Seth
The first—hopefully annual—Frost and Fern festival.
Donnie came up with the name, but I helped with the idea: a market to showcase some of his winter goods and let everyone see how great a community garden can be. The town square is kept warm by floating balls of magic, but it’s pitch black, as it usually is this time of year.
Glowing mushrooms light the paths, Ozan sells enchanted teas in a small booth, and Donnie has the biggest booth of all. Frost-resistant potted herbs, herbal candles, and more. All the proceeds go to the community garden.
Ozan isn’t the only one who showed up to support us. The Hawthorne sisters have a drink booth, a few local artists are selling pieces, and Greene’s grocer has a booth of their own as well. They’re here for free, just to support us with our little dream…
And I’ve never loved Starbrook more.
My job? My job is to chat—at least, that’s what Donnie told me.
“It’s about time we have a community garden,” an elder witch says, pushing her silver spectacles up her nose. “I’ve been asking for this at the town meetings for years, but no one was willing to do the work.”
I grin. “I don’t doubt it! It’ll be great for everyone. Fresh produce, tons of herbs, and Donnie will take good care of it. And hey, we’re both doing the work now.”
“Yes, you are.” She nods approvingly. “It’s good to see. You’ll still be working at the café, won’t you? It would be a terrible loss.”
“I’m doing both. Don’t worry.”
I’ll be helping Donnie out with the gardening, too, but I can’t help but worry that people don’t trust me as much. Donnie has been selling his flowers on Main Street for years, and they probably trust my taste in espresso more than anything.
But he promised to help me build my reputation.
“If you want to make a donation,” I say, smoothly transitioning, “all proceeds at any of the booths here go right to the community garden, or you can make a larger donation by scanning that code right there.”
She blinks. “Scanning a code?”
Right. She doesn’t know what that is. Lucky for her, I’m great at helping with tech support. I teach her to scan the code, but as soon as the website asks for her payment information, she buys a plant from Donnie instead.
Probably easier that way.
This is the happiest night I’ve had in weeks, ever since Rowan and I broke up.
The days are easy. Now that I’m not looking for love, it’s easy to forget I’m still hexed.
Probably hexed, at least. The nights, that’s when I miss her.
It’s when my bed is too cold. The old urge to party, distract myself, fall into love with a stranger—that’s gone, and that almost makes it harder.
But it’s better this way, knowing we’ll be together again someday soon. It’s not like I’m missing anything. I could be like this forever, single and still loving Rowan, and be perfectly happy.
My only regret is that I never told her I love her, at least not in those words, but I hope she feels it.
Someone pokes my shoulder, and I turn, coming face-to-face with Farrah. We see each other enough at work, but she’s been a little distant lately—something I don’t realize until I hug her and she lets out a laugh that sounds… nervous? Blustery?
“Hey, man! I’m happy you could make it,” I say. “We have drinks and snacks over there. Ozan has some goods—you should definitely check them out—”
“Um.” She pulls away. “I’m here for you, actually.”
I guess it makes sense that Farrah would want to support me in this, but I didn’t realize we were that close. There are plenty of other reasons to be here, anyway.
My brow furrows. “Oh…?”
Her face deepens to the darkest shade of red I’ve seen. I know it can’t be from the cold—it’s perfectly toasty.
“Not like that. I just mean—I have something to talk to you about. Something important. Something I didn’t want to talk about at work.”
I laugh, hoping to put her at ease. “I didn’t think you meant anything weird by it. No worries.”
She winces and looks away. “It’s… it’s about your hex. Rowan and Laurel told me about it.”
I blink at her. She frowns. Nods. Winces.
And… oh.
Just when I think the only thing to do is wait for the hex to expire, the answer comes and slaps me in the face. It’s difficult to believe Farrah Poole would hex anyone. She’s so sweet, good with the customers, and I rarely see her use her magic. Why would she hex me?
“Farrah… you?” I shake my head. “Was it for a friend, or something? Did someone pay you?”
I respect the hustle, I guess.
“No.” She bites her lower lip. “It was for me. I know that doesn’t make it any better, but I-I wanted you to know. Aspen has been teaching me how to break the hex, and we have a plan, but… you should still know.”
“I’m sorry… I’m just… not sure what to say.”
Someone passes and smiles at me, and all I can manage is a stiff nod.
Farrah’s voice drops. “It wasn’t supposed to be a hex. Not really. It was an… attraction spell. But it went wrong. And it kept going wrong.”
“But why? I don’t get it. If you wanted better hours or something—”
“Because you forgot about me!” She lets out a laugh, more hectic than lighthearted.
“And you’re still forgetting, aren’t you?
We were hanging out at parties. Kissing.
” She flushes. “More than kissing. I thought—I thought we were dating, and one day, you just stopped. You turned down my invites. Went back to treating me like a coworker. And I realized, you didn’t think we were dating at all, did you?
You didn’t even—didn’t even look at me like that. ”
What can I say?
Forgot about her? That doesn’t sound right. I remember the kiss and fooling around a few times. I remember hanging out with her. But I thought we were friends—with some pretty mild benefits—and she… she thought we were more, apparently.
We never talked about it, and I didn’t think we needed to. I thought we were on the same page, but I was wrong.
So damn wrong.
How could I have been oblivious for so long? Oblivious about Rowan’s feelings. Oblivious about Farrah’s. It took me so long to wake up.
I can’t go back to being asleep. I can’t keep hurting people. The rejection Farrah has been feeling for months? It probably hurts worse than the hex ever did.
“And then,” she whispers, “you started hanging out with other people. My friend, Victoria. And then you went back to Scarlet. And I tried to add more energy to the spell, to get you to remember me, but you started—” Her voice breaks.
“I started dating Rowan?” I ask slowly.
She nods. “I saw you kiss, and I thought it was casual, but you confirmed it was serious. The flowers. Gods, the flowers. I was so angry. So stupid. But so angry. And when I tried to dismantle the spell, I think—I think it made it worse.”
“How do you know?”
“Nightmares.” She shudders. “And my goddess—Aphrodite. She left me. Disappointed in me for misusing my magic, I think. It was never supposed to be like that. Attraction spells are supposed to bring someone to you. You can’t make someone love you, but you can create an opportunity.
Instead… I repelled everyone. Pushed everything away. From you.”
I nod slowly, processing, my eyes flickering closed. “People were hurt. Your magic… it’s more powerful than you think, Farrah. You can’t just be using it like that.”
“I know, but you”—she shakes her head—“you need to treat the people you care about a little more kindly, don’t you?”
When she lays it out like that, she’s right. I wasn’t being fair to her, Scarlet, or even Victoria. And it definitely wasn’t fair to Rowan.
I like to think I’ve changed now, but that doesn’t erase everything else. I was so ignorant that I didn’t even consider Farrah when we were interviewing potential hexers.
If I could have been better—a better boyfriend, a better friend—no one would be hurt. We wouldn’t be here.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she whispers. “I regret it. I know it’s my fault.”
“We both made some bad choices,” I say slowly, searching her expression. “But it was an accident. You didn’t mean to hex me. I didn’t mean to forget you.”
She flinches, clearly hurt by something I’ve said, but I can’t work out what it is. “I want to remove it. I want us to move on, and for you to do the same. I want us to be friends again. Is that… ever possible?”
“Hey.” I squeeze her shoulder, and she finally looks at me. “Maybe we don’t need to worry about who’s to blame. Maybe all we ever needed to do was talk about what happened. Right?”
Her eyes shine with tears that never fall. “Right.”
“I’m sorry for hurting you.” These are the kinds of conversations I used to avoid—but it hurts more in the long run to hold these things back. I can’t keep doing that. “You’re a good friend to me, but I never saw you as anything more. That’s blunt, I know, and I wish—”
“No.” She smiles—big and genuine, but it’s clear she’s feeling a lot. Maybe too much. “No, that’s exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you.”
“That went far better than I ever could have envisioned,” Donnie says, swiping through his phone.
But he doesn’t know just how well things have gone. My hex, even though I can still feel it clinging to me, isn’t a mystery anymore.
I have to tell Rowan. But not yet.
Donnie and I are two of the last people left at the festival, cleaning up while most have gone home. Luckily, there isn’t much of a mess—the other vendors are cleaning up their booths, and I carry a bag of trash to the dumpster by Greene’s.
We could have hired someone to do this work, but I’m still wired after the event—and after the possibility of breaking the hex, or at least figuring out who caused all of this. I’m not ready for sleep yet.
Donnie walks behind me, not exactly helping, but here for moral support.
“Holy hells,” he mutters under his breath.
I toss the bag into the dumpster and turn to face him. “What? How much is it?”
He shakes his head. “Someone donated a grand. I’ll need to contact them to see if they did that on purpose. The last thing we need is a chargeback.”
“A grand?” My eyes widen.
That alone would be enough to get us started, but having more is even better. We can focus on a bigger greenhouse, a little more land, and all the other things we have to figure out.
He nods. “And they’re anonymous. The name they left was… AthenaDevotee.”
My mouth goes dry. Instantly, I know who it is. The Hawthornes are already giving a lot to us from their booth, but this…
This was Rowan.
She still cares. Of course, she still cares—she’s waiting for me, and after everything, I think I’m ready. This time. I am.
“I have to see her,” I say.
Donnie lifts an eyebrow. “See who?”
I’m already walking away.
“Don’t leave me waiting,” Donnie yells with humor in his voice. “Perhaps I’d like to see her as well.”
“I’ll—I’ll tell you another time!”
I can’t wait. We’ve waited long enough. There have been times when I thought the hex was gone, when I thought I was free to be with her, but I’m sure now. Farrah and I are on good terms, and maybe that matters more than the hex.
We can be together. I can keep her safe. I need to see her.
Even though I drive home, I’m out of breath by the time I bang on the Hawthornes’ front door. It’s too late to be this loud. Juniper will probably yell at me, but I don’t care—
“Seth?”
Rowan’s voice comes from over my shoulder, and I turn to find her sitting on my front porch with magical balls of light floating around her.
I cross the street in an instant, meeting her halfway. Night is so quiet around us. A streetlight flickers—it’s been flickering for years. I can’t stop myself from touching her. Holding her elbows. It’s simple.
“What’s wrong?” she whispers.
“I needed to see you.”
A smile slips onto her lips, perfectly in place. “Then what took you so long?”
Her magic dances around us, pushing us closer, and she’s pure starlight. She shines for everyone, but just this once, I want to shine for her.
“I know—the donation,” I say. “I know it was you.”
She shrugs, so flippant, as if she didn’t make my damn dreams come true. “It was for a good cause.”
I wet my lips. “But it was for me, wasn’t it? Because you support me?”
“Always, but don’t underestimate how much I support this little community of ours. It was an altruistic move, I assure you.”
I let out a laugh, and for reasons I don’t understand, tears spring to my eyes. When one slides down my cheek, she wipes it away with her warm thumb.
“I love you.” The words I’ve been wanting to say for weeks, months, finally gush out. “The hex. It was Farrah—”
“I know.”
“Right.” I nod. “You know, but I talked to her. We resolved it, and I did it all for you—and a little for her. To make things right. For you. Because I love you—”
She presses a finger to my lips. “Stop talking. I love you, too.”
And then she kisses me, so firm and certain, even though I’ve done enough to make anyone uncertain. Rowan is the only one who doesn’t doubt me. She weaves her fingers into my hair and kisses me deeply, claiming and warming me with her fire.
When she pulls away, I’m talking again.
“I want to name the garden after you,” I say. “Donnie says I can name it, and I want… I want it to be for you.”
She tilts her head to the side. “That’s very sweet, but I have a better idea.”
I blink. “Do you?”
“Mhm. You’ve done more than enough to prove your love for me. You, a man without magic, broke a hex. You made right by everyone you’ve ever been with, and I… I see you. How much you’ve done. That’s enough for me. You’re enough for me.”
Those words are all I’ve ever wanted to hear, and for the first time in weeks, I’m warm all over in a way only Rowan can make me feel.
“Well, it’s not enough for me.”
She tugs at my shirt, leading me into my house. “Luckily for you, you’ll have plenty of time to make up for it.”