Winter's Spell, page 28
Oddly enough, Roxy recognized it
“You’re a witch,” she said quietly. “A hereditary witch. Like Hazel.”
Rhoda looked at her, the incantation finished. “I don’t know who Hazel is, and I’ve never heard of a hereditary witch. But yes. I’m a witch. And apparently you are too.”
“No. I’m not—” Roxy began to protest just as Mo opened her eyes and took a big gulp of air. “Oh my God, Mo, you’re okay!”
Mo heaved herself up using her tail to keep the upper part of her body upright. She threw herself on Roxy in a giant hug, and Roxy, full of relief, hugged back.
“Roxy. I know it. You save me.” Her speech was accented again and stilted, as though her spells that had made her able to speak in a human language had faded somewhat. Roxy didn’t care. Nothing mattered except that Mo was okay.
“I can’t believe it. Honestly,” she said through chattering teeth. Roxy’s body had started to realize that she was standing thigh-deep in icy winter ocean water.
Rhoda muttered a quiet incantation, and she tapped Roxy on the shoulder. Warmth suffused Roxy’s body.
“Thanks, Rhoda,” she said.
“My pleasure. Now can we please get out of the water? My spells work a lot better when I’m not taking a polar bear plunge at night in January.”
Roxy wanted nothing more than to get back on solid land, but she also didn’t want to leave Mo.
“What if those magic nets are still out there. For her?” She gestured to Mo.
“Is okay, Roxy,” said Mo, squeezing her hand reassuringly. “I can feel…something different now. Their magic net is gone. They are too weak to cast it once more.”
“But what about you? Where will you go?” Roxy’s eyes filled with tears. Was this really good-bye?
“I will go and see my people. But I will be back. I promise, Roxy.”
Roxy looked at her, tears streaming down her face yet again. She pushed them away with a hand salty with ocean water.
“I’m going to miss you, Mo. You were a great friend,” said Roxy, throwing herself on Mo in another bear hug. She tried to suppress the sobs that were rising inside her. She hated crying, hating being vulnerable like this, but the thought of never seeing Mo again was mingling with her fear of what she would find when she returned to the beach. She needed to get back to Tessa, but she was also scared of what she’d find. What if Tessa was…what if she wasn’t…
“I promise. I will be back soon. Few days. I promise,” whispered Mo. “You must do something for me.”
“Anything.”
“You must get the bracelet of Gwenhidw from these sorcerers. That is the only way to break their spell forever and drive them away from here.”
With that, Mo pulled away from Roxy.
“Thank you, friend,” said Mo to Rhoda. She extended her hand to Rhoda as if to shake, and Rhoda, to Roxy’s great surprise, put her hand out and flapped it against Mo’s like a dead fish. Mo reciprocated, completely unsurprised that Rhoda knew this greeting, before waving to Roxy and disappearing beneath the waves.
Roxy looked at Rhoda questioningly, and Rhoda shrugged.
“My mother was a mermaid.”
Chapter Twenty-eight—Tessa
In her dream, she was running on the beach with Roxy, racing to the lighthouse in the distance. The sun was shining, glinting off the waves, before the scene changed to night, and Roxy was gone. Tessa was alone on the beach, running from something that was chasing her. Just as she was about to reach the lighthouse and safety, she stepped into a giant hole and felt herself falling—
“Tessa!”
She opened her eyes.
Roxy.
Tessa’s mouth felt dry and full of sand. She wanted to say how glad she was that Roxy was there, that she was okay, but she was too weak to even speak. Her body felt heavy, stiff, and lifeless, as though her life energy were a mere flicker of candlelight in the middle of a storm.
“It’s okay. Don’t try to talk,” said Roxy. She kissed Tessa gently on the lips, and Tessa felt strangely as though the kiss was something more than a kiss.
Instantly, she felt warmer, less stiff. Her lips and tongue responded, and she kissed Roxy back.
Roxy’s hands on her arms added even more warmth and…was that energy she was feeling? Magical energy flowed from Roxy’s hands into Tessa. She felt the stiffness and cold receding. Her body felt light…normal.
She pulled away from Roxy and pushed herself up onto her elbows and then into a sitting position.
“Oh, Roxy,” she breathed, pulling Roxy into an awkward hug right there on the sand. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
“I thought I was going to lose you,” said Roxy, her voice wavering slightly. “Are you okay?”
“I feel…better. I don’t know what you’re doing, but…it feels like magic.” Earlier, when they were trying to save Mo, Tessa had acted on instinct, without thought. As she reviewed in her mind all the most recent events on the beach, she was stunned. “Wait. Are you a witch? And what about Joy? Is she okay?”
Panic rose inside her and she made to stand up, but Roxy’s hands stilled her, wrapped around her as they were.
“Don’t try to get up yet,” said Roxy. “You’re still getting your strength back. I need to give you more energy. Rhoda says it’s the only way we can defeat the Three Sisters.”
“What—”
Roxy lifted each of Tessa’s hands and placed her hands, palm to palm, with Tessa’s.
“Tessa,” said Roxy quietly, looking at Tessa with intensity in her beautiful, dark brown eyes, like pools of melted dark chocolate that Tessa could swim in for days, “I love you.”
Tessa’s heart fluttered.
“I love you, too, Roxy.”
Heat began to form where their palms were joined, and Tessa knew that neither she nor Roxy could move their hands apart even if they wanted to.
And she didn’t. She felt Roxy’s energy pass through Roxy’s hands into hers, as though she were pouring crystal clear mountain water into a bucket that Tessa was holding. Was Roxy a witch? How had she missed that?
With each passing second, Tessa felt herself reviving. She no longer felt hungry or thirsty; her legs no longer felt like leaden stumps, incapable of movement. After another minute, she felt the magic within her start to fill again, mixing with whatever it was that Roxy was giving her.
She felt the power within her rising, a cool, sparkling river of magical energy. Tessa could almost picture it in her mind’s eye, and it was like crystals or rhinestones, full of light, beautiful—and powerful.
The magical connection between Roxy and Tessa ended, and they stood up.
“How do you feel?” said Roxy, her eyes full of concern.
“Wonderful,” said Tessa. She grabbed Roxy’s face and pulled it toward her own, kissing her with the fierceness of all her fears from earlier that evening. Fearing she would lose Roxy before she ever really had her.
Roxy’s lips moved against her own, as if Roxy was feeling the same thing that Tessa was—fear, relief, and endless desire.
“Sorry to break things up, ladies,” broke in a stranger’s voice. “We’re going to have company soon.”
Tessa and Roxy broke apart. The stranger next to them was a dark-haired woman with boxy glasses, who looked like a cross between Bettie Page and a stern librarian. In her hand, she held a wand.
“Just how many witches are here tonight?” said Tessa, unable to hold in her surprise.
The woman laughed. “I’ve been wondering the same thing myself. I’m Rhoda, by the way.”
“I’m Tessa.”
“Okay. That’s all the time we have for pleasantries. Your friend over there is okay. I warmed her up with a little spell, and she’s comfortable enough. Best if she stays out of what’s about to go down, though.” Rhoda paused. “Unless she’s a witch too?”
“I don’t think so,” said Tessa. “Though I didn’t think Roxy was either.”
“For the last time,” said Roxy, sounding a bit exasperated. “I’m not a witch. I just have some…magic, I guess. I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Save the existential crisis for later,” Rhoda cut her off. “There’s movement over there. Look, you two take the sidekicks. I’ll handle Faustina. I’ve been looking forward to this moment.”
“Don’t forget the bracelet,” said Roxy. “She’s gotta have it on her.”
Rhoda nodded grimly. “I brought extras just in case. Take one. Maybe it’ll help.” She pulled out two additional wands, similar to the one she was holding. Tessa wasn’t even sure exactly where she’d been keeping them on her person, but Rhoda was wearing a large black trench coat, and she supposed there might be a voluminous pocket somewhere inside.
Tessa waved the wand a bit, testing it out, even as Rhoda was already marching with determination toward the beach where Madame Clerval was starting to stand up and dust the sand off her cloak.
The other two Sisters were also beginning to show signs of movement.
As Tessa moved the wand gingerly, she felt something like sparks flying off it from the slightest movement, paired with a small discharge of her magic.
The wand appeared to be amplifying her magic. Well, thought Tessa, this was a game changer.
“Is it okay if I take Barb?” said Tessa, looking at Roxy.
Roxy smiled. “Of course. I think you have a score to settle with her.”
Tessa nodded. “Damn right I do.”
“I’ll take the blonde.” Roxy waved the wand a bit too vehemently and a shower of sparks flew out and set a small piece of driftwood on fire by her feet. “Shit.” She stomped out the fire with her boots. “These things are wicked, huh?”
She lifted a rakish eyebrow and Tessa felt a bubble of laughter inside her. Even here, on the beach, nearing midnight—the time when the Three would most likely be at the height of their powers, as they’d clearly planned it this way—when things should be the most dire for them, here was Roxy making her smile. Making her laugh. How she wanted to tell her—
But no. There was no time for that.
Tessa squared her shoulders. “Let’s finish them and get their evil asses out of our town.”
Roxy nodded.
Roxy gave her hand a squeeze and let go, walking off into the dark toward the parking lot where Isidora was just starting to stand up. Tessa hated leaving her to fight alone, but Rhoda was right. They had to make sure that this evil magic was banished from the Cape.
Tessa wasn’t sure how to do that, exactly, but a plan formed itself in her mind.
“Get Isidora’s ring,” she shouted to Roxy. Roxy turned back, already looking small in the distance, but she nodded to show she’d heard.
Isidora had her ring. Madame Clerval had one. It stood to reason that Barb had one too. She would have to immobilize her again, somehow, and get close enough to get the ring off her finger.
Rhoda was already engaging Madame Clerval in a magical duel by the time Tessa was close enough to Barb to throw a spell at her. She used the wand to direct a blinding spell at her, but it missed.
“You’ll have to work a lot more carefully to hit me with that blunt instrument of a wand,” said Barb, her rough, low tones grating on Tessa’s ears with their taunting.
Barb shot a spell at Tessa, and Tessa dodged it—but only just. Tessa was pleased, though, to see that Barb was pissed at that.
She took the opportunity to send an immobilizing spell at one of Barb’s arms, and it hit! Tessa tried not to jump with glee and instead focus. Before Barb could send another spell, she waved the wand and, remembering her training with Freya, always focused on nature and using what nature provided, she made some seaweed lying nearby fly to Barb’s legs and start to wind itself around her.
The more Barb struggled, the tighter the seaweed laced itself around her.
Tessa approached her cautiously.
Barb was struggling like mad to get free, sending spells right and left. Something flew right by Tessa’s left ear, and she jumped back.
A glance over at Rhoda gave her the shivers. She was losing the fight with the extremely powerful force that was Madame Clerval. Tessa needed to finish things up with Barb and get over there to help Rhoda.
She used the wand to create a shield of salt, drawn from the ocean water, to keep her safe from the crazy spells Barb was setting off as she tried to get out of the seaweed vines.
In the moonlight, just for a second, light glinted off a ring on Barb’s finger. Yes! There it was.
Tessa’s arm would have to extend past the salt shield for a moment to grab it. She pushed her hand through the shield, creating a small hole, but still letting some of the salt coat her hand as she got close enough to Barb to reach for her hand.
But Barb was strong. She started rolling away from Tessa, and Tessa couldn’t hold the wand and the spell, and keep Barb still enough to pull the ring off at the same time.
The salt shield melted away, leaving behind a shower of salt over Barb and Tessa. Luckily for Tessa, some of the salt fell onto Barb’s face and one eye as she was rolling away. She screamed in pain, and Tessa made for the ring, glimmering eerily on Barb’s finger—a big green eye, just like Madame Faustina’s.
Barb’s fingers were surprisingly slim for her squat persona, and the ring was loose on her index finger. Tessa grabbed it and pulled with all her might—rather unnecessarily, since the ring simply slid off and Tessa fell back on her butt with the momentum.
She jumped up again quickly, anticipating that Barb would press her advantage and come after her, but she was still writhing on the ground, clutching her bare hand where the ring had been.
What kind of power had the ring bestowed upon the Three Sisters? Tessa glanced down at the ring in her hand and nearly dropped it. The pupil of the eye was dilating and constricting of its own accord, the eye moving from side to side.
“Ugh!” Tessa groaned, filled with horror at the sight of it. She closed her hand over it into a fist so she wouldn’t have to look at it, even as she was filled with a strange desire to put the ring on.
After all, wouldn’t she then have the power that Barb had had? She could fight Madame Clerval more effectively…
No. That was not the way—she knew that. The ring was already trying to sway her to evil and she had to resist it.
She left Barb still tangled up in the seaweed and spluttering from the salt on her face and began running as fast as she could toward Rhoda and Madame Clerval. Something was wrong with Rhoda’s arm; it hung limply at her side, and her wand was nowhere in sight.
“Too late for you,” said Faustina with a growl as she pointed a finger of magic toward Rhoda one more time.
Tessa sent a stream of magic from the wand, without a specific spell in mind, simply willing Madame Clerval to stop and to protect Rhoda.
One second, Madame Clerval was there, the next, she wasn’t.
She’d disappeared into thin air.
Tessa ran to Rhoda, who looked just as confused as Tessa felt. Roxy was there by her side as well, putting an arm around each of them, out of breath from running.
“Where’d she go? She was right here. Are you both okay?” The words came in spurts, between gulps of air as Roxy caught her breath.
Tessa looked around the beach. It was completely deserted—except for Joy. “What about Joy?”
“She’s okay,” said Roxy. “I saw her. She looked like she was asleep.”
“She should be,” said Rhoda. “As long as no one disturbed the spell I used to keep her warm and cozy.”
Tessa nodded. “Thank you for doing that.”
“Where did Clerval go? And the others?” Roxy looked ready to fight again if necessary.
Tessa felt tired. The adrenaline of the evening was ebbing quickly out of her, and she felt unimaginably tired. She stifled a yawn.
Rhoda looked down at the ground and, after a moment, crouched down in the sand and picked something up.
It was another ring. Tessa opened her palm to show Roxy and Rhoda Barb’s ring. It was identical to Madame Clerval’s—as was the one Roxy proffered from Isidora.
“Gross,” said Roxy, disgusted painted across her features.
“I’ll take them,” said Rhoda.
Roxy went to hand the ring to Rhoda, but a stab of suspicion stopped Tessa from extending her ring.
“How do we know you won’t use it? Like they did?”
“Tessa, Rhoda is a friend. She helped me save Mo. She hates the Three as much as we do.”
“Okay, but why should she have all three? That seems dangerous.” Tessa couldn’t shake the feeling that she didn’t want to give up the ring. The ring wanted to stay with her.
“You want to keep the ring, don’t you?” said Rhoda, giving her a searing look.
Tessa gasped. How had Rhoda known?
“It’s a ring of power. Not the only of its kind in the history of the world either. Evil rings want to be worn, they want to be used.”
“Shit,” said Roxy quietly.
“It’s not even three rings. It’s just one ring,” added Rhoda. “Please, Tessa, let me have it.”
Something inside Tessa protested. She didn’t want power. She didn’t want to wear the ring—did she? But she didn’t know Rhoda either. What if she was evil? She didn’t know who she was. What if she had helped them defeat the Three so she could get the rings?
“Look. I know you don’t know me. And a lot went down tonight. But here. Take this—I’m giving it to you of my own free will even though it belongs in the museum. It’s a token of my good intentions,” said Rhoda, and she pulled from her pocket a beautiful, intricately woven gold bracelet with designs and markings on it that Tessa knew, on instinct, must be imbued with magic. Tessa took it from her with her left hand, since her right was still clutching the ring.
