“It’s for the elements. We’re going to summon the four elements to break Nick’s curse.” He offered a shrug at the statement. I think he bought as much into Lacie’s solution as I did. “Virgo is Earth. I’m obviously a Libra.”
Neither Nick nor I commented.
Lacie let out an exasperated sigh. “Come on, big guy. How many zodiac tramp stamps have you done?” She had a point. At this point, I should be an astrological expert. “I’m air. Nick here is a Sagittarius. You might not see it yet, but we’ll get thatfirein him burning again.”
In response, he held up a lighter. With a flick of the thumb, he had fire. His confused expression left me with a grin. I had seen that fire. Nature had warded off the curse long enough for me to meet his authentic self. I hoped that whatever this did would bring that man back. I hadn’t finished getting to know him.
“Wait, what about water?”
“Girl.” I spun toward the unfamiliar voice. While I wore a hoodie and cargo shorts, our newcomer looked as if she were heading to the Oscars. The sequins on the black dress shimmered in the light of the fire. Her face shone, from the perfectly razored head down to the hoop earrings. “You can’t have magic in this town without Mabel.”
Even in high heels, she moved across the grass with supernatural grace. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she floated. When she reached the fire, she kicked off her heels. She buried her feet in the grass, and the look of ecstasy on her face made me fall in love. Anybody who craved that connection with Earth earned my respect.
“Everybody, meet Mabel. Let’s be honest, Firefly is the greatest place on Earth.” I bit my tongue as she threw out her arms and spun about. Lacie had drunk the Moxie, and there was no turning back. “But Mabel is the icing on the cake. When she heard about our little dilemma, she offered her services.”
“Services?” Nick asked.
“Oh, heiscute.” She flicked a finger across his nose. “Plenty of men get on their knees and worship at this altar.” With hands on her hips, she struck a pose. “Now, how can I be of service? I hear we’re here to banish some bad juju.”
Something about our gathering struck a chord. Two gay men. Two flatlanders. A drag queen. Me covered head-to-toe in tattoos. I had come here expecting to be the outsider in a town that refused to change. Our presence… ourexistencein Firefly said something. How many outsiders did it take before it normalized? Maybe I hadn’t been looking hard enough for the subtle ways the town grew. Or maybe it wasmewho needed to catch up?
“So, tonight we’re going to call the elements and ask them to remove the curse.”
Mabel nodded as if it were just another night in Firefly. It wouldn’t surprise me if the quilting guild turned out to be a cult.
“Why couldn’t you do this in Vanguard?” I asked.
Lacie’s eyes narrowed as if I had interrupted the ceremony. “Ambiance. Obviously.” Oh, right. That made perfect sense.
Without explaining, Lacie grabbed me by the waist, pulling me into place. She repeated it with Mabel and then with Nick.My heart went out to him. He had fallen into himself, a reluctant version of the man I met in the woods. It didn’t matter what I thought about the curse. If this helped him shed that weight, I’d do what was needed.
“What do you want us to do?” I spoke to Lacie, but flashed a smile at Nick.
“Simple. I’m going to invoke the spirits, and then we’ll do our offerings.”
Of course. Simple. I wanted to scoff, but it’d be hypocritical. On the first camping trip with Pops, we had passed a hiker in distress. Walking the Appalachian Mountains, she had lost her water purification tablets. Pops pulled off his rucksack and gave her a bottle of iodine. She claimed it had been trail magic. If I believed in nature’s miracles, then maybe Lacie knew something I didn’t.
“First, we purify.” Reaching into the fire, she lit something on fire. Walking around the circle, she waved it about as if she were chasing away mosquitoes. Sage. When she reached Nick, she gave him a couple extra rounds and only stopped when he bent over in a coughing fit.
“I think we’re good.” She eyed me, then Nick. The smirk on her face said everything. My cheeks turned hot. “Well, as pure as these two are going to get.”
“Scandalous,” Mabel hissed before giving a slight, “Rawr.”
Lacie gave her shoulders a quick shake. Now that she had ensured we’d smell like sage for the rest of the night, she readied herself for the ceremony.
“Elements, we invoke you to help lift a curse.” I followed her eyes to the dark sky. A cloud lit up. It wasn’t warm enough for heat lightning. I eyed Lacie. Did our social butterfly have a supernatural secret? “We summon you.”
She pointed at Nick. He pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket, lighting its corner. Dropping it into the fire, the papervanished almost instantly. She followed, dropping a fistful of feathers into the flame. When she pointed at me, I struggled to pull off the lid.
“Hurry up,” she barked.
I tore off the lid and dumped the dirt around the edge of the fire. When she pointed at Mabel, the woman pulled out a spray bottle. First, she gave herself a few spritzes, then unscrewed the top and poured the rest onto the flame. Hissing filled the silence before the flames resumed their usual crackling.
As smoke bellowed, Lacie continued her ritual. “Spirits, we ask you to remove the curse from Nicholas Johnson.”
She froze in place, arms raised toward the sky. It dragged on long enough that Mabel and I swapped concerned glances. Were we supposed to join? Is this where the chanting started? Or perhaps we’d strip naked and dance? Nobody wanted to see my dance moves. I eyed Nick to see if anything had changed, but he didn’t look any different.
“Huh,” Lacie said. “I expected something more shock and awe.”
