Chapter 8

8

The funny thing about being stood up is that it makes you mad, then sad, and then resigned.

I was sure Farley got caught up in some Petri dish crisis. But he knew I was bound to this place and unable to leave it. He could have sent someone else with an explanation if he couldn't come himself.

And he could have sent dinner like he promised. I hadn't bothered to cook and Peace hadn't wanted dinner. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich I eventually settled for did not put me in a forgiving mood. I woke just as mad and upset as I'd gone to sleep.

At least I was no longer wearing those stupid innkeeper clothes. That outfit shouted witch and pilgrim at the same time. Everything about it was a fashion don't , and yet the outfit didn't seem to care one bit about my opinion.

I trudged down the stairs with the wand in the pocket of my jeans from yesterday. I had woken up late and went up to deliver morning tea to Peace before making my own.

On the way back down, I glimpsed myself in the hall mirror. I was back to looking like myself but it didn't make me happy.

Depressed, I went to the kitchen and popped a coffee into the quick drink machine I found stashed in the pantry. I was making myself a second cup when the doorbell rang.

How could an inn this old even have a doorbell?

Maybe Paul had ordered a delivery. I asked him and his mates to build a deck off the kitchen.

I pulled myself together and went to answer the door. The horrible innkeeper outfit suddenly appeared on me for no reason. Its skirt brushed the hardwood of the hallway floor as I walked.

How did women ever wear these clothes? How did witches spell things when they had to dress like cartoons? Jezel and I needed to have a heart-to-heart about this stupid outfit.

I pulled open the door, hoping it would be Farley. Unfortunately, Ethan stared back at me instead. And he stared in horror.

"What in bloody hell are you wearing, Selene? Is that your All Hallows Eve costume?"

I lifted my chin. "No. This is what innkeepers wore in the 1940s when this inn became magical."

"More like 1840s. It's ugly as sin," Ethan said.

I had no intention of standing in my doorway and swapping insults with a man I detested.

"How dare you show back up here at the inn," I said as I pulled the wand from my skirt pocket. I shook it out with a flick of my wrist. "Where's your evil mother, Ethan? Is she here too?"

Ethan leaned toward me a little. "Mom is guarding our hostage because she supports me. You could have had a mother like her if you had married me."

The thought of marrying Ethan made me ill. I was still mad over his disloyalty, but I no longer cared who he had sex with. He was a cheating asshole masquerading as a witch. I was more than over him.

I reached out and popped Ethan on the shoulder with my fist. "Go away. You're not allowed to harass me during my incarceration."

"Give me the fairy you're hiding in there and I will gladly leave. I want her and her luggage, Selene."

I drew myself up. "You've lost your mind, Ethan. I'm not giving you a guest of the inn."

Ethan crossed his arms. "Fine. Would you trade her for someone important to you?"

I glared at him. "I haven't had enough coffee or tea yet, Ethan, but you have nothing I want. How do you even know my guest? I barely know her."

"The fairy and I are lovers," he said. "And she stole something from me."

I lifted an eyebrow. "First you bonk a squeaking pixie and now a fairy. What are you up to, Ethan? You barely managed to get it up for me. You're bonking other women for some wicked purpose, aren't you?"

"There was never a pixie, Selene. The fairy you're hiding stole a fairy artifact from her people. If you don't give her up, you're a criminal harboring a criminal."

I heard soft footsteps moving down the stairs. My innkeeper clothes faded away as I glanced over my shoulder at Peace.

Was she a guest or someone trying to use me?

I couldn't decide and I guess the inn couldn't either.

"Hello, Peace. Someone claiming to be your lover is here."

She looked as alarmed at my words as she had when she stared at the bed last night. I should have pressed her for the truth then so Ethan couldn't stand in the inn's doorway this morning and gloat about being right.

I suddenly wanted her gone and Ethan gone. I wanted nothing to do with their drama.

Ethan looked beyond me. "Peace? Is that what Her Majesty said her name was? How ironic."

The fairy looked as haggard this morning as she had last night. Whatever she'd done with Ethan, I wasn't getting an evil vibe from her. However, Ethan reeked of wickedness.

I flicked my wand out to full length as I studied her. "Is Peace not your real name?" I asked calmly.

"It is one of them," she said, swallowing hard. "My people call me Princess Peace And Harmony. Some call me Harmony. I prefer to be called Peace."

"I called her my Sugar Wuggums," Ethan declared with a chuckle.

"The male witch seduced me to steal the Sarsen Crystal from me. The day you caught us, I seduced him to steal it back. The crystal is a powerful artifact and is meant for fairy warriors. I can't let him take it again. My mother tasked me with moving it from one sanctioned site to another. I took my responsibilities too lightly. He and his mother are willing to kill me to get it."

I pointed my wand at her and it vibrated. Oddly, what I'd said to Farley was right. Seeing her with Ethan had prompted me to sever my ties with him. It was impossible to hate her for being a catalyst.

Maybe if I had ever loved Ethan, I might have felt differently. But I hadn't. I had used him only to keep from being lonely.

But Carol was another matter.

It was easy and logical to be angry at the sneaky, manipulative Baba Yaga for knowing the truth and not telling me. I could've avoided this humiliation. She'd been using me for some purpose of her own.

"So you really were the one I saw in bed with Ethan."

The fairy nodded. "I am ashamed to admit it, but yes. I could not confess at the trial without details of my shame being made known to my mother, the Queen. I cloaked myself as a pixie when I was with him so no one would see who I truly was. I did not know about you because the male witch did not say he was committed to another."

"We were never committed," I said. "I turned down his proposal because I didn't love him. It just took me a while to realize that sleeping with you was Ethan's way of breaking up with me. He's done that to many women."

The wand vibrated in my hand. I didn't know for sure what it was trying to tell me about the fairy's revelation. All I could think was Carol had known the truth and hadn't said a word to someone she professed to consider a friend.

The sneaky Baba Yaga could have told me Ethan had stolen from the fairy. She could have included me in her plan to force them to reveal their true motives. I was an adult who could handle the truth. I was handling it now, wasn't I?

But no. She hadn't done that. Instead, I looked like a na?ve idiot, who knew nothing and hadn't been smart enough to figure it out.

I turned to glare at Ethan when he laughed at my silence.

"We have your oversized bear, Selene. Mother has him. Give me the fairy and her luggage, and I'll tell Mother to let your bear go. She hates bears, so you'd best not wait too long."

I didn't know what I felt yet about Princess Peace And Harmony bonking Ethan for entertainment and getting screwed over. But I knew for damn sure what I felt about Ethan.

I pointed my wand at him and lifted him into the air. Using magic, I tossed him up and then slammed him into the dirt. Ethan moaned from where he lay on the ground.

I snorted at him not fighting back. Then I remembered Carol had warded the property. Maybe she had been smarter about Ethan and his mother than I thought.

"Where is Farley?" I demanded.

I should have known the bear hadn't stood me up. I should have known when Peace stared at the bed that something hadn't been right with her, either.

And damn it all, Carol should have told me about this shitshow before it happened.

" Where is my bear , Ethan? You're making me angry. You know what happens when I get angry."

"Do you know how much power that crystal contains?" he asked from the ground.

I stared him down. "No, and I don't care. What do you want with it anyway? You're not a fairy."

Ethan crawled through the dirt as he tried to rise. " Power , Selene. I want its power. So does Mother. She'll use it, and then I will. We'll have everything we ever wanted when the Baba Yaga isn't the most powerful witch in the world."

Oh. Now I understood. This wasn't about me at all. This was about Carol. They were trying to take her down. No wonder their magic didn't work here.

But she still could have told me. She could have asked me to play along.

I looked at Ethan and saw the worst man I'd ever dated.

Maybe I didn't understand the power of the inn or what it did to my magic. But there was nothing wrong with my human vision, and I finally saw Ethan for the complete slimeball he was.

There was no decision to make here. There was only a job to do.

My mouth twisted in disgust as I looked at him. "You can't have the fairy, Ethan. Peace is under my protection. Thanks to you and your mother, for the next twenty-something days I'm a freaking innkeeper. I will not allow you to harm her."

"So you'd condemn your bear to die to save a fairy who helped put you here? That makes no sense, Selene. Don't be stupid. I don't even know why you're taking her side. This is not like you."

"You have no idea what I'm really like." I held up the wand and cast my voice. "Innkeeper Jezel? I could use your help here."

The ghost of the first innkeeper appeared nearby. "What help do you require, Innkeeper Selene?"

I pointed at Ethan. "This man is threatening a guest. He's captured someone I care about and wants to trade him for the fairy I'm protecting. Any suggestion about how I should handle this? His witch power isn't working, but he's still a threat because the person assisting him has my friend."

Jezel made a humming sound in her throat. "There was a seaman I knew—one Captain Jack McCleary. He knew I was a powerful witch and thought to seduce me into using my power for his greedy purposes. He used to kidnap me and take me to his ship, which was docked in Norfolk. The house wouldn't let me go. Every time he took me, I reappeared somewhere in the house. Why are you not dressed properly?"

"I'm going to need to wear those damn ugly clothes to get Farley back, aren't I?"

"The house needs you to wear them. They are the way you are recognized as what you are."

Sighing heavily, I touched the wand to my head and thought of the dreaded outfit. I felt the change ripple over me. Then I felt the weight of five more pounds of clothing that I hadn't been wearing a few minutes ago.

I reached up and felt the hat to see if was there… and damn it, it was. My wrist jingled and I saw the bracelet and keys.

The wand vibrated in my hand. It was now working in innkeeper mode.

And evidently, so was I. I felt like someone had plugged me into an electrical socket.

Ethan finally got to his feet. He shook his head as he stared at me. "Where's your cat costume from last year, Selene? You looked dead sexy with those white whiskers and that spotted tail glued to the butt of your tights."

I pointed my wand at Ethan. "No speaking," I said, sending a burst of magic his way.

His lips disappeared from his face. He grabbed at what once was his mouth and tried to scream.

I looked over at the fairy. "This fight may get uglier than my clothes. It's probably best you wait in your suite, Peace."

"I will not leave you to fight them alone. His mother has strong magic, enough to break the Great One's wards. She's the main one who wants my crystal. She wants to be more powerful than the Baba Yaga."

"Yeah, I figured that much out. At least go stand in the hallway. It would make me feel better if you were inside the inn."

I looked over at Jezel who rippled in her transparent way. "The house contains most of the real magic, doesn't it?"

Jezel nodded once. "You're the first innkeeper in ages to figure out it is a magical house. It was magical when I found it, but I added to its magic. I did it to help me cope with a world full of chaos. I turned it into a sanctuary for those with no other recourse."

"You gave the house your magic when you died, didn't you? This is what I feel when I wear these clothes. I feel you—I feel your magic blending with my own."

I walked to the bottom of the broken steps and turned to face the house.

"Yes," Jezel said proudly. "And I don't let just any witch use my magic, Selene. You seem like an honorable one—mostly honorable. Do not disappoint me."

My mouth twisted at the irony. "No witch is perfect, Jezel. But all I have ever wanted to do in life was help people. I've enjoyed my time here. I didn't realize how much I liked the inn until just now."

"What do you wish to do now that you know?"

"Just the normal stuff. Save a bear. Save a fairy. Save the witch protectress. Not necessarily in that order."

"How do you want to proceed?" Jezel asked.

I looked at the house and lifted my wand.

"Hail, great inn of mystical lore

I'm sorry I didn't figure it out before.

Rescue Farley the bear, your favorite hedgewitch

I don't care what you do with the abducting bitch..."

"Innkeeper Selene! You must conduct your spells with the highest of morals guiding your words. That is one of the inn's primary rules."

"Sorry, Jezel." I looked at Ethan and waved the wand at him. "Speak to me. Where is your mother right now?"

Ethan felt his lips when they reappeared. "Do you think I fear you? Your magic is tricks and pranks, Selene. You would never seriously harm me. It's not what you do."

"Do you want me to make more of your body parts disappear? Or do you want to concede that I've already won this fight?"

"You wouldn't dare hurt me," Ethan said. "My mother sits on the Council of Witches. She is too powerful to allow it."

I pointed my wand, lifted him, and slammed him to the dirt again.

I bent enough to loom over his moaning body. "She is on the council, but probably not for long. You and your mother made me an innkeeper, Ethan. While I don't fully know what that means yet, I think it means I can hurt people like you who are trying to hurt my guests. The house likes me and it hates you. So where is your mother, Ethan? Tell me before I remove your hands."