Damsel Under Stress

Page 104

Owen lifted his hand from my shoulder and placed it on top of my head, which sent shivers down my spine. I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying the words to that effect that popped into my head. “Some other fairy, but not the usual kind?” he asked, moving his hand back to my shoulder.
“That’s my assessment, as well.”
Suddenly, I had a feeling I knew exactly what was going on. “Ethelinda,” I groaned.
“Who?” they both asked.
“A fairy godmother. A couple of weeks ago—right at the time Owen and I started dating—this crazy fairy lady showed up and told me she was my fairy godmother. She even had a book with my entire dating history in it. I told her I didn’t want her help, but weird things kept happening that she took a little too much delight in, and she seemed to think they should have brought us closer together. And then she decided when those things didn’t work that maybe we weren’t meant for each other.”
“That does sound like a fairy godmother,” Merlin confirmed. He glanced over at Owen. “They’re still active?”
“Apparently. I’ve known a couple of people who had to deal with them. They’re not too good at keeping up with the times, so they’re more annoying now than ever.”
Merlin stroked his beard again. “I know there are rituals for summoning them, but I’ll have to do some research about this particular one to see how to get to her directly.”
It then dawned on me that I was still wearing my coat and still had my purse over my shoulder from when I’d been heading home. In all that had happened after I got back to the office, I’d totally forgotten to take the coat off or put my purse away. If I had my purse, that meant I still had Ethelinda’s locket.
I unzipped my purse and found the heart-shaped locket inside the coin pocket. I pulled it out and held it up to Merlin. “Will this help? She gave this to me as a way of summoning her. I’ve only used it to read her the riot act.”
His face brightened. “It should help immensely. Thank you.”
While he did something with the locket, I shrugged out of my coat. Owen took it from me and hung it on the coatrack in the corner of the office. He’d just returned to my side when there was a loud crack in the air, followed by something hitting the nearby sofa with a thud and a cloud of silver sparkles.
The sparkles cleared, revealing a pair of bloomer-clad legs sticking out of a mass of fabric. The feet at the end of those legs wore pink terrycloth house slippers. The mound of fabric stirred, and then the legs lowered to the ground while a head and torso emerged. It was Ethelinda, of course, dressed in what looked like a high-necked Victorian nightgown over all the other clothes. She had pink sponge curlers in her hair and thick, white cream all over her face.
She started to act indignant, but then she saw who stood in front of her and fell to her knees at Merlin’s feet. “You summoned me, my lord?” she said, bending to touch her head to the ground.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did,” he replied, ignoring her bowing and scraping. “You seem to have been bothering one of my people.”
“Helping!” she insisted, tilting her head up slightly but still on her knees. “Not bothering. I never bother people. I only help them.”
“Perhaps, then, you can explain the latest trauma to strike Miss Chandler. Do you understand how a magical immune is suddenly able to do magic? And don’t deny that you’ve done something to her. I detected the traces of your spell.”
She rose awkwardly to her feet, beaming with pride. “That’s one of the most clever things I’ve ever done, if I do say so myself. Of course, she’s not doing the magic herself, but while her immunity was gone, I was able to plant someone who could do magic within her.”
I couldn’t help but shudder. “Ewww! And why?”
“So you’d understand magic, silly. You weren’t willing to listen when I told you that someone like you isn’t compatible with a wizard, so I thought if you discovered what it was like to have power, you’d understand.”
“That makes no sense whatsoever,” Owen said.
Merlin cleared his throat. “At this point, the question at hand is not why this was done, but how, and who else was involved?”
Ethelinda tittered and batted her eyes at Merlin. “Of course, I can’t take full credit.” She turned to me. “Your friend had the initial idea, and she volunteered to help.”
Considering what Owen and Merlin had already noted about my “magic,” I knew exactly who that “friend” was. “Friend?” I asked, trying to keep from screeching.