she spoke. “What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy?”
The witch was not a witch at all. A wizard stood before me. His voice was low and gruff, with a hint of velvet lacing it. The velvet part got to me; it made me shiver. Strange that a voice could do that. A knot twisted up in my chest. Why did the voice have that effect on me? Maybe it wasn’t the voice at all, but the manner in which he had spoken—dismissive, as if what I wanted held no importance.
Forget that. This wizard was in the wrong territory.
“I can see that you’re busy, but whatever it is you’re looking for, you’re not going to discover it here. This isn’t a magical town.”
“Oh really?” he replied, amused. “And what do you call all these spells? Simple balls of light?”
How irritating! Why couldn’t he turn, face me and have a real conversation? Why was he being so difficult?
I studied his outline and wondered why I had ever thought this was a witch. Straight, strong shoulders were lit by the moonlight and halo of the orbs. Well-defined thighs flexed, and dark hair brushed his collar. But that was the extent of the discernable details. Shadows hid his face from view.
In answer to his sarcastic question, I said, “Of course they’re not simple balls of light. But no one in this town works magic. They don’t know about them.”
“Then what are they doing here? Some traveling wizard stopped by and dropped them off?” He plucked one from the air—a golden orb—and studied it. “No, you’re not right either.”
“Listen, you need to leave. One human nearly saw you tonight.”
“But he didn’t because you stopped him, right?”
I bristled. “I didn’t say that.”
“Of course you did. If you’re so worried that some human will see me, you would make sure that they wouldn’t. Hence, you didn’t let him get a look.”
Heat flared on my cheeks. Oh my gosh, this wizard was so irritating. Why the devil couldn’t he just leave? And what was with his weird verbiage. Like, who used the word hence?
Apparently he did.
“That doesn’t mean that someone else won’t see you and come down.”
His spine straightened and his head rose. Of course, he still faced the opposite direction, so I couldn’t make out his features. “Then I suppose you’ll have to help me, now won’t you?”
“I am not helping you.” I wasn’t about to offer my services to some cocky wizard in the middle of the night. There was no telling what spell he searched for. It could have been a spell to bind me.
He sighed dramatically. “If you help me, this will go faster. I assure you that I want out of your hair as quickly as you want me gone from your territory.”
“I doubt that,” I murmured.
“Now, I’m searching for a particular spell.”
“Why are you searching here?” I tapped my foot impatiently. “There are plenty of other actual magical towns where you can find what you’re looking for.”
“I don’t know any others. I found this place.”
I scoffed. “Unbelievable—a wizard who doesn’t know where there are other magical towns? What? Were you just born into being a wizard today?”
“Something like that,” he muttered.
“Well, you can un-wizard yourself from my town and leave.” I took a menacing step forward. “Now.”
He tutted, and it was very annoying because I had magic, a lot of magic that could seriously screw him up, but this guy didn’t care.
He said in a singsong voice. “The sooner you help me, the sooner I can go. Besides, I don’t buy your whole belief that your little town isn’t full of magic.” He palmed a blue orb. “This right here proves that there is magic nearby—and a lot of it.”
“Whatever.” I nearly cursed under my breath but managed to stop myself. Boy, I could really do with a chocolate bar right now or, better yet, a chunk of that Coca-Cola cake Malene had made me. Yes, I could absolutely sink my teeth into a square of that.
As soon as I got home, that’s what I would do. It would be my reward for helping this wizard before I blasted him into the sky.
Okay, so I wouldn’t blast him because that would cause much too much of a spectacle. Once again, someone would see.
Deciding that my only option was to help, I shoved up my sleeves and moved closer. “All right. I’ll help but as soon as you discover the spell you want, you leave. Got it?”
He nodded. “Trust me, I