Wyatt caught Marigold in his arms. He had no idea what had happened to her, where they were, no clue why he was sitting on the floor of a strange room on a bed of…ivy? No awareness of the time of day or why there was a circle of women around him, two of whom he recognized as Marigold’s mother and sister.
What he did know was that he hadn’t drowned in the darkness threatening to suffocate him. And that he felt changed in a way he couldn’t fully pinpoint. It was as if all the rough edges of his past had been sanded down so that his memories didn’t snag on them anymore.
A lightness filled him. A lightness he’d never felt before. It was a little unnerving, but nice.
But beyond that, he wasn’t really sure of anything else. He blinked to clear the fog remaining in his head. What he mostly remembered was that Marigold had told him she was a witch.
And things sure looked very witchy up in here. He glanced around the room. There was a circle of stuff around him. Lines of what looked like salt and ashes. A candle. A little bundle of…whiskers? A crystal dagger. He raised his brows. “Am I being sacrificed? What happened to Marigold? She looks passed out.”
Pandora snorted. “No, you’re not being sacrificed. And Marigold’s fine, just tired, I imagine.” Then she looked at someone behind him. “Did it work?”
“I don’t know.”
He was about to turn to see who had spoken when he realized the voice had come from his left side. And he’d heard it. Loud and clear. “What happened to me? I can hear.”
He held on to Marigold with one hand so he could reach up with the other to touch his ear. Nothing felt different, but then, he wasn’t sure what he’d expected. Except that he could hear his fingers brushing the shell of his ear. “How is that possible? I’m completely deaf in this ear.”
He looked over his shoulder as the older woman behind him answered. “It’s the magic in you. You’re still deaf in that ear. But the magic is compensating.” She looked at Pandora. “It worked.”
Corette sighed in obvious relief. “What about the pendant?”
The pendant. Now he remembered what happened. Well, some of it anyway. “Can we rewind? What magic in me? What’s going on?”
Marigold shifted in his arms as she came around. She put her hand to her head. “Did we do it? Please tell me we did, because I’d hate to feel like this for nothing.”
“We did it,” the as-yet-unknown woman said. “You did it, Mari.”
Marigold smiled, but there was sadness in her eyes. “Good. I’m glad. And very tired.” She leaned against him, and it was as if he could sense her exhaustion. Whatever she’d done had left her drained.
He held on to her, still feeling lost. And getting a little angry. “I’m glad you did whatever you did, but I want some answers. Now.”
The lights flickered.
The women looked up and laughed softly. Then Pandora shook her head. “Be careful. That’s my sister’s magic you’re dealing with. And she’s a very—that is, she was a very powerful witch. So take it easy.”
He peered at her. “Are you saying I somehow did that? I caused the lights to flicker? But it’s Marigold’s magic?”
“Yes,” Corette said.
But that answer told him nothing. “How is that possible? What does it even mean? I need some explanations here.”
Corette nodded. “Of course. You see, you put the jaundiced eye pendant on and the dark magic within it took possession of you. The only way to save you was to force that magic out with different magic. Marigold sacrificed hers to save your life.”
He stared at Corette. Maybe it was the lingering fog, but this seemed so farfetched. “Are you saying…what are you saying?”
Corette smiled patiently. “Marigold gave up her magic to save your life. And you are now in possession of it. You are technically no longer human. You’re a wizard. Granted, you are a newborn in the scheme of things, but that’s why Pandora advised you to take it easy.”
There was nuts and there was nuts. This was next-level nuts. He scooped Marigold into his arms and got to his feet. For a woman with such a big personality and strong spirit, he’d thought she’d have weighed more. “I’m taking her home.”
“Wyatt,” Pandora called out to him. “There’s a lot you need to learn. We’ll teach you. We’re not going to leave you hanging.”
“Yeah, great. Thanks.” He started for the doors.
“Also,” Corette added. “We drove, so you don’t have a ride unless you come with us.”
He shifted Marigold so he could check his back pocket. His phone was still there. “I’ll call a Ryde.”
The unnamed younger woman stepped into his path. “You’re not going anywhere with my sister.”
Another sister? What had Marigold said her name was? Charity? “Whatever’s happened, she’s exhausted.”
“And you’ve just been through a major life change. You both have, really. We’ll take her home. And you back to your car.”
“Yeah,” Pandora said. “Then maybe we can all chill out before the rehearsal dinner.”
Corette sucked in a gasp. “The rehearsal dinner!”
Pandora nodded. “I’d almost forgotten too.”
A soft, insistent buzz interrupted them. Wyatt glanced down at Marigold, as it seemed to be coming from her. “I think that’s Marigold’s phone.”
The other sister dug it out of Marigold’s pocket and answered. “Hello, this is Charisma, Marigold’s sister. She can’t come to the—who are you?” She frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Then she went very pale. “I see.” A second later, she hung up and stared at the group. “That was a man named Newton Mathers, and he said if we don’t bring him the jaundiced eye, he’s going to turn Leah into stone. We can exchange the pendant for her, but it has to be soon. As in he’s going to text directions for the drop in an hour. Does anyone know who he is?”
“I do,” Wyatt said. “That slimy little creep is the man who hired Marigold to attend the auction where the bookends containing the pendant were sold.”
“He’s also a lesser wizard,” the older woman said. “He’s one of many who have been trying to buy a jaundiced eye for many, many years. I had no idea he was around again.”
Wyatt looked at her. “A lesser wizard?”
She nodded. “More of a practitioner than someone naturally gifted. The eye would give him the kind of power he could never obtain otherwise.”
Corette wrung her hands. “What are we going to do? We can’t give him the eye. But we can’t let him hurt Leah either.”
“We do what should have been done already,” Wyatt said. “We call the police.”
Corette nodded, surprising him. “I agree.”
He shot her a look. “You’re not afraid the sheriff will think all of this witchcraft stuff is crazy?”
Pandora laughed. “Considering he’s a werewolf, no.”
“He’s a werewolf? I thought just that Birdie woman was.” Wyatt realized he had a lot to learn about this town.
Marigold let out a soft little snore.
Charisma shook her head. “Birdie is his aunt.” Then she looked past him. “Alice, do you have a place where Marigold can rest while we handle this Leah business?”
The older woman walked past them. “Follow me.”
Wyatt went after her. She led him into a sitting room. He put the still sleeping Marigold on the couch, then moved a strand of hair out of the way to kiss her forehead. He and the older woman left and she shut the door.
“Who are you, by the way?” he asked her as they walked back.
“I’m Alice Bishop.”
“And you’re a witch too?”
She didn’t offer much in the way of a smile, but she didn’t seem bothered by the question either. “Yes. I’m sure you’ll hear quite a few stories about me.”
The set of her mouth made her seem defiant. He understood that look. “But they’re not all true, are they?”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re perceptive for a human.”
“I was a cop. Part of the job. And I thought I wasn’t human anymore.”
“You’ve been a wizard for ten minutes. Close enough.” She walked back into the big room. “I would prefer not to involve myself further in this matter. I still have to prepare the ritual to destroy the pendant, and my attention is best focused there.”
Corette nodded. “I understand. We’ll be heading back to the flower shop to speak to the sheriff anyway.”
“Hold up,” Wyatt said. “I’m not leaving Marigold here.”
Charisma put her hands on her hips. “I don’t think we should be leaving the pendant here, either. We might need it to deal with this Newton person. After all, he expects us to give it to him tonight to get Leah back.”
“No,” Alice said. “Marigold can go, but the pendant is not leaving my possession. It must be destroyed. You’ll have to figure out another way.”
“We’re not waiting until tonight to get Leah back, so we don’t need the pendant,” Wyatt said. “But we do need Marigold.” At least he did. There was something in him now, something beyond his feelings for her that made the thought of being without her seem like the worst thing in the world.
Marigold woke up in the passenger’s seat of her mother’s car. The seat had been reclined all the way, which meant Marigold’s first sight was of the headliner. She blinked up at it while she got her bearings. The car wasn’t moving, and she was alone.
It was bright out, so still daylight. But why was she in her mother’s car? She sat up. The car was parked behind her shop. Which was where she ought to be. She pulled on the door handle, but the car was locked. “Open.”
Nothing happened. Her magic wasn’t workin—oh, yes. It came back to her now. She wasn’t a witch anymore.
She sat there for a moment, staring at the lock and having a pity party for herself. But being a mother had taught her pity parties were far too indulgent a thing to allow for more than a few moments.
Besides, there was a lot of good to focus on. She’d saved Wyatt’s life, hadn’t she? And the jaundiced eye was in safe hands. A lot of good.
She gave herself a mental pat on the back, unlocked the door manually, and headed inside through the rear entrance. The workroom was empty, except for Frank, who was sleeping on a stack of boxes.
Everyone else was in the front of the shop. The sheriff was there, along with Deputy Blythe, Corette, Charisma, Pandora, and Wyatt. They were all deeply engaged in conversation.
She walked to the workroom door and glanced around. “Hey, where’s Leah?”
That stopped the talking. They all turned to look at her. Wyatt came toward her immediately, taking her hands as he reached her. “Newt took her. Kidnapped her. He wants to exchange her for the pendant.”
Marigold’s heart clenched. “Oh no. Newt?”
Everyone nodded.
“I can’t believe he’s behind this.” She held on tight to Wyatt. “You know, he told me I was in danger from an outside source. Tried to make me think you were a bad guy. But now it makes sense. He was throwing up smoke screens.”
“I guess he knows that didn’t work.” Then Wyatt lowered his voice. “I know what you did for me. That you saved my life. And gave up so much of yours to do it.” He shook his head like he was struggling to find words. Then he kissed her forehead. “Thank you. That’s insufficient. But for now, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry everything went down without us talking to you about it first, but you were sort of under the spell of evil, so…” She shrugged.
“Yeah, I get it. And it’s weird.” He let her hands go with a little smile. “But I’m alive, so weird is fine.”
“I’m very glad you’re alive too.” She rubbed her jaw. “But we have to get Leah back. How are we going to do that?”
Wyatt glanced at the sheriff. “Brute force.”
“What does that mean?”
Wyatt took her hand and tugged her toward the group. “Come on, we’ll tell you.”
She went with him to join the conversation.
Her mother’s eyes held a great deal of concern. “How are you? You weren’t asleep for more than fifteen minutes.”
“I’m fine. There’s too much to be done to sleep anyway.” Marigold couldn’t even think about all the wedding flowers yet to be finished, but there would be time for that after Leah was safe and Newt was in a holding cell. That creepy little weasel. She stood between Wyatt and her mother. “All right, what’s the plan?”
Across from her, the sheriff took a deep breath. “Your boyfriend wants to storm the castle.” Before Marigold could say anything, he continued. “And I have to agree. It’s the way to go.”
“It is?” What she’d expected, she wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t that.
Hank nodded. “Mathers won’t be expecting it, for one thing. For another, he’s a lesser wizard. We’re not exactly going up against a big gun here.” Hank tipped his head at Wyatt. “Plus, your boyfriend was on the force. That makes him an asset, not a liability.”
“Then you and Wyatt are doing this?”
“It’ll be me, Wyatt, and Deputy Blythe. We’re going in fast and strong. A little Nocturne Falls shock and awe.”
Men. She frowned at him. “But none of you has magic. And lesser wizard or not, Newt could cast a spell that would stop all of you in your tracks.”
Wyatt cleared his throat.
She slanted her eyes at him. “You might have magic, but you don’t know what to do with it yet.”
“True.” He shrugged one shoulder. “But I’ve had some training when it comes to extricating a hostage.”
Hank clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s all the magic we need.”
Marigold crossed her arms. “You seem awfully sure about this. What if he throws an enchantment at you? You need at least one witch with you.”
Pandora raised her hand. “I can go.”
“No, you can’t,” Marigold said. “You have a wedding rehearsal and a dinner in…” She looked at her watch. “Three hours. Wow.” Time was slipping away. “Charisma, you go.”
Charisma put a hand to her sternum. “I’ve never been part of something like this, but why not? I’ll do it.”
Pandora snorted. “Do you own jeans? Because you might want something a little less Neiman Marcus for this.”
Charisma made a face as she touched the lapel of her linen jacket. “I’ll have you know this is from Saks.” Then she sniffed a little. “And I own jeans.”
“From Neiman Marcus,” Pandora muttered.
“Girls,” Corette snapped. “This is not the time. Charisma will go and help the sheriff, Deputy Blythe, and Wyatt while they rescue Leah. She’s certainly powerful enough to hold off whatever a lesser wizard might throw at them.”
Marigold kind of liked it when their mother got all motherly. It wasn’t often she raised her voice and let the steel magnolia out. “Good. That way we can get to the rehearsal.”
“No we,” Pandora said. “You need to rest. You don’t need to practice walking down an aisle.”
“Agreed,” Corette said. “I think you should be resting, too. I can pick Saffie up and take her to rehearsal.”
Marigold shook her head. “No more resting. I couldn’t anyway knowing Leah is in danger. But if you’re okay with me staying here instead of being at rehearsal, I could use the time to work on wedding flowers. I have a lot left to do. Then I can meet you at the restaurant for dinner.”
“I’m fine with that,” Pandora said.
Wyatt nodded. “I like that idea too. We’ll both be there.”
“Then that’s the plan,” Marigold said. It would be good to occupy herself, which the rehearsal would do, but going to that wasn’t going to help these flowers get done. And being busy would help her pass the time until Leah was safe.
And maybe stop thinking about how powerless she was to help.