When I opened the front door, I gasped. Paint was splattered all over the gleaming wooden floor, and the beautiful side table was smashed. The flowers that my friends had brought me were scattered on the ground among shards of sparkling glass.
I ran into the next room, finding a scene of similar damage. The window overlooking the side garden was smashed, and the fireplace mantel had been torn away from the wall. The couch was torn up, and great gouges marred the freshly painted walls.
I raced to the secret spot in the wall where the enchanted crystal was hidden. If the intruder had taken it or destroyed it…
The idea of the house losing its personality—its life—made me cold with fear.
Thankfully, I found it untouched, the wall not even marred. But the rest of the ground floor was ruined, every room the victim of horrible destruction. I didn’t even realize I was crying until Emma grabbed my arm and whispered. “Shh. Do you hear something?”
I gulped back a sob and listened. A crashing noise sounded from upstairs, something obviously breaking.
Rage shot through me, hot and fierce. I scrubbed the tears away and raced up the stairs, jumping over pieces of broken banister. When I reached the main bedroom and saw Tommy with a baseball bat, his hands glowing with destructive magic, I shrieked. “You bastard!”
He turned to me, a glare twisting his features. “Finally back, are you?”
Once upon a time, I might have been scared of him. I never had been before because he’d never been violent. But I’d been powerless before I’d embraced my magic. It would have been smart to be scared in this kind of circumstance.
But I wasn’t.
I had my power. I had Emma. And Poa.
He had a silly little baseball bat and some weak magic, most of which he’d probably spent to keep my beautiful house from evicting him while he’d destroyed it with a bat.
I looked around at the destruction, shocked. “What is wrong with you?”
“Wrong with me?” He frowned as if I were an idiot. “You left. You wouldn’t even speak to me.”
“Of course I wouldn’t.” Anger bubbled within me. “You cheated on me.”
“But you didn’t give me a chance to explain.”
“Explain?” I laughed. “Explain what?”
“That I care about you. That she didn’t mean anything.”
I frowned. “Didn’t mean anything? You’d never taken me on a date that nice.”
“Because you didn’t care about those things.”
Anger bubbled. “Of course I did! Any woman would want her boyfriend to treat her like that! It’s just that you never did, and I was too young and stupid to know that I deserved better than being the housemaid you sometimes got to have sex with.”
“Come on, we had a good time.” He dropped the bat, and his hands stopped glowing with magic as he gestured widely. “We were happy. I don’t understand.”
“No, Tommy. You were happy. And now you’re here, making my life miserable again.” I looked around. “Why? You’ve never been violent before.”
He scratched his head as he looked around, wincing. Suddenly, he looked more like the Tommy I remembered. Boring. Bland. Then his face hardened. “You just left me without explanation. And then you blocked me. Blocked me. It made me angry.”
“Yeah, I blocked you for being a creep who wouldn’t stop bothering me. And now you’ve stalked me here and ruined my house.”
“Exactly. You’ll have to come home now.”
I laughed, and it sounded slightly insane. “So you figured out the contents of my grandmother’s will, huh? How did you do that?”
He bristled. “I have friends.”
“Of course. Friends with magic who helped you when you couldn’t do it yourself. And I presume these friends helped you find me, even though my coven hid me and Lavender House from you?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.” He frowned. “Your coven? I thought you didn’t like to use your magic.”
“No, Tommy. You didn’t want me to use my magic because you’re a weak sorcerer who can hardly light a match. You didn’t want me to use my magic because it made you feel worse about yourself.” Fates, it felt good to say these things. “I blame myself for falling for your manipulation, but no more. I’m free of you, and my life is freaking amazing.”
He looked around at the room he’d destroyed. “Doesn’t look that amazing anymore.”
I shrieked with rage. I was so done with that bastard. My soul was alight with righteous indignation as I called upon my magic, remembered a curse that Catrina had taught me. She’d taught me several, in fact, and they were all perfect for Tommy.
First, I gave him a tail.
The magic whooshed from my fingertips as I recited the words, and he yelped as a great furry tail sprouted from his backside. I didn’t even know what animal it was from—I’d just wanted to make it too big to hide in his trousers, and I’d succeeded.
“That’s nothing,” I said, grinning widely. “You’re about to quack like a duck every time you try to be a jerk—that includes lying and manipulating.” Catrina had been particularly fond of this curse because it had been her final salvo against the bully she hated. Her mother hadn’t been able to complain about it, either.
I’d laughed so hard at her story, then made her teach me when she’d come over with her mother to see the house. I recited the words now, hurling my magic at Tommy. Glee shot through me as he started to quack. The noise was jarring and so obviously coming from his mouth that a delighted laugh escaped me.
I looked over at Emma. “What do you think?”
“Is he lying or just practicing his quacking?”
“I don’t know, and I’m not sure I care.” I turned back to him. “Tommy? Can you speak like a regular person?”
“I can.” He glared at me. “Now undo this spell.”
“No.” I grinned and crossed my arms. “Tell me you’re not afraid of cats.” From the way he’d always acted around Poa whenever he saw her, I’d suspected he was. But I’d never got him to fess up.”
“I’m—“ He quacked, and it was the loudest, most ridiculous sound I’d ever heard. Even louder than before. I howled with laughter.
Poa hissed at him, back arched, and he eyed her wildly as he shouted, “You’re a miserable bitch, Isobel, you know that?”
I grinned. “No, I’m a happy bitch. Happy and powerful.”
“You’re going to be alone forever,” he snapped.
The words stung, but only because they made me think of Rafe. I decided to turn that anger into action. I looked at Emma. “Can I get a little help, please?”
“Anything.” She said it with a vehemence that made me smile, and walked toward me.
I held out my hand for hers. “We’re going to make the quacking spell permanent.”
“Oh, I like it.”
Tommy looked between the two of us, terror on his face. He might be a failed sorcerer, but he knew as well as I did that making a spell permanent required a lot of magic. I couldn’t do it on my own—almost no witch could—but with Emma’s help…
We began to chant the spell for permanency, our voices rising as wind whipped around us. Broken pieces of wood flew through the air, the remnants of the beautiful furniture that Vivienne had given me.