Too Hexy For Her Hat by Susan Hayes
14
She was home.
It was hard to make sense of the shit storm of emotions churning inside her, but one thing was certain. This was where she was supposed to be. She could feel it.
Luna didn’t cast another spell to deflect the weather. They were already soaked to the skin, and the rain washed away all traces of the tears she’d deny until her dying day, so why bother?
Chad didn’t seem to mind, either. His shirt was plastered to his body and his flip-flops made wet slapping noises as they walked up the main road into town. She’d cleared away the glamour that hid the town’s real appearance without even thinking about it. Like the way she’d recognized the pixie’s name. It had popped into her head and she’d just known.
“I didn’t realize how much I’d forgotten,” she said.
“Me too. It’s weird. I remembered Snuffy and Shaz all this time, but I forgot about the pixies. How could I forget?” Beaker croaked.
“Someone hit you both with mind magic and then made you think you’d resisted? That’s…” Chad trailed off.
“Devious?” she suggested.
“Sneaky!” Beaker chimed in.
“Disturbingly clever,” Chad finished.
“All of which sounds like the back of the box description of Babs the Vaga-Yaga,” Luna said.
“Yeah, that’s her trademark,” a voice came out of the mist. A familiar one.
“Breeze?” Suddenly Luna’s heart was slamming against her ribs and a lump the size of a walnut lodged in her throat.
Four figures came into view, two as familiar to her as her own hands, and two she didn’t recognize. “Luna! You’re early! We weren’t expecting you yet. The house isn’t even renovated yet, but here you are!” Fern launched herself at Luna, all blonde hair, long legs and babble. “Holy Goddess in platform heels, it is good to see you again!”
“Erk!” Was all Luna managed as Fern hugged her so hard all the air left her lungs.
“No squishing her to death until I get a hug!” Breeze announced and almost elbowed Fern out of the way. “Thank the Goddess you’re here. Better early than late.” The other witch flicked her gaze toward Fern. “Unlike some people who took their sweet time getting here.”
“I was packing!” Fern protested.
“You were late. Very late. I thought you were never coming back!” Something warm and furry was doing its best to tangle itself between her feet. Luna glanced down to find a beautiful Siamese cat shedding all over her new boots.
“Shazzy! Nice to see you. Where’s Snuffy? Beaker has missed you guys.”
“I’m coming! Connell the stupid flipper-face walks too fast!” The roundest raccoon she had ever laid eyes on trundled out of the rain.
“Snuffy Wuffles!”
“Beaky!” Snuffy started to chitter, Beaker croaked, and Shazzy howled in the tortuous notes only a Siamese cat or the bagpipes could hit.
The hugging continued while the familiars got reacquainted, and somewhere in the middle of all the rib-cracking squeezes, it dawned on her. She was home. It wasn’t a place. It was a feeling, and she’d been missing it without knowing what it was.
“It just hit you. Didn’t it?” Breeze asked softly. “All the familiar things? Us. This place?”
“Uh huh. I missed you all so much! Why didn’t I come home sooner?”
“Because you were brain whammied like the rest of us and didn’t remember home?” Fern suggested.
“I remembered. At least, I thought I did. I overheard my parents talking to Fate, and I made a plan so I could remember. All these years, I believed it worked. I don’t think it did, not completely.” Luna hugged her best friends again. “But I got a note from Baba Yaga saying it was time to come home. And the locket said it needed to be soon. So here I am.”
“And you didn’t come alone,” Fern said, eyeing Chad with curiosity.
“Neither did you.” Luna inclined her head toward the two men standing a little way off. They were doing some sort of long-distance dick-measuring stare-off with Chad, and the dark-haired one had his lip curled up in a hint of a snarl. Typical.
“This is my fiancé, Chad. One more snarl out of you, tall dark and dumbass, and I will make like the Matrix and erase your mouth.”
Both men blinked at her in shock and then the red-haired one spoke. “Easy, lass. We’re all a little on edge right now is all.”
Luna pulled free of her friends and summoned just enough of her magic to make her hands light up like glow sticks. “Do not try to sweet talk me, sunshine. I am in the middle of a personal crisis right now. Telling me to calm down is likely to get you teleported to Antarctica and turned into a penguin.”
“Whoa!” Breeze said, her tone firm. “These are our mates. Connell is mine, and Fern is with Orion. I like my guy in his current form and location, so no transformations or teleportations, please.”
Mates. Ah. That explained a few things. “Sorry. I haven’t had a lot of good experiences with Shifters lately. I’ve been stalked, harassed, and then one tried to kill me.”
“What!” even the two Shifters joined in the chorus of surprise, which made her feel better.
“An assassin snail Shifter,” Chad explained.
“Chad, uh… eliminated the threat and then got me somewhere safe. He’s a warlock, and I was his assi—”
Chad cut her off. “Luna is my Cupid certified ever-after.”
“Cupid? He exists?” The one Breeze had called Orion asked.
“Oh yeah. Rude bastard. Not quite right in the brainbox.” Connell tapped his temple. “I hear those arrows can sting like a mother.”
“He’s upgraded to a magical super-soaker,” Luna explained. “And he was so rude!”
She reached out and took Chad’s hand. “But I’ve forgiven him because it means I have this wonderful warlock with me.” Were those mushy words actually coming out of her mouth? Is this what love did to people? Turned them into characters from holiday feel-good movies? What was next? Flannel shirts and a puppy?
More figures started to appear out of the mist. Apparently they were doing this reunion here and now, weather be hanged.
Soon the whole road was packed with locals and the air overhead was thick with fairies, pixies, and other wee folk.
Fern turned and waved her hands. “Everyone! Luna’s back. And she remembers us already. Oh, and this is her fiancé, Chad.”
Someone bellowed from the back of the crowd. “That’s not his name!”
One of the biggest Shifters she’d ever seen stomped into view.
“Shades and fucking shadows. Why is he still here?” Chad muttered. Then he leaned in close and whispered in her ear. “Whatever happens now, remember, I chose you.”
“Who is he?”
“What’s his name?”
“Is that really Luna? Could this be a trick?”
Luna ignored everyone but the newest arrival. “Okay, I’ll bite. If his name isn’t Chad, what is it? And be very careful what you say next.”
“Shade. When I worked for him, his name was Shade.”
The whispering and questions trailed off into silence. Most of the crowd took a step backward. Some of them stalked forward, suddenly looking a lot larger than they’d been a few seconds ago. The friendly, welcoming crowd turned cold and hostile in a heartbeat.
Crap.
“Care to explain?” she asked her lover without looking back at him. She already had an inkling what he’d say. Part of her had always suspected. At least that’s the story she was going with.
“Not really. But I guess I’m out of time.”
Chad moved past her, keeping his hand firmly wrapped around hers. “Hey, Jimbo. I didn’t know you stayed on here.”
“I’m just Jim now, and this is my home. You aren’t welcome here. Get out, Shade. And don’t come back.”
Luna summoned enough of her magic to light up her arms like blowtorches. “If he goes, I go, too. And according to Fate, this place is in a crap tonne of trouble if I don’t stay for this fight.”
“Shade?” Breeze looked at Chad and then squinted and held up one hand as if blocking out the top of his head from her view. “Son of a…” Breeze swore. “It’s you! Here!”
“Chad. Explain fast and make it good,” Luna hissed.
“Here goes nothing,” he whispered and then raised his voice so everyone could hear. “Jim is right. I was here before and I called myself Shade.”
The crowd hissed like a thousand angry snakes all deflating at once. Hissy slithered out of Chad’s pocket, growing in size as she draped herself around the warlock’s shoulders and hissed right back.
“Hissy? Holy hells jelly on toast. Look at you!”
“Pretty awesssome, right?” Hissy flared out her hood and stared down the crowd.
“Later, I want to hear how that’s possible. Right now, Chad has some explaining to do.”
“I do.” Chad nodded. “First off. I’m sorry. Sorry for trashing your town. For the attack. For trying to run you out of your homes. I was following the orders of a madman… my father. I will do all I can to make that up to you.”
“You attacked my town?” Luna hadn’t expected that. “We really need to work on our communication, lover.”
“If we live through this, it’s going near the top of my to-do list.”
“Oh, we’re living through this. Because what I said still stands. If Chad goes, I go, too!”
“But you can’t!”
“He’s the enemy!”
“He was! But he also saved me from an assassin. Not to mention he’s the reason I’m here right now. I’ve spent half my life wanting nothing to do with this place or anyone in it. Why would I when none of you cared enough to even look for me!”
Her voice cracked, and she sucked in a quick breath before continuing.
“I remember this place and all of you, but no one remembered me. I know Breeze and Fern had their memories wiped, but that doesn’t excuse the rest of you!”
Silence fell.
Then an older woman took a hesitant step out of the crowd. Luna sorted through her memories and found a match. Gertie. “We were told it would be dangerous to look for any of you. If he found you…” The woman growled softly, showing her Shifter nature. “But maybe we should have because it looks like they found you anyway.”
Snuffy shuffled over and threw his paws around her leg, though she noticed it was the limb furthest away from Chad. “We wanted to. But we promised. Me and Shazzy had to stay here alone. When Beaker disappeared, we knew he’d gone to find you. But we… we couldn’t.”
That news hit her hard. Familiars didn’t like to be separated from their witches for long. “Beaker, did you know about that?”
Beaker cocked his head and then shook it. “I did. But I forgot. Now I remember. It’s true. We were told not to look for you at all.”
“But I summoned you, so you didn’t have to look.” It was another fucking loophole. This whole adventure had more of them than a newbie knitter’s first scarf.
Even Hissy gave the two familiars a sympathetic look. “You had to wait thirteen years to see them again?” she asked and then tightened her body around Chad’s shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
Shazam-alanga-dingdong glared up at the snake. “You should be. You’re the reason it happened!”
“I had nothing to do with it. That was Frank. He’s an asshole,” Hissy said.
“He… well, yeah. But aren’t you on his side?” Fern asked, looking perplexed now.
“I’m on Chad’s side. He’s my warlock. And I promised his mother I’d take care of him. Goddess knows Frank wasn’t going to.”
“You what?” Chad stared at his familiar. “You never told me that!”
Out of everything going on—the emotional outbursts, the tension, and the revelations—a fact she’d overlooked until now elbowed all the drama to take center stage. “Wait! Everyone shut up. This is important!”
They all quieted, and she turned to face Chad. “Are you telling me that your last name is Frellshingle? Because I can deal with everything else, including the fact your father tried to kill my parents and me, but Frellshingle is a deal breaker. The wedding is off.”
“Actually, I was hoping I could take your name. Chad Storm has a nice ring to it.” Chad winked at her. “You’d be saving me from my sordid past.”
That wasn’t the worst idea she’d ever heard, but before she could continue the discussion, all hell broke loose. A siren wailed, and the winged folk shot straight into the air and broke off into two separate groups, leaving nothing but glittering dust in their wake. All around her people shouted, their arms waving in concern.
“What’s happening?” she yelled.
Breeze had her coat over her head and sneezed repeatedly. No help there. “Blue to the sky, Breeze!” Connell shouted. That made no sense either. Not until she saw her friend slam a pix-E-stick into her thigh and remembered another bit of her past. Breeze was allergic to pixie dust. Shit.
She was still forming the words of a spell when Chad unleashed one of his own.
“Winds and breezes,
No more sneezes,
Clear this air so Breeze can uh… breathe-zes.”
A blast of cold air whipped past them, taking most of the dust with it.
“Breathe-zes? Really?” she teased Chad.
“Hey, it worked. Didn’t it? And not many things rhyme with breezes.”
“Tell me about it. Uh, thanks.” Breeze uncovered her head. She was still wheezing, and her face was puffy and red, but she seemed to be doing better.
“You’re welcome.” Chad inclined his head. “Consider that part of my apology tour. Now, what the hell is with this alarm?”
“After the last attack, we co-opted the tsunami siren,” Connell said, wrapping a protective arm around Breeze.
“So either a tidal wave is headed this way…” Breeze said.
“Or your dad is about to make his final move,” Fern finished.
Connell went still for a few seconds and then shook his head. “I checked. It’s not a tsunami. We need to get to the road.” The big man eyed up Chad. “You with us?”
“I’m with Luna.”
“Damned right you are. I don’t care what your last name was, Chad Storm. You’re mine, now. And we’ve got a fight to win.”
She glanced down at the pendant around her neck. “And then maybe we can finally get some answers from our not-so-dead-after-all parents.”
