These were certainly no ordinary silverfish. But how did they get out of the shoe box?
As I looked around the shop, I saw people’s appearances changing as soon as they stepped on the slinky little bugs. One mother in a bright pink sundress took on a glamour of her daughter for a few seconds before changing back into her own likeness once again. The father-daughter couple each looked like the other for a quick moment, before regaining their normal appearances.
Some guests were laughing, others shrieking, and one young girl started crying.
I searched the crowd for Patience and Renna, hoping to find a magical ally to lend a hand, but either they were running late or they’d decided against coming altogether.
“It’s like Freaky Friday!” exclaimed Starr, smiling. “How did you manage this, Lily?”
“I . . .” What could I say? If I admitted I wasn’t orchestrating the mayhem, it would only frighten everyone further.
As an enchanted atmosphere took over the store, the antique dresses that had been hanging on the walls ripped free of their pins and started to dance in the air above our heads, like a Halloween haunted house. More people started laughing, oohing and aahing, believing it was all some sort of elaborate trick designed for their entertainment.
Then an iced cupcake—one of Renee’s—sailed across the room and landed with a plop on Maya’s back, icing side down.
“Hey!” Maya cried as she turned around, but there was no obvious culprit. Another cupcake, then yet another, flew across the shop.
Next the silver cutlery crashed to the floor, skittering across the wooden planks as the tea goers inadvertently kicked the forks and spoons. The lamps glinted off the silverware, casting orbs of light on the walls and the ceiling.
It was bedlam.
Xander came up to me; then the glamour slipped and he transformed into Wendy before my eyes.
“What can I do to help?” she asked.
“Just try to calm folks down,” I said. “These bugs aren’t going to hurt them, and the glamours don’t last. And if it doesn’t weird you out too much, try to corral these silverfish? They aren’t normal bugs.”
“Yeah, I got that impression,” Maya said as she joined us. “Come on, Wendy. I’ll help.”
“Hey, Maya, have you seen Selena?” I asked, searching the milling crowd.
“Not lately.”
“She was headed over to Lucille’s Loft for something, last I saw,” said Wendy.
Panic crept up on me. “Where’s Renee?”
“I was talking to her earlier,” said Maya. “But then she put out more cupcakes. . . .”
I pushed my way through the chaos. How could I have been so foolish? I had been so focused on Wind Spirit and her connection to Renee that I utterly failed to make sure Selena was safe.
“Dude,” said Conrad as he held the door open for me. “You know how to throw a heck of a party. Did someone spike the punch?”
“Did Selena come out here? Or Renee?”
“Didn’t see them, but I have to confess I was off duty for a coupla minutes. Nature called.”
“Where’s Oscar?”
“I thought he went back in with you. What’s wrong? Hey, where are you going? Want me to come with you?”
“No, thanks. It’s best if you stay here and watch over things.”
“Watch for what, exactly?”
“Just please try to make sure things don’t get out of hand, okay? And if someone who looks like Sailor arrives—”
“Don’t trust him. I got it, dude.”
I ran next door to Lucille’s Loft as quickly as I could. The lights were off, and the curtains drawn across the front windows.
I tried the door; it was unlocked. So I pushed it open very slowly.
“Hello?” No response. I tried again. “Anyone? Selena?”
I felt magical vibrations, but they seemed . . . off. It wasn’t Renee. Renee was driven and determined, but she was in control.
What I felt was entirely different.
The floor space was crowded with racks of clothing, cardboard boxes, and piles of dresses and blouses from my shop. A narrow passageway led to the worktables at the rear of the store.
I paused briefly and stroked my medicine bag before proceeding any farther. I started chanting, casting a charm for strength and focus. Unfortunately, I was more of a brewing witch than a battling witch. But when I was properly focused, I could send out a blast of energy, as I sometimes did when startled—as Aidan and I had when we last saw Jamie.
“I hate it when you guys do that weird mumblin’ thing,” said Jamie as he emerged from the shadows. He held Selena in front of him, his right hand over her mouth, his left holding a knife to her throat. As usual, Selena’s affect was flat. But her eyes were screaming.
I kept on “mumbling.”
“Seriously, you don’t shut up, and the chickie here is gonna get cut.”
I stopped chanting, but continued stroking the medicine bag. I could feel the outline of the lachrymatory within the fabric. The vial with the salts of my teenage tears.
“I’m surprised at you, Jamie,” I said. I glanced at Selena, trying to telegraph to her that I would take care of her, that I would make sure she was safe. “I mean, I knew you were working for Renee, but I guess I assumed you were sort of a ‘bad guy with a heart of gold.’”
“Yeah, I get that a lot, actually. Don’t know why, except I really am a nice guy a lot of the time. But the truth is, people underestimate me. I got ambition, which is somethin’ a lot of people don’t understand these days.”
“So, is that what you’re doing over at the party? Creating a distraction? I must say, I’m impressed.” We could hear the cacophony next door, the mingled shrieks of delight and surprise.
“That? Naw, that ain’t me. Truth is, I don’t have that kind of skill. That’s all Renee. Shoulda seen her, laughin’ her ass off, cookin’ it up.” He shook his head, and nudged something with his foot. There was a soft moan. Only then did I realize—what I had assumed was yet another heap of clothing was actually Renee, lying on the floor.
“What did you do to her?” I asked.
“She’ll be okay, prob’ly, just a knot on her head. Maybe her ego will be a little bruised—you catch my drift. I gotta say, Renee and me, we don’t share the same sense of humor. That’s one reason, maybe, why this whole coincidentia deal isn’t gonna work between us like I hoped it would.”
“The coincidentia oppositorum? You wanted Tristan out of the way so you could step in and be Renee’s partner?”
He nodded.
“Why did you set up Sailor?”
He laughed. “That part was sheer luck. Renee just couldn’t stop talkin’ about him, how unfair it was that you was gonna get married and be happy when no one else in your—how do you call it?—‘profession’ did. Gotta say, you have a way of getting under her skin. She sent me to your boyfriend’s apartment to steal something of his. No offense, but that’s a pretty depressin’ place.”
“He’s not big on home decorating,” I said lightly, hoping my tone would help to ease Selena’s fears a little. “Why did you steal his father’s watch?”
“Renee was gonna use it to hex him, get control over him. Maybe change who he was fond of—you catch my drift. But then she got lucky when Maya brought you one of her pasties—it had a charm in it, made just for you so it wouldn’t affect anyone else if they happened to eat it. She didn’t want to totally do you in or nothin’, just distract you. Guess she managed that, right?”
“Yes, I guess you can say I’ve been a little distracted lately.”
“I happened to have Sailor’s watch on me when I tried my first silverfish deal. Looked in the mirror, and voilà! No wonder you people enjoy this magic thing so much. Anyway, I got a few of those special silverfish from a Russian out in the avenues who I was able to persuade to help me with the spell. Took some practice, but I got to where I could keep up a glamour for, like, twenty minutes. Which is pretty darned good, if you ask me. Had to keep checking the time—wouldn’t do to transform back to little ol’ me in the middle of things.”