Page 84 of Hexed, Vexed, & Undersexed
“All right, Putnam, take my hand. But this doesn't mean I like you!” I joke.
He takes my palm in his. Together, we shut the grimoire and then open it again slowly. Likemagic, words begin to bleed onto the page. So, this is what Mother Shipton meant when she said that it takes two. . . Together we leisurely flip through the pages until Gram finds exactly what she wants—the reverse spell to end Putnam's hex.
“All right, young man,” she tells Bellamy, “here's the spell. Please, on behalf of my family and the Porter coven, reverse it.”
Bellamy looks at her like she's crazy—which isn’t inaccurate.
“You can't just reverse a hex just like that,” he splutters. “I'm sure that the ingredients will be difficult to get and we'll have to wait for one specific night, like a blue moon in—" He cuts off as he reads. “Oh, I guess it won't be that difficult.”
I snatch the book from him to look.
Huh, he's right.
“I’m always right,”he teases mentally.
Goddess, give me strength.
I turn back to Mother Shipton’s grimoire. I expect to see a ridiculous spell, but there's a single sentence.
The hex will be undone when the two families reunite into one.
Bellamy goes to stand before Gram and clears his throat.
“On behalf of my family, do you accept our apology?”
Gram-Gram, who is the matriarch of our family, nods her head in acknowledgment.
“Only if you accept ours first,” she rasps.
And just like that, the spell is broken.
The quiet power that had been residing in me from Kai shifts into something so bright that I feel like I'm going to burst with it—my birthright, my magic. I look over and see that Gram-Gram is wearing the same exact smile that is stretching my lips, too.
“Damn, but doesn't that feel good on these old bones!” she crows. “Now, to fix Mindy and the others—”
“What is going on?” a muffled voice slurs from near our feet.
Fucksticks.
It’s Mindy, but Gram-Gram is ready. Without even referencing the grimoire, she whips out a spell like she’s been using powerful magic all her life.
“Those who harmed us, now reset—erase their minds and forget!”
Mindy sways a little on her feet and, then, promptly falls down. Gurgling, she giggles. . . and pisses herself.
“Ah. . . Gram,” I begin in horror. “I think you did more than just make her forget these events.”
“Quick—fix it!” Jake directs desperately. “Before she shits herself!”
“All right, all right. Calm down,” Gram-Gram gripes and hastily spews out another riddle to fix the situation before it becomes even worse. “Okay, now to destroy this baby before it can destroy the earth—”
“I'll take care of that,” Kai offers. We all must be wearing equally incredulous looks because he rolls his eyes and says, “You don't live in the wild for three centuries and not learn a thing or two.”
I'm really not quite sure what he means by that, but I hand over the grimoire, anyway. It seems like such a shame to destroy something that my family finally just got back. . . but the greater good is at stake.
“Exactly,”Bellamy rumbles in my head.
“Could you please mind your own mind?”I grouse.
