|
Chapter
One
"Don't forget to check
on her every day. She needs people, even if she says
she doesn't. Trust me on this." Catherine moved
through the eighteenth-floor studio apartment in the
Hell's Kitchen district of New York City, straightening
paintings, fluffing the bright pillows she'd added to
the couch and watering the plants she'd grown from clippings
off Dolly's huge collection of houseplants and herbs.
Basically, she was delaying
her descent to the building lobby for the annual tenants'
New Year's Eve party.
I don't need a babysitter.
Kindra's thought made her jump. So often lately, Kindra
remained silent, preferring Catherine to handle everything
in their shared existence.
"I'll check on her."
Dolly stood by the door, a determined smile on her freckled
face, although tears welled in her bright green eyes.
"I can't believe you won't be here after tonight.
I mean you will, but you won't. Ah hell. I'll miss you."
"You promised me you
wouldn't get all mushy, so don't go there." Catherine
spun away, refusing to give in to tears. Instead, she
marched into the kitchen and yanked the refrigerator
door open, snatching the bottle of Merlot from the sparkling
clean shelves lined with healthy foods. All the groceries
and cheerful decorations throughout the apartment would
be her only legacy to Kindra to encourage her to maintain
the healthy body Catherine had worked so hard to establish
over the past year.
"I can't believe it's
been a year since I met you." Dolly took the bottle
from Catherine and tucked it under her arm.
"I still have a vivid
memory of Kindra standing on the ledge outside that
window as the clock struck midnight." She nodded
toward the tall window overlooking the bright lights
of New York City. "If you hadn't landed in her
body at that exact minute, she'd be dead."
You should have let me
go. I only wanted peace.
"Peace my Aunt Fanny.
You were sacrificing a perfectly good life and a boatload
of talent. Think of all you've accomplished this year."
I didn't do it. You did.
You're the strong one.
"And you're the one with
all the talent. I can't paint my way out of a shoebox."
It's not enough.
Dolly's brows rose into the
burnished copper curls brushing across her forehead.
"You're doing it again."
Catherine's gaze moved to
Dolly and she took a moment to remember Dolly was physically
the only other person in the room. "Sorry. Kindra
and I were having a little discussion about talent and
wasting it."
Dolly stared at the paintings
covering every free space on the walls of the apartment
and some standing against the walls. "These are
so beautiful. Why doesn't she put them in a gallery
and sell them?"
No! They're not good enough!
"Kindra thinks they aren't
good enough." Catherine shook her head. "Tell
her, Dolly."
"I'm glad I know about
your little secret, otherwise I'd think you had that
multiple personality disorder." Dolly stared straight
at Catherine and plunked her fist on one hip. "Kindra,
get over it. These paintings are so stunning and full
of emotion, they bring me to tears. The galleries will
go wild over them. I have a buddy who works at a gallery
down the street. I bet I can get them in there."
Catherine shook with the force
of Kindra's fear. "Okay, okay. So you won't take
the paintings to the gallery. It's okay. Dolly won't
make you do it." She shrugged at Dolly. "You
can't force her."
Dolly fingered the silver
pentacle amulet around her neck, the sign of Wicca.
"How do you do that? How can you stand to have
two people in one mind?"
"I'm the guest. Kindra
owns the body and soul. At midnight, I move on and Kindra
is on her own again." Though her words were flat
and matter-of-fact, the closer she'd gotten to the midnight
deadline, the more worried she'd been about Kindra.
Could the young artist manage on her own? Would she
try to commit suicide again?
"I think I would go nuts
moving from body to body every year. How disconcerting
to wake up in someone else's life. You must have really
pissed off the powers that be."
Catherine's jaw tightened.
"Just heed my warning. Don't use your powers for
selfish reasons. Follow the Threefold Law to the letter."
Dolly snorted. "Like
I have powers."
"We each have powers
within us, we only have to learn to tap into them."
"I'm only a play witch,
you're the real deal."
"Was." Ninety-nine
years ago, she'd broken the Threefold Law of Wicca and
used her magical powers to come between a man she thought
she loved and the woman he truly loved. The cost for
breaking the law was losing her powers and being cursed.
And the curse couldn't have been a simple wart on her
nose. No. The Witches Council had to come up with something
more elaborate and fitting the crime.
They cursed her to an endless
existence of living each year in a different woman's
life. New Year's Eve nintey-nine years ago, when the
clock struck twelve, her body died and her soul drifted
into the body of another woman. For an entire year,
she lived in that woman's life, in that woman's body,
sharing all her hopes, fears, trials and desires. At
midnight on New Year's Eve, she moved to another and
so it had been for ninety-nine years.
As midnight approached, Catherine
knew her time in this body had reached an end. Kindra
Marshall, her current host, wouldn't remember her when
she'd gone, but she'd remember everything else from
the past year and hopefully continue on where Catherine
had left off.
From the moment she'd leaped
into Kindra's body, Catherine knew she could help the
woman. First thing was to get her down off the ledge
and back on track in her life. She'd done all she could
to bolster Kindra's spirit and boost her self-confidence.
Her work showed it. Her talent for magnificent painting
had grown in beauty and skill over the past year and
she was ready to stand on her own.
Then why did Catherine have the feeling she was abandoning
her?
"Any chance of you jumping
into my head?" Dolly hooked her arm through Catherine's
and walked with her to the door. "I'd sure like
to know all the spells you know."
"I don't get to choose.
I get what they give me." Catherine turned to her.
"Do you remember the healing spell I taught you
yesterday?"
"Yeah. I've never had
such a quick recovery from a migraine. Thanks."
"See? You have powers.
All you have to do is believe in yourself."
"I could say the same
for you."
Catherine shook her head.
"I screwed up. I'm locked into this deal until
the council sees fit to free me."
"Well then, tell Kindra
to take a break and let you have one night out."
"She doesn't mind and
she's so quiet, I barely know she's there."
"Good." Dolly's
lips turned up in a wicked grin. "'Cause tonight,
we're going to get you laid."
"Remember, this isn't
my body."
"Like you said, Kindra
won't mind. She might even enjoy it." Dolly punched
the down button on the elevator. "Call it your
last night in town. We're going to party!"
|
