“Caring for other people isn’t a weakness; it’s a strength.”
“Sounds like somebody’s been reading some Bay Area–style New Age literature. Of course caring for others is a strength in normal humans, Lily. What you don’t seem to have grasped yet is that you’re not a normal human. You need to be worried about the state of people in general, not one person in particular.”
“Uh-huh. And what if I’m not wild about becoming the queen of the witches, or whatever this position is officially called?”
“It’s not like running for office, Lily. You don’t get to just decline.”
“I don’t even believe in prophecies.”
Aidan let out a long breath, and took another sip of wine. “Tell you what: when your grandmother’s coven arrives, why don’t you chat about it with them? See what they have to say?”
I nodded. Good idea. Silence reigned for a few moments. The waiter came with the food: apaella valencianaserved in a huge flat pan. Bright yellow saffron rice was studded with mussels, clams, and crab.
“So, how do you go on, after battling a host of demons?” I asked him.
“In your case, you block the memories entirely. But I wasn’t so lucky. I was in bad shape when I arrived, physically, mentally, and spiritually. An amazing woman helped me, brought me back to life. She was trying to hold the Bay Area magical community together, and passed that responsibility on to me. And then things ratcheted up, becoming increasingly dire. As I told you, I believe the surge in energy has to do with you, or at least with your arrival here in San Francisco.”
“Hard to believe this all started with a parrot in a bar,” I muttered as I dug into my paella.
“Excuse me?”
I shrugged. “I was just thinking about the decisions we make in life, how they bring us to where we are today.”
He smiled. “Waxing philosophical, are we?”
“A little, I guess.
“Are you a Dickens fan?”
“Well... I’m notnota Dickens fan.”
“‘Pause and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.’”
“That’s Dickens?”
He nodded and plucked a clam from the paella. “FromGreat Expectations. Wonderful novel. All about expectations, as the title would suggest.”
I sighed. “I admire people who can memorize things. I usually think of myself as having a good memory, but the only actual scripts I remember are my spells.”
“Seems to me that’s more than enough.”
“I don’t know.... I’m feeling so off, lately.”
“With your brewing as well?”
I nodded. “Do you really think Jamie’s telling the truth, that Renee slipped me something, and that’s why I’m feeling like this?”
“Possibly. But as I said, it could be a simple cold—or it could be connected to your upcoming wedding. I told you your relationship to Sailor would make you vulnerable.”
“I thought you meant in the sense of having my energies divided, not catching a cold. You know what we could use right now?” I asked. “A mandragora. Mandragoras are great at sniffing out spells and strange ingredients in food. Whatever happened to the one I made you?”
“I gave it away as a gift.”
“You told me you wanted it as a household imp, that you were lonely.”
“Did I?”
“Who did you give it to?”
