26. If the Fates Allow #2
The winter air hit them like a shock as they stepped outside, stars glittering overhead in a clear December sky.
Oak Haven at Christmas had always been beautiful, even with its kitschy magic and over-the-top decorations.
Now, with tacky tourist traps lining the streets and the ominous silhouette of the casino looming in the distance, it was a study in contrasts: the beautiful and the grotesque side by side.
“Your room or mine?” Jasper asked, his breath visible in the cold.
Delilah smiled. “Mine has a better view.”
They walked quickly through the town center, hand in hand, stealing kisses in the shadows between streetlights. Once, they had to duck into an alley to avoid a tour group being led by a witch in an outrageously pointed hat. But even that couldn’t dampen the electricity between them.
By the time they reached the Stargazer—or, Hex Marks the Spot, according to a garish new sign outside—Delilah’s heart was racing with a mixture of desire and a fierce, protective ache.
This man, with his precise mind and surprising courage, had somehow become essential to her in just a matter of days.
Her room was mercifully unaffected by the tourist takeover, a sanctuary of familiar comfort. When the door closed behind them, Jasper pulled her into his arms, his kiss deep and urgent. His glasses fogged slightly from the temperature difference, making her laugh softly against his mouth.
“Something funny?” he murmured.
“Just you,” she said, gently removing his glasses and setting them aside. “All of this. Us.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“The best thing.” Delilah’s fingers worked at the buttons of his shirt, revealing pale skin beneath. “I never expected you, Jasper Hopkins.”
He caught her hands, his expression suddenly serious. “Delilah, before we go any further, I need you to know something. Whatever happens tomorrow... whether I remember you or not? This is real. You are real to me. The most real thing I’ve ever known.”
She felt tears threatening again and blinked them away. “Don’t. Don’t talk about tomorrow.”
“Okay,” he agreed, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, the corner of her mouth. “Just tonight, then.”
Their clothes fell away piece by piece, a gradual unveiling.
Jasper’s hands were gentle but confident as they explored her body, finding places that made her gasp and arch against him.
There was an urgency to their movements, a desperation born of limited time.
Jasper moved with deliberate care, his eyes never leaving hers, as if memorizing every expression, every sigh.
She watched him watching her, both of them fully present in this moment that would have to last forever, somehow.
Later, tangled in sheets and each other, they talked in the hushed tones of new lovers sharing secrets.
Jasper told her about his childhood obsession with historical markers, how he’d make his parents stop at every bronze plaque they passed.
Delilah confessed to a brief career as a teenage troublemaker, using minor spells to rearrange items in the general store.
“Troublemaking was always my sister’s department.
My attempts to keep up with Scarlett were always a little pathetic. ”
“I would’ve liked to know you then.”
“You know me now,” she reminded him.
“I do.” He pulled her closer, his heartbeat strong and steady against her cheek. “And I’ll know you tomorrow, too. Even if I don’t remember.”
The words were a knife twist, but Delilah said nothing, letting the rhythm of his breathing lull her into sleep. Whatever tomorrow brought, they had this night. It would have to be enough.
Morning dawned clear and crisp, sunlight streaming through the window to paint golden stripes across the rumpled bed. Delilah woke to discover Jasper was already awake, watching her with that same intensity she’d seen last night.
“Creepy,” she murmured, but she was smiling.
“Beautiful,” he countered. He reached out to brush her hair back from her face.
Neither made a move to get up. Instead, Jasper pulled her closer, his arms wrapping around her as if he could somehow stop time if he held on tight enough.
“We should probably...” Delilah began, but let her words trail off.
“Probably,” Jasper agreed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “But not yet.”
As they lay there in silence, she tried to memorize the feel of him, the rhythm of his breathing, the way the light looked against his skin.
She stored these details away like treasures: the small scar above his eyebrow from a childhood fall, the way his fingers traced patterns on her skin as if mapping territory he intended to revisit.
“I wish we had more time,” she whispered finally.
Eventually, Delilah’s sense of responsibility became too heavy a weight. They dressed, stealing kisses between buttons and zippers, reluctant to break the spell of the night before.
The inn’s dining room was serving a tourist-friendly breakfast buffet, complete with pancakes shaped like witch hats and orange juice labeled “Magic Potion.” Scarlett and Nate were already at a table, heads bent together in hushed conversation that stopped abruptly when they spotted Delilah and Jasper.
“Well, well, well,” Scarlett drawled, her eyes dancing with mischief. “Look who’s here.”
“Morning,” Delilah replied, sliding into a chair with as much dignity as she could muster. But a flush rose to her cheeks.
“Sleep well?” Nate asked, his expression perfectly innocent except for the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
“Or at all?” Scarlett asked, mock-innocently.
Delilah reached for the pot of coffee at the center of the table, desperate for caffeine and a change of subject.
As she poured, she noticed an old lamp on the sideboard behind Scarlett, one she didn’t recognize from the inn’s usual decor.
It was ornate, made of tarnished brass with a dusty shade that had certainly seen better days.
“What’s that?” she asked, nodding toward it. “More additions to the ‘authentic witch experience’?”
Scarlett glanced back. “No idea. It was here when we came down.”
Curious, Delilah rose and went to examine it. “Since when did we have oil lamps in the dining room?” She reached to turn it on, but nothing happened. “Great, another thing in this place that’s broken.”
She gave the lamp a little shake. “Typical. Everything’s falling apart, and we’re stuck having breakfast surrounded by plastic cauldrons and?—”
The lamp shuddered in her hands, growing suddenly warm, then hot. Delilah dropped it with a yelp, jumping back as it began to twist and stretch, the brass melting and reforming into limbs, the shade collapsing into long, dark hair.
In seconds, where the lamp had been, a woman now stood—lanky, with wild hair and wide, delighted eyes.
“Surprise!” she announced, throwing her arms wide.
“ Luna !” Delilah and Scarlett shrieked in unison.
“In the flesh. Finally.” Luna grimaced, rolling her shoulders as if working out a cramp. “Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to be a lamp for three hours? I think I’ve got a crick in my... well, everything.”
Delilah launched herself at her younger sister, nearly knocking them both over with the force of her embrace. Scarlett was right behind her, turning it into a three-way hug that threatened to topple them all to the floor.
“You’re here! You actually came!” Delilah cried.
“Of course I came,” Luna said, squeezing them back. “Sorry it took me a while to get all your messages. Karpathos isn’t exactly known for great communications.”
“Karpathos?” Scarlett pulled back to look at her sister. “What, like the Greek island? What were you doing there?”
“Studying with a coven that worships Proteus,” Luna explained, as if it were obvious.
“Actually, you’d really have enjoyed it, Del.
Proteus was a god who hated talking to strangers so much he used to shapeshift so they couldn’t find him.
He’d become a lion, or a tree, or water, even.
Just to avoid humans and their stupid questions. ”
Delilah grinned. “Sounds like my kind of guy.”
“The Proteans were teaching me shapeshifting, but I had to come here before I finished my lessons. So I’m not exactly great at it yet. Which you might have noticed when I got stuck as a lamp.”
“A lamp,” Jasper repeated faintly from the table, looking like he was seriously questioning his sanity. “The sister was a lamp.”
Luna’s attention snapped to him, her eyes narrowing with interest. “And who might this be?”
“Jasper Hopkins,” Delilah said, suddenly feeling shy. “He’s the county archivist. And, um . . . my . . .”
“Boyfriend,” Jasper supplied helpfully, rising to shake Luna’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Boyfriend!” Luna’s eyebrows shot up, her gaze darting between Jasper and Delilah with undisguised delight. “Well, well, well. Looks like I missed quite a lot.”
“You have no idea,” Nate said dryly, the only one at the table who seemed entirely unfazed by a woman transforming from a lamp. “Pull up a chair, Luna. We’ve got apocalypse scenarios to discuss.”
As they settled around the table, Luna was quickly brought up to speed on Jasper’s involvement in their predicament, though she claimed to have gathered most of the details about the magicians and Kelly’s kidnapping while in her lamp form.
“So you’ve been eavesdropping,” Scarlett accused.
“I prefer the term ‘passive reconnaissance,’” Luna replied. “And it’s a good thing I did, or I’d be completely lost now.” She turned to Jasper with a sympathetic expression. “I take it you’re the only one who can get us the spell we need. And when you do...”
“Well, it’s located out of town,” he said. “So... yeah.”
Luna’s romantic heart was clearly visible in her pained expression. “There has to be another way. I wonder if I could shapeshift into a version of Jasper. Would that?—”
“Are you able to become a perfect copy of another person?” Scarlett interrupted.
“Uh,” Luna sighed. “I’m not able to become a perfect copy of a lamp. So no.”
“I wish there was any other way, but I just—” Scarlett took Delilah’s hand, but then she abruptly paused, and her face went blank. “I’m... um... sorry, what was your name again? I’m sure I know you, but I can’t seem to...”
“Scarlett,” Delilah whispered, her heart sinking. “I’m Delilah. Your sister.”
Recognition flickered across Scarlett’s face, then solidified. “Right! Delilah! Sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.”
But the damage was done. The implications hung in the air, too awful to ignore.
“Oh, man,” Nate said quietly. “That’s so much worse than last night. You okay, Scar?”
Scarlett gave her head a little shake, like she had water trapped in her ears. “What just happened?”
Nate put his arm around her. “It’s okay, babe. You’re okay. You just forgot something for a second.”
“No no, that’s not possible,” Luna said, although she’d just seen it with her own eyes. “We’re witches. We’re immune.”
“The breakdown is accelerating,” Jasper said. “We saw a lot of evidence last night, at the um... you know, the place we were at. With the singing.” He sighed. “Oh shit. Me, too.”
“But that means...” Delilah began, unable to finish the thought.
“It means we’re out of time,” Nate finished for her.
“Mama,” Scarlett said suddenly. “Where’s Mama? Shouldn’t she be down for breakfast by now?”
“She’s been kidnapped by the magicians,” Delilah said gently. “Remember?”
Delilah and Luna exchanged stricken looks. “It’s happening to witches,” Luna said, horrified. “The forgetting should never, ever happen to witches.”
In that moment, Delilah knew there was no more delaying, no more hoping for another solution. The forgetting spell was collapsing around them, and with it, any chance of saving Oak Haven without sacrifice.
“We have to go,” she said quietly, taking Jasper’s hand. “To the county clerk’s office. Now.”
Jasper nodded, squeezing her hand. “I know.”
“I’ll go with you,” Luna offered. “Maybe between the three of us?—”
“No.” Delilah shook her head. “Stay here with Scarlett. If we have any chance against the magicians, we have to all get our powers back. That means putting an end to Saturnalia, which means breaking the magician wards up at the oak grove. You figure that bit out, and organize everyone for what comes next. We’ll handle this. ”
Luna looked like she wanted to argue, but something in Delilah’s expression stopped her. Instead, she simply nodded, reaching out to hug her sister again. “Be careful,” she whispered.
“I will,” Delilah promised. They both knew the danger wasn’t physical.
As they prepared to leave, gathering coats and car keys, Jasper pulled Delilah aside, his expression solemn. “It’s going to be okay.” He kissed her then, soft and sweet and full of promises they both knew he couldn’t keep. “Let’s go.”