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.
Tommy screamed and darted for the door, but we turned to follow him, chanting as we walked. I felt powerful—like, really powerful. And it felt good.
He quacked as he ran down the stairs, the spell starting to take hold. Poa followed him, tail held high. By the time he made it to the ground floor, he was almost flying, he was running so fast. From the top of the stairs, we could see all the way to the front door. On the way out, the house slapped him on the butt with a floorboard.
Good. He deserved it.
Exhaustion pulled at me as we finished the spell. The magic followed him out the door, and I could hear his quacks as he ran away. Poa stopped chasing him, clearly deciding he wasn’t worth the trouble.
When I was finally out of power, I sat down heavily on the stairs.
“Well, I’m beat.” Emma leaned her shoulder against mine.
“Me, too, but thanks.”
She grinned. “It was a good one. You can’t get in trouble if you make a liar stop lying by embarrassing him.” She laughed. “Can you imagine him going to the police and saying he’s mad because his ex-girlfriend cursed him to quack if he lied?”
I grinned. It was the reason Catrina had chosen the spell for her nemesis, and it made it perfect for my purposes as well. He’d be able to get another witch to spell the tail away pretty easily and cheaply, but the quacking was an entirely different matter.
But the effort required to create a spell like that had drained me. I was unsteady as I looked around at the destruction. Tears pricked my eyes when Poa started to rub against my leg. “The solicitor comes tomorrow.”
“Surely he’ll give you an extension,” she said. “If you tell him how this all happened.”
“No extensions. He made that clear.” A hiccupy little sob escaped me. “And I’m so tired. I can’t even try to clean up.”
“After the spell we just did, of course you’re tired. We’ll be lucky to get down the stairs. But what you need is a good night’s sleep. It’ll look better tomorrow.”
A bitter laugh escaped me as I looked around. There was no way in hell this could look better tomorrow. Lavender House was destroyed.
Chapter
Thirty-One
Isobel
I woke to the sound of shouting, my head pounding like a toddler had crawled in there with a mallet. I blinked up at the ceiling, realizing that I was in my bed in the boathouse.
Memories of last night returned. I’d used so much power that I was essentially hungover, and it sucked. Emma had helped me to bed, then Alaric had come to pick her up. She’d been too tired to drive home after joining her magic with mine.
But what was all that shouting about?
The solicitor.
Surely it wasn’t him, but he was supposed to arrive today—just in time to see my dreams go up in flames. Or down in pieces, considering the fact that Tommy had shattered everything in the house, including but not limited to the furniture and many structural elements.
Even the idea that he was now quacking his way back to London couldn’t make me feel better. We’d created such a beautiful place, and now it was gone.
My heart ached for the house, too. It must be so confused. I’d been so exhausted and hurt last night that I’d made sure the crystal was still there, but I hadn’t stopped to think about how the house must be feeling.
I needed to go check on it. Make sure it was okay. A bitter little laugh escaped me. It wouldn’t be okay. I just prayed it wasn’t traumatized. Tommy must have used all his miserable strength to create that destruction before the house could stop him.
Aching, I dragged myself out of bed and took two paracetamol, then dragged on some clothes and headed downstairs. I wanted a coffee, but I needed to go apologize to the house for not taking better care of it.
As I stepped outside into the early-morning light, I realized that the shouting I’d heard was coming from Lavender House. I stared up the hill, shock pinning me in place.
There were people everywhere. I could see them behind every window, moving around the rooms like busy bees. A line of folks carried rubbish out of the house and fresh supplies in.
I could barely breathe.
They were fixing Lavender House.
As far as I could tell, it was the entire town. And then I saw Rafe’s mother. And father. And that beautiful blond woman from the barbecue. His entire pack was here.
My head spun. They’d all come to help.
How could this be happening?
“It’s amazing,” a woman said from my left.
I turned to see Judith, who looked at the house, tears in her eyes.
“Judith.”
“You might as well call me Gran, if you don’t mind.”
I blinked at her, so confused and shocked and overwhelmed that I could barely string two thoughts together. “Gran?”
She nodded, then turned to me. Magic shimmered in front of her face, and the glamour fell away. In front of me stood my gran, about twenty years older than when I’d seen her last, but it was definitely her.
“I think I need to sit down.”
“You probably do.” She went to a bench by the wall of the boathouse and sat, then patted the place next to her. “I think this is a good spot. You can see your friends helping you. The house is fine, by the way. It likes all these people and knows they’re here to help.”
I couldn’t stop looking between her and the house as I walked toward her.
Gran is here. The town is fixing Lavender House. Rafe is here.
The words repeated themselves as a mantra inside my head, but I still couldn’t understand.
“Explain. Please.” The words came out as a croak.
“I’m not dead, for one.”
“I can see that.” And I was happy about it. Joyfully so. But I was also really confused.
“The terms of the will still stand, though. If you can fix up the house, it’s yours. And it looks like you’re going to manage it.” She grinned. “I’ve already been inside, and they’re almost finished. It’s incredible what people can do when they come together.”
I gave a little sob, unable to help myself. She reached a hand toward mine, then pulled back, clearly thinking better of it.
I reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing tightly.
She smiled. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to.” She gave an awkward laugh. “Hold hands, at least. I haven’t been the best grandmother.”