That Touch of Magic (30 page)

“Happy?” he said, as if he didn’t understand the meaning of the word.

“And in dire need of coffee,” I said. “Meet me at CCB’s, ten minutes.”

I hung up and took Leo’s hand. “This is your day, babe. You’re about to meet a bona fide southern conjurer.”

*   *   *

Neither Clementine nor Liv was working at CCB’s that morning. Betty was running the crowded front counter and the day waitress, Brenda, was flying through the dining room, so I just nabbed a booth in the back where we could keep an eye out for both Cain and, just in case, Desmond. Leo and I sat together on one side of the booth, facing the empty seat.

“God, I swore I would never sit like this,” I said, rolling my eyes at us both. “It’s so dorky.”

Leo smiled. “You want me to sit over there?” He motioned to the other side with his chin.

“Shut up,” I said, grinning, and took his hand in mine.

We had just gotten our coffee when the bells on the door jingled and a tall, scraggly, dirty-blond southern boy in dire need of a haircut walked in.

“There he is,” I said, and waved. Cain noticed me and ambled over, as much as a guy could amble in a crowded waffle house at breakfast time.

“I can never get used to this town,” he grumbled as he slid in across from us. “There’s a lady up at the counter wearing a damned fedora.”

“Her name is Filly Jones,” I said. “She was my preschool teacher.”

Cain gave me a dead look. “Filly Jones. You shitting me?”

“It’s small-town charm,” I said. “Shut up.”

Cain gave me a one-sided smirk—his way of saying it was good to see me—and then he held out his hand to Leo.

“Cain Taggert,” he said.

“Leo North.” They shook and Leo added, “I’m Stacy’s … um…” He looked at me and we exchanged an entire conversation in a glance, in which we both agreed that we wouldn’t tell anyone we were getting married before we told Liv.

“He’s just mine,” I said, and Cain’s eyebrow went up a bit. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black metal box, which, for all its tiny size, looked like serious business. It even had a metal latch.

“Oh, cute.” I grinned at him. “You brought me a hamster’s Samsonite. How thoughtful.”

He stared at me, looking uneasy. “What’d he do to you?”

“Who?” I motioned to Leo. “Him?”

“No. The bad guy.” Cain watched me, on alert, eyes darting suspiciously around CCB’s. “You’re beaten up, and acting weird.”

I fiddled with the catch on the box. “What do you mean, weird?”

“I don’t know.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “Happy, I guess.”

“Well, the bruise is because of the bad guy. The happy is because of Leo.” I flipped the top on the box and encased in black foam was the smallest little brown vial I’d ever seen. I held it up to the light; inside was maybe five drops of solution.

“Wow,” I said, tucking it back in the case. “What is it?”

“The best shot you’ve got,” he said. “You need to get that into his system fast, and undiluted. Every drop. That means no mixing it with a drink.”

I stared at him. “Huh? How am I supposed to get it in his system?”

“You can try skin contact but you’ve got to get all of it on his skin, and he’s got to leave it there long enough for it to seep through, without washing it off. I’d say hypodermic is your best way to go. Inject him wherever you can, but the neck’s the best place. Right into the jugular.”

“Ew,” I said, and Leo put his arm around my shoulder.

“Man up, Easter,” Cain went on, his eyes sharp on mine. “This is how it works. You got one dose, one shot, and it’s good for another forty-eight hours to get it into his system, max. It was hard enough getting my hands on that one, so you gotta get it right the first try.”

“You didn’t make it yourself?” Leo asked.

Cain looked at him. “No, I had to go out of house on that one. The guy wouldn’t give me the formula, and he got on a plane back to Kenya last night, if he was even telling me the truth about where he was going.”

I put my hands over the small case. “So, it’s just one dose? And this will make him feel again?”

“Maybe,” Cain said, his voice grim.

“Maybe?”

“Got a lot of cloudy variables here, Easter,” he said. “I don’t know how your guy mixed his Anwei Xing. I don’t know how long ago he took it. Permanent magic like that is a big deal.”

“Magic, or science?” I said, mostly to myself, but Cain said, “Huh?” and I looked at him.

“This guy,” I said. “Desmond. He’s a neurologist. Or he was, anyway. He says it’s not magic, it’s science. Chemicals. He says there are no magical consequences for violating free will, that it’s all just superstitious rubbish.”

Cain shrugged, and I felt a twinge of uneasiness.

“Hey,” I said. “You were the one who told me about the consequences. There are consequences, right? I mean, magic is going to come back and find you if you break the rules, right?”

“There are consequences,” Cain said. “I don’t know if I’d call ’em magic. You reap what you sow. You violate free will, it’s my belief that someday, you’re gonna pay for that. You just have to decide whether it’s worth it or not.”

I carefully tucked the small case in my pocket. “It’ll be worth it. I’m pretty sure.”

“Yeah, well, don’t forget. You’re looking at maybe a fifty–fifty chance this will even work. I hope you’ve got a backup plan.”

“I always have a backup plan.”

“Yeah?” Cain huffed. “What is it?”

I smiled. “I’ll tell you when I think of it.”

Next to me, I could feel Leo tense. I had just turned around to look at him when he bolted out of the seat and pushed his way to the door. Through the open venetian blinds at the front of CCB’s, I saw the faintest glimpse of brown tweed moving away at a pace.

“Oh, shit,” I said, and ran out after him. I shouted, “Put the coffee on my tab!” at Brenda and nearly knocked Filly Jones off her counter stool as I ran out.

I looked first left, then right, and there was no sign of either Leo or Desmond, but I heard a shout from the alley to the right, and ran that way. When I got there, Leo had Desmond up against the brick wall, his forearm pressing against Desmond’s throat.

“Leo!” I shouted, but he was focused entirely on Des.

“I swear to God, I should kill you now,” he said.

Desmond moved his neck against the pressure of Leo’s arm, and when he spoke, his voice was strained. “If you do, she dies. That’s worse than a split lip, isn’t it?”

Leo’s eyes narrowed and he cursed, then gave Desmond one last slam against the wall before releasing him.

“This the guy?” I heard Cain say behind me, but I put my arm out to stop him from getting into the fray, and he stayed where he was.

“You touch her again,” Leo said, “and I will kill you.”

Desmond smirked. “I doubt much you’ll care.”

He tipped his imaginary hat at me then turned to walk down the alley and disappeared into the shadows. I watched after him, my panicked heart thrumming in my ears to the point where I didn’t hear Leo talking to me until he touched my arm.

“Hey, Stacy,” he said, his eyes shrouded with concern. “You okay?”

He couldn’t have,
I thought.
How would he…?

I blinked twice and looked at him. Leo, my Leo …

“Oh, God,” I said, and reached out to touch a spot on his neck, a tiny red dot that I might never have noticed if I wasn’t looking for signs of a hypodermic injection. “Did you fight? Did he touch you?”

Leo stared at me, confused. “A little. I got the better of him, though.”

He let you get the better of him,
I thought, and I pulled Cain’s arm and tilted Leo’s head to the side for Cain to see the tiny dot.

“Um … Stace?” Leo said.

I didn’t respond, just looked at Cain, whose expression was grim.

“Wait here,” he said, and disappeared out to the street.

“Stacy?” Leo blinked and looked at me, his eyes growing hazy. “What’s going on?”

And then he pitched forward. I caught him just in time before he cracked his head on the brick wall, and I eased him to the ground.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I said. “I promise.”

He looked at me, our eyes locked … and there was nothing there. Just a dead expression.

Like Desmond’s.

“Move back.”

I jumped at the sound of Cain’s voice; I hadn’t even heard his footsteps behind me.

“Leo.” Cain knelt next to Leo and handed him a small vial of clear liquid. “Drink this. It’s gonna taste bad, so do it fast. Got it?”

“Yeah.” Leo took the vial from Cain and stared at it as if trying to focus. “What is it?”

“Just drink.”

Leo took the cap off and shot the liquid down, then made a face and gagged. “Ugh, Christ!”

Cain took the vial back, then looked at me. “It’ll just be a minute.”

We all went still. I could hear the sounds of traffic moving down the street behind us, normal life continuing on as though it had any right. Then Leo leaned away from us and vomited onto the asphalt.

“That’s a positive,” Cain said.

“A positive what?”

“That reaction means he’s got something magic in him,” Cain said.

“Okay,” I said, the panic throttling my voice into shrillness. “Okay. He’s throwing it all up. It’s okay.”

“It’s not in his stomach,” Cain said darkly. “It’s in his blood. All this does is confirm that Desmond shot him up with something powerful. It doesn’t…”

Cain trailed off, and I closed my eyes, but all I could see was Leo staring at me with that dead look, and all I could hear was Desmond’s voice.

I doubt much you’ll care.

“Desmond gave me something,” I said. “He used the Anwei Xing to cut out my feelings for Leo.”

“You sure that’s what’s going on here?”

I nodded. “Yes. He lured Leo out here. He’s using Leo to get to me.”

Leo retched again, but there was nothing left to come out. He leaned back against the brick wall, breathing heavy, his head hung low.

“It only lasted twelve hours when he gave it to me,” I said, rubbing the gooseflesh that was prickling all over my arms. When I looked up, Cain was staring down at me under dark brows, an unusually concerned look in his eye.

“What?” I said.

“He administered this hypodermically,” he said. “You only do that if you mean business.”

On instinct, I stood up and reached for the small case in my pocket.

“Easter, wait,” Cain said, grabbing my arm to stop me. “Getting you one of those was a damned miracle in itself. I don’t know if I can get you another one.”

I looked down at Leo. His head was still low, as if he didn’t have the strength to hold it up on his own.

“I can’t lose him,” I said weakly. “Not now. I can’t. You don’t understand…”

“All right.” Cain’s voice came from behind me, but I didn’t look at him. “You got a workshop?”

A sharp stab of hope sliced through my heart. “Do you think you can make another dose of that stuff?”

Cain’s expression was grim. “No. But maybe we can put together that backup plan. Show me your workshop. Tell me everything you know. We’ll figure something out.”

I hesitated, staring at Leo.

“It’s better than doing nothing,” Cain said. “Sitting here in an alley isn’t helping anyone.”

“Okay,” I said. “My workshop is at home.”

“All right,” Cain said, and got to the business of helping Leo to his feet.

*   *   *

Work was comforting, at least. Three hours later, Cain and I were no closer to having a real plan in place, but we’d made a handful of potions and even though they’d be all but useless in this fight—I could use a Lie Detector potion, but Desmond was a sociopath, not a liar—it felt good to be doing something. And the longer I was away from Leo, the more I could imagine him waking up from his sleep back in the ’Bago, loving me again.

“I’m sorry,” Cain said as we were cleaning up, his voice uncharacteristically gentle. “It was a lot of work, tracking that magic down for you. I haven’t slept and I’m tired. Once I get some sleep, maybe I’ll think of something. You got a little time.”

“Right.” I took the last purple vial off my shelf and tucked it into the bag, then ran my fingers over my two bulbous Edison vials, watching the blue, swirly liquid moving under my fingers. I’d worked so hard on those, put all my magical energies into them, and they seemed so silly to me now.

I took one and threw it on the ground.

“What the…?” Cain jumped a bit, then turned around and looked down. Slowly, a magical sunflower burst up from the ground, glowing and dancing to the silence.

“Huh,” Cain said, his eyes on the sunflower. “You did that?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“On your own, with no real training?”

I must have looked pretty pathetic, because Cain kept his opinion on that to himself, although I could see him struggling not to yell at me for taking that kind of risk.

“Pretty impressive,” he said after a long pause.

“Yeah. It is.” I turned my back on the sunflower. “Lot of good it does me now.”

“Hey.” Cain put his hand on my arm, and I looked up at him. “Things looked pretty bad this time last year, too. We got through that. We’ll get through this.”

“We didn’t all get through it,” I said, and our eyes met as the coldness of Millie’s ghost passed through us both. Cain took his hand off my arm and nodded, then went back to clearing the last of the stuff on the workbench.

I knelt down and looked at my sunflower, wishing I could feel the pride and happiness I’d felt the first time I’d gotten it to work. All I could see now was dancing light that was slowly going to fade away into nothing, and the world would go on as if it had never existed in the first place.

“Science, my ass,” I said. I stood up, tucking the last sunflower potion into my bag. Whatever I had or didn’t have, whether Leo would ever love me or not, I was the girl who made the stupid magic sunflowers. It didn’t make me feel much better, but it was all I had, and right now I had to hold on to whatever I could get.

Chapter 17

Leo was awake when we got back to the ’Bago, but he was still looking at me with that dead, muddy expression. I called Liv and we headed over there, claiming we needed her space to put up Cain, but really, I just wanted the comfort of being near my best friend. And the guy who could kill Desmond with a look if he decided to screw with us again.