Everspell (12 page)

“I’ve never tried to harness a storm like this before, but I’m sure I can do it. My powers are so much stronger than they’ve ever been before. I have to do something.” The conviction in Serena’s voice was unmistakable. She would do something whether I wanted her to or not.

Jade turned fully around in the passenger seat. “Christophe! Do you think it’s him?”

“Man, what does it take to kill that dude?” Sully finally caught on to the conversation.

Serena’s body flung into mine as another earsplitting thunderclap rocked the little car. This time the lightning seemed to be right outside the car, almost as if it were tracking us.

“What’s that?” Sully pointed out the front window and we all looked in that direction. We could barely see out the rain-battered windshield. Dimly outlined on the road in front of us stood a person, tattered clothing whipping in the wind, but otherwise apparently unaffected by the unnatural storm.

A tremendous flash of lightning lit the sky as bright as sunshine and the lone figure was brilliantly illuminated.

Gypsy!

Everyone started yelling at once. It was impossible to determine who was shouting what.

“Gypsy! What is she doing here?”

“How did she get here?”

“What is going on?”

Only Serena remained silent. She opened the car door and put one foot on the ground outside.

“Where are you going?” I asked her. She turned and looked at me and answered without speaking.

I know why she’s here.
Don’t worry Logan.
We can handle this.
She opened the car door and joined Gypsy on the road.

I crammed my body through the two front seats so I could see what was happening.

“Sully, turn the car back on and use the wipers! I can’t see a thing!” The wind still screamed and I still had to shout to be heard. Sully did as I asked and I almost wished he hadn’t. As soon as the windshield cleared, the three of us could see Gypsy and Serena standing next to each other, holding their hands raised up to the sky. They were both soaked, Serena’s dress now torn to shreds by the violent wind like Gypsy’s, ripping around her legs like whips. Their hair tangled wildly in the crazy wind, flowing crazily around their heads almost like crowns.

I’d never seen anything more fascinating or beautiful.

A mini-cyclone whirled behind them. The water snake struck without warning, leaping out and coiled itself around Gypsy’s ankles.

Inside the car, Jade screamed and Sully and I hollered, but Serena was already ten steps ahead of us. She broke hands with Gypsy and grasped the tail end of the giant water snake. I felt, rather than saw her concentrate her powers on it and we watched in awe as the demonic tool of Christophe’s wrath turned from a watery viper to an icy eel. With the next clap of thunder, Gypsy reached up into the sky and coaxed a rod of lightning and redirected it into the frozen constrictor and it fell away from Gypsy’s legs and shattered into a million pieces.

Serena then called to all the water funnels that had been forming and whirled them together into one enormous tornado. Gypsy stepped back as Serena commanded all the rain clouds and water swirls into the giant whirlpool. Then she slowly ground the cyclone into the ground, whipping water from it back into the heavens as it got smaller and smaller. As rods of lightning loosened and freed themselves, escaping the confines of the funnel, Gypsy would catch them and smother them, not allowing them further damage, and never allowing them to get near the little car again. Soon, the water funnel represented nothing more than a little spurt. Then, the rain had subsided and the deafening noise from the thunder reduced to occasional low booms.

With the rain coming down now in just a manageable shower, the three of us burst from the car and ran over to Gypsy and Serena.

“
O!
M!
G!
That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen! How did you even know we were here? How did you even get here?” Jade spilled over with questions for Gypsy, but we all wanted to know the same things.

Gypsy smiled as she gave us the answers. “Prudence, of course. My mother and she were downstairs in the kitchen of the big house having tea when she had one of her visions. She knew instantly what your friends told you about breaking ground at the site of the old barn, how Christophe likely got free, and how you were in trouble in the manufactured storm. My mother looked at me and told me this would be right up my alley.”

“But how did you get here?”

Gypsy smiled again. “Can’t you guess?”

Serena knew. “Astral projection.” She turned to me. “Eve is the authority on it.” She addressed Sully and Jade. “When I received my coven training in the individual witch disciplines, Gypsy’s mother taught me about astral projection. I remember it as the hardest to learn. Even harder than flight.”

“Holy cow, Serena. You can fly?” Sully choked out.

Serena took one look at Sully and just started laughing. We all needed that to cut the tension. Leave it to Sully to bring us back to reality, or at least the new reality of my life. I hugged my girlfriend and we made plans to go home. And this time, Gypsy traveled by car.

Chapter Nineteen

LILY

I turned around this way and that, looking at myself in the full length mirror. I liked the way the dress fit, I just wasn’t sure if it would be the right thing to wear.

“What do you think?” I asked Elizabeth. I had asked her to come into my room and help me pick out an outfit. I would be going on my third date with Declan and I had a feeling it qualified as a “special” one.

“After all,” I explained to Elizabeth, “As a grown woman, with a previous marriage, I have every right to spend time with a man if I want to. Never mind that the very idea scares me half to death. I’ve never spent this much time with anyone except my husband and there had been no one since his death four years ago.” I turned around in front of the mirror and faced Elizabeth. “Sometimes it still feels like I’m cheating on Evan. And another thing. There is still something about Declan I just can’t put my finger on, some intangible quality that doesn’t seem quite right.

“I think you’re being too cautious” said Elizabeth.

“I never feel that way
with
him. Then, I seem to be completely under his spell. Only times like now, away from him, do I consider not seeing him at all. But right now, I need your help choosing a dress to wear tonight.

“You look beautiful in all of them, Lily. But, if I had to choose, I’d say the purple one. It just hugs your curves. It’s perfect on you.”

“I’m just so nervous, Elizabeth. I want to look nice.” I reached into my closet and pulled out a pair of camel-colored suede pumps. Turning to my dresser, I chose a pair of diamond earrings my husband had given me for our tenth anniversary. I hadn’t worn them in a long time. I held them in my hands a moment longer than I should have before I put them in my earlobes.
Evan
would want me to be happy,
I kept telling myself. I could hear him saying I wasn’t the dead one, and you are still alive, Lily. He would actually get mad at me for not getting out there sooner. The thought of my strong, handsome husband made me smile and a wave of longing for him rushed over me, so strong and so unexpected I had to grab the edge of the dresser as it pulsed through me. His presence seemed so compelling to me, it was as though he were here in the room with us.

“Are you listening to me, Lily? You deserve this. You work too hard as it is. A night out is just what the doctor ordered.”

“I’m listening. You’re right. It’ll be great. I’m just being silly, right?” I wasn’t fully convinced, but I turned from the dresser and put my hands on my hips. “So? What do you think? Will I pass?”

Elizabeth stood up and pretended to give me the once-over. She walked back and forth and appraised me sternly, folding her arms across her chest and cupping her chin in her hands. Then she flung her hands in the air.

“Are you kidding me?” She cried. “You look incredible!”

“Thanks. Now, let’s just get me out of here before Logan sees me.” I simply wasn’t prepared to have another conversation with him about me dating. Somehow, he could only see me as his mother. He had a very hard time seeing me as a woman, too. Hopefully, he and Serena were out somewhere.

Downstairs, I found my wrap and threw a few items into a pretty beige clutch borrowed from one of the girls. I had just applied lipstick when Logan and Jade walked in from the patio.

“Whoa, Mom! You look great!” Jade flopped down on the front room couch next to Elizabeth and they both grinned up at me. I turned to my son, who remained conspicuously silent.

“Logan?” Elizabeth prompted. “Tell your mom how great she looks.”

“You look nice, Mom. Going out?” Logan raised his eyebrow. He wasn’t hard to read. He did not approve.

“As a matter of fact, I am.”

“Going with that Declan guy, I guess, huh?”

“Yes.” I continued putting on my lipstick and put it back in my clutch. I looked at my son. If he had something to say, he would say it now.

“I see you have on the earrings Dad gave you.” He said it casually but, somehow, it felt like an accusation.

My hands went self-consciously to my ears. I nearly lost my resolve, but I looked over at Elizabeth and my daughter. Jade looked at me with tears glistening her eyes. I knew she must be remembering the moment Evan gave me the earrings.

We always did things as a family, and even our tenth anniversary had been no exception. Evan had always been an amazing cook, and that night he’d made dinner for all of us. Afterward, they had presented me with their gifts all together. My children were so young; their gift to me’d been a precious handmade box, which I loved. The earrings were inside. I thought Jade might say something now, these many years later, about my wearing them on a date with Declan. But she was nodding, giving me her permission. I answered my son.

“Yes, I am wearing them.” I spoke without looking at Logan, smoothing down my hair and leaning down to adjust my shoe. “I think they look perfect with this dress.” I kept my tone measured and cool.

“Are you sure about this guy, Mom?” Logan sounded concerned.

What could I say?
No, Logan, I’m really not.
When I’m with him, I am as sure about him as I am about anything in my life, but right now, when he’s nowhere in sight, I have no idea.
And that really worries me.
But, I’m lonely, Logan, and I miss your Dad more than words can say.
No, I could never say that out loud to my son. So I said something that wouldn’t make him worry.

“Logan, he’s a nice man and we are just enjoying each other’s company. There’s nothing to worry about. Now, go and enjoy the evening with Serena and stop being such a worry-wart. You’ll get gray hairs.” I kissed my son lightly on the side of his head and stepped out the front door.

****

I walked into the restaurant and spotted Declan instantly. He was impossible to miss. Men in Lancaster usually followed a certain dress code, not by law, but mostly out of a survival instinct. Lots of flannel, usually. I felt certain Declan didn’t own one thing made of flannel, and that included pajamas. Tonight he wore a beautiful black silk shirt and gray slacks. I could see a dark leather jacket slung casually on the back of his chair. He drank a short tumbler of an amber liquid I knew wasn’t beer and spoke animatedly on a cell phone. Stopping in mid-sentence when he saw me, he said maybe three more words, smiled broadly, and hung up. Declan stood, shook his head and strode over to greet me, both hands outstretched.

“Lily, you look incredible. I’m crazy to let you walk in here alone. Come sit down and let’s get you a drink before you cause a riot.” He guided me to his table with his hand on the small of my back and I felt…desired. The feeling was heady and dizzying and I could feel a flush on my cheeks not caused by the heat of the romantic fireplace at the front of the restaurant.

The waiter came and took our orders and I noticed the female staff found all kinds of reasons to come to our side of the room. It would have been annoying if it wasn’t so obvious and comical. Declan didn’t seem to realize the effect he had on people. Even the waiters were bustling to serve us quickly and efficiently, as if making Declan wait for anything had to be completely out of the question.

The meal wasn’t wonderful, but the company sure hit the mark. Declan found a way to be funny and engaging, and a delightful conversationalist. He deftly turned every talk topic back over to me, and as hard as I tried not to talk about myself, I found myself revealing more things than I would ever have dreamed I’d be telling him. I couldn’t understand how he got me to feel so at ease, so comfortable with him, when only hours before I had been missing my husband so much. I had to keep taking sips of my wine to shut myself up.

At the end of the night, I found that I couldn’t remember much of anything that had been said, and I felt quite tipsy. I didn’t know how I got home, only that suddenly, I found myself on my front porch, standing there with my keys in my hand. I felt as though I had been in some kind of trance. I don’t know how long I had been there, or even how long I would have been there, had it not been for Elizabeth, who came bursting out the front door.

“Lily! Are you all right? Oh my dear, it’s freezing outside and you’re just standing there! What’s wrong with you?” Elizabeth shoved me into the house and I slumped onto the sofa in the front room. My little purse slid off my shoulder, dropping to the floor, and I just looked at it, unblinking. Elizabeth strode over from closing the front door and stood in front of me.

“Lily? Has something happened to you? You’re acting very strange.”

I looked up at Elizabeth as if seeing her for the first time.

“I’m fine. I’m just waiting for Declan. We’re going to dinner.”

I didn’t understand why Elizabeth stared at me with such a horrified look on her face. She sat down heavily next to me and took my hands in hers.

“Lily. You’ve already been to dinner. You just came home. It’s eleven o’clock at night. See?” Elizabeth pointed toward the wall where a large clock hung. I followed her outstretched hand with my gaze to confirm her statement. Could that be right? How could I have gone to dinner and not remembered it?