“Listen, Brent, you two are perfect for each other and you both know it. You’re just being an asshole at this point if you don’t ask her out.”
“Layla,” he’d said. “I get it, but what if it doesn’t work out?”
“Things sometimes don’t work out, but if you don’t at least give them a chance then you’re just being stupid.” She’d left after that without another word. They were in the Barcade where Chloe worked and as soon as her shift was over he told her how he felt.
Now they were in a strange place after they’d had such a blissful few weeks. He was pretty sure he didn’t know what was real anymore. There was only one person he could talk to about this that he could trust and it wasn’t going to be fun. He called his dad.
“Hey, Dad, I was wondering if I could get Aunt Z’s phone number.”
“Why the hell would you want to speak with my sister, Brent? She’s not had anything sane to say for over a decade.”
What the hell could he tell his dad he needed to speak with Zazie Perry for? She hadn’t been in their lives recently and she was committed at the moment.
“You’re right. I was just thinking she might want some company after being there for so long.”
“Fine, let me get you the number. I think it’s a mistake, but I’m not going to stop you from seeing your aunt.”
No one in town knew the reason they’d moved to Woodl
and Creek when Brent was younger. Zazie had gone crazy after her son ran away, and Zander Perry thought he could help his sister. She’d always lived in Woodland Creek and talked about how nice it was. Brent’s dad was dealing with the loss of Brent’s mother to cancer just a year before and thought maybe he knew what she was going through.
Brent didn’t know the whole story, but his father told him she was out of her mind when they got to town. She claimed a wizard had taken him because she owed him money and it was her fault that she’d dabbled in dark magic. She claimed she was a wizard and she knew others like herself and some could turn into animals. It had always stuck with Brent how specific her story was, and now that he was questioning everything, he wondered if Aunt Z was really crazy. He didn’t know what he wanted her to tell him. Maybe he just wanted some confirmation.
“Here’s the number, son, please don’t get sucked into her delusions.”
Brent knew it was already way too late for that, but he didn’t feel like there was any reason to let his dad in on it. There didn’t seem to be a good way to tell him, and his dad had enough to worry about. Brent worked for his father on his business. His dad was an entrepreneur and did handy man work and built things for the people of Woodland Creek. There were enough people who didn’t want to fix things for themselves or needed furniture that he’d built a great business and brought in enough money to support himself and pay Brent a decent salary. They were taking a break right before classes started back, because once school was back in, Brent would be working every weekend. He’d branched out last year and started taking custom orders online. He hadn’t nailed production and distribution yet, but people would drive from everywhere to get a custom piece made by him.
After hanging up with his dad, he got up from the couch so he could take a quick shower. He’d only call her if he couldn’t get in to see her. The institution, as his family called it, was about an hour away, so if he was going to see her he needed to get a move on. At least it was Sunday and they didn’t have to work.
The ride over seemed to take forever and he pulled his reliable black pickup truck into the parking lot of a run-down looking building. Evermore Home for the Mentally Challenged was smaller than he thought it would be. When he walked inside there was only one small desk in the middle of the floor and nothing else. There weren’t any pictures or decorations on the walls. It was just one big white room with a lady at a desk in the middle.
He walked up to her slowly. “I’m here to see Z Perry.”
“Wizardhead is the third one down on the right.” The short red-haired woman didn’t even look at him. He got the feeling anyone could just walk right in. Man, she has some insensitive caregivers, he thought.
His aunt was sitting at a small desk in the corner of her room drawing when he walked in. It was funny how much he looked like her. They both had the same sandy-blond thick hair and green eyes.
“Aunt Z?” She turned slowly toward him and her eyes seemed to take a minute to focus. He realized they had her on something. His heart sank. She wouldn’t be able to give him any kind of information.
“Brent, honey, what the hell are you doing here?”
“I saw something I can’t explain, Aunt Z, and I need you to tell me I’m not crazy.” She smiled and stood up on wobbly legs to walk over and hug him. She seemed frailer than he remembered and a lot thinner.
“Are they feeding you in here, Z?” He was concerned.
“Yes, a lot of pills that make me feel like I’m floating.” She sat down on the bed and took a deep breath. “Tell me what you saw, honey.”
He explained how he and his girlfriend were in the woods when she had shifted in front of him. When he got to the part about the bullets being fired at them her eyes got a little wider. She sat thoughtful for a while after he finished telling her what he’d seen.
“So you know the story of my son being taken from me, don’t you, Brent?”
“Sort of.” He’d only ever heard the version watered down by his dad.
“Samuel was eight and I was lonely. His father had left us long before and I’d started to become addicted to black magic. There was a group of wizards in town that met and started to practice magic that was a lot less wholesome than what we’d been used to. I ended up owing the leader—I guess you could call it a cult—a lot of money. When you’re addicted to any type of drug, be it supernatural or not, then you make promises you can’t keep. The dark magic was just like that to me, a drug. She had found a way to charge the people who gathered around her to siphon some of her dark power.”
“So they took Samuel instead of the money you owed them.”
“She did. She took him and made him her own. Her husband was a wolf shifter. He simply held me down with his massive claws and I couldn’t do anything. I was starved for the magic they wouldn’t give me. My white magic was still there, but it was fading because I’d poisoned it with the dark magic. She was strong, Sarmia, I couldn’t fight her.”