27. Freddie
Freddie
“We have to hurry,” Delphi says against the damp, biting air of the Witch Wood.
She pulls her heavy knit shawl tighter around her shoulders, her boots crunching over the carpet of dead pine needles and decaying autumn leaves.
We’re standing in the same clearing we were in just days ago, but the whole forest feels different today—colder, stilled, as if the trees themselves are holding their breath.
We only have a tiny window of time to get this done.
The Equinox is peaking, meaning the boundary between worlds is as thin as they’ll ever get.
Delphi and my mom have to channel enough power to tear the rift in the Veil wide enough for me to step through, pass Callum back to his side of the world, grab anyone who’s been dragged into the gray space, and then mend the whole damn thing before it snaps back and seals us in. No pressure, right?
The broom ride over here was dead silent.
Usually, Alden is making some sarcastic crack about my flying, or my mom is rambling about herbal teas, but nobody said a word.
Even Jett and Twyla have been eerie in their quietness.
Twyla isn’t in my hair today; she’s curled up in the thick strands right behind Callum’s ear, her faint blue glow flickering like a dying candle.
I catch myself staring at the back of his neck, thinking about how heartbroken Twyla is going to be when he’s gone.
Join the club, sister.
When we reach the towering, shimmering outline of the Veil, Delphi steps up to the sentry posted near the tree line.
She reaches into her leather satchel and pulls out an official parchment scroll, sealed with heavy crimson wax and signed by Mayor Brightfang himself, granting us full permission to clear the Veil and send an unregistered outsider back through.
A dark, twisted part of my brain—the selfish, desperate part—prays that the sentry will find a clerical error.
That he’ll shake his head, point out a typo, and tell us we can’t do it today.
But I know that’s awful. Callum has a life waiting for him on the other side.
He has a sister who needs him, a grandmother who loves him, a home, a whole history.
I just…God, I just wish I was a part of it.
The sentry glances over the scroll, gives us a grim nod, and waves us forward. With a flick of his wrist, he dismisses the other two guards stationed along the perimeter, giving us the clearing.
“Alright, Freddie,” Mom says, stepping up to me.
She reaches out, tucking a loose curl behind my ear.
“Delphi and I are going to anchor the spell and pull the tear apart. Once it’s wide enough, you and Callum go in together.
You don’t need to overthink the magic once you’re inside.
Just bring it straight to the surface of your skin, sweet pea.
Your core knows what the Veil needs. It’ll do the rest of the work. ”
My throat is dry. “What if it doesn’t work?”
“Then you turn right around and come back out,” Mom says firmly, her eyes locking onto mine with no room for argument. “You don’t linger. You hear me?”
“I hear you.” I nod, swallowing past the hard lump in my throat.
Mom turns to Callum. Without a word, she steps in and gives him a quick, tight hug. “Take care of yourself, Callum.”
“You too, Cass,” he says softly.
Delphi reaches up, resting her small hand on Callum’s cheek. “It was a real pleasure meeting you, Cal. Safe travels back.”
“Thanks, Delphi. For everything,” Callum replies, his voice steady, his jaw set firm.
Before he can step back, a tiny speck of light detaches itself from the thick curls behind his ear.
Twyla flits out of his hair, her delicate wings buzzing into a quiet blur as she hovers right in front of the bridge of his nose.
She lets out a high-pitched chime, resting her microscopic hands against the tip of his nose for a split second.
“Goodbye, big guy,” her soft, bell-like voice echoes directly into his mind, heavy with a surprising amount of grief for such a little pixie. “I’ll miss you.”
Callum’s mouth twitches into a pained, gentle smile. He raises his index finger, letting her rest her tiny hand against it. “Goodbye, little menace,” he murmurs softly. “Keep an eye on Freddie for me, yeah?”
He’s putting on a brave face—the same brave face he probably put on for his family when his brother died—but I can see the raw, crushing sadness buried right behind his eyes. It completely shatters my heart.
I step beside him, my fingers reaching down until my hand slips into his. I squeeze his fingers as hard as I can, taking a deep, shuddering breath. “We’ll do this together.”
Callum looks down at me, his thumb tracing a slow circle over the back of my hand. “You can do this, Win.”
“Let’s hope,” I murmur, my chest tight.
Delphi glances up at the sky. The dusk is rolling in fast, painting the canopy above us in bruised shades of deep violet, burnt orange, and slate gray. The sun is dipping below the horizon—the moment of equal light and dark.
“Now,” Delphi says sharply. “We have to do it now.”
Mom and Delphi step up to the edge of the clearing and clasp their hands together.
Delphi extends her free hand toward the shimmering, distorted air of the Veil.
They begin to chant—a low, ancient dialect that vibrates right through the soles of my shoes and makes the hair on my arms stand straight up.
We watch, wide-eyed, as the air in front of us begins to warp and buckle.
With a deafening CRACK that sounds like a lightning strike hitting an oak tree, the Veil splits right down the center.
It doesn’t look like fog anymore—it looks like a tear in the fabric of reality itself, revealing a swirling, terrifying abyss of milky white fog, churning shadows, and static energy.
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath, my knees suddenly wanting to give beneath me. I am thoroughly freaked the fuck out.
“Now, Freddie!” Mom shouts over the roaring wind that’s suddenly whipped up around us, her teeth gritted as she and Delphi strain to hold the tear apart. “Go in and call your magic! Now!”
Callum’s fingers lock around mine, warm, and real in the middle of all this madness. He looks down at me, I look up at him, and without dropping our grip, we sprint straight into the split.
Stepping through the rip is like diving headfirst into an ocean of thick, silver static.
The sound of the roaring wind cuts off instantly, replaced by an eerie, deafening silence.
The Veil doesn’t feel like a cave or a foggy wood—it feels completely weightless, like standing in the vast, infinite blackness of outer space.
Glowing streams of milky white vapor and faint violet light float around us in quiet, lazy ribbons.
I imagine this is what an astronaut feels like on a rocket ship, floating outside the hatch, staring down at Earth—completely suspended in something far bigger than themselves.
“Win, look,” Callum says.
Just a few yards ahead of us, a luminous tear blooms open in the dark. Through the crack, I can see the gray twilight and a wet asphalt road.
“That’s where I was,” Callum says, his grip on my hand tightening until it almost hurts. “Right before I stumbled into Amberhollow. That’s home.”
Tears immediately burn the backs of my eyes. I stand on my tiptoes, reaching up to cup his jaw, and press my lips firmly against his. “Go home, Cal.”
As I touch him, I remember what Mom told me.
I stop trying to fight the terrifying emptiness of this place and reach deep down into my chest, dragging my magic straight to the surface.
It doesn’t burst out like a flame; it unfurls like warm, golden honey rushing through my veins, hot and thick under my skin.
The moment my power bleeds out into the cold void, the Veil reacts instantly.
The static air around us hums in a low, resonant chord, the silver fog rippling like water beneath a heavy rainfall as my core reaches out, naturally anchoring itself to the tear and holding the fabric of reality steady around us.
Callum pulls me in, kissing me hard, his mouth desperate and sweet. “I’m sorry,” he rasps, his forehead resting against mine, his breath warm against my skin. “I’m so sorry I have to go, Win. God, I wish I could stay here with you.”
“Me too,” I choke out, blinking fast to clear my vision. I kiss him one more time, pushing him toward the glowing rip. “You have to go. Before it closes.”
He slowly lets go of my hand, his fingertips dragging across mine until the connection breaks. But right before he can take that final step into the light, a familiar voice echoes through the silent void behind us.
“Wait!”
We both spin around, shocked. Rushing through the silver mist toward us is Genevieve. Her pale dress billows around her like water, her hair loose and floating.
“Genevieve?” I gasp, my brow furrowing in confusion. “What—how did you get in here? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong, child,” Genevieve says, stopping just a few feet away, her breathing coming light and steady. “He can go home. And he will keep his memories.” She looks straight at Callum, her eyes soft. “And I will stay right here when the Veil closes.”
My stomach does a hard drop. “Genevieve…no. You’ll be…you’ll be stuck here.”
“My physical body is long gone, Winifred,” Genevieve replies gently. “If I stay when the boundary seals, my spirit will finally pass on.”
Callum steps back toward us, his brows drawn tight. “A life for a life. You’re…you’re sacrificing yourself for me?”
“Why?” I ask, my voice trembling as I look at her, completely stunned.
Genevieve offers a quiet, bittersweet smile. “Because I never got the chance to have my true love,” she whispers, her gaze lingering on the space between Callum and me. “But you do. You both do. And I am ready to rest. There is nothing left for me back in Amberhollow.”
“If you stay and he goes home…” I swallow hard, my heart hammering against my ribs. “He’ll really remember me?”
Genevieve nods.
“How do I find my way back here?” Callum asks. “I found Amberhollow by accident. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
With a subtle flick of her pale wrist, Francis’s old silver pocket watch flies out from her pocket, hovering in the air before landing gently in Callum’s open palm.
“Open the back casing,” Genevieve instructs softly.
Callum uses his thumbnail to pry open a hidden latch on the back of the watch. The silver casing pops open to reveal a brass compass nestled inside, its needle spinning wildly before locking firmly toward the north.
“Follow the compass whenever you are looking for this place,” Genevieve tells him. “It will guide you back to the threshold, no matter where you are in the world.”
Callum stares down at the watch, looking utterly speechless. A breathless, hysterical laugh bubbles up in my throat, and I feel like I might actually faint.
“You can come back,” I whisper, staring at him. “Cal, you can come back!”
Callum lets out a long, shuddering exhale, a disbelieving laugh breaking from his chest as he grabs my face and kisses me again.
“Callum?” a voice suddenly calls out from the gloom behind Genevieve. “Is that…is that you?”
Callum jolts as if he’s been hit by lightning. We both turn toward the sound.
Emerging from the milky fog is a tall man—built just as broad as Callum, with the exact same shade of dark red hair, only curlier and messier. I recognize him instantly. I see the teenager with too much gel in his hair and slightly crooked teeth, now fully grown.
Callum’s breath hitches. “Rory?”
He doesn’t just walk—Callum sprints. He covers the distance in two long strides and slams right into his brother, wrapping his arms around Rory’s shoulders. Rory bursts into heavy, racking sobs, burying his face into Callum’s neck as they cling to each other.
“My god,” Callum chokes out, pulling back just enough to look at his brother’s face, tears spilling freely down his cheeks. “Look at you. Holy shit, Rory, you’re so much older.”
“I can’t believe it,” Rory wheezes, wiping his nose with his sleeve. “I thought I was dead. I thought I was losing my mind.”
I step up beside Callum, wiping my own tear-stained cheeks. “Rory? Where are the others who slipped through?”
Rory points down the dim expanse of the Veil, toward a cluster of distant, shifting shadows. “Down that way. I thought I heard Callum’s voice echoing, but I didn’t believe it…”
Callum’s eyes are bloodshot and swimming with red as he looks at his brother, gripping Rory’s neck tight. “We’re going home, brother. Right now.”
“It has to be now,” Genevieve urges, her voice ringing clear over the humming static. “The Equinox is fading, and they won’t be able to hold the Veil open for much longer.”
Callum turns back to me. He grabs the back of my neck, pulling me in for one last salty kiss. “I will be back for you,” he rasps against my lips. “I promise you, Winifred.”
A wobbly, tearful smile breaks across my face. “I’ll hold you to it, loverboy.”
Callum looks over at Genevieve, his chest heaving. “Thank you. God, thank you so much.”
Genevieve smiles a sad, peaceful smile, stepping back into the silver mist as she begins to fade into light.
I watch through a blur of tears as Callum and Rory run toward the glowing split leading back to their home. They dive through together, and the tear snaps shut behind them with a sharp pop, sealing them safely on the other side.
The second they’re gone, the weight of the magic hits me like a physical punch to the gut. My knees buckle, my core feeling completely drained and hollowed out.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I spin on my heel and sprint down the dark corridor of the Veil toward the shadows Rory pointed out. “Where are you?!” I yell, my lungs burning, the silver static pressing in tightly from all sides. “Where is everyone?!”
Suddenly, figures emerge from the dense white fog.
“Freddie?” a voice calls out.
I stop, panting heavily. Standing right there is Sabine Blackwell, along with four other disoriented, terrified townsfolk.
“There’s no time!” I shout, waving my arms frantically. “You all need to come with me right now!”
Their eyes go wide, and without asking a single question, they scramble after me. We run through the weightless dark as the Veil around us begins to tremble and shrink, the walls closing in like a tightening fist. My legs feel like lead, my magic sputtering out to a mere flicker.
Up ahead, I see the tear my mom and Delphi are holding open—shrinking fast, down to a narrow beam of violet light.
“Go! Go! Go!” I scream, ushering Sabine and the others through the opening one by one.
They dive through the rift, tumbling onto the forest floor outside. The edges of the split begin to collapse into sparks. With one final, desperate burst of energy, I throw myself forward, leaping blindly through the tear just as the Veil slams shut behind me.