Southern Karma Read online

  “Her cauldrons don’t work for them. They can buy, but nothing magical will happen. Part of the spell.”

  We headed toward the beginning of Bubbling Cauldron. The courthouse was off to one side. A man hid in the shadows. When he stepped out, I nearly burst into laughter.

  Rufus Mayes looked like a vampire. He had white clown makeup smeared over his face, dark contouring under his cheeks and slashes of blood running from his mouth.

  “Great costume,” Axel said.

  “Just because I decided to actually look like something from Halloween and not a stripper isn’t a reason to disparage me.”

  “Yes, it is,” I said, hiding a laugh behind my hand.

  “At least you look lovely,” Rufus said.

  “Do you have the fake time watch?” Axel said in a cutting voice.

  I watched Axel’s gaze burn into Rufus. Was he jealous? Of Rufus Mayes? That was ridiculous.

  “I’ve got it,” Rufus said. He pulled a gold pocket watch from his pants.

  The ground rumbled as a horse-drawn carriage rolled to a stop in front of us.

  I whistled. “Talk about style.”

  Rufus nodded. “That Mythica has.”

  I frowned. “Mythica? This is her?”

  Rufus flipped up his vampire collar. “It’s showtime.”

  FIVE

  I did my best not to reach out to Axel. I wanted to grab his hand for strength, but I couldn’t look weak. Not in front of a gorgon.

  The horse-drawn Cinderella carriage rumbled to a stop. The door swung open. I swear a rolling mist wafted from the interior.

  I glanced behind me. Halloween was still going strong in town. A line had developed around the courthouse. Folks were all clambering to enter. I saw Betty and her new friend, Wilma. It looked like the cauldron lady, Florence, was also drifting toward us.

  My gaze darted to the carriage. A delicate shoe-clad foot appeared. A glass slipper! The shoe revealed a leg, and then a lovely blonde woman in a blue ball gown climbed down. She inhaled a deep breath and glanced around until her gaze settled on Rufus.

  I swear, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she burst into song.

  Axel leaned over. “She’s like Scarlet O’Hara.”

  And she was. Well, she reminded me of a cross between a Southern belle and a fairy-tale princess.

  Cinderel—I mean, Mythica, the not-so-hideous gorgon, floated over to us. “Rufus, darling, it’s so wonderful to see you again.” She air-kissed each of his cheeks. Her gaze flitted to us. “And who are these lovely people?”

  I swear I almost heard her ask, And who are these peasants? Not that Cinderella would’ve said something so terrible, but because she seriously seemed like royalty and here I was bucktoothed in a green corset.

  “These are the people who helped me acquire your, um, gift.”

  Laughter trilled in Mythica’s throat. “How wonderful. I’m so glad you’ve seen fit to help me. What wonderful people. I mean, if y’all had the opportunity to bring a unicorn, I know y’all would. Who doesn’t like a unicorn? That’s how I feel.”

  She shrugged as if she were talking about getting a vote on the PTA and not rewriting world history to suit her purpose. “If y’all knew more of us, you’d understand we’re people like everyone else.”

  Mythica’s lips coiled into a shy smile. She looked nice enough, pleasant. Yet something dark hid in the recesses of her eyes. For the first time I realized I wasn’t looking at an innocent belle. I was staring at a person-killing gorgon.

  Okay, I didn’t know if the person-killing part was completely right, but she was a gorgon. There was a killing machine hidden behind that beautiful face and air-kissy manner of hers.

  She held out a gloved hand. “So. Have you brought it?”

  Rufus plucked a disc from his suit pocket. “I did. Here you are.”

  “Whoo whoo, they even got carriages around here. I want to go for a ride.”

  A man in a bloodstained sleeveless T-shirt, cutoff jean shorts and construction boots walked up.

  He yelled over his shoulder as he swung a rubber ax aimlessly in front of him. “Roy, get a load of this here carriage. I think Sleeping Beauty must be inside.”

  Lord, he was redneck city if there was such a place. I suddenly didn’t like Halloween if it let a bunch of vermin into my town.

  Mythica’s eyes sparkled. “Let’s just get on with it. I seem to be drawing too much attention.”

  “Roy!” Random Guy yelled. “Get your butt over here and see this carriage thingy!”

  Apparently Roy, who was just coming out of the haunted house, yelled back. “I’ll be there in a sec. Hold your horses!”

  Rufus extended his hand and dropped the fake time watch in Mythica’s palm. “There you are. Services rendered.”

  Mythica’s gaze slid to the side. Out from the carriage stepped a young girl. She wore a school uniform complete with red tie and jacket.

  Mythica turned to her. “Is it real?”

  The girl stared at Rufus and gave a slight shake of her head. “No. She has the real one,” she said, pointing at me.

  I blanched. What the…? Bringing a mind reader? A child mind reader at that?

  I shot Axel what I’m sure was a terrified look. He took a protective stance in front of me.

  “Thank you,” Mythica said to the girl. She turned to us. “It’s always good to have loyal employees, don’t you think? Especially when they get paid in food?” She laughed. It sounded like cats sliding down a chalkboard.

  “Now I’ll just be taking the correct time watch and getting out of here before Roy and all his buddies decide to hijack my carriage.”

  The man circled us and gave Mythica a look like she was a savory piece of fried chicken leg. “Roy! There’s even Cinderella here.”

  “I’m coming!” Roy shouted. “She ain’t goin’ nowhere! Quit yellin’ about it!”

  “You quit yellin’!”

  “No,” Axel said. “You can’t have it.”

  Mythica threw her head back and laughed.

  A low growl hummed from Axel’s throat.

  “Didn’t he tell you?” Mythica said, glancing at Rufus.

  “Don’t say anything,” Rufus said.

  I crossed my arms. “Tell us what?”

  “Just give it to her,” Rufus hissed.

  “That he owes me,” Mythica said. “He promised the watch to me in exchange for his freedom.”

  I shot Rufus the dirtiest look I could make. “I knew there was something wrong with this whole thing.”

  Mythica batted her lashes. “See, your young vampire prince here wronged me. This is how he’s paying me back. By giving me the time watch. So now,” she said, extending her palm. “I’ll just be taking that.”

  I shifted away. “No. You won’t be taking such a thing. Now or ever. Over my dead body.”

  Mythica’s eyes flared with what looked to be some sort of sick pleasure. “Your dead body? As you wish.”

  Her smile widened, and her lips stretched like the Joker’s—or a woman who’s had way too much facial surgery. Take your pick. Her lips went all plastic-like. Her beautiful blonde tendrils hardened as if they were twisting into dreadlocks. Mythica’s face took on a skeletal appearance.

  This all happened in a split second, and in that second I realized what was about to occur.

  Mythica was going full-on gorgon on us.

  Rufus threw himself in front of me. “No, Mythica. It doesn’t need to come to that. Here.”

  He twirled his fingers, and I felt the time watch lift from my dress. I snatched the air, trying to get my hand on it. My fingers clasped it.

  Mythica’s scaly hand clamped over mine.

  “Whew,” came a man’s voice. “This here is quite a carriage.”

  Roy, who was dressed just like his friend, walked around us. “This sure is something. Wait till I tell Grandma we saw a carriage! She’ll be so tickled her fake teeth’ll probably fall right out of her mouth.”

  Vo
mit edged up the back of my throat on that comment.

  Rufus’s hand clasped over mine and Mythica’s. “Just give her what she wants.”

  “No,” I snarled. “She can’t have it.”

  Mythica’s lips peeled back into a hideous sneer. “Then prepare for it to be taken.”

  “Not if I can help it,” Axel said.

  A bolt of energy snaked from Axel’s hand into the three of us, forcing us apart.

  The time watch hovered in the air as if riding an invisible cloud. Everything happened at once. It all came in clicks so quickly that I couldn’t process all of it individually. I only knew I had to keep Mythica from getting ahold of that stupid time watch.

  Amelia was going to kill me if something bad happened to it.

  “Get back,” Axel said. He threw another bolt of power.

  Axel’s words didn’t register in my head until it was too late. I reached for the watch. I grabbed it and thought about how I wanted it gone, away. Like, in another universe.

  Rufus clasped my arm. Mythica grabbed his.

  Axel’s bolt of power slammed into the three of us, popping in the air like a solar flare. For a split second I felt a surge of magic rush through me. I couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from, but it felt like a hot line had moved through my body, scraping against my veins.

  I was forced back. My grip on the watch loosened. As I flew away, I saw it suspended in the night air.

  The glass cracked. The metal broke. The air around it twisted and buoyed, causing a miniature explosion.

  That can’t be good. Amelia’s definitely going to kill me.

  Axel’s mouth was taut with concentration. He extended a hand, and I stopped falling. Power cracked and snapped around him. It was like he was Tarzan, King of the Wizards.

  He pulled me into a hug. I relaxed for half a second before turning to Rufus and Mythica.

  Rufus rose from the ground, dusting himself off. “Thanks, Reign,” he said sarcastically.

  Axel ignored him. We turned to Mythica, who lay motionless on the ground.

  Her little schoolgirl helper tiptoed to the gorgon. Her eyes widened, and she screamed.

  Axel and I stepped to get a closer look. My gut twisted, and for a split second I questioned if I should be getting near her. What if it was a trap? What if Mythica’s head was about to turn into a hideous skeleton face and she would blast me with her eyes and turn me to stone?

  Oh well. A chance I had to take, I guess.

  When my gaze finally settled on Mythica, I saw why the girl had screamed. Mythica’s beautiful pink flesh was no more. In its place was hard, gray stone. Her delicate mouth was opened in shock, and her eyes were wide as if Mythica had looked upon the face of death right before she’d died.

  Roy and his friend strolled up. Roy scratched his chin. “Well, lookie there, they even got themselves statues of Cinderella in this town. Douglas, help me pick her up. You reckon she’s for sale? Grandma would love to have her.”

  I slapped my forehead. Tourists.

  SIX

  “So this gorgon somehow turned herself to stone.”

  Garrick Young, sheriff of Magnolia Cove and Cordelia’s unofficial boyfriend, scanned Mythica’s body.

  “That’s what it looks like,” I said.

  “And what was she doing here?”

  “She was trying to steal the time watch,” Axel said.

  Garrick pointed to the fragmented bits of brass scattered on the sidewalk. “That time watch?”

  Axel grazed a hand down his jaw. “The one and only.”

  “And how did you receive this tip?”

  I glanced at Axel. Would he tell Garrick the truth?

  “I told them.”

  Out from the shadows Rufus Mayes appeared. He met my gaze, and I felt a ripple in my belly. It sent a wave of nausea running through me. I gripped my stomach.

  Garrick shifted his weight. Fire burned in his eyes. “What in God’s name are you doing here?”

  “Trying to stop a gorgon from getting control of the time watch,” Rufus said, stalking forward.

  “And getting yourself arrested in the process.”

  Rufus opened his arms. “If I must. But it was worth it to stop Mythica from wreaking havoc.”

  Garrick pulled a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket. The metal closed with a snick as he wrestled them onto Rufus’s wrists.

  “You got any idea how we’ve got a dead gorgon on our hands?” Garrick said.

  Rufus pointed to the thin girl in the dress uniform. “I suggest you ask her. I think she can read minds.”

  Garrick handed Rufus off to one of his men. The girl cowered near the carriage. Roy and Douglas had left the area after Garrick had made most people move along, but the girl had of course stayed. Where was she going to go without Mythica?

  Now that I got a good look at her, I could see fear shone in her eyes. Gorgeous ringlet curls framed her delicate face. She was thin, looking more like a pole in clothes than a child. Because of her lithe frame, her eyes looked even bigger, like alien-saucer eyes.

  Okay, maybe I’m being a bit too extreme. But she did have large eyes.

  As Garrick approached, the girl scurried away. “Come here, kid.”

  She ran into the carriage and disappeared.

  Axel stepped forward. “Let me try.”

  Garrick gave Axel room. Axel reached behind his back. When his hand appeared in front of him, he was holding a candy bar.

  “Do you like chocolate?”

  A few seconds later the girl’s head appeared in the doorway.

  “You can have this whole bar if you come out and talk to us. No one’s going to hurt you.”

  The girl looked hesitantly from the food to Axel. She took a timid step forward. Then another, until she was on the ground.

  Axel handed her the chocolate. She snatched it away as if she were half-starved and bit into it, not even bothering to unwrap it.

  My eyes flared in shock.

  Axel knelt in front of her. “I’m Axel. What’s your name?”

  Her eyes darted to the ground. “Paige.”

  I melted at how easily Axel won the girl’s trust. He was so awesome. Just another notch in my heart that belonged to him and no one else.

  “Paige,” Axel said quietly as he watched her eat. “Mythica was turned to stone.”

  Paige swallowed a knot of chocolate. She glanced at Mythica’s body and nodded. “Yes.”

  “Do you know how it happened?”

  She hitched one shoulder.

  Axel paused. He stared at Mythica and then turned back to Paige. “Did Mythica’s power turn on her? Was it her own power that killed her?”

  Paige shook her head.

  Garrick tensed. I could see him wanting to punch the girl with questions, but he held his tongue.

  “If her power didn’t turn on her, what was it?”

  She licked chocolate from her fingers.

  “I have more candy if you’re hungry.”

  She nodded enthusiastically.

  Another chocolate bar appeared in Axel’s hand. He held it in front of Paige. The hunger in her eyes was evident. She reached for the chocolate. Axel gave it.

  Paige peeled back the wrapper and started to take a bite but stopped. She studied Axel. “Mythica’s power didn’t turn on her. It was the other that killed her.”

  Axel frowned. “The other?”

  She chewed a bite for a moment. “Yes. The other gorgon. That’s what killed Mythica. The other gorgon in Magnolia Cove.”

  SEVEN

  “What other gorgon?” Garrick asked Paige.

  The girl hitched a shoulder. “The other.”

  “Who was it?”

  She shot a furtive glance to Axel. “I don’t…I don’t know. There was another, but I don’t know who it was.”

  Garrick rubbed a hand down his creased and exhausted looking face.

  Paige edged toward Axel. She glanced up at him hopefully, as if she were expecting him to dr
op chocolate in her mouth.

  Garrick eyed Rufus. “You’re with me.”

  Rufus shook his head. “As if anything else is an option.”

  “It’s not.” Garrick turned to Axel. “Keep the girl with you. I may need to question her again.”

  The sheriff hauled Rufus away, leaving us alone with Paige. Axel and I exchanged a look. I knew what he was thinking—why would Mythica have this girl? It looked like she could use some trustworthy adults in her life.

  Axel flashed her a bright smile. “Want to hang out with us for a while?”

  She nodded greedily.

  “Come on. Let’s go enjoy Halloween. You ever been to Magnolia Cove before?”

  She shook her head.

  Axel took one of her hands in his and gripped mine with his other. “Well, let’s explore the town.”

  “Axel,” I whispered, “there’s a gorgon on the loose. At least that’s what she said. Do you think it’s true?”

  He studied the girl. “I’m still trying to figure her out.”

  “And what about the time watch? Amelia’s going to kill me.”

  “Maybe not.”

  “Definitely.”

  “There’s nothing you can do about it. And if there is another gorgon in town, they didn’t kill us. We’re alive. Maybe it was a revenge killing on Mythica. I don’t know. She’s dead, and the time watch didn’t get into her hands. Yes, I know it’s broken but right now,” he said, pulling me in for a quick kiss, “let’s enjoy the rest of the night. Halloween only comes once a year, after all.”

  “All right,” I grumbled.

  But the grit in my attitude melted as I watched Axel point out the hired spirits circling the haunted house.

  “See those? They’re real ghosts. Shipped in to scare people.”

  Paige's eyes widened. “Ghosts?”

  “Yep. You want to meet one?”

  She nodded.

  Axel whistled. “Redbeard! Hey, Redbeard!”

  A wispy ghost dressed as a pirate sailed to us. The apparition bobbed up and down. It wasn’t the first time I’d ever seen ghosts was in Magnolia Cove, but that still didn’t stop a chill from sweeping down my spine. The pirate was there, but he wasn’t. Seeing a spirit was like looking at a photograph made of wisps of smoke.