Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Calli breathed a sigh of relief when the last customer left her bookstore and she had a chance to breathe.
The people from the tour bus had been drawn to her store like a magnet, and she’d had a massive influx of sales.
Her feet ached from standing all afternoon, and helping visitors find books to read for their trip to Boston.
She’d met many friendly, enthusiastic people.
All of that was wonderful, but every interaction sounded alarm bells in the back of her mind, because the wards failing were the reason these visitors were there in the first place.
Now there was nothing keeping truly dangerous people out.
Moonstone Fall was defenseless.
Nothing felt right. She felt naked… exposed. She was used to weakened wards in October, and the tourists coming in, but the wards were always strengthened again by the end of the month so there had been no reason to worry. But that safety was gone now.
The shop door opened with a tinkle. Calli looked up, hoping to see Malcolm, then felt a flash of disappointment when she saw it was only Sage. Her friend stepped inside and came straight over, hugging her.
“You okay?” Sage’s blue eyes were full of storms.
“Yeah. It just feels weird,” Calli studied the sky outside where the red horizon began to turn purple at the edges.
“I know. I keep looking over my shoulder for no reason,” said Sage. “Jasper plans to dig into the town archives to see if he can find anything useful. I’ll help him.”
Calli wasn’t listening. She was thinking about Zelda again, and what she had told her. When Malcolm had gone outside to check on things after the earthquake, the seer had grasped her hand and said, “It was him. He’s the one who’s broken the wards apart.”
As much as Calli didn’t want to admit it, she knew Zelda was right.
Opening a portal inside the protection of the wards was almost impossible from the outside.
Now she realized that Malcolm hadn’t slipped through the wards, he’d punched through with more force than anyone realized.
And the reverberations of that force had cracked the wards, which grew and grew until they broke apart.
Calli wouldn’t tell him any of that. She couldn’t. He’d made so much progress in such a short time. She couldn’t be the one to tell him he was responsible for all this, but she had a feeling he already believed that.
“Where’s Malcolm?” Sage asked.
“At Mrs. Greenlee’s…” she said slowly, unsure of how much she should tell Sage. “He went to see if she knew anything about how to restore the wards.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Mrs. Greenlee used to be the history teacher at Moonstone Falls High School before she retired. She knows a lot about the town that doesn’t necessarily get recorded at Town Hall.”
Sage checked the magical clock on the wall behind the sales counter. It was an antique creation of Calli’s grandfather. It showed the time, the weather, and the amount of residual magic in the air. Now the weather dials showed storms forming ahead. “What time did he leave?”
“About four hours ago.” Calli’s stomach suddenly knotted with worry. “He should have been back by now.”
The door to the shop opened again and Hades trotted inside with Persephone riding on his back. She expected to see Malcolm right behind the two familiars, but he wasn’t with them.
“Hey Hades, have you seen Malcolm?”
The dog whined and came straight to Calli, nudging her hand to get a pet in the way any anxious animal tries to get reassurance. As she did, flashes of Malcolm shot across her mind, alone, surrounded by darkness.
“Something’s wrong…” Calli whispered, staring into the distance.
“You’d better call Mrs. Greenlee,” Sage suggested. “Hopefully he’s still there.”
Calli grabbed the phone she rarely used from behind the counter and dialed the Moonstone Inn. Persephone leaped from Hades’s back to the counter and rubbed against Calli’s arm, purring reassuringly. Calli stroked the kitten’s long black fur while the phone kept on ringing.
Mrs. Greenlee finally answered. “Hello?”
“Mrs. Greenlee, it’s Calli. Is Malcolm still there?”
“What? No, dear, he left before we could finish talking. He seemed troubled.”
“Troubled?”
Sage leaned closer to Calli to hear.
“Yes, you’d better find him, Calli. I’m worried about him. He seems like such a nice young man.”
“I’ll find him.” She blew out a breath as a tightness gathered in her chest. Where could he have gone?
“You’d better see Finnigan,” said Sage. “He can help you find him.”
“I will, but… could you watch the store until Byron gets here?”
“I’m already here, love,” a deep British voice said from behind them.
Calli jumped, a palm pressed to her chest as she turned to see her night manager, Byron Nightshade, standing at the entrance to the office.
He wore dark slacks and a cream colored sweater, his long dark hair was styled away from his face in a way that made him look like some sort of model.
He was the epitome of English aristocracy, which was less surprising when you knew he had been an earl in his human life.
The vampire studied her and Sage, his dark eyes missing nothing.
“What’s the matter?”
“The wards are down, and I need to find Malcolm.”
The vampire’s dark brown eyes held a hint of red hunger, but she also saw the concern in his usually implacable face. “I thought I sensed something wrong in the air.”
“I need you to handle the store until closing. We’ve got more non-magics than usual arriving early, and I think it’s going to get busier.”
“I noticed. They smelled delicious.” The vampire grinned, showing a hint of fangs. He was teasing, of course, which eased the tightness in Calli’s chest, if only a little bit.
“I thought you ate before you came to work,” Sage said dryly.
“Yes, little weather witch,” The handsome vampire let out a dramatic sigh that could only have come from an English noble. “Shouldn’t you be worried about that storm brewing outside? I sense it’s a rather large one.”
“I’ll handle it,” Sage said, but Calli heard a note of worry in Sage’s voice.
“Sage, is something—?”
“Don’t worry about it, Calli. I’ll be fine,” Sage assured her.
Calli had no choice but to trust her. She looked down at Malcolm’s familiar. “Hades, take Persephone home and wait for me to come back with Malcolm, okay?”
The giant schnauzer made a soft huffing sound in agreement, and the kitten hopped onto his back. They left the store at the same time as Calli, heading down the street that would lead them home.
Calli ran to the town hall, where she nearly ran into Finnigan, who had just stepped outside.
“Ms. Calli,” he greeted with that old world yeti charm. He looked completely human now, tall and handsome, with only a faint shimmer of yeti magic letting her know what he really was.
“I was just coming to see you, Finnigan. I need your help. Malcolm is missing, and I need to find him.”
Finnigan’s pale blond hair fell into his eyes as he frowned. “Of course.”
As they left, a cold wind came whipping down Main Street. The air rippled through the signs hanging over the street and rattled doors like an inpatient guest. Scarecrows began to twist and spin as the wind brushed past them. High above, clouds churned like fog in an irate witch’s cauldron.
A storm was coming.
Calli swallowed her unease and focused on Finnigan who now looked like a gorgeous blonde giant of a man who towered over her like Malcolm did at six foot four.
Yetis possessed not only a sense of smell as sharp as any werewolf, but could also see in the infrared spectrum as well as see at much farther distances than humans.
It was an ability that came from living in the coldest of climates.
Finnigan’s eyes fixed on the distant woods, far beyond her sight. “To the east…” Finnigan murmured. “There’s someone in the woods, at the base of the Black Cliffs. It must be him.”
“The Black Cliffs?” Calli had only been to that place a few times. It was a spot where the witches of old had gathered to perform their ancient spells. The cliffs were made of black tourmaline, a semi-precious stone known for its protective properties. “Why would he go there?”
“He should not linger there. During storms, people have been known to vanish.” The yeti looked at her. “Go now, Calli. Go!”
Calli nodded and ran across the street to Broomsticks & More, which was right next door to the candy shop. She grabbed the first broom within reach and looked at the young sales witch.
“I’ll bring it right back!” she called over her shoulder as she sprinted through the store and out the back door.
Confident that no non-magical people could see her, she straddled the broom which instantly came to life, carrying her towards Whimsy Woods.
To avoid being spotted, she wove through the trees, shrubs, and thistles.
It started to rain as she reached the far end of the woods, just ahead of the cliffs.
Silvery spells—old spells—swirled in eddies and currents of air. Calli swerved to avoid them. They were faint echoes of ancient and powerful spells that still lingered, and whose purpose had long been forgotten.
Rain lashed at Calli’s face as she looked to the north.
There. The cliffs.
The dark slopes glistened with the rain that ran down the ebony surfaces. She gasped as she spotted a figure near the topmost cliffs walking toward the edge.
It was Malcolm. His wet flannel shirt clung to his body.
Heat rose off his body in silvery clouds, and green flashes of magic sparked from the tips of his fingers.
He wasn’t looking at her. His shoulders heaved as though he’d run too far, too fast. Seeing him now ignited some cosmic pull inside her, dragging her forward like a magnet.
Yet as she flew closer, a note of warning sang in her blood.
Beware hedge witch… Beware…
Calli came to a stop a dozen feet away from the edge of the cliff. She hopped off the broom, which floated down to the ground at her feet.