hand up to my mouth and kissed it. “Let’s go find us a lych and put him where he belongs. In the ground with the other skeletons.”

“I’ve found spells that may help, but apparently lyches are almost impossible to kill.”

“Well, then we’ll be well matched because so am I almost impossible to kill.”

“Overconfidence is dangerous in battle, Tamara.”

“So is an iron arrow between the eyes.” As we walked toward the house, I said, “I don’t want Zach to come with us. That amulet of his gives me a headache.”

“Is that what you told him?”

“No, why?”

“I don’t know. He seems subdued.”

“Oh, that. I think I hurt his feelings when I told him you were the shoes.”

“I’m the shoes?” he asked, glancing at my bare feet.

I opened my mouth to explain, but I didn’t have time because Zach walked out the back door with the file.

“Lyons, take a look at this photograph.”

“Bryn, did you bring Mercutio?” I asked.

“He’s asleep in the car.”

“Good, let’s go.”

“Hang on,” Bryn said, taking the picture from Zach.

“Does there seem to be a pattern to the way the gardenias are laid out around Edie’s body?”

Bryn stared at the picture for a moment and then said, “Yes, it’s Taurus. The Pleiades, the seven sisters. They’re sapphire blue stars, which are fairly near the earth.”

“The constellation Taurus?” Zach asked.

Bryn nodded. “Yeah, I’m surprised you saw that.”

Zach shrugged. “If he performed a killing ritual, it stands to reason that nothing would be random about the arrangement of the body.”

“These flowers can be used in sex magic,” Bryn said.

“Gardenias,” I put in with a nod.

“He may be using carnal energy to boost his power enough to perform the transformative killing spell. A ritual to suck the life force from a dying body and to absorb it into one’s self requires a massive amount of energy and concentration. It’s probably why he’s doing things in stages. The winter solstice is a good night to draw power from Taurus.”

“The solstice, that’s tonight?” Zach asked.

“That’s tonight,” Bryn confirmed.

I patted the air next to Zach’s arm. “Thanks for the help. We’ll take it from here,” I said, snatching the file from him.

“I don’t think so,” Zach said. He grabbed the edge of the file and held on so I couldn’t pull it away.

“Vangie’s my friend. Edie’s my aunt. Black splotchy poison’s my disease. That makes Skeleton Guy mine, too. He wants to come to Duvall on safari? I’m just the one to show him the big game around here are armed.”

Zach and Bryn both looked at me like they didn’t recognize me. I gave them a sweet smile. “If you want to look at this file, Bryn, go ahead. I’ll wait for you in the car. Remember what I said about that necklace not driving with us.” I let go of the file and snagged the keys from Bryn’s pocket.

“How long until Tammy Jo’s back to normal?” Zach asked.

“Hard to say,” Bryn said.

“How can you stand her like that?”

I glanced over my shoulder and raised my brows in question. Bryn exhaled, half-sighing, half-smiling.

“When she’s at her best, so am I. When she’s Bonnie, I’m Clyde.”

Penetrating the emotional numbness, warmth spread through my chest, and I smiled at Bryn and winked.

Zach shook his head. “There’s only one version of me. And there’s only one version of her that I like.”

“Maybe that’s why he’s the shoes and you’re not,” I called over my shoulder as I walked out the front door.

Mercutio woke when I climbed into Bryn’s car. He yowled a complaint and hopped into the empty driver’s seat.

“Sorry I woke you,” I said.

Mercutio licked my arm and made a face. Like all the guys in my life, Merc didn’t like me to turn fae. I couldn’t see why. I gave his head a pat and updated him on the Freddie-Jackson connection.

Mercutio listened and meowed his understanding. It didn’t take Bryn long to join us in the car. I rolled down the window and leaned back against the headrest. With the sun streaming through the windshield and the smell of the woods wafting in, I relaxed. It seemed like a good time to get a few minutes’ sleep on our way to Dyson.

I spotted Zach’s truck in the rearview mirror. “He’s following us.”

“I know.”

Zach was far enough away that the amulet didn’t bother me. And he might be a help later. “Okay,” I said.

I closed my eyes and floated between consciousness and sleep. I felt Merc’s soft fur against my arm, but I smelled rain, moist ground, and horses. I heard the
clomp, clomp
of horseshoes against a winding road. I sat in an open carriage, bouncing softly with craggy rocks and a smattering of grass on either side of me. Drizzle matted the heavy braid of my hair against my neck. I glanced at my hands on my lap. I didn’t recognize them. My fingers were longer, the fingernails more rectangular than normal.

I jerked awake, startled.

Bryn glanced over with a questioning look.

Words popped into my mind and a sense of déjà vu. The winding road had been familiar, but wide awake now, I knew I’d never been there in my life.

“Where’s the Gap of Dunloe?” I asked.

“The Gap of Dunloe is in County Kerry in Ireland. Killarney. Why?” Bryn asked.

I cocked my head and couldn’t keep from yawning. Fatigue, heavy as molasses, weighed on me. “I dreamed about it. Could be that I’m going to visit there. My double-great-grandma was a seer. I’ve maybe got her gift. It seems like it’s kicking in.”

“Am I with you in the premonition?”

“Not that I’ve seen, but you must be somewhere nearby.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because if I were leaving the country, you’re the first thing I’d pack.”

He smiled. “I’d be happy to show you Ireland, sweetheart. But I’m not sure we’d agree on the places to visit.”

“You mean you wouldn’t want to walk any faery trails?”

“Exactly.”

“Don’t worry. I wasn’t thinking it through earlier when I suggested we follow that Seelie path. It just felt so . . . familiar, like coming home. But that’s crazy. Some sort of faery enchantment probably, to trick me into going there, which would be dangerous. And if I went, I wouldn’t want you with me. I definitely don’t want them to see you.”

“Why not?”

“Edie and Aunt Mel are right. Faeries are possessive. If they figured out you’re a little bit fae, they might use it as an excuse to try to keep you. That would be a problem.”

“It would be,” he agreed.

“Yes, because you’re mine.”

He laughed. “Tamara, they wouldn’t want me for romantic reasons. They’d likely torture me for information on the World Association of Magic and then kill me.”

I glanced over at him. “She wouldn’t want to kill you.”

“She who?”

“The woman who runs the place.”

“The Seelie queen?”

I nodded. “Yeah, Ghislaine. I think you’re just her type.”

His brows shot up. “How do you know her name?”

That was a very good question. I tried to remember if I’d heard it sometime. Not that I recalled. “I guess I’m not sure that is her name, but I think it is.”

Bryn frowned. “Has she entered your dreams? Has she spoken to you?”

“I don’t think so, but I know what faeries are like. I think one day soon she’s going to send guys to chase me halfway around the world. Crux might already be here for that exact reason. I don’t trust him.”

Bryn blew out a slow breath as he turned off the car. “We can’t let the fae distract us. We have to concentrate on the problem at hand. We’ll deal with the faery threat afterward.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Just like that, huh? You can put them out of your mind?”

“Sure,” I said with a wave of my hand. “I’ve been mostly ignoring them for days.”

I got my bow and arrows from the trunk and followed Bryn to the hotel room.

Bryn used a spell to open the door. A blast of something spewed out. It didn’t hurt, but Bryn grabbed me and yanked me out of the doorway, and Mercutio hissed and darted away. I smelled sulfur, rotting flowers, and musty feathers. I coughed.

“More poison?”

I peeked into the empty room before Bryn dragged me back. Zach jogged up the stairs, covering his mouth and nose with his T-shirt. He went inside and came back out a few seconds later.

“Nothing useful left behind,” Zach said, then made a gagging sound and spit on the ground.

“I’ll have to try a scrying spell,” Bryn said.

“No need. I think Mercutio knows the way,” I said, nodding. Mercutio had returned to the car and was standing with his paws on the dash. Mercutio can track magic better than a bloodhound can track fallen game. And he’s cuter.

“I’m starving. I’d give anything for some biscuits and honey right now. Or a chocolate cupcake.” I put my bow in the trunk and added, “Or a box of chocolate truffles.” I closed the trunk. “Or a stack of pecan pancakes drowning in maple syrup.”

“I get the idea. If we pass the market, I’ll buy you something sweet.”

“I have a lot of good stuff at my house.”

“Tamara, we don’t have time. Remember that we’re still going to try to save Vangie’s life?”

“Sure, but when Vangie wakes up, I bet she’ll be really hungry,” I said, finding it hard to concentrate when I was desperate for a treat. I was still a bit off. No more tripping through the dandelions after getting a poison kiss from Zach’s amulet. “Every time I wake from a coma, as soon as I’m over the nausea, the first thing I want is some cake.”

Bryn shook his head, climbing into the driver’s seat. I whispered to Mercutio that if he could see his way to navigating us past a bakery, I’d be forever grateful.

Mercutio meowed, but then the first thing he did was lead us to the highway out of town. When the exit for Duvall popped up, I licked my lips, but Mercutio didn’t want us to get off. Instead he directed us onto the expressway.