Sally-Anne’s expression turned glum. “I can’t liftallkinds of curses.” She nodded at Henry. “I could deal with the curseIcast, no problem, and most other people’s basic curses are a piece of cake, but if Dorian put that curse on her, then I probably can’t do anything about it. He practices a completely different kind of magic to me, and he’s also at a much higher level. Assuming that he wasn’t lying about it in his bio, anyway. Which he might have been,” she muttered. “Bastard.”
Disappointment spread itself through Henry’s gut. It didn’t seem right that his curse was lifted, while Luna was still stuck with hers.
But if Dorian is the only person who can lift it…Henry thought, glancing at Luna – and looking into her eyes, he could see the same thought formulating in her mind, too.
“If you can’t lift the curse yourself, then you’ll have to help us out another way,” Luna said, turning back to Sally-Anne once more.
Sally-Anne blinked. “Um… I mean, sure? But I’m not sure what I can do.”
Luna’s expression was determined. “Would you be able to message this… Dorian, was it? Tell him you want to meet up.”
Sally-Anne shook her head. “He ghosted me, though. I haven’t messaged him since he stood me up. I actually blocked him on the app, so that’s probably why he’s been texting you instead. I don’t think he wants to talk to me.”
“Ah,” Luna said, “but I think he does. Since like you said, this guy has been texting me non-stop and following my every movement. I can only assume that he thinks I’m you, and thatmy number is linked to my name somewhere online… or he used magic, I guess. In any case, he thinks I’m you.”
“Really?” Sally-Anne looked nervous. “Do you think he’s angry about it?”
Well, yeah, I’d say he’s a little pissed!Henry thought, but didn’t say.
“Don’t worry,” is what he said instead. “Even if he is, I’m a shifter, and so are several of our friends in this town.” He normally wouldn’t be so forthright, but it was important that Sally-Anne felt reassured – and as a witch, she was almost certainly aware of shifters. He’d certainly known that witches existed, though he’d never met one before now. “We should be able to deal with him if he tries anything… unless he’s more powerful than he seems?”
While Sally-Anne seemed a little taken aback at the shifter revelation, she recovered quickly. She shook her head. “No, I don’t think he’d be a match for several shifters. I hope.” She paused. “Unless you’re, like, an ant shifter or something?”
Henry laughed. “No, nothing like that. Though ant shiftersarepretty good at lifting several times their own body weight. And I wouldn’t want to get bitten by one.”
Sally-Anne seemed to relax, even smiling a little. “Okay. I’ll help you. Or I’ll try, anyway. What do you need me to do?”
“Message him again,” said Luna. “Through the app, or however else you contacted him. Unblock him and chat to him a little, and tell him that you really want to meet up. He may have ghosted you, but he’s obviously not over you.”
Sally-Anne looked uncertain, but then nodded with resolve. “Sure. I’ll do it. It’s the least I can do after causing all this mess.”
She lifted her phone from where it had been sitting on the table since she’d taken it out of her purse to show them this Dorian’s dating profile. Henry watched as Sally-Anne’s thumbs flew across the screen, and he started to feel better about thewhole plan. He still wasn’t entirely sure that it was agreatidea, but he could only hope that four shifters and a witch would be enough to deal with a wizard who was more bent on petty vengeance than societal destruction –
WHOOMP!!
Henry gasped as all the air seemed to be sucked from the room. After a long moment he managed to suck in a grateful breath, followed by another one, until his lungs started working properly again.
Protect our mate! Protect her at all costs!!
Scrambling out of the booth on wobbly legs, he turned to see a figure standing there within a dissipating cloud of green smoke. It put its hands on its jeans-clad hips, threw its head back, and laughed.
“HA HA HA HA HA! YOU HAVE SUMMONED THE MIGHTY DORIAN! AND NOW YOU SHALL PAY FOR YOUR HUBRIS!!”
Chapter 13
O…kay?Luna thought, as she stared at the man who’d suddenly appeared before them.
Blinking, she swept her eyes over him. The green smoke had been impressive, she had to admit, but he really didn’t look like any wizard she’d ever imagined before – he wasn’t, for example, wearing a purple robe with golden stars on it, or a tall, pointed hat. He didn’t even have a staff. Hedidhave long hair, though – pulled back into a ponytail. And he was pretty tall, she had to give him that – he was also quite thin and weedy, and he was wearing glasses. Old, ragged jeans, a rather tattered t-shirt, a denim jacket and dirty sneakers completed his wizard ensemble.
Not that there’s anything wrong with guys having long ponytails or wearing old clothes,Luna thought. Theyhadjust… uh, summoned? him – since she assumed that’s what the sudden appearance and the green smoke was all about – at a moment’s notice. Maybe he hadn’t had time to put on his wizard’s raiment before teleporting here. It was just atinybit surprising to see an apparently fairly powerful wizard looking like some of the guys who used to stand around arguing with each other at her local comics shop when she’d been a kid.
But she’d at least been right about something: the moment Sally-Anne had asked him to come, he’d come. Now, they just had to get him to understand that he’d cursed the wrong person – and also, that cursing people was just a bad idea in general.
They unfortunately seem to have quite a lot in common on that score,Luna thought, a little sourly.
Well, shehopedthis would be a lesson to them both to deal with their hurt feelings in more constructive ways. Because going around cursing people, regardless of whether it backfired or not, was just not an appropriate way to cope with rejection.
Especially if you send self-aggrandizing text messages to go with your curse!
