Chapter 23 #2
Raine gives me a wobbly smile. “I know you will and it’s OK.” She looks up at Audrey. “We were all young and dumb once.” They share a knowing look and Audrey presses a kiss to her mate’s temple. “Could you do me a favour though?”
“Absolutely.”
“Can you check Audrey’s costume to make sure it’s not spelled too?”
Shit, I hadn’t even thought of that. “Of course.” Jared passes me their discarded shopping bag and I can feel Eve’s magical signature before it even touches my hands. “I’m going to kill her.”
Raine chuckles. “She got that one too, huh?”
“Yes.”
Eve must have done this after I left her alone in the shop last night.
I’m going to have to check all our stock, and warn anyone who bought costumes from us between now and then.
I remove the enchantment from Audrey’s ghost costume—I dread to think what that would have done to her—then set the bag down between us.
“I really am sorry about this. When you’re feeling better, stop by the shop and you can each choose any piece of enchanted clothing you want, free of charge.”
“That’s very generous of you, thank you,” Audrey says.
“It’s the least I can do. I’ll let Dove know not to expect you for your shift today, too. I don’t foresee there being any problems, but it’s best you keep an eye on Raine for the rest of the day just to be safe. Call me if anything comes up.”
“I will, thanks.”
Jared accompanies me on the walk back to Threads of Magic but I’m too angry to enjoy the little pocket of extra time together. My mood only worsens when we get to the shop and a quick scan with my magic tells me Eve’s tampered with every single human-safe costume and accessory.
“I’m going to kill her.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Jared asks.
Biting my lip nervously, I rack my brain for an idea of how to fix this colossal mess. “Could you post something on The Chronicle’s website telling everyone who’s shopped with us since yesterday at five-thirty to bring their stuff back to the shop so I can remove Eve’s spell?”
“Of course. I’ll do that now.” He wraps me in his arms and presses a kiss to the top of my head. “You’ve got this.”
“Is everything OK?” Gwyn asks, stepping out from behind the till.
Jared gives me one last squeeze then says, “I’ll leave you to it.” Then he’s gone and I’m left to break the news to my sister.
“I can’t believe she’d be so reckless.” Gwyn sinks onto the chaise near the fitting area, stricken.
Taking a seat beside her, I wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders. “We’ll fix it.”
“That’s not the point though, is it?”
“No.”
“You said Jared’s putting an announcement on the paper’s website?”
“Yeah. I’ll put a sign in the window too.”
“OK, good. We obviously can’t sell anything else until we get this taken care of. I’ll ask Brooks to come in. He can greet people and organise some sort of queue while we switch between removing the spell from everything in the shop and whatever people bring back.”
The perks of having a mate who’s a self-employed bookkeeper—he can come running when there’s an emergency. “Sounds like a plan.” I hesitate, then ask, “And Eve?”
Gwyn drops her head into her hands, letting out a pained groan. “I’ll text her telling her to come straight here after school. I’ll talk to her then. Stars, I hate having to be the bad guy.”
“I know. If it’ll help, I can talk to her with you. After all, I’m the one who trusted her alone with the shop last night—I’m pissed off enough for both of us.”
She looks up at me hopefully. “Would you?”
“Yeah. Now come on, we’ve got work to do.”
The bell over the shop’s doorway tinkles, and I look over to see a sheepish-looking Eve slinking in.
Brooks tells her to wait in the office, his disappointment evident on his face.
She looks to me for help, but she won’t find any sympathy from me, not today.
Gwyn finishes removing the spell from a fire fae’s superhero costume, then we go after her.
Eve’s sitting on the chair in front of her mum’s desk, fiddling anxiously with the sleeves of her school blazer when we walk in. She opens her mouth to speak, but I hold up a hand, silencing her. I perch on the edge of the desk, waiting for Gwyn to take her seat. Only then do I speak.
“I’m really disappointed, Eve. Not only did you endanger everyone in this town, you also broke my trust.” She hangs her head in shame, and I feel like shit, but this is necessary. “Why?”
“I just wanted the festival to be special this year. I thought enchanting the costumes would be cool.”
“Does this have anything to do with Michael?”
“No.” My sceptical look makes her shift in her seat uncomfortably. “I mean, not really.”
“Explain,” Gwyn demands sternly.
“We were talking at lunch yesterday, and Michael said how boring all the normal costumes are compared to how everyone dresses for other big town events.” She bites her lip, then carries on, “So I thought enchanting the costumes would be fun.”
“And that it would impress him,” Gwyn says flatly.
“Well, yeah.” Eve shrugs one shoulder.
“Do you not understand how serious this is? You’re lucky you weren’t arrested.”
“What?” Eve asks, shocked.
“Your mum’s right.”
“But it was just a little spell. It was harmless,” she argues.
“Harmless?” I scoff. “Do you know what your harmless spell did to Raine?” Eve’s eyes double in size as I recount this morning’s events. “She could have been seriously injured. It’s a miracle she was happy for me to deal with you and didn’t want Neith to escalate matters further.”
“I didn’t think—”
“No, you didn’t.” I interrupt harshly. While I am hurt and angry, most of all I’m scared for her. She needs to understand how serious the consequences could have been. “There’s a reason you’re not supposed to practice magic unsupervised until you’ve completed your Academy training.”
“But I’ve seen you and Mum do the spell hundreds of times.”
“That’s not the point. Your magic is different, Eve, you know this. The card you drew at your Naming means your magic will take any opportunity to cause chaos. It is vital you get it under control or you could end up with your powers bound or worse.”
“But I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. It was just supposed to be a bit of fun.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Gwyn asks, astounded. “Even if Raine hadn’t been hurt, what about the humans visiting for the festival? If we hadn’t found out about this before Friday, they would have all been exposed to magic. What would you have done then?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be so obvious. I thought they’d just think everyone was using really cool special effects and stuff.”
I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “You’re already extremely powerful, Eve. That will only grow the older you get. That combined with your type of magic being prone to chaos is a dangerous combination that you must learn to control.”
She slumps in her chair, the seriousness of the situation finally sinking in. “I’m really sorry.”
“Good,” Gwyn says, steepling her hands on the desk.
“You’re grounded, obviously. For the next two days you’ll go to school and nowhere else.
Next week’s half term, and you will come here with me every day.
You’ll do whatever homework your teachers set for you to complete over the break in the office.
Once you finish that, you will reorganise the stockroom.
You will not go to the festival or the closing dance. ”
“What? But you said I could go with Michael.”
“That was when I trusted you to make good decisions. You made a stupid, reckless choice, and these are the consequences. Be grateful it’s me doling out your punishment and not the town protection team.”
Eve nods, hugging herself. “That’s fair.”
“Now, I believe you owe your aunt an apology. I’ll give the two of you a moment.” Gwyn leaves, closing the office door behind her quietly.
Eve clasps her pale hands in her lap and meets my eyes for the first time. “I’m sorry, Aunt Selene. What I did was stupid, and I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you leaving me alone in the shop.”
I dip my head in acknowledgement. “Thank you. You should apologise to Raine and Audrey too.”
“I will,” she agrees hastily then drops her gaze, wringing her hands. “Are we OK now?”
She looks so hopeful that I want to give in and say yes, but the truth is we aren’t—not yet. “I forgive you, but you broke my trust. It’s going to take time to build that back up.”
Eve nods, her mouth a flat line of grim acceptance. “I understand.”
“Good. Do you have homework?”
“Yeah, I have to write a poem for English. Maybe I can make it an apology for Mum. Do you think she’d like that?”
Smiling, I reply, “I think that’s a great idea. Come here.” I hold my arms out, and she eagerly steps into the hug. “You know we love you, right?”
“I know.” She steps back and picks up her schoolbag. “Guess I’d better get to work on that poem.”
“Good luck.”
The moment the office door closes behind Eve I tilt my head back on a long exhale.
I’m glad she realises how serious this was.
Thank the stars Raine wasn’t seriously injured and didn’t want to file a complaint with the town protection team.
Eve would never have forgiven herself if she’d hurt someone, and if she’d been arrested her hopes of training at a prestigious academy would have been dashed.
Stars-willing this close call will be enough to stop her from doing anything so reckless again in the future.