Bewitched and Betrothed Read online

  My eyes fell on the old oven mitt my mother had sewn. It wouldn’t be attractive to anyone except me, but it would be a sacrifice to give it up. Still, the oven mitt wouldn’t be enough. What about the trousseau Maggie was sewing for me, with a little bit of well-intentioned knot magic and love in every stitch? The maternal love I had yearned for, for so long?

  Could I bring myself to give up such a thing?

  As I pondered, I heard the sound of heavy boots on wooden stairs.

  Sailor.

  I met him at the door.

  “Hi,” I said, feeling strangely shy.

  “Hi,” he responded. Our gaze held for a long moment. “May I come in?”

  “Of course you can come in.” I turned away, at my wit’s end. “Land sakes.”

  “Come here.” He pulled me into his arms. We hugged for a long moment; I closed my eyes, rested my head on his chest, and reveled in his scent.

  “I like your garland,” Sailor whispered. “You look like a fairy queen.”

  “I’m glad you’re here,” I said.

  “Me, too,” Sailor said as we moved into the kitchen. He set the bottle of wine he had brought on the counter. “Before we get into things, do you know where Aidan is? He seems to have gone missing.”

  “What do you mean, he’s gone missing?”

  “He’s not here. He’s gone. And no one knows where he is. Hence, he’s gone missing.”

  “But that’s not unusual for Aidan, is it? He’s disappeared before,” I said, taking wineglasses from the cupboard and a corkscrew from the drawer. “In fact, several times in my recent memory.”

  “He’s always been careful about finishing business before he leaves. He didn’t do that this time. Something’s wrong,” Sailor said, looking worried.

  “You don’t even like Aidan.”

  “No, I don’t, and I would be happy to see him leave town once and for all.” Sailor opened the bottle to let the wine breathe. “But not like this. When’s the last time you had contact with him?”

  “Last night, as a matter of fact. Right before he left for an appointment with you and ‘Amanda.’” I couldn’t help putting a spin on his ex-wife’s name.

  “He never showed.”

  My heart sank, not because Aidan had missed a meeting—the man had a flaky side—but because Sailor had broken a date with me to be with Amanda. Could I have been so wrong about him? Did Sailor still have feelings for his ex-wife?

  “Aidan’s been getting weaker,” Sailor continued. “I know you’ve felt it. I think a vila has been following him.”

  “I thought you had a vila following you.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “Your aunt Renna.”

  “When was this? When did you see Renna?”

  “A while back, remember? She wanted me to find the charm you used to remain independent from her and Aidan.”

  “I remember.”

  “But I also saw her yesterday.”

  “What? Why?”

  “You know very well why.”

  A muscle worked in his jaw. Sailor’s heavy five-o’clock shadow made me want to reach up and touch his face, feel his whiskers tickle my palm. Any other time, I would have done so. How had things become so strained between us?

  “She’s doing much better, by the way. I’m surprised Eric didn’t mention it.”

  “I’ve been a little busy lately,” Sailor said, not meeting my eyes. “What happened with Renna?”

  “She told me Amanda is your ‘queen.’”

  He let out a harsh laugh. “That’s overstating the case just a tad.”

  I didn’t want to ask—but I had to know the truth. “What does that mean? Do you still love her?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “You—what?” I felt my heart pounding and a sick despair in the pit of my stomach.

  He ran a hand over his face in a gesture both exasperated and weary. “It’s not what you think, Lily.”

  “Really? Seems pretty straightforward to me. You love her.”

  “No, no—not like that. I love her like a brother.”

  “Oh, please,” I said, angry now. “How gullible do you think I am? If Amanda reminds you of a sister, then you have some very odd ideas about sisters.”

  “I’m not explaining this well,” Sailor said, growing calm. “You’ve never been involved in a serious romantic relationship, Lily, so maybe it’s hard to understand. I loved Amanda once, and I will always care for her. But at this point those feelings are . . . familial, for lack of a better word.”

  “What else?” I asked, trying to keep a rein on my emotions. “You’re holding something back.”

  He gazed at me, then looked away. “You’re right, there is something else. I haven’t wanted to tell you this because I was hoping I could resolve it, make it go away so it wouldn’t worry you. But . . .”

  “Land sakes, Sailor! Just spit it out before I have a coronary.”

  “Amanda and I aren’t divorced.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The legal papers weren’t properly filed. Amanda told me she had taken care of everything, and at the time I was so anxious to get away that I didn’t follow up.”

  “So . . . you’re still married.”

  “Just technically.”

  “That’s kind of a big technicality, don’t you think?”

  “It doesn’t have to be. I had a lawyer draw up new papers, and Amanda and I have signed them. We were supposed to meet with Aidan last night in the hopes that he could expedite things—he has some pull in this town. But in any case, all the i’s have been dotted and all the t’s have been crossed this time, I made sure of it. Without Aidan’s help the divorce won’t be official for six months, but it will happen, and then you and I can officially be married.”

  Relief surged through me. “So you still want to marry me?”

  “If you’ll have me,” he said, his voice quiet. “I realize I should have told you sooner, Lily, but I was . . .”

  “What?”

  He shrugged, ran a hand over his chin, and blew out a long breath. “To tell the truth, I was . . . afraid.”

  “Afraid of what?”

  “That you wouldn’t understand. That you wouldn’t wait. After everything that’s happened, what we’ve been through, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d had enough. I wouldn’t have been able to bear it if you didn’t want me anymore.”

  “There’s nothing I want more.”

  Relief washed over his face and my heart leapt.

  “Besides,” I said, “Bronwyn hasn’t received her certification, either, so the handfasting won’t be legal in the eyes of the state, anyway.”

  “But more than official in my eyes,” he said softly. “I’m yours, body and soul, Lily. May the goddess help you.”

  I laughed, Sailor smiled, and we held each other tight.

  “Anyway, it could be worse,” Sailor murmured. “Amanda remarried a couple of years ago, so she’s officially a bigamist.”

  I turned into his chest to stifle my laugh. “Lord, what fools we mortals be.”

  Sailor kissed my hair and quoted: “‘And I serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green.’”

  “That sounds a little bit dirty,” I said, pulling back and looking at him askance.

  Sailor reared back. “It’s not dirty; it’s also from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s about the fairy circle. Anyway, you started it with the Shakespeare quotes.”

  I smiled. “I know, I know; that’s one of Maya’s favorite scenes. Doesn’t it go on to say something about the fairy queen crowning him with flowers and making him all her joy?”

  “I believe it does.”

  I placed my garland upon his head.

  “You expect me to wear this?”

  �
�You look fabulous. A true fairy prince.” He smiled but looked uncertain. “I’m serious. It suits you. You should wear a garland for our handfasting. So just to be clear: This divorce—or more particularly, this lack of divorce—is why you’ve been sneaking around lately?”

  “I haven’t been ‘sneaking around,’” he protested. “I’ve been dealing with clients and trying to solidify our alliances in case we have to confront whatever’s on the horizon with Renee-the-cupcake-lady. All the omens point toward something ratcheting up in the astral plane.”

  I nodded. “I think the demon we first met at the School of Fine Arts has been summoned, perhaps to serve Renee’s coincidentia oppositorum, so they can take over.”

  “Who has Renee found to be her opposite?”

  “I’m not sure . . . but I think it might be Kyle Cheney.”

  “The Kyle Cheney? The rich computer guy?”

  I nodded. “He invested in Renee’s cupcake company, and he’s employing a bunch of young and inexperienced people to work as ‘security guards.’ He’s also disappeared recently. I think the Festival of Felons might turn into some sort of terrible demonic sacrifice.”

  “Have you told Carlos?”

  “I intend to, but at the moment I’m not sure how to explain it, plus I’m still trying to figure it all out. Then, too, I have two more nights until the spell is complete and I’ll be strong enough to go up against the demon without losing my soul.”

  “Good point. The festival is in two nights, isn’t it?”

  “It’s also the full moon.”

  “Time to plan and prepare.”

  I nodded. “So, not to change the subject or anything, but did you invite Amanda to the handfasting?”

  Sailor looked surprised. “Why would I do that?”

  I shrugged. “If she’s important to you . . .”

  “She was important to me, of course she was,” he said. “But I was a different person then, Lily. I could never be that man again. I’m your man now, lock, stock, and barrel.”

  “Well, then, my man, it’s time we had that talk we keep talking about.”

  I filled our wineglasses, and we went out to the terrace to enjoy the fresh summer evening and the moonlight as we spoke about children, how we would share my small apartment without driving each other and Oscar crazy, how we would mingle our finances. Some of it was hard, a lot of it was awkward, but all of it was necessary.

  Two glasses of wine later, Sailor said: “So, have we covered everything?”

  “I’m sure we’ve missed a few things, but I feel like we got to the important stuff. Oh! One more item.”

  “Shoot.”

  “What’s your middle name?”

  “Zeus.”

  “Zeus? Your parents named you ‘Sailor Zeus’?”

  “What can I say? Maybe they didn’t like me very much.”

  I grinned. “I love it. I might have chosen Eros, the Greek god of love instead, but I’ll take it.”

  “Not sure the name ‘Eros’ works well in the twenty-first century.”

  “Oh, right—unlike Zeus,” I teased. “Actually, there’s one more thing we need to discuss: I asked Carlos if he would stand up with you at the handfasting. I know I should have talked to you about it first, but—”

  Sailor cut me off with a kiss. “I think it’s a great idea. Invite whomever you want. Charles the Charlatan, Amanda the Bigamist and her current husband, all of Conrad’s gutter punk friends, assorted gobgoyles of Oscar’s acquaintance—I don’t care.” His voice dropped, husky with emotion. “As long as I’m marrying you, I’ll be the happiest man alive.”

  I kissed him back, and there was no more talking.

  Chapter 24

  The next morning I awoke to a commotion in the shop and slipped downstairs to find the Victorian petticoat Sitri had tossed to me dancing to a ghostly tune emanating from a supposedly nonfunctioning music box. This had happened once before, the first time I brought clothes from the School of Fine Arts into Aunt Cora’s Closet.

  No doubt about it at this point, Sitri was at play.

  Before opening the store later this morning, when I cast my usual spell over Aunt Cora’s Closet for protection, I would cleanse widdershins thrice with saltwater. A little extra was called for in light of what was going on. And I would burn that petticoat.

  But for now, I let the frilly chemise spin and twirl, not wanting to waste my energy.

  Upstairs, I found that Sailor was up and had already put on coffee. After a good-morning kiss, I asked:

  “So you think Aidan is truly missing?” I asked. “Not just out of town for a few days?”

  “Like I said, he drops out of touch from time to time, but he always puts someone in charge or leaves word of how to reach him. He did neither this time.”

  “As a matter of fact, he mentioned to me last night that he would need to take a leave of absence, but he gave no indication his departure would be imminent. Last I heard he was on his way to meet with you and Amanda.”

  “I did have a vision last night, of a red rose.”

  “Isn’t a red rose the symbol of romantic love?”

  “It can be—so maybe it came to me because I was with you. But it’s also related to blood, and sacrifice. Is Oscar around?”

  “His nest is empty,” I said. “I haven’t seen him since . . . actually, not since night before last, now that I think of it. That’s not unusual, though. He’s been searching for his mother, so he’s gone a lot these days—or nights, to be precise.”

  “When you see him, ask if he knows how to get in touch with Aidan.”

  “Of course. In the meantime, what can we do?”

  “I’ve tried to divine him, and so has Patience. But Aidan’s too well guarded—it’s sort of like you. I can’t read you, even when I try.”

  “You often seem to know if I’m in danger,” I pointed out.

  “In times of great stress I feel you calling for me, but even then not always. If I’m in a trance, for example, I won’t feel it. I had no clue about what you and Carlos went through on Alcatraz the other day until you told me.”

  Guilt passed over his handsome features.

  “You can hardly keep tabs on me twenty-four/seven, Sailor. I wouldn’t want you to, even if you could. You and I will never be strangers to danger. I think that’s part of what we’ll have to get used to, both of us.”

  He nodded. “I know. You’re right. I just . . . I don’t like it.”

  I smiled. “I’m not wild about it, myself. I’m guessing that’s part of the challenge of a relationship, to hold on to each other without holding each other back.”

  “Sounds like somebody’s been reading self-help books on how to build a lasting marriage.”

  “Actually, I think I saw it on a T-shirt down by Fisherman’s Wharf,” I said with a laugh. “But who says great wisdom can’t come from a T-shirt?”

  * * *

  • • •

  Sailor went off to check on his aunt Renna and to discuss the family’s part in the upcoming battle, and to continue his search for Aidan.

  I dealt with the petticoat and cleansed the store, and when Bronwyn and Maya arrived I gave them a brief rundown of what I feared would happen the day after tomorrow, at the Festival of Felons.

  “That sounds . . . really bad,” said Maya.

  “Lily, is there anything we can do?” asked Bronwyn.

  “Maybe leave town, in case I fail?” I said. It was a feeble attempt at a joke, but as soon as I said it, I realized it contained a large dose of truth. I feared failing and letting down my friends, my community, my people. There was no way to evacuate the entire city, even if I could somehow convince the authorities of the looming threat. But I wanted the people I loved to be safe, at the very least. “Seriously, do you think you could take your families and get out of town?”
r />   “Oh, my. Are you sure we can’t be of help?” Bronwyn asked. “I could call the Welcome coven together. . . .”

  “This is beyond the capabilities of the Welcome coven,” I said. “Though I certainly appreciate the offer. It’s going to be . . . bad. But I won’t be alone, we have a lot of allies.”

  Just then the bell tinkled over the front door as Carlos strode in.

  “How’s Elena?” Maya asked.

  “She’s doing much better, thank you. She seemed to turn a corner last night and seems much more herself.”

  “I’m so glad,” said Maya. “Please give her my best.”

  “I will, thanks,” said Carlos. “Lily, do you have a moment?”

  “Of course.” I led the way into the back room and we took seats at the table.

  “I couldn’t get you copies of Perry’s letters,” Carlos said. “At least not yet. It took a while to get the full story, but the archivist who found the letters did, in fact, read them, and scanned them into the computer.”

  “And?”

  “They’re keeping them on the down-low for the moment. According to the letters, not only did Ray Perry allege abuse at the hands of some of the guards, but he claimed they were performing rites in the dungeon in an effort to call a demon.”

  I nodded.

  “You don’t seem surprised,” Carlos said. “Is this what you suspected?”

  “It’s what I feared. Did the letters refer to any of the guards by name?”

  He referred to the notebook he kept in his pocket. “Stephens, Krewson, Przybyszewski, Mylon, Gordon. Those names mean anything to you?”

  I nodded. “Hold on a second.”

  I ran upstairs and brought down the framed photograph of Ned Przybyszewski in his guard uniform I had found in Emmy Lou Archer’s attic, along with the bundle of photos that had been at the bottom of the box.

  “This is Ned Przybyszewski,” I said, handing Carlos the framed photo. “Maya found the inmate uniform—the shirt that started all of this—in the attic of his former home.”

  “So he was in on whatever this was. Ray Perry was killed—”

  “Sacrificed.”