Time Spell (10 page)

I followed the sounds of glass clinking into the next room to discover the two women smiling. They sipped glasses of bubbly champagne.

“Oh heavens, Simone, what happened to your mirror? That looks dreadful!” Helen crossed the room to take a closer look at Simone’s vanity. “Are you all right? Did Holden hurt you last night? You said everything was smooth as silk.”

Simone gave a girlish giggle. “Well, I had to have one last go at him, before, you know…”

“Really, Simone, are you that crass that you’d screw my husband on the last night?”

Helen was visibly annoyed. She straightened her up-do with the palms of her hand, and set the champagne glass down on the vanity to turn and face Simone.

“I didn’t have a lot of options to keep him occupied. We didn’t really talk that much anyway. That wasn’t our style. All he wanted to do was spend our time in bed and—” Simone, unrepentant, continued to sip her bubbly beverage despite Helen’s obvious irritation.

Helen cut her off. “I understand. You don’t need to explain any further. I knew who I was doing business with when I recruited you for this arrangement.”

Simone pushed her lower lip out and pouted while Helen scowled in her direction.

Helen’s sigh filled the room. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? Let’s finish the deal. I’ve got a plane to catch and a car waiting for me downstairs.”

She prodded Simone with her gaze, and the younger girl responded by removing the shattered mirror over her vanity. Nestled in the wall was a safe. Simone dialed right, left, then right again. The lever clicked, and she opened the door to reveal the black leather bag I had seen her carry out of the suite last night. Rather ceremoniously, she walked to the bed and scattered the bag’s contents in a circle.

Stones of all different sizes flickered and threw rainbow prisms around the room. There were brooches, pendants, rings, and bracelets encrusted with brilliant jewels.

The women looked at each other and raised their glasses to the ceiling. “To the VonRue diamonds.” Their laughter trickled through the suite.

Chills cascaded down my body. I covered my mouth so I didn’t gasp out loud. I was witnessing one of the largest diamond heists in history, and I could do nothing about it.

I
T WAS
time to go home. This
Time Spell
was over. As Helen and Simone rejoiced in their victory, I exited through Simone’s foyer. I flew to the Starlight, glad to have some distance from their sordid plot. I landed outside of the lobby and marched straight to the catering corridor. The seam waited for me behind the seedy casino floor.

I pointed at the flat, unsparkling wall. “Unfold.”

I held my sapphire ring closely and watched as the glittery folds of the seam started to wave back and forth, beckoning me to step through. It had never failed me, but there was always a sense of relief when the seam was revealed. Nothing was ever certain in magic, and nothing reminded me of that more than when I was waiting to go home. I took a final look at the Starlight, and then walked through the cold passageway, back to the place where my journey started.

Back in the present, I could reveal my true Ivy Grace form again. I closed my eyes and whispered, “Radiance.”

The magic that wrapped my body evaporated until every sparkle had dimmed. I was completely visible. I started to regret shedding my invisibility so soon. During the walk back to my room, people were staring at my wrinkled clothes and makeup-free face. They probably thought I was doing the dreaded walk of shame, which made me giggle a little. Why not? Anything and everything happened in Las Vegas. Coffee beckoned, but before I satisfied my caffeine fix, I needed answers.

I entered my room and pulled out my laptop. Only twenty-four hours had passed since I had started my
Time Spell
, but already I missed the internet, my cell phone, and food. I dialed room service and ordered a big bacon and cheese omelet, a towering bowl of fruit, and a pot of dark coffee.

I retrieved my cell phone from my pocket and touched the screen for Ian’s name. I wanted to talk to him about what had happened on my trip, but I got his voicemail instead.

“Ian, it’s Ivy. Just wanted to let you know I’m back. Let Mama and Daddy know. Call me when you get a break.” I threw the phone on the pillow next to me and nestled on top of the sheets with my laptop sitting on my knees.

Once my screen came to life, I typed in “Holden Chadsworth” in the search engine. A long list of newspaper articles from the Las Vegas
Sun News
popped onto the screen.

Millionaire Golden Boy Missing

Starlight Goes Under with No Captain at the Helm

Search for Millionaire Ends

I downloaded the articles onto my hard drive to read later. Then, I typed in “Helen Chadsworth.” Only one story from 1968 appeared.

Casino Mogul Missing; Wife Dies in Plane Crash

I couldn’t believe it. I clicked on the article and scanned the story, looking for details of Helen’s demise.

Wife to Starlight owner, Holden Chadsworth, and well-known Vegas charity organizer Helen VonRue Chadsworth died at the age of thirty-five in a private plane crash in Kansas on Saturday morning. Helen was the last remaining member of the esteemed VonRue family, and the only child of Margaret and Charles VonRue
.

I continued skimming the article. The plane Helen had taken the morning she and Simone had met crashed somewhere over Kansas. There were no survivors. I sat back on my bed, puzzled.

There was a soft knock on the door. I let in the room service valet and tipped him before returning to my research. Once I had poured a steaming cup of coffee and doused it with cream and sugar, I turned back to my computer. My next search was for the, “VonRue diamonds.” What came up was a long list of show dates, tours, and the history of how the VonRue family had started the diamond collection in the mid-1850s. There was nothing about a great diamond heist or missing diamonds in 1968. The diamonds were currently on tour in Dallas and would be there for the next six months. I downloaded these articles as well and saved them in my Vegas file for later research.

The last search I typed in was “Simone Davis.” The top article read:

Vegas Model Dies in Car Accident

I scanned the story to discover Simone had died six months after Helen in a car accident in the Mojave Desert. No other people were injured, and there were no other cars at the scene. Hmm.

I pulled up a blank page on my computer and typed my notes from the trip. All of the people involved were dead—Holden, Helen, even Simone—and the diamonds were still on tour. My witchy instincts were tingling and my fingers started buzzing. I had enough to write a novel, an incredible novel, I thought. I better order more coffee and let the words pour from my fingertips.

Sullen’s Grove, Present Day

The flames had quieted to glowing embers and an overwhelming chill filled the room as I finished telling my story. I rubbed my arms up and down to the rhythm of the clock. I waited for a reaction. Jack stared at me as if I were a zoo animal on display. The last log cracked in half and hit the bottom pile of ashes.

Jack’s voice erupted through the silence. “For Christ’s sake, Ivy! You expect me to believe this? You’re a witch? And you time travel? And there’s someone out there who is threatening us, threatening you and me and our families, because of some diamond-murder mystery?” He stormed out of his chair and paced the floor. “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe this!” He threw his hands in the air. “I’m supposed to believe that you’re telling me there’s
magic
and you saw someone murdered, and you actually witnessed a diamond heist?” He paced more. “What the hell, Ivy? A witch?” He stopped and his eyes locked on the floor. He couldn’t look at me. “I’m going to get some more wood, don’t move, or should I say, don’t
Time Spell
until I get back.” He huffed past me and I heard the back door slam shut.

Well, I guess that could have gone worse. I let my shoulders sag and slid into the chair now that he was out of the room. I didn’t know what his reaction would be to the story. Of all of the circumstances imaginable, this wasn’t how I had ever envisioned telling him.

For two years, I had daydreams and night dreams of us wrapped up in front of some cozy cabin fireplace in big quilts, our clothes strewn all over the house, drinking wine and laughing. We had probably been there all day, making love on the floor, stopping to feed each other strawberries and cereal, telling each other stories, and talking about how we knew from the moment we had met that we would end up like this, on the floor in a cabin, naked. And I’d just tell him.

I would say, “Jack, you know all of those funny little things I do and how I know all of these little stories no one else knows? Well, that’s because I have magic. I’m a witch.”

And in this little fantasy of mine, he wouldn’t answer, he wouldn’t look shocked or disgusted or angry or scared, he would pull me under him with his strong arms, brush back my hair, and kiss me until we both needed to come up for air.

The armful of logs Jack carried dropped to the floor, and he grabbed the fire poker to stir the dying embers. Back in reality, I was afraid to speak, afraid he would start yelling again, or worse, afraid he would leave. Once the splintered wood started to catch and warmth returned to the room, he headed for the makeshift bar and poured two more drinks. He handed one to me.

“Show me.” He looked me straight in the eyes. “Show me, Ivy. I want to see it.”

I took the glass from his outstretched hand, but I was shaken by his request. “I can’t. It’s not like that.”

“Show me or I’m calling the police.” His words were firm.

“It’s not that I don’t want to show you, it’s just that I’ve never shown anyone before. I mean not anyone without magic. This is breaking every rule that I live by, that my family lives by.” I sipped the drink, trying to stall. “You’re asking too much. You have to trust me. I told you everything I know from my Vegas trip. We can figure the rest of it out together.”

I didn’t want to sound desperate. I wanted to sound strong and like a confident witch, but my pleas came out more like whimpers.

“We only have a few days to figure this out, or they’re going to start picking off our families one by one. If you really expect me to believe this convoluted story, you show me.” He tipped back his shot of bourbon and looked at me. He planted himself in the doorway of the study and waited.

I placed my drink on the coffee table next to the letter and stood in the center of the room. My pulse was racing and I bit my lip trying to control my breathing. No non-magical person had seen my magic before. This was a secret not to be broken, not ever to be broken, but I knew lives were at stake and I had already decided to trust Jack when I told him about my
Time Spell
.