“You go first,” I prompted Portia. “Show me how you do it and then I’ll follow.”
She smiled. “Okay.” Stepping onto the ice, she pushed off, sliding smoothly across the surface, gliding about in figure eight before spinning to a stop and smiling widely.
I was officially impressed. My ice queen was a queen on the ice, apparently. Secretly I wondered if her magic contributed to this fact.
“She’s always been very good,” Shelly said, coming beside me. “Our instructor wanted her to go competitive, but she wasn’t interested. She said she only wanted to do it for fun.”
“I don’t know anything about ice skating, but she looks like a natural to me.” I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“Well, I think she was stupid not to pursue it. But then again, if our instructor would have paid half the attention to me that he did to her, maybe I could’ve tried it.”
“Your turn!” Portia hollered, gesturing for me to join her before I could really analyze that comment.
“Good luck, man,” Brad said, as he hobbled to my other side. “I’m thinking I’ll be hugging the wall for a while. Remind me again, why we agreed to this?”
I laughed. “Because we are suckers for a pretty face.”
Brad frowned. “Well, we should stop.”
Chuckling again, I punched him lightly in the shoulder. “Suck it up, bro. It can’t be all that bad.” Confidently, I stepped onto the ice—and fell flat on my face.
“You were saying?” Brad’s voice casually came from where he was still leaning against the wall.
“I believe I was telling you to be careful, falling on ice hurts like hell.”
He laughed loudly. “That’s what I thought you meant.”
Portia’s purple skates skidded to a halt in front of me, the sudden stop spraying tiny slivers of ice against my face. “Are you okay, Vance?” she asked, her voice full of both humor and concern.
“No,” I replied with a sigh as I pushed to my knees. “I’ve just discovered my girlfriend is a mean spirited little thing.”
“I tried to warn you. You refused to listen.” She offered me a hand and I shakily climbed back to my feet.
“You should’ve warned harder.”
She continued to laugh as she guided me to the wall. I grasped it firmly with both hands, thanking any deity in hearing distance for its existence. I couldn’t be mad at Portia, though. She was clearly in her element; her pale cheeks and tiny nose flushed with a beautiful pink color, complimenting the purple knit hat and scarf she wore, her black tresses flowing out from underneath. Her dark eyes sparkled with humor, and I wanted desperately to share this with her.
“How about this? You skate and I will hang on behind you and attempt to mirror your actions, but please, I beg you, keep it as simple as possible.”
“I promise. Let’s try it.”
Carefully balancing, I anchored my hands at her waist. “All right, I’m ready, I think.”
She started moving, slowly stepping from side to side and we began to glide along together. The more comfortable I became the faster she went.
Risking a glance towards Brad, I couldn’t resist smiling as I watched him floundering on the ice as well with Shelly trying to hold him up as his legs continually slipped from beneath him. Sucker.
“This would be a whole lot easier if you’d let me use my powers,” I spoke into her head. “You might even be able to have some fun.”
“I am having fun,” she replied with a chuckle. “I like being able to show you something for a change. Besides, I’m enjoying you hanging onto me as if your life depended on it.” She chuckled.
“You’re only reaffirming my evil opinion of you.”
“Don’t lie. You’re loving every second of this and you know it.”
I smiled. “You’re right. I am.” I coaxed her to turn in my arms so we could skate face to face. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I continued to hold her waist. The surer I became with my own footing, the closer I pulled her until we were slowing moving together, almost as if we were dancing.
“I love you,” she said, her eyes never leaving mine.
“You better, after today,” I teased.
“I could let go . . .” Her voice trailed off and she eased herself backward a bit, interrupting our motion enough to make me wobble precariously.
“I love you too,” I replied quickly.
“That’s better.” She anchored herself back to me, and I sighed in relief.
She glanced toward Brad and Shelly, her face growing pensive.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, wondering what had brought on the sudden change in her. “Does Shelly appear a bit . . . I don’t know . . . off to you somehow? I’m not sure if it’s simply me, or what, but she doesn’t seem like herself. I had to work to convince her to come on this double date with us. She’s kind of been standoffish to me lately.”
Shelly’s earlier comment about competitive ice-skating popped into my mind. “Hmmm. You think she’s still having trouble coming to terms with us being a couple?”
Portia shrugged. “Maybe. She’s never had any competition for my attention before. And it’s not exactly like I can tell her why it’s so much easier for me to be around you.”
I grimaced. “Are you saying you’re stuck with me because of magic?”
“No!” She laughed. “That did kind of come out badly, didn’t it? I don’t want to be anywhere else but with you.”
“That’s better,” I leaned forward, lightly placing a kiss against her forehead. “As far as Shelly goes, I’d say just keep being yourself. You haven’t done anything to purposely offend or exclude her, and you keep trying to get her to do stuff with you. If she has a problem, then she needs to be the one to work through it. You’ve never left her.”
She sighed heavily. “Thanks. I guess you’re right. I only wish I knew what to do to fix things.”
“You’re already doing it. Keep being you, and she’ll come around, eventually. The two of you have been friends for ages. People don’t usually ditch the ones they’ve been with through thick and thin.”
“I hope you’re right. You want to go to the concession stand and get a drink or something?”
“I thought you’d never ask. My legs are dying for a break, but I’m afraid to change my footwork for fear of falling again.”
She laughed, and slowed, helping me make my way to the gate. I was relieved to step onto solid ground.
“Giving up already, loser?” Brad shouted to me as he and Shelly skated by.
“Apparently.” I chuckled as he slipped and grabbed onto Shelly’s arm, which earned him an exasperated eye roll as the two of them went careening closer to the wall.
Portia giggled. “Come on. Let’s go get our drinks.”
---
Standing in the hallway at school a couple weeks later, I watched the scene unfolding in front of me with great interest. Portia had continued saying her relationship with Shelly had been growing more strained. Even Brad had off handedly mentioned a few things to me. Obviously, they’d both been right to be concerned. I was staring at Shelly, unable to believe my own eyes.
In fact, she had brought the school to a virtual standstill after arriving this morning with her hair dyed black, except for a few platinum streaks. She was totally rocking the Emo/Goth look. High end black clothing, leather, pale make up, black eyeliner, skull jewelry—even her Mustang had been painted black and sported a skull and crossbones airbrushed above the rear tires.
Portia was standing slack-jawed and I was pretty sure she didn’t even notice me as I moved behind her.
If Shelly noticed the attention she was drawing, she didn’t let on. Opening her locker, she grabbed a book, and slammed it, revealing Brad staring at her incredulously.
“What the heck, Shelly?” he said, glancing over his transformed girlfriend. “Are you all right?”
“Whatever could you possibly be referring to?” She stared haughtily at him.
?
??What’s all—this?” He gestured from her head to toes.
She didn’t reply, continuing to stare at him until she finally decided to speak. “Let it go, Brad, okay? I have better things to deal with than you.”
She roughly pushed her way past him, causing him to stumble against the lockers, not even acknowledging him any further. As soon as she disappeared into one of the classrooms, everyone started talking and whispering. I noticed a few girls casting sympathetic glances in Brad’s direction before hurrying on their way.
At this point, Brad noticed Portia and me standing there and began working his way toward us.
“Hey, Vance, Portia,” he said as he approached.
Portia turned, staring at me in surprise. “How long have you been there?”
“Long enough to catch the show.”
“Yeah,” Brad broke in. “What’s up with that?”
“I have no idea,” Portia replied, a small frown tipping her bow shaped lips. “She wouldn’t even give me the time of day when I tried to talk to her outside.”
“Well, I’m guessing the two of us are through,” he continued, looking unhappy. “She made it pretty clear I’m not too high on her list of priorities.”
“Sorry, guy.” I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “Hopefully it’ll get better.”
Brad shook his head. “I’m not holding my breath.”
I truly felt for him. It would crush me if Portia ever treated me the way Shelly had just done to him. “Something isn’t right with Shelly,” I said to Portia, both of us watching Brad move down the hallway, before continuing on ourselves.
“I thought that was obvious.”
“No. I mean something besides the obvious. I’m sensing some sort of weird vibe around her.”
“Weird vibe? You don’t mean something magical, do you?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure, maybe.”
“Well, that’d definitely be a twist I didn’t see coming.” She pursed her lips together worriedly. “Is there a way we can find out for sure?”
“I don’t know. I’d need to watch her a while longer. Maybe even follow her around a bit.”
“Do whatever you think you should. This is Shelly we’re talking about. You have my complete support.”
We reached her classroom door and I leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll do what I can.”
Chapter Twenty
Journal entry:
Something strange is definitely going on, but I can’t put my finger on it, exactly. I can’t see anything magical happening, but Shelly waltzes in and out of places, and no one seems to pay any attention to her. It’s like they don’t realize she’s under age, or if they do, they’re turning a blind eye to it. It all seems so . . . suspect to me.
I’ve written a spell to help reveal Shelly’s true colors and see if that will show me anything.
Items needed:
A colored rose
Candles in red, yellow, and green
Desert Sage incense
Light the candles and the incense, allowing the incense smoke to fill the air and drive away any bad spirits or influences. Take the rose and wave it slowly through the smoke, allowing it to become saturated with the smell. Carefully remove the petals of the rose while repeating the following spell:
With candles red, yellow, and green.
(Insert name) reveal thy true colors to me.
Show me what in thy heart lies,
Let no more bad influence compromise.
Thy intentions be made plain for all to see,
Again I command, reveal to me.
***
Taking the crumbled rose petals, I placed them in a small organza pouch. Anyone who saw them would think it was a tiny bag of potpourri to freshen the air. Now I only needed to get close enough to Shelly to place it somewhere personal. It didn’t matter where, really. It could go inside her car, her purse, in her bedroom—it only needed to be part of her existence—against anything that belonged to her personally. Then I needed to watch and wait for what the spell might reveal. It was going to require me to follow her around, though, something I wasn’t too excited about. But I knew Portia was worried about her and I wanted to help.
The opportunity easily presented itself at school when she set her large bag on the floor beside her. I carefully tossed the gift into it, hoping she wouldn’t discover it any time soon, and continued on my way to class.
“It’s planted,” I whispered into Portia’s mind.
She sighed audibly. “Good. Let’s hope it works now.”
“I’ll try to keep an eye on her as much as possible. You do it too. Let me know if you see anything unusual.”
“Okay. Thanks for your help.”
“Anything for you, baby. I love you.”
---
Sadly, I was sitting in my “usual” spot, a dark corner on the far side of the bar I’d been haunting for the last couple of weeks as I followed Shelly around. The spell I’d done to reveal her true colors had shown no change. Either it hadn’t worked, or she’d found it and destroyed it. I hadn’t ever been close enough to her again to check the bag for it.
I was frustrated. I’d been able to get into this bar by using magic and trying to stay beneath the radar of anyone who’d want to check my ID. Looking older was working to my advantage as well. Shelly, on the other hand, was not trying to fly under the radar. She was laughing, flirting, drinking, and doing pretty much whatever the hell she felt like. After dumping all her old friends, she’d started hanging with the party crowd at school and they spent a lot of their nights here, together. I’d begun to think that this bar catered to them, but even the business patrol had passed through here and didn’t give them a second glance. Things weren’t adding up.
A bunch of guys left from her booth and went outside to smoke. I waited a few moments before making my way across the room toward the service area, slipping out the back door, and quietly walking around the edge of the building.
The acrid scent of cigarettes filled the air as I approached the corner and I flattened myself against the wall so I could eavesdrop on their conversation.
They were laughing.
“So have you banged Shelly, yet?” a voice spoke.
Someone snorted. “Hell, no. I can’t even get her to kiss me hardly. She’s such a damn tease.”
“I think she has her eye set on someone else,” a third voice popped up.
“What makes you think that?” the first voice asked.
“Just a couple of things she’s said,” the third voice replied. “If I weren’t too drunk to remember them, I’d tell you.”
“Well, I guess I’ll have to keep trying,” the second voice said and they all laughed.
Restraining myself from stepping around the corning and beating the crap out of them, I continued to listen to their conversation, but they changed the subject, offering me no more clues. This was turning out to be a total waste of time. I’d been doing this for two weeks now and had absolutely nothing to go on. Maybe I was wrong. Perhaps there was no magic involved here and Shelly was simply going through a crisis of her own making. Weirder things had happened.
Waiting until the guys went back inside, I decided this was enough of it for tonight. I went to my bike and headed back to Portia’s. I missed spending time with my girl. Brad had taken my place lately, staying with Portia while I was off watching Shelly. I knew they were friends and Portia was a comfort to him, but I couldn’t help the small flares of jealousy I experienced whenever I saw them together. He was where I wanted to be.
Tonight I found the two of them hugging in the cold air near the porch swing. Portia often kept me mentally informed of their conversations. I knew without a doubt nothing was going on between the two of them. Brad was simply missing Shelly and had turned to his friends for support. Portia was the one to best understand his loss because she was going through it as well. It was obvious Brad was completely in love with Shelly. His heart was broken.
“Hey,
man,” I said to Brad, bumping fists with him.
“I’m just heading out,” Brad said, patting me on the shoulder as he walked by. “Thanks for loaning me your girl. Have fun.”
“Later,” I replied. I watched him disappear through the gate before turning to wrap my arms around Portia and giving her a long kiss. Immediately, I felt better. It was amazing to me what being in her arms for only a few moments could do to my moods.
“You two shouldn’t sit out here so long every night. You’re freezing.” I guided her into the house, the two of us heading toward her room.
“Sorry. Brad seems to enjoy it, and I’m trying to help him.”
“I know. I want you to be careful, though. Your health is important too.”
“I’m fine. So how’s Shelly?” she asked, shutting the bedroom door behind us.
I shrugged as I sat on the end of the bed, wishing I had something concrete I could tell her. “More of the same.”
“Still hanging out at that bar?”
“Yep, every single night this week.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “The funny thing is, no one seems to care. Her parent’s act like they don’t even notice anything’s different. No one at the bar cares she’s underage. They serve her whatever she wants. Even an officer doing a business patrol didn’t blink an eye at her. It’s so weird. I haven’t seen any evidence of anything magical, but my gut keeps telling me something is different.”
“That does seem strange. By all means, keep listening to your instincts.” Her eyes never left me as I took off my jacket. “Would you like to use the shower? You positively reek of cigarette smoke.”
“Sorry. I was hanging around a bunch of people who were lighting up outside.” A shower sounded wonderful to me right now. I was so tired. I simply wanted to go to sleep. Going to her dresser, I grabbed some of my spare clothes I’d started leaving here and headed into the adjoining bathroom.
Turning the shower on, I quickly undressed and got in, sitting on the small tile bench opposite the spray. Leaning my head against the wall, I let the water sluice over me, closing my eyes, and trying to relax.