Chapter 15 #2
For a second, it looks like Macy is going to tear up again. But then she holds her arm out directly in front of her, palm up. Her fingers close in a fist, and though she doesn’t say anything, the air around us turns electric.
I glance at Flint, and he’s actually looking back at me, eyes wide, as we both wait to see what she’s going to do.
I think about moving a little to my left, positioning my body so that I’m between Macy and him in case whatever she’s doing goes wrong. But this is Macy, and short of causing another crack between realms, I’ve got total faith in her.
The last year has shown she’s a much more powerful witch than anyone thought she was—including her father.
If you ask me, that’s the real reason she’s grounded.
Not because she tried to help Mekhi, but because her parents are terrified of how much magic she has inside of her and how much trouble that magic can get her into.
Several more seconds pass as Macy closes her eyes, a look of pain briefly flitting across her face. But she keeps her arm outstretched in front of her, and it’s as steady as the rest of her until, finally, she opens her fist again.
Now, lying on her palm are several black seeds.
“Here,” she says, turning her hand over so she can pass the seeds to me. “I made these for you.”
I take them instinctively, even as I ask, “What—”
“I can’t be there with you, but this is the next best thing. They’ll open a portal for you wherever you want to go—as long as I’ve been there. They may be seeds, but they work the same way regular portals do.”
“So they won’t get us to the Shadow Realm,” I clarify, “but they will get us to the Vampire Court.”
“Exactly.” She grins. “So don’t drop them or you’ll end up getting your asses dragged who knows where.”
“We’ll remember that.” Flint scoops the seeds out of my hand and slides them into his pocket. “Thanks, Macy.”
“You’re welcome.” She stands on her tiptoes to hug him. “Be careful, okay?”
“Didn’t you know?” he says with a laugh. “Careful is my middle name.”
She gives him a look that calls bullshit, which keeps me from having to say the same thing out loud. But then she turns to me and hugs me, too, which I am absolutely not prepared for.
Unlike Flint, I’m not exactly a squishy kind of guy. I never know what to do with my hands or my emotions.
Still, I do my best, patting her back awkwardly. “It’s going to be okay,” I say, even though I’m not sure I believe it. Nothing in my life to this point has exactly led me to believe in fairy tales or happily ever afters.
“Have you ever wondered who you or Hudson would be if your father hadn’t lied about everything?” she whispers fiercely. “If he hadn’t tried so hard to break you? To fit you in a mold you have no business fitting in?”
My mouth dries up as I think about Cyrus—after everything he did to Hudson and Izzy, he doesn’t deserve to be called our father—and I want nothing more than to turn away. Or to slap her back into place—it’s what the old Jaxon would have done.
But I’m not the old Jaxon, and Macy isn’t some stranger. She’s one of my closest friends. So I pull her a little closer and whisper right back, “I’m who I am in spite of him, not because of him. So are Hudson and Izzy. And so are you.”
I pull back so I can look her in the eyes as I say one more thing.
“Foster isn’t the same as Cyrus, Macy. I’m not making excuses for him, not trying to make him into someone better than he is.
He fucked up, for sure. He had no business lying to you about your mom all these years, and he’s got no business shipping you off to bullshit school after bullshit school.
But he isn’t a monster. Just a dad who’s made a lot of mistakes. ”
At first it looks like Macy’s going to tell me to fuck right off. But then she shudders a little, sinking into me for a few seconds before pulling away. “That doesn’t make it right,” she snarls.
“No, it absolutely doesn’t,” I agree. “But it does make him human.”
“Maybe.” She shrugs. “I still—”
She breaks off as the door to the balcony flies open to reveal Rowena, Macy’s mother. “You need to come back now,” the older witch tells Macy sternly.
“We were just leaving,” I say quickly, stepping to the balcony’s railing.
Flint is already there.
“Remember to get out of the way, fast, when you use the seeds!” Macy tells us. “And tell Grace that Remy and Izzy can’t come, either—they’re pretty much prisoners at that school of theirs.” She glares at her mother. “Kind of like me, here.”
The thought rocks me—I check in with Izzy twice a week, and she’s never said anything bad about Calder Academy. What the hell does Macy mean it’s like a prison?
I pull out my phone and fire off a quick text to my sister, but before she can answer, Rowena steps closer, looking alarmed. “Exactly what seeds are we talking about here?” she demands.
Macy doesn’t answer. Instead, she shoos Flint and me. “Go now!” she orders, a quick wave of her hand opening a portal right at our feet.
So we do, diving into the portal just as Rowena yells an alarmed, “Stop!”