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I raise my hands and begin a banishing spell. The wind swirls around me as I chant and push all my intention and energy into the spell, driving anything that isn’t for my highest good away.
When I’ve finished, I look back at the mirror and see myself staring back at me.
I raise my arm, and the reflection follows, just as it should.
“What are you doing?”
I whirl, my hand pressed to my chest, and see Giles standing in the doorway, watching me with a frown on his gorgeous face.
“The mirror and I were having some trouble.”
He cocks his head to the side. “I’m sorry, what’s that?”
“Nothing.” I shake my head, but he advances on me and frames my face in his hands.
“What happened, sweets?”
“You use a lot of terms of endearment. I think I like that about you.”
“You’re not going to change the subject that easily. What happened?”
I look back at the mirror and then at Giles. “Well, it felt like something that happens in a bad horror movie. Like, a really, really bad one.”
“Okay.”
I tell him about the reflection, what I saw, and the wind.
But when I look around the room, my papers aren’t scattered everywhere. Everything is as it should be, as if nothing at all happened.
“You might not believe me.”
“Why wouldn’t I believe you?” He leans back against the worktable and braces his hands on either side of his hips. I have to admit, it’s a sexy pose.
“Because it sounds ridiculous. And everything here is normal. I probably hallucinated it all. Maybe I’m more exhausted than I thought. Maybe I just need a nap.”
“I believe it happened,” he replies softly. “I saw Merlin come running out of here. That’s why I came looking for you.”
“Oh, poor Merlin. I didn’t even think about him. Well, crap. Now I’m a bad mom, too.”
“Okay, that’s enough.” Giles reaches for my hand and pulls me to him, wraps his arms around me firmly, and rubs his hands up and down my back. “You’re not a bad mom. You just had a weird experience. Merlin can take care of himself. I suspect we’ll just have odd things happening for the next little while. Do you feel unsafe in this house?”
“No.” I shake my head and tip it back so I can look at him. “I feel perfectly safe here. And while it was happening, I wasn’t terrified. I was a little scared at first. Mostly, I was annoyed. Maybe a bit curious. I did a banishing spell, and then it was gone, and everything was back to normal.”
“I suspect that it—whatever it is—is trying to taunt and scare us, but it has no real power here. We’re too strong for it to have any control.”
“I agree. I didn’t ever feel like I was in real danger.”
“That’s the most important thing. Because the minute that changes, I’ll take you out of here.”
“Giles, I suspect that no matter what we do or where we go, it will follow us. This is just what our lives are going to look like for a bit. And I have to finish that tapestry as soon as possible to make it stop.”
“Wait.” He frowns down at me. “Breena, the tapestry doesn’t have anything to do with the killer. The tapestry is for the curse, to lift it and set Hallows End free.”
My mouth opens and then closes again. I frown. “Why do I lump them together so much in my mind? I keep thinking that one is directly related to the other, but you’re right. We’re dealing with the killer right now. And at the same time, I’m working on the tapestry to hopefully lift the curse on Hallows End. But they’re not necessarily the same thing. Does that mean I don’t need to have the tapestry finished by Beltane? Because I don’t think that’s humanly possible. Why am I so confused about this?”
“I don’t see why Beltane would be the deadline for that. I would stick to the original Samhain deadline. That seems to be the most important date when it comes to the curse.”
“You’re right.” So much relief fills me that I beam up at Giles. “Oh, thank the goddess. That actually takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders.”
“I’m glad. I really am. Because you’ve been working yourself so hard, you’re going to get sick. Speaking of that, why are you filling orders? I thought we agreed that I and the others would help with your bills until the tapestry is finished.”
“I can’t ask you all to do that.” He starts to speak, but I cover his lips with my fingers. “I love you all for wanting to do it, but it’s too much to ask, Giles. My orders have been cut way back because I stopped running any advertising, so the number of orders coming in is minimal compared to my usual load. They’re mostly just regular customers. I can handle this, especially now that I know I have more time. I’ll have much more balance in my life.”
