Sorceress (25 page)

“Yeah,” he said. “Mostly cleaning up. But we already took care of the worst of it.”

It would have been ideal not to run into anyone while she was breaking into Elizabeth’s house, which was why Nadia had hauled her butt out of bed so early in the morning. Instead, just as she got to Elizabeth’s front door, Kendall came jogging past. “Oh, hey, Nadia!” she called. “Isn’t it, like, great to be outside without getting rained on?”

For once, Kendall seemed truly friendly. Nadia might’ve been happy to see her, except for the awkward questions that had to be coming. “Yeah, it’s great.”

“Also, you know, humidity makes hair look incredibly gross. It’s way better now.” Kendall kept running in place, iPhone strapped to her upper arm; her pink track suit stood
out brilliantly against the brown leaves scattered across Elizabeth’s lawn. “So you can start fixing yours again if you want to.”

Nadia thought she already had. Frowning, she put one hand to her ponytail.

Oblivious to having hurt any feelings, Kendall added, “So, do you think she ran away?”

“Elizabeth?”

“Well, duh.” Kendall rolled her eyes. “She was always so skanky and weird. Like how she wouldn’t shower and came to school without shoes on, when she showed up at all?”

The luster Elizabeth had carried around her had disappeared from people’s memories as well. “Yeah. Seriously strange.”

“My mom says Elizabeth probably hitchhiked out of town when it was flooding. I’m like, how would you hitchhike out of here when nobody from out of town could drive in to begin with?”

“Good point,” Nadia said. Already she had begun to relax. Kendall wasn’t going to ask awkward questions, because she already had her own theories about what had happened to Elizabeth. Probably everyone in town would come up with their own story, but Nadia doubted anyone would even go to the trouble of filing a missing persons report.

Elizabeth Pike had slipped out of this world without even a ripple. Soon she would be forgotten by everyone who hadn’t learned who and what she really was, and this town could start to heal.

Kendall said, “Personally, I think she ran away. Can you blame her? Who would want to live in a run-down old house like that?” She wrinkled her nose. “I hope she’s okay, though.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about her,” Nadia said. She jammed her cold hands in the pockets of her coat. “Elizabeth always could take care of herself.”

“Except for that hair. Ugh.” Cheerful again, Kendall slipped her earbuds back in and waved as she began to jog away. Over her shoulder she called, “Hey, if I don’t see you in the next couple of days, Merry Christmas!”

Nadia waved back, smiling, but she waited until Kendall had rounded the corner out of sight before she opened Elizabeth’s front door.

The house looked even more forlorn now. Before, the little stove had cast a strange orange glow that—however creepy—at least warmed the place up a bit. Now the rooms were purely derelict. As Nadia walked toward the back room, she noticed how often she could see through gaps in the floorboards to the ground below. Probably this house would collapse in a few years if the city didn’t condemn it and tear it down first.

She pushed open the back room door slowly, every muscle tense. The last time she’d broken in here, she’d been attacked by hundreds of spiders at once. Yeah, this time she had protective spells ready, but she would just as soon skip the whole spider thing, if possible.

This time, though, nothing happened. Elizabeth’s Book of
Shadows sat in the center of the room, closed, as if waiting.

Nadia kneeled beside the book. With one hand she reached out to touch it; still, nothing happened. No helpful guidance to spells; no attacks by spiders; nothing.

Books of Shadows gained power as their witches grew older. As Elizabeth had lived longer than any other witch in history, that made this the most powerful Book of Shadows that had ever existed. It could be malevolent—Nadia had experienced that for herself—but she also suspected that, with Elizabeth dead, the book could be changed. Cleansed, maybe. If so, it would teach Nadia things about magic that perhaps no one but Elizabeth had ever known.

“I’m taking you with me,” she said.

Nadia felt vaguely stupid talking to a book—but then it moved. She jumped back, but the Book of Shadows simply flipped itself open to an early page.

Tentatively, she leaned forward to read what was written there. The ink was old, and Elizabeth’s handwriting the thick flowery cursive that had been popular hundreds of years ago. But slowly Nadia made out the words. The spell was for cleansing magical items of any black magic they’d been used to cast.

That, she figured, was the Book of Shadows telling her it accepted her as its new witch.

“Come on,” she said, hefting it into one arm. “Let’s go.”

“Come on, you two!” Verlaine called as she slipped on her winter coat. “How is it possible for me to fix my hair
and put on makeup faster than you two can put on nice sweaters?”

“Talk to Mr. Hog-the-Hair-Dryer,” Uncle Dave said. “Don’t blame me. And look at that dress!”

It was only a Dior knockoff, and deep green instead of red, but Verlaine was wearing it as a tribute to the fallen designer gown that would never, ever recover from its trip to hell or its subsequent dunking in floodwater. Besides, the narrow waist and the full skirt were festive enough for a Christmas Eve party, even if they were just hanging out at the Caldanis’.

“Okay, okay,” Uncle Gary said, coming out just a few seconds behind. “Let me grab the plum pudding, and we’re out of here.”

As they stood at the front door, listening to Uncle Gary do battle with tinfoil, Uncle Dave said, “There’s not going to be any—
you know
at this party, is there?”

Verlaine batted her eyelashes innocently. “You mean eggnog?”

“No.”

“Fruitcake?”

Uncle Dave gave her a look. “Magic. I mean magic.”

“Not anything major.” Who knew what Nadia might have gotten up to in the kitchen? Verlaine knew that if she could cast a spell to wash the dishes, she would. “Nobody’s going to be talking about it, okay? This is just a Christmas party. The end.”

He sighed. “Just as long as there are no surprises.”

Verlaine waited for Uncle Gary to walk back to them before she said, “Actually, there is one surprise.”

Her dads looked at each other. Uncle Gary’s eyes narrowed. “And what’s that?”

She put one hand on the doorknob. “You get to meet my boyfriend.”

Then she opened the door and hurried down the steps before they could even start asking questions.

There was a brief interrogation in the SUV, but once they got to the Caldanis’, her dads were both on good behavior. Neither of them threatened to kill Asa even once. It helped that Asa was being his most charming, and that his parents were so thrilled to see her. Within moments, they were fully into the swing of the party.

Nothing fancy, Nadia had promised. The only decorations were a few strands of twinkling lights around the room. Cole and his best friend, Levi, were watching
A Charlie Brown Christmas
in the living room, while Faye Walsh and Mr. Caldani chatted with each other, plastic cups of wine in their hands.
Huh, they’re sitting kind of close,
Verlaine thought.
Maybe something’s getting started there.
Mateo’s dad was telling Levi’s parents a story that made them laugh. Nadia still had on her apron as she walked in and out of the kitchen, obviously in a baking frenzy. However, Mateo was in the kitchen with her; maybe that was the real reason Nadia was in no hurry to come out. Christmas carols played softly on the stereo system, and everything was basically perfect.

Or at least it was once Asa embraced her from behind.

“Hey,” she said, leaning back. “Our parents are getting along well.”

“Almost too well. Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

Verlaine laughed, and he hugged her tighter. Against her neck, he murmured, “How are you feeling?”

“Amazing. When I go out, people treat me like anybody else. I can actually make friends now. I can even get my teachers to rewrite my college recs.” Verlaine paused, then made a face. “I wish I’d thought to do that back when I had all the crazy love vibes. Those would have been the best recommendations ever.”

“You’re going to get in on your own merits, now that the world can finally see them.”

“Thanks to you.”

Asa shook his head. “I couldn’t make them see everything beautiful in you if it hadn’t been there to begin with.”

Verlaine turned in his embrace, intending to kiss him—but when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she gasped.

“What is it?” Asa said, his hands on her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just—in the mirror—”

How had she not seen it before? Maybe it hadn’t been visible until this moment. Lips parted in wonder, Verlaine walked to the mirror and leaned close to it. “My hair,” she whispered. “Look!”

At the very roots, right next to her scalp, her hair was no longer silver. Now that she had back everything Elizabeth
had stolen from her, Verlaine’s hair was turning brown again.

“A shame,” Asa said. “You’ll make a stunning brunette, of course, but—the silver is so beautiful.”

Verlaine started to laugh. “I think I’m about to become the first person who ever dyed her hair back to gray.”

“I can do more in a kitchen than slice pound cake,” Mateo said, even as he brought the knife down through each curve of the crust. “Grew up in a restaurant, remember?”

“You get your chance to prove it with the crab dip.” Now that Nadia could finally think about her future, about becoming a professional chef someday, she took more pleasure in cooking than she ever had before. “I can’t believe we never really cooked together before.”

“We have plenty of time to practice now.” He grinned at her, and something about the way he stood there, with his black apron around his waist and a daub of flour on one cheek—it made her want to drop everything and kiss him. “We might be able to practice something even more interesting.”

“Stop it,” she whispered. “Dad’s only a few feet away.”

“Oh, no, not that! Well, I mean, yeah that, definitely that, but I was talking about magic.”

“Okay. That, too.”

Nadia suspected that Mateo probably was too old to learn the Craft, at least anything beyond a few basic spells. But she intended to find out. From now on, she wasn’t bound by old laws, or accepting every legend as truth. She and Mateo
would learn the true boundaries of the Craft—and expand them—together.

After the sandwiches were done, Nadia finally took off her apron and joined the party. Everyone was laughing. Talking. Happy. Even Dad finally had a smile on his face again. It wasn’t like everything in their lives had been fixed—they hadn’t gotten over losing Mom yet, if they ever would. Asa still turned moody when his parents slipped up and called him “Jeremy.” And while Mateo had recovered from the curse, people in town still looked at him funny. They didn’t know he’d changed his fate, that he’d be the first Cabot in hundreds of years to lead his own life instead of being Elizabeth’s plaything. They only knew he’d been blaming witches for it a short time before.

So it’s not perfect
, Nadia thought as she leaned down to ruffle Cole’s hair.
It’s still pretty good.

Mateo caught her hand in his and drew her toward the corner of the room, where—instead of the real thing—Cole’s crayon drawing of mistletoe had been taped on the ceiling.

“Like you need it.” Nadia drew him close and kissed him as warmly as she dared with both their fathers in the room.

Mateo touched his forehead to hers, smiling softly. When Cole began laughing at something Snoopy had done, he glanced over and asked, in a low voice, “Does Cole still believe in Santa?”

“Yeah, I think so, or at least he pretends to,” Nadia whispered back. “He probably thinks he’ll get more presents that way.”

“Smart kid. What are you giving him?”

“A toy pirate ship, complete with toy pirates. Cards for his battle game. A tablet for kids, so maybe he’ll leave Dad’s iPad alone. Some pajamas, some books, and a white Christmas.”

Mateo looked back at her. “What was that last one?”

Nadia pulled Mateo closer. “Cole’s always had white Christmases before. You know, we lived in Chicago. I wouldn’t want to disappoint him this year.”

“You really can do anything, can’t you?”

Between soft kisses, Nadia said, “No. But I can do this.”

As she snuggled into Mateo’s embrace, Nadia looked past him at the window. Right now the night sky was so clear that the stars shone as brightly as Christmas lights. She’d kept any hint of precipitation far away for the last several days, to give the town a chance to dry out and get ready for this.

Late tonight, after midnight, once Cole was fast asleep, Nadia would go outside in her coat. She’d try the second spell she’d created herself, calling on her very best memories, and she had a hunch it was going to work. She would look up at the night sky, gather the clouds, and cast a spell for snow.