Chapter Twenty-Four
When I arrived at the clearing in the Firewood Forest for the party, I saw that someone had decorated the tunnel in the ground with fairy lights, making it much less terrifying to slide down. This time, when I slid down to the grotto, I hit the warm, purple sand with a lot more grace.
A few others had volunteered to help set up. Everly Catacomb – the actual host – was nowhere to be seen though. I ambled over to Raven and Sofia.
‘OK, so we both just got here,’ Sofia began. Her wings were glowing under the blue of Mermaid’s Grotto. ‘And Silas is over there. He was asking about you.’
‘He texted me too,’ I said, eyes darting around to find him. I was ninety per cent nerves at this point, especially when it kept hitting me that this was it. It might not be the night of the autumn moon, but it was the night I was going to tell the werewolf about my feelings for him.
‘Where is he?’ I asked, when my scan of the grotto came up empty.
‘He’s gone to bring in all the dragon lights,’ Raven explained, and then said something that made my stomach clench. ‘With Orion.’
‘With Orion?’ I echoed, dumbly. ‘Please tell me you’re joking.’
‘He dropped me off,’ Raven said, wincing slightly. ‘I brought the dragon lights ’cause they’ll burn all night – Silas came out to grab them and Orion offered to help.’
‘What do you think they’re talking about?’ I asked, feeling very off-kilter.
Sofia shot me a disbelieving look. ‘Uh, I don’t know – you?’
I shut my eyes briefly. ‘If your brother ruins this for me, I will personally skin him alive.’
‘I’ve seen you wield a knife, so that’s actually kind of scary,’ Raven noted and then looked over my shoulder. ‘Oh, they’re back, and would you look at that – Celine’s with them too.’
I twisted around to see Silas standing in the entrance with a box in his arms, a sunny smile gracing his face.
My gaze slipped from him to Celine and Orion, who were standing in a corner, talking.
Orion was leaning against the wall of the grotto, his attention entirely focused on her.
I looked away, refusing to let it bother me.
‘Maya!’ Silas called from across the grotto, and his attention on me felt like a warm ray of sunlight brushing against my skin, burning all thoughts of Orion away.
‘Go!’ Sofia hissed under her breath and prodded me in the back.
I jolted forward, before catching my footing and making my way over to him. My internal monologue went like this: Don’t mess this up, don’t mess this up, don’t mess this up.
When I reached Silas, I was a ball of nerves, my heart thundering in my chest. But his soft smile put me at ease.
‘Maya, you look beautiful,’ Silas said as I approached, his hands full of the dragon lights.
I felt my face grow warm and genuine delight course through me. ‘You don’t look so bad yourself.’
His smile broke into a grin, and I could do nothing but bask in it.
‘Are you two planning on helping, or are you just going to be making googly eyes at each other the whole time?’
Trent’s sneering voice came from behind Silas. Silas sighed and glanced over at his teammate.
‘Maya’s already helped,’ Silas shot back. ‘She’s the one who found this place.’
‘She found it?’ Trent scoffed, arms folded over his chest. ‘So, should we expect the mayor and every adult in Maple Falls to show up at some point in the night?’
I felt my cheeks flame, and I opened my mouth to retort, but Silas beat me to it.
‘I think what you mean to say is, “Thank you, Maya, for helping us find a place so last minute, and I’m sorry for being such a jerk to you my entire life”,’ Silas said, his tone harder than I’d ever heard it before.
Trent deflated, rolling his eyes before muttering some version of an apology.
I was conscious that Silas had only ever seen me as a klutz, or a disaster of a witch, or someone he needed to stick up for. Now, I needed him to see me as someone that was more than that. Someone he could see as his soulmate.
‘It’s fine,’ I said, with a wave of my hand. ‘I get it, I’m the mayor’s daughter. But I promise you, nothing is going to ruin tonight.’
Silas smiled down at me, and my heart leaped.
Clearly it had been the right response. The conversation between the guys slipped into whatever jocks usually talk about – lots of rugby talk and loud laughter as they set up the lights around the grotto.
Silas kept me by his side, as his helper; I passed him the lights, and he hung them around the grotto.
I didn’t say much, not feeling the need to interject.
As I looked around to see how the grotto was coming together, I realized we were now closer to where Celine and Orion were standing. I tried not to watch them, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Were they standing even closer together? How was that even possible?
‘Maya?’
I startled and looked back at Silas, who was peering down at me, his arms empty, all the lights strung up.
I watched his gaze flit to Orion, only a few steps away. He hesitated before asking, ‘You and Orion, is there something there?’
‘Something there?’ I squeaked.
‘Yeah,’ Silas rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. ‘It’s just, I know you’re close to Raven. I saw him pick you up after school, and I heard you’re at their house all the time – I just don’t want to overstep.’
‘There’s nothing there,’ I cut in, sharper than I’d intended. Silas’s eyebrows lifted, and I softened my tone. ‘He was just asking for help with that – that love spell gone rogue.’
Silas’s shoulders relaxed. ‘He said the same thing.’
I nodded, ignoring that twinge in my chest. Orion had done exactly what he should’ve, and I had no right to think he’d say something else.
‘And, yeah, that curse really does need to be lifted. Diya’s now sending love letters to my house.’
‘Are they at least good?’ I asked.
‘They are actually,’ Silas said with a grin. Then it faded. ‘But still, I don’t like the idea of someone being lovesick over me – especially when I don’t return the feelings.’
Guilt slammed into me. Diya was acting like this because of me; because of what I’d done.
‘Hey,’ Silas said, ducking his head to catch my gaze. ‘You OK?’
‘I’m OK,’ I said, forcing myself to smile. His concern for me was sweet, and I focused on that instead of the sorrow pressing down on me.
‘Well, if you’re not, just let me know and we can leave whenever,’ Silas vowed, and I felt a rush of nerves. I should’ve taken the opportunity to ask him for a breather on the beach and then confess my feelings. But the words wouldn’t come out. ‘Until then, want to get something to drink?’
He turned and asked for two glasses of faerie punch that someone was ladling into purple cups while we waited.
‘So, next Friday’s your last game before half-term starts, right?’ I asked, filling the silence.
‘Yes,’ Silas said, and his eyes glittered. ‘Don’t forget my jersey – you promised to wear it for my next game.’
I felt my cheeks warm and groaned softly, covering my face with one hand. ‘You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?’
Silas chuckled, accepting the two cups and handing one to me. ‘Not a chance. A deal’s a deal.’
I raised mine, taking a sip of the punch to steady myself. ‘You’d better win that game then. Otherwise, I’ll look ridiculous cheering in your jersey.’
Silas’s grin softened into something quieter, more intent. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to win for you.’
I was flustered, and I didn’t know how to handle his gaze on me, so I took a big gulp of my drink. The faerie punch tasted like plums, lemonade and violets at first, but then, an almost metallic taste slipped into the undertones. I ignored it, taking another sip. And another.
‘Feeling thirsty?’ he teased, tilting his head to one side.
‘Shut up,’ I shot back, cheeks warmer than usual. ‘You know what you’re doing.’
‘What, making conversation?’ Silas asked, eyes tracing over my cheeks, which were getting redder. His smile dipped slightly, brow creasing.
‘What?’ I asked, suddenly nervous.
I watched as Silas said something to me, but I couldn’t hear it. It felt like everything had slowed down, but, in reality, the world around me was still moving. The party around me started to fade away, replaced by a faint buzzing in my head, and Silas’s face blurred at the edges.
My limbs loosened, and, suddenly, every idea that passed through my mind sounded good and oh-so-doable right at this moment.
And that is when everything went downhill.
I wanted to stand on Silas’s shoulders because I had something important to say.
He’s tall, and I guess I thought I’d command a lot of attention at that height.
But, despite my earnest explanation, he wasn’t understanding that and wouldn’t squat down to help me up.
So, I sought out the next best thing: a table.
It used to hold the faerie punch, but after I – very carefully – placed the bowl of punch on to the ground, I decided to drag it into the centre of the party.
I jostled past people, doling out apologies, but really I was focused on getting up on this annoyingly unstable table.
‘Maya,’ Silas hissed, eyes wide, as he tried to stop me. ‘What are you doing?’
I tugged the table back, but it didn’t budge. My whole body felt like it was made out of cotton. My mind felt fuzzy, or, maybe, my eyes were fuzzy? Because Silas looked like a smudge, as if someone had wiped his form with a terry cloth.
‘I have s-s-something to say,’ I replied, struggling to get the words out.
‘To everyone?’ Silas queried, incredulously. ‘Seriously, what has gotten into you?’
It was a perfectly reasonable question. Usually I hated anything that granted me the attention of everyone’s eyes.
But, in my altered state, I had decided I wanted to tell everyone at the party that I was the one who cast the rogue love spell over the town.
The guilt had been festering in me, and I’d decided to unburden myself.
Yes, I still had to work on the counterspell, but at least I wouldn’t be lying about it any more.