Chapter Twenty-Three Lyra
They’ve canceled filming for the day.”
I slitted my eyes open the next morning to see Sloane next to my bed, her auburn hair piled in a messy knot on her head, a cup of tea clutched in her hands. Dark circles smudged her eyes.
She’d worried.
She’d always been the worrier of the three of us.
“That’s a relief, though I’m sure they were annoyed about it. They were on a tight schedule.”
“Turns out, they’re considering you to be one of their stars and would hate to have to film a segment without you.”
I made a rude sound. “They just like watching my magick explode things. I know it because I, too, loved watching when people’s recipes went wrong. It’s boring when everything goes smoothly.”
“But it hits different when you’re the one the cameras are on.” Sloane’s worry lines creased more deeply, and I sighed.
“Och, I’ll admit, I thought it would be a belter of a time going on the show, but it’s been… a bit shite.” I shifted, and my side tugged, and the rest of yesterday came flooding back to me.
The pain.
The fear.
The confusion.
The expression on Rab’s face as he traced hearts on the back of my hand.
Before I could stop them, tears welled, and Sloane was popping her cup down on the bedside table and crawling into bed next to me to put her arms around me.
“Och, I’m fine, I’m fine. Just having a wee greet is all.” I dashed away the tears with the back of my hand. “It just kind of all came back in a rush.”
“Scary day.” Sloane kissed my head. “Not a huge fan of you getting stabbed.”
“Me either.” I laughed.
“Do you have a lot of pain today?”
“No, not really. Just that sort of dull ache when you can feel something is healing. It’s like a tightening up, I guess?” I wiped my eyes. “Is Ruth okay?”
“She’s just fine. Had herself a lovely wee nap, woke up long enough to discover not only does Oswald not hunt mice, but he used to be friends with a fluttermouse, and the last I saw she was curled up sleeping on Haggis’s back.”
“I thought Felicity was going to skelp her across the alley.” My mouth twisted as I flashed back to the expression on Felicity’s face. She’d been furious, and it was the first time I’d seen the normally easy-breezy witch lose it. “She was really angry, Sloane.”
“It was pretty chaotic, wasn’t it? I imagine her emotions were running high. Hell, she’d just stabbed you. She was likely in a blind panic and then Ruth knifed her.”
“Och, I forgot about that. I wonder how she’s getting on?” Though my wee familiar’s sword was small, it was sharp.
“She had two stitches. Mandy cleaned her up. But it’s also why the filming didn’t go on today. Two injured contestants, and I think they need to just make it clear to the powers that be that this incident happened after filming wrapped. Liabilities and all that.”
“Did you speak with Mandy?”
“Nope, text message only. But she did inquire if you were alive or dead.”
“Gee, well, now, isn’t that something?” I rolled my eyes. “Eventually, I’m going to wear her down.”
“I don’t know why you bother. She’s—”
“She’s hurting, Sloane. You dethroned her. And for someone like Mandy, that’s a huge blow to the ego. I think, given that it’s been a while now, we can extend an olive branch.”
“You’ve always been the best of us, Lyra. Sunshine in a bottle, you are.” Sloane squeezed my shoulders.
“Aye, well, I’m not much feeling it today.” I plucked at a loose thread on the sleeve of my jumper, thinking about Rab.
“Rab?”
“Aye.” There was no point in pretending to my sister that he wasn’t on my mind.
“He was…” I looked up to see Sloane shake her head slowly, her eyes distant as she thought about it. “His face, Lyra. That is a man who cares desperately for you. There’s no denying it. Is it still so bad? All these years later? It’s clear you mean something to him.”
“I don’t know.” I wound the thread around my finger. “I don’t know if I can trust him.”
“You can’t trust him? Or the boy he was?”
“That seems to be the crux of it.”
“Worth a conversation, don’t you think?” Sloane nudged me when I didn’t reply.
“He was drawing a heart on my hand,” I admitted, looking over at her. “When I was getting stitched. I don’t even think he realized it.”
Sloane gasped and slapped a hand to her mouth. “Och, Lyra. It’s your life, and I’m not going to tell you what to do, but bloody hell. He was good-looking then, but now?” Sloane fanned her face.
“Looks aren’t everything.” It was a particular point of contention with me.
“Don’t I know it. But he dropped what he was doing the second he heard you were hurt and drew hearts on your hand during surgery. I mean, that has to mean something, aye? And he didn’t walk out of the competition when he saw you were his partner, did he?”
“He kissed me,” I admitted on a rush of breath and winced when Sloane squealed and bounced in the bed.
“Not great…” I put a hand to my side.
“Sounds great to me,” Nova said from the doorway, a smirk on her face. Today she wore leggings and a simple black jumper, and her hair was pulled back in two space buns. She looked like she was just back from her morning run.
“Oh my goddess, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Sloane jumped off the bed, the worried look back on her face.
“I’m fine. Just a touch less exuberance next to the wound, please.”
“So you finally shagged Rab?” Nova came inside carrying a tray of food. “Give me the deets before Henry gets here to change your bandage.”
“I did not shag Rab.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed and waited to see if the dizziness from yesterday would hit me. But after a big sleep I was clearheaded. I just needed to use the loo, brush my teeth, and down several cups of tea, and I’d be sorted out. “He kissed me.”
“Aaaaand?” my sisters asked in unison, the word drawing out in excitement.
“And sparks flew, I turned his entire drawer of cutlery into hedgehogs, and then I ran away.”
“Um…” Sloane paused, looking between me and Nova, unsure how to address this particular new development.
“Did you say…” Nova’s lips were already trembling with held-back laughter.
“I just got stabbed, remember? I almost died. You’re not allowed to make fun of me,” I grumbled, wobbling toward the door. “I desperately need the toilet.”
“Aye, this way. I’m coming with you. Just to make sure you’re steady on your feet.” Sloane swung back into mama bear mode and hooked an arm around my shoulders to lead me down the hallway.
By the time we’d returned, with one look in the mirror confirming my worst suspicions about my appearance, Henry had arrived with the menagerie in tow.
Blue sat as close as he could to the table of food, his face ever hopeful.
Ruth sat on Haggis’s back, holding on to two hanks of his shaggy fur as reins, and Oswald was curled at the foot of the bed.
“There she is. Looking bright-eyed and bonnie this morning,” Henry crowed, coming forward with his hands out to grasp my arms. “How are you getting on, then?”
“I know what I look like, Henry,” I mumbled but accepted his kiss on my cheek. “Thank you for your excellent work. I’m feeling much better.”
“Och, that’s grand to hear. I’ll just take a wee peek, change out the bandage if you don’t mind, and then you can have a relaxing brekkie with your sisters.”
“Nae bother.” I lifted my jumper and looked down as he peeled the bandage away.
The scar was… not pretty. At least the slice seemed to be fairly straight, but the skin was bright pink and puckered beneath the threads of the stitching.
“It’s looking grand, Lyra. I know it seems garish, but that will heal with time.
We’ll just keep putting the moonmoss on it and cleaning it.
You’ll scar, but it will be nothing like this.
” Henry’s movements were swift and competent as he cleaned and reapplied the moonmoss before gently covering it with another bandage.
“In another day or so, we’ll keep the bandage off and let it heal on its own. ”
“That quickly?” I asked, surprised.
“It’s the muscle that needs the healing. The skin will close up fast enough. You’ll still want to take it slow for a few days as the rest knits back together. Our magick will hurry that along for you, lass. It’s just a few days of being gentle with yourself, you ken?”
“Aye. Understood.” I gave Henry a mock salute, and he grinned.
“That’s me off to get rid of these bandages. Enjoy your brekkie, lasses. The others will be around in an hour.”
“The others?” I asked as I sat at the table, my stomach growling.
“The Charms.”
My eyes whipped up to Sloane’s.
“Felicity too?”
“Aye, Felicity too. Maybe Mandy. That remains to be seen. We need to look deeper into this curse, and we need to address what happened yesterday, Lyra. Even as an accident, it needs to be smoothed over.”
I took a deep breath and poured myself a cup of tea.
Henry had gone all out on the breakfast, and I was beginning to see a theme here when it came to his meal choices: More was more.
There was black pudding, two types of bacon, beans, eggs cooked three ways, butteries, fruit, yogurt, granola, roasted tomatoes, sausages, and a basket of toast.
“You’re right. Best to crack on. I’d really like to see if we can make any headway with this curse. I’m going to have to keep Ruth with me at all times when we’re outside.” I ripped off a piece of bacon and slid it down to Blue, who almost expired from happiness.
Have you looked to recipe books?
I turned to look at Ruth. She was now braiding the fur on the back of Haggis’s head while he wheeled slowly around the room.
“Why recipe books, Ruth?”
You’re a hearth witch. The spell you need might fit with your magick.
“I don’t really know my magick.” I took a bite of a buttery and thought about it. “I haven’t had a lot of time to learn what it wants. I just know it gets excited when I’m in a kitchen.”
Magick likes to be used. Yours will always be happy when you’re in your natural space.
“I can look in my grimoire,” Sloane said. “Let me go get it.”
“Ahem.” Nova cleared her throat as she dug into her brekkie. She circled her fork in the air. “The hedgehogs?”
“I don’t know, Nova. I just don’t, okay? I’m such a freaking eejit. Do you know what I’m doing now?” I looked up at Nova, my eyes wide. “I am reciting random words to make myself not think lustful thoughts about Rab so I don’t inadvertently turn things into hedgehogs when he’s around.”
“Ohhhhhhh.” Nova sucked in a breath, and then threw her head back, her laughter bouncing around the room.
Oswald jumped up, startled, and Haggis took a delighted lap around the room.
Blue, naturally, remained focused on the prize—bacon.
“You… you… Every time you get horned up, you turn random objects into hedgies?”
“Such a lovely way to put it, Nova,” I hissed. But even I couldn’t hold back my laughter. Blue seized the opportunity to snag the rest of the bacon from my hand and flew off to the other side of the room, his face a picture of a bliss. “Blue!”
“Och, let the wee man have it. He’s a hero.” Nova waved it away.
“That he is. I’m surprised he didn’t take our hair off with his flames. A surprising amount of control the wee lad has,” I said, looking affectionately at where Blue smiled at us from his perch on the bed.
Sloane returned, her grimoire in hand, and something prickled at the back of my neck.
“Just the most majestic wee beastie, aren’t you, then?” Nova crooned, and Blue flew to her, slamming into her chest as she caught him. “Oof.”
Her crooning faded into the background as I stared at the book in Sloane’s hands.
She sat paging through it, and my eyes fixed on the brilliant blue cover, soft shimmers catching the light.
The grimoire had first appeared to her when Oswald had knocked it off a shelf at her feet, and she’d been the only one able to read it.
In it, we’d learned the spell to break her curse.
It was just—
“The Mabon festival!” I stood up, bumping my plate, and Blue dove for the sausage that went flying. Catching it before it hit the floor, he skidded to a stop across the carpet and landed in front of Haggis, who promptly booped him with his nose.
“Hell, Lyra. Did you hit your head too? What are you blethering on about?” Nova griped.
“Wheesht, you silly twat.” I swatted Nova’s shoulder. “The book. Sloane’s grimoire. It looks like a gift I received.”
“You got a grimoire for a gift? And didn’t say anything?” Sloane’s face filled with disbelief. “How could you just ignore that?”
“I don’t know if it’s a grimoire.” I shoved my lower lip out. “Listen, I had a lot of gifts to go through, all right? I spent most of one night opening and writing thank-you notes. Isn’t that nice of me?”
“That is. I don’t think Sloane sends thank-you cards for her gifts.” Nova arched an eyebrow at Sloane.
“That’s because I try to discourage gifts. I don’t need more stuff,” Sloane huffed.
“Aye, because where could you possibly find room to put it all?” Nova lifted her hands in the air and looked around the expansive guest room, one of many in the castle that Sloane now lived in.
“Can we focus, please?” I asked, before Sloane and Nova got into it. “The book, which the more I think about it has the same cover as Sloane’s, was in with the pile of gifts. But there was no note.”
“Was it wrapped?” Sloane asked.
“Aye. But very simple. Like brown kitchen paper.”
“Right. You finish breakfast. I’ll go get it and be back before the Charms meeting.” Sloane stood.
“Can you get me some makeup? And some other clothes?” I asked, looking down at my clothes. I didn’t want to look like I was… less than powerful for the meeting. I hated thinking I was a problem to be fixed and wanted to be presentable.
“Are you sure you want Sloane to do that?” Nova laughed. “You’ll get leggings and a hoodie.”
“Jeans and a jumper would be fine,” I said to Sloane, knowing anything more intricate would fluster her. “And fresh pants and a bra.”
“On it.”
“So… back to the hedgehogs. How many? And what do you do with them?”
I glared at Nova and plopped back into my chair. Ruth flew over to me and tucked herself against my neck, while I considered various ways to make my sister’s life miserable.
I’m glad you’re okay, Lyra. That was scary.
“I’m glad you’re okay, too, Ruth.” I cuddled her in. “I would have been devastated if you’d been hurt.”
I’m faster than I look.
“It was good flying on your part.”
Got a good slice into Felicity too. I don’t trust her.
“That’s fair. I know it’s your job to protect me, but I’m sure it was all just an accident.”
I’ll be keeping an eye on her.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”