Enchantment (30 page)

Keeping her chin up, Gray headed for the
elevators and pressed the button for the top floor. Once she’d made
it to the top she erased herself from sight. The corridor was
empty, but she needed to find herself an empty suite. Gray started
at the end of the hall then teleported herself into the far suite
while remaining invisible. Nope, occupied.

There wasn’t anyone inside the second suite
she tried, but their luggage was.

On the third try, she found an unoccupied
suite and filled herself back in.

Third time’s a charm.

The suite had the same whitewashed look as
the lobby and was fully furnished in wingback chairs, couches
filled with decorative pillows, lamps, a wide coffee table, a desk,
and even a large fireplace.

The bathroom was all done in marble,
including a deep oval tub flanked by two white armoires topped with
pink potted orchids.

Gray’s lips curved into a bittersweet smile.
She didn’t need Charlene to enjoy a taste of luxury.

The bedroom was as big as the living room and
fit for a queen. It had full furnishings, a chandelier, king-sized
bed, fresh flowers, and elegant drapes pulled back from two tall
windows looking over Paris.

Gray scowled when she looked out the window.
Naturally she would end up in a room with a view of the Eiffel
Tower. The steel structure did nothing except remind her of
Adrian.

A sound emerged from Gray’s lips—a soft,
agonizing scream. She’d waited for a safe place to break down and
now here she was. All alone.

Gray lifted her left foot and ripped the
heeled shoe off her foot. She threw it across the bedroom then took
off the second shoe and chucked it even harder. Each shoe landed
with a loud thunk
on
the tapestry rug beneath her feet.

Gray didn’t wear heels! She wore sandals,
clogs!

Gray rushed inside the bathroom and looked at
herself in the mirror. The reflection looking back only enraged her
more. A black cocktail dress, for crying out loud! She’d gotten all
gussied up for Adrian Montez of all people. And the necklace. It
made her feel like she was Adrian’s mistress.

Gray put a hand to her chest just below the
new piece of jewelry. The stones winked at her in the mirror. She
glared back at them, throwing her hands around her neck and
fighting with the clasp. As soon as she was free of the chain, she
slammed the necklace down on the countertop. They clipped the
surface and made Gray wince. It sounded like something had
chipped.

For a split second she leaned forward to see
if she’d damaged any of the crystals then admonished herself in the
next instant for giving a damn. She’d have to get rid of it anyway.
It was from Adrian.

Gray stormed into the bedroom, frowning at
the big empty bed. Without warning, she collapsed onto the antique
loveseat and began sobbing into her hands. It felt as though
something had broken inside her. How could she be so happy one
moment, then devastated the next?

The horror of it all was that underneath the
anger and humiliation, she still had feelings for Adrian.

The realization filled Gray with bitter
laughter.

Oh, what a curse. When would it end?

Between the laughing and crying, Gray felt
drained. Utterly drained and without hope. She considered calling
her mom, but what would she say?

Instead, Gray shoved her fingers into her
purse, fishing the toy wand out from the very bottom. She’d meant
to slip it back inside Adrian’s trunk after she’d finished touching
everything inside, hoping that all the objects combined would
answer her questions.

Despite everything, she still felt an
obsessive need to know what happened to Adrian as a child. She’d
promised she wouldn’t pry, but that was before the spell broke.

Gray moved from the loveseat to the edge of
the bed, staring at the wand in her open palms.

Without thinking, Gray began to chant. “Long
ago and far away, little Adrian Montez at play. Weaving magic with
his toy, during his days as a boy. With this spell that I cast,
show me the past. Show me the past.”

She slipped the wand under the pillow,
slipped under the covers in her dress, and laid her head down
gently.

That night Gray dreamed of a little boy who’d
been happy. Adrian wasn’t how she’d pictured him. He looked like a
harmless boy with his patch of light brown hair sticking up above
his forehead.

Gray’s lips twitched as she dreamed, lifting
into a smile when Adrian pulled a stuffed bunny from a top hat in a
dining room. She saw love in the eyes of his mother, father, and
older sister as he bowed before taking his spot at the dinner
table. Happiness filled Gray. And then it was gone.

She nearly woke.

Keep sleeping. Keep dreaming
, she told
herself softly.
Where did the love go?

She searched Adrian’s childhood home, but he
had vanished. She looked for the family she’d only just glimpsed.
They too were gone.

A clicking sound caught Gray’s attention. It
was coming from the living room. She wasn’t even aware that she had
begun walking around in the dream. She took a step forward and
followed the
click, click, click
to the living room.

Adrian’s grandmother sat rocking and knitting
in her recliner. Gray stopped in front of her, but the old woman
continued with the clicking and rocking.

“Where is everyone?” Gray asked.

All movement stopped. The old woman leaned
forward and looked Gray directly in the eyes. Then she looked up,
beyond Gray’s shoulder.

Gray pivoted slowly, craning her head upward.
As she turned, she noticed she was no longer in the living room,
but outdoors standing on pavement. A bouquet of silk roses lay at
her feet. She lifted her head in the direction the old woman had
gazed and found herself staring at the ledge of a building. Her
brows furrowed in confusion. Then Adrian appeared on the ledge.

Gray’s heart momentarily stopped.

Adrian, what are you doing up there? Get
down!
Gray wanted to scream, but her voice wouldn’t work.

She saw him jump and felt instantly sick.

Why would he do that?

As Adrian the boy hurtled to the ground, Gray
squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t watch, but her hearing wasn’t
something she could control and when he hit the pavement, Gray felt
her heart split into two.

Tears leaked from the sides of Gray’s
eyes.

She needed to wake up.

But when Gray pried her eyes back open, she
found herself looking directly into Adrian’s. Now she stood in a
hospital room, looking down at the boy—battered and broken.

Her breath caught in her throat. Had she
somehow traveled in time? But Adrian wasn’t looking at her, he was
staring at the ceiling, trying to move his arms.

“Nan?” His voice cracked.

That’s when Gray noticed the familiar
clicking of needles. The sound stopped abruptly.

Gray didn’t even realize she’d been holding
her breath until it came out in a ragged gasp. Did people really
breathe in dreams? But this wasn’t a dream. It was a spell.

“I can’t move my arms or legs,” Adrian said,
oblivious to Gray’s presence.

Tears pricked the sides of her eyes once more
when she saw the panic in his face.

“Bones broken,” the old woman said. “That
body never walk again. No worry, boy next to you almost ready.”

That’s when Gray noticed the boy in the bed
beside them. His eyes were closed, chest rising and falling gently.
Pain pricked Gray’s insides. He was young, but she would have
recognized him anywhere, whether it be on the street, in a
photograph, or a dream.

Adrian. Her Adrian.

For one fleeting second, she wanted to leave
the broken boy and rush to the one beside them to stroke his
sleeping face. Her body turned on instinct until Adrian’s shaky
voice stopped her.

“Where are Mom, Dad, and Lili?”

Gray looked at the old woman. Her lips
pursed, etching deep frown lines into her face.

Once more Gray found herself holding her
breath.

The old woman looked off into space before
looking toward her grandson. She focused there for several silent
beats. Then her eyes found Gray’s and she answered as though
speaking directly to Gray. “They try to come, but car crash.”

“They died?” Gray cried out. This time her
voice worked.

She had a quick glimpse of Adrian’s face as
it began to crumble before she approached his grandmother. Somehow
watching him receive this news hurt worse than the fall.

The old woman followed Gray’s movements with
her eyes. She nodded solemnly. “They all die. My Dimitry. My Oleg.
Liliana. Sergei. Caitlyn. Fotina. Only Adrian no leave me.”

“You made sure of that.” Gray glanced quickly
at the sleeping boy in the next bed over. She knew a little
something about body stealing. It wasn’t right. Not that she was
one to talk. But every mother deserved closure, even bitchy French
moms and this poor boy’s family—wherever they were.

Gray frowned and turned back to the woman.
“You did it because you didn’t want to be alone.”

The old woman smiled sadly. “No one want to
be alone, Gray.”

Gray’s mouth opened and closed. Words escaped
her. Instead, she found herself looking into the old woman’s hands,
where the knitting needles had turned into the magic wand.

“Hey,” Gray said. Her hand reached out—not
for the woman in her dream, but to feel for the wand under her
pillow.

“Now you sleep,” the woman said.

“I am sleeping.”

“You sleep,” the woman repeated, this time
pointing the wand at Gray.

The hospital room faded away. Gray felt
herself lying horizontally, grasping one last time under her pillow
before she fell into sweet oblivion . . . a weightlessness that
ended when her phone chirped on the floor beside her.

Gray lifted her head from the pillow, one eye
open. Light teased the edges of the bedroom curtains, signaling a
new day.
Groan.

Images from the dream spell flashed through
her brain like the strobe in a nightclub.
Adrian’s accident. The
death of his family. His grandmother addressing Gray
directly.

Gray’s eyes widened, fully awake. She shoved
her hand beneath her pillow, but the wand wasn’t there.
Frantically, she searched under the covers but came up empty-handed
yet again. She leaned her head over the side of the bed, looking
underneath in case it had fallen and rolled below.

Her phone stared her in the face and rang
again.

Friggin’ fantastic timing.
It wasn’t
Adrian. That much she knew. Gray snatched it off the floor with no
intention of answering it. Then she saw Lee’s name on the display
screen. Lee had never called her. Not once.

Gray hit
answer
. “Why are you calling
me?”

“Gray?” Lee asked uncertainly.

“Who else would it be?” Gray snapped.

To be fair, she probably sounded more like
Charlene at the moment.

“Did I catch you at a bad time?”

Gray glanced at the curtains. “What time is
it?”

“I don’t know. It’s eight p.m. here.”

Gray looked at the nightstand. An
old-fashioned clock sat there. The kind that made you actually have
to look closely to see what time it was.

Five a.m. What the hell?

Gray sat up suddenly. What if something had
happened to Mom? Why else would her double call?

“Is everything okay?” Gray asked.

“No, everything’s not okay,” Lee said. Now
she sounded like the snippy one. “I know you’re in Paris, and I
know you’re in trouble.”

“I’m not in trouble!” Gray cried out
defensively. “And how do you know I’m in Pairs?”

Ever hear of a little thing called
privacy?

“Raj and I did a locator spell to check on
you a couple days ago.”

Gray sat bolt upright in bed. Oh God, what
had they seen? She didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath
until it came out in a gasp. “Were you spying on me?”

Lee sounded annoyed when she answered, “Of
course not. Like I said, we were checking up on you. Mom mentioned
some guy giving you trouble in Spain and that you’d left the
program. Well, after that we wondered what you were up to.”

Seriously, magical abilities aside, people
needed to learn to pick up the phone.

Gray flipped back the blanket and stepped out
of bed. Whatever Lee and Raj had seen couldn’t have been good. With
the time difference who knew when they’d tuned in. If it had been
the other night . . . Warmth flooded Gray’s cheeks—part
embarrassment, part rage. How dare Lee and Raj invade her
privacy?!

“The moment I saw you were in Paris I knew
something wasn’t right,” Lee continued. “And then we caught a
glimpse of Adrian.”

“And?” Gray held her breath again.

“And what were you thinking taking Adrian on
by yourself?” Lee cried out over the phone.

“What?” Gray’s eyes fluttered.

“Why else would you be in Paris if not to
finish what you started back in Kent?”

Suddenly Gray’s eyes were wide open. What
business was it of Lee’s . . . or Raj’s?

“Maybe I’m just here to sightsee,” she
quipped.

“I know me, Gray, and I wouldn’t leave Spain
to hang around Paris unless there was a reason.”

Oh, how her double grated on Gray’s
nerves!

“Well, I’m not you. I’m me,” Gray retorted.
She stood up taller, striding barefoot toward the bathroom. “Paris
happens to have a lot of great attractions . . . and even better
food.”

She walked straight up to the bathroom
mirror, surprised to see that despite a little puffiness around her
eyes, she looked like she was ready for another round on the town.
Her eyes darted to the necklace on the marble countertop.

It was so quiet on the other line that Gray
thought perhaps the connection had been lost, but then Lee sighed
and said, “It’s so surreal talking to . . . me. I know why you
didn’t call for backup, Gray. I would have done the same thing.
We’re too proud. But pride always gets us into trouble. Don’t
worry, reinforcements are on the way.”