Chapter Thirty
Rani arrived via the portal the day after the Starshow Cinemas disaster. Her arrival was a much-needed distraction, because things were looking a bit complicated with Orion. When I had arrived at the Treasure Trove after school, I found it was just Melodie, Raven, Sofia and me.
No Orion in sight.
Raven said he was busy with some project and that was that.
I couldn’t help but feel concerned that something else was going on.
But I wasn’t going to text Orion about it – I needed to focus on Silas and find the right time to confess to him.
He’d cancelled our study session on Wednesday for extra practice for Friday’s match, so that gave me zero perfect moments.
In school, we were always around people.
Everything that had felt like it had been going so well suddenly felt ten times harder.
So, my big sister’s return was, like I said, the perfect distraction.
Tonight, we were having a Reverie girls’ night in.
Mum and Rani were getting comfortable on the couch, both in matching pyjama sets, hands curled around their bowls of ice cream.
I peeled myself away from the kitchen and made my way to the couch. We were going to be watching Creature House now that Rani was back.
When Rani left, my mother struggled to adjust to not having the rituals she’d built so much of her daily routine on.
Watching Creature House, the reality show where magical creatures were housed in a lavish mansion and whoever used their magic first was kicked out, was one of them.
The show was filled with all the things you’d expect: catty interviews, secrets that should not be spilled and some of the nastiest spell work I’d ever seen.
I didn’t often watch it with them, but it was Rani’s first night back, so whatever she asked for was going to happen.
‘If you don’t shut your mouth, I will turn you into the trash can of gossip that you are,’ Carissa Calloway snarled from the TV.
The vampire she was screaming at – Maurice Temple, I think? – simply grinned at her, and that seemed to infuriate Carissa even further. A stupid move. Now the witch was throwing a hex that turned the vampire into the aforementioned threat:
A trash can.
Moments later, Carissa was hauled off our screens, and she didn’t go quietly. I winced as her voice climbed the octaves and she flung spells around at an alarming rate. I could appreciate that even through her hysteria, she was a pretty powerful witch to command her magic like that.
‘And that’s why we don’t turn people into things,’ Mum interrupted, from her place on the opposite side of the couch.
‘You’re absolutely right,’ I said, voice wooden with annoyance. ‘Good thing I don’t do that any more.’
Rani shot me a look over her ice-cream bowl. I know what she was telling me: be quiet. Just listen.
‘It wasn’t meant to be an attack, kiddo,’ Mum said, gently. ‘Just a reminder.’
‘Yes, well, another reminder that it’s been over a year since I got my second point,’ I argued, feeling a sudden heat overtake my veins. My magic felt angry, pointed, like I wanted to prove myself.
‘It has, but we shouldn’t even be at two,’ Mum countered, and now there was an edge to her voice. ‘Rani graduated with no points.’
‘You graduated with one,’ I shot back, because I couldn’t help but let my tongue run.
‘Don’t do as I do, sweetheart. Do as I say,’ Mum reprimanded, and I wanted to claw my skin off.
I was geared to argue back; my tongue poised with all the things I’d been holding back.
‘I –’
My arm jerked back, and my ice cream splattered down the front of my shirt. I yelped, jumping off the sofa, and Mum watched with an alarmed look in her eyes.
‘What happened?’ Mum asked, her eyes wide.
‘I don’t know, it was –’ Then my gaze landed on a smiling Rani. I gritted my teeth. ‘My arm jerked. I’ll go clean myself up. You guys keep watching.’
I went back into the kitchen and found Jinx curled up near the windowsill, licking his paw leisurely. He raised his head to glance at my mess and shook his little head at me.
‘Hey, I didn’t do this to myself,’ I retorted, and then heard the door to the kitchen swing open again. I turned to find Rani behind me, her arms folded over her chest. ‘You could’ve done something a little less dramatic to get me to shut up.’
‘Yeah, well, you could’ve just listened to what Mum said and not argued,’ Rani countered, reaching over to clean up the mess for me.
But I waved her off and concentrated on the spell in my mind. Slowly, the stain started to fade, and my nightshirt started to look normal again. Rani looked at me with an impressed look in her eyes that made my heart swell.
‘You really have improved,’ Rani said, pride glimmering in her voice.
‘You thought I faked my report card?’
‘I wouldn’t put it past you to get Mum off your back,’ Rani replied. ‘She just had a tough day at work because Ivy visited her to talk about the Treasure Trove.’
I jolted a little. ‘The Treasure Trove?’
‘The new dragon bakery,’ Rani explained, like I wasn’t the one living in Maple Falls. ‘Apparently, it’s been getting a lot of attention, and I think Ivy’s feeling the pressure. I mean, whoever the owner has baking in the back is clearly a stellar kitchen witch.’
‘Oh,’ I said, nervously. My heart was thundering in my chest. Feeling pride at being complimented and terror at being caught out was a terrible combination. ‘But what can Mum do?’
‘Nothing that will calm Ivy’s fears,’ Rani replied. ‘But she probably will want to find out who’s in that kitchen. No one seems to know who it is, and you know that’s unusual in Maple Falls. Everyone knows everyone here.’
Great. Exactly what I needed. I had a partner who was AWOL, a crush who I still needed to confess to, a best friend who was preparing to leave me for MAC and now a mother set out to discover my biggest secret.
‘And she just told you all of this,’ I said, not liking the edge to my voice.
A smirk erupted over Rani’s mouth. ‘You were too busy sitting in your room texting Silas Moon.’
I ignored my sister’s teasing – she’d already noticed the jersey in my bedroom, so I knew I was due a grilling. ‘Yeah, but Mum could’ve mentioned it to me too, you know. I’m also here to listen. It’d be nice to get something other than a lecture.’
‘She means well. You know that, right?’ Rani asked, her purple-painted lips pulling into a grimace. ‘It doesn’t always come out right, but Mum only ever wants us to be happy.’
‘I know,’ I replied, because I did.
I knew Mum said things because she wanted us to be safe; because she wanted us to be successful. I knew the lectures didn’t come out of nowhere.
‘But I’m tired, you know?’ I said, aggrieved. ‘Of being constantly treated like a disaster.’
‘Poetic,’ Rani said. I pushed myself off the ledge, ready to go back to the living room, but she stopped me. ‘OK, OK. I’m sorry. I was kidding.’
‘Of course you were kidding,’ I snapped. ‘You’re perfect. You can’t relate.’
Rani’s face constricted slightly. ‘I’m not perfect. I mess up too, you know.’
I laughed, sounding caustic to my own ears. ‘Right, you mess up.’
‘I do,’ Rani insisted, and then she shrugged. ‘I’ve just learned to be really good at cleaning up my messes by myself.’
‘You don’t go to Mum?’ I asked, head tilting in confusion. ‘She’d help you in a heartbeat.’
‘I know, but like you said,’ Rani replied, her arms tightening in their folded position. ‘She has standards we’re all trying to reach, right?’
I rocked back on my heels, contemplating what my sister had just said. I had always assumed that Rani and Mum were similar, and it made me wonder – how many of my sister’s dreams, like being Coven leader and going to MAC, were her own?
And how many of mine belonged to me?
‘Are you girls done talking about me in there?’ Mum called from her place on the couch. ‘You’re not that slick, you know?’
On cue, Rani and I rolled our eyes at the same time, before we made our way back to the couch and settled into our usual spaces.
The next day, after another shift at the Treasure Trove without Orion, I decided enough was enough.
He still needed to help me with the soulmate spell, and whatever his project was, he needed to put it aside.
I was frustrated beyond measure. It didn’t help that whenever I tried to catch Silas at school – to try and tell him about my feelings – all I got was an apologetic smile, while he explained that he didn’t have time to chat until after the upcoming game.
This meant it was looking like my night at the Fallen Leaves Festival was going to be spent confessing to Silas and hoping he wouldn’t be horrified by what I’d done, then casting the spell and hoping to break the curse with true love’s kiss.
Not so easy, right?
I decided to channel all my frustration at Orion and walk to his house from the bakery, armed with a speech and no desserts because he deserved none.
But when I arrived at the Hawthornes’ house, I was startled to hear …
shouting. I knew Raven wasn’t home – she was still doing an extra mock exam for the MAC test at school.
When the shouting got even louder, I made a decision. I bent down and found the spare key to the front door, concealed under the welcome mat. I unlocked the door, stepped inside the foyer and found everything to be exactly the way it usually was.
Until the shouting started again.
‘A waste of an education!’
Chief Inspector Hawthorne cut through the silence with a voice like thunder that I wasn’t used to hearing from him. One that made my bones shake a little.
‘And now you’re going to be a teacher?’ He continued, aggravated. ‘You’re giving up a coveted position to be a teacher?’
Someone – I’m assuming Orion – replied quietly. It was followed by a stomp of a person’s foot. Silence, and then:
‘You can’t force him.’ Mrs Hawthorne’s tone was firm, but even I could hear her disappointment. ‘He’s made a decision.’
‘The wrong one,’ Chief Inspector Hawthorne snapped.