by E. M. Moore
Travis looked back at us. It felt as if a spotlight was on me. I was the reason that this was happening. If I’d never been called to them. If I’d just gone back to New Orleans.
A whole highlight reel of what I would’ve missed out on flashed in my mind. Yeah, I wouldn’t give them up for the world. The Order could kiss my ass.
After getting the affirmative from all of us, Travis turned back around. “The Akasha doesn’t lie. When you guys start believing in your own teachings, you can come back and talk to us.”
Walter swallowed. The faces on the other Order members were blank, expressionless. They’d almost always taken their cue from him. How dull that was. I couldn’t imagine any one of us letting Travis speak for the rest of us.
In one fluid motion, they all rose. Collectively, they turned toward the side door and started walking away. Their shoes echoed off the floor and bounced around the walls as they left us there. Walter let them all go ahead of him and when he was the last one in the room, he turned. “You have one day to vacate the premises.”
“You know Jax is still out there!” Travis said. Evidently, he thought he’d been calling the Order’s bluff, but it hadn’t worked. They were going to be dicks about this.
“That is none of your concern now,” Walter said.
He walked out, and the slamming door echoed around the room as if it was the call to recess in a courtroom.
We all sat or stood stunned into silence. They’d really done it.
“I’m so…sorry,” I said, my voice breaking. Shock still poured through me. I hadn’t seen this coming. Then again, I hadn’t really been thinking about it. There were so much more important things to think about that what the Order was going to do about us had been put on the back burner. Evidently, that wasn’t what they were most worried about.
“They have to have a reason for doing this,” Liam said.
“It doesn’t fucking matter,” Randy said, renewed anger wafting off him. “We don’t matter to them, so…”
“So…?” Liam asked. His cute little face was bunched up.
I looked at all of them down the line. Gabe seemed resigned. Liam was confused, and Travis just looked lost while Randy’s emotions weren’t hard to guess. I knew this wasn’t my fault. I knew this down in the bottom of my gut, but that didn’t stop the sorrow from leaking into me like I’d been riddled with little tiny holes that were just now giving way to these other emotions. These guys had much more at stake in this than I did, and I knew they would do anything for me, and I them. That didn’t make this any better.
I took a deep breath and started to walk toward the doors. Liam reached out for me. “I’m okay,” I said, dodging him. “I just need to be alone for a second.”
“Norah…” Randy said, some of the anger left him, but was replaced with concern.
I turned around and walked backwards. “It’s really okay. I just need a moment.”
Without waiting for an answer, I spun on my heel and walked quickly toward the exit. When I got to it, I pushed it open and kept walking. The chilly night air washed over me in an instant douse of cold. I hoped they would let me do this and when I was on the other side of the parking lot and they hadn’t come after me, I knew they’d listened to me.
My mind wouldn’t cooperate. I walked, staring out at the ocean and wondering what we were going to do now, but my mind wouldn’t focus. Shock still rang through me. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this. The superiors just dropped us all like we were yesterday’s dinner special. They didn’t take into account what the guys had been doing for Salem since they were inducted into the Order. They hadn’t even taken into account what Salem needed now with Jax on the loose. What the hell were they thinking?
I had to agree with Liam. The Order must’ve known something that they weren’t sharing with the rest of us. I supposed it was their secret to keep. Hell, it wasn’t even any of our concern now.
Though, that was just ridiculous to say. I could think all I want about how I had free time now and that I could really start to get my shop up and running at full steam. I could think about maybe taking some business classes or taking up yoga, or…the future. What was the next steps with the guys and me? It wasn’t something that we’d even talked about. Families, kids. Maybe that hadn’t been an option before, but now…?
I shook my head. What mattered now was what always mattered. The coven and keeping Salem safe. Just because the Order didn’t recognize us anymore, that didn’t mean that we still couldn’t continue to do what we were doing. The Akasha was still at work. I bet if something was going on now, we would still get the call.
Funny how that we’d all been arguing right before the superiors had come in, but when they’d tried to separate us, we came together.
Nothing would stop us from being together.
4
After a half hour of walking by myself, my phone rang. I fished it out of my back pocket and brought it up to my ear after seeing Travis’s name. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
“Where are you? We decided that we weren’t going to stay in here another night. We packed up all our stuff and we’re going to head to the apartment.”
I smiled when he mentioned apartment. That was the first place I’d seen all of them. I’d been spying on them because I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. In fact, I still didn’t know what I was getting myself into but going to the apartment sounded fine. Sounded better than fine. Almost as if we were coming full circle. “I’m…” I spun in a circle trying to find where I was. “I’m by the Pirate’s Museum.”
“Okay, stay where you are. One of us will be by to pick you up, and we’ll all meet at the apartment.”
I ended the call and looked around. Seeing the life-sized cutout of the pirate, I decided to stand right next to him. This was one place I hadn’t been yet. One place I wasn’t sure I’d like either. I wasn’t really a pirate person. The artifacts they had in there were probably fascinating, but that was probably one tourist trap I could skip, and it wouldn’t break my heart.
It only took a few minutes for Travis and Randy to pull up in the Jeep to get me. Randy rolled down the window, so I could see into the interior. They were both just sitting there as if their earlier argument hadn’t even taken place.
Damn. To be a man, huh?
“Hey there, Sexy.”
I smiled and shook my head, then I pulled open the back door to get in. We hadn’t brought all that much to the Order headquarters by the wharf, but apparently it was enough to fill up the back of the Jeep and most of the backseat too. Who knew what Gabe and Liam had in the car. “What about your bike?” I asked Randy as soon as I hopped in.
“I’ll go get it tomorrow.”
Travis pulled out onto the road and I buckled up. The drive to the apartment wasn’t all that long, but I was silently pleading with them not to say anything about what had happened. I didn’t want to talk about what we were going to do now. I didn’t want to think about the future, I just wanted to think about the right now. The right now where all of us had stuck up for one another when someone had tried to break our bonds. I was proud of us. No matter what, I could always say that about what had just happened tonight.
“Is Liam okay?” I asked, unable to help myself.
Randy snickered. “It’ll take him a day, maybe.”
I sighed, thinking about how lost he looked. He’d get over it. And, like I’d come to terms with during my walk. I wasn’t sure there was anything to get over.
“So…” I said. “I think we should order a pizza and grab some beer.”
Travis stared at me through the rearview mirror, the corners of his mouth crinkling. Randy turned in his seat, a full-on smile gracing his face. “I knew there was a reason we got along so well. To the store, Travis.”
Travis took a quick right, driving up a side road. “Gabe and Liam are probably already there. Want to text them to order the pizza?”
“On it.”
I sat in the back, smiling to myself. Some people may have thought I was losing it. I’d just been effectively fired from a job, but inside, I felt like we should celebrate. We had a lot to be thankful for and now seemed as perfect a time as any.
When Travis pulled into the parking lot of the corner store, I got out with him. Randy answered his phone. Apparently, Liam was unsure what he really meant when he said order us pizzas in his text.
Travis reached his hand out and I interlaced my fingers with his. He held the door open for me and we went inside and straight to the coolers in the back. Travis picked out a thirty rack and then we made our way to the front of the store to pay. It was stupid, but this was the most normal thing I’d done in a long time. When you were a witch for all your life like I was, things like this just didn’t happen all the time. There was more abnormal in my house than there was routine. And when I had stepped inside the box to do things normal kids did, Granny always found out, which somehow turned it into something “other” again. God, I missed that woman.
“Have fun,” the guy behind the counter said after he ran Travis’s card. We walked out of the store and I hopped back into the backseat. Randy was laughing when we got in. “Jesus. You guys look like you’re doing something wrong.”
“I think Norah’s giddy,” Travis said.
I couldn’t disagree with him.
“Just drive us home,” I said. As soon as I said it, a cascade of warmth hit me. The Order headquarters was never home. The apartment was, and Liam’s parents’ house was becoming one.
When we pulled up to the apartment, the little car was parked out front. I pushed open the backdoor and got out. For the first time, I was going to walk into the apartment feeling like I was a part of it. That wasn’t just the guy’s apartment anymore. Or the place where I had to do the walk of shame, but it was a place for all of us together.
Randy grabbed a few boxes from the back of the Jeep, and Travis grabbed the beer and followed me in. Gabe already had the TV on while Liam’s head was stuck in a book. I went right over to him and shut it before planting myself on his lap. “Hey,” he said in protest.
“Tonight, is a worry-free night,” I said. “No Order, no witchy stuff, just us.”
He looked unsure, so instead of trying to convince him with words, I handed the book off to Randy on his way through the apartment and pulled Liam to me. I kissed him softly at first, enjoying the way he always seemed surprised at first, then willing and able to do whatever I wanted.
I pulled away, then gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. “We have beer.”
He cocked his head, his forehead creasing.
“Beer?” Gabe said, perking up.
Travis came forward and opened the thirty rack up on the coffee table. He left five out and then went to the refrigerator to put the rest in. “When will the pizza be here?”
Liam checked his watch. “Fifteen minutes.”
“Excellent,” Gabe said. He popped the top on his can and took a healthy drink before laying back down on the couch with a perfect view of the soccer game on TV.
“Who do you want to win?” I asked, taking a can for myself and handing one to Liam.
He frowned down at it as if he had no idea why we were all acting in this way, but he shrugged and followed along. He opened his can right after me as I settled deeper into his lap. Randy came around the other side of the couch and sat down next to Liam and me. “Grab me one of those, will you?” he asked.
I leaned over and passed him one. Travis took a spot on the armchair directly facing the TV as we waited for the pizza. Soon, we were all into the game after Gabe explained who he wanted to win. I shouldn’t have even had to ask. One of the teams was clearly British. God, there were a lot of hot football players.
Ha. “Hey, Gabe, I just said football in my head instead of soccer. You must be rubbing off on me.”
“I’ll rub something on you.”
I burst out laughing, then grabbed the pillow that was next to Liam and threw it at Gabe’s head. It hit its mark then fell forward, hitting Gabe’s beer which splashed up and over the edge. He turned his face, all smiles toward me. “What?”
The announcer erupting into a play-by-play got his attention back toward the screen. Shortly after, the doorbell rang, and I moved off Liam, so he could answer it. “I’ll be right back,” he said.
My stomach growled just thinking about how good this pizza was going to taste. I felt as if I hadn’t eaten in a long time.
The smell wafted in before I even saw Liam with the actual pizza boxes. He waltzed in and placed them down on the coffee table. It was a free-for-all. I’d never seen so many hands reach for something in my life as I did those guys reaching for slices of pizza. It was as if every one of them sprouted two more hands and they were all going for different slices. I sat back and waited until it was my turn, but when Liam came back, he had two plates and handed one to me.
“Suck up,” Randy said.
“You’re just mad you didn’t think of it,” Liam countered.
“Thank you,” I told him, giving him a nice juicy smack on the cheek.
Travis smiled, but then we were all silent as we chowed down on the pizza. The whole time, I just kept thinking how normal this all was. How if we looked into other people’s apartments right now, we could see people doing the same thing. Not everyone always had their nose stuck in a century old spell book or had to Google things like demonic familiars. And they weren’t tethered to their computers when they got a video call from their superiors. Nope, tonight we were just us.
The only thing separating us from normal people was the fact that we were all in a relationship. And that was the one thing we would not break up. Push come to shove, that meant more to us than anything else. We would fight for it. No matter what.
5
“You’re so lucky, Norah Girl.”
I blinked until my vision cleared. Two glaring eyes were inches from my face. I reared back until I heard a grunt. “Jesus, Granny. What the hell?”
Granny moved away, shaking her head. “I’ve been waiting for you to go to sleep. I don’t know why I even bother to come sometimes, but you sure as the crows fly keep needing my help.”
She twisted to walk away, moving through the small living room in the apartment. She moved right through Gabe and then turned back around again until her hazy clouds blocked him. I sat up and yawned, stretching my arms out over my head.
“You’re not tired. You’re still sleeping,” Granny said, her gaze focused on me again.
“How do you know how I am?”
She came forward again, the fog billowing out to get out of her way. “I know things, Girl.”
I smiled at the reminder of those words from her mouth. She used to say that to me all the time. She was always knowing things. “What’s going on?” I asked, stifling another yawn. She said I shouldn’t be tired, but I was. I was super tired, and my eyes felt like they kept wanting to close on me.
“I said,” she said, her eyes growing round again. “You’re lucky you pulled this around. I kept waiting for you to go to sleep, so I could talk some sense into you. You’re falling apart.”
I took a deep breath, trying to focus on her. She was right. We had been falling apart. “I think we’re better now.”
“You might be better, but you’ve still got a long ways to go. Looooong,” she said again, drawing out the word. “I didn’t think I needed to remind you that the enemy is still out there. Demons aren’t a joke, Norah Girl. They suck all the good out of people. They kill everything around them out of pleasure and then they keep going. They thrive off hate and anger and death. This thing needs to be taken care of.”
“Well, apparently we’re not Order members anymore. The superiors—”
She threw her hand up. “Oh, I saw. But what I didn’t see was you coming to grips with the fact that this is still your problem. I didn’t need no Order or coven to change my magical world, and neither do you. Fight against the da
rkness, Baby Girl. You need no one’s permission for that.”
I swallowed, staring up at the grandmother who raised me. She’d done just as she said. Granny didn’t take crap from anyone, and I could do the same. Who was the Order to tell us we couldn’t do what every magical person in this town should be afraid of? Who knew what else Jax could do? If what he’d already done was any indication, we were in for a world of hurt.
“You are not a puppet on their string. This is everyone’s problem.”
“I just said that.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“In my head, I did.”
She gave a doubtful look.
“Really, I did.”
“Like I tried to tell you when you were a teen, I still can’t read your mind.”
It was my turn to give her a doubtful look. There’d been plenty of times I was sure she had that ability. It seemed like she always knew exactly what I was going to do before I even knew it myself. “It doesn’t matter. You’re right.”
She beamed. Her teeth almost glowing in the shadows. “Alive or dead, being told you’re right never gets old.”
I ignored her statement. “Granny,” I started. Looking over at Travis, he looked so peaceful in the arm chair sleeping, but his brows were just a little furrowed as if even when he slept this whole Jax thing got to him. He was carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders and I wasn’t sure I agreed with him on his belief that Jax could be saved.
“Well, out with it,” she snapped.
“Granny, I, um, Travis thinks his friend can be saved. The one who summoned the demon to give him his powers back.”
Granny turned toward Travis as I spoke. She’d come to him before in his sleep and I had a feeling that she had a soft spot for him.
“Is it true? Can Jax be pulled back?”
“I wish I knew, Norah. I wish I knew. I always strived to live in the light. I never got into the messy dark side, and I sure as heaven wouldn’t have gone that far dark nor spoke to anyone who did. But I think…I’d like to think that if that person wants to be saved, they can be. All of us have a choice. Just like you, Norah. You can choose to sit around this place eating pizza and drinking it up, or you can get up, and start working on what’s more important. Get everyone involved. It’s not just your fight. It’s all the witches here. It’s everyone here who has any shred of magical abilities. Those that burn the brightest dim the quickest.” She stepped forward, a frown tugging at her lips. “That’s why I’m scared for you, Norah Girl. So scared for you. The minute you were born you lit up everything. Everywhere you go, light, light, light. You can’t let the dark affect you. You’ll be the first, I’m afraid.”
