I force myself to stay away, and it’s the most difficult thing I’ve done in a very, very long time, because I know she’s just down the hall. Sometimes I hear her moving around. I smell her freshly used shampoo in the bathroom. I wander into the kitchen and see the dishwasher going and know that it’s Reggie, because my aunt has never washed a dish in her long, long life.
And because I think about her obsessively, I buy Spellcraft: The Magicking cards and try to teach myself how to play, just to have another thing to discuss with her. Not that I should be having discussions with her. If I were wise, I’d return to Boston and my quiet, empty home and remain there. I’d get far away from freckled, stubborn familiars.
But I’m a fool. When I see her sprawled on that couch that night, exhausted and alone, I’m drawn to her. I sit next to her. I touch her legs. She smiles at me and teases me as if I’m not Ben Magnus, one of the Magnus warlocks, a family with a terrible past and a worse reputation. As if I’m not a five-hundred-year-old spellcaster who grew sour on life decades ago. She smiles at me and . . . I smile back.
I’m lost after that. I bring out my cards, and we have coffee and Reggie shows me the basics of the card game. It’s more complicated than I expected, with one card changing the rules of another, and it’s clear Reggie’s mind is sharp. She can see combinations the moment a card is laid down, knows how to counter my spells and what to cast of her own that would stop me in my tracks. She wins every round with ease, and I don’t mind in the slightest. I just like seeing her mind work.
I contemplate stealing Reggie away from Aunt Dru. Just sliding the magical cuff that brands her as Dru’s personal familiar off her wrist and tossing it to the ground. Replacing it with my own. But Reggie’s met other familiars at this point. If she became mine, others would suspect I’d stolen her from my aunt . . . and they would be right. I would be even more of a pariah than I already am. And while I don’t care, Reggie would. And Aunt Dru would be hurt. She’s the one that taught me magic. She’s the one that picked me up off the ground when my parents died. She’s been there for me, and we’re the only family each other has left.
She needs Reggie’s strength, because she’s getting older and more forgetful. So no. I can’t have Reggie.
But nothing says I can’t play cards with her.
20
REGGIE
Two Months Later
I hum a song as I scrape wax off the countertops in the kitchen with a putty knife. I should be thinking about ways to get Dru to use dripless candles, or perhaps putting paper down over the counter before we cast another spell involving thirty candles, but instead, I’m thinking about Spellcraft: The Magicking.
More specifically, I’m thinking about a deck I can create to beat Ben.
He’s taken to the card game as quickly as I expected and enjoys it as much as I do. Every day, he seems to have crafted a brand-new deck with a new strategy to it and offers to test it against mine. We play cards most nights, when I’m not passed out from another one of Dru’s spells. Ben’s got an amazingly sharp mind—not surprising given his age and profession—and it’s become a real challenge to beat him. So I turn over my cards in my head, trying to think up combinations that will surprise him and put a smile on his face when he realizes he’s losing.
I do love making him smile, I think with a silly grin of my own. Maybe a flying-walls deck to counter all those vampire bats he’s been throwing at me—
“Oh, there you are,” Dru says from directly behind me.
I yelp, jumping in surprise. “Oh good god! You scared the shit out of me!” I toss the putty knife down and clutch the counter, my heart racing. For all that she wears flowing, ridiculous dresses and loves jewelry (the more the merrier), Aunt Dru can move with the stealth of a ninja. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“I said your name twice,” Dru tells me, blinking innocently. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“Did you? Oh. I was just lost in thought, I guess.” About Ben’s smile, the one that creases his entire face and makes my heart pound. Stupid, stupid crush on a five-hundred-year-old warlock. I’m such an idiot. I turn around and face my boss. “What’s up?”
“It’s Lisa,” Dru says. “I just wanted to give you head.”
I pause, not entirely sure I heard her correctly. “I’m . . . sorry?”
“Head,” she says again. “Give you notice.”
“A heads-up?” I correct.
“Whatever.” She shrugs. “Same thing.”
Not the same thing at all. “Did she have the baby?”
“No, she’s been cursed.” Dru smiles brightly. “Okay, I’m going to bingo with Julia! See you!”
“Wait, what?” The witch is already wandering back out of the room, though. I trail after her, unwilling to let her walk away without explaining more. “What do you mean, Lisa’s been cursed?”
Dru picks up her sequined and glitter-covered bag that holds her bingo bottles. “I’m not entirely sure what part of that wasn’t clear, darling. Lisa called me. She said she’s been cursed. She can’t open a single door without getting intense pain. I wasn’t sure if it was just one of those pregnant-lady things, so I did a quick divination and sure enough, she’s been cursed. Now, I really must go. I’m always luckiest with the early-bird sets, and Julia wants to split nachos with me.” She smiles at me. “You’re on your own for food, by the way. See if dear Caliban can take you somewhere if you need anything.”
I shake my head, still focused on the whole “cursed” thing. “When did you do a divination? I didn’t feel anything.”
“You were probably asleep. Did you sleep for longer than normal?”
I might have? I shrug. “She really is cursed, then? Who would curse a poor pregnant woman?”
Dru sighs. “Probably the same person that’s been cursing all of my familiars.” Outside, a car honks. “That’d be Julia. I really have to go, darling! We’ll talk more later.”
“You’re just . . . leaving?” I gape after her. After she dropped that on me? “What do you mean your other familiars have been cursed?”
“If you’re worried, stay close to Ben. Bye! Kisses!” Dru blows kisses over her shoulder, hurrying out the door.
“Dru,” I call out, following her toward the porch, but I swear that woman can motor when she doesn’t want to talk about something. She races across the front lawn, practically jumps into the car idling at the curb, and then gives me a cheerful wave before she disappears from sight.
Well, fuck.
Lisa is cursed. Lisa—the prior familiar and the one Dru adores—has been cursed by whoever has cursed more than one of Dru’s apprentices. Why does Dru not seem to care? I sure as fuck care.
Anxious, I pace through the house. I can’t call Dru. She doesn’t have a cell phone. Or rather, she did, but she left it somewhere and never remembered where. I found the bill the other day, and it seemed she’d been paying for it for years. So that’s out of the question. Ben? I bite my lip, hesitating. I worry I’m already spending too much time with Ben. He’s going to think I’m just being clingy and needy. I’m doing my best not to pounce on him the moment I see him, because my crush has only deepened with playing cards with him. It was a lot easier when I thought he was still a big, arrogant jerk.
I certainly can’t tell Nick. He still doesn’t know magic is real. He thinks Dru is a rich old lady being humored by people.
By the time I retrieve my phone in the kitchen, I know who to text.
REGGIE: Penny, are you busy?
PENNY: Hey friend!!! Never busy! I have all my orders here, just waiting for the delivery guy to come pick them up.
PENNY: What’s shaking today?
PENNY: Oooh, wanna go for coffee in the AM? They have a new honey foam latte!
REGGIE: Sure, but I need help. Dru’s gone to bingo and she told me that her last apprentice just contacted her and that she’s been cursed.
PENNY: Dru’s been cursed?!!??
REGGIE: No, Lisa has been cursed. The last familiar Dru had.
PENNY: Wait, the pregnant lady? Seriously?
REGGIE: And that’s not all—Dru said it was probably the same person that’s been cursing all her familiars.
REGGIE: And now I’m a little freaked out. Have you heard about this?
PENNY: OH EM GEE
PENNY: No!!!
PENNY: Do you think it’s . . . you know who?