Chapter Twenty Three
Jaak and I made it down the street without anyone realizing I was the window breaker, so I think my luck is turning around.
We had to go back in the direction we came from, so we’re basically back to square one.
It feels odd standing in front of Pancakes And More again.
It’s only been a day but after the battle with Mort and then us befriending him, it feels like a week.
My stomach rumbles and Jaak gives me a look before he nods at the diner.
“Right on cue, I suppose. Do you want to stop for dinner?”
The idea is appealing. It would be easier and there was a double-decker cheeseburger affair that I wanted to get my hands on but before I can tell Jaak that I think it’s the double meat double cheese life for me, I see Dina.
She’s alone, shoulders slumped and head down. She shuffles forward and slides into a booth on her own. She looks sad.
“I wanted a cheeseburger but I think we made Dina sad because we, you know,” I say, bringing a finger across my neck.
“Ahhh, yes, her nefarious husband.”
“How do you know he was nefarious?”
“I saw in his mind,” Jaak tells me, tapping a finger to his temple. “And besides that, even that woman in the floral shop said so herself. Dina is better off without him. She has,” Jaak snaps his fingers, trying to remember, “Cloud to keep her company.”
“Clyde,” I say, correcting him and crossing my arms.
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“If she has big-mouth Clyde to keep her company then why does she look like that?” I ask, jerking my chin towards the diner.
It’s then I see that it’s practically deserted.
Odd for dinnertime. The sun is just now setting.
This is peak dining hours, and yet, no one is dining.
I look up and down the street. “Something’s up.
There should be more people in there, don’t you think? ”
Jaak looks around the street with me. “Possibly. Maybe this town doesn’t take kindly to dinner. It’s been known to happen.”
“Maybe…” I turn back to look at Dina and I can’t shake the feeling something else is happening though, but what could it be? A man walks from the back and into my field of vision. He’s walking with purpose and he’s definitely making a beeline for Dina. “Oh, wait, there’s Clyde. That has to be him.”
“I would hope so. Otherwise he’s going to attack her.”
I freeze for a split second before I look at Jaak.
“What? Oh my god, what if he is going to attack her? We have to help her! We already probably offed her husband. Come on!” I grab Jaak’s arm and start to pull him across the street when he wraps his other arm around my waist and pulls me back against his chest.
“It’s Clyde, witchling. All is well.”
“How do you know?”
“Why don’t you see for yourself,” he says, nodding over my shoulder towards Dina and the diner.
I look back and do a double take because it’s definitely Clyde.
He’s sitting at the booth with Dina, across from her and he’s holding her hand.
We watch for another few seconds before we see Clyde drop a kiss onto the back of Dina’s hand.
“Yup, that’s Clyde all right. Phew.” I pat Jaak and start walking again. “Well we can’t go to dinner there now. We’ll be date crashers.”
“Would we, though? They’re at work, not on a date,” Jaak points out.
I rub my chin thoughtfully. “Okay, you got me there but no one likes a work crasher either when your crush is maybe making his big move because you got the news your evil cult husband is maybe dead. I can’t think of a worse time to be interrupted, and by his murderers no less.
” I wave my hand. “Forget about it. We absolutely cannot go in there for dinner.”
“But you hunger still. It is my duty to see to your needs.”
My needs.
It’s not food that fills my mind when he says that.
It’s the feel of Jaak’s hand in my hair and the nip he gave me that had me going wild.
I glance over at Jaak to see him giving me a guileless, sunny smile.
For walking around in my dreams as much as he has, the demon has no clue that food is the last thing on my mind.
He’s blissfully unaware of the things I want from him.
Gods, I think I barely know what I want him to do to me but I have a healthy imagination so I’m sure I’d figure it out.
But even so I’m not brave enough to do anything about it now that we’re walking down Bitter Root’s main street.
I already went ham back at the bench. Completely lost my mind and tried to climb Jaak like a tree.
If anyone saw us well…they’ll have a story to tell when they get home.
I glance nervously over my shoulder and see a few people.
One lady is totally pointing at us which, fair, but still…
I flush and clear my throat. “Well, yes,” I admit. “But we can always make food. There’s nothing like a home cooked meal, right? And it wouldn’t hurt for us to lay low. We’ve had kind of a big first day in town.”
“The attention is no matter. The sooner we find the head mage, the sooner we can end this entire affair and leave this place.” Jaak looks around with a frown. “I would normally say we could find another place but it doesn’t seem like there’s another place open at this hour in this town.”
He’s right. Bitter Root is a one diner kinda town.
I get it, though. Sweet Tooth was the same way.
We didn’t have much in the way of restaurants because we didn’t want Outsiders to overstay.
There’s nothing like someone outside of your cult witnessing you doing cult things to really kill the vibe.
That’s why the Founders made sure our restaurants closed early enough that dinner wouldn’t be a possibility.
On the nights we had festivals and fairs there were exceptions but those were carefully planned.
Outsiders were allowed to linger on those nights when we pretended to be normal.
Bitter Root is probably doing the same thing. There are hardly any people in the streets. There’s one group making their way up the street behind us and a few others in front of us that are on their way back to their tour bus.
“It’s to keep visitors from seeing something they shouldn’t,” I tell Jaak. “You know, just cult town things. Nothing we should worry too much about.”
“If you say say, my heart.”
I grab his hand and give it a little swing.
“I do say. I promise, everything will be fine.” If Jaak wants to argue, he doesn’t.
He stays on high alert though as we walk out of town and back up the hill towards the house.
The air cools around us and a light breeze ruffles my hair.
It’s a beautiful night out. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and pretend Jaak and I are just out for a normal evening walk.
There’s no doomsday cult on the loose, or some weird commerce cabal that seems to be operating in Bitter Root.
It’s just us, together, enjoying the night and thinking about what we’ll have for dinner.
I open my eyes as the chirp of crickets and the sound of animals running through the high grass on the side of the road accompany us on the way home as the night comes alive around us.
“It’s beautiful out,” I tell him. “Maybe we can have dinner outside.”
“Maybe.” Jaak gives my hand a squeeze. “I would much prefer us indoors tonight. It’s easier to keep an eye on you then. The house has old magic in it that we can use to aid our defenses.”
I perk up at the mention of magic. I’m supposed to be learning how to be a witch and I still don’t know anything.
“It does?”
“Yes. Whoever lived there before did spell work. I wonder if we took a look in the library if we might find a spell book, some primer on basic magic for you. There’s too much of it left in the house for there not to be.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s a feeling. You start to understand the pulse of magic, it’s almost like a heartbeat once you feel it.
Some magic moves fast and angry, it’s like a pain in your chest,” he says, pressing two fingers to the middle of his chest. “Other magic is restorative, slow and heavy. It makes you remember that everything is alive, even you.” Jaak’s hand moves over his heart and I put mine with his.
I stare at our hands pressed together on his chest and sigh. “I can’t feel anything. I didn’t feel a single drop of magic in the place. I-” I stop myself short and move to pull my hand back.
“What is it, witchling?”
I give him a rueful smile. “You call me that and Charlie called me a BWIT. I don’t really feel like a BWIT or a witchling.
I couldn’t even feel a magic house and I slept in it all night.
How am I supposed to use my magic to help us?
I mean, today when we were fighting with Mort, I felt good.
I felt powerful and useful, and I thought I’d finally found my way to help save the world but there’s so much I can’t do. What if it’s not enough?”
Jaak stops walking and moves to stand in front of me. “You must be patient with yourself. Magic is an unruly thing. No one is a natural magic user. It all comes with time.”
“But we don’t have time. That cult out there was trying to work full moon magic,” I say, pointing up at the sky.
“And of course, it’s a full moon so how much time do we really have?
A day? Two maybe? We don’t know, just like I don’t know what’s going on with my friends or my home, or if they’re okay, and stupid Roy is mixed up in all of it.
I hate Roy. I should have killed him when I had the chance. ”
I’m ranting, I know I am. I don’t care. A girl needs a good rant after the past twenty hours and some change. I feel like I’m coming apart by the second. The earlier moment of calm is shattered beyond repair.
“What if I’m bad at this? What if I fail and Roy wins?” I move to stomp away but I don’t even get the chance to take a single stomp in the direction of the house before Jaak stops me with a gentle hand on my arm.
“Who is Roy?”