A Kind of Magic (26 page)

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Sophie said calmly in between pants. “Are you okay?”

“Well, I have my sister and my neighbor in my apartment in the middle of the night, which is weird.” She groaned. “And please tell me I wasn’t just making out with a fairy Don Juan.”

“Then I won’t.” Sophie patted Michael on the arm, and he gently set her on her feet, but they stayed awfully close to each other.

“That doesn’t mean I wasn’t making out with the guy, does it?” Emily asked, suppressing a shudder.

“It was pretty intense,” Michael said.

Emily groaned and picked up her pillow to bury her face in it. “I don’t know whether to shower first or brush my teeth. And to think, I was this close to doing a lot more than dancing with him.”

“I think he had you under a spell,” Sophie said, her tone soothing. “It wasn’t you.”

“Well, thanks for the help.” She bent and kissed her dog on the nose. “And thanks to you for raising the alarm.” Then her sister and neighbor’s attire registered on her and she remembered what else had happened that night. “Oh, how did the ballet go?”

They exchanged a look fraught with all kinds of meaning. “It was eventful,” Sophie said.

“Let me guess, Josephine did something. But what about the ballet itself?”

“That part was great, although there were some unintended special effects.”

“Oh?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“But things got interesting afterward,” Michael said.

Hugging her pillow against her chest, Emily asked, “Interesting how?”

“I don’t even know where to start,” Sophie said with a sigh. “But I suspect Josephine has more allies in the Realm than we realized. She’s got the enchantresses squaring off against the fae—even Amelia and Athena. But can we talk about it tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I think we could all use some sleep. Thanks again.” Emily turned to put her pillow back in place and noticed the bundle of herbs lying there. “Hey, where did this come from?”

“It’s the one you gave me,” Michael said. “It’s how we broke the spell on you. I’d suggest you keep it around for the time being.”

“Good idea.”

Beau stretched out beside her, and although she didn’t usually let him sleep in bed with her, she felt better with his warm bulk against her. Michael and Sophie said their good nights and left, the lock clicking behind them.

As tired as she was, Emily couldn’t rest because all she could think of was what would have happened if they hadn’t shown up.

Michael’s Apartment

Next

Sophie didn’t even want to think about what time it was by the time she and Michael got back to his apartment. “It should be safe for me to go home now,” she said, fighting back a yawn.

“Safe? At this time of night?” he asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow.

“I meant safe from confrontations with Amelia and Athena. But do you really think I’d be in any danger from run-of-the-mill muggers?”

“You’re dead tired. Your reflexes might be off. Why don’t you stay here tonight?” When she hesitated perhaps a bit too long, he added, “It’s not like it would be the first time, and then we were both in my bed without any danger.”

“
On
your bed,” she corrected, hoping she didn’t blush too obviously. “And I have no doubt that you would be a perfect gentleman. But how would it look?”

“You’re not in a small town anymore, Sophie. No one will care. And even if you’ve become enough of a celebrity that someone’s watching you, your sister lives in the same building. It’ll look like you stayed with her. In fact, you leaving dressed like that in the middle of the night would probably look even worse.”

She figured she’d put up enough of a protest for appearance’s sake, so she sighed and said, “If you insist.”

“I do. No matter how much magic you have, I’d feel obligated to escort you home, and then it would be even later when I got to bed, and I have to work tomorrow.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at his attempted—and successful—guilt trip. “Okay, when you put it that way.”

“Then let me get a pillow and blanket out, and I’ll take the sofa.”

“I’ll hear of no such thing. I will not take your bed.”

“I’ve spent many a night on this sofa. I’ll be fine. And I’ll need to leave for work while you’re probably still asleep.”

She knew the logic, but she didn’t want to sleep in his bed. Well, she did, and that was the problem. She’d spend the whole night sniffing his pillow and sighing like a schoolgirl. “I’m a sound sleeper, and I’ll fit a lot better on the sofa than you will.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “If you insist. You can have the bathroom first while I get the sofa set up.”

Her dance bag would likely sustain her for a week away from home, so she was able to remove her makeup, wash her face, and brush her teeth. She put on the yoga pants and sweatshirt she’d worn to the theater and put her evening gown back in its plastic garment bag. When she came out of the bathroom, Michael had also changed into sweats and had the sofa made up with sheets, pillow, and blanket.

“There you are,” he said. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. Thank you for putting me up for the night.”

“No problem.”

As he headed into the bedroom, she called out, “Sweet dreams!”

He turned back. “You, too.”

She was so wound up she was afraid she’d never get to sleep, but the next thing she knew, morning sunlight was streaming in. She sat up, stretching, and saw that the clock said it was nearly ten. A note lay on the coffee table, written in a quick scrawl, but still legible. “Stay as long as you need. I know you can lock up when you go. Take whatever you can find for breakfast. Sorry there’s not much.” It was signed simply “M.”

She got up and made herself a cup of tea and a slice of toast, doing some pliés and relevés while the toast cooked and the tea steeped. Her feet had quit throbbing, but her muscles were a little stiff. Once she was properly fortified, she checked her phone and found messages from both Amelia and Athena. She felt a bit childish about ignoring them, but she just didn’t want to deal with them right now. The occasional silent treatment wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. She’d talk to them eventually, but she wanted to have her head together first.

After writing a quick thank-you on the bottom of Michael’s note and leaving it on the coffee table, she put on a pair of sneakers from her bag, gathered her belongings, and headed down to Emily’s apartment. This time, she knocked rather than barging in. Emily opened the door within seconds, so she must have been up already. She took one look at Sophie in sweats, her dance bag over her shoulder and her garment bag over her arm, and her eyebrows rose.

“I slept on the sofa, okay?” Sophie said, brushing past her sister to enter the apartment.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, but you were thinking it. I could tell.”

“You can’t read minds, can you?” Emily’s alarm was almost funny.

Sophie was tempted to leave it vague, but honesty won out. “No. I just know you well. It was late and he didn’t want me going out, so he insisted.”

“I bet he did,” Emily said with a smirk.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you two looked pretty cozy last night when he was holding you in his arms.”

Sophie hung her garment bag on the back of the closet door. “Mind if I stash this here for now? I’ve got to run to class, and I don’t have time to go home first.”

“You have class today?”

“I suspect it will be as much a company meeting as class, probably mostly stretching. Which I need.”

“Do you have time for a cup of tea?”

Sophie wanted to say no, even though she could probably spare at least twenty minutes, but the look on her sister’s face made her say, “Sure. What’s up?” Besides, if Emily remembered that she didn’t drink coffee and offered her tea, that meant this was likely a big deal.

Emily got up and put on a kettle. Without looking directly at Sophie, she said, “What is it like when one of those leanan things has her hooks in someone?”

“You’re still worried about Olivia?”

“No, Olivia’s fine. She’s still awesome, and she seems to be in great shape. Charles, on the other hand … He looks awful, but onstage he’s amazing. You’d think he was about to collapse, then he goes out there and is some kind of cross between Olivier and Caruso. I mean, he made me cry, he was so real last night. I almost forgot what a jerk he was. And his voice, wow.”

“That does sound like it could be a leanan sidhe.”

Nodding, Emily said, “Yeah, thought so. And here’s the weird thing—after the show last night he gave me this intense look and said something like, ‘it’s you.’ What’s that about?”

“Some of the accounts say that the leanan sidhe appears as a redhaired woman. So maybe he thinks he’s been dreaming about you. Are there any signs that he has a new girlfriend?”

Emily turned around to face her, frowning. “These things could actually appear in real life?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only read stories, and I don’t know how true any of them are. I’ve seen stories in which the leanan sidhe manifests as a woman in reality—the new lover who inspires an artist to greater heights until he wastes away. Other stories have it being more of a dream lover.”

“Like what happened to me, being taken away into fairy dreamland?”

“Maybe.”

“What do we do about it? I’m not crazy about the guy, and I’m good with him turning in great performances, but him conking out would be bad for the show, and isn’t this sort of thing fatal? You said it was why a lot of artists and poets die young.”

“That was what Yeats thought. Then again, he lived into his sixties, so he may not have had personal experience.” Sophie thought for a long while before saying, “I may have to do some research. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head, other than getting the leanan sidhe to transfer her attentions to someone else, and that hardly seems fair.”

“Can’t you or Nana order her to stop it?”

Sophie pondered that. “I don’t know. Maybe. We’d have to find her, though.”

Emily brought her a mug of tea, and they both sat at the table. “So there’s nothing you can do?”

“One of the tricks with a leanan sidhe is that the victim has to
want
to get rid of her, and quite often they don’t because they enjoy the success she brings. You didn’t tell me you were having problems after your visit to the Realm because you were afraid of losing your performance edge. Imagine if you really had been getting a magical boost.”

Emily cringed at the memory. “Don’t remind me.”

“And for him to consciously reject her, he has to know such a thing exists and believe in it,” Sophie continued.

“Yeah, I can imagine how that would go over. With his ego, he’d never admit he was getting help.” She sighed. “So we’re stuck with maybe tracking down whoever’s going after him and stopping it. Or maybe finding a way to run interference. If we can’t deflect the fairy to some other person, maybe we could distract him from the fairy. The right human redhead could do the trick.”

“I suppose so, but I don’t recall any stories about that. There’s also the chance that getting the barriers working properly again will help. At least I hope so. From what I can tell, this is happening all over the place. There’s been a massive upsurge in creativity. It’s wonderful for the rest of us, but it could cost these people their lives.”

“And all this because Josephine wants to be queen of the enchantresses.”

“Which is why we have to stop her.” Sophie finished her tea and said, “Now, I really have to go. I’ll stop by on my way home and pick up the dress. Maybe I can sneak in this afternoon while they’re at the shop, and then I should get home tonight after they’re asleep.”

 “You could stay here. I have a trundle.”

“You tell me this now, after I spent last night on Michael’s sofa?”

“You’re the only person who thinks that’s at all scandalous, Soph.”

It really wasn’t the scandal she was worried about.

The Precinct

Noon

Michael blinked as something snapped in his face. He blinked again, trying to bring things into focus and finally saw Mari leaning over and staring into his eyes while snapping her fingers at him. “Earth to Rev,” she said.

“What?” he grumbled.

“I was just saying—for the third time—that I’m going for lunch. Want to come with? Or maybe you need the rest and need me to bring you something?”

“Lunch?”

“Yeah, you know, that meal we eat in the middle of the day.”

“The operative phrase there would be ‘middle of the day.’”

“What else do you call noon?”

“It can’t be.” He checked his watch and saw that it was.

“I know they say time flies when you’re having fun, but you must have a strange definition of fun.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“On some enthralling paperwork.” Mari rested her hip on the edge of his desk and frowned at him. “Are you okay?”

“I was just up later than usual for a school night.” And then he’d had weird dreams, but he wasn’t going to open that can of worms with Mari. “I’m surprised you’re even able to walk this morning.”

“Nah, we just went for drinks.” She grinned lustily. “Tomorrow, however, don’t worry if I’m a little late for work. Now, did you want me to bring you anything?”

“Nah, I’m not all that hungry.”

“Suit yourself. Back in a bit.”

Michael rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, then ran his hands through his hair and blinked rapidly, trying to wake himself up. He had been up late, but he’d also been awake earlier than normal, even before his alarm went off, and he didn’t feel like he’d slept much during the night.

Part of it had been the uncomfortable awareness of Sophie in the next room. It wasn’t as though he’d been tempted to do anything. He’d just been so
aware
. Then when he’d fallen asleep, he’d dreamed about her. Or maybe it was Jen. It was possible that the dream had merged the two or had switched them back and forth. It might even have been some other redhead whispering in his ear throughout the night.