Spellbound Falls [5] For the Love of Magic (8 page)

“Thank you,” Peg murmured when Rana started driving down the road again.

She glanced over in surprise. “For what?”

“For making
my
day. So, how about we drive to Turtleback so I can pick up a couple of bags of chicken feed? That way we’ll be killing two birds with one stone.”

Rana gently braked to a stop when they reached the main road. “You expect me to drive all the way to Turtleback Station? It’s over thirty miles one way,” she added, frowning. “And what two birds are we killing?”

“One, you’ll be driving like a pro by the time we get back,” Peg said. “And two, we really will be doing errands, so you didn’t just lie to your husband.”

“If a woman can’t lie to her husband, who can she lie to?”

Peg’s beautiful blue eyes widened. “We’re
supposed
to lie to them?”

“Every chance we get.” Rana glanced in the rearview mirror to make sure Titus wasn’t behind them, then lifted the shifting lever into park. “In fact,” she continued as she unfastened her seat belt and pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket, “it’s our duty to lie to them.”

“It is? Why?”

“To kill two birds with one stone.”

“Um, which two birds are
you
talking about?”

“The first reason is to keep them from taking us for granted.” Rana tapped a picture, hit the speakerphone button, then smiled at her gaping passenger. “Oh, I’m sorry, sweetheart,” she said when Titus answered with a hesitant although expectant
hello
. “I seem to have accidently called you. But aren’t you glad to discover you didn’t forget your phone after all? Talk to you later, my love,” she finished, tapping the
END
button on his silence. She refastened her seat belt and pulled the shifting lever back into drive. “And that, my friend, is bird number two.”

“Ohmigod,” Peg said behind her raised hand. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

“What can’t you believe?” Rana asked, pulling onto the main road in the direction of town. “That I knew Titus was lying about forgetting his phone, or that I let him know I knew he was lying?” She gave an exaggerated sigh. “Sometimes I can’t decide whether to admire or pity
myself
.” She shot Peg a wink. “But the majority of the time I feel like the luckiest woman on the planet.”

“Cinibums!” Charlie suddenly cried as Rana idled through town watching for determined grange ladies. “Mama, cinibums!”

Peg muttered something under her breath and turned to her son with a huge smile. “The cinnamon bun fairy is taking a nap, Charlie. But I bet if you take a nap, too, you’ll see her in your dreams and she’ll give you a bun.”

“Lying to children, however,” Rana drawled when Peg faced forward again, “will
always
come back and bite you on the behind.”

• • •

Titus stood on his wife’s beachfront, facing the large metal whale rising out of the wind-driven waves, and wondered yet again what Rana was hoping to accomplish by leaving him. Any fool could see that needing a breath of fresh air was merely an excuse to mask the real reason for her little rebellion, because last he knew, loving wives did not abandon their
loving
husbands while continuing to call them “sweetheart” and “my love.” Nor did they blatantly flirt—at least not in front of others—much less allude to their youthful and decidedly passionate antics. As for her desertion being a means to force him to explore the everyday wonders of this world . . . well, that was an even more futile attempt to direct his attention away from the real problem.

Studying the detailed features layered into the rusted patina of the twenty-foot whale, Titus couldn’t help but appreciate what a feat it must have been to set the massive statue in place. Either Averill Latimer had enjoyed a good challenge or he’d loved his grandson very much to have wrestled that supporting post into the granite seabed, which would only be exposed for short periods of time during low tide.

Titus smiled at the realization that he at least knew why his wife wanted to create beautiful works of art under the tutelage of young Zachary, as the teenager really was quite talented. And early in their short courtship, he had discovered that Rana had been the driving force behind her father redesigning the utilitarian utensils he forged by encouraging him to keep in mind the women who used them, which had smartly elevated the humble blacksmith to that of artisan.

But Rana needn’t have run off in order to try her hand at metalwork; she need only have asked to set up a workshop at Nova Mare or at home on Atlantis. And she very well knew that. So despite alluding to it during his visit a few days ago, recapturing her youth was no more convincing than her needing a breath of fresh air.

Titus sat down on a boulder and rested his arms on his knees. Despite being only fifteen at the time, the beautiful and spirited and surprisingly astute maiden he had fallen in love with the moment he’d looked into those big brown eyes had agreed to marry him only if
he
agreed never to use his magic on her. He’d nearly broken that vow when she’d given birth to Carolina, but even then the woman had been adamant that Providence be the one deciding her fate. Well, he thought with a humorless laugh, Providence and Rana’s own determination not to leave her two precious children in his care.

His beautiful wife was not, however, averse to using the magic when it suited
her
purposes, such as turning a blind eye when Olivia had asked Maximilian for help persuading Roger Bentley to come practice medicine in Spellbound Falls. Nor was Rana reluctant to dip into her husband’s bottomless satchel of money whenever she needed funds for one of her projects. Or to purchase a crooked house and a tired old sailboat, he thought with a groan. But then, whatever was his was hers, as he could deny her nothing.

Titus stared down at his clasped hands dangling between his knees and decided the woman must be hiding something so horrifying, she had felt the need to—

He suddenly straightened. Horrifying, yes, but only because it concerned him!

“Poseidon’s teeth,” he quietly growled. “She’s
protecting
me.”

Rana feared nothing, not even dying. And that meant the only thing with the power to make her run was if she thought she was protecting him. But he was virtually invincible. Hell, the combined power of the gods hadn’t been able to defeat him in the thousands of years he’d been championing mankind.

Surely the woman didn’t believe he was in mortal danger. She not only knew the width and depth of his power, she also understood the more subtle nuances of the magic he commanded. In fact, they had been married only a few months when his still relatively young wife had begun serving mankind right alongside him—though she tended to focus more on women’s issues.

So if Rana truly was protecting him, it must be from something she felt had the power to destroy him. And that put
her
in harm’s way as well, because if he was sure of anything, it was that his wife would not sit idly by while his enemies rose against him.

But which enemies?

And more importantly, how had Rana sensed the threat when he had not?

Titus cradled his head in his hands and stared down at the incoming tide lapping the toes of his boots. Rana had no command of the magic, which meant her female intuition had sensed he was in danger, and she had apparently decided running away was her only means of protecting him.

Not that she’d run very far. But if that were the case, then purchasing a house in the same town, not to mention the same century, didn’t make sense. Unless she wanted to be nearby when . . . No, it simply didn’t make sense. And no matter how confounding she might be sometimes, Rana was
always
sensible.

He was no closer to figuring out what was going on than when he’d found himself crawling into an empty bed seven nights ago. At this rate, hell would be frozen solid before—

Titus snapped his head up, then rose to his feet when the massive whale breached dangerously close to shore. “Leviathan,” he called in surprise as the ancient warrior slapped back into the water. No sooner had the splash settled when a handful of orcas surfaced, the largest of the sea wolves breaking away from the pod and speeding toward shore. “Kitalanta, no!”

Frantically looking to see if any neighbors were around as well as scanning the water for nearby boats, Titus raised his arms to capture the percussion he knew was coming and muffled the boom of the orca’s transformation as it slammed onto the gravel beach. “You accursed beast,” he said tightly, striding toward the four-legged, fur-covered wolf stumbling to catch its footing. “You know you can’t pull this kind of stunt in broad daylight within sight of mortals.”

Only instead of becoming submissive, the large northern timber wolf turned to face the water, its hackles raised as it gave a menacing growl. Titus stiffened and also looked out at Bottomless. “What is it?” he asked just as Leviathan surfaced, the whale emitting a series of low-frequency clacks.

Titus muttered a curse and began undressing. “You will stay and guard your queen’s home,” he instructed the wolf as he shed his jacket, his focus now on the storm squall forming to the south. “Stay hidden and do not let so much as a mouse on the property.” He sat down and took off his boots, stood up and looked around again to make sure they were alone, and took off his shirt. “Any threat will be coming by sea, though I doubt whoever it is will dare venture this close to Maximilian’s magic.” He unbuckled his belt. “I will leave half your pod to patrol out front and send the other half to guard the entrance to the fiord. All of you are to remain on duty until you hear from me personally.” He dropped his pants and walked into the water up to his waist, then stopped and looked back. “And Kitalanta? Mortals are not the threat, so don’t eat any of them, especially my wife’s young employee, should he show up.”

Confident his orders would be obeyed, Titus turned and dove into the sea—only to have his urgency change to that of curiosity when he sank below the surface and felt a new and unfamiliar energy pulsing through the water.

Rana tightened her grip on the steering wheel when a gale-force wind suddenly buffeted the truck just as lightning lit up the trees to their left.

“Wow, where did this come from?” Peg said as a curtain of heavy rain swept over them from the direction of Bottomless. “That second lever on the left side of the steering column turns on the wipers. Just twist the end of it.”

Rana felt for the switch, not wanting to take her eyes off the ominously darkened road. “Maybe I should pull over and let you drive.”

“Naw,” Peg said above the sound of the pummeling rain and frantic slap of the wipers. She touched a button on the dash, which Rana assumed was the defroster when warm air pushed up from the windshield toward her. “It’s not cold enough to freeze, so the road won’t get slippery. And this is just an ordinary old rainstorm. Um, isn’t it? I mean, we don’t usually get thunderstorms this time of year.”

“I’m sorry,” Rana said with a laugh, hoping to mask her own alarm. “You seem to have me mixed up with the men in our lives. I wouldn’t know an ordinary rainstorm from an epic event, since I’m usually hiding under the bed when either one arrives.”

“You mean that even after being married to Titus all these years you still can’t tell the difference? Well, bummer,” Peg said when Rana shrugged in an attempt to appear nonchalant. “I was hoping Duncan’s magic would eventually rub off on me and I’d be able to start doing . . . stuff.” She held up her left arm and pulled back her jacket sleeve to expose the wide metal cuff on her wrist. “This thing doesn’t do anything unless Duncan wants it to. Or his mountain feels like freaking me out and starts making the stupid thing vibrate for no reason.” She dropped her arm. “I’m never going to be able to do
anything
?”

“Sorry, I’m afraid magic-makers have a monopoly on—” Rana stomped on the brake, the tires chattering on the wet pavement as the truck jerked to a stop. “Sweet Athena, what is that?”

“It . . . they look like . . . those are friggin’
trees
running toward us,” Peg said over the racing thump of the wipers.

The truck rocked on another gust of wind just as the two-legged tree in front of no less than a dozen other trees suddenly spotted them and also halted, then held out two leaf-covered branches to stop the small . . . grove and apparently say something to them. The group suddenly split, with half bolting into the forest toward Bottomless and the other half—including the leader—into the woods on the opposite side of the road.

Rana heard her passenger heave a relieved sigh. “I know what they are. Or rather,
who
they are,” Peg said. “We’re not far from that colony of weirdos that Duncan has decided are just a bunch of nature nuts. Probably beechnuts and acorns,” she said with a snicker, waving at the woods. “They must dress up like trees when it rains and run around being one with nature.” Peg checked on Charlie in the backseat, then faced forward again. “Too bad he’s sleeping, because I bet the little guy would have loved to tell his brothers and sisters he saw a whole herd of tree fairies. Ah, you might want to get going,” she added, gesturing behind them. “And next time
not
stop in the middle of the road, especially in a storm. Unlike the resort paths, you’re likely to get rear-ended by someone going sixty miles an hour.”

Rana quickly started down the road again as fast as she dared, considering it was still raining hard enough to keep the wipers on high, and decided a bit of small talk might help calm her own nerves as she kept an eye out for more two-legged trees. Because in truth, she was fairly certain this was not an ordinary rainstorm. “So, Peg, have you made peace with Providence for giving you another set of twins?” she asked. “Seven children are a few more than you planned on having, isn’t it?”

Peg looked over in surprise, then smiled. “Can you keep a secret?” she asked, only to tap herself on the forehead. “What am I saying? You’re the queen of secret keeping.”

“Yes,” Rana said dryly, “everyone knows how much I love secrets. So what’s yours?” she quickly added, realizing she may have sounded sarcastic.

“Well, if you want to know the truth,” Peg said hesitantly. “I wouldn’t mind having a dozen little heathens.”

Rana frowned out the windshield. “But did you not have an operation after Peter and Jacob were born to prevent you from having more children?”

“Yes, I did,” Peg drawled, sounding more than a little sarcastic herself. “But apparently nobody told Providence—or Duncan, either—that having your tubes tied is supposed to prevent pregnancy.” She sighed again. “Billy would have loved to have more children, but four were all we could comfortably afford. But now that money is no longer the deciding factor, and seeing how Duncan wouldn’t mind having
two
dozen, we’ve decided to . . . Well, if it’s a choice between abstinence and letting Providence decide how many we end up with, I’m going with Providence.” Rana glanced over to see Peg shake her head. “I know people in town are whispering behind my back,” Peg continued, “and wondering if I’m an idiot for getting pregnant again, but I don’t care. I
like
children, and I’ll damn well have a big family if I want to.”

“Good for you, Peg. I hope you have—” The truck suddenly shuddered as if something had slammed into the rear of the driver’s side, making Rana jerk them to a stop again. “What did I hit?”

“No, something hit us,” Peg said, twisting in her seat to look back. “Ohmigod, it’s another one of those weirdos, only—ohmigod, he’s
huge
.”

Rana shoved the lever into park and unfastened her seat belt to the sound of branches scraping the truck, and twisted around in time to see a blur of leaves rush past the rear window.

“That’s not a man!” Peg yelped, hitting a button on her door that snapped all the locks—which apparently unlocked whenever the shifting lever was put in park, Rana realized. “That was a
real
tree,” Peg continued. “Only I swear it had a face.”

“Did the face appear to be in pain?” Rana asked, watching out the rear window and seeing what definitely looked like a tree disappear into the forest. “Was it grimacing?”

Peg checked her still-sleeping son and faced forward again. “I don’t know. But I do know we’re not chasing after it to find out,” she said, gesturing for Rana to also face forward. “I vote we call Mac and have him come down and find out what that thing was. Preferably
before
Duncan gets back from Pine Creek,” she added, pulling out her cell phone.

Rana refastened her seat belt, then started driving down the road again. She listened to Peg explain to Maximilian what was taking place on the road halfway to Turtleback Station, the one side of the conversation she could hear suddenly stopping and the interior of the truck turning silent but for the racing thump of the windshield wipers.

“What do you mean, you have no intention of doing anything?” she heard Peg ask in disbelief. “Mac, there are friggin’
trees
running around out here. Real ones. Well, one of them was real,” she said more softly, obviously attempting to sound calm. “He—it—was nine or ten feet tall and had a trunk the size of . . .” She fell silent again, and Rana took her eyes off the road long enough to see Peg looking incredulous as she clutched the phone to her ear. “Okay. Yeah, thanks for nothing,” she muttered as she lowered her hand and tapped the phone’s screen.

“What did he say?” Rana asked as Peg silently stared out the windshield.

“Nothing I didn’t already know, other than that he’s not going to do anything. But it appears Duncan’s more worried than he’s been admitting to me about the colony practicing some sort of magic.”

“It’s not unusual to practice magic, Peg,” Rana said gently, “even in this century.”

“But a
new
god? Is that even possible?”

“As I had started to say when Vanetta walked in, I see no reason why it
wouldn’t
be possible. All mythical gods were created in men’s minds before they actually came to exist. They were
imagined
into being, Peg.”

“Even . . . even Titus?”

Rana smiled over at her wide-eyed friend and nodded. “Even Titus.”

“Could . . .” Peg cleared her throat. “Could he be un-created? I mean, could people suddenly un-imagine Titus
out
of existence?”

“Although unlikely,” Rana said with another nod as she watched the road for more trees, “it
is
possible.” She looked over with a smile. “But not by un-imagining him, as the very act of thinking about something gives it presence. Titus would have to be completely forgotten. But if even one man, woman, or child believes a god exists, then it does. Don’t worry,” she said, reaching over and patting Peg’s arm. “Titus will not suddenly vanish, because I will always believe in him.”

“But . . . but you’re eventually going to die,” Peg whispered.

“I am mortal,” Rana agreed. “But my children are not. Nor are my grandchildren. The Oceanuses will be around for a long, long time. Oh, look, the rain has stopped,” she said brightly, wanting to calm her friend’s worry. She turned off the wipers with a small laugh. “This certainly has been an eventful driving lesson.”

Rana didn’t stomp on the brake this time, but she did slow to a turtle’s pace at the sight of several cars parked on both sides of the road, no less than two dozen men and women standing around them holding what appeared to be hand-painted signs.

“Don’t stop,” Peg said. “And whatever you do, don’t make eye contact with any of them.”

“Who are they? What are they doing?”

“That road on the left leads down to the colony, and these people started hanging out here a couple of weeks ago in protest. Don’t slow down too much or they’ll jump out in front of you and start preaching that something a lot worse than an earthquake is going to happen if we don’t get rid of the ‘pagan devil-worshippers.’ I know, because they caught me last week.”

“But pagans don’t—” Rana was forced to stomp on the brake when one of the men darted into the road in front of her, the cardboard sign he was carrying slapping onto the hood of the truck when she stopped only inches from him.

“Well, shit,” Peg growled, twisting to check on Charlie—only to reach out and stop Rana from lifting the shifting lever into park. “Don’t unlock the doors and definitely don’t roll down your window. I don’t recognize any of them, so we’ll just stare straight ahead and you start slowly creeping forward until they get out of the way. Then you kick this horse into a gallop.”

“Hey, lady,” a man said, making Rana flinch when he rapped on her window as several people crowded around him. “You gotta hear what that cult is trying to do,” he shouted through the glass.

“Is Charlie still sleeping?” Rana asked, staring down at the dials on the dash. “I could blast the horn, but I don’t want him to wake up and be frightened.”

“Try inching the truck forward,” Peg suggested as she stared down at her fists balled on her lap. “
This
is why we need a police force. Most of those cars are wearing out-of-state license plates. People from away can’t just come up here and tell us what we’re supposed to think, and they sure as hell can’t ambush innocent people by blocking the road and forcing us to listen to their—”

The rest of what Peg said was cut short by the simultaneous arrival of a brilliant flash of lightning and an earsplitting clap of thunder, the ensuing deluge of windswept rain effectively sending the protestors scrambling to their vehicles.

“That worked,” Peg said with a laugh when several signs were ripped from their grasp as people held them over their heads like umbrellas. “Probably better than a police siren. So let’s get out of here.”

Rana turned on the wipers and headed down the road
again
. “For the love of Zeus,” she muttered. “What will we encounter next, a parade of penguins?”

Not penguins but
Titus
, she discovered when the rain stopped two minutes later. Rana pulled onto the gravel edge of the road, put the truck in park and shut off the engine, then dropped her head onto the steering wheel with a silent curse. “All I wanted was a simple driving lesson, and I get a comedy of errors.”

“No offense,” Peg said, “but instead of practicing your driving, maybe you should work on learning some magic tricks. That way you won’t—wait, how’d he get down here ahead of us?” she asked, only to suddenly gasp. “Was he responsible for that storm?”

Rana lifted her head to see her husband walking toward them. “He most likely was responsible for the second one.”

“Then I vote we be nice to him,” Peg said, grabbing Rana’s arm when she reached to start the truck again. “And give him a ride. Hey, what’s he wearing?”

“You mean other than that proud-of-himself grin?”

“Yeah, besides that,” Peg said with a laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so . . . wrinkled. Well, except for where that tunic is pulled tight across his chest. He’s dressed like the colonists, only everything looks two sizes too small. Where do you suppose he got those clothes, anyway?”

“I imagine he got them from the same place he does every time he unexpectedly goes swimming—off someone’s clothesline.”

“He swam here?” Peg said, this time in a whisper because Titus was standing beside Rana’s window. “Ah, the key has to be turned on for the windows to work,” Peg added, reaching over and turning the key, but apparently not far enough to start the engine.