Spell Maven From Spell Haven

by Megan Marple

  Despite the casual stance, Oisín jumped square into Fiona-Leigh’s lap, purring against her, tickling her nose with his fur.

  “I love you even though you kind of want to take over the world,” she giggled, hugging him carefully.

  I had just pushed play on the remote when there was a knock at the door. I frowned at Fiona-Leigh. “Who could that be?” We weren’t expecting anyone as far as I knew.

  I gave her the bowl of popcorn and got up, walking quietly toward the door in case I didn’t want to deal with whoever was on the other side of it. But when I looked through the peephole, my cheeks burned. It was Sully, pushing a dark curl behind his ear and patiently waiting outside.

  I bit my lip and opened the door as casually as possible. “Hey!”

  “Hey,” he said, giving me a sideways grin. “I just wanted to come by and return your muffin tin. I’m getting ready to go into work tonight and happened to notice your lights are on. Not that I was waiting or anything. But I just figured I’d drop it off on my way out.”

  He held up the muffin tin, sort of waving it around and I took it, unable to get rid of the grin from my face. “Thank you. I uh, hope you liked them.”

  He quickly nodded. “Oh yeah. They’re really good. It’s funny though, I only had a couple — the girls must’ve eaten the rest of them.”

  “Sorry about that!” Fiona Lee said through a mouthful on the sofa.

  He chuckled and pushed his hair back behind his ear again. Geez, did this guy have any clue just how adorable it was when he did that? “Well, I better get going. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

  I nodded. “Sure, sure. See you around.” I waited until he gave an awkward little wave and walked off, carrying a backpack on his shoulder, before closing the door.

  Of course all eyes were on me as I turned around, Fiona-Leigh downright smirking at me.

  “Apparently I was wrong about Gentry, but you totally have a crush on Sully!”

  I playfully shoved at her, rolling my eyes and grabbing another handful of popcorn. “Let’s just watch the movie, huh?”

  After taking a long, much-needed hot shower, I met back up with Fiona-Leigh in her bedroom, ready to tuck her in.

  “Hey Mom? Can I ask you something and you promise you won’t get all weird about it?” she asked me softly, drawing her knees up under her chin.

  I sat down next to her on the bed, searching her face. “Sure.”

  “How come you never told me what really happened with my dad? I mean you kind of just glossed over the whole thing. It used to not bother me but now that I know more about your life when you were younger . . . I’d kinda like to know more about him, too.”

  This was not what I thought she was going to ask. “Honey, I understand you wanting to know more about him and you’re totally right. I should’ve been more upfront about it with you. I promise you I will tell you everything you want to know. I just need to . . . find the right words to say. It was pretty painful for me, going through all of it the first time around. Will it be okay if I take a little bit more time before I tell you the whole story?”

  She regarded me with wide eyes but nodded. “I guess so, yeah.”

  I felt terrible about not giving her what she wanted right away, but thought I could offer her up something else instead, to help make up for it. “I need you to know that everything I’ve done for you was to protect you. And I know I’ve already told you all that, and you probably don’t want to hear it again, but it’s true. My life was very complicated when I was younger, and then suddenly you were here, and it all kind of made sense to me. So you’ll have to forgive me for not wanting to give up that little bit of peace I’ve had with you. I’m going to be 100% honest with you from now on, Fi. And I want you to be honest with me too . . .”

  She raised an auburn eyebrow at me. “Okay.”

  “I’ve used magic on you before. I’ve used it when you were little and getting ready to run into the street chasing after a toy, and I used it the other day when you wanted to come with me and Gentry to Arcadia. I didn’t want you there, I knew it was too dangerous for you and I made sure I enchanted these earrings,” I said as I gently tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear, “to ensure that you would stay put. Now, before you say anything,” I quickly added, seeing the look on her face, “I know it was messed up, okay? I shouldn’t use magic when you without you knowing. And I’m seriously so sorry, honey. I’ll never do it again, you have my word.”

  She let my words sink in a little bit before finally speaking up, tilting her head to the side. “I mean I get it. I know why you did it, and yeah I’m mad, but whatever. I understand Mom.”

  Wait. What? I had to sit back, and clutch my chest. “Seriously? That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?”

  The corner of her mouth quirked up. “Yes? Unless you want me to be super bratty about it, of course. Because I can totally do that, too.”

  “No, no. That’s quite all right. Save it for when I don’t let you get the cool tattoo you want in about three years.” I pulled her into a tight hug, running my hand through her silky hair just like I used to when I would rock her to sleep at night. “I love you so much—you just don’t even know, Fi.”

  “I know, Mama. I love you too.”

  As I sat back, I looked at the face of my daughter, unable to see anything else but all of her perfect beauty and the memories we’ve had. If going through all of this had proven anything to me about my daughter, it was that she was stronger than anyone could ever conceive. I smiled, suddenly remembering there was something else I wanted to tell her. “I know you’re tired, but there’s just one more thing I wanted to tell you, and then I’ll leave you alone.”

  “You’re not going to tell me that I secretly have a sibling or something, are you? Because that would be so cool, just saying.”

  I pulled my wand out of my bathrobe pocket, slowly shaking my head. “Not exactly . . .”

  I pulled my hair down from the messy bun I had it up in, letting it spill down my back. It was something I never did much with, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

  “From damp to dr. From chestnut brown, straight and lean, wash this spell out squeaky clean,” I said softly, pointing the wand at my hair.

  In the mirror hanging on the back of her closet door, I watched transfixed, as my brown hair started losing the color of its roots—or rather they started changing color. From the part in my hair down to the very ends, my usual straight, mousy brown was replaced by a pale lilac twisting into slight waves, the silvery highlights of it glinting in the light.

  Fiona-Leigh’s mouth dropped. “I—I don’t understand? How did you do that? Why did you do that?”

  I chuckled. “Getting rid of spells is much easier here than trying to make new ones. Would you believe that this is actually my natural hair color? I had to blend in with the humans when we came here, and I couldn’t exactly pull off purple hair and not get noticed. So . . . I’ve been dyeing my hair brown ever since. What do you think?”

  She slowly shook her head, though a dumbfounded smile spread across her face. “Honestly? I’m living for it. I’m still kinda mad that I didn’t know my mom was ahead of the mermaid hair trend, though. But this might just be my favorite thing about you being a witch, yet.”

  The End.

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  About the Author

  Megan lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, with her family and feisty furbaby. She loves Gullah food, literally any dog, Carolina sunrises on the beach, shopp
ing on King Street, and curling up with about twenty different books on the weekends. Her favorites are mysteries and fantasies where the characters make her laugh, cry, and feel #allthefeels. When she gets the rare chance, she also likes to go exploring and learning more about Charleston’s rich history.