Chapter 29
CALLIE
For the second time in only a couple months, I felt the distinctive magic of a curse channel through me.
Curse magic was different from regular spells. It felt like being the floodgate at the base of a dam, with an entire massive lake straining against me. The force of it was ancient and vast, and so much larger than myself. I was just the channel it passed through.
The last time this happened, I’d had no control at all. This time I felt… not control exactly, but influence. Some ability to shape the magic as it moved through me.
The power cascaded out of my hands, swirling tight around the screaming Gwen. What a small, contemptible person. She decides when it’s over? Let’s see how that would turn out for her.
I realized I’d been screaming too, my voice so deepened by magic it was unrecognizable.
Gwen began to shrink under the force of my onslaught.
At first I thought she was just falling to her knees… but no, she was actually shrinking! She was shriveling away and getting smaller.
Oh gods! Was she dying? I wanted to curse her, not kill her.
I tried to throttle the magic, pull it back, but nothing happened. It continued to surge through me with the same ferocity as before. If anything, it was gaining in force.
I began to panic. I had lost control.
Again.
And once again, there was no telling what would happen.
I’d been trying to convince myself that my mom and Brie were right, that I had skill and insight and potential beyond what I thought.
But look at how quickly the foolishness of that was exposed.
They had just been trying to build me up, but it wasn’t real.
The minute I accessed true magical force again, my amateur status was undeniable.
I was instantly drowning in it, utterly outmatched.
I felt that panic and self-doubt… for a second.
But then I stopped. And remembered all I had learned about myself recently. About my abilities, and my talent, and my tendency to fall into unwarranted self-doubt.
I could do this. All I had to do was believe that I could.
I pushed away the fear and the doubts and the sense of inadequacy. They were lies, and I didn’t need to listen to them any longer.
I already had everything I needed.
Marshalling all my focus and all my confidence, I imposed my will on the magic. Enough. Time for this to stop.
And the power cascading through me obeyed. It tied itself off smoothly, the floodgate closing against the force pressing against it.
The blinding white light I had been generating faded, revealing a harried Brie and Maddox at my side.
“Callie, are you okay?” Maddox looked terrified.
“What happened?” Brie asked anxiously.
We all turned to where Gwen had been standing a moment ago.
She was gone.
But where she had been, a glittering pink snow globe sat on the ground.
“What the fuck,” Maddox said, hushed. “Did you… did you turn her into a snow globe?”
I approached it and picked it up. The globe itself was opaque, blocked by iridescent magic swirling along the surface of the glass. I couldn’t see what, if anything, was inside.
“I think she’s inside it?” I offered tentatively. “I’m honestly not sure what happened.”
“Well, I’m just glad to get a break from her shrieking.” Brie glared at Maddox, who shrank under her hateful look. “You sure know how to pick them, don’t you?”
I let out a long breath. “Brie, I think I need you to cast another tracking spell to explain my own curse to me. Again.”
“I could, but now that we’re in Nightshade Cove and it’s during business hours, there’s a better option.”
* * *
Kyra’s shop becomes the latest corner of Nightshade Cove to awe me with its glow-up.
Back in the day, the facade on Kyra’s business had been a particularly seedy pawn shop. You used to have to slip through the most depressing front-facing room to get to her hidden space in the back, where she conducted repairs of misbehaving or damaged magical objects.
As Brie, Maddox, and I approached Kyra’s place today, I saw no remaining trace of the pawn shop false front.
Instead, spotless floor-to-ceiling windows offered a view of a gleaming space that felt positively high tech.
Witches in purple polo shirts with spellbook tablets greeted an array of human and witch customers.
There was a section for browsing over-the-counter charms and other tiny magical accessories, and many employees involved in various troubleshooting tasks for patrons: rebooting a crystal ball, figuring out what was wrong with a malfunctioning talisman.
Maddox looked even more dumbstruck than usual. “Magical tech support?”
“More or less,” Brie tossed off, openly annoyed. As she was every time he spoke.
As we entered, Kyra was all the way in the back, but we spotted each other immediately.
In my teen years, she had been something of a surrogate “cool young aunt” to Brie and myself.
She still had her hair pinned up in the exact same messy bun she had back then.
Handing her current customer off to an employee, she made a beeline to me and wrapped me in a warm hug.
We did a few minutes of reminiscing (Gwen, whatever was going on with her, could wait), during which I got to express for the millionth time how much gratitude I felt toward Kyra for the impeccable job she’d done repairing one of Astrea’s most beloved crystal orbs, after Brie and I had accidentally cracked it while playing around as teens.
My mother still had no idea it had ever been broken.
Most of the adult witches in town would have turned me in to Astrea right away, but Kyra had promised with a wink that it would be our secret, and it had been.
At last, it became time to move past the fun catching-up chat and get to the purpose of our visit.
The minute I pulled the snow globe out of the bag, Kyra reacted to its power. She took it from me immediately. “Whoa, this is some heavy curse magic. Who’s been naughty?”
I gestured to Maddox, who was looking suitably abashed. “My ex-husband’s trashiest mistress. And with the number of mistresses he’s had, that is a competitive title.”
Brie and I took turns unfolding the full story for Kyra as she led us into the back diagnostic and repair space, as silent Maddox trailed behind.
Kyra selected an open workstation and waved her hands in an elaborate symmetrical pattern, which conjured into existence a crackling sphere of purple magical energy, floating above the table. She pushed the snow globe into it, where it gravitated right to the sphere’s center.
“Just let me run some quick diagnostics…” Kyra said as she placed both hands on the surface of the sphere. She tossed her head back as her eyes flooded with matching energy.
After several minutes, she broke contact and turned to face us.
“Yes, your troublesome mistress is inside there. So teeny tiny! She’s not even an inch tall.” She broke into a proud smile. “Callie, this is some seriously impressive magic. The design of this curse is elegant as hell. It has so many layers working together.”
I blushed a little at that. Kyra was not the type to give out false compliments.
“What are the release terms? How does she get out?” Brie asked.
Kyra grinned. “Personal growth. She has to become, at the core of her being, an authentically good person.”
Brie’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm. “Oh, that’s fun!”
I still had questions. “But… what else is in there with her?”
“Nothing really. Just her. And the snow. But she’s all alone, with nothing to do, and no company except her own thoughts. Until such time as she’s reflected and matured enough that she becomes a woman who would never again sleep with a married man.”
“She decides when it’s over!” Brie gasped. “Just like she kept saying. That’s perfect! Callie, you are good at this.”
I appreciated the affirmation, but I was concerned by the implications of this in a way no one else appeared to be. “Couldn’t that take an incredibly long time?”
“It already has!” Kyra gushed. “There’s a time dilation spell active within the globe. She’s experiencing time at a vastly accelerated rate. One minute for us is a year for her.”
We all jumped a little at that. “A year a minute?” Maddox yelped. “But she’s already been in there for… how long has it been?”
“Almost an hour!” Brie answered.
“Oh gods! Is she going to die of old age in a few minutes?” My body tensed with a surge of dread. I didn’t want to kill anyone, not even Gwen.
“Oh, dear, no no no!” Kyra rushed to reassure me. “She’s not aging physically, just mentally and emotionally. Physically, you’ve suspended her. She doesn’t even need food or sleep.” She clapped her hands. “Ingenious!”
I still felt a bit worried. “So you don’t think so much solitary confinement is… an overreaction?”
Brie shook her head. “Callie, you’re too nice for your own good sometimes.”
“I find it quite brilliant, from an ethical standpoint,” Kyra said.
“I don’t think you have to feel guilty at all.
The moment she deserves to be released, the moment she’s genuinely transformed into a safe person to have out in the world, the curse will end, and she’ll be normal-sized and free.
It’s totally in her power to save herself. All she has to do is grow as a person.”
Maddox, Brie, and I all exchanged glances. We looked at the snow globe. There was a long beat of silence.
Brie jumped in. “Seems like this could be a while, right?”
“That would be my guess,” Maddox agreed.
“So, any instructions?” I asked Kyra. “Do we have to make sure the snow globe gets light or stays warm or anything? Or do we just put it in the corner of the living room and wait for her to pop out?”
“Oh, there’s no reason for you to be burdened with this. I have a storage room for these kinds of cursed objects in the back. When, or I guess if she emerges, we’ll get her oriented about what has happened and send her on her way.”
My shoulders relaxed. I was relieved to not have to lug Maddox’s mistress around with me.
As one of Kyra’s employees picked up the snow globe to take it to the storage room, I wondered if I was watching Gwen go to her final fate.
If she never found any decency within her, this could be the end of her run.
Magically suspended, ageless yet hyper-aging, trapped forever with nothing but her own thoughts about what kind of person she was.
We said our goodbyes to Kyra, and then Maddox and I parted from Brie outside the shop.
As we began our walk back to the convention center on a path through the pines, I was frustrated. So much potential time at the job fair lost in handling this infuriating situation.
But on the plus side, I hadn’t accidentally killed Gwen. And I was still feeling a rush from how I had pulled myself together during the curse, after thinking I’d lost control. That gave me an awesome power high that I was still riding.
Maddox had been trailing a few steps behind me, and now quickened his pace so that he was at my side. He cleared his throat. “Callie, I’m so sorry about all of that. I can’t believe I brought someone like that into our lives.”
“I couldn’t believe it either. At first. But I believe it now. I meant it when I said I see how you two fit together. She might be your soulmate.”
“Everything you said was absolutely true. Gwen is awful. Cruel, mean, nasty trash. Nothing about her is special. She was just easy. I’m completely disgusted at myself for ever being drawn to her at all.
” His shoulders slumped. “Seeing her, it really drives home what a piece of shit I was. I wish I could undo it. I’m so ashamed I got in bed with…
well, anyone else, but especially someone like her. ”
I said nothing and didn’t look at him. We walked a few more moments before he continued.
“And especially compared to a woman like you. In every way that Gwen is awful, you are—”
“Enough,” I interrupted. “I’m not interested in hearing your bullshit right now.
I get it. You want out of your curse, and you’ll say whatever you think I need to hear to get me to forgive you.
But let’s stop pretending. We both know you’re just spewing lies to trick me into thinking you’ve changed. ”
He flinched. He was a good actor. That looked like it really hurt him.
“I wonder, now that Gwen is off the table, is there a specific other woman you’re dying to go back to? There must be one, right? Who’s the woman you can’t wait to look up again, if you ever get your curse lifted?”
Maddox’s voice grew husky. “Only you. You’re the only woman I want.”
The outrageousness of that brought me to a halt. Maddox was a few steps past me before he realized and turned around. All was quiet on the path around us. No one else was within view.
Let’s show him what I thought of his pronouncement.
“Maddox, when we get back home, I want you to schedule my next three-way with Duke and Ryder.”
He looked away miserably. “Okay. I’ll text them.”
“Listen to your instructions. I said when we get home. I don’t want you to text them.
You’re going to do it in person. You’re going to go to work, go into their offices, and tell your buddies to their faces that after being with them, your wife finally knows what it feels like to be fucked well, and that she is dying to have them back for the next round. Do you understand?”
“I’m so sorry, Callie,” he whispered hoarsely.
“I don’t care. I admit, you got to me last night. But I am so glad to have run into Gwen and gotten this reminder of exactly what you chose over me. I know you’re hoping that I was going to thaw and forgive you and you could go back to fucking everything that moves—”
“That’s not what I want,” he pressed in.
“Shut up!” I screamed. “You can let any hope of forgiveness die now. I will never forgive you for any of it.”
I strode past him without waiting for a response, putting as much distance between us as possible. I was relieved when he took the hint and fell back, instead of keeping pace and pestering me with further self-serving dishonesty.
I was full of energy, going so fast I almost reached jogging speed. The air was getting warmer, and summer was almost here.
It occurred to me this was the perfect moment to scale up indulging my post-divorce sexual freedoms, even more than I had been.
It was going to be a hot summer. Hopefully, one that would finally break Maddox’s spirit, so I could move into my own future knowing I’d left nothing but an empty husk behind me.