Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Iwake to the soft click of my bedroom door. For a heartbeat, panic spikes. Am I sleepwalking again? But as the shadows spilling out from the bathroom take familiar form, I realize I’m in my bed. Then, I register the silhouette framed in the doorway.
“Wylder? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, sorry. You said you wanted to be woken up when Izzy is done working on the spell and we’re ready to tackle the world’s problems.”
I blink, pushing myself up against the headboard. “Yeah, I do. What time is it?"
Wylder steps inside, leaving the door open. "A little after three."
With my blackout curtains drawn, I can’t tell whether it’s day or night. “Three in the afternoon?”
“You've been out for five solid hours.”
Okay, that’s better than sleeping the whole day away. Given how bagged I was when I laid my head down, sleeping seventeen hours wasn’t out of the cards.
“The gang is gathered downstairs, ready for you, whenever you're feeling up to it."
I run my hands over my face and give myself an inward shake. “Okay. I’m up.”
“And feeling better?”
I consider that, pleased that when I take a self-diagnostic, the nausea and dizziness from earlier are gone. “That potion kicked the crap out of me, but I feel better now... rested and ready to face the world."
"Excellent." The tension in his frame relaxes as his gaze sweeps across my room. He takes in the four-poster bed, the pretty gray and plum décor, the stack of textbooks on my desk, the fairy lights strung above my window…
A slow smile tugs at his mouth. "So, this is where the magic happens, is it? The inner sanctum of the untamable Poppy Hallowind-Forrester."
I laugh. "Nothing wild happens in here, I'm sorry to say. I've been busy putting out fires since I got back. Sadly, my love life has taken a hit because of it."
"Maybe that's something we can revisit at some point."
I brush my hands over my face, waking myself up a little more. "Don’t threaten me with a good time, broody. I’m ready when you are."
He laughs, moving deeper into the room. “So, it’s me who’s got the brakes on, is it?”
I shrug. “You’re the one who’s been playing hard to get.”
“Or maybe I know we’re going to happen and am content to take our time and let the chaos around you settle before adding another complication.”
I chuckle. “I’m not sure whether to be flattered or offended by that.”
He chuckles again. “Flattered. I was being thoughtful and charming.”
“Ah, my bad.”
His attention catches on the framed family photograph on my bedside table, and his smile slips. It was one of the last pictures taken of all five of us together before everything fell apart.
Wylder picks up the frame and studies it. "Your sisters really look like your dad."
"Yeah. I'm all Hallowind, and they're both Forrester clones." I swing my legs over the side of the bed and set my feet on my woven mat. "Sometimes I lie here and wonder if they are aware of who they are and miss Mom, Dad, and me, or if their memories have been wiped like mine were."
He shrugs a muscled shoulder. "You’ll find out when we bring them home."
The certainty in his voice steadies me. "From your lips to the Goddess Mother's ears."
He brushes a finger over the fifteen-year-old me standing in the center of the photo, and then gently sets it down. "I can't believe all the damage Laurel has caused and how many lives she’s destroyed. I was close with her for years, and I never even suspected that was a side of her."
It hurts my heart to know how betrayed he felt when he learned the truth, and to be the one who pulled the rug out from under him, but I don't want to talk about her.
Not here. Not when things are finally looking up for us.
“How's your mom?” I ask, steering the conversation onto another track. “We haven't talked much about how she's been doing since we brought her back."
The question shifts something in his expression.
He settles on the edge of my bed, and the mattress dips under his weight, tipping me sideways until our shoulders touch.
"It's been amazing having her back, being able to talk to her, to hear her laugh again after five years of missing her and being so angry about her death. That’s been great. "
“But?”
He shifts to the side, retrieves the antique pocket watch from his jeans, and turns it over in his palm. "But I've been thinking about it, and I don't know if keeping her here is the right thing for her."
I swallow, knowing exactly how he feels. "You want her here. You want to keep her here forever, but you feel guilty, right?"
He meets my gaze. "I do. She's stuck in this watch, bound to the physical plane when she should be at peace with the ancestors. It's selfish to keep her here, isn’t it?"
My throat tightens. "I've been worrying about the same thing with my mom. She says she won't leave until Lily and Violet are home and I'm free of Tharuzel, but what if that takes years? What if it never happens? What if staying here is hurting her more than I realize?"
Wylder takes my hand and laces his fingers with mine. "Getting them back was the best, but yeah, it hurts thinking it's not really a life. My mom was always an active, vibrant force when she was alive. Now, she's just… here."
We sit there for a moment, holding hands, sharing the weight of impossible choices. Then he squeezes my fingers and stands, pulling me up with him.
"All right, enough of that. I came up to get you and make you feel better, not worse." He slides his pocket watch into his jeans and forces a smile. “The others are downstairs and ready for our next play. Let's focus on that."
I don't let him tug me toward the door just yet.
When he hits my resistance, he turns with a questioning gaze. “You okay?”
"They can wait another minute.” I step in close and wrap my arms around him. Solid. Warm.
My intention to hug him is to make him feel better, but as I turn my face into his neck and breathe in his magical essence, my world rights even more. “You never need to minimize how sad you are about your mom or how lonely life looks without her. Not with me. I understand better than anyone."
He hugs me tighter, his hands pressing flat against my back. "I know you do.”
Before I let him tug us back to reality, I give him a quick kiss on his cheek and ease back. "We'll figure it out together."
He winks and smiles wide enough to flash a dimple. "You bet your ass we will, Hallowind. Now, come on. Let's see what the others have figured out."
Wylder and I head downstairs, our footsteps tracked in every creak of the wide plank floorboards and the sigh of every step as we descend. The murmur of voices drifts out from the kitchen—familiar, upbeat conversation that makes Hallowind House feel alive.
Before we reach the kitchen table where the others have gathered, Izzy turns and rushes forward. Her eyes are bright with excitement, an encouraging contrast to her usual quiet demeanor. "Wow, you look so much better. Power-napping agrees with you."
"Yeah, thanks. I feel a lot better." I meet the concerned gazes of the others. "So, if we're all here ready to roll, I'm assuming we've got the spell ready to keep Tharuzel out of my head?"
Izzy tilts her head from side to side. "Yes, and no. After talking with Sebastian and your mom, we changed plans. They had another spell in the works, so we went with their idea."
She holds out what looks like a glowing silver button, no bigger than my thumbnail. The surface shimmers with intricate patterns that shift and pulse like liquid mercury.
"And what is this?"
"It's next-level awesomeness," Izzy says.
I take the tiny device from her palm, turning it over carefully. The metal feels warm, alive somehow, and the glow intensifies where my skin makes contact. Without fully understanding what it is, I sense that it's been designed specifically for me.
I meet Sebastian's gaze across the kitchen. "This is what you and Mom have been working on?"
"It is. She's a marvel, your mother."
Yeah, she is. And while I knew they'd been holed up in Mom's workroom working on something over the past few weeks, I assumed they were researching ways to help Mom's struggles, or maybe developing a tracking spell to find my sisters.
The realization that they've been focused on helping me instead sends warmth spreading through my chest. "So, what is it?"
Sebastian smiles. "It's a neuro-inhibitor.
The base is forged silver alloy infused with protective wards, then layered with enchantments designed to create a metaphysical barrier around your neural pathways.
The energy signature you're seeing is the active shielding spell cycling through its defensive protocols. "
I stare at him blankly.
Asher snorts beside me. "Dude."
I laugh. "Uh… one more time for those of us who don't possess uber-tech geek speak?"
Sebastian's mouth twitches as he shrugs. "It will shield your mind so no one can penetrate your memories or control your thoughts."
“So Tharuzel won't be able to spy on us?”
“Or anything else." Sebastian holds out his hand for the device. "May I?"
I nod, passing it back to him.
He gestures to the chair Asher has already pulled out for me. "Sit. I'll need you to be as still as you can, and I'll need access to your neck."
Settling into the seat, I sweep my blue hair over my shoulder and tilt my head. The kitchen falls quiet—even Somebuddy and Nobuddy stop their snuffling exploration of the floor beneath Orion's chair.
Sebastian's fingers are gentle as he secures my head with one hand and touches a spot directly behind my right ear with the other.
"You'll feel a sharp sting when it activates, then a cold sensation as it bonds with your skin. I won’t lie, it’ll hurt, but the discomfort should fade as soon as it implants. "
"Got it. Pain with a purpose." I clasp my hands together and draw a deep breath.
Cool metal touches the sensitive skin behind my right ear.
There's a soft click, then—
Holy Hell! Fire lances through my skull.