Emma
As I gaped at Carol as her knitting project grew longer, the thought of my shiny new powers always expressing themselves whether I wanted them to or not filling my mind, another blast-from-the-past voice interrupted us.
“Emma!" The call of my name had me jolting in my seat, scared that someone would know what we were just talking about, or see Carol's knitting needles going by themselves, or even one of the cats carrying on a conversation.
As soon as the voice registered though, all my fear disappeared. Deva, one of our group from before I left town, came out of one of the back room doors. And when she didn’t look the least bit surprised about the needles knitting on their own, I released a slow breath. So Deva was magical or whatever, too.
Was everyone in this town magical?
"So good to have you home. To stay this time, I hope. Sorry I’m late.” She walked over to give the tabby cat a scratch under the chin. I hadn't even noticed him come back in. He and Marble were both curled up on different perches on the cat trees along the back wall.
“Lovely, Deva, thanks,” he said, rubbing against her hand.
“Late?” I asked, confused.
Deva nodded.
“For what?”
“To initiate you into our world,” she answered with a grin.
Oh boy.
Deva looked at the cat, then at me, then back at the cat. “I don’t know what you know yet, except that because he talked in front of you, you obviously know he can.”
I nodded mutely. Deva walked over and pulled one of the remaining arm chairs to be part of the cluster around Beth's desk before she plopped down on it beside me. “You all right?” she asked as she looked me over, her eyes lingering on my shoulder.
All I could seem to do was nod. I swallowed and sucked in a deep breath. “Yeah, apparently I’m Karma.”
Deva sat back and gave me an appraising look. “Very cool. I’ve heard of that.”
I looked between her and Carol and even glanced over at Beth, who was trying to wrap up her phone conversation. “This is just normal for you guys?”
Deva chuckled. “You poor thing.” She leaned out of her chair so she could put one arm around me. “Yes, we’ve known we were witches for…Well, ever. Sounds like you’ve turned into one. It happens occasionally.” She looked surprised for a second. “Hey, are you going home soon? I’ve got a big bag of food in my car for your brother and his girlfriend. You wanna take it with you?”
“Sure,” I said, then swallowed hard around the lump in my throat. Deva always had this way of tearing down my walls and making it hard to hide my emotions. And the fact that my old friends had obviously been helping a lot with my brother since I was gone made me feel like I wanted to cry and thank them, all at the same time.
“Things haven’t been easy for you since you left,” she said, her voice gentle as she watched me too closely.
I nodded, blinking back tears.
“I’m here for you. Always.” Her dark eyes seemed to stare right into my soul.
I stood from my chair and held out my arms, waiting. Deva knew what I was asking for without me having to explain it and she pushed up from her chair so I could pull her into a tight hug. I squeezed her until she grunted.
“Thank you,” I whispered, before turning and looking at Carol over my shoulder. “And thank you, too. For taking care of them.”
Once I released Deva, I sat back down and looked around the room, not sure how to process everything.
“Want to talk about the whole magic thing first? Or what you’ve been up to?” Deva asked.
Magic thing. This was real. I wasn’t human anymore. Which meant I could do things. But what? What were the limitations of magic? Did it even have any? So far I'd seen people reduced to toads, tires explode, people vanish, yarn knitting itself, and, of course, the talking cats. What if this was just the tip of the iceberg? Could people raise the dead? What about teleportation, was that real? All kinds of questions flooded my mind.
“Magic,” I mumbled, pressing a hand to my forehead. Was I feeling light-headed or was this magic place actually swaying under my feet?
Deva grabbed her purse. “Here,” she said and reached inside. “Eat this.” She produced a large chocolate bar, one of the good brands from overseas. “It’ll help.”
I nodded, because hell, why wouldn’t chocolate help at this point? I certainly thought it would help when my ex had filed for divorce and when I found out he was boning his secretary. The wrapper crinkled as I opened it, the paper and foil tearing to reveal the creamy milk chocolate hidden underneath. I took a bite and immediately felt calmer. Like it was going to be okay. Like everything was going to be okay. Not just the magic stuff, but my divorce, the business, Henry and Alice. Everything would work out.
“Come on, dove,” Deva said as she stood and pulled her purse over her shoulder before extending a hand to me. “Let me drive you home.”
“I’ll follow in her car,” Carol offered. “Beth, we’ll catch you up later!”
I took Deva's hand and she towed me from the chairs toward the door. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that Beth was still on the phone. She waved, but I was too calm and happy to really process it. Why wouldn’t I be happy? I had magical powers. That was enough to make anyone happy. Even the chime above Beth's door sounded happy as we went out.
After I vaguely pointed out my vehicle to Carol, I handed her my keys. Why wouldn't I trust her to get my car home with me? If she wanted to drive then so be it. Deva tugged on my hand again and we walked arm in arm around to the back of the little strip mall where her car was parked. It was a sleek black sedan that seemed to glow under the lights on the back of the building.
Deva got me strapped into her passenger seat, then she ran around to the drivers side, sliding in and throwing the car into reverse before she'd even finished buckling her seatbelt. She looked at me and grinned before we took off. “My chocolate should be working really well by now.”
“Your chocolate?” I asked, feeling my brows furrowed in confusion. Was that something I'd ever noticed before? Being able to feel the muscles on my face moving with my expressions?
“Yeah, I wrapped it in one of those wrappers of the brand they sell at the airport. But I made it. My food makes people feel certain ways. I can do a lot with my food, good and bad.” Deva's voice kept me from focusing too much on the strange sensation in my face.
I nodded, understanding. I mean, why wouldn't she be able to use food to make people feel things if Carol could knit without touching the needles and Beth could talk to animals? Was it the chocolate that was making my face feel funny?
“You’ll remember all this tomorrow, but it’ll be an easier pill to swallow after a good dose of that chocolate. Have another bite.”
I did as she asked, even though I hadn't remembered the chocolate bar was still in my hands, and another wave of contentment washed over me. I licked the gooey bits from my fingers where I'd been holding it, enjoying the feel of the silky substance on my tongue.
“This is going to be great,” I muttered.
“That’s the spirit!” Deva laughed as though she knew a secret I didn't. She pulled her car up to a house that I assumed belonged to my brother's girlfriend. A woman came out the front door and stood on the porch, fiddling with the cuffs of her cardigan. “Come on, have you met her yet?”
I shook my head. Technically I had, but she’d been young then. I didn’t know her as an adult, or as my brother’s girlfriend.
I got out as Deva did the same, grabbing the bag of food from the backseat. As we walked up to the porch, I realized it wasn't just her fiddling with her clothing that let me know how painfully shy she was, but the way she couldn't hold my gaze. The way her eyes darted around, checking on everything as though she was worried something was out of place. Everything about her said that she was uncomfortable around people.
I wondered why.
Under the oatmeal-colored cardigan she wore a pale pink chambray shirt that was unbuttoned just at the collar and some jeans with a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers, the kind where the ears moved as she walked. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun, the auburn locks straining for their freedom. From the looks of things, she had natural curls or at least waves in her hair that made it bunch up in sections even though she'd tried to pull it as tight as she could. Dark, doe eyes watched us from under a thick layer of lashes. She had a natural, no-makeup-required beauty that made most women probably want to scream. I was just glad that my brother had found someone who seemed just as quirky as he was.
Alice smiled and ducked her eyes. “I’m so happy to meet you,” she said in a soft voice after Deva introduced us. “Your brother has told me so much about you.”
She was just perfect, and that wasn’t the chocolate talking. Maybe a little off, considering she was mid-thirties and still wearing bunny slippers and having people watch out for her, but so was my brother. Together it seemed like they would be spot on.
There was no staying to chat, no inviting us in. It was a quick introduction, then Alice scurried back inside with her food and we got in the car and drove up the road to my place. Or maybe I should say Henry's place, since I hadn't lived there in so long. Our place. All I knew was that it wasn't my parent's house anymore.
Deva's voice broke through my inner ramblings as she said, “Alice is a witch, but her magic is a little off. Every time she tries a spell or potion it backfires, sometimes in hilarious ways, but also problematic ways. We keep an eye on her.”
"I missed this. People keeping an eye on each other. My old neighbors would call the cops if my grass got too long,” I said with a snort.
"If they call the cops here, at least it would be one of the cute, young officers that came out to see you." Deva chuckled.
Bring on the eye candy. After being married to Rick for years, I needed some. Despite myself, I thought of Daniel. It was stupid. He was just some guy I’d run into in a store and made a fool of myself in front of, but his bright green eyes seemed to float through my thoughts, and the memory of his smile made something inside of me ache. Like a yearning I couldn’t explain. And just the feel of that yearning made me think of Rick cheating on me all over again.
I didn’t want that jerk to still be hurting me, but somehow he was. Somehow even the thought of a handsome man’s smile made me think of pain instead of love and potential. Had my ex broken something inside me? And could it be fixed?
The chocolate was good, but that could only get me so far, unless Deva had some other chocolate to help with a broken heart.
I'd have to ask her about that.