15. Saturnalia’s Upon Us
Saturnalia’s Upon Us
Delilah awoke to the sound of little feet thundering down the hallway outside her room. The footsteps were followed by children’s laughter, then the unmistakable clatter of something expensive hitting the floor.
“Maya Injabere! Elijah! What have I told you about running in the halls?” Their grandmother Ruth’s voice was warm but steeped in authority. “There are people still sleeping! Or, there were before just now!”
“Elijah said he could beat me to the end of the hall,” came a little girl’s voice, “but he was wrong .”
“You cheated!”
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Did not!”
“ Children ,” said Ruth. “Go downstairs for breakfast. Now . Before you wake up every guest in the inn.”
Delilah pulled her pillow over her head, but it was too late.
Wide awake after maybe three hours of sleep, tops.
Every time she’d closed her eyes, she’d see that woman in a red suit.
Her hair piled atop her head like some demented snake charmer.
The council lurking in the shadows. All the while, their ultimatum still echoed: Share the grove or we take everything .
“ Share ,” she muttered into her pillow. “Share, my ass.”
On top of all that, it was awfully strange to be back in her own bed after her Year of Yurts.
The bookshelf still held her worn copies of Tolkien, Le Guin, and Butler—books that Papa had insisted every right-minded person should own.
The ceiling still bore the glow-in-the-dark stars that he’d helped her arrange into constellations.
Here in her room, it was like the past year had never happened.
But even if the room wasn’t any different, she was.
Delilah could feel the changes inside; she just didn’t know what they meant.
A soft knock at her door made her groan. “Go away. I’m hibernating until the apocalypse is over.”
“Miss?” It was Ruth Injabere again. “I just wanted to apologize about the children. And I wanted to make sure they didn’t wake you.”
Delilah chuckled. Waking you up to discuss someone else having woken you up—such a grandmother move. “No worries. I should be up helping Mama anyway.”
“Oh, you mean Mrs. Melrose?” She heard Ruth chuckle on the far side of the door. “Last time I saw her, she was trying to use magic to stir the pancake batter and then yelling at the bowl when nothing happened.”
Mama forgetting the Saturnalia restrictions was no surprise. It’s tricky when you’re used to using magic for the smallest things and suddenly you can’t. It’s like a right-handed person suddenly trying to do everything with the left.
“I’ll be right down,” Delilah called back. “Just need to locate my will to live... I think it rolled under the bed.”
“Check behind the nightstand,” offered Ruth. “That’s where all the important things hide.”
After Ruth’s footsteps retreated, Delilah dragged herself into the shower. Perhaps the water pressure could blast away some of her existential dread.
You have until sundown to accept our terms, she could hear the magician saying.
But Delilah knew there would be no accepting of terms. Whether they’d accept wasn’t in question. No, the question was: What happens when they don’t?
Forty minutes later, freshly showered and arguably more awake, Delilah made her way to the dining room.
The inn was bustling with activity. Guests chatted over breakfast while staff darted around, overburdened with holiday-themed everything.
Kelly had transformed the dining room yesterday, before giving up her powers, and it remained expanded to outrageous dimensions, the ceiling soaring and the walls stretched to accommodate the entire town for the Saturnalia feast.
Delilah spotted Jasper in a quiet corner, huddled over a very large mug of coffee and a plate of untouched eggs.
He was still wearing his tuxedo from the night before.
Scarlett was right, there was a sort of “haunted Victorian radiator” about him.
.. but in the best possible way. Besides, who wouldn’t look haunted if they woke up in a strange place with no memory of how they’d gotten there?
Poor guy, she thought. This isn’t fair to you at all. Her heart did that stupid little stutter it had been doing since she first saw him at the hardware store. It was both infuriating and increasingly hard to ignore.
Get a grip, she thought . Exactly ten seconds after he stepped out of Oak Haven, he completely forgot who you were. This is not worth getting worked up about. Later on he’s going to go back to his real life and you aren’t a part of it.
But later on felt very far away.
Ruth Injabere sat across from Jasper, chatting away while her grandchildren shoveled pancakes into their mouths.
Jasper’s smile was polite but blank. Delilah could see the confusion in his eyes from all the way across the room.
No surprise there. Ruth remembered having met Jasper yesterday. But Jasper couldn’t say the same.
As Delilah approached, she caught the tail of Ruth’s remarks. “It’s all right, dear. Perhaps a bit too much celebrating after the ritual last night, eh? Overdid the eggnog, did we?”
“Um... right, yes!” Jasper seized on the explanation like a drowning man on a life preserver. “It must’ve been the eggnog.”
“Morning, everybody.” Delilah slid into the chair next to Jasper. “Mrs. Injabere, I see you’ve been keeping our archivist company.”
“Good morning! Yes, such a lovely young man,” Ruth said.
“But perhaps I should leave you two in peace. Maya, Elijah, would you like some more pancakes?” Both kids nodded their syrup-smeared faces.
“Wonderful, let’s see what we can do. Come along, bring your plates. ” She shepherded the two kids away.
“How are you this morning?” Delilah asked carefully.
“Well... ” Jasper looked around furtively and lowered his voice. “I’m not sure what’s going on.”
So sexy, she couldn’t stop herself from thinking. What is so sexy about sneakiness?
“Maybe you can help me,” he said. “I seem to be experiencing significant memory gaps. That lady thinks we’ve met before, but I have no memory of her.
In fact, I’m not at all sure how I ended up here in the first place.
The last thing I remember is being at my office, and then things start to get fuzzy.
.. And I had an absolutely insane dream about a casino.
.. Wait, you were there, actually! And.
Then we were outside, I think? Uh. It was so. .. I don’t know. I’m, uh...”
He leaned in closer, staring straight into Delilah’s eyes and forcing her to consider how a man could look so petrified and so irresistible at the same time.
“The truth is, I think I might be having some sort of psychotic break?”
Guilt stabbed through her. “No no, Jasper, I swear, you’re perfectly all right. The truth is... You have been here before. And Mrs. Injabere does know you. It’s just that you can’t remember meeting her.”
“I—” He gazed around the room, utterly lost. “I don’t think I’d forget all this.”
“It’s a spell. You’re um... I’m sorry but you’re under a spell.
” The stabbing sensation intensified. Delilah had never thought about the forgetting spell in quite this way before; she’d never questioned the ethics of the whole thing.
The forgetting spell was such a good deal for the witches of Oak Haven.
.. She’d never realized what a shit deal it was for everybody else.
“But that’s—I mean, I’m sorry.” Jasper adjusted his glasses. “But that’s not a real explanation. Spells aren’t real.”
“Says the man sitting in a banquet hall that’s several stories taller than the building it’s housed in. You did notice that, right?”
He opened his mouth as if he was going to argue the point, then closed it again when he looked up and realized he could barely see the ceiling. “Did I drink last night? I did, right? I must’ve had too much to drink and I’m still drunk. That would explain so much right now.”
“No no, you’re okay.” Delilah surprised herself with how gentle her tone had become. “You’re not drunk. Or hungover, or anything like that. You’re just very very far outside your usual frame of reference.”
“So if I’m under a spell, are you... a witch?” Jasper asked. It was clear that he had every intention of at least sounding like he was taking Delilah seriously. But he clearly thought he was talking to a madwoman.
“Yes, most of the women in Oak Haven are witches. Well, we’re temporarily non-practicing at the moment, due to the holiday.
And yes, I know it all sounds crazy but it would be great if you could suspend disbelief, just for a bit.
Because we could really use your help. We have until sundown to figure out what to do about the magicians, and I haven’t been able to get anyone to take it seriously. ”
“Magicians?” Jasper’s eyebrows shot up. “Like... pulling rabbits out of hats magicians?”
“More like threatening to enslave our town , but yeah. Magicians.”
“Right.” Jasper’s voice was faint. “Obviously.”
Oof, she thought. I have to start from the beginning now.
Delilah had never dealt with someone who’d been in Oak Haven, then left, and then returned.
.. much less tried to flirt with someone who was in Oak Haven then left then returned.
He’s basically living yesterday all over again but he doesn’t remember a thing. Like Groundhog Day but upside down.
But before she could explain the situation any further, Scarlett appeared. She slid into a chair across from them, looking like she’d slept even less than Delilah. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail and there were dark circles under her eyes.
“Morning, sunshine,” Delilah greeted her. “You look like you’re riding the Saturnalia struggle bus.”
“Riding it?” Scarlett grumbled. “More like it ran me down and left me for dead. I forgot that my entire skincare routine is magic-based, and I don’t even want to talk about haircare.”