Chapter Twenty-Three
Last summer – August
I found the spell where you find all forbidden things: in a book. And I found it on a day where everything seemed to be going wrong.
It started with me arriving late to my Wishing Well shift after snoozing my alarm, then burning my hand while trying to get a tray of cookies out of the oven, then slipping on the pavement and grazing my knee.
For some reason, it was raining, even though it was August – probably because some siren or mermaid was having a tantrum and manipulating the weather.
Basically, it was a bad day. But it became worse when I got a text right at the end of my shift.
ORION HAWTHORNE
Hey, Maya. I’m so sorry, but I’m going to have to take a rain check on later. Celine invited a couple of our mutual friends over so we could plan a ‘going-away’ party.
Outside the shop, I had stared at the message for a good two minutes before frantically replying.
MAYA
Going-away party?? For who??
ORION HAWTHORNE
Well.
ORION HAWTHORNE
Me.
MAYA
But you’re not going. You’re doing a teacher’s apprenticeship here, aren’t you?
My heart was lodged in my throat, and I felt faintly ill. If Celine had somehow convinced Orion to go to MAC, I was ninety per cent sure I was going to have to fight a fish today.
ORION HAWTHORNE
I don’t know, things are complicated. I haven’t told Celine about my parents yet.
I knew, somewhere deep in my heart, that staying in Maple Falls and following his dreams was the right thing for Orion.
But more than that, I wanted to be part of the reason he stayed.
But how on earth could I compete with Celine?
She was a siren and could literally convince anyone to do anything.
Still, I had to try and make Orion see me. See what we could be.
So, I found myself in the Wandering Words Library after my shift. Orpheus Hale was looking after the library while his grandson was out partying the summer away. Orpheus was a good caretaker, but he was getting older – and easier to step around.
He barely noticed when I went to the spellbooks in the restricted section.
They were temperamental books, held back by a glass casing.
Anyone could read forbidden spells, because the Coven believed hiding spells made them far more alluring.
So, you could read about them, but you weren’t allowed to take the books out in case anyone tried to cast the spells.
Usually you’d need the library’s caretaker to watch over you while you read them, just so it was clear nothing more sinister was going on.
But I wasn’t going to harm anyone. I just needed a little help.
It was a purple spellbook, with silver gilded designs. The title read Spells for Transformation. I gently pried open the glass door and reached in for the spellbook, flipping through it until I found the spell I was looking for.
The eye of the beholder.
The spell required a mirror that was to be charmed with these words: Make me pretty, twist the mind, make my image fit each and every design. Once done, all you needed was to look in the enchanted mirror and let yourself be morphed into someone desirable.
I murmured them now, knowing I needed to commit them to memory.
‘Little witch.’
I clutched the book to my chest, startled to find Rowan Hale leaning against the bookshelf. He looked dishevelled, and his fingertips were stained with different colours of paint. His gaze was latched on to the book in my arms, and my heart started to beat faster.
But then, even as his gaze narrowed, a smile – like a knife – slipped over his mouth.
‘Nothing good comes from magic cast through heartbreak, little witch,’ he said, ominously. Then he pushed himself off the stacks and turned away. With one raised hand, he flicked his wrist and the book went flying out of my palms and back on to the shelf.
I curled my fingers into a fist, watching his retreating back.