Page 95 of Bewicched

I shook my head but was distracted by my bag with the broken chain. It was sitting on the counter by the sink. “What’s this doing here?” I opened it and all my stuff was there except for the blue rubber gloves I’d used to transfer the tartlets to the plate.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “It was sitting there when I smelled the nightshade and walked in here.”

I opened the door beneath the sink and looked in the trash. There were the gloves. I tore off a paper towel and picked them up. The fingertips were stained with a dark, purplish juice.

Declan leaned over me. “That’s it. That’s the scent.”

I pulled off one of my gloves. I was sure we were right, but we’d just branded Calliope a sorcerer, so I felt the need to make sure. “Don’t let my head hit the floor, okay?”

I’d meantplease catch me before I crumple to the ground, but Declan swung me up into his arms and then nodded, waiting for me to proceed. Hmm. This was kinda nice.

Touching the glove, I was sucked in.Hands mixing white powder from an unlabeled vial into a bowl of water. Tea leaves drop into the solution and are swirled with a wooden spoon. I can’t see the person, but I know that ring. She was wearing it tonight. The light green peridot sparkled against Serena’s black dress when Calliope wrapped her arm around her sister.

After the tea leaves soak, they are laid out to dry.

A deep voice makes me jump. “Use this. Add it to the tea before you serve it.” A branch with small dark berries appears on the counter. “There will be healers nearby. If you want to make sure she dies quickly, use both.”

A soft laugh. “I’d love to draw it out and make her suffer the way she’s made me wait for that Council spot, but you’re right. Faster is better. And with another position soon open, I might have a shot on the Council after all.”

“We get rid of the freak,” the deep voice rumbled, “and the mother will be so grief-stricken—losing sister, mother, daughter—that you can sail in and take over.”

“And we’ll be able to harness all that power. Abigail explained it to me. The triad on the Council is connected to every Corey so they can police their own, but the connection can be used to draw power from each of them as well.”

“With great power,” he began.

“Comes great fear and ultimate control,” she finished on a laugh.

40

Unexpected Messengers

Grandma’s house was already Fort Knox, but I added my own unique enchantments to the doors and windows. No one was getting in while Mom and Gran slept. One of the things we discovered when I was little was that no one could counter my spells. The elders could counter other children’s early spell attempts, but not mine. We assumed it was because they were full wicche and I was part fae. My magic was just a little different. What that meant now was that Calliope couldn’t break through the additional wards I set. Of course, who knew what the demon could do.

Declan and I cleaned everything up, put the food away, mopped floors, wiped down counters, but still neither woke. He said he could hear their heartbeats—and only theirs. No one was hiding— and they were both strong, so we decided to let them sleep and go home.

As I climbed into his truck, I wondered, “Did you hear a car start? I mean when Calliope escaped, did you hear her go?”

Reversing, he shook his head. “And I would have. She had to have walked.”

“Or the demon muffled the sound.” I shook my head. “I need to take a class on demons. I have no idea what they can and can’t do.”

He pulled out onto the road and headed back toward the gallery. “We could go to San Francisco. See The Slaughtered Lamb and ask that Dave guy to help us out.”

Nodding, I considered. “Yeah, let’s do that. He already way overpaid for my help in finding his girlfriend, though. And then because she pushed him, he came down to help when I asked. We need to go see him, but I also need to bring something as a form of payment.” What, though? What would he dig?

“You could make him something,” he suggested.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking too, but what?” Something related to his girlfriend, as that was who he obviously loved. He’d mentioned something about a new house, so maybe a glass piece? I’d think about it.

I turned in my seat to watch Declan. “When I said the sorcerer was Calliope, you described her and said you believed it. How did you know who she was?”

He scratched his beard, made a turn, and then glanced over. “After you left me at the food table, she appeared at my side, saying how good it was that I was with you for moral support, what a good friend I must be. She was saying the right things, but they were all lies.”

He tapped his nose. “It’s clear you guys don’t spend much time around wolves. The lies were flying in that room.”

“You can really smell lies?”

“Essentially. It’s more that we can sense emotions. Deception gives off a sour scent. The person has to know they’re lying though. It doesn’t work if they’re just mistaken or if they’re psychopaths devoid of emotion. Mostly, though, I can tell.”

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