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Enough of that.
“Explain it all to me, love,” she said calmly, standing well behind him in case he had another violent reaction.
“I’ve explained. You obviously don’t understand,” he grumbled.
“Try me.”
“Why are you still here?” he screamed, spinning away from the fireplace and lifting two fists.
She didn’t back away. “Because I love you.”
He smiled at that. “You love me because I gave you a potion. I thought it would’ve worn off by now but here you are like a sad puppy, annoying me to no end. I should just kill you here and now.”
“You could, I suppose.” She wasn’t surprised that he admitted he’d given her a potion. She wasn’t surprised that he threatened to kill her. He would, if it came to that, but dead at his hand was better than living without him. “Can I help?”
He laughed at her. “You’ve served your purpose in getting me the book.”
“Tell me again why you needed it. I want to be sure I have it right.” She thought she understood but at times her thoughts were muddled. It hadn’t always been that way.
Sonny’s impatience was showing. Beneath his breath he called her an airhead, followed by a whispered “Dumb blonde.” Then he explained, not for the first time, “There was a spell in the book that would’ve made it possible for your friend Armi to rebuild the barrier over Mystic Springs without dying in the process.”
Mary’s heart skipped a beat. She’d known it was bad, but Armi dying? Naturally that’s what all the talk about sacrifice meant. A part of her had known that all along but she’d pushed the knowledge away, shoved it down so deep she didn’t have to think about it. Again, the truth flared up and she pushed it away. Her concern for her friend didn’t last. Sonny was all that mattered. “So why aren’t you pleased? The book is gone.”
He turned back to the fire. “I see in the flames that it’s not yet set. Armi might still find a way to rein in the magic, to rebuild what hampered me for so long. If she can’t find a way, I think she might… I think she might do it. I think she might willingly replace the barrier.”
“Why do you care?”
He gave her a decidedly unfriendly side-eye. “I’m different without magic. Very different. I’m small and insignificant, a little man who disappears into a crowd. I’m forgettable, incomplete. You wouldn’t like me without my powers. No one else ever did, not for a very long time. I don’t want to live in Mystic Springs for the rest of my days in order to keep what I’ve found. I want to have the world at my fingertips. There are others like me, but they don’t know how to fix this. They don’t even know they’re in danger of losing what they’ve become in the past year.”
“Why don’t you just kill her?” Those words surprised her, but they’d come to her naturally, easily.
Again, Sonny turned to face her. “I’m surprised to hear you say that. Isn’t she your friend?”
“She was.” Mary took two steps toward Sonny. “But I choose you, love. I always choose you.”
“She knows what I am, what I want, and so does that mutt of hers. There’s no way I can get close enough to…”
“I can do it,” Mary whispered. Her earlier repulsion at the idea of Armi’s death was gone. It wasn’t important anymore. “Give me a knife or a gun and take me to her. She won’t see me coming until it’s too late.”
Sonny turned to the fire again. He looked into the flames as if he saw something there. “Yes,” he whispered. “That would work. No Armi, no spell… no protection over Mystic Springs.”
She placed one palm against his back. “You could kiss me as a thank you.”
He turned and wrapped his arms around her, and she got the kiss she’d asked for. She wanted more, she wanted all of him, but he was very distracted. After. After Armi was dead she’d have everything she wanted from him.
When the kiss ended, she reached up to touch Sonny’s face. “Tell me you need me, love. Tell me you need me.”
He hesitated, and after a moment he whispered, “I need you, Mary Harlow.”
The fire went out and the room turned icy cold.
* * *
As the crowd on Main Street grew, Mitch noticed more and more women with streaks in their hair. It was a topic of conversation among several small groups of women, but no one seemed overly concerned. This was Mystic Springs, after all. Oddities weren’t only accepted, they were expected.
It appeared that the girls hadn’t been successful in their attempts to remove Camden’s spell.
Complacent or not, did these newly marked women all have great reflexes, as Armi did? Had they discovered other new talents, new magics? Mainly he wondered why any one of them wouldn’t do as well as Armi when 8:04 arrived.
