Wizard in a Witchy World (16 page)

"Felix?" Gabriella asked, breaking me from my reverie.

"Yes?" I asked, looking from Gabriella to Mari.

"Mari was asking if you had any special requests. I think Belle might have something planned, however."

"You're welcome to tour the garden, Felix," Mari said. "I know Willow would love to show it to you."

"I'd like that," I said. "And whatever Belle has in mind is great. I'm starving. Thank you."

Clarita shuffled in the chair next to Gabriella and pulled on her sleeve. After a brief, whispered conversation, Gabriella looked from the girl to me. "Clarita would like to know if she could sit by you."

"I'd love it," I said. It struck me that I'd never actually seen Clarita's face before and even now, her long black hair occluded my view. She slumped down in her chair, slid to the floor and crawled under the table, only to slide up into the bench seat next to me. It wasn't lost on me that she'd chosen the side closest to the wall. "Hey, kiddo." I bumped her shoulder with my own and she rested against me.

Gabriella gave me a questioning look. "She's not generally this accepting of people she doesn't know well, but she wanted to see you when she woke up from her nap."

"We're buddies," I said, draping my arm protectively over the girl.

"I see that," The booth lit up with her warm smile. "There must be more to this story."

"A topic for another time?" I asked as I felt Clarita's small hand slide into my own. A spark of energy passed between us on contact. Originally, I'd been surprised that Gabriella would bring Clarita out after she’d been through such a horrible ordeal, but it was easy to see why she'd chosen to come. The witches of Leotown had shown up en masse and their subtle, yet powerful magic of love blanketed us. I was tempted to call forth my wizard's sight to get a better look.

"So, what's going on here? Did I miss a witch's holiday?"

"No, silly. They're celebrating Clarita's return and the capture of Victoria and Benita's murderer," she said.

"It's almost overwhelming. How did they know she was coming?"

"There are few secrets among witches."

Mari arrived and set water, iced tea, and chocolate milk on the table. Her eyes rested on Clarita for a moment before she flitted off just as quickly as she'd arrived.

With my free hand I pulled out the trust charter I'd snagged from Lieutenant Dukats and handed it to Gabriella. "Put your lawyer hat on for a minute?"

"Sure." She took the papers, studied them and set them down when our dinner arrived.

In front of me, Mari left a bowl of chili, a steaming hunk of cornbread and a small glass jar of honey with a wooden dipper sticking out the top. My mouth watered instantly. I would never have picked it off the menu, but sitting in front of me now, it seemed the natural choice.

"Oh, that's good," Gabriella said looking across the table. "You won't believe it's totally vegetarian, too, although not vegan."

Predictably, Gabriella had a salad with a slice of what I suspected was home-made bread and Clarita had a grilled cheese sandwich.

Gabriella handed the papers back to me. "Where'd you get these?"

I had to wait to answer as I'd already jammed a too-big spoonful of the chili into my mouth and couldn't talk. Finally, after a drink of tea, I explained how I'd borrowed it from the file Dukats had shown me.

"You can't always trust what the cops show you when they're investigating," she said. "Sure doesn't put you in a very good light."

"Dukats was quick to point that out," I said. "What I don't get is how I keep getting singled out in this. It's not like I have any ties to anyone here."

"You sure of that? That paper seems to suggest quite the opposite," she said.

I sipped my tea. "I couldn't make heads or tails of it, other than it has my name on it and the address of that old mansion."

"That's only a small part of it. You're looking at an irrevocable trust. Someone set it up quite a while ago and now some trustee is doing what's been ordered," she said.

"Like?"

"Normally, a trust like that is set up to dole out money to kids or keep up a property, but really it could be anything. We'd have to get a copy of it from the trustee to find out," she said.

"How do I go about doing that?"

"I know someone who works at the firm on the charter. Hang on," she said and pulled out her phone, dialing.

As she talked, I picked up Clarita's uneaten sandwich and waved it in front of her face. I'd been a few years younger than her when I'd lost my own parents and I still remembered feeling helpless. The world decided what was best for me and I'd been passed around like so much luggage. If she'd have me as a friend, I vowed I'd be there for her.

"You need to eat. You don't want to hurt Belle's feelings, do you?" I took a risk that she cared about the three witches who owned the restaurant. Clarita shook her head almost imperceptibly, but leaned forward and nibbled a bite from the sandwich in my hand. It must have tasted good because she took it back from me and continued eating. For the first time, I got an unobstructed view of her face, which reminded me of a little Gabriella.

Gabriella gave a surprised look at my having encouraged Clarita to eat and rewarded me with a smile as she talked nonsense into the phone. Finally, she stuffed the phone back into her purse.

"You're set up for a meeting at nine tomorrow morning with David Phibbly. He's the trustee. According to my friend, they're very interested in finally meeting you. This trust has been in place for over twenty years," she said. "I'd go with you, but I'm meeting with people to start planning the memorial and I need to look for a place for Clarita and me to live."

"Oh. I hope everything's okay with…" I realized I didn't know her boyfriend's name and I selfishly didn't want things to work out for them.

She smiled perversely. "Brian. Things are fine but his place isn't set up for family."

"You're doing a good thing. She needs you," I said. Clarita shuffled next to me and snuggled in closer. I couldn't explain why we had such an immediate connection, but I felt it too.

"She's certainly taken with you." Gabriella observed, smiling.

"When will you have the memorial?"

"End of next week on the new moon. It'd be nice to wait for the solstice, but that’s just too far away."

Before I could respond, the sultry middle-aged Willow approached the table. "Mari said you might like a tour of the garden," she said, sliding in next to me on the bench. Her perfume was a little overpowering and I felt uncomfortable as her chest bumped my arm.

"It is beautiful," I said, unbalanced by a bit too much familiarity.

"It certainly is," she purred. "I've a few minutes, care to take a stroll?"

I looked to Gabriella for help, but she was smiling like the Cheshire cat.

"He's all yours, Willow," she said.

I released Clarita's hand as Willow stood from the bench and pulled on my elbow. She was clearly not taking no for an answer. At the last minute, Clarita scooted over and grasped my hand, holding her other arm up and giving the universal, ‘pick me up’ signal again. I swung her up and she wrapped her legs around my waist, laying her cheek on my shoulder.

"Looks like we're coming too," Gabriella said, following along in our wake.

"Lovely." Willow pushed open a swinging glass door into the green house. The aroma of flowers and peat joined with the already rich smells of the restaurant.

Upon crossing the threshold, I paused and knelt down, setting an unwilling Clarita onto the ground next to me. "Just for a minute," I reassured her. Grudgingly, she released my neck. Willow and Gabriella stopped and looked back at me questioningly. I unlaced my boots and pulled them off, folding my socks on top.

"What are you doing?" Gabriella asked.

"You can't ask me to walk through such a lush garden with my shoes on." I wrapped my arm around Clarita and pulled her up with me as I stood.

"You are no witch, but your magic comes from the earth?" Willow asked. She'd dropped the flirtatious façade and stared intently.

"It's true that I'm unable to join a witch’s circle. I guess I've always believed all magic comes from the earth," I said.

"Oh moon and stars, no," Willow said, laughing. "A necromancer's power comes from the dead and dying. There are those who flirt with demons and those who worship the moon or the sun. There are many magics about. What
is
unusual is someone who has power outside of the witch’s circle. I've only known one other like that."

I caught up to where Willow and Gabriella had stopped in front of an amazing array of ferns. I couldn't help but reach forward and run my hands across their tiny, pointed leaves. The plants fairly hummed in their lush habitat. I pushed a small amount of energy into the nearest plant, helping it expand its roots.

I was sure that neither Willow nor Gabriella could have noticed, but I'd forgotten about the little one who hung from my neck.

"You made it happy," Clarita whispered. If only I could do the same for her. According to Gabriella, she'd spoken few words since she'd been freed from her lycan captors.

We continued deeper into the greenhouse, past several long rows of relatively simple flowering plant varieties, many of which adorned the tables within the restaurant. Generations of witches had worked the soil I stood on and I felt their care. Plants carefully placed where they had received optimum care for decades. It wasn't a place of great power, but it was certainly a place of verdant fertility. A couple would not want to lie in here if they had no desire for a child.

As if reading my mind, Willow locked eyes with me and cocked an eyebrow, a subtle invitation that made my cheeks blush. She was easily twenty years my senior, but she might have been able to sway me in this place. I had too many irons in the fire already, but such was the power of the garden. I returned a smile and thought guiltily about my interactions with both Amak and Gabriella. Judy had raised me to work on one relationship at a time. Fortunately, Willow was simply offering and I could feel no offense being taken by my silent demurral.

"Monkshood? I've never seen so much," I said. It was a variety of wolfsbane with pretty little purple flowers that slumped forward like the hood of a monk.

"A recent addition," Willow said. "No doubt I don't need to tell you why."

"Not hardly," I laughed ironically. "I'd love to get a few starts of this. One of the lycan marked my landlord's entry. None too subtly either. I think that's over, but I'd rather be safe."

"Heavens yes. I'll cut several into a flat. It's too cold to plant outside, but if she'd keep them by her doors and windows, it would be very effective."

"I was thinking of building a garden box with a plastic cover," I said.

"I think you're still too late for that."

"I could talk to Mrs. Willoughby about keeping them," I said. "Unfortunately, she's unaware of the problem."

"As long as she doesn't make tea with them," Gabriella added, causing us all to laugh.

We followed Willow further back and she stopped to explain the next section. "Belle has grown finicky over time. She refuses to cook with herbs that come from anywhere else."

She waved her hand across a small field of rosemary, basil, thyme, garlic, green onions and many more. The fertility of the soil was considerably more depleted than the rest of the garden, most likely due to constant harvesting.

"How do you keep up with it?" I asked, closing my eyes as I focused on a rosemary plant that had been severely cut back. I pushed my magic into the plant and felt a wellspring of energy flow cleanly through my feet and out of my hands. I was surprised at how easily the magic flowed and how quickly the delicious herb leafed out, growing into a robust plant like its neighbors.

"Beautiful," Willow said, placing her hand on top of my own and gently grasping it. "May I join with you?"

It wasn't as cougarish of a proposition as it sounded. It was a familiar terminology that Judy's sisters used when making an impromptu circle. Unfortunately, I'd nearly killed a witch friend when she'd tried to bring me into a circle in North Carolina. It wasn't something I was willing to repeat.

"It doesn't work," I said, trying to keep things light. I didn't want to sound too emphatic.

"I don't see how that's possible. It would take me a few days to encourage that little plant to restore so much, yet you did it in moments. How much more so if we joined."

"No." I drew my hand back. The very idea terrified me. I could hardly face my family in North Carolina for all the pain I'd caused. I wasn't about to repeat that here.

"Felix. You're being rude," Gabriella said.

"I need to leave," I said. I transferred Clarita over to Gabriella and was grateful that neither made a fuss.

"It's nothing," Willow said. I sensed her trying to sooth me, but my fear response pushed me and I couldn't accept it. I ran through the garden and grabbed my shoes. There was a side exit, which I took, sprinting for my truck. Winded, I threw the boots into the truck, started it up and drove away, my bare feet freezing on the pedals.