I sat at a dinner table filled with pot roast, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, hot rolls, freshly made cream corn, pudding and whipped-cream salad, and three table settings. At the head of the table sat a perfectly ordinary, but handsome blonde man. "Hello, daughter," he said.
At the second plate setting, a woman with darker blonde hair, and my amber eye color. She smiled. "It's so nice to meet you."
They looked exactly the way I'd always imagined. Exactly. "What is happening?" And why wasn't I falling anymore? "Where are we?" My bladder was still stretched tight. “And do you have a bathroom?”
"Fate said you were a little dense," the woman said, completely ignoring my request for a facility. "We. Are. Your. Parents," she said slowly and with exaggerated enunciation.
"I. Am. Your. Father," the man said, in the same way.
"Look, Darth. I don't know who the hell you are or why you've brought me here, but I will not let you take me without a fight." I stood up and raised my fists, knocking my chair over in the process. It disappeared before it hit the floor. "What the--"
"I hate loud noises," the woman said. "Icky to the ears."
The man sighed. "I knew this was a bad idea."
"For a guy who personifies chance, you sure don't like to take any. Chances that is."
I groaned. "You're my parents," I said.
"See," the woman said brightly. "I knew she'd get it."
"Just to get the formalities out of the way, you both suck."
"Chance sucks," Destiny disagreed. "I'd much rather blow." She giggled at her joke.
"Har har, and super gross. Why do you two look like a couple from a fifties television show?"
"Because this is how you picture us, dear," Destiny said. "We wanted to make you feel... comfortable."
"Too late for that."
"We're here to offer you a chance," Chance said.
I widened my eyes. "Let me guess? To fulfill my destiny."
Destiny clapped her hands. "She's not dense at all!"
"Goddess help me."
"She is," Destiny said. "She's allowing us to interfere on your behest this one time."
"How?"
"She's all-powerful and omnipotent," Chance explained.
I shook my head. "No, I mean how is She allowing you to interfere."
"She will let us send you back in time to one single point so that you can make a different choice and change your--"
I held up my hand. "I get it. And what do I have to do in order get this boon?" I asked suspiciously. There was no such thing as something for nothing.
"You have to be willing to give up the thing you love the most."
"My job?" I said, hoping they'd accept it. Up until a day ago, it would have been the truth.
"Oh, child. The Goddess knows your heart," Destiny said. "You can save yourself. You can save him. If you're willing to let him go."
I fought down the anger and sorrow clawing at my chest and throat. I couldn't say it. Not yet. I wasn't ready. So, I stalled. "What am I?"
"What do you mean?" Chance asked.
"If I'm your daughter. Why did you drop me at an orphanage for witches?"
"Because you're a witch, Gigi," Destiny said.
"How can that be? Why am I not like you?"
"There can only be one of us," Chance said as if stating the obvious. "So, when you were born, we rolled the dice on your destiny, and fate chose to make you a witch. It's much better than a vampire or a banshee, isn't it?"
"I could have ended up a vampire?"
Destiny shook her head, "I might have nudged the dice in the right direction."
"What's your decision, daughter?" Chance asked. "If you wait too long, we might not be able to move you to a fixed point before the ritual."
Tears came unbidden. It tore me up inside to think about life without Monty, but if I didn't make the choice, none of us might make it. Chance handed me a hanky like a good fifties dad would.
"Sometimes you have to take the hard path in order to get the best result."
"But it's ultimately your choice, dear," Destiny added. "Free Will would have a fit if it was any other way."
"What are you willing to give up to save your species?" Chance asked. "You must say it."
I would lose him either way. At least if I chose to give him up, he would have a shot at a happy life. "I am willing to give up Montrose Abadose as my one love to save him. To save us all."
Destiny got up and walked around the table to me. She took my hand. "Think about the point in time where you want to return."
Chance stood up and took my other hand. "Be specific."
I wanted to go back to the point where Monty held me in his arms after we made love, to bask in the heat of his body one last time, but that would be selfish on my part. I knew if I were going to give him up, it would have to be a complete break. But somehow, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the moment he held me as the death curse left my body.
"There," Destiny said. "Hold it."
"Wait," I told her, but was silenced with Monty's mouth against mine. I let the kiss linger longer than it should have, the taste of him igniting my passion once again until a sob escaped my lips. "Stop," I said. "We can't." I pushed him away. "We can't do this."
"But you--"
"I know. I asked for it. But now, I'm saying it won't work." I shook my head and looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "Besides, we have a job to do. The cult is doing the ritual tonight, and the humans aren't the sacrifices."
"How do you know that?" Brita asked as she came in from the balcony.
"The same way I know three candles means to send in the cavalry. I suggest you get to lighting them," I told her. "Marlow Marshall is the mastermind behind this whole thing, and she's planning to sacrifice the entire cult to capture the power of time."
"That sounds a little outlandish," Monty said.
"Try a lot." I crossed the room and picked up the MAN. "An hour ago, I would have agreed with you. But you'll just have to trust me on this one." I shook my head and handed him the nullifier. "We're going to need this."
"Candles are lit," Brita said. "You know, Cas still might be distracting Marlow. My face her face," she said, and once again looked like the stuff of my nightmares. "I can maybe take her place."
"She's more dangerous than you think," I told Brita. "Go back downstairs. Find Cas. And tell the Council they need to bring all the bobbleheads they can find and meet us on the top floor of the resort..." I looked at the time. "...in one hour."
"What will you both do?"
"Wait for the call that sends us upstairs," I told her.
She nodded and left. When it was just the two of us, Monty stared at me with an intensity that made me squirm.
"What happened during those few moments when the curse left your body? Did you have a vision?"
"Something like that."
"What did you see?"
"I saw my destiny,'' I told him as longing and grief threatened to choke me. "Nothing more." The pressure on my bladder was getting intense now. “I’ll be right back.”
One potty break and two hours later, Shirley and a fifty-man team of warlocks had shackled the Divinus Paradiso witches and warlocks together and poofed them all to jail cells in Salem, where they wouldn't be allowed to practice magic for a very long time. Doyle’s face when he realized I was responsible for his arrest, and that I’d infiltrated the cult by wearing a Pepper skin, had been nearly worth the price of admission.
The only one who had no chance of parole was Marlow Watts. That witch wouldn't be able to practice spellcasting ever again, thank the Goddess. She'd confessed to the death curse. The witch had confessed she’d wanted to take Pepper out of the equation. She'd hated her and had figured out that she didn't need twenty-three sacrifices, only twenty-two, which equaled eleven pairs. Eleven was a power number for witches. And since she'd had no plans to sacrifice herself, she'd had one extra person. Me.
She'd almost succeeded. I could still see the look on Monty's face when I'd been whisked away. Chances were, he'd been sucked in as well. I'd made the right choice. Really, it had been the only choice.
After it was all said and done, Monty and I gave our statements. I left out the part about meeting my sucky parents and went with Monty's theory that my brief death had given me a glimpse of the future, an act I had no interest in repeating. Saying goodbye to Monty had been formal and complicated. What could I do? I had no idea what the ramifications would be if I went against the Goddess. She'd given me the chance to make things right. If I crossed her, she might take it all back. That would be worse than knowing I could never be with Monty. At least, that's what I told myself.
All I'd wanted to do was fling myself at him and profess my feelings. Instead, I shook his hand and thanked him for a job well-done.
"See you at the divorce hearing," I said, my hand still in his. We'd have to wait a mandatory one week before we could file. It was witch law.
He nodded. "You mean the annulment," he corrected.
I swallowed back hot tears. "I..." I'd fallen in love. It had made the marriage real, even if I'd turned back time to before we'd had sex.
He let go of my hand. "It will have to be a divorce," he said, his tone bitter. "I'll see you then." His gaze pinned me. "Goodbye, Gigi."
"Goodbye, Monty."