Chapter 46
Back at home, Miles took one look at Ingrid and sent her upstairs to take a hot bath.
When he brought up some of Edie’s milk thistle and ginger root tea, he didn’t press for information.
Later, warm and dry in one of Edie’s flannel nightgowns, she joined him in the living room to watch an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Litha jumped onto her lap, and she stroked the cat, thinking through her plan.
The first step had to happen under the cover of darkness.
She was glad for the full moon that night and the protective eye of the Goddess.
Both would strengthen her magic. But that bright moon would also make it difficult to go unnoticed.
Up to this point she’d tried to keep her relationships with Miles and Sailor separate, but now she realized how desperately she needed Miles’s help.
She paused the show and told him her plan—at least as much as she’d been able to lay out in her own mind.
He listened quietly, but when she was done, he had a look on his face she couldn’t interpret.
“Say something.” She elbowed him.
“You’re going to make up with Sailor and dump me again.”
“I didn’t dump you,” she said, only a hint of impatience in her voice. He hadn’t even made one comment about her plan. “You’re being ridiculous.”
He scoffed. “It got … weird between us. You were different.”
She sighed. “How was I different?”
He shook his head. “You were so busy.”
“Busy making money. For us.”
“We didn’t hang out as much.” He laced and unlaced his fingers, staring at them. “You didn’t talk to me.”
“You’re right,” she said contritely. “You’re right, Miles, but it was your idea for me to move in with Sailor. And being there was kind of overwhelming. I know I neglected you, and I’m sorry. I promise, when everything’s back to normal—when I’ve got Sailor back—it’ll be different.”
His eyes roved her face. “Maybe it’s the money, maybe it’s just that you want a family to belong to … but they have some kind of power over you, Ingrid. And it scares me.”
“Miles,” she said gently. “I love you. You know that. You’re like a brother to me. I’ll never allow anything to pull us apart. We will always be us.”
He shook his head. “I’m low-class to them, Ingrid. They’ll never accept me.”
“Are you kidding me? If they accept me, they have to accept you. We’re a package deal, Miles. That’s all there is to it.” She picked up his hand and ran her thumb across the mountain range of his knuckles. She rubbed his knuckles against her cheek, and he slumped against the cushions of the sofa.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I want to help you with your plan.”
“You mean …?” She widened her eyes meaningfully.
He nodded. “Yes.”
She watched him closely. “Are you sure?”
“You can’t do this alone, Ingrid. It’s too dangerous.”
She lunged at him, grabbing him into a fierce embrace.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you so much.” She released him.
“Let’s get started,” she said, and picked up her phone to dial Sailor.
When she got the voicemail, she locked eyes with Miles, then spoke in a small, frightened voice into her phone.
“Sailor, call me, please. There’s something I really need to talk to you about.”
She dressed in a dark hoodie, black yoga pants, and beanie.
Miles borrowed Boney’s car and drove them out to Whitemarsh Island.
They parked on a quiet neighborhood street near the entrance of the yacht club and climbed the low brick wall.
They split up, Ingrid picking her way down the muddy bank of the river while Miles ambled casually up to the guard house.
From her spot down near the boat slips, she saw him rap on the door.
Saw the guard rise and open it for him. He stepped into the small room, and she could see them talking.
Miles was good at this kind of thing—shooting the shit with regular people, making friends.
Right now he was probably asking the guard how he could get into the security business.
If there was a spot open for him at the club.
The guard would be filling him in on all the details. She should get moving.
Pulling the beanie down low over her eyes, she hurried along the shoreline, then down the dock, past the row of yachts.
She found the Do Not Disturb easily and, with a quick glance over her shoulder, climbed aboard.
She slipped into the galley, staying close to the wall out of sight of the onboard cameras, and was immediately enveloped in the smell of wood polish and leather upholstery.
There were six cameras in all: two on the forward and aft decks, two in the living cabin, one in the bridge, and another in the galley.
They were all wirelessly connected to a hub in a cabinet under the built-in sectional sofa, which she found easily, then unplugged.
The water lines she didn’t have to worry about.
Many times she’d seen Jude’s crew turn the lever to switch off the supply line when they left the boat.
She crept back to the galley. At the row of hooks over the dining table, she pawed through ball caps, visors, and rain jackets, finally locating the straw hat with the pleated brim and Sailor’s Hermès scarf tied around it.
She stuffed it under her hoodie and looked around the silent, finely appointed vessel.
It would be so easy, she thought then, to just help the magic along …
She looked over at the stove. She could wad up some paper towels, put them in a pan on one of the burners.
They’d catch quick. Spread to the cabinets nearby.
Or she could soak dish towels in olive oil and stuff them under the curtains in one of the bedrooms. She could even go down to the engine room and start it there. Jude had showed her once where it was.
But that would be cheating. Admitting that she didn’t trust in her own power or the power of the universe. That wouldn’t be magic. That would be a crime.
Back at the house, shadows danced along the walls of the altar room. In the center of the room, the altar glowed with candlelight. Ingrid knelt before it in silence.
She had changed out of the yoga pants and hoodie and put on one of Edie’s older dresses, a caftan in watercolor shades of blue. She’d let her brown hair loose, the way Edie had always worn hers. She had told Miles to stay upstairs. She needed the mental space to take the next step in her plan.
A snow-white cloth covered the brass table and quiet cello music played. She cast her circle, called the corners, then cleansed herself. She called out to Edie to help her and protect her. Her pulse was thrumming through her veins, her heart in her throat. She’d never done this before.
Baneful magic.
But it wasn’t exactly against Edie’s teaching. She was only hexing an object, not a person, and objects could be replaced. Especially when you had lots of money like the Loefflers. Like Jude Etris. Besides, he would definitely have insurance on the boat.
She rose, cleared the energy around her, and faced north to start.
“Do Not Disturb,” she said in a low voice, then turned east. “Do Not Disturb, Do Not Disturb, Do Not Disturb …”
She closed her eyes and pictured what she wanted.
Flames licking …
Consuming it all …
FireFireFireFireFireFireFire …