Shanna Swendson - Don't Hex with Texas

My breath caught in my throat when Owen put his hand on top of mine where it rested between us on the hay bale. Coming from him, it was an unexpected gesture. He wasn’t a very touchy person. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Okay? Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Because your brother turned out to be our magical would-be master criminal.”

Oh yeah, that. I’d been rather sidetracked by thinking about Owen leaving town without me and wondering if clinging to him when he tried to leave would make me look desperate. “I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “It’s a lot to take in. I’m still finding it hard to believe. He always was a bit of a con artist, but a criminal? And then magical on top of it? This was supposed to be my normal place, you know? Where I went to get away from magical mayhem.” I shook my head, at a loss to put what I was really feeling into words. He gave my hand a squeeze and I tried not to sigh wistfully. I was in really bad shape if he could nearly make me swoon just by touching my hand.

Dean and Sam returned way too soon for me. Sam flew to a rafter and perched there as Dean dumped a pile of booklets, papers, and a magazine in Owen’s lap. While Owen flipped through the booklets, Web printouts, and brochures, I picked up the magazine and turned past all the pictures of scantily clad young starlets and ads for body spray to the back where the less splashy ads were. Sure enough, there was an ad like the one I’d seen in the regional magazine.

“These materials are actually quite comprehensive,” Owen said. “You should learn some of the basics if you follow them properly. The problem is that there’s no context, no guidance for how to use the power, and certainly no mention that there’s any kind of magical code of conduct. It would be like teaching someone the basic skills of how to do surgery without teaching about when and why surgery might be necessary. You’d have people who knew how to remove or cut apart organs with no idea of the proper reasons or situations for doing so. A bright person with a good moral compass might figure it out, but imagine a real sadist with that kind of training.”

“Yeah, it would be awful if someone found out he had magical powers and then used them to rip off other people,” I said with a dark glare at my brother. “And it seems like not even years of Sunday school prevented that behavior.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll put the stuff back,” Dean said. “That is, if I can get it away from Sherri. I finally had her happy with me because I was giving her everything she wanted.”

“No, you had her worried because she thinks you’re involved in something illegal,” I corrected. “And hey, what do you know, she was right.”

Someone cleared his throat, and we all looked up to see Teddy standing in the doorway. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

Dean immediately went on the defensive, and he was the master, so I let him handle it. “And what are you doing here?” he asked. “Did Mom send you out to spy on Katie?”

Teddy rubbed his ear and looked away, avoiding eye contact with the rest of us. “Well, yeah. She saw the car and the truck, but nobody was in the house. Which was why I cleared my throat first, to give you some warning.” He glanced over at Owen and me, with books and magazines lying open in our laps, and then at Dean and added, “I must say, this isn’t what I was expecting. You know, Sis, I’m almost disappointed in you. Didn’t your older brothers set a better example for you about what you should be doing alone in a barn with your significant other?”

“They’re not alone,” Dean said.

“I noticed that. Were you playing big brother watchdog, too? I thought you didn’t approve of Owen.”

“Minor misunderstanding,” Dean insisted. “We’re best buds now.”

“I wouldn’t take it that far,” Owen muttered under his breath, so softly that only I could hear it.

Teddy came closer, his eyes narrowed as he studied us. “What are you guys doing, anyway, reading comic books?”

“Nah, just some brochures,” I said. “Dean was asking our advice on something. How long were you lurking out there and clearing your throat?” I wondered what he’d overheard. We’d been talking about Dean’s criminal behavior, and that was almost worse than Teddy hearing something about magic.

“Not too long. I know you well enough to know I wouldn’t be interrupting much.”

“Gee, thanks.” I was fairly certain he meant it as a compliment, but it was discouraging when my own brothers couldn’t imagine me as someone who might inspire a man to tackle me in a haystack.

“So, what are you guys up to?” Teddy asked. “And why are you doing it in the barn?”

I decided to let Dean handle that one. He was the glib one in the family. Besides, it was fun watching him twist in the wind. After what he’d put us through, I figured he deserved at least a little torture from his baby brother. He didn’t miss a beat before saying, “We wanted the chance to talk without Mom bugging us. You know, the same reason we always used to hide out here even when we weren’t doing anything wrong.”

“I guess you never outgrow some things,” Teddy agreed.

“Care to join us?” I asked, hoping he’d decline but sure things would look less suspicious if I invited him.

“No thanks. Unlike some people around here, I have work to do.” He turned to go, then paused halfway to the door and turned back to us, as if to say something. But then he glanced upward and jumped back, stumbling and nearly falling. “What is that thing?” he blurted.

I tried for my most innocent look and hoped he wasn’t talking about Sam. “What thing?”

“There, in the rafters. It’s either the biggest bat I’ve ever seen or—or I don’t know what. Wait, it’s one of those gargoyles, like on a cathedral or something, but what is it doing in our barn?”

Oh, boy. It looked like I’d discovered yet another magical immune in the family if he could see Sam.

I’d thought I was so special with my magical immunity, and at the rate I was going, I’d turn out to be the least special member of my family. But before I could go into a snit, I had to deal with Teddy. I tried to think of a rational explanation for a gargoyle in the barn. Scavenger hunt? Fraternity prank?

Bad decision on eBay?

“What are you talking about?” Dean asked. “I don’t see anything.” I wondered if that was because Sam had veiled himself even to magical people or if Dean was trying to play innocent.

Unfortunately for Dean, Teddy had long ago learned that the more innocent Dean looked, the more guilty he was. “Okay, y’all are definitely up to something. What is it?”

“You’re absolutely certain you see something that looks like a gargoyle perched on the rafter in our barn?” I asked. “And you still see it?”

“Yes! And it just looked down and winked at you.” There was the slightest bit of hysterical edge in his voice.

Owen and I exchanged a look. We held eye contact for a while, having a silent conversation about what we should do next. Then with a deep sigh he said, “Sam, come on down and say hello to one of Katie’s other brothers.” To me he said, “He may be helpful in this.”

Sam raised his wings and let himself glide down to the barn floor in front of Teddy. “Hi, I’m Sam.

Glad to meet you. Your sister’s a great gal.”

Teddy took a step back, squeezed his eyes shut, rubbed them, then opened them again and blinked a few times. I waited for him to scream, yell, run away, or otherwise freak out, but he just breathed,

“Whoa!” I should have known that a guy who’d spent his teens playing Dungeons and Dragons and reading fantasy novels would be more fascinated than upset by the revelation that magic might actually exist. After he’d verified and absorbed the fact that Sam was real, he asked, “Okay, so what is really going on here?”