Kate M. Williams - Spells Like Teen Spirit

For Anthony, my second-favorite person

I drummed my fingers nervously on the steering wheel. Even though the groundhog hadnt seen his shadow, the Riverbend Hotel parking lot was dotted with gray piles of snow and oil-slicked puddles, and spring still seemed a loooong way away, especially as the sun was going down. I shivered in spite of my puffiest jacket, my wooliest (rhinestone-encrusted) mittens, and a heater on full blast.

Cassandra and Janis were in the backseat, and I could tell by their silence that they were nervous too. I adjusted the rearview mirror so that I could see Mom, who was sitting in between them. She looked really nice. Id picked out her outfit for this occasiona cream-colored wool suit with a silk shell underneathand Janis had done her glam: a burgundy lip, a subtle cheek highlight, her dark hair swept to the side with a gold comb. She looked like a woman ready to celebrate her anniversary.

I smiled at her in the mirror. She didnt smile back and instead turned and stared out the window like she was ten million miles away. I wasnt offended. I was used to it. Mom was cursed. She had been besieged by a potent blast of magic that had left her distant, uncommunicative, and difficult for the better part of my life. Her behavior was what most people would call crazy, and it wasnt until just a few months before that Id learned why she was like this, and even more recently that Id started to understand it. Even though she couldnt do anything to show it, Mom was totally aware of what was going on around her. She was paying attention, she was trying as hard as she could, and she was absolutely miserable.

Two weeks before, Dad and I had moved her out of the facility where shed been living for years. Now she was living with us again, and so far it was going okay. We had to make sure she wasnt ever alone, since the curse meant that she wasnt in control of her actions and could easily hurt herself. We had a nurse who came during the day, and then the rest of the time we made sure either Dad or I was always with her. I could tell Dad was tired. But I could also tell that he was happier. We all were. Well, as happy as we could be, now that we were just a single-species family of three. Pig, our dog, was still gone.

Esme, why are we listening to Christmas music? Cassandra asked, leaning forward and snapping me back into the car and the present moment.

Of course, Janis had to pipe up too. I mean, I like George Michael as much as the next girl, she said. But every time Ive been in the car with you, its this same mix. I didnt even think you liked Christmas.

Give me a break, I said. Ive been driving for, like, a week. Im allowed to listen to whatever calms me down, okay?

Touch, Mrs. Claus, Cassandra said. Tell me again how many medians youve hit?

Cassandra, I snapped back, you know it was just that one, and it wasnt my fault, because it moved and

A tap at the window made me jump. I turned to see Dad outside the car, rubbing his hands together to keep them warm. Okay, he said. Were good to go. In the backseat, Janis and Cassandra were already unbuckling their seat belts and climbing out of the car. I popped the trunk, and then quickly followed them so that Dad and I could help Mom from the car. Dad looked nice too, in his best pleat-front Dockers and a navy blue blazer. My teeth were chattering in the damp cold.

So, you said everything like we rehearsed? I asked.

Yep, he said, nodding as he took Moms elbow and started walking with her to the door. I told them that February eleventh was our anniversary, and my wife and I wanted to spend it in room 402, just like we did on our wedding night twenty years ago.

I groaned and pulled my coat tighter around me. Dad, I said, you got the date wrong. Todays the seventh!

Well, Im sure no one noticed, he said. Arent husbands always forgetting anniversaries? I sighed as he reached into the pocket of his khakis and pulled out a key. So, he continued, Mom and I will go in through the lobby, and you all will come up the back way? I nodded and glanced at Cassandra and Janis, who were busy unloading bags from the trunk.

You know where the back entrance is? Dad asked.

Trust me, Mr. Pearl, Janis answered, we know just about every inch of this hotel. Even the roof.

This time it was Janiss words, and not the cold, that made me shiver. Id been trying to put what had happened here at the Riverbend Hotel out of my mind, and even though wed driven by this place a million times as wed been planning for tonight, wed never actually gone in. Now I was staring right at the hotel, and it was staring back at me, with its dead-eye windows and its bricklike acne-scarred skin.