“Love, forgiveness, and hope,” she whispered in my ear, answering my unspoken question. “No one who is touched by them can remain unaffected. And our songbird just handed out a pretty heavy dose of all three. That is part of her new powers.”
It was an almost perfect evening.
*****
Christmas came and went with still no sign of Nicholas, awake or in my dreams. Despite Lily’s uplifting performance several days before, I had slipped deeper into my emotional funk. The weather matched my foul mood, with gloomy fog and nearly constant drizzle. I still ran every day, but the bitter cold air and sticky mud did little to distract me from the thoughts that plagued my mind.
After a particularly difficult run back from the pier, I hobbled over to the large boulder at the base of the cliff to catch my breath. I stared out at the angry ocean, its waves no longer a peaceful lull, but a ferocious roar. Grey haze obscured my vision, and the pelting rain felt like shards of glass on my cold skin.
Tonight was New Year’s Eve. A time for new beginnings. A time for starting over. A time for deciding who you wanted to be for the next year, and changing whatever you didn’t like about yourself. It was a time for dreams and goals, and for letting go of past mistakes.
I decided it was time for a few resolutions.
Resolution Number One: I, Calista McCoy, resolve to force myself to be happy no matter what happens with Nicholas. I will not allow myself to die inside every time I think of him and how he hasn’t tried to see me or even contact me once in the entire time he has been away.
Resolution Number Two: I, Calista McCoy, will not resent Justin for turning into a Hunter and trying to kill me, and putting my loved ones’ lives at risk.
Resolution Number Three: I, Calista McCoy, will not begrudge Lily and Sophie the happiness they deserve by finding normal human boys who share their love, and who don’t suddenly leave them to shimmer away to parts unknown and make them go crazy.
My muscles grew stiff as I sat in the cold wind, making impossible promises to myself that I knew I’d never be able to keep. Finally, I headed back up the hill, and for the first time in a long while, didn’t glance back to the deserted beach below me.
Nicholas was gone. Maybe forever. And I just had to learn to live with that.
*****
I hadn’t been back in my room for five minutes when Lily announced in my head her and Sophie’s imminent arrival. The three of us were ringing in the New Year together, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty knowing they’d given up spending the evening with their boyfriends so I wouldn’t be left to face the night all alone.
Their incoming shimmer was preceded by the sound of one of those cheap noisemakers, and as their images came into view I saw they were adorned with goofy tiaras and necklaces proclaiming ‘Happy New Year’ in large glittery letters. The paper horn Sophie was blowing stretched out and retracted with every subsequent toot.
“Hi, guys,” I said with an amused smile. “Looks like the party has arrived. Let me just take a quick shower.”
Sophie let out another toot, removed the paper horn from between her teeth, and appraised me with disapproval. “Yes, please do. You been rolling in the mud or something?” She crinkled her nose.
“It was raining, and I just ran five miles in sand. What do you expect?” I tossed back, and headed into the bathroom to clean up.
When I emerged fifteen minutes later, they were stretched out on my bed laughing and talking. The stereo was playing dance music, and the muted TV was showing crowds of people gathering in Times Square.
“Put on your party clothes, woman!” Sophie instructed gleefully.
“Why? It’s not like we’re going anywhere…just hanging out here,” I mumbled, but I reached for a nice pair of jeans and a pretty, wool turtleneck sweater.
“That’s no reason to let yourself go.” Sophie plopped a paper tiara on my head as soon as I emerged from the closet.
“Can I at least dry my hair first?” I asked her, trying not to laugh. Her boisterous mood, which had been almost annoying while I wallowed in my slump, felt suddenly infective.
“Yes, yes. Go make yourself into the goddess we all know you are,” she laughed.
“So, where’s your dad tonight?” Lily called out as she flipped through a fashion magazine.
I returned from the bathroom wielding a hairdryer. “What, you don’t already know? Whatever happened to your supersonic psychic witch powers?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know it doesn’t work like that,” she said as I plopped down on the floor in front of the full length mirror. “But I did already know he wasn’t here before we shimmered over.”
“He and a few of his work buddies went to some country-western bar down in Castle Park,” I said, and turned on the dryer. The humming noise drowned out Lily and Sophie’s chatter, but didn’t drown out the secret sadness in my heart.
After a few minutes I heard one of them call my name. I flipped off the switch. “What?” I asked.
They looked at me blankly. “What, what?” Sophie said.
“Oh, I thought I heard you say my name—my bad.” I flipped the hair dryer back on.
“Calista.”
I switched the dryer back off—I knew I heard it that time. “Did either one of you just say my name?” I demanded, although their confused expressions already told me the answer.
“We were just talking about Brady and Roman,” Lily said.
“We aren’t even talking about you,” Sophie added.
“I could’ve sworn I heard someone calling my name. Twice.” My heart began to pound.
“Maybe you just imagined it,” Lily said.
“Or maybe she didn’t,” Sophie said, her blue eyes wide. “Do you think…maybe…?”
“No, you’re right…I’m just imagining things. Just the sound of the dryer whirling in my ear playing tricks on me, I’m sure.” I smiled at them, unconvinced by my own weak explanation.
From the looks on their faces Sophie and Lily weren’t buying it either, but they let it go.
*****
We were gathered in the living room watching the horror movie Sophie had brought over, and I was happily munching on my third piece of pepperoni pizza, when I heard it again.
“Calista.”
I froze mid-chew, and glanced at Sophie and Lily, both of whom were hypnotized by the gruesome images on the TV screen.
This time, I didn’t say anything to either of them. I just focused my attention and tried to discern where the voice was coming from. But hearing nothing else for several more minutes, I finally shrugged it off as part of my desperate, obsessive, and overly active imagination.
The movie ended, and we switched the channel to watch the west coast’s countdown. The east coast had rung in their New Year over two hours ago, and soon it would be our turn.
“Come on.” Sophie jumped up from the couch with a sly grin on her dimpled face. “Time for some fun.”
Lily and I remained seated. “What sort of fun?” I asked warily.
“Well…” Sophie danced around the room. “It’s not New Year’s Eve without fireworks!”
“Uh, huh. And just where are these fireworks?”
She giggled mischievously. “Well, right here of course!” She pointed at the three of us. “We can do it ourselves.”
“Um, Sophie, I don’t think Ana would be so keen on the idea of us burning down her house,” Lily said.
I narrowed my eyes. “What exactly would we be doing?”
“Come on, I’ll show you,” Sophie said, and pirouetted off into my bedroom. Lily and I followed and watched as she removed the bunches of flowers from the vases placed throughout the room.
“We gotta go outside. C’mon…let’s go on the patio.”
Lily and I exchanged another look and warily followed her to the door. Once outside, we pulled a few chairs into a semi-circle and sat down.
“Okay. The coast is clear, no one is around. I’ll start off with a small
one, show you how it’s done.” Sophie picked out the smallest flower of the bunch. “Now this is just a warm up.”
She tossed the flower high in the air. When it reached its apex she held up both her hands and opened her palms, with all of her fingers pointed at it.
“Candeoignis!” she cried.
Instantly the flower exploded with a fiery pop of color and light. It disintegrated into nothingness several feet above the ground, filling the air with a sweet condensation of scent and leaving a sparkly, cackling blaze in its wake.
“You just blew up my flower!” I gave her a stern glare. “You are a sick and twisted flower murderer. Now give me one, it’s my turn.”
Sophie laughed and handed me a slightly bigger flower. I did exactly what she’d done, but mine didn’t explode with nearly the same pop that hers had. It just sort of changed into a neon-bright cluster of dots before fizzing away pathetically.
“It’s okay, try again. It took me a few times,” she said as she handed me another. Lily and I tossed several more duds before our flowers started forming respectable explosions.
Sophie clapped her hands with delight and stood up. “Excellent! Okay, now we’re going to combine them so we can make big ones.”
“Where are you going? And what do you mean ‘make big ones’?” I was a little concerned. It was one thing for us to send up small sparklers on our own, but I was afraid we’d attract attention if they got any bigger or louder.
“Come on!” Sophie headed down the cobblestone path, gathering more flowers from the bushes as she went. “We need to have space,” she called out.
I turned to Lily. “Is this a bad idea? Should we stop her?”
Lily shrugged her shoulders. “Probably,” she replied. “But it’s really foggy, and no one is around. No one non-magical, that is. I think it’ll be all right. Plus, it’s kind of fun, don’t you think?”
I had to agree it was. I was actually enjoying myself for the first time in a long time. Since before Justin and Nicholas left.
“Let’s sit here,” Sophie said when we reached a spot near the peak that overlooked the ocean. The mist was thickening into fog, and the beach below was dark.
“It’s been raining—the ground is all wet,” I objected. But Lily walked in a slow circle holding both of her hands out flat to the ground.
“Extraxiunda,” she repeated several times. “There. It’s dry.” She sat down and crossed her legs.
We sat next to each other on the cliff, facing the ocean, each with a small pile of flowers in our lap. One by one we tossed them out to the water, crying out in unison, “Candeoignis!” and watched with delight as each exploded into a colorful glow of massive fiery sparkles.
We had continued our displays for several minutes when I started to feel a bit uneasy. Our fireworks were growing bigger and louder, and even though it was a foggy night, I began to fear someone might see or hear us. Someone who shouldn’t.
“You worry too much, Callie,” Sophie chided me. “Someone would have to be within ten feet of us to be able to see what we’re actually doing. No one’s gonna be on the beach tonight, and even if they were, they’d just assume we’re setting off sparklers or something.” She tossed a single rose in the air and watched as it burst into flames.
“You know what? It’s almost midnight anyways,” Lily said. “We only have a few minutes left. Do you guys wanna stay out here or go back inside and do champagne toasts or something?”
“Let’s stay here,” Sophie said. “It just seems right, being outside in nature.”
I chuckled. “Okay, nature girl, if you insist.”
“No, don’t laugh. I was just thinking…well, there’s a story, a myth, which talks about the power of the New Year’s promise…”
“Does it promise you’ll freeze your butt off by sitting outside in the cold fog all night?” I teased.
Sophie rolled her eyes and lightly touched the pile of flowers in the middle of our circle, creating a small controlled fire. “There, happy? So,” she continued, “there is this thing my grandma says—my non-magical grandma, but she’s still super smart—that whatever you’re doing exactly at the stroke of midnight and right after will be the most powerful and dominant force for the rest of your year.”
“What’re you suggesting?” Lily asked.
“Well, isn’t it obvious? We do magic! Each of us in the circle, doing something magical for the others. Sealing our Morningstar Trinity.”
Lily and I looked at each other. It was kinda corny, but very sweet at the same time.
“Okay,” Lily said, “what should we do? We haven’t much time left.”
“Let’s hold hands,” Sophie said, and we grasped on to each other. “Okay, Lily, now you do something.”
“I already dried the grass, isn’t that enough?” she teased. “Okay, okay… caelum candide!” she cried, and instantly the thick clouds above and around us swirled and cleared away. The heavens were perfectly visible and the stars in the night sky shone down on us like moonbeams.
“Nice one. Okay, now you go, Cal.”
I struggled to think what I could possibly do, as my powers were far less advanced than theirs. Then I smiled.
“That’s my song!” Lily happily cried out a second later. It was the most beautiful song I’d ever heard, and I was now replaying my memory of it in my mind for all of us to hear.
“Wow…very nice,” Sophie said, impressed. “Okay, my turn. You guys ready? Don’t break the circle, especially you, Callie.”
The three of us, joined around the magical flame of light and under the enchanted stars of the midnight sky, slowly floated a few feet off the ground, where we sat comfortably as if we were still perched on solid ground.
My heart fluttered as we drifted higher, but I felt no fear. Sophie maneuvered us expertly, levitating us off the ground for several long minutes. Feelings of peace and love and tranquility washed over me like a waterfall. Never before had I felt so utterly content, so at one with myself and the world around me. My sisters at my side, the warm power of my magical blood flooded through me with a renewed intensity, until every ounce of my being was reborn with a new spiritual awakening and strength.
We floated higher, still holding one another’s hands. Then, on Sophie’s instruction, Lily and I released our grasp on each other so that the three of us formed a single line, with Sophie in the middle.
“Are you ready? Hang on. Here… we…go!” Sophie shouted, and like a shot we sped off the cliff and over the churning waters of the ocean. I gasped and held on tighter to Sophie’s hand, as the fog parted for us to move through like apparitions in the night. Lily’s spell seemed to follow us everywhere we went, making a clear visual passage as we flew down the coastline and high above the pier.
Further over land we flew, soaring higher and higher, moving faster and faster. I should have been terrified, but I felt only pure, sublime freedom. From high in the sky, I gazed down to the lights of the city below, while Lily’s beautiful medley played serenely in our minds. I knew no one on the ground could see us…we were protected by Lily’s enchanted bubble. We coasted far over the mountains, back over the ocean, and eventually landed in the exact same spot from which we had taken off. The small fire Sophie had lit earlier still flickered strongly on the grass as we resumed our places around it.
“Well, I guess your secret is out now,” Lily chuckled.
Sophie smiled gleefully and turned to me. “I got my Rings, Cal. Yesterday, in fact. I wanted to keep it a secret so that I could surprise you with a ride. I knew if I really blew it Lily would be able to shimmer us to safety. But it worked!”
“That was incredible. You guys are so amazing…both of you. What you did…it was…” I almost choked on my words, overcome with emotion.
“What all of us did. Together.” Sophie put her arms around me. I hugged her tight and then turned and hugged Lily. I noticed a few flowers left on the ground and reached for them.
“Happy New Year!” I exclaimed jo
yously and threw the flowers up over the cliff, igniting one last firework for the evening. They exploded bigger and brighter than ever, the sparkling lights leaving a blazing trail and lighting up the sky and the sand below.
The flash was bright…and it was brief. But it was enough.
He stood there on the beach as plain as day, illuminated by the glow of my magical sparkler.
Nicholas had returned.
Chapter 6. Return
I stood frozen on the cliff, unable to move, or even blink. After the dying embers of neon light disappeared, thick fog once again blanketed the air, cutting off my vision of him.
Was he really there? Or had I finally gone mad—my insane desire to see him again creating hallucinations in my mind? Was it just a shimmer, and now he’s gone away again?
“Calista, what is it?” Sophie asked, as I stood paralyzed.
If I told them I saw him, and he wasn’t really there, would they think I’d finally snapped?
Lily came over and placed a gentle hand on my arm. “Are you all right?”
“I think…I think I just saw Nicholas,” I whispered.
Lily’s eyes widened. “What?!”
“Where?!” Sophie exclaimed.
I slowly lifted my arm and pointed to the hidden shores below. “Down there.”
Oh please let him still be there….please don’t tell me I’ve gone insane…
With a fluid swish of her arm, Lily repeated the same spell she’d just performed a few minutes before. The thick air swirled and swayed, eventually parting down the middle to form a wide clear path.
At the other end stood Nicholas, looking up at us. He was shrouded in a dark hooded sweatshirt, but I knew it was him. I’d know him anywhere.
“You see him too, right?” I whispered.
“Oh my God!” Sophie cried. Before I knew it, she was flying over the cliff and down to the shore below.
“Come on, Callie, let’s go talk to him,” Lily whispered from my side. She pulled on my hand, but I refused to budge. So many strong emotions were flooding over me at once.
The Complete Spellbound Trilogy Bundle Page 29
