Spandex, Spells and Shadows Read online

  It was only when I glanced up from a book about wooing investors that I noticed Tanya was staring right at me. Her expression was completely blank, so I couldn’t tell whether she even recognized me at first.

  And then she started walking straight toward me.

  Heart racing and palms sweaty, I put the book back on the shelf, fully ready to attempt to explain away my stalker-ish behavior. I had zero idea what I was going to say, but I knew it would start with: “This isn’t what you think,” as clichéd as that was.

  “Hey, you’re the woman from the bar earlier,” Tanya grinned, at once shocking me and putting all my terrors at ease.

  “Yeah, hey!” I smiled right back. “Tanya, right? Do you love this store as much as I do?”

  Sometimes it scared me how easily lies could come to mind, even if they were foolish ones.

  “Yeah, I do,” she nodded, pursing her lips as she perused the stacks in front of her. “I knew I liked your energy when I met you earlier.”

  “My energy,” I repeated. “Is that like… an intuition thing… or….”

  I trailed off, unsure how to finish that sentence without sounding like a complete loon.

  “I guess so,” she chuckled. “This is going to sound totally crazy, but you just felt familiar to me. Like an old friend, or something.”

  “That doesn’t sound crazy at all,” I assured her quickly. “I felt the same way about you.”

  The lopsided grin Tanya gave me still didn’t indicate whether or not she felt that way in a magical sense or just in a general human sense, though I wasn’t sure she’d even know if she was conflating the two.

  “Are you into this business stuff?” She asked, indicating the books I held in my hand.

  “Oh, uh, yeah,” I nodded. “My family owns a shop here in Portland, and I was hoping to get some inspiration on how to improve it.”

  “What shop?”

  “Magic for Real.” This was the moment of truth. Either her eyes lit up in instant understanding and she’d confess to me how she was secretly a witch, or she just wouldn’t.

  “Magic for Real.” She squinted as she rolled the name over her tongue, and I knew I was wrong. She didn’t know a thing about magic.

  I had a lot more work to do than I’d thought.

  “It’s downtown,” I offered, hoping that would jog her memory.

  “Hmmmm. Oh, wait, I know where that is. I think I went in there once, just for shits and giggles.” She guffawed loudly before seemingly remembering that I was part owner in the place. “Sorry. Probably shouldn’t laugh like that in front of you.”

  “No, it’s okay,” I said automatically. “What do you find so funny, anyways?”

  Tanya looked at me like I was crazy and the answer should be obvious. When she realized I was serious, she bit her lip and tugged at her earlobe a little awkwardly.

  “Well, it’s just, I mean, you don’t actually believe in any of that stuff, right?” She whispered. “It’s just for show? For the tourists? I know they’re always obsessed with those stores, especially the ones that come from the Midwest.”

  “The stores or the tourists?” I asked bluntly, using my dumb question as a cover for the absolute shock I felt.

  Not only did she not know she was a witch, but she didn’t believe in magic at all. It appeared Tanya was just like I had been when Mom and Grams had first told me, only she lacked the access to two big time witches at home.

  “The tourists,” she replied flatly.

  “Right,” I nodded.

  “Listen, I don’t mean to sound ignorant or insulting,” she urged, laying a hand on my shoulder. It took everything in me not to leap away at her touch. Where her skin lay on mine, it felt like someone had just stuck the open end of a wire on my shoulder and then plugged the opposite part into a socket. Electricity was lighting me up. “Oh, ouch.”

  Tanya snatched her hand away, shaking it out.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked curiously.

  “You just shocked me. Have you been rubbing your socks on the carpet?” She gave me a sort of lopsided smile to let me know she was joking, but I was still a little bit stuck on her absolute disbelief in all things magical.

  That needed to change.

  “So you really don’t believe in all of the magic stuff?” I prompted.

  “I believe that people want it to be real so badly they’ll start to make connections where there are none,” she shrugged. “But do I believe that I can snap my fingers and make a fire light up? No.”

  It took everything in me not to burst out laughing at that. If only she knew how wrong she was.

  “Alright, I can understand that,” I told her sincerely. “There was a time when I thought my Mom and Grams were absolutely loony for owning the store.”

  Tanya surveyed me for a moment, wondering if I was going to say anything more. I held that moment, a little bit dramatically, knowing that my lack of explanation was only feeding her curiosity.

  “What changed your mind?” There was no judgment in her tone now, no disbelief. Instead, she sounded genuinely interested.

  Perfect.

  “I’ll tell you what,” I replied, “how about you come over to my house for the new moon, and I’ll show you exactly what changed my mind, okay?”

  “Tell me you guys don’t dance naked under the full moon.”

  “We don’t. The new moon and full moon are on different nights.” I grinned at her.

  Tanya laughed and tilted her head as she considered my offer.

  “Alright, Shannon, you’ve got a deal,” she announced, pulling out her phone and handing it to me so I could type in my number. “You tell me when and where, and let’s see if you can change my mind about this whole magic thing.”

  “And if I can’t?” I asked.

  “Nothing lost, nothing gained,” she shrugged.

  And then she trotted off to the checkout counter, bought her books, and flounced out.

  I was fairly sure I’d just made a new friend. But, more importantly, I’d also just made contact with the first halfling I’d ever met.

  Now I just needed to make sure she started to believe in magic. And for that, I needed the help of two older, wiser witches.

  8

  “Eucalyptus leaf paper!” Grams hollered, reading off of her list.

  I turned back around to search the shelves in the back room of Magic for Real, looking for the eucalyptus paper.

  And of course, it wasn’t there. That was just my luck.

  “We don’t have any,” I sighed. “Does plain old printer paper work?”

  Grams’ bright green eyes flicked up from the paper to my face, searching to see if I was joking or serious.

  “No, Shannon, we can’t,” she sighed. “It has to be eucalyptus leaf paper. If there was any other paper we could use, would I have asked you for eucalyptus leaf paper?”

  “How am I supposed to know you don’t have a thing for eucalyptus leaf paper?” I demanded. “Maybe, you really like eucalyptus leaf paper. Maybe eucalyptus leaf paper is just really nice to write on. Why do I keep saying eucalyptus leaf paper?”

  Mom skipped up then, dangling a half eaten soft pretzel out of her mouth like a cigarette and glanced over Grams’ shoulder.

  “Because it’s on the list,” she answered.

  “Thank you, Mom, that’s very helpful,” I sighed. “So, that’s a no on the eucalyptus paper. And you’re absolutely sure we can’t just substitute it?”

  “Shannon, that’s not how rituals work,” Grams replied apologetically. “If you’d have given us more time to prepare, maybe we could have gotten the proper supplies.”

  “It just slipped out,” I told her defensively. “One second she’s sitting there telling me how she doesn’t really believe in magic because apparently it’s all a bunch of bull, and then the next I’m inviting her over for a full moon ritual!”

  “New moon,” Mom corrected. “The full moon’s not for two more weeks.”

  “Has either o
ne of you ever done one of these before?” I asked.

  Mom and Grams looked at each other, down at the list in Grams’ hands, and then back at me.

  “Once,” Grams replied. “About sixty-five years ago. Give or take nine months.”

  “Well, I highly doubt Tanya’s trying to call in a fae to knock herself up with. Mom?”

  “Yeahhh, no.” She shook her head, bouncing her red curls up and down. “I tried once, with my college boyfriend. But we got a bit, um, distracted, if you get my drift.”

  “Too much so.” I wrinkled my nose and tried to knock any ideas of my mother and some random dude out of my head. “So what you’re telling me is that I’ve invited Tanya over for a new moon ritual, secretly plotting to get her to believe in magic, and we don’t have ingredients or experience?”

  “That’s what we’re telling you,” Grams nodded. “Why don’t we just do what your mom did the night you found out? Serve her a nice dinner, make friends, and then, BOOM! Hit her with the magic.”

  Grams threw her free hand out in a gesture much like a witch on television would, striking an awkward pose with one hip jutted out.

  “Yep, that seems a hell of a lot easier, kiddo,” Mom nodded.

  “It was only easier with me because I’m stuck with the two of you,” I pointed out. “And, in case you don’t remember, I ran like a bat out of hell when you explained this whole magic thing to me. You didn’t even touch on the halfling part of it all.”

  “Seemed to work out well enough,” Mom shrugged.

  “Tanya would run,” I told them seriously. “And we’d never see her again. This needs to be slow. She needs to figure it all out for herself, and come to the conclusion on her own. Hence, the ritual.”

  “Your plan is to get her to do the magic?” Grams raised an eyebrow.

  “Precisely,” I grinned, proud of myself for coming up with this somewhat brilliant plan. “She’ll do the ritual, magic will happen, and then, BAM, she’ll get it!”

  I copied Grams move from earlier, but the two of them just shook their heads.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You do realize this new moon ritual doesn’t actually include magic, right?” Mom tapped the list again. “It’s just a ritual for calling in positive things. Actually, Mama, did you get this from Google?”

  “She said ritual, not spell!” Grams replied defensively. “If you want a new moon spell that’s a whole different ball game, darling.”

  Someday, I really needed to compile a magic dictionary, so I could look up all of these different words and quickly learn their meanings.

  “New moon spell then!” I threw my hands up. “What’s one we could do?”

  “How well do you know this girl?” Mom chomped on the last piece of her pretzel as she considered the situation.

  “Not well at all,” I shrugged. “I did a little internet stalking, though. Her boyfriend died two years ago. Fiancé, actually. Danny.”

  Mom mulled over the little tidbit of information for a moment before her eyes lit up.

  “I know just the spell,” she gasped. “And lucky you, it takes the darkness of the new moon to work.”

  There were some days that I was absolutely convinced my mother was an evil genius. She snatched the ingredients for the spell and put together an entire plan in the span of about ten minutes. By the time she was finished, we knew exactly how we were going to convince Tanya to believe in magic.

  Mom had found a spell to control a dream using the power of the new moon. It was oddly similar to the intention setting ritual Grams had found on the world wide web, with one massive exception: it allowed a person to call something or someone into their dreams that night.

  Tanya would have to know magic was real after that.

  By the time she showed up at our doorstep, wearing a mid-length black dress and holding a bottle of nice red wine I was pretty sure she’d gotten from work, I could hardly contain my excitement. I knew that when I woke up the next morning, I’d have a new friend who was just like me.

  And she’d know it.

  “Mrs. McCarthy, I’ve been admiring this house for years,” Tanya was saying, swirling red wine in her glass and looking around our living room with a lopsided smile on her face. She reached a hand out and fingered one of our wooden charms meant to keep gremlins away.

  “Oh, please, dear, no one calls an old maid ‘Mrs.’” Grams chuckled. “I’m just Adora. I’d be careful with that charm. Get too much birch essence on your fingers and the dream demons will come a calling tonight!”

  Grams turned back to the stove where she was reheating some takeout fettuccine alfredo, and Tanya raised an eyebrow.

  “So you guys really believe in all the stuff you sell?” She asked, leaning so close her fingers touched my arm. Electricity shot between us and she jumped back with a light laugh. “Damn, Shannon, do you just stick your fingers in power sockets?”

  It’s the fae blood! I wanted to shout, but I refrained. She’d know soon enough.

  “Why else would we have a store?” I shrugged.

  Grams brought the food over just then, and we sat down to eat. The next hour passed, and I was pleasantly surprised that Tanya fit right in with the three of us.

  This would be so much cooler when she knew her powers. And then we could compare notes and learn from each other. Maybe I wouldn’t feel so out of control after all.

  “Sorry I’m late!” Deedee announced, rushing through the front door and just barely managing to yank her scarf off before she struck a pose in the hallway. “I was having the most terrible time with the registers tonight. We really must get those fixed, ladies.”

  “I called the handyman,” I told her.

  “Why don’t you guys go digital?” Tanya asked. Instantly, four sets of eyes jumped to her, but she didn’t seem the least bit phased. “We used to have the same problem at the pub, but when we digitized everything, the machines worked perfectly. Sometimes things are just too old to function.”

  Grams and Deedee were looking at Tanya like she was the devil come to life, while Mom and I shoved our hands in front of our mouths to hold in the snickers.

  We’d brought up the same idea to the old bats about a hundred times, but neither of them wanted to budge. They were just a bit too stuck in their ways for that.

  “We’ll take that under consideration,” Deedee responded, ever the picture of elegance, and held out her hand for Tanya to shake. “I’m Deedee.”

  “Tanya.”

  Just as they shook, the stuffed pixie clock on the mantle screeched out of hiding nine times, signaling the hour.

  “It’s time,” Grams replied darkly. She lowered her eyelids and painted her expression as serious as she could possibly get it. I could tell she was having fun setting the ambiance for Tanya, even if it didn’t quite work. The brunette simply raised an eyebrow, but rose to follow Mom and Grams out to the backyard.

  “You think this’ll work?” Deedee whispered, falling into step behind me.

  “It’s our only plan right now,” I replied.

  We walked into the middle of the grassy yard, where everything was already set up in a circle. Five places, each with their own little pile of ingredients, lit only by the porchlight. A piece of rice paper, a purple pen, a chunk of selenite, and a small cup of rose water.

  “Have a seat,” Grams intoned, maintaining the facade she’d donned moments ago.

  “I wasn’t expecting all this,” Tanya laughed, sitting down at the pile next to me. “Whenever my friends do these things, they just write a bunch of B.S. on some pieces of paper and burn it off.”

  “I told you we’d do a real ritual,” I replied.

  “Take the rice paper,” Grams said, taking her own in one hand. We all followed suit. “Now, write the name of one person or thing you would like to enter your dreams tonight.”

  I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw Tanya squint a little in disbelief before she shrugged, laid her paper on her leg, and started to write.


  I thought about mine for a second. I hadn’t actually prepared to do the ritual myself, so I just wrote down the first thing that came to my mind.

  Laslow.

  I had no idea if it would actually work. Witch magic might not be powerful enough to cross realms, but if it was, then I wanted to see him. Ever since I’d had the vision of him in prison, it had haunted me, even while dealing with all of the other insanity.

  “Good,” Grams said when everyone had finished. “Now, take your chunk of selenite and wrap the paper around it, and then hold it between your palms. Recite after me: Viderienum.”

  I even heard Tanya murmur the spell next to me, closing her eyes tightly.

  “Now drop both the stone and the paper into your rose water.”

  I did so, and watched as the paper dissolved into the light pink liquid, taking with it the name of my grandfather.

  I barely had time to process the spell before the world shifted before me and the edges of my vision grew fuzzy. For a second, I thought I was about to have one of my psychic moments before I realized that nothing else had changed. Mom, Grams, and Deedee were still across from me, but now the three of them were glancing between Tanya and I with great concern.

  I didn’t even have a moment to check on my newfound friend, though, because a figure appeared right behind them. It was glowing, almost like an angel, but there was no mistaking the face.

  “Laslow,” I whispered.

  It was him, with his impossibly pale skin and long, flowing blonde hair. His blue eyes were piercing as he stared at me before a soft smile ghosted across his lips.

  Some small part of me knew this wasn’t really him, that he wasn’t actually in front of me. It was like I was having a waking dream, but I didn’t want to acknowledge that just yet. I wanted to sit here and stare at him forever.

  “Laslow?” Grams screeched, springing to her feet and whipping around to follow my eye line. “Shannon, what on earth are you talking about?”