She scrambled to hold herself upright, clinging to Greta’s sturdy shoulder while they continued to chant.
A roar of fire cascaded down on them, as though someone had ignited a match; it swooped up and outward, turning the dress to ashes.
Winnie’s signature purple smoke swirled around them when she popped her eyes open and turned her wrist, aiming the wand at the cyclone the dress had become. The dress disappeared, leaving only a few ashes in its wake.
Daphne leaned forward, putting her hands on her knees and gasping for breath, while Greta did the same. Beads of sweat dripped from Gus and Clive’s foreheads. Flora shook, her small frame wavering.
Calla dove for Flora, catching her at the waist and setting her on the edge of Nash’s bed. “Flora! Are you okay?”
Flora threw her head back and laughed. “Best damned time I’ve had in a hundred years!”
Calla ran to the bathroom to grab a washcloth to wipe Gus and Clive’s faces, but they were too busy fist-bumping and slapping each other on the back to need her assistance. “Seven hells, buddy! Did ya see the flames?”
Clive grinned wider than she’d seen him grin in a long time. He whirled his finger in a cyclone-like motion. “And the dress? Like a damn Tasmanian devil!”
“Okay, what the hell just happened?” What did burning the dress, aside from keeping it from getting into the wrong hands again, do but incinerate it?
Daphne stood up straight as an arrow, her blonde hair askew, her eyes grim. She held out her hand to Calla. “We used the dress to find Kirby, honey. She left her imprint of magic on it. What she forgot was, it’s a sure way to lead us right to her.”
Oh, thank God. Her throat was dry, her stomach in turmoil, making her force the words out. “Where is she?”
Winnie gripped her shoulder, her fingers still shaking, her face pale. “She has Nash, Calla.”
Chapter 11
Kirby paced the floor, her movements jerky, her words erratic, as Nash tried to piece together what the hell was going on. She had him bound by something invisible, something much stronger than any warlock magic he possessed.
And she rambled, striding back and forth across the floor of old man Greely’s barn as Nash sat on a bale of hay, as helpless as a damn newborn.
Fuck.
She stopped short, coming to stand in front of him, but as she spoke, she almost looked right through him. “I don’t understand what went wrong? I did everything the spell said to do. What went wrong?” she wailed, clenching her fists.
He cleared his throat, wishing he’d spent more time practicing spells than roping cows. “What don’t you understand, Kirby? Tell me. Maybe I can help.”
Now she saw him, her eyes wild and furious, connected with his. “You shut up, you stupid, stupid shit-slinger! I hate you!” she spat, beads of her spit lashing his face.
Whoa now. “Why do you hate me, Kirby? I thought we were friends. You’re always so nice to me when I come to the center to see Calla—”
“Don’t you say her name, you filthy barn animal!” she screamed in his face, literally making his hair move. “She deserves so much better than you! So, so much better. I’m better. Me, me, me! But she just can’t see that. Why can’t she see that?”
Calla. This was about an infatuation with Calla? “So you did this, Kirby?” he kept his question calm, his voice steady, but his mind was reeling.
She reared back, gulping for air, her chest heaving. “Of course I did, you moron! All men are morons. Stupid, stupid bottom feeders. I enhanced a spell Winnie put on that dress so that when the day was over, you wouldn’t just forget Calla, you’d despise her very existence. But you ruined everything! God, she looked so beautiful last night, didn’t she, Nash?” Her voice went soft and dreamy, light and faraway.
He remembered now. He remembered everything. Every single detail of he and Calla’s first night together, and if it killed him, they were going to have a bunch more. “She did look beautiful. But how did you know Calla would borrow that specific dress, Kirby?” Had she been planning this long?
She put her hand over her mouth and giggled like a small child. “I didn’t. It was just dumb luck, and the way it all came together so perfectly must mean it was fate. Oh, I’d been planning to do something from almost the instant I met Calla, but last night all the pieces of the puzzle fell in place. Just like magic.” She snapped her fingers, creating a puff of orange smoke.