Nineteen

The Hero

My phone rang after I pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the main road. I picked it up and saw Duely’s name on the screen. I pressed accept and put it to my ear.

“Hey,” I said in greeting.

“Did Rathe find you?” he asked sleepily. He hadn’t been awake long from the sound of his raspy tone.

“Yep. He showed up while I was in the middle of a chat with my stalker,” I replied dryly.

“Shut the fuck up! What did you do?” He was awake now.

“I sealed his doors closed so he couldn’t get out of his car until the warlock was out of sight. Before you ask he walked away he didn’t vanish. I didn’t have to explain that to Rathe. He never mentioned his doors being locked or being unable to get out of the car. Which I expected him to. Odd.”

Duely let out a loud breath. “Damn, your morning has been busy. Kicked out of your crazy mother’s house because you’re dangerous, faced the warlock again, and Rathe coming in for the rescue,” he replied then yawned loudly. “Too damn early for all this.”

“How did you know Persephone had kicked me out and that she thinks I’m evil?” I immediately asked him. If he’d just woken up then he shouldn’t have this news yet.

“My mother texted me after calling while I was alseep and I didn’t answer. She said Persephone had forced you out of the house because you were dangerous. That there were things I didn’t know and I needed to keep my distance. Not to let you come inside my apartment. Not to talk to you or take your calls. So, when are you going to bring your shit to my apartment? The spare bedroom is yours as long as you need it.”

Tears stung my eyes, and I blinked them away.

I couldn’t say I wasn’t loved or cared for by my family. Duely was my family and this was his way of letting me know they could all go to hell. He wasn’t disowning me or shutting me out. Duely loved me. More tears threatened. I was going to mess up my makeup and have to do another charm.

“You love me,” I said, with the emotion clogging my throat.

“Of course I fucking love you. It’s us against them. It always has been. Besides, if you’re so damn evil and dangerous, I don’t want you as an enemy. If you morph into a demon or some weird shit like that then I want that kind of badassery on my side.”

I was laughing now, and the tears had rolled down my cheeks. Duely could always be counted on to look at the bright side of all situations and make them comical. “I love you, too,” I told him.

“Yeah, I know. Which means you’re not going to turn into a sinister demon from the pits of hell on your next birthday.” He sounded let down about that, which made my smile grow. “Just because I have to let that idea go doesn’t mean you won’t still be some all powerful mythical being or some shit. Because whatever dark secret your birth giver has about you she’s terrified of you.”

The reminder of my mother soured my short lived good mood. “She just hates me. It’s not terror,” I clarified.

“Wrong. For that woman to give up the Charmed daughters. The fucking power of three shit she hungered for so badly... she is terrifed of you. She hated that you wouldn’t give her what she wanted. But, Cat, she has never hated you. She’s been intimidated by you for as long as I can remember. You didn’t see it, but it was clear to everyone else. Except your superficial sisters.”

I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I was done talking about Persephone.

“I’m job hunting today then I’ll come to the bar and get the key for the apartment later. I have all my things with me.”

There was a pause. “What kind of job?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’m trying to figure that out. I haven’t had a very quiet morning to think it over. One interruption after another.”

“I was thinking yesterday but didn’t say anything because you were grieving and I felt like it wasn’t the right time. But I know someone who is looking for a personal assistant. She’s one of my special friends. Lala designs purses. She opened a boutique here a few years ago, and most of her sales were online, but some celebrity, I think it was one of those teenage popstars, but anyway, they were seen with one of her purses at some awards show. Lala’s shit blew up after that. She went from small buisness to a full blown corporation with investors. She’s looking for someone to replace her last assistant. The girl got married two weeks ago and resigned.”

I wasn’t sure who would name their child Lala, but the job sounded like it might pay more than a server and that was what I was looking for. I could make enough money to pay for nursing school. “I’m intersted in talking to her if she’s open to interviewing me.”

“She will be. That’s not a question. I’ll call her and then get back to you with the details. Don’t accept another job until you’ve talked to her.”

“Okay and thank you,” I replied.

“No problem. Just, if you do turn into a wicked demonic creature, don’t kill her. She’s my friend,” he said, then ended the call with a chuckle.

I smiled and shook my head. Knowing he, too, thought Persephone was crazy, helped. I flicked a glance at myself in the rearview mirror and saw nothing out of the ordinary other than the fact my makeup still looked perfect. A perk of casting a spell rather than just putting the makeup on myself. I’d forgotten about that.

My day was getting better already. Duely wasn’t disowning me or scared of me, he was offering me somewhere to stay for awhile, and had a job lead. I needed to cook Duely dinner tonight. I’d clean his apartment, too, but it was spotless. He had no issue with using magic to do things like clean his apartment. I would have to find a way to pay him back for his help. He’d been my hero today.

I decided to head back to Margo and Heath’s apartment and explain my running off last night. I had time to kill waiting on Duely to get back to me on the interview with Lala. I’d do some research on her after I left Margo and Heath’s. I wanted to know more about her before I spoke to her. Rathe hadn’t turned to go toward the apartment when he had pulled out of the parking lot so there was a solid chance he was going somewhere else that would keep him away long enough for me to visit my friends.

Time. Just some time away from him was all it would take. He was the first guy to draw me in since I was fifteen. He’d been my first grown up attraction. I was sure this reaction was typical. If I could avoid him for a week or two then go back to being friends as if nothing happened, it would work. I was sure of it. Maybe.

When I pulled into the parking lot of their apartment, I saw no sign of the black Charger. He wasn’t here, but both Margo and Heath’s vehicles were parked in their normal spots. I pulled beside Margo’s and got out. I stared down at the door of the car. The lock clicked into place immediatly. I wasn’t sure what all I could do without saying an incantation and directing my energy with my hands. Locking the door was one of those things apparently. Not using magic daily, I didn’t know what I could do when it came to simple things. Like today, could I have sealed Rathe’s doors shut without speaking or raising my hand in that direction? I had no idea. Did I want to know? I’d spent my life trying to be like my father. Trying to not be a witch. I had lumped being charmed and evil together. They weren’t one and the same. Duely wasn’t evil and he used magic daily.

“Cat!” Heath’s voice broke into my thoughts and I lifted my gaze from the door to see Heath was heading this way. “I’ve been calling and texting you for over an hour. I was coming to find you. I’ve been worried since I found out from Duely that you’d left and Rathe had come out looking for you.” He paused then and his eyes took me in much quicker than Rathe had. ”I was going to ask if you were okay, but you seem to be, uh, good. Really good.” His eyes lifted to meet mine, and there was the glow there I had thought I might see in Rathe’s but hadn’t. The charm hadn’t impressed Rathe, but it was getting to Heath easy enough.

“I’m sorry. I have no missed calls or texts from you. I wonder what’s wrong?” I had gotten other text and calls just fine. “Oh, and I’ve got a job interview today,” I told Heath, not going into detail. “I was coming to apologize for crashing last night and then taking off like I did. I shouldn’t have worried you.”

He was looking at my sweater and then blinked several times when he realized what he was doing. “I called and texted, I swear. Reception must have been bad... and no, no need to apologize,” he stammered. “I shouldn’t have let Rathe talk me into leaving you sleeping on him. He was being so damn stubborn that I just gave up. That’s my fault,” he inhaled a little sharply like he was struggling to get a breath. This stupid enchantment must have been too much. I wasn’t sure how to tame it down.

“I shouldn’t have drank so much without eating enough. My fault,” I told him then wanted to get away from this conversation. “Is Margo awake?” I asked already knowing she was. Rathe had gotten my location from her much earlier.

“Yeah, she’s in the shower. She’s got to work. Do you have time to go get something to eat?” he asked, looking way too hopeful. I was hungry, but I wasn’t going anywhere with him. Not when he was being affected by the spell.

I opened my mouth to turn him down when Mary appeared at his side. She was staring up at me with her serious eyes... they almost looked disapproving. As if I’d let her down. I wanted to explain myself to her. I didn’t want her to think I was trying to do any harm to her siblings. I knew from conversations with Annabelle that Mary would sense the magic, as a dark sinister presence. She didn’t like it. I couldn’t very well explain to Mary what I’d done in front of Heath. My eyes went back to Heath’s, and I smiled.

“Thank you, but I don’t have that much time. Are you going out to search for a job today?” I asked him instead.

He nodded. “Yeah, there’s a position at the Delvaux library. It pays suprisingly well and it would be easy to get from work to class on the same day. Very convenient.”

“That sounds great,” I told him.

“I’m just afraid there will be a lot of students applying. Probably a slim chance I’ll get it,” he said with a shrug.

“You’ll get it,” I said the words too easily. I hadn’t even taken a moment to consider the power behind them. I knew what I was doing, and I did it anyway. What was wrong with me? I used to never manipulate fate. I let things happen as they were meant to be.

He grinned. “You seem so sure of it. Maybe that good vibe will help me in the interview,” he said.

Oh, it would help him alright. He would be taking more than a good vibe in there. He’d be wrapped in sorcery he didn’t ask for, but he would get the job. He’d be happy. That was good but my controlling it was bad.

I felt the unsettling stare from Mary and I didn’t meet her gaze again. If the enchantment that she’d sensed from my appearance had bothered her then what I’d just done would have her clinging to Heath for the next week.

“I need to go. Tell Margo I’ll call her later,” I said.

“I will. Let me know how your interview goes,” he replied. “Wait, where is the interview? You didn’t tell me.”

“A friend of Duely’s is a designer. She needs a personal assistant. That’s all I know right now. I’ll let you know more once I do.”

Heath frowned. “Duely has friends like that?”

I laughed. Duely was a wild creature in the eyes of my friends. They had no idea the kind of friends Duely had. His charm had been used to its full advantage. “Surprising I know. But he’s a charmer, even if he’s got a colorful personality.”

Heath didn’t look convinced but he wasn’t charmed by Duely. “Okay,” he said and he started to say more when I saw the black Charger pull into the parking spot to my right. Time to go.

“I’ll text you later,” I said then headed to my car without looking back in Rathe or Heath’s direction.

When I reached the door to the car, I unlocked it with a glance on instinct. Grabbing the handle to the driver’s door, I opened it then, unable to stop myself, I looked toward the Charger.

Rathe was standing outside the driver’s side door. His back to Heath as he watched me. I paused and held his gaze for a moment but that was all I could allow. Giving him a small nod and smile. That was friendly enough. Climbing into the driver’s seat, I was proud of how I handled that.

When I pulled out onto the road, Rathe was there in my rearview mirror watching me leave. The tightening in my chest came instantly and that weakness proved how human I was. This crush or whatever I had on Rathe might be hard to overcome, but it was also reassuring me that my mother didn’t know me. I was half my father. Rathe was reminding me of that with every emotional crack he caused in me.