I Put A Spell On You

“Now?” I said in astonishment. Esme and I didn’t see eye to eye on everything but one thing we did share was a fierce work ethic. Her leaving work early was equally unheard of.

“We’re going for a walk in Princes Street Gardens,” he said. “I’ll see you later.”

I waited until he shut the door then I picked up my phone and called Esme. She didn’t answer. Crafty.

“Esme,” I hissed into her voicemail. “Be careful with Xander. He’s got a bit of a reputation with women.”

I knew she’d ignore me, but I felt duty-bound to warn her. Xander was a dreadful womaniser, though he did it without malice – he just really, really loved women and the more attractive the better. I didn’t for one minute think Esme would cheat on Jamie – she was properly smitten with him – but something about the way she’d had her head close to Xander’s yesterday made me uneasy.

I did a bit more work, trying to concentrate and ignore the butterflies that flapped in my stomach every time my thoughts turned to Louise. I wondered when she would show up and what she would think of the photos. And then my phone rang.

“Harry, I’m so sorry,” Louise said. “I’m snowed under. Can we meet tomorrow instead?”

“Of course,” I said, trying to sound like it was fine. “I’m busy myself actually.”

“I’ll give you a call in the morning,” she said. “And, Harry?”

“Yes.”

“Be careful.”

I pressed end and sat turning my phone over in my hand. I was disappointed not to see Louise, and I was still feeling edgy and out of sorts. I was also really aware that my stress levels were affecting my magic. I always struggled to keep my spark when I was stressed – another reason why I loved yoga so much.

What I needed, I thought, was wine. Or possibly vodka. Or both. I swiped my phone again and called Lucy, an old friend from uni who was a stay-at-home mum and consequently always up for a night out.

“Abso-bloody-lutely,” she said, when I asked if she wanted to meet. “I’ll ring Georgia, too.”

I sat back in my chair, feeling better already. Then I looked down at my boring black skirt and functional white shirt and grimaced. I couldn’t hit the town looking like this.

Picturing my wardrobe – which I kept in strict colour-coded order, natch – I thought about what to wear. Mentally I chose my favourite skinny 7 For All Mankind jeans, a black top with a slash neck and some leopard-print heels, waggled my fingers and, with a spark, my clothes appeared, hanging neatly from the picture rail in my office, the shoes arranged below. I grinned. I was down, but I wasn’t beaten. Not by a long chalk.

Chapter 6 (#ulink_db9fe1b4-8a6b-5d61-b257-979cc9b5d4fc)

At first it didn’t even cross my mind that anything more sinister than a power cut had happened.

I was about to get ready for my night out. The spa was quiet because most of the therapists had finished for the day. There was a Bikram yoga class on in one of the studios, Nancy – the new temp receptionist – was putting on her coat, and Xander was sitting in her chair, fiddling about with her computer.

He’d been tight-lipped about his lesson with Esme.

“Yeah it was good,” was about all he’d said. “She took me through some basics, the rules and whatnot.”

I’d narrowed my eyes.

“Tell me,” I said. “Tell me what she told you.”

“Okay, scary controlling lady,” he’d said with a grin. “She told me about all the three stuff.”

I’d been impressed that Esme had started ‘by the book’ as it were. Uncharitably I assumed the lessons I’d given her were still fresh in her mind. I wanted to know exactly what she’d said though, so I got Xander to talk me through it.

“She said the most powerful magic is made by three witches together,” Xander explained carefully. “And, she told me that if you do a nasty spell, it’ll come back on you three times as bad.”

“That’s true,” I said. “Doesn’t stop me forgetting about it when I’m in a mood though.”

Xander chuckled.

“Seems unfair,” he said in an overly casual manner. “That you can’t hurt someone who’s hurt you.”

“It’s not worth it,” I said. “Our magic all comes from positive energy – if you start messing with the dark stuff it gets scary pretty quickly.”

Xander’s eyes darkened for a second, but he didn’t push it.

“That was about it,” he said. “We didn’t have much time.”

I let it go, but I made up my mind to ask Esme more about what they’d got up to.

Leaving him to it – he was working on more flyers advertising the spa to new customers – I took my make-up bag and clothes into the deserted changing room. I was quite capable of doing my hair and my make-up magically, but I found it frustrating as if I liked it, I could never recreate it, and if I didn’t, it was a bugger to change. So I stuck to doing it my own way, even if some other witches turned up their noses at me.

I’d stripped off my work clothes and swapped them for the outfit I’d summoned earlier, and was just touching up my make-up, when all the lights went out. The little red light on my hair straighteners, that I’d plugged in to heat up, went out, too.

I paused, mascara wand aloft, knowing we had an emergency generator. There was a beat, then a whir as everything started up again. I smiled at myself in the mirror, pleased the expense had been worth it.

And then the emergency power went out.

There was a shriek from the yoga studio as twelve sweaty women felt the heating go off and the cold air of an Edinburgh winter creep in.

“Bugger,” I whispered.

It was pitch black in the changing rooms, which had no windows. Keeping one hand on the wall, I felt my way round the lockers towards the door and then out into the corridor. It ran along the edge of the building, so it had windows but the sun had set hours ago and it wasn’t much lighter there. Finding my way through memory and touch, I made it to reception where Xander was lighting candles. He made a spooky face at me through the flame, but I was in no mood to laugh.

“I pinched these from one of the treatment rooms,” he said, lighting another tealight. “Are youOK?”

I nodded. Half-finished make-up wasn’t a worry for me at the moment.

“Shall we go and rescue the hot-yoga girls?” Xander asked.

I sighed.

“I suppose so.”

Using our phones as torches, we headed to the yoga studio, where the instructor was trying to calm the nerves of her shivery charges. Like grateful lambs, they followed us out of the studio and into the changing rooms. Xander lit tealights and scattered them on every available surface. It actually looked quite pretty.

“Ladies,” he said, giving a little bow. “I’ll leave you to it. Last one out, blow the candles out.”

As one, the yoga class all simpered at Xander. I tutted and headed back to reception, Xander following. We sat together and waited for the yoga crew to leave while I rang Lucy and Georgia to explain. Then I rang the electricity company.

“EH4?” the very helpful operator repeated, in a shrill Scouse accent. “There’s no problem reported in that area.”

My heart sinking, I walked to the door of the spa, phone still clutched to my ear, and peered out. We were on a side street mews, away from the main road of Raeburn Place. Everything was dark and quiet – perhaps it was a problem in the area after all.