31. Run, Ramona, Run #2
“Ramona.” Kelly’s voice carried the chill of every New England winter at once. “I see your hospitality hasn’t improved since our last encounter.” Kelly straightened her already-straight jacket with a precise movement that Delilah recognized as her mother tamping down fury.
“This isn’t over, Kelly,” Ramona spat, her face contorted with the special hatred reserved for old enemies. “Not by a long shot.”
“Oh, but I think it is.” Kelly’s voice was smooth as river stones and just as implacable.
She stepped forward, positioning herself slightly in front of her daughters, still protecting them, even now.
“You’ve lost, my dear. Yet again. Take your second-rate illusions and crawl back to wherever it is failed magicians go to lick their wounds. ”
Ramona’s face twisted with rage so pure it was almost beautiful. “ Where are my people ?”
Luna nodded, her expression carefully neutral though Delilah could see the triumph in her eyes. “We’ve sent them to 35.0110° N, 115.4734° W. The Mojave, not Mariana. Go now, get them. And don’t you ever come back.”
“You’ll regret this. All of you.” Ramona’s gaze swept over them, landing finally on Luna. Her eyes narrowed, focusing with predatory intensity. “Especially you .”
The portal snapped shut with a sound like a thunderclap, leaving behind only a faint smell of ozone and the echo of Ramona’s threat. For a moment, no one moved, as if afraid that the wrong words might somehow undo their victory.
Scarlett, naturally, found her voice first. “Why’d she single out Luna? I’m just as scary as Luna!”
Delilah had to laugh. “You so aren’t.”
“Hey!”
“Girls!” Kelly brushed some nonexistent dust from her sleeves. “No bickering, please. We’ve had one hell of a day.”
“Mama.” Delilah launched herself into another hug, burying her face against her mother’s shoulder like she hadn’t done since she was a child. Her voice came out muffled against Kelly’s coat. “Are you okay? What did they do to you? Where were you?”
Kelly’s arms came around her, strong and steady as always. “All excellent questions, darling. But perhaps better discussed somewhere warmer? And with a martini?”
“Two for me,” Belinda Chatterjee called out. “I need one for each hand.”
“Oak grove first,” Jerusha insisted, and her voice carried a heavy authority. “We need to complete the Saturnalia ritual and reclaim our magic. No cocktail is more important than that.”
Belinda harrumphed. “Says the woman who hasn’t been sitting in a void for—oh wait! How long have we been gone? I hope we didn’t miss the pageant?”
Scarlett went to Belinda and wrapped her in a warm hug. “We waited on the pageant. No pageant without you, Mrs. Chatterjee.”
“Ladies, let’s get back to town.” Kelly was suddenly all business, and she gathered her dignity around her like a warm winter coat. “It’s time to end Saturnalia properly.”
The grove seemed to know they were coming.
As the witches of Oak Haven approached, the trees swayed despite the absence of wind, their bare branches reaching toward the star-strewn sky as if in welcome.
The crystalline frost that had encased the trees since the beginning of Saturnalia glittered in the moonlight, like thousands of tiny diamonds waiting to be reclaimed.
Most importantly, the magicians’ wards were gone, vanished along with the casino and its operators. The witches moved freely up the hill, their breath visible in the cold air, their faces upturned toward the magic that awaited them.
Delilah walked between her sisters. For the first time in a very long while, she felt something like peace settling over her. They’d done it. They’d saved the town, rescued their mother, and sent the magicians packing. It was a victory by any measure.
So why did she still feel that hollow ache in her chest?
Because some victories come with sacrifices, a voice whispered in her mind. And yours was Jasper .
She pushed the thought away, focusing instead on the task.
The ritual to reclaim their magic mirrored the one that had begun Saturnalia.
They encircled the largest oak, hands joined, words spoken in languages that predated Oak Haven itself.
Kelly took her place at the head of the circle, her presence commanding attention without effort.
“Sisters,” she addressed the assembled witches, “we gather to reclaim what is rightfully ours. To take back the power we willingly surrendered, now enhanced by its temporary separation from our mortal forms.”
The witches joined hands, forming a circle that pulsed with anticipation.
“As we come to the close of Saturnalia,” Kelly continued, “we honor what we have learned in our time without magic. Strength of community. Ingenuity born of necessity. Resilience that defines us, not as witches, but as women. Now, we reclaim what is ours.” Her voice grew stronger, filling the grove.
“Not as a privilege, but as a responsibility. To protect our home. To preserve our history. To ensure our future.”
As Kelly began the incantation, the frost clinging to the trees began to shimmer more intensely, pulsing in time with her words.
The other witches joined in, their voices weaving together.
Soon, Delilah felt a familiar tingle of magic stirring within her, a warmth that started in her core and radiated outward.
The crystalline frost melted into streams of golden light, flowing from the trees. Delilah watched in awe as the magic returned to its rightful vessels, filling each witch with reinvigorated power. She felt her own magic flood back, a homecoming so profound it brought tears to her eyes.
As the last of the light dissolved into the circle, a collective sigh swept through the grove. They were whole again. They were witches once more.
Kelly lowered her arms, her smile warm with satisfaction. “Saturnalia is ended. Our magic returns, stronger for its rest.”
Cheers erupted from the assembled witches, hugs and laughter spreading through the group like wildfire. Families reunited, friends celebrated, and for a moment, all was right in Oak Haven.
Or, most of the women felt that way.
As the others began making their way back down the hill, toward homes and hearths and well-deserved holiday festivities, Delilah lingered.
She found a quiet spot at the edge of the grove, perching on a fallen log that offered a view of the distant town.
Oak Haven sparkled below, Christmas lights twinkling in the darkness.
But as perfect as it all looked, there was something missing that she couldn’t deny.
Jasper.
With her magic finally restored, Delilah couldn’t help but think about how she might use it.
After all, what’s the point of having magic at all, if you don’t use it to solve your problems?
Why not just take this wand Mama hates so much and straighten it all out ?
Maybe she could create a remembering spell, to counter the forgetting.
A spell to bring him to her side. A spell to bind him to Oak Haven forever.
Yeah, she thought. I could totally do that.
But she wouldn’t.
In her letter, Agnes Bartlett had written that magic wasn’t a dress pattern to be adjusted for better fit. Some things couldn’t—shouldn’t—be “fixed,” no matter how much you wanted to.
Jasper deserved a life unencumbered by the complications of loving a witch. A normal life, with a normal partner, in a normal town that didn’t disappear from his memory every time he went to work. She should let him go find that.
“You okay?” Scarlett’s voice came from behind her, unusually gentle.
“Yeah, Del,” Luna said kindly. “Are you all right?”
“Not really.” Delilah didn’t turn around; her eyes remained fixed on the town below. “But I will be.”
Her sisters settled beside her on the log, one on each side, and they all sat in companionable (not to mention unusual) silence for a long moment. Eventually Scarlett broke the mood with a deep sigh. “You know, Del, for what it’s worth? I think you’re making a mistake.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I mean, look at Nate and me. We’re making it work, even with the whole forgetting thing.”
Del turned to look at her. “You told me he literally won’t propose to you because of the forgetting spell. That’s not exactly great.”
Her sister shrugged. “Okay, you got me. It’s not. But I mean... we’re happy, though. A wedding would be cool but it’s hardly the main point. The main point is obviously the fucking.”
Luna covered her face with her hands. “Scarlett, oh my gods!”
“It is my job as middle sister to speak the truth,” Scarlett declaimed. “Come what may. That’s a double entendre, you know, come what may .”
“I am begging you to stop,” Delilah said with a chuckle. “Anyway, it’s different for you guys. Nate grew up here, he has a hundred ex-pirate relatives in town. He’s part of the fabric of Oak Haven. But Jasper’s whole life is out there.”
“So? Dayo moved here to be with Aphra, didn’t she? Priti Chatterjee found herself a hot guy and talked him into moving to Oak Haven. It happens sometimes—it’s not that weird.”
“It happened to Papa,” Luna offered quietly. “He had a different life before he and Mama met. But he chose her.”
Of course Luna was right. Their father had been an outsider, a normal man just like Jasper, who’d stumbled into their magical world and chosen to stay, despite the costs. “It’s not the same,” she insisted, but suddenly her voice lacked conviction.
Scarlett shook her head. “No, I think Luna has a great point. My thought is, when you figure out the right spell, you cast it, consequences be damned.”
Delilah snorted. “That’s terrible advice, Scar. Advice like that is exactly what has gotten you into so many scrapes over the years.”
“Maybe. But things have worked out pretty well for me, if you didn’t notice.” She nudged her shoulder against Delilah’s. “What do you say, Luna? Should she go after Jasper or let him go?”
“Ohhhh I just got here. I met him for about two seconds.”
“Come on,” Scarlett urged. “This is the hour of sisterly advice. Let’s have it.”
“Well...” Luna leaned her head back and looked up at the stars for a long time.
“I’ve never been in love. So I can’t say what I would do, much less what anybody else should do.
But, I will say—” she broke away from gazing at the stars to lean her head on Delilah’s shoulder “—I think it’s lovely that you care enough about Jasper to let him go, if that’s what he needs. ”
“Oh my gods,” Scarlett groaned. “Your advice sucks , Luna.”
In the valley below, Jasper finally got back into his car and drove away, his taillights disappearing around a bend in the road.
“Come on.” Scarlett stood, offering her hand. “Let’s go home. Zahir’s cooking up a feast, and I want to get home before Belinda has chugged every martini in Oak Haven.”
Delilah let herself be pulled to her feet, knowing that home, with all its chaos and complications, was exactly where she needed to be right now.
As the sisters walked down the hill, arm in arm in arm toward the twinkling lights, Delilah felt the pain of the past few days settling into something manageable. They had won. They had survived. That would have to be enough.