Too Hexy For Her Hat by Susan Hayes
12
Luna had somany conflicting emotions inside her she could be a one-woman soap opera. Love. Joy. Fear. Fury. It was all there, along with a passenger plane full of other emotional baggage. She wasn’t just riding first class to the land of lunacy. She’d commandeered the whole freaking train.
At least she wasn’t going alone.
The moment Chad said he’d made his choice, the entire room erupted in special effects. Soft lighting, more music, and a vertigo-inducing moment when some kind of zoom-in-fade thing happened and all she could see was his face.
She reached for him. He reached for her. They kissed as fireworks exploded overhead. For one perfect moment, everything in her world felt right. She was tangled up and sticky with the man she loved, who loved her. It was wonderful.
Their kisses grew hotter, the fireworks fading away to be replaced by the shimmering sparks of their magic swirling around them both. Tongues danced, fingers plucking at clothing and exploring every inch of each other.
Beaker croaked in horror. “Oh Goddess, they’re at it again. C’mon, Hissy, back to the buffet!”
She couldn’t help laughing. Neither could Chad, and in a few seconds she was clinging to him and gasping for breath between gales of laughter that wouldn’t end.
Hissy ignored Beaker’s frantic plea to leave and slithered over to prod Chad with her snout. “Is this a ssspell or weird two-legs thing?”
“Two-legs thing.” Chad wiped tears from his eyes.
“Stress release,” Luna said. “Not the kind I was hoping for…”
“Me either,” Chad said. “We’re not nearly naked enough for that. Care to help me change that?”
It was a no-brainer. If she had to choose between facing reality or having orgasms, reality didn’t stand a chance. “Hell yes. No more thinking for a while. We can deal with all this later. I mean, we don’t even know when this big fight is happening. Surely that means we still have time. Right?”
The moment she said it, she knew she’d made a mistake. She’d just sent an open invitation to Fate, the Goddess, and anyone else within hearing to mess with her plans.
Sure enough, her locket buzzed and twitched on the end of its chain before popping open.
“Uh oh,” Chad said as her parents recited another verse, this one even more ominous.
“The shadows gather.
We know you’d rather,
Not be forced to make this choice,
But if you win, we can rejoice.
All together at long last,
Then we can explain the past.
The time is now, the place is known.
It’s time for war—you must head on home.”
The verse ended with her parents waving up at her again. “We will love you always, Moonbeam. Do your best and know that we are so proud of you.”
“Well, that was slightly less cryptic but still very light on details.” She sighed. “Rain-cheque on the orgasms? Apparently I have to make a life-changing decision based on information gleaned from bad verse and vague predictions before I get to have any fun.”
Chad gave her an odd look but didn’t comment. Instead, he raised a hand and cast a quick spell.
“Clean and tidy, get right on it.
’cause I’m not paying a damage deposit.”
Black-handled mops appeared and started dancing with their water buckets in a number she was fairly certain was copyrighted by a mouse with more lawyers than most beaches had sand.
“Seriously?” she asked, scrambling to her feet to get out of the way of the cleaning frenzy.
“What? It’s a classic! Besides, my mom taught me this spell. I never had the heart to change anything about it.” Chad rose and stood beside her. A collection of mini-mops swarmed over them both, cleaning them from head to toe in an eye-blink.
“I get it.” She really did. She’d buried the memories of her parents and friends as deeply as she could, but she’d never gotten rid of the few mementos she’d been able to take with her. An old photo of her with Breeze and Fern dancing with the local dryads. A carved wooden horse she’d practiced her spells on. It was scorched and slightly warped from a polymorph spell that hadn’t worked right. Her mother had told her to keep practicing.
Her mother.
She could see her mom again.
The truth exploded inside her head like a hundred Michael Bay films playing at once. If she won the coming fight, her parents could return. She used to dream about finding a way to bring them back. She’d even studied the darker arts for a while, trying to figure out if necromancy would work. Fortunately for everyone, it was a dead end.
The mental pun made her groan.
“What’s wrong?” Chad took her hand and squeezed.
She tapped her temple. “Inadvertent punning as a way to avoid dealing with reality.”
“Oh, that’s a bad sign. Do you need to switch to outer voice mode? I’m pun-resistant.”
Why not? He was going to learn about it all eventually. “If I do and you decide to exit-stage-left, I’m keeping the ring.”
“There will be no exiting in any direction. You’re mine, witch. End of conversation.”
It wasn’t romantic or the slightest bit sweet, but his words melted her heart anyway.
“Yeah? Okay then.” Luna took a deep breath and started talking. Once the first words were out, the rest followed like Niagara Falls after three days of heavy rain.
“I’m not sure I want to go back. I mean, I do. I don’t want people to die because I wasn’t there. I do want to see my parents again. But I also don’t. Because they left me. They let me believe they were gone forever and left me to fend for myself in foster care. Who does that to their kid?”
She paused for breath and to give Chad a chance to speak. All he did was nod and say, “Keep going.”
“I thought I remembered everything, but clearly that isn’t true either. So my counter-spell worked, but not completely. I don’t know what’s true anymore. I’m sad. I’m mad. I’m hopeful. I want this, but I don’t. Part of me wants to throw the locket in the ocean and tell them all to get on their broomsticks and ride the hell out of my life. Does that make me a shitty person?”
She didn’t notice her emotions were spilling out as a magical meltdown until Chad gently tugged her into his arms and tucked her in close against his chest. “Of course not. You’re allowed to be pissed. Hell, any other reaction would be weird and worrying.” He stroked her back and kept talking, his voice low and comforting.
“But I need you to breathe because the only thing touching the floor right now are you and me.”
“Huh?” Luna lifted her head and looked around. Her magic was everywhere. Deep red sparks shot through with crackling lines of crimson and pure black. The air was thick with flying objects—from the furnishings to their familiars—who had taken cover under a wicker footstool that floated around the room like a drunk bumblebee.
“Oops.” She dialed her angst down a dozen notches. Her magic dimmed and the décor settled back into its proper places. “Sorry, you two.”
“At least nothing exploded this time,” Beaker muttered. He’d only made it as far as the window ledge before deciding to stick around.
“That happened once!” she said indignantly as magic started swirling around her fingers again. “I was a lonely, grieving, hormonally compromised fourteen-year-old at the time. Allowances should be made.”
Beaker croaked and extended a protective wing over Hissy. “Warlock. Get her some fudge. Quick!”
Three platters of fudge appeared on the main table along with the manilla folder full of documents she’d been ignoring.
“I know the locket said the time was now, but I think we can take a few minutes to read through everything and fortify ourselves before you make your decision.”
“That’s a sensible plan.” It was also the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to stay mad. Anger was easy. It burned away all other emotions. Desi had shown her how to move past the anger and feel again, but it was still her default state when the fudge hit the fan.
“Whatever you decide, that’s what we’ll do.” Chad led her to the table and pulled a chair around so he could sit beside her.
She popped a bit of fudge into her mouth and let it melt on her tongue. Chocolate and peanut butter swirl. One of her favourites. Okay. She could do this. She had to.
It didn’t take long to scan the documents. They were mostly financial reports and two deeds of ownership. One she recognized as her parents’ house and another for an undeveloped acre of waterfront property located somewhere she’d never heard of. “What the hell is Black Fin Bay and why do I have property there?”
“That’s the normal humans’ name for Wyrding Way,” Chad informed her.
“I still find it alarming you know more about all this than I do,” she said.
He shrugged. “It was part of the mission briefing.”
Beaker hopped across the table to look at the documents. “We’re rich! Does this mean I can have more shiny rocks now?”
“Yes. But not until we figure out what’s going on… and whether we want to be involved.” She still wasn’t sure what she wanted, but as her anger faded, it got easier to see everything she’d be giving up if she walked away without risking her life for a bunch of people she barely remembered and who had never even looked for her.
Chad made a soft noise at the back of his throat.
“What is it?” she asked. “I’m open to suggestions from the floor.”
“I know you’re hurt and angry, but I also know that if I had a chance to see my mom again, I’d take it.”
“Even though she left you?”
“Yeah. And not just because I want to know the reason why. I just…” He grabbed a handful of fudge and ate every piece before he finished his thought. “I miss her.”
Three little words packed more punch than a prize-fighter’s signature move. She saw into Chad’s heart at that moment. He had the same empty corner she did—the spot where a parent should be. Hers was bigger, but his was just as dark and lonely.
“I miss my parents too.” She took his hand and squeezed it hard. “But we have each other now. Right?”
“We do. But I’m not your parents. And you are definitely not my mom.” He hid his moment of grief behind a lopsided smile. “If you were, we’d need a lot of therapy.”
Her laugh was only a little forced. “You think I should go back? Risk everything to see them again?”
“You won’t be risking everything. I’ll make sure of that. You might not be sure about your destiny, but I know what mine is.” He swept his thumb over the back of her hand, and her pulse skittered.
“And what’s that?”
“Watching your ass.” He waggled his brows. “And keeping you alive.”
She snickered. “Your priorities are a little out of whack, warlock.”
“I think they’re perfect.”
For a long, thoughtful silence she considered everything. Chad waited quietly. He didn’t try to explain his reasons or add to his argument. This was her decision and whatever path she chose, he’d be there with her.
It felt good to know she had someone in her corner, and acknowledging that led her down a path she’d never wanted to travel before. The one that led back to Wyrding Way… and Fate’s plans for her. She wasn’t alone anymore.
It was time to go home.
