Page 39 of Spellbound
“And what will you be teaching me if I stay here with you?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He pulled me up to hug me and lowered his head for a kiss. He kissed me like he owned me—which in his mind, he did. Mine too, for that matter. I’d been his since the night I’d seen him on that road. He kissed me long and hard and then he pushed me gently away.
“I need to let you go back to sleep, and I need to get back to Rosalyn’s house to be there when her sons arrive. Call me in the morning, and I’ll come pick you up.”
“I will.” He gave me one more kiss and then he was gone. I lay there trying to get comfortable again for a long time before I dozed back off.
****
I didn’t wake up again until the first rays of dawn were coming in the hospital room window. At first, I thought a nurse was in the room, standing at the foot of my grandmother’s bed. I rubbed my eyes and came fully awake to see Rosalyn staring at me from about six feet away.
She smiled at me, and I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice water. “What’s the matter, Asher? Didn’t expect to see me here? You should know I’d come to see my poor, old sister in the hospital to make sure she’s all right.”
“You’re the one who put her here!”
“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?” There was a red mark on her forehead from where I had tackled her and taken her tothe floor. I had the sudden, violent wish that I’d killed her then and there.
Following my gaze, she twisted her lips into a sneer. “I caught that thought. You’re a terrible boy, aren’t you? Janet never mentioned all that when I allowed her to bring you with her, or I’d have told her no.”
“Allowed her? You pushed her to bring me, so you could get me here to kill me.”
“Why, how can you say such a thing? That’s a terrible lie. Ben was the one who wanted you to come. Certainly not me. Why on earth would I want to kill you?”
“To cover your crimes!” I was yelling as loud as I could, hoping to attract some attention to the room. She realized it and shook her head.
“You know, Asher, if you manage to get some poor nurse to come in here, I’ll just kill her. Do you really want to be responsible for something like that?” With those words, she opened up her big leather handbag and pulled out a black revolver.
I gasped and took a big step back.
“W-where did you get a gun?”
“My husband and I were both magistrates. Of course, I still have my gun. A woman alone can’t be too careful.”
“Put that away, Janet! So far, you haven’t hurt anyone, but if you do this…”
“Yes? What will be different? Will Ben leave me alone and simply go away? Will he tell my sons it was all some terrible mistake?” She shook her head. “No, I’m a realist. He’s a judgmental, just like his damn father. I know the jig is up. But I won’t go without taking you with me at least. Now get on your feet or I’ll shoot you in that chair. Makes little difference to me. I’ll turn the gun on Janet first though, if you don’t cooperate.”
I did as she said and stood up, and I actually took a couple of steps toward her, thinking, I suppose, that I could get to her in time to wrest the gun away. But I clearly saw I’d never make it, as she swung the barrel of the gun toward me, took aim and got ready to shoot me point blank. In the next instant, she pulled the trigger and instinctively, I raised my hand as if to ward her off. I made the sign that I’d seen Ben make in the bedroom the night before and shouted, “Avert!” just like he had.
I saw her register her shock and rage, but it was too late. She had already fired by then, and my spell stopped the bullet in midair inches away from me and turned it back on her. She had just enough time for one last choking sound of pure rage before it plowed into her forehead. She dropped to the floor with a red bloom of blood spreading rapidly over her face, and I knew that she was already dead.
Epilogue
“You’ve always had the power, my dear.
You just had to learn it for yourself.”
~Glinda, The Wizard of Oz
Asher
After that night, things happened pretty much like Ben had told me they would.
I haven’t been able to walk away from my magic after all, though I thought for a while I wanted to. Like Ben figured, I was still being oppressed a little by the vestiges of Rosalyn’s old spell that had been on me for so long. As it finally and gradually dissipated after her death, I began to feel much better, and a lot of my anxiety faded away.
I drove my grandmother back to Atlanta after Rosalyn’s funeral. There was nothing for her in North Carolina, and her home and all her friends are in Georgia. I’ve promised her I’ll keep in close touch and visit her as often as I can. Ben followed us down in his truck, and we picked up a few things I’d put in storage at her house and went back home the next day.
It was a good thing that we did, because only a couple of weeks later, there was a fire “of unknown origin,” as the official report stated, and the house burned almost to the ground. Some of the walls remained standing, but the interior was completely gutted. The place was well insured, but it was still sad for her sons to lose their childhood home, and anything left of their mother. They’d been grief stricken and angry when they found out what she had done to their father, but she was still their mother, after all, and they still have complicated feelings forher. It’s a difficult and complicated situation, but there has been an autopsy, and the doctors told them her intellectual impairment was more advanced than they previously knew. Ben was depressed and upset about the situation for days afterward too.
