Kiss and Spell

“That person may be in danger,” Owen whispered to me. “We should help.”

“You think this is where all those elves are disappearing?”

“That person looked kind of like he was being disappeared.”

“But what can we do to help?”

“We can bring the Council enforcers down on them.”

“Oh, you clever thing.”

Once the coast was clear, we started to leave our hiding place, but he pushed me back. “Maybe you should stay here. I’m the one they’ll follow.”

“I’m not letting you go in there without me. And I’m not standing alone on the sidewalk at night in this neighborhood.”

He didn’t argue. We reached the door, and I felt the tingle of magic as he unlocked it. “I’m not sensing wards,” he whispered.

“Maybe it’s a trap.”

“Maybe they underestimate us.”

I still had a bad feeling as we crept through a narrow, unlit hallway. We’d made it into a vast warehouse-like space when I thought I heard the door open and close behind us. I hoped it was Owen’s Council shadows.

If it was, I doubted they’d see anything they could make an arrest over. I didn’t see any people or elves, definitely not the person who looked like he was being kidnapped. There was a weird glow at the far end of the room that probably explained the odd lights we’d seen through the upper windows.

“What do you think that is?” I whispered.

“Let’s go find out.”

We edged our way around the room, sticking to the shadows and keeping as silent as possible, even though I still didn’t see anyone we needed to hide from. When we were finally on the same end of the room as the glow, I got a good look at what was going on, and before I could remember to stifle my gasp of shock, everything went black.

Chapter Five

The sound of an old-fashioned jangling alarm clock woke me from a deep slumber. I snaked a hand out from under the covers to turn it off, then flung the comforter back and sat up, stretching as I yawned. It was time to face the day. I hopped out of bed and went through the morning rituals of washing and dressing, holding a couple of different blouse options in front of myself in the mirror with one hand while I brushed my teeth with the other hand.

And then I was out the door and down the stairs. I waved to the mailman as I made my way down the front steps of the brownstone. “No bills for you today, Katie!” he called out to me.

Strange, I had the oddest feeling that I was hearing bouncy music playing behind me all the while. After fighting off an eerie shiver, I told myself I probably just had a song stuck in my head.

I rounded the corner and popped into the neighborhood coffee shop. “Hey, Katie, I’ve got your usual ready,” the waitress called out. She took the paper cup from the counter and turned to hand it to me, but she stumbled and the cup went flying. I had visions of ending up covered in coffee, but at the last split second, a hand shot out and caught the cup.

“Here you go,” my rescuer said, handing it to me. I found myself looking into dark blue eyes, and it seemed as though time came to a standstill. I blinked and saw that the eyes were set in a handsome face topped with dark hair. He was as frozen as I was. And then reality returned with a crash.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Katie!” the waitress said, rushing over to check on me. She blushed to the roots of her curly red hair. “I am such a klutz sometimes. Did I spill any coffee on you?”

“No harm done,” I assured her. I turned back toward my rescuer, but he was gone. I felt bad that I hadn’t even thanked him. Or gotten his phone number. Or married him. Ah, well, I supposed it wasn’t meant to be. I took a sip of the coffee and said, “Just right. Thanks, Perry!”

The sense of background music had faded slightly during that scene, but it returned as I continued down the sidewalk, heading toward work, only a little late this morning. The regulars were already in the park across the street from the store, including the two men who spent their days playing chess there. I paused for a moment with the strangest feeling of reverse déjà vu. Instead of getting the sense that I’d seen something before, I felt like I hadn’t seen it before, even though I knew I had.

I finished my coffee as I stared up at the bookstore. Three stories full of books, with a bonus coffee shop, had seemed like my idea of heaven when I first went to work there. It was supposed to have been a temporary job, but I was closing in on a year with no sign of anything better on the horizon. With a dejected sigh, I drained my cup and tossed it in a nearby trash bin before heading across the street and into the store.