Chapter 13
13
Esther
E sther looked at her phone again. Twelve hours since Ashley’s drunken proposal and she still hadn’t texted to confirm she remembered their exchange.
She rolled down the car window and watched the ever-approaching shoreline of Grand Isle, Vermont, the large island in the middle of Lake Champlain.
It was chilly that afternoon, and Esther had never taken the ferry before. August got some sort of special discount for being a descendant of a founder—or the guy in the booth recognized him—because he just waved their car on by. The sun glistened off the wakes from the boat, the sound of its engine fought with the churning of the water, and the chatter of other mingling passengers filled the day like white noise.
“Hey, roll that up,” Uther called back to her. “I’m freezing up here.”
Esther rolled her eyes but complied. “Tell me again why a Vermont gardening club is meeting in November.”
“It’s a social club as well as gardening,” snapped August. He was tapping his finger on the steering wheel again.
August hadn’t seemed excited to see her when they arrived, but Uther had called shotgun, and the two of them had carried on a steady stream of playful conversation the entire ride, leaving Esther forgotten in the backseat.
Not a date, my ass . Which left Esther’s mind wandering to things outside this car.
Like how Ashley still hadn’t texted her.
Ashley was a mess yesterday and Esther…well, Esther was kind of into it. Ashley was kicking down a door Esther didn’t know she’d locked. Maybe it was the whole vampire thing. She was into this new dark and edgy side to Ashley. But it was also Ashley being open and funny and brave. And god, she was hot as hell. Even in those ridiculous pajamas that were way too short for her and her makeup all a mess like she’d been tossed in the lake.
Over a month had passed since Ashley had kissed her by this very lake, and it was still all Esther could think about. Not even the coming out as a vampire part distracted her—which, to be fair, was an important part. Ashley had kissed her and Esther had liked it, and maybe Esther wanted to do it again.
And what did that mean? She’d dated men in the past. Did her sheltered upbringing imprint such a strong heteronormative view into her psyche, she hadn’t even conceived of the idea that two women could be interested in each other without falling into the narrow view she was familiar with that, if you weren’t straight, you were a lesbian? Or it was a phase, something you were trying. Or it was just performative for the male gaze.
That was a lot to take in. Esther hadn’t lied that night. Until that moment, she really had thought she was straight. But now a million memories ran through her mind, making her question this claim. The time in middle school when she told a group of girls she found it easier to tell if a girl was attractive than a guy and was met with silence instead of agreement. That time in high school when a boyfriend requested she not date a girl after him because his last girlfriend had come out as a lesbian and he was worried about getting a reputation. And her problematic thought, that she needed to date an in-between guy quickly in case a cute girl asked her out.
Still straight though.
She was like one of those women in fairy tales that was asleep their whole life, then one kiss and bam! They’re checking their phone every minute in the hopes that that cute girl would just freaking text her back already.
Seriously, if fake dating meant she could kiss Ashley again, she would say yes in a heartbeat. It had taken everything in her not to agree right there on the spot. But she knew Ashley was wasted, and she couldn’t take advantage of her like that. If Ashley wanted to date her—even if it was pretend—she needed to ask her sober. Esther looked at her phone for the hundredth time since waking up that morning to a screen with no new notifications.
“She’s probably still sleeping.” Uther gave her a knowing look.
“Who?” Esther shoved her phone back in her pocket before meeting his gaze.
“She had a lot to drink at that party. I think she cleaned out a whole bottle of vodka by herself. I wouldn’t be up for a few hours still if I’d kept up with her.”
Esther looked out the window again. She didn’t need Uther digging into her romantic life while in the middle of flirting his way into one of his own. She still wasn’t sure why she was the third wheel to this supposed not-date. Uther had insisted he needed her, but she was sure he would have been fine. August even laughed at Uther’s last Star Wars joke.
The ferry docked, and they waited their turn as the line of cars started their engines and crawled one by one to solid ground. They followed the two-lane highway past pale yellow bungalows and red brick farmhouses broken up with cow pastures, empty cornfields, and small towns with their two-pump gas stations and white-steepled churches. After ten minutes of driving, August turned off onto a small gravel road. At the end sat a white, two-story house facing the bay, mainland Vermont providing a shoreline of scattered stick-looking trees just beyond the water.
“Why’s the window slanted like that?” Esther pointed up at the house where an addition sported a window set on a diagonal like someone had taken an old farm window and fit it as best they could into the new crevice the addition made to the front of the house.
August crouched over the steering wheel to see where she pointed. “Oh that’s… It’s nothing. They put in an addition, and that’s just how they fit the window. It happens all over the place around here. It’s a quirky Vermont thing.”
“We call them witch windows,” Uther added, clearly proud to be the resident Vermonter for this conversation.
“Right.” August’s knuckles went white as he gripped the steering wheel. “Listen, this trip isn’t exactly going how I’d planned. If you want to go back…”
Esther flicked Uther’s ear and he scowled back at her. Not a date, my ass .
The front door to the house opened, and a brown blur whizzed for the car. Barking followed, and Uther locked the doors as a dog assaulted his window.
“Greg.” A woman with a severe braid and a large Carhartt jacket stepped out on the porch. “Come.”
The dog whizzed back to her side and stood, a single paw raised and eyes trained on the newcomers.
“Great.” August sighed. “They know we’re here.”
With a fortifying breath, he unbuckled and opened his car door.
“Hey, Meg,” he called. The door slammed shut, and the rest of his greeting was muffled.
Esther looked at Uther.
“After you.” They both spoke in unison. “Jinx. Stop it.”
She glared at him. This was his idea. He should be the one to lead the way into the strange house in the middle of nowhere with an intense-looking dog. Seriously, that dog still hadn’t moved. He just stood there, staring at them.
Another woman came out of the house, this one much shorter, and beelined it for August with a squeal and upraised arms. She jumped, and he caught her, lifting her in a full twirl before setting her down. Uther was watching now.
“Did he just kiss her?” He threw off his seat belt and was fighting with the door lock.
At least that got him moving.
“It was on the—” The door slammed shut behind him before she finished with “cheek.” She rolled her eyes and got out of the car. Uther was getting so territorial lately. He and August needed to define that relationship before Uther fretted himself into the grave. She should have a talk with him about giving people their space.
The second woman let go of August and turned to Esther and Uther as they cautiously approached, Esther keeping her distance from the dog.
“Hi, I’m Gwen. Is it okay if I hug you?” She had green corduroy overalls and a pink cardigan that popped against her earthy brown skin. Her black curls were pulled back into two fluffy buns.
“Sure,” said Esther. She wasn’t much of a hugger, but she didn’t mind them, and she liked that Gwen had asked permission first, like she cared about Esther’s comfort.
Gwen swooped in, and it was worth it. She gave good hugs.
“Did you bring the book?” The woman with the dog—Meg—asked August.
“It’s in the car,” he replied. “I’ll grab it.”
“You found it?” Gwen chased after him, her run more of a frolic than anything else.
Gwen wore cute vintage lace-ups. Esther looked at her own scuffed, black boots wondering if she needed to get something new yet. And that was when she noticed the grass around her feet. A November frost had sapped the color from them, but a circle of dewy emerald radiated out from her grungy boots. Smaller patches trailed off from the larger like someone had dropped the green from a bucket but spilled along the way. She followed the trail with her eyes to the car. Did she have something on her shoes that was reacting to the grass? Balancing on one foot, she pulled her other up to check the bottom of her boots. Nothing there that she could tell.
“It’s the book!” called Gwen. She jumped up and down, and…
Flowers sprouted from the ground around her. Esther tumbled out of the patch of green and away from the car and growing flowers. What the hell was going on?
“August?” Esther tried to sound calm while continuing to back away from the encroaching green but heard the waver in her voice.
“What’s wrong?” His brows furrowed into his classic grumpy stance as his gaze shifted from her to the growing patch of flowers.
“Damn it, Gwen. I haven’t told them yet.” He sighed.
“Oh my god, what are these flowers?” said Uther, jumping over patches to join Esther.
August opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out.
“Oops.” Gwen twirled, looking at all the winter greenery she’d awakened. “Did I do that again?”
“Let’s do this inside,” said Meg. She whistled, and the dog reanimated and ran back into the house, Meg following behind. Gwen frolicked after her, small twists of flowers and vines sprouting in her wake.
Esther turned to Uther and nodded to the house. He could go first.
Uther’s eyes widened and he shook his head.
She replied with her sternest look, and he countered with a mocking stern look and tilted his head to her. She squeezed her eyes, focusing lasers on him, and he matched her look with a glare of his own.
Esther was about to up the debate to a foot stomp when a hand grabbed her at the elbow. August dragged both of them up the porch steps and into the house.
“Hey, hey! No need to manhandle us.” Esther pulled her arm free once they were in the doorway.
Inside reminded her of her grandparent’s house if her grandparents lived in a cottage. A green gingham couch was accompanied by two faded red armchairs, each topped with a doily and centered around a braided circle rug. The wood-paneled walls were decorated with shelves of knickknacks and macramé wall hangings. She followed August through a doorway and into the cramped kitchen dinette at the back of the house. A lace-curtained window by the oval table showcased the lake just outside.
Meg grabbed the book from August and plopped it on the table, rifling through the pages like she had a certain one in mind.
Gwen fumbled around in the kitchen, opening cupboards and starting a kettle of water.
“Is anyone interested in tea?” she said in singsong. No one responded, but she pulled out a handful of mismatched teacups all the same.
“Is someone going to explain what’s going on?” Esther looked at August, judging him to be the easiest to bully into talking.
The dog whined at the back door.
August ran his hand through his hair. “I’m not sure where to begin. How much do you know?”
“How about you just assume we know nothing,” said Uther, apparently also put out by all that was happening.
The dog whined again, and without looking up from the book, Meg snapped her fingers. The back door opened on its own, slamming shut behind the dog.
“Like that!” Uther pointed at the door. “What was that?”
“We’re witches. Obviously.” Meg flipped another page. “Start there, August.”
“Damn it, Meg,” said August. “These are my friends, and I was kind of hoping they wouldn’t run away screaming by the end of this.”
“No one’s screaming, love,” called Gwen, combing through bundles of dried plants hanging from the kitchen ceiling. The tea kettle whistled, and she hurried to lift it from the heat.
“So, you’re witches.” Uther looked pointedly at August. “All of you?”
A pause before August nodded. “I meant to ease you into the idea on the ride over, but I wasn’t expecting… Well, I thought it would just be you.”
Esther glared at Uther. “I told you it was a date.” She slumped in her chair, taking in all this new information. “I’d just gotten used to the idea of vampires. What’s next? Werewolves? Ghosts?”
“Hold up. Vampires?” Uther turned to Esther, but luckily Gwen showed up with the tea.
“Officially, there isn’t witch territory or vampire territory.” Gwen placed a delicate flowered teacup in front of Uther and a matching sugar dish in the middle of the table. “But unofficially, New England is witch territory, with little pockets elsewhere across the country. So, of course, that Family of vampires decided to camp out in New York, right across the border from us, a couple of years ago.”
“By a couple of years, you mean over two hundred.” August sounded insulted. “My family set up that town and lived in the same house for over two hundred years.”
“Well, it wasn’t Zephaniah that caused the problem, now, was it?” Gwen placed two more steaming cups on the table in front of Esther and August, her voice remaining as gentle as the teacups. “It was his daughter, Hannah. She’s the one that started that house and brought them all to the area.”
“Who’s Hannah?” asked Esther.
“She’s my aunt.” August was messing with the small gold hoop in his ear. “A distant aunt.”
“Are you a vampire?” whispered Uther.
“No, I’m not a vampire.” August sounded tired. “That’s not how vampires work. You’re made a vampire, not born one.”
“Just checking,” Uther said.
“But you’re a witch?” asked Esther.
August nodded, still keeping an eye on Uther like he might run screaming from the house. Uther remained quiet, his attention zoning out like someone trying to escape an overstimulating situation.
“It’s not here.” Meg slammed the book shut, making everyone jump. “There’s a page torn out. You’re going to have to ask your aunt for it.”
“Is your aunt a witch too?” asked Uther.
August was massaging his temples. “Are you sure it’s not in there?”
Meg snapped, sending the book careening at him. August caught it just before it could smash into his nose.
“Check for yourself. It’s gone and we need it. Talk to your aunt or get someone to do it for you. I don’t care. But we need that spell, and she’s the only one that had access to it.”
Esther was still piecing everything together. “If you have weird unofficial territory disputes with the vampires, why is Ashley over at your place all the time?”
Everyone turned to August.
“Esther.” He hissed her name like this conversation might still be a secret. “Could we please talk about this later?”
“You let a vampire in your house?” Meg had the same laser-focused expression her dog was wearing earlier. “You invited her in?”
“August.” Gwen’s voice was gentle and motherly, despite her appearing to be around the same age as them. “You know that’s not a safe thing to do.”
“It’s fine!” August snapped. “She’s not going to do anything while living under Hannah’s roof. I can take care of myself.”
“Wait. Ashley ?” Uther turned to Esther, his voice soft and vulnerable. “And you knew? This whole time?”
“I…” Esther couldn’t do this. She thought she could do a deep and meaningful friendship, but she was already failing. Instead of answering his question, she turned to Meg and changed the subject. “Why do you need the missing page?”
The three witches exchanged looks, none of them willing to speak, and that was what finally broke her patience.
“I have homework to do!” Esther got up from the table, mid-speech, like her studies were calling to her this very moment. “I was perfectly happy not knowing any of this. I could be home, being productive with my own things, and not here, getting sucked into whatever paranormal drama is starting. And you decide now— now —is the time to be cryptic? Keep your witchy secrets. I’m done here.”
Esther wished she had her bag or something to dramatically gather to emphasize how much she was leaving, but she hadn’t even taken off her coat. She hesitated, doing her best to school her expression, but while the conclusion of her speech meant she was leaving, she hadn’t driven herself here and, therefore, had no ride.
Gwen broke the silence first. “Would you like a tour? Meg, dear. You could show them the garden.”
Esther did not want a tour. She wanted answers.
But actually, no. Her wants were all flipped around. She didn’t want answers. She wanted to go home and mind her own business. Not following her supposed friend on his date with a bunch of witches while they hunted some spell in an old book she’d found for them. She was already more involved than she’d intended. She’d let her inclination to observe situations get away from her.
“Fine.” Meg shoved her chair from the table and walked to the back door, not waiting for anyone’s answer.
“Are we meant to follow her?” Uther sounded just as unsure as Esther felt.
Gwen approached Esther, placing a warm hand at her elbow. “Some of this is easier to show than explain. I’m sorry that it’s a lot, but…well, it’s a lot.”
“All right.” Uther stood and walked to the door. “I came here to see a garden, and a garden I shall see.”
The door closed behind Uther, Gwen following behind him, and the conversation was over. Her big speech about leaving was ignored. Esther was a joke.
“Esther.” August bit his lip and tugged at the ring in his ear. “You should know. It’s not…Whatever they show you, I know Ashley is off-limits, okay? So, don’t freak out or anything. I mean, she’s in Hannah’s Family for starters, so she’s off-limits anyway. But I know… Well, I get she means something to you, so I thought I’d let you know.”
Off-limits from what? Did Uther say something to him?
“What are you talking about?” Esther asked.
There was a thwack from outside and an alarmed squeak from Uther.
August’s gaze cut to the door and back at her. “Esther?—”
But Esther was not interested in whatever vague thing August was talking about. She wrenched open the door everyone else had gone through. Her first thought was there was no garden out here.
Her next was That’s a crossbow Meg’s shouldering .
“You ready to give it a go?” Meg handed the contraption to a very reluctant Uther and faced him toward a scarecrow near the lake shore with a cloth head and stitched-on face, featuring two pointed canines—a dart protruding from its chest.
The door squeaked open behind her.
“You’re vampire hunters,” Esther said.
“That’s a simplistic way of putting it.” August joined her at the railing overlooking the scene below. “We consider it population control.”
“Population control.” What a simple yet nefarious phrase. A word pulled out by hunters every deer season. Or conservationists when dealing with an invasive species. A word used by one group to justify the death of another. For the sake of balance.
“There are rules,” he said.
But Esther barely heard him over the rushing static in her head.
“No one wants to start a war,” August continued. “Vampires in a Family are safe from hunters. We only go after the young and unaffiliated. Those without anyone to keep them in line.”
That “we” echoed in her head. August had hunted vampires. Vampires like Ashley, who was a real person and not a deer.
“Uther.”
Uther loosed the dart as Esther called to him, and the shot sailed past the target and into the lake.
“Watch it,” Meg scolded him. “Greg. Fetch.”
The dog shot out from under the porch and performed a perfect dive into the lake, beelining for the missing dart.
“I’m ready to go back now.” Esther didn’t wait for August’s answer or even for Uther to catch up to her. She went back through the kitchen door and out the other side to the car. It was time to call it a day.
This time, Esther was happy to be the forgotten third wheel in the backseat—the ferry chugging along beneath them back to Plattsburgh. August was a member of a coven of vampire-hunting witches. And Esther was checking her phone to see if the hot vampire from class had texted yet. No, she had not. This was a problem.
“All right, here’s the plan,” said August.
Esther hated this plan already.
“I’m dropping Uther off on our way into town.”
Uther raised his hand as though summoning a teacher. “Umm. Actually, I don’t like this plan.”
At least she wasn’t the only one not on board.
“I’m dropping you off on our way into town,” August continued, “and Esther, I’m taking you to the vampire house to get the missing page.”
Esther and Uther had strong words on this idea, and both shared them—loudly, one over the other.
“You can’t just dump me at home like this.”
“Why do I have to go? You go.”
“Just because I’m not some magical creature doesn’t mean I’m not helpful.”
“I just wanted to work on my paper in peace.”
“Stop it!” August yelled, but they continued to argue their points, Esther fueling her anger from Uther’s.
August finally resorted to holding down the horn until they both quieted, and everyone on the ferry glared daggers at their car.
“Here’s the plan,” August said. “I am going to take Esther to interview my aunt about Platt family history as part of her internship. You can actually benefit from this. Uther, you don’t need to be there, so I’m taking you home, where you won’t be in any danger. Ideally.”
They sat in silence, both Uther and Esther fuming for being treated like children. If August thought he was going to have two cooperative volunteers, he had another think coming. In the silence, Esther’s mind went to the small journal she’d found days ago in the Platt collection talking of night contagions and a secret society. She had a feeling she’d just met a branch of that secret society. August’s aunt was the perfect person to ask about that piece and the history of the collection in general.
Not that she’d admit that to August.
The ferry slid into the dock and other passengers started their engines. “Fine.” August sighed. “What can I do to convince you two to help me?”
Esther was ready for this. “What’s on the missing page? Why do they want it so much?”
“I don’t know—a spell of some sort. I don’t even know how they heard about it.” He took a steadying breath. “Honestly, it sounds like some pet project of Meg’s. But I really need to be the one that helps them get it. You heard them back there. How they feel about my family. I’m a witch with a vampire for an aunt. I need them to see me as an asset if I want to fit in. And I’d really like to fit in somewhere.”
“Ah, yes.” Esther rolled her eyes. “Because August Platt , on our way back to Platts burgh, doesn’t fit in anywhere.” She looked to Uther to back her up, but Uther was looking at August like he was a lost kitten. Instead of acknowledging Esther’s comment, he placed his hand on August’s.
“We’ll help you. Right, Esther?” Now Uther turned to her.
She glared back. “Fine. Whatever. I do this one thing and then I’m out. And I better get a good interview out of this.”