“Don’t you want to avenge your wife?” she snapped.
“My wife has been gone for two hundred and fifty years. I can’t avenge her,” he said with exhaustion. “It’s too much. Too much death and anger. He’s done nothing wrong.”
“She was my granddaughter,” said the old woman.
“I’m so sorry,” said Irene. “But that’s no reason to hate a man who never knew anyone involved.”
“Your granddaughter?” repeated Grover. “You could have stopped him when he took her from me.”
The woman just stared at Grover, not saying anything. There was nothing to say. He was right. She could have done something to stop the old man, but she let it happen, believing it would all work out.
“You had the power to prevent him from killing my wife, your granddaughter.”
“I c-couldn’t,” she said.
“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?” asked Grover. He stared at the woman, then at Irene and Ruby. That’s when he understood. He looked back at Melba, tilting his head.
“You allowed it to happen.”
“Allowed what to happen?” asked Bennett.
“She allowed him to rape the women, beat the men. You said to me once that he gave favors to those who allowed him to do what he wanted to do. You allowed him to do those things.”
“That’s right. That’s right, I did! I needed supplies, food, and clothes for my children.”
“Children that he gave you,” said Grover. The woman said nothing, just staring at him. “He allowed you to travel to other plantations and service them with your magic, to a point. You thought that would give you favor forever. Then he killed your granddaughter and me.”
“I didn’t care about you. I cared about Tia. She was mine! She was going to follow in my footsteps. She shouldn’t have fought him. I told her what to do.”
“You sicken me,” said Grover. “Remove the curse from this man right now!”
“I can’t,” she said resolutely. “In death, I have no power.”
“But your ancestors do,” said Ruby. “Who are they? Who are your people, and don’t lie to me, woman. You may not be able to curse the living, but I can damn sure curse the dead.”
The old woman’s brows rose, and she stared at the woman across from her. She smelled her power and then stared at the tiny white woman. Together, they were an unstoppable force. Ruby stepped closer, raising two fingers.
“You’ve got two minutes, then I start mixin’ spells.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
“I can’t believe the solution was beside me for hundreds of years,” said Grover, following the others. “Shouldn’t I have felt it?”
“Maybe,” said Irene. “Maybe she didn’t know it was hidden.”
The bell above the door chimed as they opened it, more than a dozen men and women entering the space.
“Be there in a minute,” called the woman. “I’m just openin’.”
They said nothing, waiting for the woman to appear. When she did, she stared at them, then smiled.
“Well, good morning. You wantin’ water again?”
“No, ma’am. We need a little magic,” said Gaspar. The woman stared at him a for minute, then just laughed.
“I’m afraid the magic shop is around the corner. I don’t know anything about magic.”
“But your ancestor did,” said Irene. “Melba, or Nel. She knew powerful magic.”
