Page 39 of Best Hex Ever
“It sounds amazing. I’ve always planned to go for the rose festival but whenever we go to visit, time is always taken up by seeing family. Which is nice and all, but for a country that’s half my heritage, I haven’t seen much of it.” Dina shrugged.
They turned a corner, the treeline beginning to thin as the dense forest petered away into scatterings of trees.
“I want to know more about those protective charms though. What were you studying them for? Was it for the exhibition you mentioned?” she probed. Dina realized she wasn’t just making conversation for the sake of it, to pass the time until they reached the secret activity (Immy hadn’t told her what it was despite her prodding). She genuinely enjoyed speaking with Scott.
“Yeah, for that. It’s all about protective charms from cultures around the world. Looking at symbols—like the eye—which are found everywhere, often used for the same thing.”
“Fascinating.”
“I think so. The museum wasn’t super keen on the idea at first. It involved a couple of other complications I insisted on.”
“Oh? Like what?”
Scott offered Dina a sheepish look.
“It might sound a bit silly, but I insisted that if we were going to borrow artifacts from other countries, whether they were family heirlooms in private collections or ones already owned bystate-run museums, we were going to craft a smaller exhibition or installation, featuring those artifacts, that would eventually tour the countries they came from. So, any artifacts borrowed from Morocco for the exhibition would mean that at some point on its tour, the exhibition would go to a museum there, probably in Rabat or Casablanca.”
“That doesn’t sound very controversial to me.”
“Well, it was. You’d have thought I’d suggested burning one of the entombed mummies from the ancient Egypt exhibit from the way they looked at me. It was unheard of, apparently.”
“But they agreed to it, in the end?”
“They had to. The exhibitions they’ve been running of late have been too academically focused.” Scott fished into his pocket and pulled out a small turquoise bead that had a scarab etched into it. “See this, right? The ancient Egyptians associated scarabs with new beginnings, rebirth, the start of a new day. And they would carry them, as jewelry or charms, as a reminder of that. People will come to the exhibition and they’ll see these beads—well, this is a replica, but one like it—and it’ll make the history feel real.” His eyes lit up as he spoke.
“I get it. You see a charm made hundreds of years ago and it’s not all that different from the lucky rock you keep in your glovebox. I guess it reminds us that history is full of people like us, who had their own worries and fears they wanted to be protected from. Is it open now, then, the exhibition?” Dina asked.
“Not yet. A few weeks until it’s ready. But I could give you a special tour, if that’s something you’d be interested in? It seems like it would be your sort of thing.” He smiled down at her, and Dina felt a stirring deep in her belly that felt suspiciously like lust and…something else.
No, she was clearly imagining it. It was only lust. She was attracted to his brain just as much as his body, clearly. But he wanted to show her the exhibition in a couple of weeks. Whichwould mean they would still be seeing each other then. Oh no, this very much went against her “this is only a weekend fling” plan.
Dina didn’t have time to answer, as Immy and Eric paused in their walk to get everyone’s attention.
“All right, everyone, you’re about to see what I’ve been keeping secret from you all…” Immy shouted at them forebodingly. As they turned a corner, Dina saw it. Ahead of them, situated in the center of a grassy field, was Immy’s secret activity. A hedge maze.
“Fucking spooky,” Rosemary muttered.
The small hill they stood on looked down over it, allowing Dina to see just how complicated it was. This wasn’t the kind of maze you could sit by and wait as your children scurried to the center and back. This was a no one-gets-left-behind, don’t-break-out-into-smaller-groups kind of maze.
Dina shot a look at Immy, who was practically squealing with delight. Everyone seemed to be excited; there was something about mazes that felt like a playground for grown-ups. Everyone except Scott. Dina tried to catch his eye but his gaze was firmly set on the maze, his jaw clenched and a rigid set to his shoulders.
Eric clapped him on the back and gave his shoulder a squeeze. Dina thought she heard him whisper something about not worrying, but she couldn’t be sure. It looked to her like Scott didn’t want to go into the maze. He’d said he was a little claustrophobic—would that affect him in the maze too, even if they were outside?
She could always cast a little anti-anxiety charm; they always worked well in situations like this. He wouldn’t even know.
Power twitched at her fingertips. It was Samhain after all, and her power swelled within her, aching to be used. The magic that came with Samhain was different from the other dates like Ostara or Beltane. It was wilder, and it came with its own shadow.
And with the old woods at her back, and the rolling fields before her, she was all but breathing the magic in. It seeped from the soil into her body and wound its way like deep green tendrils into her heart.
Rory’s face popped into her mind. That was what happened when she used magic on others. There was no use even considering it; she had better forget the idea immediately.
“Let’s team up!” Eric called out to the group. They split into two groups of four, and as Dina wandered closer to the hedges she noticed that whoever had pruned them had done so with a ruler, because there was not a leaf out of place.
“First team to get all the way to the center and back wins,” Eric proclaimed.
“I want Dina on my team!” said Immy.
“Immy, we’re doing bride versus groom. You can’t have all the good picks, and we both know Dina has the sense of direction of a bloodhound.” Eric laughed.
