28. Levitating
Chapter 28
Levitating
I feel safer in this moment than I ever have. With Noah and the morning light streaming in.
“I’m going to get you some coffee and breakfast. Be back in a few,” Noah whispers, with a kiss to my forehead.
I fall back into the sweet comfort of sleep.
What could be minutes or hours later, I roll to the side, searching for him and only finding cold blankets.
My eyes crack open and confirm that he’s not there. In the kitchen, maybe? I stretch lazily, shaking off the last of the morning and reveling in the ache. He wasn’t gentle last night and I loved every second of it.
My feet land on the floor and I walk into the kitchen.
No Noah.
“Noah?” I call. My voice echoes against the brick walls, the only answer.
Coffee and breakfast couldn’t have taken this long. My eyes dart across the apartment searching for him, for any sign of him.
My abandonment issues are practically jumping out of my eyes at this point.
I throw on a robe and almost trip in my haste as I jog down the steps to the street. I don’t even know where I’m going but something in my very bones tells me something is wrong.
There’s a scrap of paper stuck to the door with tape and magic. The magic is thick and oily and wrong.
I slowly approach the paper, dread filling my every step. Am I shaking? I wring my hands, causing them to burn just as much as my heart does.
It’s a single sheet, folded in half.
“Hazel,” I read aloud. “You will come to the address below at eight p.m. tonight if you wish to spare Noah the same fate as your father. It would be a shame. I don’t play games. Tonight or he’s dead. Draven.”
My body vibrates. My ears burn as if they will catch on fire, as if my whole body will catch on fire.
I’ll kill him. If he lays even a single hand on Noah, I will kill him. Or I’ll die trying.
The door window cracks as wind gusts around me in a violent torrent. Leaves whip fast enough to cut my skin.
No more bullshit. No more family drama. I’m done with it. Those stubborn women are going to help me or I will tear that house to the damn ground. Sentient or not.
My feet don’t touch the ground as I power walk—power levitate?—to my mother’s house. I don’t care if anyone can see me, they can just deal with it. Or follow me and burn me at the stake.
Screw it.
The door slams open before me as I blow in with a burst of wind.
“Come down here now !” I yell. It’s the same as it has always been, except messier. I can’t tell if that’s because of my wind tornado or because they’ve let things go.
Laura is the first to pop her sleep-rumpled head round the corner. “Are you PMS-ing?”
My glare must be fierce because instead of continuing on whatever tirade she had planned, she hangs her head and comes the rest of the way down the stairs.
“ Mom !” I demand, using the full force of the wind to carry my voice to every inch of this house. “Get down here now!”
Laura makes a show of covering her ears but remains silent. A smart move on her part. I’d probably tear her head off just like I want to tear off Draven’s.
Mom leisurely waltzes in from the living room at the most turtle pace I have ever seen. She’s almost reveling in being as annoying as possible. The clack of her heels slows as she rounds the stairs and stops at the bottom of them, next to Laura.
“Yes?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.
The nerve. “Draven took Noah.”
Laura’s eyebrows shoot into her hair but Mom’s face remains passive.
“Who’s Noah?”
“My. Soulmate.”
Laura scoffs. “That’s a little dramatic, Hazel. I know you like him, but soulmate?”
I ignore her, keeping eye contact with Mom. I watch as her face falls, as some of the carefully constructed mask cracks. As she realizes just exactly how fucked this entire situation is. And as she builds that wall right back up, the neutral expression slips into place as quickly as it left.
“I’m taking care of it, Hazel.”
“How could you say that to me? You’re taking care of it ? I will be damned if that piece of shit takes another soulmate away from this family.”
Her face hardens further, years of whatever the hell she’s been repressing climbing up her skin, covering her like a suit of armor. “And I will be damned if he kills another member of this family.”
“So no one cares that I have no idea what’s going on?” Laura sighs. “Cool.”
“Draven will kill all of us if you keep doing this lone wolf bullshit, Mom. We have to do this together,” I say.
“Pot meet kettle,” Laura mutters.
“ Laura !” Mom snaps. “I refuse to risk you girls. I will not lose you.”
It’s like a little crack is finally showing me exactly why the crazy woman is acting this way. She’s so scared that we’ll die just like Dad. So scared that she isn’t realizing she’s getting in her own damn way.
“You’ve already almost lost me, Mom. You’ve pushed me so far away we can’t even talk to each other anymore. And I want a chance to fix it. That’s all I’ve wanted—to fix this family.”
Laura’s eyes roll so far back in her head I swear they’re going to get stuck. “You’re both morons. You’re the same fucking person and neither of you can see it.”
Maybe she’s right, but I refuse to lose Noah like Mom lost Dad. Her fate can’t be mine. I turn from Laura to my mother. The woman who promised to protect me, who kicked me out of the house. The woman who lost everything.
“Please, Mom.”
A single tear falls down my mother’s cheek. Just one. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just.” My voice breaks. “Just help me.”
“I’ll call Grandma. She’ll want to know that hell is freezing over.” Laura walks toward the living room, but my eyes are locked with Mom’s.
I’m too scared to do anything but stare at her, as if she’ll change her mind if I make any sudden movements. As if the spell will be broken.
“Did Draven leave any instructions? What do you know?” Mom continues, not moving a muscle either.
I think we’re both just scared shitless of each other.
I try to breathe, to regulate my heart that’s been beating like a drum ever since I realized Noah wasn’t in bed with me. “He left a note. With an address. I...may have destroyed it, but I memorized it.”
“Where?” she asks. The pulse point in her neck bounces.
“Some warehouse in the middle of nowhere.”
She sucks her teeth.
The memories of my dreams—my nightmares—flood my mind.
I’ve been so stupid.
“We were there once before, weren’t we? All of us?”
She nods, a shaky hand coming up to cover her mouth. She sways as if she might collapse to the floor at any moment.
“Mom.” I wait until she meets my gaze once more. “I’ve been dreaming of that night ever since it happened. I was convinced my mind was trying to make sense of the loss of my dad. But that’s not true, is it? You took those memories from us, just like you made the ones of the shop disappear. Didn’t you?”
Another nod.
The lengths this woman went to are astounding. But for the first time in my life, part of me understands her reasoning. Part of me gets that I will lose a crucial part of who I am as a person if I lose Noah. That I would never be the same. My worst-case scenario is my mother’s everyday life.
The fact that she’s still standing is a testament to her determination. I don’t know if I’d have the same strength.
Despite it all, though. It’s wrong.
“You took parts of my father from me. Parts of myself from me. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for me to forgive you, Mom, despite understanding you better than I ever have. For now, we need to save this family.”
“I understand. Your Grandma should be here soon, and we can come up with a plan.” She pauses. “As a family.”
As we should have done from the beginning. But we’re making progress, so I’ll keep that to myself.
“We were there?” Laura’s voice is small, meek, as she stands in the corner.
It is with pure selfishness that I find myself continually forgetting Laura’s lack of knowledge in all of this. For the first time in my life, I’m utterly consumed by my own journey and my own reactions. It’s as if I have no concern for her needs at all.
And I don’t like it.
The exhaustion in Mom’s shoulders weighs heavily on her as she turns to Laura. “I owe both of you a lifetime of apologies.”
At least she can admit it now, but I don’t know if a lifetime will be enough. It doesn’t feel like enough. I understand her, but I still look at her and feel almost nothing but anger. Rage. It has my hands shaking.
“ That ...” Grandma enters the house with a sweep of her hand and a slammed door. “...is a phrase I never thought I’d live to hear you say.”
The house warms instantly with Grandma’s arrival. Magical or not, she adds a layer of life that is palpable. Or maybe the house just likes her.
Mom’s shoulders tense, her wall threatening to creep back up. “Welcome, mother.”
“Laura told me about Noah.” Grandma turns to me, grasping my hands in hers. “We will return him to you, Hazel. I will not allow history to repeat itself.”
My eyes burn with tears I’ve refused to let myself shed. I can’t imagine a reality where I lose him. “We have to.”
In a gasping breath, I’m pulled into Grandma’s arms. Her hug is tight, almost too tight, but I need it tighter. To feel safe.
“Can someone get out of their own ass for five seconds and tell me what the fuck is going on?” Laura practically hisses.
Grandma sighs, releasing me. “Sarah, would you like to or am I allowed to speak?”
My gaze darts between the two of them.
“I release you from your vow. Say whatever you wish.”
“Thank you.” Grandma ushers us into the living room.
“Thirteen years ago, the warlock Draven began targeting witches and stealing their power. It got so bad that a few families came together and had a meeting about how to deal with him. It was decided that your mother and I would handle it.” Grandma takes a deep breath. “We were the strongest. It just made sense. What we didn’t know was that Draven had a family of his own. And we thought we had found him, but we had found his younger brother instead. We banished him, and Draven swore revenge. While we were celebrating our victory, Draven was planning. He took your father.”
Laura’s eyes are swimming with tears and I’m not doing much better. A simple mistake is what took my father from me? What destroyed my entire family? Will a simple mistake take Noah from me, too?
Grandma reaches for Laura’s hand, holding her dearly. “We received a note indicating your father’s location. Your mother left immediately, and I stayed to watch you both. We were supposed to watch movies and eat popcorn, but there was a feeling in the pit of my belly that told me to follow. Even if I had to bring you both. By the time I arrived, your father was...Your mother had wounded a few of them, but she was wildly outnumbered. I cast a cloaking spell, and she took the two of you to hide. I drew their attention elsewhere and eventually they got tired of looking and left. It appears Draven doesn’t believe the debt has been paid, and he has returned for the rest of us.”
I turn to Mom, her face as hard as stone. “What happened before Grandma got there?”
“No.” She shakes her head violently. “I refuse to...No. We will plan for now, but I can’t.”
“But it could help Noah!”
“I said no. I will help you, we will do this together, but I refuse to relive that night more than I am forced to. And that’s final.”
It’s more than I had before. But still not enough.
“And in your grief, you ripped us from our magic, from our grandmother, and from our memories. Then swore Grandma to secrecy,” I finish.
She nods. Barely a hint of remorse in her gaze.
“So that’s why Hazel’s been a massive bitch,” Laura says, voice trembling. “What is all this nonsense about soulmates?”
“The Pruitt women are blessed.” Grandma straightens her back. “We all have a soulmate. It has been recorded since the beginning of our line in Salem.”
Laura’s face screws up as if she bit into a lemon. “Ugh. How do you even know if you’ve met your soulmate?”
Grandma looks to me, a soft smile on her face.
“The first time you touch...it’s like you put your finger into an outlet. It’s a spark, an electric shock that doesn’t make any sense. But it changes as you spend more time together. It becomes more of a soothing buzz.” My fingers twist together. “We’re wasting time. What’s the plan?”
The room is silent except for the groaning and moaning of the house. I think it would help if it could.
“Draven knows how many of us there are. There’s no point in trying to use our numbers to our advantage,” Mom says. “It may behoove us to simply walk in the front door.”
“Draven. Can we stop him, kill him, whatever it is you do to warlocks?” Laura asks.
Grandma and Mom share a look. A look that says everything without saying anything at all.
“No.” Grandma turns to Laura. “Not without any prep time. Our best option is a banishment.”
“And that’s different how?” Laura blinks twice.
Mom sighs. “It doesn’t kill him. Banishing to Hell is a Band-Aid, a temporary fix to buy us some time. Crawling his way out of Hell will take him at least a few months while we figure out how to stop him permanently.”
“It’s much easier. Your mother and I can do it and draw from your power. Your presence is all that is needed.”
“Good, considering I know literally nothing about magic.” I don’t imagine the bitterness in Laura’s tone. As far behind as I am, she’s even farther.
Because I didn’t take her with me. I left her here.
“We should do a focusing session. Call unto our magic so we’re ready for Draven. We will have a small window of time to perform the banishment and we should be as ready as possible. Especially because he will probably be expecting it.” Grandma stands. “To the shop?”