In Any Weather
Starla begins to pace.
“Picture this. I’m in the office with my father.
I’ve convinced him that I do want to marry one of his silly friends.
He’s undoubtedly suspicious, but he’s proud.
He’s calming down. His weekend is in shambles after the fire, but his office appears undisturbed; his daughter is falling in line.
He’ll send people he pays to look into things while he salvages what he can. ”
“And he decides it’s a good moment to blurt out that your family cursed mine?”
Starla laughs—but then coughs as she chokes down tears. She sniffles, wiping a hand across her face, but manages to keep going.
“I got greedy. I felt like if I was giving in to a marriage, even a fake one, I wanted as much information as possible in exchange. I told him that my only reservation in getting married was you. Wanting to make sure that you stayed as well, and asking him if he was serious in finding you a match.”
My breath catches.
“And?”
“He must still have been overwhelmed by everything happening this evening. Suspicious of my motives for marriage, the fire, and all that, but less guarded with other things. He blurted out that even if you didn’t end up matched to someone like Arloc—which he sees as a likely proposal—I’d still be able to force your hand.
Someone like my father, it doesn’t occur to him that forced friendship is not real. ”
“Force me? How?”
Starla stops pacing, grabbing me by the shoulders.
“That’s how the truth ended up coming out about our families.
He told me, ‘Starla, that naiad is as good as yours, if you really think it’s that important to keep her.
She has to do what you say.’ Now, naturally I asked what he meant.
And he responds with ‘You can control her, if you want, because our family is the only way she can keep that song of hers. She can’t break the curse to use it without you, and I’m betting you can demand just about anything you want in return. ’”
She drops her arms. Her eyes are flashing blue, and her hands crackle.
I take a step back, then another, hand to my forehead.
“He knows. I mean, clearly he knows. He would have had to be the one to tell you. But—”
“He was planning to manipulate you with it. It’s not something he just found out from Grammy, or through some digging he had done into us for this event.
He has the whole history. That my great-great-great-grandmother lost her betrothed at sea.
That she went after him only to find him with a siren.
That she cursed the siren’s family using my family’s key, which apparently used to be a trait we were very proud of, before it died out.
There’s a theory that the curse she placed on your ancestor somehow sucked up so much magic there simply wasn’t enough to pass on. ”
“That’s not how magic works!” I blurt, clinging to the one thing I can handle facing.
“Maybe, maybe not. Magic is weird. But either way, the generation's ability to curse decreased until they stopped having children with that key at all. My dad was a welcome addition to the lineage. Lightning wasn’t cursing, but my father was so powerful. Is so powerful. They were just thrilled to have magical prestige back.”
“What about breaking the curse? He said you could do it?”
Starla looks me square in the eyes.
“Not only that. I’m the only one who can.”
“How do you mean?”
“My three-times great-granny worded her curse so that when your family produced another siren, only a witch from that same generation in my family would be able to release that siren from the curse. We have to go together to where the curse was placed. Then, there needs to be some sort of ritual. That was the only bit my father didn’t have all the details on, but the location should hold the key to that bit.
He knew exactly where to go. So, I do have coordinates. Well, kind of.”
My brows scrunch.
“Kind of? What does that mean?”
“They’re in his office. He pulled out what he told me was a map, but it was rolled up at the time so I couldn’t see where we need to go.”
“Why tell you any of this? Did he honestly think you’d threaten your best friend?”
“He did it to convince me to stay, and to pressure me into becoming someone like him. He suggested I dangle the cure over you. Tell you that I would go with you after I was settled into my married life, but only if you stayed.”
“He can’t honestly think you’d do that.”
“My father thinks everyone is capable of stooping to that level. It’s how he manages to tolerate himself; he convinces himself that he’s only doing what everyone else would. At least that’s my theory.”
A smile tugs at her lips, even as tears continue to fall.
“Starla, you look happy. Why do you look happy? This is awful!”
“All we need is the map from his office, and we can leave.”
“He told you everything else—why not give you the coordinates? This could be a trap. He might have told you all of this just to see what you’d do. It could be a test.”
She huffs.
“That’s the other thing. Remember I said he told me because he thinks everyone acts that way? Well, he’s not above such actions himself. He said I could have them after my nuptials have taken place. Nuptials that will come complete with a magically binding marriage certificate.”
I gasp.
“You can’t do that! He wins either way. You could use the curse against me, and he’d prove to himself that you are the heir he wants. Or you could sympathize with me, but you’d still go through with the marriage to help me.”
The night air is freezing, but the flames in my throat have me plenty hot.
Starla dips her chin.
“Incentivizing me to follow through on my commitment to my beloved Piers. Who, by the way, has yet to hear about our engagement. I guess Councilman Taylor will inform the lucky groom.”
“Starla. We need an exit plan.”
“Well, that’s obvious! I have no intention of actually marrying one of these sods,” Starla insists.
“Of course not! That’s what I’m saying. If he is going to press for the wedding soon after the weekend ends, then we need to get the map and be ready to leave the moment you’ve satisfied your end of the deal.”
“I guarantee the councilman is going to be watching me like a hawk. If he wasn’t busy trying to figure out the mysterious source of the fire, he’d already have someone tailing me. He’ll get around to it soon enough.”
“Never. And Danger. And Pickles. But I can tell you more about that later,”
“Your dog and—”
“Yes.”
Starla kicks some gravel from the garden path.
“I missed the valkyrie wolf? This night gets worse and worse!”
“By tomorrow night, we’ll be on our way, and you can leave this all behind you,” I say.
I know it’s not that simple, but it’s something to look forward to.
Starla grins as she responds.
“My father’s not going to be happy when he doesn’t get his way.”
“True, but he can’t really stop you once you’re off the grounds. If you satisfy your part of the deal you made, there’s no potential repercussions from the witch council, right?”
She frowns.
“I’d imagine most members here are in his pocket, but technically I could get other members from anywhere involved …
it’d be a hot mess, but we could do it. Our biggest issue is short-term.
Even if we get the information we need for your curse, we still have to get from here to there.
He’ll undoubtedly come after us. I can’t imagine he’ll give up on me so easily.
There’s almost no way we’d get back to Zyra’s house undetected. ”
Unease coils in my stomach, and I envision Lottie’s smiling face freezing in fear. She’s been through enough. We can’t bring danger to her doorstep.
“We’ll find another way. I’ll text the guys. Surely one of them can manage to steal the information from your father’s office, if we’re both going to be under greater scrutiny. We just need to keep our heads down until we leave tomorrow. Then we’ll have the guys meet us wherever we need to go.”
Starla chuckles.
“What?” I ask.
“Just thinking about how you’re getting more flexible. This kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants planning would typically send you into a tailspin.”
“I’m sure I’ll have a crash-out later. But that’s another problem for future me.”
“Future us. Friends support each other,” she says.
It wouldn’t be the first time I managed to get through a stressful scenario only to have an anxiety attack rear its ugly head afterward. But anticipating it won’t prevent it, and we need to get this done.
Starla takes a few deep breaths.
“Running a bit low, here. We need to wrap this up soon. The councilman will be busy tomorrow, but he’s bound to have someone watching his office door, along with the gardens. Not to mention his wards. How will the guys get in?”
I run a hand over my dress.
“Pocket portal. Yes. Pocket portal! Starla, I have a pocket portal!”
“What in the world is a pocket portal?”
Her eyes are flickering like dying embers.
“Later. But I can get it to the guys, and they can get in the office without going through the door. That’s all you need to know.
Then, when we have the coordinates, we just need an exit plan.
All we do know is that it’ll be an island or something out in the sea.
I may not have a location, but I know my family and Inktus were somewhere in the North Sea. ”
Councilman Taylor’s office is warded, but I have to believe a portal created by a god can overpower the spell of an average supernatural.
“We’ll need a boat and someone to sail it,” Starla says. “We could also use someone adept at making last-minute travel plans.”
“Cannon!” I shout. Then slap a hand over my mouth.
Starla grimaces.
“Your brother has gallivanted all over this darned globe, and even more, now that he and Malcolm are hosting those Spelled By You gatherings.”
I whip out my phone.
“Great tides, please let him pick up,” I say as the phone hits the fourth ring and nothing happens. His voicemail message starts, and I move to click off the call, disappointed.
Then, I see his name flash on the screen. He’s calling me back.
“Hi, Leen! Sorry, I was in the middle of a salsa and had to step away.”
“Like chips and dip?”
“Dancing,” he clarifies. “An activity for this weekend’s speed-dating event. We’re having a lot of success! We’ve even been invited to a few weddings of people who met on the app.”
“Listen, Cannon. That’s wonderful. I’m proud of you, and happy for you, really I am. But we have a time-sensitive issue.”
I can feel him grow more serious on the other end, his voice going from light and bouncy to flat and steely.
“What do you need?”
As fast as I can, I give him the bullet points of the situation, letting him know that I can explain more later, but we’re working with a fast-dwindling spell.
“I’m going to ask Malcolm. He’s been all over the oceans, and ocean travel is what you need. I’ll go grab him and call you back when I have an answer.”
“I can’t hold this much longer, Leena,” Starla warns.
“Have Malcolm text me,” I tell him.
“Right.”
As the phone hangs up, my ears pop. Starla rubs at one of hers.
“That’ll be the end of that. We’d better get back to our room.
It’s getting late. I’d hate to be poorly rested at breakfast tomorrow.
I want to look nice for my betrothed. I do hope he’s excited.
I mean, it’s not as if he’s proposed. But my father will settle all that for me.
” She’s back to talking as if we’ll be staying, so I know she’s anticipating that we may be monitored.
We make our way back into the manor.
Starla’s father could catch you both. He could force her to stay.
It doesn’t escape notice from either of us that there are now men posted outside the doors when we reach our rooms.
“Where were you?” Dennis practically growls at us.
“Your father is worried sick,” Chaz adds.
“I was filling Carolina in on some very happy news. I’m not sure whether my father has trusted you with the details, but I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.”
Dennis scowls at the insinuation that he’s not important enough to know what’s going on, letting us pass.
Once inside, we change into our pajamas and I text Jackal to let him know our plan, such as it is.
I get a response within minutes that all the men are in agreement with whatever solution Malcolm and Cannon can come up with to get us out of here, and to approach Exos tomorrow with the portal.
Makes sense. He’s the one who’s had the least direct interaction with the other guests. No one will be looking for him or missing him. I cannot help thinking he volunteered to have a way to directly help Starla.
Poor Piers. He doesn’t know his almost-betrothed is already spoken for.