Strange Magic

Chapter 2-2

Zoe sat on the worn leather couch in her aunt’s living room, hands clasped together. Both her parents stood by the fireplace, looking angry and worried and nervous all at once. Aunt Luz ended the call and set her phone down on the side table next to the arm chair that faced the sofa.

“He’s on his way,” she said.

Both Andrea and Luis Sandoval visibly sagged with relief. “And he’ll be able to help?” Luis asked.

“The McAllister elders seemed to think so.”

Maybe she should also be feeling relieved, but Zoe wasn’t quite ready to go there yet. She didn’t know anything about this Evan McAllister. He hadn’t been among the candidates sent to meet her, so he must be older. In her mind’s eye, she imagined some scowling middle-aged man who would read her the riot act about her recklessness before he bothered to say whether or not he could truly do anything to rid the world of the monster she’d unleashed upon it.

Anyway, she’d already had her talking-to. She wouldn’t bother to say she didn’t deserve it, because she did, but there had to come a time to set the scoldings aside and get down to business.

But it seemed as if Luz wasn’t quite done with her yet, because her normally full mouth pulled into a flat line as she looked at her niece, and she said, dark eyes flashing, “Don’t think just because one of the McAllisters is coming here to bail you out that this is the end of the matter.”

“Did I say I thought that?”

“Zoe,” her father said in a warning tone. The stern expression he currently wore was one she didn’t often see, since in general he tended to be fairly easygoing. Zoe didn’t much care to be on the receiving end of it.

Right then, she’d had enough. Even though she knew the enormity of her mistake dictated that she should just sit there meekly on the couch and take anything her family handed out, something in Zoe rebelled at the notion of being so passive. Why should they get to be so judge-y? Her mother hadn’t had to deal with the humiliation of kissing random guy after random guy in a stupid quest to find her ideal mate. No, she’d been able to meet up with her husband the old-fashioned way. You’d think Luz would be more sympathetic, since she’d been right where Zoe was standing now. But apparently Uncle David had been Aunt Luz’s first candidate, and they’d kissed and known they’d found the perfect person, so Luz wasn’t forced to look any further than that.

None of them understood what Zoe had been going through.

She got up from the couch and planted her hands on her hips. “Don’t you think I know I screwed up? But what none of you want to talk about is how I shouldn’t have been forced to cast that spell in the first place!”

“No one forced you to do anything, Zoe,” her father said. His tone was even enough, but his dark eyes flashed fire. Did he look like that when he was arguing a case in front of the judge? She didn’t know, because she’d never actually seen him at work in the courtroom. “You cast that spell because you were frustrated…and selfish.”

All right, true enough. Even though she knew how petulant the words sounded, she burst out, “And none of you understand what it was like, to have to kiss all those guys, whether or not I thought they were cute, just because of some stupid tradition!”

“Zoe!” Andrea Sandoval exclaimed, looking truly scandalized. In that moment, the resemblance between her and her older sister seemed particularly strong. “It is not a stupid tradition. It is because our primas have been with exactly the right man that we have stayed strong all these years.”

“Oh, like Grandpa was exactly the right man for my abuela?” Zoe shot back.

“Enough,” Luz said, and raised a hand. “We will not have that discussion about my mother — or my father, may they both rest in peace. What you did, Zoe, was perform an extremely dangerous piece of magic, one that has rightly been f*******n for hundreds of years. Believe it or not, I do understand something of your frustration. Do you think it gives your parents any joy to see you suffer disappointment after disappointment? Do you think it pleases me? We have all been on edge ever since Matías Escobar tried to kidnap you, because his actions pointed out how truly vulnerable you are. We would all be much happier if you had found your consort early on.”

For a long moment, Zoe said nothing. Her thoughts churned this way and that, because she knew that Aunt Luz was right, that they had come so very close to completely losing control of the situation. Sure, she’d been watched over since the day Maya had identified her as the prima who would succeed Luz, but she’d still managed to have something of a normal life. Boys were off limits, of course. Otherwise, though, she wasn’t that much different from the other girls she’d gone to high school with, participating in classes and extracurricular activities, and going to the movies and shopping and just hanging out. The only thing that had been strictly f*******n was going to parties alone, because Zoe’s parents knew kids drank at those things, and where there was drinking there were loosened inhibitions and all manner of risks. She’d always had a cousin tag along with her, just to make sure nothing went sideways.

Ever since Matías had tried to steal her away, though, she’d been watched even more closely. There were de la Paz cousins in her classes at Scottsdale Community College, and less obtrusive observers when she went out with Amber or some of her other friends to shop or eat or whatever. Zoe had even seen her Uncle Jack show up occasionally, which just made her want to shake her head. Not that she had a problem with Jack — he was her favorite uncle, the youngest of her father’s four brothers — but you’d think a detective with the Scottsdale police department would have better things to do with his time.

In fact, she was pretty sure someone in the clan had followed her when she’d driven here to Aunt Luz’s house to cast the fateful spell, but once they’d seen where she was going, they hadn’t bothered to stick around. Too bad, because maybe then there might have been a witness to see where the monster had gone.

Hoping she could steer the conversation elsewhere, Zoe said, “Maybe we don’t need Evan McAllister’s help at all. Maybe the thing just…disappeared.”

Luz shook her head. “No. I fear we are not that lucky.” She paused then, one hand lifted before her, the gesture she made when attempting to sense magical currents on the air. “I can tell it is still out there. Where exactly, I’m not sure, except that it’s somewhere in the area, possibly to the south of here. My senses aren’t strong enough to pinpoint it more than that. But there is definitely a wrongness, like running your hand over a piece of smooth silk and feeling a snag beneath your fingertips. We will require Evan McAllister’s talents to help us track it down.”

Deep down, Zoe had known it wouldn’t be that easy. She also knew she’d have to participate in neutralizing the spell, since the McAllister warlock apparently required some input from the original spell caster for his own gift to work properly. So she’d have to suffer the company of this Evan person, whoever he was, and hope that he wouldn’t turn out to be too much of a judgmental jerk.

Otherwise, attempting to locate the monster might prove to be even more problematic than conjuring it in the first place.