Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

A lmost another week later, they all gathered with him in the murder basement as Greer watched Robbie practice riding Hervé, marveling at how good she'd become.

She navigated the basement, swerving around suits of armor and the enormously high ceilings like a Formula 1 race car driver.

Nina had a hand in teaching her how to move with the flow of air. The look of surprise when she saw for herself that Nina could fly would forever be emblazoned in his memory.

It had helped her embrace the usefulness of Hervé. Not to mention, he'd saved her from the Lost Lands. How he'd done it remained a mystery. It literally, to Greer's knowledge, had never been done before. But Hervé had accomplished the impossible, and he was grateful.

They hadn't talked again about the admission Robbie made last week, about turning her mother into the FBI, but he had to admire her balls. He had a zillion questions about how she'd found out what Agatha Tisdale was doing. Regardless, she knew what she had to do and she'd done it. Knowing her mother would cast her out and take away her living, she'd done it anyway.

The music of Dean Martin (one of Robbie's favorite artists) echoed through the dungeon, along with her laughter as she raced along the ceiling, now that she'd warmed up to the idea of Hervé, leaving him feeling happier than he had in a very long time.

Spending all day, every day with her, teaching her all the things he could no longer do, made him happy, too. Being a part of this magic she had, even if it was Gwinnifer's, left him feeling filled up—whole in a way he hadn't since he'd come out of that coma.

Yet…she resisted most contact he made with her. The more attracted Greer became to Robbie, the less she appeared interested. Never one to force his attention on a woman, he'd begun making a concerted effort to keep his distance, but it damn sure wasn't easy. Especially when she threw her cute butt up on Herve's handle in those tight jeans she had on.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply, looking down at his feet to get his composure before he looked back at Robbie making a figure eight.

"She's fucking killing it, huh?" Nina asked as they leaned against the reception desk that had just that morning been installed, watching while Robbie dipped and dove.

He smiled with pride, ungluing his eyes from her and clearing his head of the fantasies he'd been having about Robbie. "I'll say. You're a good teacher, Vampire."

"Hey, I was wondering," she said, crossing her ankles. "Are there other male witches like you in this invisible town of yours?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yep."

She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I thought if you were male you were a warlock?"

"In some covens that's true. In mine we call ourselves witches."

"Did you have a broom, too, dude?"

"No, no broom. My mother had one, though. His name was Gary."

She gave him a quizzical look. "No shit. Where the fuck is Gary now?"

He missed Gary. He'd been family for a long time until his mother passed. "Gary retired. According to my coven, he was pretty broken up about my mother's death, even if he'd never show it to me, but because I have no magic, there was no reason for him not to move on. So I let him go."

Nudging him with her shoulder, Nina nodded, the curtain of her silky black hair fully grown back in now. "Shit. I heard about your mom, buddy. What a shitty, shitty thing. Damn sorry that happened to you."

Anything to change the subject of his mother, Greer said, "Hey, I heard you're part witch. I could always use an assistant, ya know."

She snorted. "Fuck that. I'm the shittiest witch that ever lived, pal. My spells are absolute turds in a toilet bowl, and my familiar, Calamity, finally gave the fuck up and moved on to a better witch than I'll ever be."

"Sorry to hear it."

She scoffed, scuffing her feet on the brick floor. "Don't be. The less I tried to use that stupid fucking wand, the easier it was to forget it ever happened. Not Calamity, mind you. I dug her, even if she was mouthy, and she still visits. But the whole witch thing? I'm a vampire through and through. Period."

As they stood in silence, Nina nudged him again when she caught him eyeing up Robbie. "So you got the googley eyes for her?"

He chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest and lifting his chin. "Define googley eyes, Ms. Statleon."

"Aw, come on, Men's Weekly . You like her. It's fucking obvious. I can't believe you two aren't hunching hard by now. It's been almost two weeks."

Greer frowned, his brows scrunching together. "Hunching hard? What the hell does that mean"

She lifted her shoulders and gave him a cheeky grin. "You know, banging. Doin' it. It's not like you can hide that you like each other. We can all see it. It happens in every fucking case we've ever had."

He gave her a questioning glance. "What happens?"

She clucked her tongue, driving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "The victim of the accident and the hero who helps make the boo-boo all better hook up and live happily ever after. After we take out the bad guy, that is."

To his regret, that sure wasn't happening here, but he didn't want to show his cards to Nina "The bad guy?"

"Yeah. There's always a bad guy, Greer. Don't you forget I told you that, either. This might be taking a little longer than the norm, it's a slow fucking simmer, for sure, but it'll happen. Mark my words, some motherfucker will show up and want what Robbie's got. Whoever the fuck it is, they're a crafty motherfucker, but they're out there."

But who would try and steal what Robbie had? There was no one around to steal anything.

"Interesting," he replied.

Marty sidled up to them, laptop in hand. She set it on the top of the reception desk. "Did you see this on the news this morning?" she asked, showing him an article online about Robbie's mother, Agatha, who was now, along with her brother Steadman, in jail, awaiting a grand jury trial. "It's about her mother and brother."

He'd avoided googling Robbie, realizing there was likely tons of information on her and her family. He'd heard the story straight from the horse's mouth. She'd turned her mother in.

That was enough for him. He didn't want to drag her over the coals asking for details, and he didn't want to fill his head with the bullshit the press fed the public.

He also didn't want to distract her with the reminder she was no longer allowed to see the children she loved so much.

The pain on her face that night as she told him how she'd once visited them said all he needed to know about her devotion to the hospital.

However, as Greer read the article over Nina's shoulder, he blew out a breath. An example of what Robbie had told him about St. Raphael's mentioned one little boy in particular and the fight for his life.

They'd featured Josh Warner, seven, diagnosed with neuroblastoma at the age of six, his picture that of a brown-eyed, smiling boy with three missing teeth, beaming at the camera.

Right next to that picture was one of him after surgery, hooked up to dozens of tubes, his mother, Eva, at his bedside, looking exhausted while she clung to her son's small hand.

Among the list of charges concerning Agatha and Steadman, and the remaining suspicion about Robbie, there was an interview with one of Josh's nurses, who claimed she couldn't believe Roberta Tisdale would be a part of stealing from the children of St. Raphael's, especially because of Josh, who adored her and asked after her all the time.

Greer took a deep breath as he finished reading, clenching his fists to keep from smashing the top of the reception desk.

The rest of the article said, according to his doctors, Josh's prognosis was guarded at this point, but he was nowhere near out of the danger zone.

Greer swallowed hard. Goddammit. He loved kids. He hated to see them suffer in any way, but this ? This disease where it ate them from the inside out, made him want to punch something. To make matters far worse, they'd been cheated out of millions of dollars of donations. Agatha Tisdale deserved to fry.

Nina's eyes narrowed, her nostrils flaring, a sure sign she was angry. "Man, would I like to get my hands on that mother of hers and give her the business. I'd wring her fucking rich head clean off her wrinkled turkey neck."

"I'm not much for violence, but I'd back you up," Greer agreed, his chest tight. Who could do something like this to children?

Tottington appeared from around the corner, likely to announce lunch the way he did every day at this time, but his sharp eyes zeroed in on the laptop screen and the picture of Josh.

"Oh, heavens… No," he murmured, his face a sad mask.

Nina threw an arm around him, pulling him close. "What's up, Tater Tot?"

He didn't stiffen up as much as he had in the beginning when Nina showered him with her brand of love and affection. He'd actually begun to lean into it a little—but only a little.

Tottington pointed at the screen, his gray eyes full of concern. "That's Master Josh. Roberta was quite close with him and his family."

At the most inopportune moment, Robbie came to a screeching halt right next to them at the reception desk. She was giggling and chatting with Hervé—until she stopped cold when she saw the laptop before Marty could slam it shut.

She held up her hand to keep Marty from closing it. "Josh…" she whispered, her voice hitching as she slid off Hervé to reach out and run her finger over the computer screen. She looked at all of them, her eyes filling with tears. "Is he…is he worse? Oh God, the last time I saw him he was so, so sick…"As Robbie skimmed the article, her body slumped, her long beautiful hair covering her face.

"Oh, Miss." Tottington rushed to her side, cupping her elbow.

Greer reached out to her, putting a hand on her arm. "The article says his prognosis is guarded."

She blew out a shuddering breath, pushing away the tears that had begun to fall down her flushed cheeks. "Oh, thank God."

Marty pulled her into a hug. "He was one of the children you visited?"

She nodded against Marty's shoulder, scrunching her eyes shut as she gulped for air so she could explain. "Twice a week, I went to read to him. Sometimes we'd play games. Candy Land. Hungry Hippos, cards, whatever I could find to take his mind off the agony of chemo. He loved… loves Marvel superheroes, so I hired an actor to play Iron Man for his birthday. Josh was so brave. Before he'd go off to his chemo treatments, we had this thing where I'd cheer him on by saying, ‘Be brave, Warrior,' and he'd say, ‘I'm so brave. The truth is…I'm Iron Man.'"

Her lower lip trembled before she began to sob, tearing Greer's heart out.

Nina brushed the tears from Robbie's eyes, pushing her hair from her forehead. "And they won't let you see him because that bitch of a mother of yours fucked it all up. I'm sorry, kiddo. Really sorry."

Inhaling, Robbie nodded while tears streamed down her face. "They won't let me within a mile of the place because of what my mother did. I've been checking his Facebook page to see how he's doing, but there hasn't been an update in a couple of months. So I…"

"Oh, honey," Marty soothed, rubbing circles on her back.

"Roberta's inability to see Master Josh was one of the harshest punishments she could have received for her mother's misdeeds."

Pulling from Marty's embrace, Robbie let her shoulders sag. She slid a long length of shiny hair over her shoulder and began to twirl it around her finger. He'd noticed she always did that when she was nervous.

"It's fine. I'm just relieved he's still okay. I'd give anything to tell him what the press and the papers say isn't true, but his parents would never let me see him. But it's okay. He's okay. That's all I need. It's enough. It has to be."

But Greer knew it wasn't enough. Her eyes and her hopeless, dismal tone said it all. She loved this little boy. She was being denied the opportunity to spend time with him because her mother was a monster.

And she didn't deserve that. She'd put a stop to what her mother was doing. She'd done the right thing. And still, they'd punished her.

Robbie'd had everything taken away, yet, she'd taken the bull by the horns and started a new, much poorer life after her family abandoned her. And if that wasn't enough, she'd been forced to take on an event that would alter her life forever. But here she was, finding out the paranormal were real, learning to control her magic and fly a broom.

Leaning on the reception desk, planting his head on his hand, he said, "You know, there is a way you could see Josh…"

Robbie's heart thrashed against her ribs as they all gathered outside St. Raphael's in the dark parking lot, the cold night air making her shiver.

The trees carefully placed over the sitting benches to provide shade from the sun bent in the wind, the parking lot mostly empty at this time of night. The moon hung low and buttery, it's soft white glow illuminating the group.

They'd decorated the hospital for Halloween with the children in mind. Pumpkins lined the entryway and ghosts made of sheets attached to the awning swayed in the breeze. There were cutouts of witches flying on their brooms plastered on some of the windows (hah!), beside cheerful pumpkins with smiling faces and a row of bats.

She loved the work St. Raphael's did for children and their families. They were all-encompassing, offering a place to stay for those families from out of town, a warm meal, a quiet room where they could go to pray or simply take a moment to breathe.

There were playrooms for the children when they weren't too sick to slide down a slide or put together a life-size puzzle of Dr. Seuss. She'd proposed the idea for a puppet show, where puppeteers came and performed twice a month. The laughter of those children, always so enmeshed in their pain and fear, had been music to her ears.

Most of all, St. Raphael's brought hope, comfort, and peace of mind that no matter the outcome, the families with sick children wouldn't have to worry about a thing but being with their ill loved one.

And her mother had fucked that up in a big way. The millions of dollars she'd stolen took away lifesaving procedures, research money, high-tech machinery…and it infuriated her.

Tottington came to stand next to her. "Miss?"

"I've missed this place, T. So much." Her throat began to close up, her eyes welling with tears.

"Indeed," he whispered. "And now, due to the miracle of your powers, you can see Master Josh. What a wonderous thing, Miss, don't you agree?"

Looking down at her feet, she nodded. "Yes." Sort of. Her powers might seem wonderous on the outside, but on the inside, she was a terrified mess.

However, if it meant seeing Josh, she'd risk the terror. He held a special place in her heart. All the children did, but Josh had been through hell and back these last several months, and she'd spent extra time with him because of it.

"You're frightened."

Clenching her fists, Robbie took deep breaths. "I am, T. I don't want to get caught, but mostly, I don't want to upset Josh."

"You won't, Miss. You'll be cloaked in a spell."

When Greer had proposed this, using a cloaking spell to get her into the hospital to see Josh, she'd jumped at the chance, even though they hadn't touched on that part of her powers.

But as the day wore on, and her nerves began to get the better of her, she worried that if the spell faltered, she wouldn't remember the words to keep it in place. Her notoriously bad memory, and the fact that she occasionally had a hard time securing her spells for long periods of time, could blow this whole thing up.

But Greer offered to go with her, making her feel much safer. He did that. Greer Winthrop made her feel safe. She'd never felt like that with anyone before, and it frightened her.

Rather than embrace it, she hid from it in typical Roberta Tisdale fashion. But if she looked logically at the situation, someone had to go with her. She hadn't been truly alone since she'd been swept off to the Lost Lands.

"Have I told you how proud I am of you, miss?"

Tottington's voice brought her back to the present. "Proud?"

He cupped her cheek. "Indeed, Roberta. So proud. Your life's been turned upside down, sweet girl. From your mother's misdeeds to this whole new world you've been thrust into, you've handled this with the strength of a true warrior."

She smiled, leaning into the warmth of his hand. "So do warriors alternate between laughing like a loon to screaming in fear?"

He winked, a soft sweep of his eyelashes against his cheek. "This warrior does. My warrior does."

Her heart clenched in her chest. Having Tottington's approval meant the world to her. "Thank you, T. Thank you ," she whispered, reaching up to kiss his cheek. "I love you, T. Thanks for sticking by me, now and always."

"And I you."

Greer approached them, striding toward her, tall and handsome with a smile on his face. "You ready?"

They'd practiced this spell all day long. She'd been everything from a gas station attendant to Gwen Stefani, but her nerves were getting the best of her tonight.

They'd decided to sneak in to visit Josh at night, when the activity of family time had subsided and the floor Josh was on was quiet. His mother, Eva, usually went to grab dinner around this time, leaving her about ten minutes to slip in and out.

"I think so."

Nina came up behind her and punched her arm playfully. "You've been working your fucking ass off. You got this, kiddo. I know you do."

On impulse, she threw her arms around Nina's neck. They'd all been supportive since she'd met them, welcoming her without knowing very much about her, embracing her and all her fears.

She planted a kiss on Nina's cheek. "Thank you, Vampire. Everybody calls you a crusty bitch, but we both know that's not true, don't we, Marshmallow?"

Nina pulled Robbie in tight before she set her away from her. "Which one of these damn ninnies called me crusty?"

"We all did, silly," Wanda said with a giggle, pulling Robbie into a hug. "C'mere, you." She squeezed her tight. "Go get 'em, sweetie. We'll be here when you're done, okay? Arch promised lamb roast with warm mint jelly, cauliflower jubilee and scalloped potatoes for dinner when we get home. He knows it's your favorite."

Arch was rapidly becoming one of her favorites. He coddled her, encouraged her, made her the kind of meals a foodie dreams of, and all without asking for anything in return.

Arch was good people, and he and Tottington had struck up a friendship that, while not unlikely due to their jobs, had been incredibly heartwarming to watch develop.

They cooked, they traded advice on manservant duties, they shared stories about their pasts—Arch's past being far more storied and exciting than Tottington's, considering he'd once been a vampire and was now a troll.

"Go team witch!" Darnell cheered, scooping her up and swinging her around. "You got this, Robbie. The bosses are right. You a bad mamma jamma."

"Group hug!" Marty called.

They all gathered around her, chanting words of encouragement, hugging her hard. Hervé nestled in between the women and sighed with pleasure. "Ah, ze sweet sight of beautiful women."

Robbie tweaked his handle. "Behave, mister, or it's the broom closet for you," she teased.

They all laughed, hugging her harder.

Taking one last deep breath, she disentangled herself from all the love showered on her and nodded. "I'm ready. Let's do this."

Greer smiled, his cologne wafting to her nose on the chilled wind, reminding her that he would be with her. "Okay, so envision the form you want to cloak yourself in. In your case a doctor, and in mine, an intern. Now, do you remember the words, Robbie?"

Shit. Did she? Closing her eyes, she thought of SAP. Say it, Apply it, Point it. Nodding, Robbie whispered, "Cloak us in disguise, hide our true beings, protect our identities…" Crap. What came next?

Panic tingled in her hand until Nina grabbed her and whispered in her ear, "Keep people from seeing."

"Keep people from seeing!" Robbie shouted, and this time, she remembered to point at both of them instead of pointing at the suit of armor and turning it into a ballerina like she had this afternoon in the murder basement.

The moment she pointed, she felt that light tingle, sizzling from her toes to the tip of her head. The now familiar warm feeling she got every time she used a spell.

When she popped her eyes open and looked down, she saw the happy pink scrubs all the doctors wore. A hand to her head revealed a scrub cap. Next, her fingers went to her face as she looked in the SUV's rear window. "Oh!" she whispered.

She didn't look anything like herself. Her hair was dark and short, cut just to her jaw with swooping waves. Her eyes more almond-shaped than round, and a deep blue. Her nose, minus her freckles, was shorter and perter, and her frame at least three inches taller.

In fact, she looked exactly like the model she'd seen on her Facebook timeline this morning, advertising pest control.

"You did it, Miss!" Tottington cheered with a pump of his fist.

When she looked at Greer, she realized she had. He had on a white lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck. They didn't need to disguise his face, but she'd tweaked his hair color and features enough so that if they showed up on camera, no one would know it was him.

Squaring her shoulders, Robbie lifted her chin. Realizing this was a selfish act, strictly for her own personal peace of mind, she prayed nothing went wrong. She'd never want Josh hurt, but somehow, she hoped he'd recognize it was her, even if she looked nothing like the Miss Robbie he knew. It was a silly notion, but she hoped for it just the same.

For the first time since they'd begun this journey, Robbie held her hand out to Greer. "All in?"

He smiled, taking her hand, that safe feeling she'd been exploring alive and well. "All in."