Deep Magic

Chapter 2-1

2

There. Every inch of the kitchen had been scrubbed, and since she’d found some microfiber cloths in a drawer in the kitchen, Hayley figured she might as well dust, too. The living room sparkled in a way it probably hadn’t since her brother Brandon moved in, and she’d dusted the room that was to be hers and wiped down the bathroom, too. They’d have to share, it appeared; the flat might have two bedrooms, but it boasted only a single bath — one that, luckily, appeared to have been updated in the past couple of years, with warm faux-granite tile in the shower enclosure and on the floor.

The bedroom she’d be using wasn’t big, but it also had a beautiful view, and a closet with more storage space than she’d expected. And because it looked as if Brandon had never used the space at all, the room didn’t require too much of her attention.

She put her things away, glad that her brother had at least left her a drawer in the bathroom for her use. Once she was done with that task, she wandered back out to the living room, went to the window to look outside again. The landscape had begun to take on warmer tints as the afternoon lengthened and the sun prepared to slip behind Mingus Mountain — because of the tall peaks looming over the town, it would be something of a reverse sunset here, with the most obvious effects of the sun going down seen in the east.

Her purse was still sitting on the little side table where she’d left it; Hayley got out her phone and checked for any messages. Another one from her mother, even though Hayley had already texted to let her parents know she’d arrived here in Jerome safely, right before she got her things out of the car and came up to the flat. Apparently a text message wasn’t good enough, though — her mother probably wanted to hear the sound of her voice.

Sighing or rolling her eyes seemed like a waste of effort, since she was alone here in the flat. Instead, she pushed the button to return the call.

Her mother picked up almost immediately. “You got there okay?”

“Mom, I texted you right after I parked the car.” And thank God the flat came with two parking spaces behind the building. Jerome’s streets seemed awfully crowded for such a small town. Probably all the tourists, but still.

“But you didn’t call.”

“I’m calling now.” What was it about conversations with her mother that always made Hayley feel as if she was regressing to her junior high days? “I needed a little time to get settled in.”

“Is Brandon there?”

“No. I was just about to text him.”

“He should have been there to meet you.”

Well, Hayley couldn’t argue with that remark, but she also wasn’t about to throw her brother under the bus by saying so out loud. “He’s really busy. It sounds as if they’re going to get one of their builds on some TV show. Anyway, he left me a key, told me where to find everything.” Which was a complete lie, of course. However, just because Brandon tended to be absent-minded about such niceties, there was no reason to point out his shortcomings. “Anyway, I was about to go out and explore a little.”

“By yourself? Maybe you should go over to Rachel’s, let her know you’re there.”

Rachel McAllister, although a distant relative like almost everyone else in Jerome, wasn’t quite as distant as some. Her great-great-great-grandmother — or something like that — was Hayley’s great-great-great-great-aunt…or something along those lines. The genealogy of the witch clans could get complicated, and she’d never had the patience for such things, leaving it up to the more analytical minds in the family to keep track of who could marry whom and that sort of thing.

Not that she’d yet run across a cousin who interested her enough for her to care. Most of the time she was able to convince herself she was just fine with the current state of affairs, even though she knew in her heart that she was damn tired of being alone.

“I will. I mean, I was planning to stop by her store, since it’s just next door. Anyway, shouldn’t it be perfectly fine for me to go wandering around Jerome by myself? I thought that was the whole point in sending me here, so I’d be someplace safe.”

A pause, and then her mother said, “Well, yes, that was the idea. It still doesn’t hurt to be careful.”

“I’ll be careful. But really, everything seems fine here. Quiet.” Hayley decided it was probably better not to mention the row of Harley-Davidson motorcycles she’d seen parked in front of one of the bars out on Main Street. She had a feeling the local witches and warlocks made sure the bikers behaved themselves, but still, it was the sort of detail that would give her mother palpitations.

“‘Quiet,’” her mother repeated, sounding dubious. But then she apparently decided it was better to let that subject go, and instead return to the topic of Hayley’s absent brother. “Don’t forget to text Brandon. He’ll just keep working and working if you don’t remind him to come home.”

“I will.” The last thing she wanted was to be a nag, but she figured one short text couldn’t hurt. “But really, it’s fine. I like the flat. And I think I’m really going to like it here.”

“Well, good,” her mother said, although she didn’t sound as if she thought that was such a good thing. No, she sounded almost hurt, as if it wasn’t fair for Hayley to warm up to Jerome so quickly, that it was somehow disloyal to her hometown of Payson.

But Hayley knew better than to get into that subject. At some point, she might miss the expansive forests that surrounded the town where she’d been born — although Brandon had told her you only had to drive a few miles up Mingus Mountain to get plenty of ponderosa pines and other foresty stuff, so she shouldn’t be too deprived. Again, better to keep quiet on the subject.

“I should text him now,” she said. “You know, just in case he gets up to his elbows in a transmission or something, and I miss my chance.”

“All right. But you let me know if you need anything.”

And if she did, what would her parents do about it — drive all the way out here to Jerome to bring her a spare phone charger or something? Not happening. This was her chance to break free, to prove she wasn’t their little girl anymore. It would have been different if she’d gotten married and moved out to start her own life that way. But her mother seemed determined to treat her like a child, even though she hadn’t been one for years…in the eyes of the law, anyway.

“I will, Mom. I need to go.”

A long pause. “All right, sweetie. You take care of yourself.”

“I will. Goodbye.”

Hayley ended the call there, and began to set the phone down on the coffee table before realizing that she still needed to text Brandon.

Hey, I’m here, she typed. You coming home anytime soon?

She watched the display. It showed that the message had been delivered, but there was no response. Well, he could have the phone shoved in his pocket and might not have heard the notification — or he really could be elbows-deep in rebuilding a transmission.

A minute went by, then another. She’d just decided it was stupid for her to sit there and stare at her phone when it binged.

Oh, sorry, Brandon had responded. We really need to get this primer coat on before I leave tonight — it needs to set up before we can start laying down the paint tomorrow.

Hayley had expected as much, but she couldn’t keep herself from experiencing a twinge of disappointment. Yes, she was a big girl now. Even so, it would have been easier to run the gauntlet in Jerome with her brother at her side.

How late? she typed back, and wondered if the question sounded as pathetic to her brother as it did to her.

Maybe 8 or 9. Get yourself some pizza at Grapes — they’ll take care of you.

Brandon, trying to be helpful, although, speaking of pathetic, Hayley couldn’t think of anything much worse than sitting and eating alone in a strange restaurant on her first night here in town. Well, she’d just thrown out a bunch of takeout boxes from that very same restaurant, which meant she could order pizza to go and eat it by herself here at the flat. Still kind of a dreary prospect, but better than smashing herself into a corner of a booth somewhere and pretending she didn’t exist.

Sounds good, she replied. I’ll try that.

Sorry. Once I get this project done, it’ll be better.

Right. As soon as he finished this car, something else would be waiting for his attention. She couldn’t even be angry with him, because at least he was doing something he loved. Following his bliss, as they liked to say. Whereas she still hadn’t figured out what the hell she wanted to do with her life.

No prob. I’ll see you when you get home.

K. Bye.

That seemed to be that. Hayley made herself get up from the sofa and go over to where she’d left her purse, then dropped the phone in an inner pocket of her bag. She knew she needed to force herself to go outside. Otherwise, she’d probably just sit here on the couch, watching Netflix or channel-surfing and ignoring her empty stomach until Brandon came home. It seemed like the best thing to do would be to go over to Rachel’s store, say hi. Hayley had met her distant cousin years ago at a reunion, but because the event had been so overwhelming, so full of witches and warlocks she’d never met before, she didn’t remember much about her except that she had reddish hair and was plump, and wore the kinds of boho-looking outfits you might expect of a modern-day witch. Anyway, it was nearly five o’clock; if she didn’t get moving now, Hayley knew she ran the risk of the store closing before she even got there.

She’d just finished locking the deadbolt and had begun to turn around to head down the stairs when a pair of piercing blue eyes met hers. The sight surprised her so much that she took a step back, and managed to drop the keys to the flat at the same time.

“I’m so sorry,” said the apparition. He bent and retrieved the keys, then handed them to her. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s fine,” she replied, regaining enough control of herself to focus on the man who stood before her. And holy hell, was she glad she’d focused on him, because he was insanely good-looking. At least six foot two, fair hair, those amazing blue eyes, and the face and body of a male model, or maybe an actor. In fact, he was positively Hemsworth-ian in the looks department.

“Are you Brandon’s sister?”

“Yes.” So her brother had actually remembered to mention her to his neighbor? At least, she assumed the man standing there must be the person who lived in the flat opposite Brandon’s; there wasn’t much point in coming up here otherwise. “I’m Hayley. You live next door?”

“Yes. I’m Levi — Levi McAllister,” he added after a brief pause, as though he wasn’t used to introducing himself in such a way. Well, that made some sense. Being a McAllister in these parts was kind of a given.

Yet another cousin, of course, but since he was a Jerome McAllister, it meant they were distantly enough related that it didn’t really matter. A flush rose in Hayley’s cheeks. All right, so the guy looked like a Greek god. That didn’t mean she should automatically be contemplating whether they were genetically compatible.

“Brandon said you would be coming to stay for a while,” Levi went on, and Hayley found herself mentally forgiving her brother for ditching her. At least he’d had the presence of mind to mention her to his hunk of a next-door neighbor.

“Yes,” she said. “My parents thought it might be safer here.”

“Safer?”

“From — ” She stopped there and gave a nod in a vaguely southerly direction. “You know.”

“The Escobars and the Santiagos.”

“You know about all that?”

“Oh, yes.” Levi’s handsome blond head tilted to one side. “Was there a particular reason why your parents thought you would be at risk? Your brother didn’t say anything, except that you’d be coming to stay in Jerome for a while.”

Hayley shifted her weight from one foot to the other. In general, witches and warlocks didn’t discuss their individual talents at first meeting. And she especially didn’t want to talk about that sort of thing while standing here on the landing outside her brother’s flat. Even though she and Levi were the only people here, it felt somehow…exposed.

“Well….” she hedged.

“Ah, of course. I should not be asking you about your talent on such a brief acquaintance. I apologize.”

“It’s fine,” she said quickly. At the same time, she couldn’t help but give him a sideways glance of her own. There was something about the way he talked — much more formal than what she was used to, with a certain carefulness that made her think of someone whose native language wasn’t English. But that didn’t make any sense. He’d said his name was Levi McAllister, and he was certainly fair enough in coloring to be one of their clan. “I mean, I would rather not talk about it here, but….”

“But you would speak someplace else? Maybe…someplace where I could have a drink with you?”

A drink? This Greek god was offering to buy her a drink? All right, just so he could talk to her, but she didn’t mind. It had been a while since a guy had seemed this interested in talking…or anything else. Besides, the truth about her gift was going to come out sooner or later. She might as well spill the beans to Levi.

Things in Jerome were definitely looking up.