Part 33 (2/2)

Everything seemed to move in slow motion then. Carlos laughed in slow motion. Lilith clasped her hands together in slow motion and then pulled them apart, perhaps describing the zip ball explosion the other morning in the living room. Dominic put his hands up defensively, as if startled by Lilith's demonstration. Again in slow motion. The only one not moving slow besides me was Ursula. Yet the others did not see it. I walked the static blue line to her. She turned to me, her smile thinning by degrees.

”Ursula, what is going on?”

”You do not know?” she said.

”Know what?”

”We are linking.”

”Linking? What's that?”

She trained her eyes on the blue line. ”You kissed me. The light doth bind our souls now and forever.”

I pointed to the others. ”What's wrong with them? Why are they moving in slow motion?”

She looked and laughed. ”But they are not. No more than we are having this conversation.”

”You saying we're not?”

”Not in words of spoken sound.”

That freaked me out some. ”Ursula.” I wagged my finger at her. ”I am on to your gag. It's a cute trick to be sure. One of your better spells.”

She shook her head. ”What say thee thy words of doubt? 'Tis witchcraft, aye, but not a spell. Thou doth see with thine own eyes thy witches light.”

I looked at the ground between Lilith and me. No such vein of energy existed between us. ”Lilith and I don't have it,” I said, sure to deflate her ruse. She s.h.i.+ed away from the question. I asked again, more forcefully. ”Ursula. Why is there no light between Lilith and me? We've kissed thousands of times.”

She pointed at the circle. ”'Tis the energy of the coven, this light, meant for me and mine.”

”You and Dominic.”

”Aye.”

”So, why didn't it work? Why aren't the two of you linked?”

”It is as I have told you, the light of witches.”

I nodded. ”I see. Dominic's not a witch.”

”Alas, he is not.”

”Why didn't you warn me then? I would not have kissed you if I knew.”

”What was to warn? Thou kissed me so fast my head did spin and doth spin still.”

”I got caught up in the moment.”

”The moment, aye, and what a moment thou hath caught.” She shook her head and looked away. ”'Tis a strange event what turns indeed. Wilt thou not pinch me now and wake me from this dream?”

”I wish I could,” I said. ”And I wish I could tell you that none of this is happening. Yet here we are, talking in this surreal, detached envelope of reality while these three go about their business without the slightest notion that we are having this conversationor not having it, as you say. Ursula, you have to tell me what to do, because I really don't understand it.”

”Nay. Nor do I for its entirety.”

”Tony.” I looked at her from across the circle. It was Lilith. No longer was I standing next to Ursula. The four of them were outside the circle, looking back at me. ”You coming or not?”

I looked about, feeling spent, as if awakening from a dream. ”Yes,” I said. ”I'm coming.”

I fled the circle and caught up with them in a sprint. I might have thought it was all in my head, had Ursula not looked at me and gestured with her finger across her lips. She directed my attention to the ground with a glance. The electric blue vein was still there, tethering our witchy blue souls.

SEVENTEEN.

Back at the house, Dominic and Ursula acted like the consummate newlyweds; touching, kissing and sometimes displaying their affections in an openly lascivious manner. It seemed a bit out of character for both, but perfectly normal for a couple so much in love. Carlos popped the champagne bottle and offered a toast to the occasion. What he lacked in linguistic eloquence, he made up for with heartfelt sincerity.

”If I may,” he started, his gla.s.s in hand, his arm outstretched as if holding a lantern to the entrance of a darkened cave. In some ways, I imagined he was. To toast a future unknown, one can only surmise its outcome by the brilliance of the light that s.h.i.+nes before him. ”To Dominic. My best friend.” He looked at me with a side-glance and whispered, ”Sorry, Tony. No offence.”

I gestured back, raising my gla.s.s. ”None taken.”

He continued. ”And to his beautiful new wife, Ursula. May the road before you be paved with gold.” I know. He should have stopped there. ”May the potholes you encounter be small, far and few. May life's detours always bring you back to a pavement straight and narrow. May the intersections never cross you up and may the lights at those intersections always be green. I mean for you, of course. Not for the cross traffic. That would be dangerous. Unless no one is coming the other way. In that case”

”Carlos.” I cranked my hand in a cameraman's roll. ”Can you hurry it up some? The champagne is going flat.”

”Of course,” he said, souring his expression. But having successfully distracted him, I knew his train of thought was permanently derailed. He hoisted his gla.s.s higher. ”To Dominic and Ursula.”

”Hear, hear,” I said. ”To Dominic and Ursula.”

We all drank. And after drinking to that, we drank some more, toasting everything from Lilith's magick to the magic kingdom at Disney World. To be honest, by the end of the evening we would have toasted the magic of microwave popcorn. The champagne was going down that easily. Seven bottles of champagne and countless shooters later, we were all either tipsy, c.o.c.keyed or stone cold drunk. Still, no matter how much I drank, I never lost sight of the electric blue vein, that d.a.m.n witch's light tethering Ursula and me together. The truly strange thing was that, although I spotted Ursula looking at it every now and then too, no one else, not even Lilith, ever seemed to notice it.

Later that evening, I pulled Dominic aside and asked him what Ursula whispered in his ear that changed his mind about accepting the house Carlos gave them. He told me she whispered that with a house like that, they could start working on having babies right away.

”You know how small my apartment is,” he said, and then he smiled. ”I can't wait to get started.”

I looked across the room at Ursula. I would have started already, I thought. But my answer to him sounded less impetuous. ”You have time. Enjoy each other's company while you can. Kids change everything.”

Yeah, I suppose you're right,” he said, but I knew he was only being polite. My money was on Ursula getting pregnant by morning.

It was sometime after midnight when we called for a taxi to take Dominic and Ursula home. Lilith set the couch up for Carlos to sleep on. Shortly after, she and I went to bed. As promised, she made good use of my handle. Even tried a few new things that I would not have thought possible. But then, Lilith is a shape-s.h.i.+fter. Couple that with some liquor and she can really surprise you. That is to say, she does not drink much, but when she does, she is one righteous ball of fire.

By two in the morning, she had worn me down and worn herself out. I was sitting up in bed looking at her, watching her sleep, when I noticed that annoying blue light again. It appeared to radiate off my body like a glow stick, gathering in a concentrated pool on the floor by the bed and stretching like taffy out the bedroom door. I got up and followed it down the hall. A string of static sparks popped in nervous missteps just beyond my stride, as if antic.i.p.ating my footfalls. It led me to the bathroom, past the sink and toilet and terminated at the tub. But for what little light I could see by, I was sure there was no one there. I hit the switch, illuminating the room, and there she was, Ursula, sitting on the edge of the tub in a nightgown so sheer I could see through it clearly. At her bare feet, the electric blue tether linking us.

”Ursula? What are you doing here?”

She looked at me. Not at my face, but lower. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my mid-section. I snapped up a second towel and handed it to her. She waved it off, instead, pa.s.sing her hands over her body and blurring her features to my eyes.

”Wow, some trick,” I said. ”How did you do that?”

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