In A Witch's Wardrobe Read online

  “I’m not making this up, Sailor.”

  “What possible reason would she have for doing it?”

  “To distract me.”

  “And are you that easily swayed?”

  “Not… normally.” But if I were already falling in love with him, unbeknownst even to myself… ? Then such a spell might make for a powerful potion.

  “Come here,” he said. He pulled me across the seat into his embrace, didn’t try to kiss me but simply hugged me to his strong chest. He breathed deeply, as though taking in my scent. Finally he pulled back, not letting me go but looking down into my eyes. “You are a witch with a pretty strong guard up, twenty-four-seven. I’m an exceedingly cranky psychic, also carefully guarded. You think this woman is capable, of—what?—slipping ground-up bird hearts into our food, overcoming our natural barriers, and convincing us of something that wasn’t there?”

  “You were ready to accuse me of casting a spell on you.”

  “Yes, well, that would make sense. You’ve already proved yourself capable of getting past my very manly defenses.”

  I smiled.

  “Anyway,” I continued, “Calypso has some sort of connection with Aidan. She could be more powerful than I thought.”

  He shook his head and gave me a crooked smile. “And what explains the feelings I’ve had for you from the first moment you disturbed my peace at the bar?”

  “What feelings?”

  “Oh, wouldn’t you like to know?” he teased. Then his voice dropped. “The feeling that I wanted to wrap my hand in your hair. That I wanted to kiss every bit of you, everywhere. That you scared the hell out of me because I couldn’t remain as cold to you as I wanted?”

  The breath left my body, leaving me speechless.

  “I’ve thought of you, Lily.”

  He kissed me. This time it was so very sweet, searching but not pushy, beckoning. I leaned into him.

  “Get a room,” I heard. It was Jonathan, walking down the sidewalk with the baby in a sling close to his chest and Duke right beside him.

  “Oh, I, uh…” My cheeks burned as I stammered. Sailor and I climbed out of the convertible. I introduced the men and little Luna, who was cooing, smiling and happy in Jonathan’s arms. I raised questioning eyes to Duke. He grinned.

  “You believe this? She’s cured. I don’t know if it was the egg thing you did, or the crazy spell that other gal cast, but she woke up bright and smiley yesterday morning.”

  “What ‘other gal’? Was it an older woman?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, about Miriam’s age. I thought you sent her—I saw her at your shop once. Real nice, long reddish hair?”

  “Jonquil?” I looked at Jonathan.

  He shook his head. “I wasn’t there.”

  “What kind of spell was it, do you know?”

  Duke shrugged. “She massaged her with some kind of salve she made herself, she said, and then she said a bunch of words over her. Sort of like what you did with the egg. It didn’t hurt her. Luna slept the whole night through, and woke up happy for the first time in ages.”

  “Jonathan,” I asked, “how well do you know Jonquil? Was she one of Calypso’s foster daughters?”

  “Oh, I don’t know anything about that. All I know about Calypso is that she ran that botanicals class. Miriam really adored her; they all did.”

  “But you’ve never met her yourself?”

  “No. I guess she usually stayed pretty close to home. The drive out there is kind of long.”

  I nodded. “I’m looking for Anise and Jonquil. I don’t suppose you know where I could find them?”

  “Actually, I do. I mean, not right this second, but they were talking about going to the movies tonight. They invited me, but I’m babysitting my little buddy here.”

  “The movies?”

  “Yeah, right here at the Paramount. They show old movies on Thursday. Tonight’s The Philadelphia Story, with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. They’re taking Rex, trying to get his mind off of what happened with Tarra. I think Wolf’s going, too.”

  The whole gang. It could be handy to have them all in the same place.

  Chapter 24

  Sailor asked if he could borrow my car to run some errands, and we agreed he would pick me up later and accompany me to the Paramount. Then he dropped me off at Aunt Cora’s Closet. I had a lot of concentrating to do, so I was just as happy Sailor wouldn’t be hanging around, distracting me.

  First, I had to decide between a binding spell and a banishing spell. A banishing spell would keep the target out of my hair, but would simply redirect their anger on another unsuspecting soul. A binding spell would tie us together, enmesh my life with theirs, but give me a modicum of control over what kinds of actions they carried out.

  I took a deep breath and pondered my options. What I wanted to do was a banishing spell, but I knew what I had to do. I brought out the ingredients for the binding spell.

  Using her home grown herbs, which Calypso had tended with her own hands, would help. When nurturing plants, we bless them with a bit of ourselves. These plants had a connection to Calypso, and though it wasn’t as powerful as using her nail clippings or hair, they would provide a link.

  I ground the herbs, brewed them in my cauldron, cut my palm and dropped in some of my own blood as a sacrifice. And with Oscar by my side, I called on my guiding spirit.

  Finally, I chanted while letting three drops of the brew fall on my trusty medicine bag.

  “It is done, so mote it be,” I intoned.

  For better or worse, Calypso Cafaro and I were now bound.

  We spent the rest of the day cleaning up Aunt Cora’s Closet. Bronwyn’s coven sisters came by to help, and even Wendy showed up, bringing pastries from the café to share with the workers and giving me a hug in silent apology. Several of the women from the shelter came to lend a hand as well, and though Conrad refused to talk about the other night, claiming amnesia, he pitched right in. With so many working together, the work went quickly.

  “Want to order pizza and work all night till we get this done?” asked Bronwyn after several hours.

  “I can’t, I’m afraid. I’ve got a thing tonight.”

  “Oh! Do tell! A date?”

  “Um, kind of. I’m going to the movies.”

  “With a date?”

  “Sort of.”

  Maya’s head swung around. “A date? Is Max back?”

  “What? No.”

  “Aidan, then? I thought he ditched you last time?” said Maya.

  “No, not Aidan.”

  “Tell you what, Lily. You do go through some men,” Bronwyn said.

  “Very funny. It’s… Sailor.”

  “Sailor? Seriously?” Bronwyn and Maya exchanged looks.

  “Why not?”

  “He’s a little… dark.”

  “Dark?”

  “It’s just that you have a few tendencies toward the gloomy, yourself,” said Maya. “We were thinking you might do well with someone a little… sunnier.”

  “Sunnier. You’re saying Aidan is ‘sunny’?”

  “He always seems to be happy,” Bronwyn said. “An optimist.”

  “You don’t know him as well as I do,” I said, still reeling a bit at the idea that my friends had been discussing my love life. “Trust me on this: The man is not particularly sunny, at least not around me.”

  “Be that as it may,” said Bronwyn, “we all know Sailor’s not exactly a carefree soul.”

  “I do like him, though,” said Maya.

  “So do I,” said Bronwyn. “But whether he’s right for you…”

  Maybe they were right; maybe he wasn’t the best man for me. It was still so new, the jury was out. But there was something powerful between us. Still, I supposed it was possible Sailor was only with me for magical reasons, which was just too depressing to think about.

  Just then Sailor pulled up outside in the Mustang, the top down so he could enjoy the pleasant evening. Through the newly replaced plate
-glass window, I could see him chatting with Conrad. I liked that the two men were friendly. My heart leaped at the sight of him.

  “Anyway, I appreciate y’all’s concern. But I have to go to the movies now.”

  “Come on, Oscar, want to go for a ride?” My potbellied pig practically sailed over the debris to join us.

  I had wondered, after binding Calypso, whether the love spell might fall away and I would see Sailor as just a man again. But the chemistry was still there. He greeted me with a long, deep kiss.

  * * *

  Once we arrived and found parking, I let Oscar out to go search for gargoyles. Sailor didn’t ask why I was permitting my pet pig to wander the streets of downtown Oakland. One of the many things I adored about the man.

  Sailor and I both eyed the Paramount Theater with some trepidation. As we approached the ticket booth, I looked up at the tall mosaic façade of the theater and repressed a shiver. I hoped Sailor was correct when he told me that the crowds here tonight—the live crowds—would keep at bay the angry ghosts we encountered last time.

  We bought our tickets and walked in. I couldn’t help remembering being here with Aidan on the night of the ball. Oscar was right—I’d better take some pains to keep Aidan from finding out about my new romantic interest, for my sake, and especially for Sailor’s.

  The lobby was crowded with moviegoers, chatting and sipping on drinks. One unusual feature of the Paramount was the full bar. While patrons weren’t allowed to take drinks into the theater itself, apparently the bar served before events and during intermissions, in the style of opera houses. It lent itself to more social interaction than was seen with the standard multiplex audience.

  After a brief search of the crowd, I spied Wolfgang and Jonquil off in a secluded corner of the lobby, their heads close together, smiling and speaking in soft tones. Canoodling, my mother always called it. The way Sailor and I had been acting all day.

  Well… that was interesting.

  The lights overhead must have been halogen… . I noticed that distinctive shimmer of Aidan’s glamour. But it wasn’t covering Wolfgang as I had seen it before; now it lay like dust on the floor around him. He was no longer protected.

  A witch’s spell might have been powerful enough to do that, particularly if Wolfgang ingested something. Something from a spell involving blood sacrifice, perhaps?

  “Whoa,” said Anise from behind me. She balanced three glasses of wine in her hands and was headed toward the couple. “I remember you. What are you doing here?”

  “Just came to see the movie,” I lied. “Anise, who is your messenger at the florist shop? Who delivered the corsage to Miriam last weekend? Do you remember?”

  She frowned as though it hurt to think. Then she finally met my eyes and blinked. “It used to be Tarra, but then she… died. Jonquil took over. Just started last weekend.”

  I couldn’t believe I didn’t think to ask that question before. It wasn’t Calypso at all.

  As though I had called her, Calypso wound her way through the crowd toward me, with Rex close on her heels. She seemed to understand right away that my presence at the Paramount was no coincidence.

  “What’s going on?” she asked me as she approached, her voice hushed.

  Sailor stood right behind me, a support in more ways than one. I felt myself leaning back into his strength.

  “I… When’s the last time you were home?” I asked, glancing over at Jonquil and Wolf. They seemed impervious to everything around them, paying attention only to each other.

  “Not since last night. After hearing about Tarra, I came down and stayed with friends from the Unspoken coven. I wanted to offer them my support.”

  “Someone’s been spell casting in your greenhouse.”

  “No, I… It’s impossible. The plants wouldn’t allow that.”

  “Unless they knew her, were familiar with her from your classes, maybe?”

  I looked back at the happy couple, and Calypso followed my gaze.

  “Jonquil?” she said, her voice shaky. “You’re saying Jonquil was casting in my greenhouse, with my plants? I’ve tried so hard to… to forgive her, to bring her back into my life. I can’t believe she’d—”

  “She did,” I said, cutting her off.

  Jonquil. Of course. Who else might have had a desperate, needy crush on Wolfgang, who was himself so in love with Tarra? Who else might have texted a confused, sedated Anise to put henbane into a corsage and then added a curse before delivering it? Who didn’t know her own strength, much less how to control it? And who’d been upset at accidentally poisoning a baby and gone to help her?

  I was about to head toward the corner to confront her when I realized Jonquil and Wolfgang were no longer there.

  “Look, I think Jonquil’s gone after Miriam’s spirit. I don’t have time to explain, but will you help me? We need to follow her downstairs.”

  “I’ll do anything I can,” Calypso said.

  “Wait,” said Anise. “What’s going on?”

  “Stay here,” I said. “Rex, stay with her, will you?”

  He nodded and wrapped his arm around her protectively.

  Calypso, Sailor, and I rushed to the back of the lobby and down the stairs. We found Jonquil in the ladies’ lounge, on her knees, chanting. Even from the doorway we could see Miriam’s image in the mirror. She was yelling, crying, banging her fists against the reverse surface of the mirror.

  Jonquil answered her, eyes narrowing, whispering and mumbling.

  Wolfgang barred the entrance.

  “Let us in,” I said.

  Wolfgang shook his head. “Sorry, Lily. You can’t be here. This is a coven issue.”

  “It’s not the coven, Wolf; it’s Jonquil. She’s out of control.”

  “Jonquil is the coven.”

  “Listen to me, Wolf. You’re suffering under a spell—”

  “Stand aside,” Sailor ordered, accurately sensing that logic was futile.

  “In your dreams,” sneered Wolfgang.

  Sailor shoved Wolf, and the men started wrestling. Calypso and I squeezed past them.

  “Liqunoj vague eem pil mawb,” said Miriam. I understood her now, though it was a little late: Jonquil gave me lip balm. It wasn’t a pill she was trying to tell me about. “Pil mawb” meant “lip balm.” Miriam had been trying to tell me all along that it was Jonquil.

  “Muheereem M’ai reeh ute pleh,” I responded with the few words I’d practiced: I’m here to help.

  I tried to keep up with what Miriam was saying, but despite my recent studies, her rapid backward talk was still beyond me.

  Unfortunately, I could decipher what Jonquil was muttering about: She was casting a curse.

  I started incanting against her, holding my medicine bag in my left hand and rolling my eyes back in my head, concentrating. Calypso circled around to the other side of her, and though she wasn’t casting, I could feel her reflecting my power. Intensifying it.

  Jonquil stopped abruptly, looking at both of us. Miriam continued to protest, but her anger had given way to anguish. She was crying, still pounding against the mirror but now with hands flat against the surface, defeated.

  “Stop it!” Jonquil yelled at us. “You can’t help her now.”

  “Release her, Jonquil, sweetheart,” implored Calypso. “Miriam has nothing to do with any of this.”

  “I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t mean to,” Jonquil said, tears running down her face. “I just wanted her to forget what she saw, but she’s trying to tell on me!”

  “Think about it, Jonquil. Think about what you’re doing. You can stop this,” Calypso continued in a soothing, motherly tone. “Miriam is a good person. She wouldn’t hurt you. And she has a baby who needs her.”

  “I never meant to hurt anyone… . I went back and helped the baby—tell her, Lily.”

  “You did help her, Jonquil. That was really good of you. Now we have to help Miriam—”

  “It’s not my fault. I just wanted Tarra out of
the way so Wolf would realize I was the right woman for him. I don’t know what happened. I cast the spell but”—she lowered her voice to a whisper and glared at Calypso—“then Tarra died. It must have been your fault—something about those plants you grow. They were too powerful for the spell.”

  Calypso was shaking her head, a woman enveloped in sadness. “Jonquil, please—”

  “Miriam and Anise saw me gather the plants. I had to keep them from talking, or Wolf would never forgive me.”

  “And my store?” I asked. “Why did you trash it?”

  “I was only trying to scare you, so—”

  Jonquil cut herself off as a theater guest poked her head into the lounge: “Hey, there’s two guys fighting out here,” she said.

  “Go!” I shouted at her.

  She went. But the interruption ruined our shared moment. There was no more talking.

  Jonquil started mumbling again, and so did I. But I dropped to my knees to intensify my power, yelling psychically as loud as I could for Oscar.

  He showed up seconds later.

  The mumbling continued, but I was much stronger than Jonquil. Her magic was disconnected, not based in skill and training but in anger and need. I could take her, easily, especially with Calypso acting as backup.

  Still, her restless, out-of-control energy was stirring up the ghosts in the theater. I recognized the live-wire sensation from the last time I was here with Sailor. If I didn’t get control of the situation soon, there was no telling what might happen.

  Finally, Jonquil’s magic failing, she reverted to decidedly human tactics. She hurled one of the wrought-iron chairs in my direction.

  I ducked, but she launched herself at me. We tumbled on the floor. Jonquil was stronger than she looked, quickly gaining the upper hand and pulling my long hair. I grabbed for hers, but it slipped from my hands. Calypso tried to help but couldn’t get hold of anything as we rolled around, grunting and shrieking. Jonquil managed one good sock to the eye, making me see stars. Before I could recover, Oscar butted her from behind and then, transforming into his real self, grabbed her with surprising strength and tossed her against the wall.