Chapter Twenty-One #2
Bianca finally brought the food to the table, and they all sat down to eat.
As usual, Bianca’s cooking was delicious, but a bit spicy for Blair’s palate.
Luke didn’t seem to have a problem with the heat level, though.
He ate the chicken curry, daal, palak paneer and roti with his hands like a pro.
Which Blair supposed made sense. He lived in the city.
He probably ate more Indian food than Blair did, and she was Indian.
‘So, Blair tells me you mostly work on skyscrapers?’ Bianca asked Luke.
‘Yeah. I was part of a team that designed a condo complex that will be the tallest in the country.’
Belinda frowned, looking at Luke. Was she detecting something in his future? ‘Are you . . . are you intending to always work on tall buildings?’
Luke chuckled awkwardly, ripping off a piece of roti to scoop some palak paneer. ‘I don’t know. I’ve been thinking of moving to more single-family projects.’ He put his roti-wrapped bite in his mouth. ‘This is amazing,’ he said after chewing. ‘I don’t normally even like spinach.’
Bianca beamed, then spooned more palak paneer onto Luke’s plate. He immediately took another bite.
‘Blair, I remember you saying that Luke was into tall buildings when you were young,’ Bianca said. ‘Was he also into house design then?’
Bianca was hinting that it was time to try and read Luke’s past. He was eating one bite after another, not speaking, so Blair took the opportunity to focus her mind on him.
After peeking into her customers’ minds to see their tastes for years, Blair could do it without that much effort.
But she doubted learning Luke’s favourite food would help them much in their objective tonight.
She needed to see if there was anything about witches or magic in his memories.
But the only thing that Blair could find in Luke’s memory was an intense hatred for spinach.
She even saw a memory – his mother forcing him to eat it as a child, convinced it would make him strong.
Blair poked around a bit to find anything else, but all she found was his dislike of spinach and a handful of memories of eating the leafy green.
The revulsion was so strong. It was almost tangible.
And he was now happily eating his second helping of palak paneer – a curry made with spinach and cheese.
‘Bianca, what did you do?’ Blair asked slowly. His revulsion was so strong, and he was practically shovelling food in his mouth at this point. There was magic in the curry – Blair didn’t know what kind.
Bianca gave Blair an innocent smile. ‘I didn’t do anything.’ She spooned more curry onto Luke’s plate. ‘More spinach, Luke?’
Something strange was happening. Luke’s emotions, his tastes, radiated out of him.
Blair didn’t have to focus to read his past and learn what he liked.
Or rather, what he disliked. Because all she saw was spinach.
She could almost touch his visceral dislike of the vegetable.
She could taste it through his taste buds.
Blair’s ability to see into someone’s mind wasn’t normally anywhere near this strong.
She looked at Belinda, whose eyes were wide. Was she seeing Luke’s future as clearly as Blair was seeing his past? And did Belinda see anything other than spinach?
‘Bianca, what did you do?’ Belinda repeated.
‘What she did was make the most amazing dish I’ve ever had.’ Luke shovelled more food in his mouth.
Blair pushed her plate away. She certainly wasn’t going to eat this enchanted vegetable. ‘Bianca . . . this is wrong,’ Blair said. ‘Make him stop eating.’
‘Just do what we discussed,’ Bianca said, annoyed.
Blair exhaled. Hopefully Belinda was more successful at looking into his future.
Because all Blair saw in Luke’s past was hatred of spinach.
It was like the memory part of his brain was playing all his negative emotions in a loop, attempting to overcome whatever magic was making Luke gorge himself of his most disliked food.
But Belinda looked disturbed, too. Blair wished she could ask what she was reading in Luke’s future.
Suddenly, Luke dropped the roti in his hand, and his eyes rolled back in his head. His mouth was open, and his face went as pale as the rice on his plate. Something was very, very wrong.
‘Bianca, what’s in the curry?’ Blair yelled, taking Luke’s hand in hers. Was he choking? An allergic reaction?
‘Nothing! It’s just spinach!’
Kass let out a string of angry meows from the floor.
Blair tried to look into Luke’s mind again, but this time she was pushed out violently.
It was the strangest sensation, like someone had put their palm on her face and pushed.
Belinda yelped. Maybe she’d been pushed out, too?
Luke’s eyes were wide and bright green instead of their normal green-tinged brown.
‘Stay away,’ Luke said, his voice flat.
‘Bianca, what’s going on?’ Blair asked. ‘What’s happening to him? He’s cold as ice!’
‘I have no idea!’ Bianca said. ‘This isn’t how it’s supposed to work. Unless . . .’ Her voice trailed.
‘Unless what!’ Belinda yelled.
‘Unless the paneer, the cheese was bad? I don’t know! Aarushi gave it to me. But I think it was in her fridge for a while. She’s—’
‘Leave,’ Luke said. But it wasn’t Luke. Blair looked at him. It was Luke’s face, but not Luke next to her.
‘He’s possessed by someone,’ Belinda said, eyes wide.
Blair had never seen a body possession. But it was clear that’s what was happening. Another being was inside Luke.
‘They told me this was incredibly rare,’ Bianca whispered.
‘What? Who told you?’ Blair was so angry with her sister, but even more concerned about Luke. His hand was changing temperature, and fast. Going from icy cold to burning hot.
‘The witches who sent me this strain of spinach,’ Bianca said. ‘It’s been bred to make someone more susceptible to mind magic. I added a bit of addictive kale to the curry, too. To make sure he’d eat enough to make the spinach work. Possession is apparently a rare side effect, but—’
‘Leave this place,’ Luke, or whoever had taken over Luke’s body, said.
‘What place?’ Belinda asked. Kass jumped on the table then, looking intently at Luke. He had more experience with this kind of magic than the sisters did.
‘Are you telling us to leave this house?’ Belinda asked Luke.
‘Leave this town. It will not allow you to live. It has murdered those like you and me.’
‘Who are you?’ Blair asked.
‘I am Hecate. I will destroy this place for what it has done to my love, my kin, to my progeny! It’s not safe for you here. Leave, witches! This place will never accept you.’
‘We’re not going anywhere,’ Blair said. ‘This is our home.’
‘It was our home! They burned us like vermin! My love! My baby! I must destroy this place.’
‘You can’t destroy Moonbeam Hollow,’ Blair said. ‘We will stop you.’
‘You cannot,’ Luke said.
‘We will,’ Belinda added. ‘It has been prophesized.’
‘Get out of this man,’ Bianca said. ‘Now.’
‘Only we can,’ Luke said, voice much quieter. At that, Luke’s head fell face-first into the mound of spinach on his plate.
Blair was still holding Luke’s hand, which was now burning hot. She gently turned his head so his nose wasn’t in the food. Looking into his mind, only Luke was there. She found his pulse on his neck. ‘He passed out, but he’s breathing,’ Blair said. ‘He’s burning up, but Hecate has left him.’
Kass let out a series of loud, scolding and judgmental meows that honestly weren’t really helping the situation.
‘Shut up, cat,’ Bianca said. ‘We don’t need your sarcasm now. We need to get Luke’s fever down.’