Rowan #2
The firmness behind her words nearly makes me smile once I’m alone behind the pink curtain. “Fine.”
My bones are tired. After meeting with Aspen, I busy myself with a few consultations with new potential clients, straightening up the books for the tavern, and then gathering ingredients for the curse breaker with Seth.
He texts me throughout the day, so casually.
Still just friends. Despite how perfectly his fingers were interlaced with mine, nothing between us has changed.
And that’s likely for the best, considering that I have a date coming up, and I intend to make the best of my time with David.
That doesn’t mean I can stay away from Seth so easily.
I knock twice on the front door before twisting the knob. Liezel is resting in her usual spot in the living room.
I cross my arms. “Did Seth forget to lock the door?”
She lets out a soft laugh. “There’s no saying if it was him or me.”
I shake my head, but Seth is likely the one who needs to hear the lecture. I know he cares deeply about his mother’s safety, but he’s always been too trusting. And now, he’s putting his trust in me.
I’ll fail him.
Shaking off the thought, I adjust my bag and enter his room without knocking.
It’s a familiar space. At family parties, he, Laurel, and I would run off to this room, playing games and chatting about whatever it was we didn’t want to share with the adults.
But it’s different lately. The space is cleaner, practically minimalist, and his bed is made.
There are a few more subtle, recent differences as well: the plants.
A Christmas cactus—not yet in bloom—a spider plant, and a few others I don’t know the name of.
I lift an eyebrow, my concerns about the front door forgotten. “You really have been getting into greenery, haven’t you?”
He shrugs. “These are all low-maintenance. I want to get some more.”
“They’re pretty.” I brush my fingers over the round, green stems of the Christmas cactus. “Hopefully, this one will blossom soon.”
“I hope so.”
“Seems to be a late bloomer.” I face him, smiling timidly. “Are you ready to try another spell that may or may not work?”
“Ready for anything.” Anticipation and excitement come off him in waves, a big smile brightening his face. No matter how many times I’ve failed him—and I have—Seth believes in me.
It’s more than I deserve.
The weight on my shoulders presses me into the floor. Harder. Harder.
His texts, as lighthearted as they were, must have been a lie…
or at least, he was holding something back.
Now that we’re together, there is a decided tension between us, and I’m unsure what it is or what it can mean.
It could be the hex; he mentioned it was affecting his mental health.
Or maybe he’s going to be awkward around me for the rest of our lives.
Perhaps I should speak about the moment, the one where we almost kissed, but I don’t have it in me.
It’s clear he doesn’t want to talk about it, either.
I take my things out of my bag, keeping my back to him. Blue cleansing water, a potion of renewal, and an obsidian the size of my fist.
“This was one of my mother’s spells,” I say, “and even though it’s not within my specialty… I think I can do it.”
I’ve had good luck with ancestral spells ever since we learned about them a few years prior. This should be no different.
“Sounds good.”
I turn to face Seth. His smile, the one that so often moves me to joy, fills me with nothingness now.
Fake. He’s faking it, and the shadows around him are heavier today.
Maybe he doesn’t trust me at all. I’m trying to help him, but is there a chance he’s going along with this to appease me? He already suspects I’ll fail, doesn’t he?
There’s no reason to jump to such assumptions, but I do.
“Where do you need me?” he asks.
My jaw tightens. “Lie on the floor, please.”
It feels like a cliché when I draw a circle around him, place the crystal, and splash the water.
But it’s how my mother wrote the spell; I intend to follow it to a T, and I do.
Each step. Each action. She says to splash the water counterclockwise for banishment, and I do.
The words, written in ancient Greek rather than the language of spellcasters, I read to perfection.
And the energy rises, powerful and chaotic. The energy of a hex.
I chant louder. My fingers tingle, the magic channeling through my head down to my fingers, and then… into him. The circle around Seth lights up, vibrant and scarlet.
The look in Seth’s eyes, his pupils growing so big they take up the entire iris, tells me he can feel it too.
“Ro,” he whimpers. “Is this normal?”
I look up from where I’m at his feet. “Is what normal?”
“I—” He gasps, moving for the first time since he lay down, and holds up his hands. They’re covered in a bright red rash.
“No.” I yelp, my heart running a thousand miles a minute. “No… no…”
How could this have happened? Did I speak the wrong words? Use the wrong crystal? Is his hex truly that powerful?
What is wrong with me that my magic is backfiring?
I break the line, and the energy leaves the room. Seth seems to relax, but the burn remains on his hands.
“No. No. No.” My throat closes, and when I inhale, it’s ragged, forced.
I don’t want Seth to see me like this. Don’t want anyone to see me like this. I need to leave.
He sits up, his brows furrowed. “Ro—”
“Stop!” My voice shakes. “Just give me a minute. I’ll figure it out.”
“I know you will.”
How can he still have so much faith in me? It’s misplaced. I hurt him, and he looks at me like I’m supposed to fix it—but I can’t. He picked the wrong sister. The wrong witch. My chest rises with each sharp breath, and as much as I try to keep it all in, I can’t. Not anymore. Not now.
“I’m supposed to do this,” I say, a trembling mess. “They say—they all say I’m the smart one. The strong one. Why can’t I do this?”
“Hey. It’s probably me—”
I whimper. “You’re going to say that when I burned your hands? I hurt you.”
His lips tug up at the corners—a pity smile. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” I stand up, my back to him once more—it’s more comfortable that way. “Come. I… if you trust me, I have a potion at home that will help. I’ll get Juniper.”
“Of course, I trust you.”
He shouldn’t, but I leave, and he follows anyway.