17. Bad Odds, Better Company #2
Jerusha rose again. “Collaborating with a magician is absolutely out of the question. I have concluded that we are all overreacting. After all, alchemists have tried to create gold for thousands of years and never cracked it. Perhaps patience is the best course. CastR will fail, and this too shall pass. I prefer caution to disaster.”
That’s when Violet struck.
The teenager had been hunched over her phone for the entire meeting, face lit by the glow, expression set to terminal boredom. Everyone assumed she was occupied with some teenage nonsense not worth paying attention to. This turned out to be a mistake.
Violet abruptly stood, holding her phone high over her head.
The screen blazed, flooding the hall with cold white light.
Suddenly, the sound in the room muffled, as if everyone was trapped beneath a layer of thick, rippling water.
A shockwave of power rolled across the room, like a bright invisible thunderclap.
She had launched a spell from her phone.
The effect was immediate and utterly absurd. One moment, Elias was standing in a town hall full of worried witches. Next, he was surrounded by costumed mascots.
Conrad’s cardigan puffed, shimmered and suddenly he was dressed as an enormous bumblebee, complete with fuzzy antennae.
Kelly Melrose morphed into a lion with an impeccable mane.
Jerusha had transformed into a gigantic slice of pizza.
Priti, roaring, was a dinosaur. A T. rex, if Elias wasn’t mistaken.
Scarlett had become a hot dog in a bun, while Delilah was some kind of superhero with a cape.
Luna had become a panda. “Oh my God,” came her muffled voice from inside the fur.
Elias looked down and found himself wearing the padded body of a baseball player from a defunct league.
For three seconds, the whole situation was almost funny. Ridiculous, absurd, the kind of teenage prank that—
Then the feeling hit.
It came from nowhere, a pulse of primal dread. Pure animal terror that skidded across Elias’s mind like ice breaking off a glacier. The panda was going to kill him.
He knew it wasn’t true, and yet no matter how much his conscious brain screamed Luna, it’s just Luna, the rest of his being screeched THREAT! She was about to strike, and he needed to strike first.
Across the hall, the pizza lunged at the bumblebee, and the dinosaur squared off against the hot dog. The superhero and the lion circled each other, snarling.
Everyone in the room was seconds away from violence.
Elias’s rational mind cried out that this was wrong, that he didn’t want to hurt Luna, that none of this made sense. But the instinct was overwhelming, drowning out reason. The panda moved, and every nerve screamed ATTACK.
Then, as suddenly as it all began, everything stopped.
The costumes vanished. The terror drained away, leaving only a queasy silence and a lot of people staring at each other with raised hands and half-formed spells. Elias’s arm was still lifted toward Luna in what might have become—what? A punch? A grab? He didn’t know.
Luna’s face was pale, her eyes wide. “I was going to—” she whispered. “You were right there, and I was going to—”
“I know.” His voice came out rough. “Me too.”
Around them, others had similar realizations. Everyone was frozen, staring at each other with dawning horror. Kelly’s arm was lifted, frozen mid-hex toward her own daughter. Aphra was trembling, tears tracking down her face as she stared at Priti. The silence stretched, terrible and complete.
Then Kelly spoke, her voice shaking. “Does everyone understand now? What just happened—that wasn’t a cute party trick. That was attempted mass murder, prevented only by luck and the spell’s short duration.”
“I’m sorry,” Violet said, very small. “You were all going on and on about this stupid CastR thing. So I hacked myself an invite to the beta, just to see what it was all about. I didn’t know it would . . . I mean, I just . . . I wanted to see if it worked.”
“You did us all a favor, Violet.” Delilah’s voice was gentle. “You couldn’t have known what that spell would do, and that’s the whole problem. Soon, untold numbers of people will download that app and cast spells they don’t understand.”
Elias watched realization spread through the crowd. If a bored teenager could turn a town meeting into a near massacre, what would happen if millions of people had access to the same power?
“We’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t,” someone said.
“No.” Kelly straightened her shoulders, and Elias saw the steel in her that must have kept Oak Haven safe for decades. “We have an option. Mr. Shaw’s plan. We let Ashton Vex build his empire—assist him, even. And then we burn him to the ground.”
“It’s risky—” Priti started.
“Everything’s risky now,” Scarlett interrupted. “But I for one am not waiting around to see how bad it gets.”
“Mr. Shaw’s plan,” Kelly continued, “gives us a chance to control the narrative. To make sure CastR fails publicly and completely, in a way that discredits the entire concept.”
Elias felt Luna’s hand find his. He squeezed, and she squeezed back.
Conrad cleared his throat. “All in favor of Mr. Shaw’s proposal?”
The vote wasn’t unanimous, but it was clear. Hands rose around the room—some eager, some reluctant, all shaken by what they’d just experienced.
“Motion carried,” Conrad said. “I propose we all go get some rest. Tomorrow, let’s discuss how we can best assist Mr. Shaw over there.”
The hall exhaled as one. Witches hugged, apologized, muttered “what was I thinking?”. The transcription machine was still at it, the paper now reading I QUIT I QUIT I QUIT in neat mechanical despair.
Louise Demain glided across the room, moving through the crowd like smoke. Everyone unconsciously stepped aside to let her pass. She stopped directly in front of Elias.
“Mr. Shaw,” she purred. “If you’re truly planning to bait the powerful, I may know a benefactor with resources to spare. She adores a good downfall.” Louise’s eyes glinted with her usual blend of amusement and malice. “Shall I make an introduction?”
Elias and Luna exchanged a meaningful look. His instincts hollered at him to refuse.
“Sure.” He shrugged instead. “What could possibly go wrong?”
“In my experience?” Luna knew that asking what could go wrong when Louise was involved was a bit like asking how many grains of sand were on a beach. “Everything.”
“I’ll be in touch.” Louise drifted away, leaving behind the faint scent of something floral but faintly wrong, like roses in a graveyard.
Luna tugged Elias toward the door. “Come on. Let’s get some air.”
Outside, it was a mercifully ordinary summer night. All the shops were closed for the night, lamplight flickering. From here, Oak Haven looked peaceful, like a postcard. Proof, he thought, that appearances are lazy liars.
“So,” Luna said. “We’re really doing this.”
“Looks like it.”
“You think it’ll work?”
The memory of the panda costume flickered through his mind, the way his body had tensed to attack her. He still felt slightly sick.
“Honestly? I dunno. My main worry is the timeline. That kid proved that CastR already works, so Vex won’t wait long before he starts selling it. Is there time to rope in other investors? Will he even want any?”
“Aw now,” she chuckled. “Guys like Vex always want more investors. Scarlett can maybe help, she used to work in Silicon Valley, back when she was pretending she wasn’t a witch.
“She what, now?!”
“Long story, don’t ask.”
They stood there in the darkness, the town murmuring behind them. Elias was suddenly acutely aware of how close she was, the way the moonlight caught in her hair, the warmth of her hand still in his.
“So,” she said softly. “Partners?”
“Partners.”
“Elias—”
He kissed her. Or maybe she kissed him.
Later, neither would be sure who moved first, just that they were standing with the weight of the world on their shoulders when suddenly her hands were in his hair and his arms were around her waist, and nothing else mattered except the softness of her lips and the way she made this small, surprised sound against his mouth.
It was better than he’d remembered. Better than the forced kiss in New York, better than any kiss had a right to be.
They broke apart when breathing became non-optional, but stayed close, foreheads touching.
“That was—” Luna started.
“LUNA!”
They sprang apart like guilty teenagers as Scarlett’s voice cut through the night. Elias turned to see both Melrose sisters emerging from the town hall—Scarlett in the lead, Delilah right behind.
“There you are,” Scarlett said, looking between them with obvious interest. “We’ve been looking everywhere—” She stopped, her grin turning absolutely wicked. “Oh my gods, were you two—”
“No,” Luna said too quickly.
“We were just—” Elias tried.
“Discussing strategy,” she finished.
“With your faces?” Scarlett was delighted.
“Go away.”
“C’mon,” Delilah said, “Mama wants us back at the inn.”
Her sisters herded Luna back toward home like a pair of smug sheepdogs. Elias followed behind, taking a moment to replay the hard turn that meeting had taken. And the kiss, too. He replayed that more than he probably should have.
Halfway down the street, Luna turned back to look at him. Not shy, not bold, just . . . weighing something.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing.” And then: “Everything.”
He shrugged. “Whatever you say, doll.”
The night air smelled like summer, with a hint of ozone around the edges. Whatever Violet’s spell had shaken loose wasn’t done settling. Oak Haven was bracing for something. And Elias wasn’t going to sit this one out.