Kiss and Spell

I rapped lightly on the door frame. “Ready for dinner?” I asked.

“Just a second. I have some things to finish. I do still have a store to run, or at least look like I’m running,” he added with a crooked smile. “Come in, and shut the door behind you so we can talk.”

“Of course you’re running a store,” I said as I shut the door. “Why would you need to look like that’s what you’re doing?”

He glanced up at me then, frowning. “Katie? Is something wrong?”

“Josh showed up, demanding an explanation. That was about as pleasant as you might imagine.”

“Josh showed up?” he asked warily.

“Oh, you don’t have anything to worry about. I broke up with him definitively. He didn’t take it too well. He tried to talk me out of it, but I know he’s not right for me.”

“Is anything else wrong?”

“Other than that, things are fine, and I think I shouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.”

“Do you think he knows anything?”

“Well, obviously he knows about us—he’d already figured that out. I didn’t think there was any point in hiding it.”

Owen got up from his desk and came around to stand next to me. “There’s nothing else you think he knows?”

“What is there for him to know? It’s not like it’s any of his business.”

He placed his hand against my cheek and leaned down to kiss me, then straightened and looked at me like he was waiting for something. “Mmm, that was nice,” I said. “I hope there’s more of that to look forward to this evening.”

“Katie …” he said, his voice sounding strained.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

“Don’t you remember the other plans we had for this evening?”

“We talked about dinner. Any other plans remain unspoken or implied, but if you want to spell them out, I’m game.”

I didn’t understand the alarm in his eyes. I’d never had a guy look that disturbed after a kiss before. Was my breath bad?

“Katie, check your pocket,” Owen said, his voice rough with emotion.

“Why?” He was starting to worry me.

“Just, please, do it. Check your pocket.”

He sounded so upset that I figured it wasn’t worth arguing about. With a shrug, I reached into my pocket and found a folded piece of paper. “Oh, that’s probably what I’ve forgotten,” I said as I pulled out the paper. “It must be my to-do list.”

When I unfolded the paper, I saw that it was covered with my handwriting, but it wasn’t a to-do list, and it wasn’t anything I remembered writing. “My brother Dean figured out he was a wizard, and he used his powers to break into all the stores on the Cobb town square,” it said. That was not was I was expecting to see, but even so, something clicked in my head, then everything went hazy and cleared again. As soon as my head felt clear, I started shaking violently in the aftershock. I looked at Owen and whispered, “Whew, that was a close call.”

“You’re okay now?” he asked. “You remember?”

“That we’re being held in some wacky elf prison? Yeah, I remember.” I sank into the nearest chair before my legs could go out from under me. “It’s a good thing you made me write that down. But why didn’t the kiss work? Isn’t that supposed to be what works in fairy tales? It worked before.”

“It may be that our relationship is now the same in both worlds, so it’s not enough to do the trick anymore. A memory from your family involving magic was a great idea. It has nothing in common with this reality.”

I studied the life-saving piece of paper in my hand. “Do you think I’ll need a new one?”

“I hope we don’t need it again.” Even so, I refolded it and put it back in my pocket. I looked up to see that he was still frowning at me. “I take it Josh really was here?” he asked.

I rubbed at my temples. Snapping out of the spell had given me a headache. “Yes, and it went just like I told you, only he must have hit me with the whammy when I didn’t fall under his sway. He seemed convinced I’d give up and go back to him. And maybe I should have.”

“What?” It was an outraged yelp.

I hurried to reassure him. “Not for real, but if I pretended to be with him and to ignore you, then he’d never suspect that the spell had broken, and if he’s in on it, maybe I could have learned something.”