Chapter 27 Weddings and witchcraft
Renata
A bouquet of white roses flies through the air, and a dozen scrambling bridesmaids clamour to catch it. The wedding planner, with a massive clipboard and a tear in his eye, clutches my arm.
“Aren’t weddings so romantic?” he sniffs.
I shrug off his touch, but he’s too caught up in the moment to care.
“Remember,” I say to him firmly, pointing to the agenda on his clipboard. “They have to be out of here by eleven sharp, and under no circumstances should anyone from this wedding party go out into the east wing. Do you understand?”
“Mm-hm,” he says, clasping his hands together as he watches the bride shove cake into the groom’s mouth. “No west wing. Got it.”
“East wing,” I reply through gritted teeth. Then I catch something out of the corner of my eye.
It’s a paper crane, flying through the air at the opposite end of the wedding reception. But not from the force of being thrown. It’s flapping its own feeble paper wings. It leaves a trail of shimmering orange light in its wake.
“Shit,” I whisper. I hurry toward it, careful to move quickly, but not so fast as to draw any attention.
Luckily, the dancing has started and everyone is distracted.
I navigate around flirting groomsmen and gossiping aunts, and I narrowly avoid colliding with a server carrying a tray of champagne.
The enchanted paper crane is circling around the buffet, looking for a place to land.
With lightning-fast reflexes, I reach out and crush the crane into a paper ball in my fist, little swirls of light dissipating in the air. But then I spot another one, resting atop a tray of jello. And then another, flying toward the dance floor.
“My god,” I mutter angrily. I’m about to go chase after the other cranes, when Hallie appears, a worried expression on her face.
“Renata?” she calls.
“What is it?” I ask. “I’m trying to catch all these enchanted cranes. What is Amrita doing over there? I told her we can’t have any shenanigans!”
“I don’t think Professor Vyas is capable of not causing shenanigans,” Hallie says.
“It’s sort of what she’s known for. But the paper cranes were from Professor Watson’s seminar on enchantment charms. It was a really good one, actually!
Mine is over there.” She points at a particularly intricate paper crane that’s perched on the shoulder of the mother of the bride.
Luckily, she doesn’t seem to have noticed it.
I growl irritably. “What do you want, Hallie?”
“Do you know where Celine and Professor Cross are?” she asks. “I haven’t seen either of them all night. Professor Cross was supposed to help with the opening ceremony for the conference, but he wasn’t there.”
“I’m sure they’re fine,” I reply, trying to keep an eye on the multiplying cranes. “They’ve been keeping an eye on Xavian and the other vampires, they probably just couldn’t get back in time.”
“Ok,” Hallie says, but she bites her lip nervously, one of her pointed fangs peeking out.
“Listen, could you help me with these cranes?” I ask her. “And make sure that nobody from this wedding goes wandering off. I told Amrita and Lavinia to keep everyone out of the hallway, so there’s a buffer, but if anyone from here gets lost and goes into the wrong hall…”
“I’ve got you,” Hallie says, with an encouraging smile. “And sorry about the cranes.”
“Thanks,” I pat her on the shoulder, and go to check on the witch conference.
As soon as I open the door, I’m almost knocked over by a red-haired witch in jeans and a T-shirt, who’s flying down the hallway. A small white animal hangs precariously off the end of her broomstick.
“Look out!” she cries, looping effortlessly through the air.
“What are you doing!” I shout at her. “You’re supposed to stay in the east wing! This hall is strictly off-limits!”
“Aw, don’t be a spoil-sport, Ren,” says Xia. She’s cruising right behind the other witch, riding her broomstick like it’s a surfboard. She wears short, dark robes and a big grin on her face. “Besides, Astrid is using the east wing. Her and Amrita are doing a demonstration of how to summon a Demon.”
I glare at Xia. “They’re summoning a Demon…in my hotel?!”
“Well, I don’t think it’s Satan, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Xia says with a shrug. “They asked Him, but He had plans already. Friday night, you know.”
“Are you serious, Xia?” I ask her, furiously.
“Yeah, Him and Astrid have been getting along a little better now that the twins are fully grown. There are still some hard feelings, though. You know how difficult co-parenting can be.” She gives me a knowing look.
“What are you talking about?”
Before she can respond, Amara flies down the hallway toward us, her golden robe billowing around her and her hawk familiar at her side. She sees my expression. “Sorry, Renata! I told them that you asked us not to use this hallway.”
“Could you try to keep them contained, please?” I snap. “I’ve got a wedding in the other room!”
“Ok, ok,” Xia says, rising into the air. Her and Amara fly away toward the other broomstick-riding witches, trying to corral them into another area of the hotel.
I cross over the hallway and into the east hall. I’m immediately assaulted by the crackle of powerful magic and the hum of voices chanting in unison.
“Goddammit,” I mutter under my breath.
The lights of the hall have been turned off, and there are hundreds of candles suspended magically in the air, all lit with purple and red flames. On the hall’s stage, Amrita and the witch with a pentagram etched on her forehead are leading a chant, wearing thick robes, their eyes closed.
“Renata!” shrieks a voice in my ear.
I turn, to find the Hecate coven High Priestess staring angrily at me with yellow eyes, her white terrier familiar quivering in her arms. She’s surrounded by a small troop of other good witches, all wearing matching golden robes. “Yes, High Priestess Nox?”
She gestures wildly to the two witches on the stage. “This is completely unacceptable! We cannot summon a Demon here, of all places!”
“Well, I’m glad at least someone agrees with me,” I reply, crossing my arms. “But I don’t know what we can do…”
“This is sacrilegious, and I will not have it take place at a Triple Council-approved gathering!” Lavinia continues, as though she hasn’t heard a word I’ve said. Her group of witches all nod and murmur their agreement. “That’s it, I’m summoning Hecate!”
“Oh, no way!” I tell her. “Lavinia…”
“Yes!” she declares. The witches around her cheer, and begin pulling an assortment of brightly coloured gems and candles from the pockets of their robes. They create a throng around the other witches, and cut through the low humming chant with their own incantations.
“Well, shit,” I groan, putting a hand to my forehead.
Lexi pops up beside me, sipping daintily from her Stanley tumbler. “Hey, Ren! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. There’s a strange Icelandic man in one of the seminar rooms. He says you owe him some magic beans.”
For some reason, this is the last straw. I shake my head in frustration.
“You know what,” I say to Lexi, my voice oddly calm. “Why don’t you figure it out for once?”
She tilts her head. “Really?”
“Really! I’m going up to my office, and I’m not coming back down until these witches are out of my hotel!”
And with that, I storm out of the east hall, and back up to my office.
I keep the lights off, and the door locked.
The lake looks so peaceful from up here. The water is still and clear. It’s overcast, barely a star in the sky. The moon peeks out from behind a dark cloud.
I hate to admit it, but a part of me knows that they were right.
No matter what I do, no matter how hard I work, I can’t control everything.
I can’t fix everything. I could spend my entire existence trying to hold things together, but they’re just going to fall apart again, time after time.
It was always going to break me, in the end.
And what am I trying to control it for, anyway? At the end of the night, it’s just me, alone with a big view of a quiet lake.
Except for a moment, it wasn’t. Without any work to distract me, my mind keeps going back to Lily.
How she made me feel like I was more than just my role at the hotel.
How she trusted me. She even wanted me to spend time with her and her son.
When she brought it up over dinner, I felt so overwhelmed.
It was too much to imagine that I could have another chance at a…
At a family.
It was too painful to think about. I pushed her away. Thinking back on it, I feel so idiotic. I should have told her how I feel. When she said she loved me, I couldn’t say it back. Now I would give anything to return to that moment.
But it’s too late. I wasn’t brave enough for her, and I lost her. I’ll never forgive myself for letting her down.
I go over to my cabinet, and I open the drawer. The worn, wooden top looks exactly the same. One line of red, one of green, and one of yellow. It was the most precious thing in the world to me, once upon a time. But time has made it old and weathered, sitting in a drawer.
Am I like this top? Collecting dust, doomed to be shut away in this office forever?
I close my eyes, and hold the wooden toy to my heart. It seems so long ago, and yet so close. I thought I would never fulfill my obligation, my promise to Tudor. But Lily was right. I can’t keep sacrificing myself, over and over.
She saw myself more clearly than I could. And she was brave, for the both of us.
Something softens in my chest. I open my eyes. The moon has risen above the clouds, and shines like a beacon across the midnight-blue lake.
I was reborn once before. Perhaps it’s time to be something new again.