I hoped work would help distract me from what had happened, but the next morning I was out of sorts and dazed as I walked into the Landmark Hotel. The wedding was two days away and Reg was in the lobby when I arrived, two carts laden with foil trays behind him.

“Good morning, Miss Daria,” he said, with a smile under his bushy beard.

Despite my mood, I couldn’t help smiling back. Reg had been a fixture in my life since I was a child and no matter what other stresses surrounded me, it was always nice to see him. “Morning, Reg.”

“Angie says they cleared out some space in the freezers for me last night, so I’m just going to bring these back now. They’re the first round of wedding dishes, the ones that could be cooked ahead.”

“Do you know where you’re going?” I asked.

“I can find it easily enough.”

I was tempted to let him since I had a stack of things to do today. But I also didn’t want Reg to be stuck wandering the hotel on his own. “I’ll bring you,” I said. “Here, let me take one of the carts.”

With a twinkle in his eye, Reg snapped his fingers. The carts began rolling smoothly toward us as though driven by ghosts. “Lead the way,” he told me.

The magic would have creeped me out on a regular day, but today it was even worse. I was distracted as we walked down the long hallway, waiting for the carts to run me over or something. I stumbled twice as we walked along the familiar floors toward the kitchen, glancing back to see them obediently following after us. After the second time, Reg stopped and frowned.

“They’re not gonna bite you,” he said.

I sighed. “I know,” I admitted. “It’s just…”

I hesitated, unsure how much I should say. I didn’t want to get Joel in more trouble than he was already in. But at the same time, magic had once again come into my life for the sole purpose of making it harder. And maybe I was actually in danger still, even with Joel gone. Probably not, nobody chasing after him actually cared about me.

“Does this have anything to do with Joel Murphy being in town yesterday?”

Of course Reg knew. I narrowed my eyes and Reg laughed at me. “Ma sensed him first,” he said, his expression affectionate as he motioned for the carts to stop. “You know her. Her vision’s been gone twenty years, her hearing nearly as long, but her physic vision is as keen as it ever was. She said there was a powerful presence in town, but a familiar one. And when I looked for myself, it only took about three minutes to identify him.”

“For someone who’s so all-powerful, he sucks at hiding himself apparently,” I muttered.

“There aren’t many things hiding themselves from Ma,” Reg pointed out. “So what happened, hon?”

He was going to find out, so there was no point in hiding it. “Joel led something to my house,” I said. “He came over for dinner and he needed a place to stay. He told me he was in town on business. Then yesterday while I was here, someone broke into my apartment looking for some shit he stole from his boss.”

Maybe I’d said too much. But I was too mad at Joel to be overly cautious right now. Reg looked at me, his thick eyebrows raised so high that they disappeared into his hairline. “And where is Earth’s Mightiest Hero now?”

“Who cares?” I muttered. “I told him to leave. He led it to my house, Reg, it could have gotten Gretel. She’s not involved in any of this and he basically fed her to it.”

Reg held up a hand. “Listen, I’m not defending him,” he started.

I shook my head. “I know it looks like I’m just bitter from our breakup. It’s not that. It’s the fact that he should have known whoever is looking for him was going to find him at my house. He went off for, like, the greatest magical training in the world, right? And he couldn’t put that together?”

“Just because someone is talented doesn’t mean they have a drop of common sense,” Reg said.

“You’ve got that right.”

“Is your home protected?”

“I’ve got a deadbolt.”

Reg frowned at me. “I don’t want magic in my house,” I said. “Magic ruined the life I’d planned to have. I’m not going to let it ruin what I built from the ashes.”

“I won’t tell you what to do,” Reg said. “I just want you to be safe.”

“I appreciate it,” I said. “We should get that food in the freezer.”

Reg clicked his tongue, and the carts started moving again. I led the way down to the kitchen.

***

Once Reg was situated, I made my way back upstairs to my desk. As I passed through the main foyer and into my little corner of the conference room, I immediately spotted Angie waiting at my desk.

“Are you free?” she asked.

“For a little while.”

“Excellent,” she said. “Cherise is coming by for some last-minute preparation.”

Great. But at least the changes we’d needed to make were going smoothly. So if she started shooting lightning bolts out of her eyes, I could probably manage it.

“Yeah, sure, I can take it,” I said. “When?”

“In about five minutes.”

She grinned at me, then went into her office. I sat down at my desk and took a long sip of my iced coffee. It was clearly going to be one of those days.

Cherise showed up about three minutes later, with the representative from the front desk leading her into the conference room. As the door opened, I stood up quickly to greet them.

“You must be Cherise,” I said, putting on my best customer service face and hurrying over to shake her hand. “I’m Daria, we’ve been talking on the phone.”

“Yes, nice to meet you.”

Cherise was young, probably twenty-four at the most. She had long black hair that hung around her face in thick waves. She was taller than I was, but hunched slightly, as though she didn’t want to take up too much room. Her face was delicate, and she gave me a forced smile.

“Come in,” I said as the representative walked away, closing the door behind him. “We’re going to meet in Angie’s office. Is your fiancé here?”

“No, he had work.”

I hadn’t spoken to the fiancé once during the entire planning process. Instead, it had all been Cherise. She didn’t seem like she thrived on this kind of planning, at least from what little interaction we’d had. But it was none of my business, right?

Remembering the burning phone, I led her to Angie’s office, knocked on the door, and opened it.

“Cherise is here.”

Angie stood up and greeted her with a broad smile. “Cherise, sweetie, it’s so nice to see you again.”

Cherise’s smile was still tight as she sat down in the chair I usually took. Angie sat behind the desk and I pulled another chair over to form a little, awkward circle.

“So, I know things have been a bit chaotic with the planning, but I think we’ve got it all figured out,” Angie said as she pulled out her binder. “Scarecrow Grille is handling the catering. Have you settled things with Reg over there?”

“Yes.”

Stress was radiating off of this woman, but it wasn’t the pre-wedding overwhelm I was accustomed to seeing from brides. There was something else, and I didn’t have to have psychic powers to see it. Angie’s eyes met mine for a brief second, then went back to Cherise.

“Good,” she said. “Since he doesn’t offer desserts, we’re going with our usual bakery option. They can still make the same cake you picked out.”

“Thank you.”

“And the DJ is ready to go. Do you need any extra assistance with decorations? I know you said your family is taking care of those.”

“We’re fine.”

“Do you have any questions?” Angie prompted.

“No.”

I glanced at Cherise again. She was chewing on her lower lip, worrying it to the point that it had to be painful. Again, Angie and I exchanged a glance. With a slight nod of her head, she passed the problem on to me. Dammit.

“Cherise,” I started quietly, leaning in a little. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“I know wedding planning can be stressful. But if there’s anything-”

“I said I’m fine!”

Her voice was sharp, pointed, and felt like a physical hit as she turned to me. Something flickered in her eyes as she glared and I braced myself for whatever was coming. Two magical attacks in twenty-four hours. That was just my life now.

But instead of blowing me to smithereens, Cherise quickly stood up, pushing her chair back as she did so. “Thank you for your time,” she said. “We’re all set. I’ll be here with my family to set up.”

She strode out of the office, letting the door swing closed behind her. Angie and I watched silently as Cherise crossed the conference room and walked out. Then she turned toward the hotel’s main exit and we lost sight of her.

“That went well,” Angie muttered, sitting back down at her desk.

“She’s miserable,” I said. “There’s no way that woman wants to get married. I’m reading her correctly, right?”

“We can’t change her mind for her,” Angie said. “If she doesn’t want to get married, then she’s the one who has to stop it from happening. We can’t do it for her.”

I tried to imagine the pressure Cherise must be under. Months of wedding preparation. Attaching her life to someone else’s. All the societal expectations that went with it. And she’d probably been feeling this way since before the planning even began. No wonder her magic was coming through.

But this wasn’t my problem. She’d hired us to do a wedding, and we were going to do it, even if she didn’t actually want to. So now I had to make sure that everything was all set. We’d get the room set up tomorrow so that she and her family could get in first thing on Saturday morning. They’d decorate the space, have the wedding, and be out of my life forever.

I went back out to my desk, wondering how I possibly still had five hours left at work. But even though I didn’t want to be here, the idea of going home gave me a little shiver too. Yesterday at this time, I’d had no idea what was going to happen. Had they already been at my house by this point? Maybe they’d waited until me and Gretel left for work, then broke in. Which would mean they were watching the house, whoever they were.

Damn Joel for bringing this into my life.

I turned on my computer, hoping that there would be some juicy, boring task in there for me to lose myself in. As I scrolled through my to-do list, I heard voices getting louder outside of the conference room, though they were too muffled to make out what anyone was saying. I pulled up my email and started sorting through my new messages. But I’d barely opened the first urgently marked email when the conference room door opened and the same rep from the front desk poked his head in.

“There’s flooding in one of the event rooms!” he exclaimed. “The water’s everywhere!”

Angie’s office door flew open, and she tore out of there with a speed and grace that were almost majestic, swerving over the corner of my desk without veering off her path. I got up and hurried after her, dreading what we were about to see.

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Continue to Chapter 8