Im just a small town shi.., p.13
Combustible Magic, page 13
“What was it, dear?” Marjie asked as she stepped around the group hug, surveying the damage.
“The box,” said Athena. Rosemary was surprised her daughter was continuing to allow her father to hug her. “You know the one that used to house our family magic.”
“But the magic’s not in there anymore,” said Marjie. “Surely they know that.”
“We suspect they think Geneviève is still in there, somehow,” said Rosemary, wondering what the best way to pry herself out of this awkward hugging situation. It had clearly gone on for far too long, but there was only sweetness and concern in Dain’s demeanour. She thought back to what Una said about the spell for the cream addiction.
It requires love.
It was quickly becoming clear to Rosemary that despite Athena’s long-held resentment towards her father, there was definitely a more positive attachment there too. And now that Rosemary’s memories had cleared up, she could remember the good times and the bad. It gave her a new perspective, coupled with the knowledge about Dain’s addiction.
She finally managed to extricate herself from the hug with the knowledge that there was definitely a feeling of warmth between them. She wasn’t sure if it was romantic, but it did feel a lot like love.
Rosemary turned towards Athena, who had a slightly overwhelmed expression on her face. “It’s time to try the spell.”
Twenty-Four
“These notes are quite complicated,” said Athena. “Are you sure we're up to doing this?”
They were standing in the lounge an hour later, after cleaning up from the attack, in which the house helped a great deal. They’d had lunch and begun preparations for the spell.
“It’s nothing compared to the spell I had to do to create a temporary warp in space in order to try and rescue your silly arse from another dimension,” Rosemary replied.
“How long are you going to keep reminding me about that for?”
“Probably until you're retired,” said Rosemary. “That’ll give me a good few decades of ammunition.”
Athena sighed.
Rosemary rubbed her hands together. “Alright. Let’s start.”
“Don't you think we should wait until Una comes back from her family thing? She might be able to help.”
“We could do,” said Rosemary. “Although, I don't think we need her here to do the spell. Her notes say it should be cast by the people closest to the fae in question.”
“No, that's not what it says,” said Athena. “It says we have to love him. I don't think that we qualify.”
“I wouldn't have said so either,” Rosemary said. “But I think something has changed. Or maybe a whole lot of things have changed over time. You can still be angry at someone that you love. You can even hate them sometimes. In fact, sometimes the reason that feelings are so strong is because of the love.”
“Sounds like a self-help book,” said Athena. “I don't mind Dad. In fact, he's kind of growing on me a little bit. But that doesn't make up for the facts.”
“It doesn't make up for it,” said Rosemary. “You're right. And it's not about making up for it. We just have to deal with the situation...wherever we are. And this is where we are right now.”
Athena narrowed her eyes. “Why are you so focused on this? Don't you have a million other things to worry about? Like Liam's little health disorder and all these fires and the children still running wild around the house, not to mention getting your own life together, and setting up your business?”
“One thing at a time,” said Rosemary. “I’ve just got to tick this off my list. The less I have to worry about Dain, the easier it will be sort out those other things. It makes me nervous having him around when we never know if he's going to lose the plot. It seems even more dangerous to kick him out.”
Athena shrugged. “Okay. Let's set up, then.”
They gathered together the ingredients for the spell: amethyst crystals to be placed at the four direction points; a bundle of sage and another of rosemary; three sprigs of thyme and one of vervain; and nine cardamom pods. They applied the anointing serum to their temples, made with essential oils of black pepper and juniper. It smelled wonderful.
They pushed the couches out of the way in the lounge and lay the herbs and the crystals in a circle and said the basic blessing to create a sacred space. Then they called Dain in. He'd been waiting in the kitchen blindfolded, as the instructions said he had to enter the ritual space that way. He stumbled a little bit, tripping on the arm of a chair that had been pushed a little too close to the doorframe.
“Can we help?” Athena whispered.
Rosemary nodded. They stepped forward and led Dain to the circle.
“Sit down,” said Rosemary.
Dain did as he was told, sitting cross legged on the floor. Athena and Rosemary stood above him, joined hands, and began to chant.
By the power of our love for you, we bind you.
We shackle you to free you.
We bind you so that which would tear you from us now only sickens you.
We bind you, Dain, in our love.
We bind you to free you.
A burst of light emanated from the centre of the circle, above Dain’s head.
It radiated out in between where Rosemary and Athena stood. It shone out in an intricate paisley-like pattern and then contracted around the three of them.
Rosemary felt something shifting.
It was as if a new lens had come over her way of seeing.
The world stilled for a moment, then her vision went blank.
There was a heavy darkness and Rosemary realised she must have passed out. She tried to open her eyes, only to find everything different. She was still standing, holding onto Athena’s hands, but she was also somewhere else entirely, in her mind.
A reel of memories ran through her head, but they weren’t Rosemary’s.
It was Dain’s perspective as a young fae, peeking through the veil, leaving behind everything he knew, entering into the human realm.
Rosemary felt the extreme heaviness of emotion, and the disconnection he’d experienced. He'd been running from something big and terrifying and found himself in another world, a much harder, heavier world where nothing made sense.
She watched as he was picked up by the authorities, not understanding anything about the way the world operated. She watched his memories stream past as he was passed from foster home to foster home, often to be beaten and yelled at and threatened.
She watched through his eyes as he saw her for the first time.
Rosemary, beautiful and young, her red hair blowing in the breeze on a crisp spring morning as she stopped to pick a bluebell on her way to high school.
He could see the magic all around and inside of her, even though she couldn't see it herself. It was the magic that drew him in. It was her personality that kept him anchored to her.
Rosemary felt the deepest love swim through her. Only it wasn’t her emotion. It was Dain’s. It was a beautiful sensation that gripped her heart, only to be interrupted by shame and failure.
No matter what he tried, Dain could never do things right. Rosemary saw her own weariness through his eyes, as things got harder and harder to manage. She felt the heaviness he experienced, just being in the earth realm. His disappointment in himself was enough to break her heart.
She saw herself yelling at him for refusing to do the grocery shopping when she was up all night with a sick child. He’d gone to such great lengths to control himself, to avoid his addiction, it was backfiring on him. He left their small flat and walked the streets. He knew he couldn’t trust himself at the grocery store where Rosemary worked. Getting too close to his weakness could cost him everything. Instead he went to a bar and sat in the darkness. There was no point in trying anymore. No matter what he did, he wasn’t good enough.
Rosemary watched through Dain’s eyes as he ordered an Irish cream liqueur. He downed it in one gulp and suddenly he felt good again. There was lightness. But there was also a lack of control. That was when it all fell apart. He’d hang out in bars and gamble with his new friends. He lost all semblance of control, but managed to keep hiding what he was from his family.
He kept going back to the cream bottle over and over again because it made him feel good when nothing else was right. He couldn’t stop himself from being reckless. Wasting every chance he got.
The memories faded and she heard Athena sob. Rosemary pulled her closer, but Dain was in the way. They tripped and fell into a pile of family on the floor.
The ridiculousness of the situation made them laugh, even though Athena and Rosemary were both in tears.
“What...what happened?” Dain asked.
“It was so sad,” said Athena, not bothering to get up from the floor. “I mean, you told me you had a rough life. You told me bits and pieces, but it was like...”
“It was like we were there,” said Rosemary, beginning to move in an attempt to extricate herself from the puddle. “Like we went through everything you did, although, obviously the Reader's Digest version.”
“Well, I didn't come here to get embarrassed,” said Dain, pushing himself up. “I'll just show myself out.”
“No, it was important,” said Athena. “We needed to see all that. It means something.”
“It does,” said Rosemary. “Our lives might have been tough, and you are probably the cause of most of that to be quite frank.”
“Thanks,” said Dain in a caustic tone. “That makes me feel so much better.”
Rosemary gripped his arm. “But we didn't know what you'd been through.”
“I’ve been angry at you for so long,” said Athena, shaking herself. “You didn't know any different.”
“That’s right.” Rosemary nodded. “In some ways, I understood that, intellectually. But to experience it is a whole other thing.”
“Great,” said Dain, still sounding unimpressed. “Did it actually work?”
“We'll find out,” said Athena.
Twenty-Five
“Is this really necessary?” Dain asked.
Athena laughed at the absurdity of the situation. “Yes, Dad,” she said, wrapping the rope around him one more time before fastening it to the chair he sat in. “You might not remember it very well, but you totally lose your head when the cream comes out. We need to make sure you’re restrained and are no danger to yourself or others.”
Rosemary nodded. “It’s really a surprise you’ve lived this long.”
“What can I say? Fae are resilient creatures.”
“That does not give me much hope for us when the Countess figures out how to get her revenge,” said Athena.
She had been thinking about this possibility a lot lately. Every time she cut another door through to the fae realm there was a risk that fae could push their way through. It seemed like they hadn’t figured out how to do it yet. Something came through when she sliced into the veil, but it wasn’t solid.
She hoped that the Countess had no idea what she was doing, and considering Finnigan could go back and forth between the worlds as if he had dual-passports, the Countess could probably mount her own attack without Athena accidentally enabling it, though that thought wasn’t exactly reassuring.
Worse still, it was a far greater risk that she’d encounter her infuriating ex crush, and she did not want to think about him.
“Stay very still,” said Rosemary, strapping Dain’s hands down onto the arm rests with duct tape.
“This is all a bit much for a little cream,” Dain protested.
“Quiet, you,” said Athena. “Marjie will be here any minute with cream buns or something. It will all be over soon enough and we’ll see if the spell worked.”
The door opened and Marjie came in, brandishing a bottle of cream. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” she called out, hesitating in the doorway.
“Don't worry, we've got him restrained,” said Rosemary.
“And the kids are all out at the park with Nesta, just to be safe,” Athena added.
Rosemary watched as Marjie took a deep breath.
“Right then,” she said, entering the room.
It had been a few days since they’d cast the spell. Dain had been exhausted afterwards and had spent most of the elapsed time sleeping.
Una’s instructions said to let him rest and wait two to five days before they tested it by carefully allowing him near high fat dairy products.
“Are you ready,” Rosemary asked Dain.
“As I'll ever be,” he replied. “But if it doesn't work, please knock me out gently and forgive me for anything stupid I do.”
Athena smiled. “Happy to. We know it's not your fault. At least you're trying Dad.”
Dain’s eyes lit up with hope.
Rosemary smiled. “It warms my heart to see my daughter getting along with the father who had always been such a thorn in her side.”
Athena glared at her.
“What? Animosity wasn't doing either of you any good. And though we won’t forget the past, it’s about time we stop living in its shadow.”
“All right, here goes,” said Marjie. She cracked open the bottle of cream and peeled back the foil seal.
They all watched Dain, nervously.
Instead of lighting up gold, as they usually did in reaction to cream, his eyes had a greenish tinge. In fact, his whole face looked rather pale. All of a sudden he coughed and then wretched.
The chair rocked backwards as his whole body convulsed.
Athena turned away as Dain was violently ill, all over himself and the floor. Rosemary tipped the chair to the side so that he didn't choke on his own sick.
“I wasn't prepared for that,” she said.
“Disgusting,” said Athena. “I wish I didn’t have to see it.
“Well, the spell did something,” said Rosemary as Dain continued to vomit on the floor.
“Not exactly what we bargained for,” said Athena.
“He was sick the last time he tried the remedy from that old book,” Rosemary pointed out. “This time, maybe it will actually work, if cream makes him sick in the long term.”
“But the point is, Dad should be able to get over his problems, and function in society, regardless of what dairy products are being served. We can’t have him curling over and making a mess every time he seems a cream cake.”
Rosemary sighed. “At least he's not going to take all my money and gamble or give it away.”
“Wait a minute,” said Marjie. “I'm going to get Una on the phone.”
“Isn't she away?” Rosemary asked.
“Haven't you heard of cell phones?” said Marjie.
Rosemary blushed. “It’s not like I know her all that well.”
“Look, here you go. It's ringing,” Marjie said, holding up the phone.
Rosemary raised her hands in protest not quite sure what to say.
“Oh fine,” said Marjie. She spoke into the receiver. “Hello dear. Yes, I’m perfectly fine. Look, we've got a situation here. The Thorn girls tried the spell and they thought it worked but Dain was violently ill. Oh, I see.”
Marjie raised her eyebrows and Rosemary gave her a questioning look.
“Here,” said Marjie. She handed the phone to Rosemary.
Twenty-Six
“Uh, hi,” said Rosemary, grabbing the phone reluctantly.
“Oh, Rosemary. I'm sorry,” said Una’s voice. “I should have warned you that this might happen. It wasn't so severe with me, but I can see how things could have been a lot worse.”
“What do you mean?” Rosemary asked.
“Cream made me nauseous,” Una explained.
“Are you saying he’s going to continue to be sick like this every time he smells cream?” Rosemary asked.
Athena frowned.
“I don’t think so,” said Una. “The nausea wore off after a few weeks, so don't worry. Hopefully the same will happen with Dain. Then you'll be able to take him out in public without fear of cream buns.”
“Thank you,” said Rosemary. She sighed with relief, feeling the exhaustion of the past few weeks catching up on her. “So you're saying the spell worked?”
“It sounds like it worked rather well,” said Una. “He wouldn't have had such a reaction to cream if the magic wasn't potent. You must really...” Her voice trailed away and Rosemary interrupted her.
“Oh, there was something I wanted to tell you.” Rosemary was thinking about the situation with Burk, but then she hesitated. This probably wasn’t the appropriate time and place with Athena, Marjie, and Dain all listening in.
“Yes?” Una asked.
“Never mind,” said Rosemary. “It can wait until you get back. When are you back, by the way?”
Tomorrow morning,” said Una. “Maybe we can catch up for a cup of tea in the next few days.”
“That sounds perfect,” said Rosemary. “Thanks again, for everything.” She hung up the phone. “Good news,” she announced. “The spell worked and Dain’s not going to be sick forever, though he won’t be wanting to be around dairy any time soon.”
“Fabulous!” said Athena. “We can probably untie him now.”
“I was gonna ask when you were going to remember that,” said Dain. “I’m quite uncomfortable here, tied up in a pool of my own vomit.”
“Well, it's not the best situation for the rest of us either,” said Athena as Rosemary got started on the rope.
“Una thinks the extreme effects should wear off after a few weeks,” said Rosemary. “And then you'll probably just be left with a mild dislike for dairy products. You can tell people you're lactose intolerant.”
“True enough,” said Dain. “It might not be the lactose, but I don’t tolerate nausea well.” He was out of the chair and looking rather dishevelled. “If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and have a shower. Don't worry, I'll clean up when I get back.”
“How considerate,” said Athena as Dain wandered towards the bathroom. “He’s not too bad to have around, after all.”
