“Yeah, I’ve got him,” he sighed, hefting him over his shoulder again and disappearing into the bedroom scarce seconds before my mother and Parker unstuck in time. My mother blinked at finding me across the room, but I quickly returned to her side.
“Mom, there’s plenty of time to discuss all that later.” I gently pulled her away from Parker’s outstretched hand. “For now, I need you to go with Daphne, to…” I looked up at my best friend in a panic.
“You know what, Mrs. Renault? You’re right, this is a party. And we need to go pick Oriana up from Matty’s place. Why don’t you come with me, I’m sure she’d love to meet you,” Daphne smiled, drawing her towards the door.
“Actually
Adam
, why don’t you go too?” I tugged at Parker’s elbow, willing him to play along. “You know guys aren’t allowed at a bridal shower anyway.”
“Right. Because I’m your boyfriend,” Parker nodded, catching on quickly. “Yeah, I’ll drive. Have you ever been in a Camaro before, Mrs. R?” he added with a charming smile, to which my mother dimpled in reply.
“It’s been more years than I care to admit to,” she giggled. “But I wouldn’t mind taking a spin in one.” Whatever her agenda in coming to see me, it was immediately forgotten under the power of his smile.
“You three had better scoot then. Here, take my keys, let yourselves in to Matty’s place in case she’s not there yet. You know how brides are, they have so many things to attend to, she might be running late.” I thrust the keys into Parker’s hand, whispering near his ear. “I’m sorry, thank you!”
“You got it, darlin’,” Parker grinned, leaning down to steal a quick kiss to my cheek before concentrating his attention on my mother again. “I’ll let you ride shotgun, Mrs. R.”
Once the door was firmly shut and I could hear them moving off noisily to the stairs, I offered the witches an embarrassed smile. “I’m so sorry about that, you guys. Do you need more time to re-cleanse the room or anything?”
“I think we all need to re-center ourselves, yes,” Luz nodded, already breaking out another bundle of sage, and I wondered how long it was going to take to get the smell out of the drapes.
“Okay, I’ll go check on Ben.” A quick look in my bedroom found Ben still passed out, dumped in the corner against the wall with Adam stewing to himself on the edge of the bed.
“What did I tell you about making blanket statements like that?” he demanded, and I wondered what I’d done wrong now. It seemed like he was angry with me all the time.
“What are you talking about?”
“You invited a bitchy witch to give you a plague of boils? Not a good look, I can vouch for that.”
Was that all? “She’s not going to do it, she’s just mad ‘cause I froze her once. Besides, if I get boils you can heal me back to normal, right?” I sank down onto the bed beside him, laying back to close my eyes for a moment.
“Yeah, but… eewh. Kind of a mood killer, don’t you think?” I felt him lay down beside me, but I was too tired to look up at him. “I’m sorry. I worry about you, okay?”
“I know,” I murmured, pressing the heel of my hand against my temple, which throbbed dully.
“Hey, are you alright?”
Hearing the concern in his voice, I popped my eyes open, giving him a wan smile. “I’m tired and ready for this to all be over. My mother showing up just makes it that much more fun to deal with.”
“It seems like you’ve been tired a lot lately.”
“It’s probably stress. I feel like I’ve been going, going, going nonstop for as long as I can remember.” Or maybe I was coming down with something? It wasn’t just feeling sleepy, I felt achy and sore all over, like maybe I had the flu but didn’t know it yet. I hadn’t been sick much since getting the Grace, and I suppose I thought maybe I was immune to most sicknesses. I couldn’t decide if I was disappointed or glad to find out I was human enough to catch the flu.
“Are you ashamed of me?”
“What?” I turned to look at him, his out of the blue question catching me off guard. “Why would you even ask me that?”
“Well, because you’ve been telling everyone Parker is your boyfriend, and you didn’t want your mother to meet me.” The way he said it caught at my heart. Sort of off hand like it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I could see in his eyes he was serious. He really thought I was ashamed of him.
“No, Adam, I’m really not.” Leaning up, I cupped the side of his face, bringing it closer to mine. “I only told the cops I was with Parker because I didn’t want them looking into your identity too closely. That and there was the fact that I had no idea what name you were using, remember? If anything, I’d say I’m a little ashamed of my mother, not the other way around. As much as I hate to say so… I admit, I don’t particularly like the idea of you spending too much time with her. Not because I’m ashamed of you, but because I don’t want you looking too close into what a future with me might be like. I’ve already got a crazy brother who took off to marry a witch and now my mom pops up out of nowhere and she’s… well, she can be a lot to handle sometimes. I have a hard time with her, and I’m genetically predisposed to love her. I’m sorry if I made you feel bad over any of it, that wasn’t my intention.”
“Ah, Mercy,” he kissed the side of my head. “I don’t care if you have a crazy family. Look at mine. That’s my brother squatting inside Ben’s body right now. My heavenly father kicked me out because he didn’t like my wife, another brother killed her and I’ve got another one running Hell. I’m not one to talk.”
“Well, when you put it like that…” I smiled, tilting my face up to receive his soft kiss. “I’ll introduce you to her if that’s what you want. To be honest, she’ll probably breeze out of here as quickly as she came, and we won’t see her for years at a time.”
“Then it’s fine, you can let her think Parker is me if that makes it easier. After we get Ben all squared away I’m taking you away for a week or two of rest and relaxation, no arguments.”
“That sounds nice,” I smiled, not wanting to bring up work or responsibilities. It was nice to pretend I could take off at a moment’s notice and not have to face any consequences. “Where would we go?”
“I’m still up for that Fiji idea if it gets you into a bikini, but lady’s choice.”
“Wow, that sounds tropical. We’ll have to put some serious thought into that. Do you think we could…”
“
Con permiso
,” Luz knocked on the door as she poked her head in. “We’re ready to begin.”
“Can we still go ahead with him like that?” I asked jerking my head towards Ben who slumped in the corner.
“It’s fine. In fact, it’ll make it easier if he holds still. Don’t worry, it’s gonna be pieces of cake,” she winked, ducking out of the room again.
“Hear that, hon? It’s gonna be pieces of cake,” Adam grinned, pushing himself up to his feet. “Don’t sweat it, Mercy, let the professionals handle it from here. Just stay out of the way and we’ll be planning that vacation in no time.”
I followed Adam out of the room, watching as he carefully propped Ben into a seated position inside the inner circle of string. Amazingly, he sat well enough in a cross legged position without toppling over. The witches gathered inside the outer circle once Adam was clear, and I had to wonder… was that designed to keep them safe inside? What did that mean for me and Adam? He didn’t look at all worried though, so I tried not to think about it too much. Sensing my mood, Adam picked up my hand and gave it a little squeeze, and I was grateful for the support.
Though the lights were all off, my living room was ablaze with the soft, flickering light from two dozen candles easy, some within the circle and some outside. Each of the witches held something in their hands, but I couldn’t quite make out what that was. Most of the ritual went right over my head, even though Luz spoke in a ringing voice. There was a lot of talk about the elements and the invocation of what I assumed was deities or maybe spirits? I didn’t think it was a good time to ask Adam for a running commentary.
I can’t really explain what it was like when I felt the tingle of magic in the air. Like too much static electricity before a storm? That’s almost right, but not quite. It didn’t make the hairs stand up on my neck or my skin crawl, but the air felt… alive in a way I’d never experienced before.
All at once, the witches tossed their items into the inner circle and then joined hands, chanting as one in a language I didn’t recognize. As I watched, the little pink jewelry box materialized in the inner circle next to Ben. As in, one second it wasn’t there, and the next instant it was. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t been looking right there the whole time. The chanting intensified, the air growing colder, and I could hear a clap of thunder outside. The flash as lightning split the sky made me jump, and Adam let go of my hand to wrap an arm around my shoulder.
A miniature funnel cloud rose from the center of the circle, starting as little more than a wisp of air, gathering form and strength as it rose higher. Instead of stirring the contents of the room, we were protected by the circle of rope, but Ben’s hair and clothes whipped crazily, and I heard him moan in discomfort. Darker and darker, it congealed to a near solid mass, writhing and churning as the tail end of it got caught inside the plastic box. As though the cloud was alive, it struggled, fighting the inexorable tug as it slowly slid into the box. Until finally it was completely contained, and the box snapped shut with a click.
Chapter Seventeen
All at once, the chanting stopped and a collective sigh went through the room, followed by whoops of success as the witches high fived each other and general congratulations were shared.
“Is that it, is it done?” It seemed almost anti-climactic. Was that little plastic box really supposed to hold Azazael forever?
“We did it,” Luz nodded, her grin a mile wide as she shared a hug with one of her sisters. “He won’t be bothering you again.”
It sounded almost too good to be true. “How can you tell? I mean, no offense, but how do we know it really worked?”
She picked up the box, inspecting it carefully before holding it out to me. “He’s in there alright.”
“What do we do with this?” I accepted the box with my fingertips, not so sure I wanted to touch it.
“Keep it safe,” she shrugged. “Don’t worry, no one will open it by mistake, it’s spelled shut.”
“Good to know,” I murmured. “Are you sure this thing is strong enough? Why’d you pick a flimsy plastic box?”
Luz laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. “It’s definitely strong enough. We had to use something completely manmade. Any natural elements and he might have found a way to slip through, but this… this will hold him until the end of time. Trust me, it’s not something you need to worry about anymore. Your friend here might need a little help adjusting to being back in control of his body again though. He’s going to be confused to say the least.”
“Will he remember what happened while Azazael was in there?”
“You’ll have to see. It depends on how much control Azazael took of him. Parker said he still had access to Ben’s memories, that’s a good sign.” Luz took me apart from the others, lowering her voice. “If you need me for anything, to talk, or if you need some advice, you can always call me,” she smiled warmly, and I found myself smiling back.
“Thanks, I appreciate that. Maybe we can get together sometime and hang out in a completely normal capacity? Especially if you’re seeing Parker. I hope you don’t mind that I sorta borrowed him tonight.” I didn’t care what Adam intimated about witches having their own agendas, so far Luz hadn’t steered me wrong and I had a good feeling about her.
“
No te preocupas
, it’s fine,” she laughed. “It was worth it to see the look on his face when your mama asked him if you were going to get married. I would like that very much. We’ll stay in touch, no?” she laid her hand over mine, giving it a brief squeeze. “For now, I think your friend needs you and I have to get home to my kids.”
Ben shifted out of his cross legged position with a groan. “Hang on to this,” I thrust the pink box into Adam’s hands as I knelt down in front of Ben. “Ben? Is that you?” There was a dark tinge to his aura that hadn’t been there before, but I supposed that was to be expected after having someone else inhabiting his body for so long.
“Unfortunately, yes,” he groaned again, but I was glad to see the corner of his mouth tug up into the ghost of his old smile.
“Let’s give him some room here, he’s been through quite a bit.” I helped Ben to his feet, waving back the curious stares of witches who lingered in my apartment. Ordinarily I might have liked to share a celebratory drink with them, but at the time all I wanted was a little peace and quiet to see how bad the damage was. “I wish I could take you guys all out for a drink in thanks, but I think I’d better take care of Ben first. Thanks again, you guys, for your help, I appreciate it more than I can say.” There was a ring of dismissal to my voice that thankfully Adam picked up on.
“Actually, here ladies, the first few rounds are on me,” he peeled off a few bills from his wallet and handed them over to Luz. “I’ll take it from here.”
There might have been more said between them, but I was busy helping Ben to my bedroom to lie down. “God, Ben, I don’t even know where to begin. I’m so sorry about all of this,” I apologized, removing the blessed ropes that had pinned his arms for far too long. Ben’s anguished cry of pain at finally moving his arms cut straight to my heart, and I grabbed hold of them to keep him from moving too much yet.
“Wait, no, let me help you first.” Hurrying to ground myself, I sent healing energy, repairing the damage from long months of disuse. Feeling Ben relax beside me, I sent him more calming Grace, wanting him to be as comfortable as possible; it was the least I could do. When I let go of him, he looked almost tranquil, his eyes half lidded.
I searched his face for some sign that the Ben I knew was still there, or if he hated me for what he’d had to go through. Not that I would have blamed him one bit if he did. “How are you feeling?”