spies and spells 01 - spies and spells (12 page)

“It seems you have another guest.” Mom’s eyes were stony with anger. “Two in two days. Interesting. Let’s go Lilith.”

Lilith’s face reddened as she and Mom slipped by Mick.

“Thank you, Mrs. Park,” Mick said matter-of-factly.

“Oh, you are welcome.” Mom smiled, sliding her eyes toward me and back to him. She extended her long thin hand for Mick to take. “Fae.”

“Thank you, Fae.” Mick drew Mom’s hand to his lips, giving it a little peck.

A slight gasp escaped Mom’s lips, she pulled her hand away from him and tucked it into her chest. I’d like to think she gasped because of how handsome Mick was, but my witchy sense told me she could feel a reason why he was here or the danger surrounding him.

“Have you been injured?” Mom questioned. My head tilted back, my mouth opened and my eyes focused on the ceiling.
Here come the questions
. “I mean you seem to be doubled over to the side.”

“Yes. Playing basketball.” He pulled his shirt up and showed Mom the bandage. Mom gasped at the size of the bandage, where Lilith and I gasped at his washboard abs. I kept a steady gaze looking at him, enjoying the thought of me working closely with him until he dropped his shirt back down, tucking it in his jeans.

My eyes drew up to his. His stare back was bold and assessing, but a playful grin tipped his lips like he knew I was gawking at his stomach.

“Did you say someone is injured?” Auntie Meme sashayed into the room in her full Spell Circle regalia. The typical witch pointy hat with the lace hanging from the edges and over her face was planted firmly on her head. Her thick curly hair stuck out all over the place underneath it. She had on her ceremonial long black turtleneck dress, complete with long sleeves—every image the mortals had of a typical witch, she looked it. Her pointy black, heeled laced-up boots would have completed the outfit, but it didn’t. The broom firmly in her grip did.

“Whoa,” Mick pulled back taking a good gander at Auntie Meme. “Looks like someone is ready for Halloween.”

“Who are you?” Auntie Meme drew her hand up to the lace covering her face, lifting it up. She eased a little closer to Mick, giving him a good sniff. Something she did to all the new people who came into the house, which wasn’t many. “Hmmm.” Auntie Meme assessed him, ending her glare at me. “Can I see you, sweet niece? All of you?” Auntie Meme gave the look to Mom and Lilith, and twirled her finger around at us.

“We will be right back,” I said glaring at him.

We disappeared down the hall into the foyer of the brownstone. The four of us huddled in a little circle.

“Did you forget the Spell Circle meeting tonight?” Auntie Meme asked me.

“No.” I shook my head. “I have no idea how he found me.”

“He found you?” she asked, sliding her eyes toward Mom. Both of them looked like they had fear in them. “Is he the three?” Auntie Meme held up three fingers referring to me telling them about the three times I had seen him and the three times my spells didn’t work.

I nodded.

“Oh no.” Mom shook her head profusely.

Lilith stood like a zombie.

“What?” I asked looking between them. “What is going on here?”

“Well,” Auntie Meme gulped. “When you merge two worlds like ours, there are only a handful of people who the magic doesn’t really completely work on.”

“Oh my God.” I smacked my hand to my head remembering how Mick saw me get the package out of the dumpster, found me at The Brew, knew some details about me and Vinnie and how we got him out of the warehouse. None of my spells had worked on him.

“Right.” Mom nodded. “The number is three.”

“What?” I barked a question.

“It takes three times for the spell not to work before you find your life’s journey. And it also means that those people are destined to be in your world as you are destined to be in their world.” Auntie Meme was telling me details about the worlds I had been so desperately trying to keep separate. “He is in danger.” Auntie Meme’s words came out like daggers. “Danger that you are neither prepared to handle nor have learned how to handle. Danger that will force you to use magic, allowing him to see deeper into our world.”

“What does all this mean?” I asked cutting to the chase. This was worse than I had initially thought. “Is my Witchy Hour coming?”

There was no way I was destined to be with Mick. In his world. I didn’t even know what his world was. All I knew was I got an earthquake deep inside my soul when I was around him, but I figured it was my body responding to an attraction I wasn’t about to scratch.

“Are you dating him?” Mom wrung her hands.

Auntie Meme brushed Mom aside.

“When the mortal world collides with our world and we meet someone we are destined to meet, that is our life’s work in their world. He is in a dangerous line of work, which means you are somehow destined to work within that world. A world we,” she gestured between my family who were now circling me, “don’t want you to be part of. You need to dump him and immediately start to date Abram.”

“What?” There was no way I was going to date either of them, especially Abram.

Mom was chanting something under her breath, some sort of prayer. Riule jumped up into her arms, giving her some sort of comfort. With her eyes closed, Mom rubbed her familiar and continued to chant.

“Your mom had a feeling you were getting close to receiving your world collision. Your life’s journey. Hell. . .your Witchy Hour.” Auntie Meme tapped the red stone dangling around my neck. “And we had Abram put a tracker in Vinnie’s tire well allowing Vinnie to keep track of you when you wear the stone. Of course Abram has no idea.”

“What does this mean?” I desperately needed to know. “You don’t trust me? You are tracking me?”

“This is why we wanted you to date and marry Abram.” Mom walked back and forth behind Auntie Meme babbling all sorts of plans she had for me. Plans unbeknownst to me. “See what happens when you date a mortal unlike Abram. A mortal who is in danger. I should have kept you girls in the Coven. We should have never moved to Louisville.” She stopped and pointed her finger at Auntie Meme. “I should have never let you talk me into moving into the mortal world and let you open the diner. That’s where she met this guy.”

It was true. Mom and Auntie Meme left the Coven when we were younger, leaving my dad there since he didn’t want to leave. We did see my dad a couple of times a year, but it was on him to decide when. The Coven was a group with the same way to live. Mom and Auntie Meme wanted more for me and Lilith, moving us to Belgravia Court.

“Stop,” I grabbed both of them by the arm and drew them near me. “He is going to hear you.” Both of them jerked away from me. “Tell me. What does all this mean?” I asked again tapping the stone necklace with my fingernail.

“This means you have to wear the stone at all times. This means you need to figure out what your place in this new world means to you and your life. We aren’t tracking you. The stone lets you keep in touch with Vinnie when you are not with him.” Auntie Meme curled her head around mine, looking back toward the kitchen. “And him, he can’t know all the truth. You continue to do what your senses tell you is right; you will know, but he cannot know we are witches or there will be dire consequences.”

“I say dump him now.” Mom dispensed with the pleasantries and meet fire with fire.

“Fae, you know if this is her life’s journey, she can’t do that.” Auntie Meme patted Mom on the back trying to calm her down.

None of this bothered Lilith in the least bit. Gilbert sat on her shoulder while she picked at her manicured nails and deeply sighed a few times, probably happy the heat was on me and not her. All of their familiars were making them feel better. Me? Not so much.

“But. . .” I was going to blurt out how SKUL had asked me to help them with one case, but I figured the less they knew, the better off I was. If I did know them, and I did, they would show up at every sting I had with SKUL on this one case.

Plus, there was no way Mick and I could ever be an item.
Ridiculous.

This was what the Witchy Hour was? Two worlds colliding? There were so many questions I had swirling around in my head. How was I supposed to know what to let Mick know and not know? Rely on my senses?
Huh
. That failed me a few times. And working with SKUL was my destiny between the two worlds? Mick found me because we were destined to be a part of each other’s lives? None of this was making sense to me.

“What about her?” I pointed toward Lilith.  “What the hell is her gig in this colliding world crap?”

I wished I could erase the last couple of weeks and have a do-over. Or even still live out in the country where we grew up and where the witchy life was easy.

“Everyone’s colliding is different. Hers hasn’t happened.” Mom lifted her chin, her eyes dark, deep, and piercing.

“I hate to break up the little family meeting, but not only is the pot of beans boiling over, but there are about four women dressed like her at the back door.” Mick stood in the middle of the hallway, rubbing his hands together before pointing over his shoulder toward the kitchen. Uneasy, he rocked back and forth on his heels before he stuck his hands in his front pockets.

Mom and Auntie Meme pushed their way past him and disappeared into the kitchen. Lilith and Gilbert darted up the steps to the second floor to her room.

“Did I interrupt a party or something, because I can come back.” Mick walked toward me, not taking his eyes off of Lilith. My mind was still trying to wrap around the little pow-wow my family just had and all the information swirling in my head about this concept of worlds colliding. Why didn’t
I
have a say in my existence? “Was that a purple macaw?”

“No. I mean yes. A rare purple macaw.” I ran a loving hand down Mick’s arm, talking loud enough for Mom and Auntie Meme’s eavesdropping ears to hear me. “No, you aren’t interrupting anything. I was just telling my mom and auntie how we have been dating.”

He drew back, his mouth opened and then closed after he saw me give him the deer-in-headlights look.

“And my auntie’s Spell. . .” I paused trying to sense if I let him in on what the Spell Circle really was, but as it really didn’t have anything to do with him and me, I lied,  “They are a book club and since it’s so close to Halloween, they like to dress as characters of the books they are reading.” I laughed, wiggling my finger around my ear like they were all crazy. “You should have seen them when they read
Gone With The Wind.”
I twirled as though I had on a ball gown. “Besides, they are old and a little nuts.”

“Oh.” Mick’s eyes narrowed. “Halloween is a few months away.”

“They are old.” I circled my finger around my ear gesturing crazy.

“We need to talk about the case. I’d like to get this one solved and out of the way.” He didn’t question my explanation of my crazy auntie and the Spell Circle.

“How did you find me?” I asked, grabbing him by the elbow.

“I followed you.” His stony face told me he was still questioning who I was—and for good reason.

I was unsure how to bring both worlds together without exposing too much.

“My house is off limits.” I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was around. “They cannot know about any of this. Do you understand?”

“That is best for the case anyway. You are going to be going undercover and no one can know about this.” His words made the actual danger I could be putting myself in a little more official. “We have to talk about it. I have to give you the instructions.”

“Fine.” I put my hand on his arm and quickly pulled it away. I bit my lip trying to figure out how to meet him without tipping suspicion on a gaggle of witches who were already curious. “How about a cup of coffee at The Brew in the morning?” I tapped my watch. It was well after our five o’clock suppertime. “It’s suppertime and Mom doesn’t like me to be late.”

The front door opened. Abram walked in and stopped when he saw me standing there with Mick. His blond hair stood straight up in the air, his freckles deepened in color from the anger resulting from seeing Mick standing close to me.

“Who’s this?” Abram asked.

“Abram, this is Mick Jasper.” I did a quick introduction. “My…”

“Her boyfriend.” Mick put his hand out for Abram to shake.

I groaned. My jaw clenched and I sucked in a big breath. It was the worst thing Mick could’ve said to Abram, of all people.

Abram eyed Mick, as Mick eyed Abram. The guy nod was exchanged between them. Both of them puffed out their chests. I rolled my eyes.

“Boyfriend?” Abram asked in a grudging voice. His body stiffened. His hands curled into fists.

“Supper is ready.” I lifted my brows at Abram, ignoring his question. “Everyone is waiting.”

“Yeah, I’m late. Ronnie was busting my balls this afternoon. He’s all sore Fae hasn’t invited him to stay for supper.” Abram never took his eyes off of Mick. He took a step backward and stopped. “How did Vinnie do today? A little less action on the new tires?”

“Who’s Vinnie?” Mick questioned.

“You’re her boyfriend and you don’t know Vinnie?” Abram’s body was rigid, his fists clenched. I anticipated him throwing a fist.

Mick curled his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me tight, cutting off my breathing.

“Ouch. Tight.” I shrugged my shoulders, knocking his arm off of me. My hand flew up to his chest and rested there, lingering a little too long because I could feel the outline of his muscles.

“Her car, you—” Abram stopped his big mouth. His eyes lowered, fire deep in them.

“My car.” I pulled my hand away and clasped them in front of me. “I have a name for my car. Girl thing.” I glared at Abram to shut his mouth. “Abram is our family mechanic and childhood friend. He lives here on Belgravia Court too. He came for supper.” I looked at Abram, through gritted teeth I said, “You better go get some food. Auntie Meme’s book club is here.”

“Book club?” Abram had a confused look on his face. “Since when did she start reading?”

“Hey Abram.” Lilith skipped down the stairs grabbing him by the arm, jerking him toward the kitchen.

He stumbled over his feet a couple times, looking back at me and Mick as Lilith dragged him toward the kitchen.