Chapter Twenty-Nine
Alex Powell’s words were still echoing in my mind when I left her mother’s house. She wasn’t wrong. If I’d died instead of my dad, this wouldn’t be happening to Lydia now. If he had kept me away until I lost my magic like Virginia, everything would be different. Guilt rattled my bones.
Virginia had insisted on caring for Lydia in her own home.
After helping her up to bed, I left them to talk through their past, present and future together.
Alex was long gone and when I stretched out a wide net to find her, I found nothing but a blur, a shadow protected by her opal ring and the miles she had already put between herself and Savannah.
I hoped, for Lydia’s sake, she’d be back.
One of the most beautiful things about my city was how easily you could get lost on purpose.
The walk from Madison Square to Lafayette Square, from Lydia’s home to mine, could take as little as five minutes or as long as an hour.
The sudden storm she’d brought about left the sidewalks shining and the rain made mirrors of the streets.
Every green thing seemed brighter and more vibrant as I breathed in the city, warm soil, humid air, plants and flowers and trees.
Alex wasn’t wrong but she wasn’t entirely right either.
Magic wasn’t something you had, it was something you were.
She may not have known but Lydia was born a witch.
Now it was my job to see she came into her magic safely and with love.
Jackson’s Audi was still outside when I let myself in the front gate but it wasn’t the only vehicle parked up by Bell House. Wyn’s cherry-red pickup truck was around the corner, crusts of mud splashed up both sides. Wherever he’d been, he’d come back in a hurry.
I found everyone in the kitchen, Ashley overseeing the glowering Jackson and anxious-looking Wyn, a huge jug of iced lavender lemonade on the table between them, though they both nursed empty coffee cups.
‘No one needed more caffeine,’ Ashley commented, flashing me a warning look. ‘But boys will be boys. And by that, I mean boys will be dumber than a box of hair.’
Neither of them spoke as I poured myself a glass of lemonade, sensing the calming herbs Ashley had thoughtfully added alongside the lavender; chamomile, valerian and just a touch of vanilla to encourage patience and harmony. Even if no one else here wanted them, I did.
‘What happened?’ I asked, empty and angry and relieved and heartbroken all at the same time. ‘I asked you not to go alone.’
‘And I told you I had to,’ he replied, trying and failing not to let his gaze flick over my shoulder to the spot where Jackson lounged against the kitchen counter. ‘It was too dangerous for us to be there together. Didn’t help anyways, she’s gone.’
‘We came looking for you, me and Ashley. I couldn’t find you, I couldn’t even feel you. The only other time that happened was during the phase.’
An entire field of lavender couldn’t have calmed my nerves when his mouth contracted and eyes flared.
‘Can we have this conversation somewhere else?’ he suggested. ‘Alone?’
Behind me, I heard Jackson scoff.
‘Don’t leave on my account.’
‘Wasn’t about to,’ Wyn replied. ‘I think you’re confused about which one of us should be walking out the door.’
‘How do you know she’s gone?’ I demanded, directing his attention back to the most important subject. ‘Did you find something?’
He looked back to me, a little sheepish. ‘Not much. I had her scent on the beach and at the store, but aside from that I mostly picked up a whole lot of nothing. Either I’m not experienced enough to catch the trail or she’s covering it up somehow, I don’t know.’
‘Covering it up with magic?’
‘I told you already,’ he said, lowering his voice. ‘A Were would never.’
‘Just like a Were could never phase outside a full moon.’ I slammed down my glass, sticky lemonade spilling all over the table. ‘She isn’t playing by your rules, Wyn.’
‘You mean Astrid Hansen?’
Three heads all snapped around to face Jackson as he pushed himself up to sit on the kitchen counter. His white T-shirt was still marked with my washed-out blood from the night before, now a watercolour stain, and his long legs dangled down in front of the creamy white cabinets.
‘You don’t always need magic to be useful,’ he said, rapping his knuckles against the cupboard behind his head. ‘I got online after you and Lyds headed home and found out more about this woman in fifteen minutes than he did in – what’s it been, twelve hours?’
‘What else do you know?’ I asked, ignoring Wyn’s glare.
‘That store has been around for years but when I tried to call the owners listed with the management company, the Harbors, I couldn’t get a hold of them.
I finally got through to this kid, Kyle, who was running their Instagram and he filled me in.
Said he usually helps out on the weekends during school breaks so he messaged the Harbors about coming in over the summer and didn’t hear back but they’re always kind of flaky so he went by anyway, found Astrid running the joint and got the hell out of there. Said she gave him bad vibes.’
‘And he still hasn’t heard from the couple who own the place?’
‘Says not. No one has. So I went back to the management company and they confirmed the lease had been amended to include an Astrid Hansen at the beginning of May. Also the Harbors paid their rent up front for the next six months which, according to the guy I talked to, they’ve never done before.’
‘And the management company just told you all this?’ Wyn said, a disbelieving slant to his eyes.
‘It’s amazing what someone will tell you if you pretend you’re interested in opening an Apple Store,’ Jackson replied laughing.
‘Someone at the Robertson Group is going to be super pissed when I don’t come back with an offer Saffron and River Harbor can’t refuse.
That guy would’ve sold out his own mother for a pair of AirPod Max. ’
‘We have a name,’ I said, excited. ‘That’s a start.’
Wyn didn’t seem to agree. When I turned back to him, his stance was stiff and unyielding, his hands curling into fists.
‘This is all amazing,’ I said to Jackson. ‘Why don’t you get off home and rest? You must be exhausted. And I think there’s some stuff you need to discuss with your grandmother.’
‘I’d rather be here with you,’ he replied, and Wyn’s fists clenched tighter. ‘You need me, Em.’
‘What I need is all of y’all out of here,’ Ashley said, leaving her safe spot by the sink to waft a dishcloth in Jackson’s direction. ‘I don’t know who it is but someone smells worse than the northbound end of a southbound mule.’
Jackson took a surreptitious sniff of his T-shirt and grimaced. ‘Maybe I could run home and shower.’
‘Fast as you can, if not faster,’ Ashley agreed. ‘World’ll still be turning when you’re done. At least in theory.’
‘If I hear anything else, I’ll come right back,’ he promised. ‘We’ll get to the bottom of this before the next full moon. I won’t let another wolf lay a finger on you.’
When he passed through the back door, leaving it open behind him, Wyn was practically growling.
‘That boy is getting spicy,’ Ashley said, tossing her dishcloth in the air for Wyn to snatch up in his left hand. ‘Nothing like a little healthy competition, huh, Fido? Now get out of my kitchen before I kick both your asses.’
Anyone caught out in the rain might not have been thrilled about Lydia’s natural disaster temper tantrum but my garden was thrilled.
We hadn’t had a shower since the night of the full moon and it was parched.
Everything was thriving now. The leaves unfurled to meet the sun with new enthusiasm, every blossom tilted up to the sky, the trees stretching out their limbs like they’d just woken from a deep sleep.
And right in the middle of all their beauty was one very angry-looking Wyn.
‘It’s not like I don’t know he has feelings for you,’ he began, striding up and down the garden, stomping his feet so heavily that the fish in the koi pond all darted off to the furthest corner.
‘But he’s not even trying to hide it now, is he?
And don’t tell me I’m being crazy, because we both know I’m not. ’
‘What I was going to say’ – I gave him a look as I placed our glasses of lemonade on the glass top of the table – ‘is that it doesn’t matter how Jackson feels about anything. What matters is that I love you.’
He glared at me, those impossible eyes, green and grey with flecks of bronze and gold. ‘You have no feelings for him whatsoever?’
‘He’s my friend,’ I replied, a strand of hair falling from a hastily secured claw clip. ‘That’s all.’
‘I get it. He’s here all the time, I’m not.’ Wyn carried on talking as though I hadn’t uttered a single word. ‘Your families have known each other for ever. On paper, he’s the right pick. He’s smart and funny, and I know he’s a good guy, he would take good care of you.’
‘Can you hear yourself?’ I whirled around so quickly, my hair clip came undone and flew across the garden, landing in a small patch of primroses. ‘Because right now it sounds like you want to date him. What exactly are you trying to do?’
‘I’m trying to make it easier,’ he yelled. ‘Because when you choose him in the end, it’s going to kill me.’
‘What are you talking about?’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. ‘There’s no choosing, there’s no choice. At the beginning, at the end, it’s you, Wyn, it’s always and only ever you.’
‘Today it’s only me,’ he said, screwing his eyes shut. ‘You don’t know what’s coming tomorrow.’
Fighting the urge to scream, I wrapped my arms around his neck, my soft cheek against his granite chest, and listened for the sound of his heartbeat, confirmation that this was still my Wyn and not some jealous lookalike.
‘If you race to the end,’ I said, still holding on to him. ‘You miss all the story.’
A sigh raised his chest then he yielded into me, his arms slipping around my back and cradling my head closer to him.