There were at least forty people now crammed into the room. Witches of all ages, from Mrs. Greenlee down to little kids still clinging to their parents’ legs.
“Thank you all for coming,” said Mayor Thornfield. “As you are no doubt aware now, the wards that protect this town haven’t just weakened, they’ve been completely destroyed.”
He didn’t mention Malcolm or how he’d been involved in that, but that was because Calli hadn’t told him the full truth when she’d met with him before the meeting. The last thing she wanted was for him to say the wrong thing and someone in town to blame Malcolm.
“We are working on a way to restore them. In the meantime, Calli Wynter and Sage Sinclair will run point on all research and problem-solving connected to this. Please remember your festival protocol especially while in town. Tourists are already arriving, and my contacts who work at the two hotels outside of town told me they are filling up fast with non-magics. This is no different than it is every year, it’s just happening a bit earlier than anyone expected.
“The greater problem is, without the wards, we are vulnerable in other ways. Our town’s source of magic is also exposed and will draw unscrupulous characters from rogue magic users to so-called monster hunters. We are all citizens of this town. We must stick together and watch out for one another. My office is open for anyone with questions or concerns.”
Several residents raised their hands and the mayor answered their questions about his new plans for security, which admittedly were still a work in progress. Once it seemed all the questions had finally been addressed, Sage and Calli left to get to work.
“I suppose we should check on the boys,” Sage said. “Then I need to help set up some new protective charms on the edge of town.”
“Right,” Calli said.
It would take all hands on deck to put some general protective charms in place. They wouldn’t be as good as the true wards and wouldn’t hold very long, but something was better than nothing.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Warning spells, mostly. We might not be able to keep people out, but we can at least be better prepared when they arrive.”
They had gotten halfway to the library when they ran into Jasper and Finnigan.
Calli suddenly tensed. “Where’s Malcolm?”
“Asleep,” Jasper said with a chuckle. “He’s exhausted. Neither of us had the heart to wake him.”
“Oh.” Calli glanced at Sage. “I’ll find him.” The others went to Mystic Mornings while Calli entered the library.
The town library wasn’t the bright, clean sort of library one tended to see in cities. This was old school, with dark cherry wood shelves polished to a deep shine. The titles of old books glittered in the soft, slanted sunshine that came in from the stained glass windows. It felt like the kind of library one might visit in a historic European city. New books and old mingled here, and every aisle contained adventures waiting for someone to explore.
Calli approached the circulation desk where Elsa Bancroft, the head librarian, was working. Elsa was a pretty half-banshee woman with pale skin and long black hair that she wound up into a topknot on her head.
“Elsa, do you know Malcolm is?” she asked in a whisper. She was careful never to get too loud in the library when Elsa was around because she wasn’t afraid to use her banshee wail to enforce the rules
“I believe he’s in row seventeen, sleeping in one of the armchairs.” Elsa replied in a soft voice. She went back to recording a stack of books to be checked back into the library later into a massive leather bound ledger.
“Thanks.”
When Calli reached aisle seventeen, she peered around the edge of the stacks and found Malcolm in an armchair, his long legs stretched out, fast asleep. A book lay open, face down on his thigh. Hades was curled up next to him in a patch of sunlight, also sleeping.
Calli set Persephone down. The kitten trundled over to the dog and stretched out in the warm beam of light before cuddling up against Hades, her tail curling around her body and half-hiding her face.
Calli held still, watching Malcolm sleep. Her heart quivered with a soft and aching sense of sorrow, the feeling that somehow she would not be able to hold on to this forever. She stepped toward him, and gently took the book off his lap, and set it on the table nearby. She eased down onto his lap, drinking in the way his eyes opened with a slumbrous look of surprise and desire when he realized who was sitting on his lap.
“Well,” he purred. “This is the best dream I’ve had in a while.”
She twined her arms around his neck and leaned into him, their lips meeting in a soft kiss that burned like a fire in the heart of winter.
When their lips finally parted, she asked, “Did you find anything?”
Some of the lazy, sensual relaxation left his eyes. “Not much. We found a spell about thirteen witches who raised something they called a guardian spell.”
“Anything else?” Calli pressed.
He hesitated. His arms tightened their hold on her as if he feared she’d vanish.
“They mentioned a witch-locked pair that was supposed to spill their blood upon the soil, just like Mrs. Greenlee said.”
