A Little Night Magic (29 page)

And that’s when it hit me, the spark of an idea. I dismissed it at first, but as I watched the glittery blue bird, other elements fell into place in my head, and I could see it, the beginnings of a plan forming as I watched the bird dance away from me, only to come back and sprinkle its captured sunshine on me.

I ran my hand over my face and took a deep breath. Somewhere in that cavern inside hid an emotion I needed to access. All I had to do was find it. I closed my eyes and breathed in, searching myself for it, ducking into dark corridors and running through long hallways of whistling cold.

And then, finally, there it was.

Hope.

I opened my eyes and smiled, then held out my index finger. The sparkly blue bird landed on it easily, and I cupped it between my hands, looking it in the eyes as I spoke.

“I wish that this plan will work,” I whispered to it. The bird cocked its head to the side, and then, seemed to nod.

I took that as a sign.

*   *   *

“So,” I said to Cain and Stacy as we sat at my kitchen table. “What do you think?”

I’d spent the last hour laying out the plan to them, refining certain points with Cain while Stacy pointed out holes in the logic that needed closing up. Tobias was gone, but I was trying to focus on the plan; if it worked, I could try to make it up to Tobias later, and if it didn’t …

Well. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t matter.

Cain sat back in his chair, released a sigh, and gave a brief nod. “Worth a try.”

I looked at Stacy. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re crazy,” she said. “But it’s better than sitting around here waiting to get magically buggered.”

I laughed. “Okay. Well, I need to head to Peach’s. Stacy, can you make the phone calls?”

Her expression dulled. “Really? Can’t I be in charge of the potions or something?”

Cain gave her a dull look, then turned and headed to his mini-lab in my basement.

Stacy looked at me. “You really don’t think that whole angry, distant, and disinterested thing is hot?”

I took a moment to think about it, then slowly shook my head.

“Whew,” she said, heading toward the kitchen door. “We live through this, I’m getting a therapist.”

*   *   *

By the time everyone had gotten there, it was midafternoon. Cain had been working in the basement for hours, the result being an uninspiring line of various plastic cups filled with what we really, really hoped was the right concoction set up on the coffee table as everyone settled around.

“Thanks for coming, everyone,” I said, looking around my living room at the group. Grace Higgins-Hooper and Addie Hooper-Higgins were sitting on my floral love seat, holding hands and smiling casually. Stacy sat on the leather easy chair, her arms crossed over her stomach. Peach and Nick took opposite ends of the couch. Nick hadn’t left Peach’s side since the incident with the walnuts. It was evident from Peach’s body language—posture straight as she sat as far away from him as the shared space would allow—that she hadn’t entirely forgiven him, but that didn’t seem to bother him in the least. Nick Easter had never been the kind of guy who gave up, and this situation seemed to be no exception. Cain stood with his back against the wall in the corner, watching in his typical stark, detached silence.

“This is all going to sound a little crazy,” I began, “so please just bear with me.” I took a deep breath. “I’ve got magical powers.”

Addie didn’t blink. Grace allowed a skeptical, “Hmmm,” and Peach said, “What do you mean, like … card tricks?”

I almost laughed, then looked to the two plastic bins full of cranes that I’d been working on all day: showtime. I concentrated on them for a moment, and the bin started to shake a bit, and then, like a bunch of released doves, the two hundred or so cranes I’d worked with that afternoon began to fly in a circle around us. As they flew around, I felt their power—
my
power—flowing around me, through me, into the air. It was like I was no longer contained in just my body, I flowed outward. I communed with the world and everything in it. I couldn’t help smiling; I controlled them so easily, the power thrumming in my veins, my own unknown second nature. For the first time since all of this started, I had a feeling of what I really was, and it was glorious.

Slowly, I commanded the cranes all back into the bins, and then pulled their magic back into me. I took in the rush of it, allowed the magic to resettle in me, and then looked around at the group.

“I know it’s a lot to absorb,” I said, “and I want you to know that what I’m about to ask you, you don’t have to say yes. It’s a big deal.”

“Get to the good stuff, babe,” Stacy said, leaning back with one arm resting on the arm of the easy chair.

And so … I got to the good stuff. I explained, as simply as I could, what was going on with Davina, what had been happening in the town, and what we were up against. I included a brief explanation of what happened with Millie, and about the mind-control effect. Nick lowered his eyes as I went through that part, and Peach glanced at him, then away. I didn’t have time to try to convince either of them now, but at least, if something happened to me later, I had planted the seed.

“So, this Davina,” Grace said. “She really wants to kill you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “She really does. But I think, with your help, we can do this. What I need are…” I looked back at Cain, who gave a short nod:
keep going.
I turned back to them. “What I need are conduits.”

I stood there for a long moment, waiting for the questions to come. What are conduits, how does it work, why should I do this for you, et cetera, to be followed by the immediate exodus of the lot of them.

“You got it,” Addie said. “What do we do?”

“Well,” I said, a little caught off guard, “let me explain first. This is a big deal. It basically involves giving over your free will to me for a while, and—”

Grace leaned forward. “Is that what the cups are for?” She lifted one and sniffed it. “Smells like Dr Pepper.”

“Well, Cain has tried to make it as palatable as possible, but before you drink any—”

Grace downed the contents of her cup. “Oh, yum.”

“Grace!” I said. “Wait, I need to explain—”

Addie grabbed hers and took a sip, then gave a little shudder. “Oooh. It’s got a bit of a kick there.”

“Guys,
wait
you have to let me tell you what this is going to do to you.”

Stacy grabbed her cup and threw it back like a shot of vodka. “The trick is, open your throat and just pour.”

I started to feel a little dizzy; the power coming from them already was making my limbs tingle. I had known that Stacy was in, and I’d planned on working with just her if necessary. I hadn’t thought I’d have more than two at the most, but as they all reached for the cups and downed them, I found myself reeling with the heady effects of it.

“Okay, wait!” I said, putting my hand on my forehead as I tried to remember all the stuff I’d intended to tell them before they made their decision. “It’s a small dose, gonna last twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours. It also … it could hurt a little, although we’re not sure because this is a new thing for us. You might lose time, not remember everything. And … shit. Guys, hold on a minute.”

“Calm down, sweetheart,” Addie said. “I went to college in the sixties. You think this scares me?” She looked at Stacy. “Open the throat, you say?”

Stacy nodded, and Addie threw the rest of her drink back, slamming her cup on the table and belching afterward.

I blinked hard, trying to wrap my mind around what was happening. Finally, when I could speak again, I could only say, “Thank you.”

Grace winked at me, then looked at her hands. “I’m feeling a little tingly. Is that right?”

I glanced back at Cain, and he moved forward. “Yeah, that’s about right. Now you guys need to spread out. Go home, and come back here at sunset. If you’re too close, y’all are going to exhaust Liv and we won’t be able to get this off the ground.”

Grace and Addie filed out, murmuring to themselves about the power they were feeling flowing through them.

“Hey,” Nick said, rummaging through the empty cups. “Where’s mine?”

“Oh.” I shook my head, working to keep my equilibrium with all the heightened power running through me. Even with just Stacy and Peach in the room, I was starting to feel a little lightheaded. “No, Nick, it’s okay. You don’t have to. I’ve got enough.”

He shook his head and stood up. “If Peach is part of this, I’m a part of it.”

“I got a little more downstairs,” Cain said. He walked up to me, touched my arm, and said, “How you feeling?”

“I’m okay,” I said.

He nodded, then led Nick downstairs. I sat on the couch next to Peach and took her hand in mine.

“I need something from you, too. You know all those solar walkway lights you were telling me about? I need you and Nick to open them up, and set them out in the sun. You can stake them in my backyard if you want. I’ll pay for them.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She smiled at me. “It’s Nick’s treat.”

A wave of dizziness hit me, and I had trouble focusing on her; I could see the power shimmering around her, like heat coming off asphalt on a hot day.

“Oh, honey,” she said, “you’re looking really flushed. You need me to go now?”

I took in a breath, then nodded. My arms and legs were beginning to vibrate with the power and Cain had been right; it was exhausting. Peach squeezed my hand, then quietly got up and left. I looked at Stacy and smiled.

“Are you ready?”

Stacy nodded. “Always.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to concentrate. I felt strings of power connecting me to her, and soon, she was walking in a circle around the room, just the way I commanded. Slowly, I released my grip on her, and she stumbled a bit but regained her footing before she fell.

“Sorry,” I said. “I’ve never done this before.”

When no quippy retort came, I got up from the couch and walked over to her, taking her arm.

“You okay?”

Slowly she nodded, and then patted my hand. “He’ll come back. Don’t worry.”

“What…?” I began, but then let it go; there was no point in pretending that I wasn’t aching from Tobias’s absence.

Stacy managed a shaky grin, then said, “Remind me to play poker with you once we’re done with all this. I need a new TV.”

“Right.” I sighed heavily again, trying to shoot that emotion away from me. I had five hours to learn how to get all this under control, and Tobias was too much of a distraction.

“Okay,” I said. “You ready to try again?”

Stacy looked at me, the tiniest glint of fear in her eyes, but then she squelched it and the badass was back.

“Rock it, puppet master,” she said.

20

By an hour before sunset, Stacy and I were both exhausted, and while my control wasn’t perfect, it was as good as it was realistically going to get. We both decided we needed a little nap, and while Cain finished up the last of his preparations for the night, Stacy retreated to a guest room, and I went into my room. I tried to close my eyes, tried to sleep, but even with the conduits spread over town, my body was still vibrating with power, and I knew I wouldn’t get any sleep. The best I could hope for was a little rest. I curled up on my bed, Gibson next to me, his little nose twitching as I pet him and stared off into space.

Despite the direness of the situation, despite the fact that I didn’t know if it would even work once the sun had set, I felt oddly exhilarated. For the first time, I could understand Davina’s hunger for this feeling, this power, this sense that anything and everything was possible simply for the wishing of it. I sat on the porch roof, staring at the sky as it grew ever pinker, and tried not to think about the two possible outcomes for the night. Both of them were frightening in their own way.

Occasionally, I would see a form appearing at the corner, and for a moment, my heart would catch, thinking that it might be Tobias, but he didn’t show up. Not that I expected him to. I had asked him to leave, and he’d done what I’d asked. I could only hope that he was already on his way out of town, that any danger that might erupt from what would turn out to be either my genius or my extreme foolishness wouldn’t touch him. If I got nothing else out of tonight, Tobias’s safety would be something. It would be enough.

It would have to be.

The sky grew darker, and as the last bits of pink dimmed on the horizon, I reached into the cardboard box I’d set next to me, where Niles and Gibson curled up together. I picked up Niles and slowly pulled him out, his wings flapping roughly as I moved him away from his companion. For his part, deaf and blind, Gibson felt Niles’s absence and shuffled from the place where he’d been napping, ramming his head against the cardboard edges of the box. I picked up the pencil I’d also stored in the box, and lifted Niles’s little wing.

“Sorry, this might tickle a bit.” I wrote, “Tonight,” on the underside of one wing, then held him up and said, “Go find her,” and released him into the night. He circled Gibson’s box a couple of times, then flew on his way.

I took the box back inside and set it down by the open window, which I left open so that, when Niles was done with his journey, he could find his way back to his best friend, and they would be together.

If you can’t get the happy endings you want, sometimes you have to settle for the ones you can have.

*   *   *

Cain and Stacy had been at work for a while, gathering up supplies and conduits, transporting them as close to the site as they could using Grace and Addie’s B&B van. I walked; although it was well past sunset, I knew Davina wouldn’t show up until closer to midnight, and the idea of being so close to the conduits, so rushed with all that power made me feel a little dizzy and sick. I enjoyed the walk, noticing each step, feeling gratitude for each breath. In the afternoon, when the sun was out and this moment was beyond my comprehension, it had all seemed like a really good idea. Now, it felt a bit like walking the plank. No way to go but forward, and no idea what would be waiting for me after the initial splash.