Too Hexy For Her Hat by Susan Hayes
10
He knew.
It wasn’t possible, but somehow, he knew. Luna was almost as relieved as she was pissed.
Almost.
“How?” she demanded.
“You’re my mission. Uh. I mean, you were. Now you’re so much more than that.”
She shoved at his chest. He didn’t budge. Stupid, muscled, hunk of… “Let me go!”
“No.”
“What? Yes. Now.” She shoved again. “Right now.”
“Promise me you won’t leave until we’ve talked. It’s not safe for you out there. Especially not when you’re probably thinking about teleporting you and Beaker home.”
Well, crap on a canape. That… was actually a reasonable request. Especially since zapping home was exactly what she had in mind. She huffed and wrinkled her nose. “Since when are you telepathic?”
“I’m not. But you’re upset and understandably pissed at me. If I were in your shoes? I’d be teleporting away from here, too. Now, do I have your word you’ll stay here until we’ve talked?”
“Yes.” She didn’t bother hiding her irritation. He already knew she was mad and had enough questions to fill a ferry.
He relaxed a little and his grip softened, though he didn’t let her go.
“You’re supposed to let go of me now.”
Chad sighed and tucked a strand of glitter bedazzled hair back behind her ear. “I know. But if I do that, I have to explain, and honestly, that’s going to suck for both of us.”
“Oh no. Nope. That’s not allowed.”
He blinked at her in confusion. “What isn’t?”
“You having doubts. That’s not acceptable. My crisis happened first, so I get first shot at having the wobbles.”
His lips twitched into a ghost of a smile. “Wobbles?”
“Yeah.” She stepped out of his arms and rocked from side to side, waving her arms like a rag doll. “My world is all wibbly wobbly right now.”
“You are adorable. Alright. You get to wobble first. And I apologize in advance if I add to the wibbles.”
“Wobbles,” she corrected. Joking was easier than dealing with anything else.
“Which do you want to deal with first? Me or the present that came with its own eighties montage?” He pointed to the box on the floor.
She didn’t have an answer to that. Instead, she looked at Beaker. “Thoughts?”
Surprisingly, Hissy spoke up first. “Gift first. It might help clear up a few things.”
Beaker hopped over to the lime and purple wrapped package. “I’m with the wingless one. Start with the present. Maybe there’s some clue in there about what in the flying flock is going on. This is all happening too soon.”
Luna eyed the box warily. It was wrapped in eye-gougingly gaudy paper and festooned with curly ribbons. She didn’t know what was in there, but it couldn’t be anything good. Nothing connected to Fate or the Baba-biotch ever was.
“Might as well get this over with.” She conjured up a couple of floor cushions and plopped down on the floor beside her present.
Chad stayed where he was until she pointed to the other cushion. “You’re part of this now. You might as well get a front-row seat to the crazy. Also, you’re on chocolate duty. If things get weird, you are in charge of sugary snack and carb delivery until I recover.”
“I can do that.” He took a seat beside her.
As unsettled as she was about the idea that Chad hadn’t been honest with her and was on some kind of mission, it was still nice to have him here for this moment. As hard as she’d tried to hide from her old life, she’d always suspected it would catch up to her eventually.
Now it had.
She pulled the box into her lap and examined it. The first thing she spotted was a note buried within the froth of ribbons. “Found something!” She retrieved the bit of purple paper and unfolded it.
Hello Luna,
I know you weren’t expecting this yet. Surprise and happy early birthday.
It is time for you to go home and face your destiny. Yes, I know how you feel about all that. Be mad later. You have a job to do and people counting on you.
In the box is everything you need. May the Goddess bless you and guide you on your journey.
Baba Yaga
P.S. Before you open the box, I recommend whipping up a couple of chocolate pizzas. You’ll probably need them.
She stared at the note for a long time and then handed it to Chad without comment. Beaker was on her shoulder and had read it for himself, and now Hissy was hanging out of Chad’s pocket, reading along with him.
“You got a handwritten note from Baba freaking Yaga,” Chad muttered, “and she knows about our chocolate pizza. This is…”
“Disturbing,” Hissy finished.
“Unsettling,” Beaker said.
“Par for the course. She can’t stay out of anyone’s business. Believe me, I know.” She shot Chad a look. “And if you really know what’s going on with me, you know that, too.”
“Hearing about it is one thing.” He held up the thick purple paper. “This? Is something else entirely. You’ve got the attention of some very important people. I’ve never had so much as a sticky note from someone at her level.”
Something popped, a cloud of purple smoke appeared, and a handful of glitter wafted down on Chad’s head. By the time the air cleared again, Chad was pulling a hot pink sticky-note off his forehead.
“Is that from her?”
“Uh huh.” He held it out to her. “Funny, no one told me the high witch was a voyeur.”
Here you go. Feel better now?
Baba Yaga.
Luna read the note, flipped off the ceiling with both hands, and then said, “You suck donkey nads, Baba-Haggitha! Quit spying on us.”
While she was indulging in a moment of juvenile name-calling, Chad conjured up a low table laden with gooey dessert pizza, fudge and milkshakes.
The man really was one in a million… even if he had been holding out on her.
She snagged one of the milkshakes and sipped it as she eyed the gift box. It was like a hatbox, the perfectly wrapped lid made to slide up and off to reveal whatever was inside.
“Okay. I’m ready. And this milkshake is delicious, thanks.”
“I’m here for whatever you need,” was all Chad said.
She opened the box.
Inside was another, smaller box and a manilla envelope stuffed with paperwork. The box was wrapped in lime green paper. She lifted it out and opened it the same as the first one.
Inside was a black velvet jewelry box. Impatient now, she cracked open the last box and looked inside.
“It’s a locket.” It was a simple gold heart on a gold chain. In the center of the pendant was an amethyst. She turned and then held it up for everyone else to see. In doing so she spotted her initials etched into the back of the thing in elegant, looping letters.
Something about it was familiar. The awareness was like an itch she couldn’t scratch.
Beaker stared. At first she thought it was because it triggered his love of shiny rocks. Before she could remind him it wasn’t a rock, he uttered a soft sigh and bowed his head. “I wondered where that had gone.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“You don’t remember?”
“This?” She lifted the locket. “Maybe? I mean, I know it, but I don’t.”
Chad made a soft noise of surprise, and she shot him an annoyed look. “Do you know something about this?”
“Just that I’ve seen something like that before. I think your friend Breeze has one quite similar.”
“You’ve seen Breeze?” she demanded.
He raised his hands defensively. “In photos.”
“So everyone has more information than I do.” She rubbed her temple. “Why don’t I remember this?” She should. After overhearing her parents’ plan she’d cast all sorts of spells to protect her memories. Baba Yaga’s memory spell hadn’t worked. She remembered everything.
Or did she?
Beaker hopped over to the velvet box and stepped on it, flipping it upside down. A small golden key tumbled out.
“Beak Badda-Boom. Have you been keeping secrets from me?”
Beaker shook his head and croaked. “No. No. You used to wear this. And your mother wore the key. I remember.”
“I don’t.” Her voice was cool and flat, but inside she was screaming. Why didn’t she remember any of this?
“They go together.” Beaker nudged the key with his foot. “Try it.”
She picked it up. It was tiny, barely bigger than her fingernail. The moment she raised it up so she could see it, the locket in her other hand started to vibrate and twitch on the end of its chain.
“Weirdness. This evening is full of it.” She brought the two objects closer together. Now the key was vibrating too. It slipped out of her fingers and flew across the gap to the locket, smacking into the back of it with a sharp metallic click that was immediately followed by a tinkling sound and an explosion of tiny gold sparks.
By this point Luna’s nerves were so frazzled the unexpected pyrotechnics nearly made her drop the locket.
“What in the name of the Goddess’s secret sauce was that?”
“Shiny magics!” Beaker had run under the shower of sparks and was still hopping from foot to foot like he wanted to do it again.
“You are no help. Focus, feather-face.”
“Shiny, shiny.”
Right. She’d be getting no help from her temporarily dazzled familiar. That’s when she noticed Chad. He was on his feet, pure black magic swirling around his hands and forearms with every part of him tense and alert.
At least someone was more on edge than she was. “It’s okay. Whatever it was, it wasn’t an attack.”
Chad relaxed a little, his magic dimming slowly until it was barely a shadow around his fingers.
Pure black. She’d never seen someone channel that much dark magic before. She added it to the list of things her lover had failed to mention. It was getting longer than Santa’s naughty list.
Returning her attention to the locket, she dropped it into the palm of her hand and took a proper look. The key was gone, but she saw a clasp on the side she’d swear hadn’t been there before.
“I’m about to open this,” she warned Chad. “No premature e-zapulation, okay?”
His lips twitched. “That has never been an issue for me.”
“Here goes nothing.” She touched the clasp, and the locket sprang open to reveal a portrait of her parents.
Memories she hadn’t known she’d been missing flooded back. The sound of her dad’s laughter. The soft humming sound her mom was always making as she went about her day. The joy of crawling into their bed to snuggle between them as they sipped their morning coffee.
Tears blurred her vision, so she dashed them away with the back of her hand as the picture came to life and started speaking.
“The day has come for you to learn,
The truth about you, and Breeze, and Fern.
It broke our hearts to have to leave,
We hope that much you do believe.
There simply was no other way,
But we hoped you’d bring us back someday.
The fight to come will be the worst,
But if you win, you’ll end our curse.
First one, then two, they will prevail,
But without you, the plan will fail.
Upon your shoulders the choice does lie.
If you can’t forgive, then others will die.”
Both her parents waved up at her madly. “We’ll love you forever, Moonbeam. No matter what.”
Luna closed the locket and then gripped it tightly in her fist, so tightly it bit into the flesh of her hand. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think clearly. Fuck a flock of flying dragons. Were her parents alive? She struggled to breathe past the iron bands wrapped around her chest.
What the hell was going on?
She didn’t notice Chad move until he was crouched behind her, his arms around her shoulders. “Hey, sweetheart. I’m here. I’ve got you. Just breathe.”
She closed her eyes, leaned into him, and exhaled. Better.
Then she remembered his earlier confession and her body locked up all over again. “How much of that did you already know?”
