Reach for You by Pat Esden (2)

CHAPTER 2

Spiderweb surrounds candles white. Blood stains petals red. Chamomile. Caraway. I bind thee with willow. Love me now. Love me forever after.

—Persistence Freemont (1989)
The Compendium of Witchcraft (Vol. 2)

 

 

 

“I cursed him to love me forever,” Selena said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Stunned, I released her and sat back. “Cursed? Aren’t curses evil?”

“I was going to use a love spell to attract him to me,” she sobbed. “But that might have attracted other guys. He was the only one I wanted.”

“You can remove it, right?” I bobbed my head, as if by doing so her head would nod yes as well.

She cringed. “Maybe.”

“You need to try, right away. It’s not fair to him.”

“I know.” Her tear-damp eyes met mine. “You remember that night when you were worried about Lotli coming on to Chase and I told you if you kept him satisfied he wouldn’t look at other girls?”

As I recalled she actually suggested I do kinky stuff to keep Chase happy. “What does that have to do with this?”

“I almost told you about the curse then. But, I don’t know, maybe I was jealous of what you and Chase have. You didn’t have to do anything to make him like you.” Sniffing back tears, she hung her head. “I wish I’d said something.”

My chest squeezed. Chase—

I clenched my teeth, cutting short the surge of sadness and worry that threatened to overwhelm me, and steered the conversation in a more rational direction. “The thing is, Selena—whether Newt loves you or not doesn’t matter. Loving you wouldn’t keep him from doing something to Lotli, especially if he thought she was a danger to you.”

She blinked. “I never thought of that.”

I got to my feet and pulled her up with me. “There’s only one way to know for sure if Newt is innocent. We have to find Lotli.”

Footfalls sounded from the other end of the camper, followed by the Professor’s voice. “Absolutely no sign of anyone in the tent, alive or otherwise.”

“No one here either,” I called to him. I wiped a few stray tears off Selena’s face and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“My goodness, this place is quite fascinating,” the Professor continued. “My heavens, I believe this Maya bowl has some serious age.”

“Really?” I slipped past Selena, emerging from the bathroom and giving her time to regroup before the Professor saw her.

He held out the bowl. It was red and orange with glyphs around the rim and filled with—“Are those bird skulls?”

“I believe so, along with those of a few unlucky mammals.” Grimacing, the Professor set the bowl back into its altar. “However, I also believe my first evaluation was wrong. More likely it’s a quality reproduction, judging by its weight.”

“It’s still nice,” I said.

Selena came out of the bathroom, her face wiped clean of tears and her complexion back to normal. She scanned the camper as if looking for something. “I could scry for Zea. This place is full of his stuff.”

“I was about to suggest the same thing.” I pulled the grungy hairbrush from my pocket and held it out to her. “I’m guessing this is Zea’s, since Lotli didn’t take it with her to Moonhill.”

She snatched the brush. “Perfect. If they both used it, then I should be able to pick up on Lotli, too. It won’t be as exact as using a dark mirror to locate them, but it’ll be quicker.” She pressed the hairbrush between her palms and closed her eyes. Her eyes flashed open. “Just so you know—if he or both of them are . . . If they aren’t alive, then scrying like this might attract their spirits.”

Fear weakened my legs and I sunk down on a dining nook bench. The idea of attracting ghosts or spirits didn’t bother me. If Zea were dead, it wouldn’t be a shock, considering he wasn’t that healthy to start with. Not that it would be a good thing either. But Lotli—we needed her and her flute-magic.

I took a deep breath, calming myself, as the Professor settled onto the bench across the table from me. Selena sat down on the floor cross-legged, clutching the brush between her hands. She closed her eyes and began to slowly sway.

For a long moment, silence weighed heavy in the camper. I became keenly aware of the lumpy cushion beneath my legs and of a faint aroma of curry and fennel, spices Lotli and Zea must have used a lot. And a hint of mildew as well. Selena’s head bobbed forward. Abruptly, it snapped back up. Her eyes flickered open, showing nothing but the whites.

The Professor flinched and jerked back. I bit my tongue to keep from gasping. I’d seen her do this once before, but that didn’t make it any less frightening.

The nerves in her face spasmed, then stilled. “Not dead,” she mumbled. “He’s nearby, but not that close. Drifting, sleeping, meditating, maybe.”

“And Lotli?” I asked, barely daring to speak.

Selena’s head rolled on her shoulders. She shuddered, her breathing becoming loud and labored. “Not with him. She’s—I sense rope, wooden beams . . .”

I leaned forward, ears pricked so I wouldn’t miss a word.

“Ouch!” Selena yelped as if burned. She leapt to her feet and slammed the hairbrush to the floor. “Son of a bitch that hurt.”

The Professor and I both scrambled out from the nook.

“What happened? Are you all right?” I took her by the shoulders, peering into her eyes to make sure they were back to normal. They were, though her pupils were dilated like she was terrified.

The Professor patted her arm. “You’re fine. There’s absolutely nothing to worry about.”

“No, I’m not,” Selena said, her breath still ragged. “The hairbrush—it bit me. I was almost to her. Then I felt this presence.”

My gaze darted to the hairbrush. “Bit you? What are you talking about?”

“I thought I was approaching a riding stable. There was this electric fence around it. Only it wasn’t that kind of fence. It was the presence of a fence. A magic fence. Powerful, enclosing Lotli. I touched it—and zap.” She eyed the hairbrush. “I’m not going near that thing again. But we should take it with us, so we can see what Mom and Kate sense.”

I nudged the brush with my shoe to make sure it wasn’t going to do anything to me. I had no ability to scry or sense things, and it hadn’t done anything before, but there was no reason to take a chance. Certain I wouldn’t get zapped, I scooped the brush up and shoved it handle-first back into my pocket. “We should probably take a few other things, too, don’t you think? So your mom and Kate have a variety of stuff to scry with.”

Selena nodded, then glanced at the Professor. “Would you mind getting my water bottle from the car? I’m so dry, I can barely swallow.”

“Oh, yes. Absolutely.” He flew out the door and Selena and I started opening drawers, looking for things to take with us—Lotli’s bras, panties, socks, scarves, a large box devoted to jewelry. I stopped. “Selena, are you finding anything that looks like it might belong to Zea, like pants?”

“He’s probably sworn to a life of poverty. Shamans do things like that.”

I surveyed the chock-full trailer. “You really think so? I mean, all this and not even one pair of pants for him, really? Why would he allow Lotli to have tons of stuff?”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter anyway. We know he’s alive and we’ve got the hairbrush. It doesn’t sound nice, but, honestly, it’s Lotli, not him, we need to find.”

“You’re sure he’s all right, though?”

“Definitely. He probably got lonely with Lotli gone and went to stay with some local friend.”

“That makes sense.” It was also entirely possible that the kidnappers had come here first looking for Lotli and that’s why he took off.

The thump of the Land Rover door shutting sounded in the distance, undoubtedly the Professor was on his way back with the water.

Selena bit her bottom lip, her eyes filling with worry.

I lowered my voice. “If you’re thinking I’m going to say something in front of him about what you did to Newt, forget it. My lips are sealed. But I’m not ready to declare Newt and his family innocent. Do you think there’s any chance they’re involved with magic?”

She snorted loudly. “Are you crazy? Of course not.”

“Then how about we prove it?”

Her eyes narrowed. “What are you thinking?”

“We’re near Bar Harbor. Newt lives there, right? If we were to make a little side trip—like say to his neighborhood—would you be able to tell if we were closer to this magic fence?”

“It depends. Probably not. But”—she took out her phone—“I’m all for doing some snooping if only to prove that Newt and his family are innocent.” Her lips curved into a devious smile and she began typing.

I lunged forward, sandwiching her hands and phone between mine. “Not so fast. Who are you texting?”

She shimmied her phone out of my grip. “That was a good move, but it’s the Professor’s phone you need to grab, not mine. We don’t want him calling Kate or Mom and telling them what we’re up to.”

“I’m not doing anything until you explain.” I folded my arms across my chest. “All I’m suggesting is that we drive by the house, so you can check for any trace of magic.”

She turned her attention back to the phone. “Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

“Selena,” I said warningly. But I was curious what she had in mind. To be honest, at this point I was up for anything. I craned my neck, glancing at her phone. Newt, of course—who else would she be texting?

She sent the message, then looked at me. “He was all over himself apologizing this morning because he can’t see me for a few days, something about his cousin getting married. They’ve got rehearsal this afternoon, then a dinner. The wedding’s on Friday. His whole family’s involved—that means no one will be at their house right now. We could peek in a few windows.”

Her phone buzzed and she held it up so I could read Newt’s response.

She raised her eyebrows. “What do you think?”

I toyed with my necklace for a second, mulling over the idea. We’d been led to believe Newt’s sleazebag younger brother, Myles, had kidnapped Lotli based on a previous attempt that I’d interrupted. Information we’d gotten from a local plumber had convinced us that Newt and his family were lying about his dad’s profession and who owned the summer house they were living in. The truth was, even if we didn’t discover anything related to magic, a peek through the windows might go a long ways toward confirming or eliminating this secondhand information.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I said. But in the back of my mind I could already hear the scream of police sirens and the click of handcuffs closing around my wrists. Unlawful trespass. Not exactly the kind of thing that enhanced college résumés.