by Teri Harman
Rowan’s jaw clenched, he shook his head stiffly. “Find Amelia, Willa. We have work to do at home.”
With a deep breath, she stepped out into the clearing, fists tight at her sides. Her head spun in several different directions, fear and worry fighting for her attention; but she wasn’t here to worry about Archard being alive. She looked down at her wedding ring, thought of Simon and courage came in a small stream.
“Amelia?” she called, her voice weaker than she had hoped. She swallowed and tried again. “Amelia, are you here? I need to talk to you.”
A few birds answered in reply. A quick scan of the surrounding trees revealed nothing.
“Amelia, please. Do you remember me? You helped us last year, just before the blood moon.” Willa held her breath as long as she could, but still Amelia didn’t answer.
She turned, shrugged at Rowan. He furrowed his brow. “Try one more time,” he offered.
“Amelia, my name is Willa and this is Rowan, our Luminary. We live in your grandmother Ruby’s house. Right now it’s full of our Light Covenant. We are continuing your and Ruby’s legacy. But I need some answers to help Simon. Remember Simon?”
“Simon. The boy who was trapped in the cave with the woman with pretty hair.”
The voice came from the trees, drifting on the air to catch Willa’s ears. She gasped and tried to find Amelia.
“Yes, that’s right,” Willa pressed on, eyes searching for the ghost. “Simon’s powers are getting so strong that he has a hard time controlling them. I’m hoping you can help us understand how and why.”
“You’re the girl who loves him. True love, soul mates. Peter was my soul mate.” A pause. “I helped you, traveled to see you.” Amelia’s voice still sounded far away, echoing, as if she were talking through a tube.
“Yes. Can I ask you some questions?” When Amelia didn’t answer, Willa added, “We really need your help one more time. Please!”
“What do you want to know?” Willa nearly screamed when the words came out right next to her ear. Amelia’s shimmering form stood uncomfortably close, her tattered white nightgown billowing in an imaginary breeze. The ghost-witch’s intense eyes were the color of moss: green and alive. Her hair was a dark shade of auburn, almost the same as Ruby’s, and draped around her face.
Willa swallowed. “What did you mean when you said Simon was a part of you?”
Amelia looked away, and her face shifted out of focus. “I don’t talk about it. I don’t think about it.”
Willa bit her lip. “I understand, but it will really help Simon.”
It was the right thing to say. Amelia’s eyes came back, narrowed but willing. “They took us from the house and brought us here. They broke our Binding, killed . . . my Peter . . . and the others. They wanted to form a Covenant.” She looked at the cave.
“Who took you? Who is ‘us?’”
“The Dark covens. They dragged me away from my baby, and Solace away from her mother.”
The ground under Willa seemed to ripple, and she struggled to take in air.
“Solace?” she breathed.
“Yes. So young, so innocent.” Amelia’s attention wandered away again, her eyes fixed on some imaginary point.
Willa had to know everything now. “What happened to her? To you?”
Amelia looked at Willa and then flicked her eyes to the cave. “Nothing good happens in there.”
When she said nothing more, Willa prompted. “Why did the Dark witches bring you here?”
Finally, Amelia brought her eyes to Willa’s. “A spell. They tried to do a spell that would force me to join their covens. They needed one more. A Water.”
Just like Archard. “Did it work?”
She shook her head, her hair floating up as if in water. “No. It all went horribly wrong.” A shadow passed over Amelia’s pale face. “Horribly wrong. They killed Solace. Slit her throat”—her fingers trembled near her own throat—“and her blood spilled onto my nightdress, my feet.” Amelia looked down at the memory of the stain, moving her fingers along her body, fluttering, imitating the blood.
Willa pressed a hand to her heart and wished she could sit down. “No,” she gasped.
“Yes. Her blood and death were to bind the spell, bind my possession by the Dark Luminary.”
Willa blinked back tears. “I . . . know her. I know Solace. We are friends.”
Amelia raised her eyebrows in question.
“Solace is a ghost at the Twelve Acres Museum. We’ve been friends for years.”
Amelia smiled, both happy and sad at once. “I’m glad. I wondered what had happened to her soul. Poor Solace.”
Willa exhaled. She knew she had to keep Amelia talking or risk losing her. She wanted to ask why Solace’s ghost wasn’t here with Amelia, but there were more important questions. Solemnly, she asked, “What did they do to you?”
Amelia’s smile instantly faded. “The spell failed. They made the fatal mistake of thinking they could change my free will.” She touched her neck, rubbing the skin. “Although the spell failed, it still ruined my life. It caged my magic, broke my soul. I spent the rest of my living days adrift. Not quite alive, not dead either.”
“I’m so sorry,” Willa whispered.
“My body never recovered from the effects of the spell, and I shriveled into a horrid, powerless mess. I spent years hiding here, avoiding people.” She moved her eyes to the cave. “I couldn’t go back to my family—what was left of them—and the Covenant witches all disappeared. I’m sure they thought me dead.”
“How many of your Covenant did the Dark witches kill?”
Amelia’s eyes dropped to the dirt. “Almost all of us. They killed my Peter and a few more before they came to Twelve Acres. I think Camille and Ronald got away. I have no idea what happened to my daughter, but Camille promised to look out for her, so I can hope.”
Willa shook her head, her stomach sick. “Again, I’m so sorry. That’s terrible.” She had a snap of connection. “Wait, your daughter? What was her name?”
Amelia looked away, eyes wistful. “Lilly. The prettiest flower.”
The ground seemed to shift again. Lilly was Amelia’s daughter! Camille, Solace’s mother, had protected her and hidden her after the horrible mess with the Dark covens. “Oh, Amelia. Camille kept her safe. I read it in her grimoires.”
Amelia looked up at the sky. The briefest smile flitted on her mouth. “I failed them all.”
“Amelia, how did you die?” Certain she knew the answer, Willa still had to hear it.
The ghost’s mossy eyes looked at her. “Simon.” She blinked. “For years I lived as the walking dead, my body long passed its ability to live; and yet, because of the curse, I couldn’t die.” She looked up at the trees. “Believe me, I tried everything.”
Willa shuddered. “How did you find Simon if you didn’t have magic?”
“I’m not sure, really. One night, a feeling grew inside me to walk. So I walked for three days until I came to the house. I could see the baby clearly in my mind, and I knew—I knew—that he could free me. Even before my Gift turned him into a True Healer, he had a powerful ability to heal. I needed to heal.”
Willa took a quiet step forward. “Your Gift? What do you mean? Last time I saw you, you said that Simon is a part of you and someone else.”
Amelia’s form flickered, nearly disappearing. “He has our Gifts—a strange result of the curse. When they killed Solace, I absorbed her powers. So when the spell failed, both her and my gifts were locked away inside me. When I died, when Simon freed me, the curse was broken; and all those powers then transferred to him.”
Willa’s stomach knotted, the word curse slithering in her veins. She pressed her eyes closed for a second to steady herself. Simon’s powers are part of a curse! She exhaled and tried to focus on what other information she needed. “You said you’re a Water witch. What about Solace?”
“A Mind. A very sensitive one.” Amelia flinched. “She was so scared.” Amelia’s b
ody nearly faded away again. “I’m very tired. Isn’t it strange that I get tired?” The ghost took a step away, her face already turned to the trees. “Did you see the dirt?” she said randomly, lifting a hand to wave it over the mess. “It’s a bad sign.”
Willa felt a curl of panic. “What do you mean?”
Amelia leveled her eyes on Willa. “Be careful, Willa. The Dark is coming.” With that the ghost disappeared. Willa gasped in surprise and frustration. The clearing hummed oddly in Amelia’s absence, and her words birthed a trembling dread in Willa’s heart.
Chapter 29
New Moon
August 1948
Chloe looked up at so many stars and wondered how the heavens could hold them all. In a rare moment of clear sky on the Oregon coast, the universe dazzled onlookers with a sparkling display. She breathed in the cool ocean air, thick with salt and moisture. The rhythm of the waves crashing onto the sand and rocks matched her breathing. She felt the magic stir inside her and smiled at its warmth. Beneath the thick blanket, her bare skin flushed with the heat of it; she wiggled one leg out to feel the refreshing air and temper the magic’s touch.
“What an incredible night,” she said with a contented sigh.
The young man lying next to her rolled onto his side to gaze down at her, adoring and attentive. “I couldn’t agree more.” He brushed back her light auburn hair—the color of sunrise, he liked to say—and lowered his lips to hers.
A new wave of heat, one she was only beginning to understand, pulsed down her body. It felt strange, but exhilarating to lie next to Louis like this, her clothes tossed aside in the sand, the memories of their bodies moving together so fresh in her mind.
Chloe smiled as he pulled his lips away; she put a hand on his chest. “I wish it would never end,” she whispered. “I wish I didn’t have to sneak back into my room and sleep alone tonight. I wish tomorrow wasn’t a normal, boring day. It doesn’t feel like that should be possible after tonight.”
Louis grinned, his small white teeth, straight and perfect. A breeze rolled off the ocean and ruffled the ends of his nut-brown hair. His hazel eyes, specked with green, brown, and gray, glistened as he stared at her. Chloe’s breath caught in her chest, and she wondered if it would always do that when he looked at her that way.
“Just think,” he said, trailing a finger down her cheek. “In a few weeks we’ll be off to college, and you won’t have to go home without me. We can spend as much time together as we want.”
Chloe laughed, thrilled at the idea of so much freedom. She couldn’t wait to move out and be on her own. She was tired of her mother watching her like a hawk, that constant glint of worry that her daughter might do something . . . unnatural. “I can’t wait. I’m so glad we decided to go to the same school. It’s going to be perfect.” She slipped a hand behind his neck and pulled his lips to hers.
After a moment, Louis pulled back, fixing his deep gaze on her. “I love you, Chloe. I think I’ve loved you since that first day of senior chem. I never thought I’d fall for a lab partner.” He smiled warmly.
She blinked, surprised. The words hit her heart, sparking off into a million tiny pieces of excitement. After a moment to soak in the feeling, she returned the sentiment with passion. “Oh, Louis. I love you. I have for so long.”
He laughed and kissed her again. Then he lay back down next to her, gathered her into his arms. “I should have said that a long time ago,” he whispered in her ear. “I love you,” he repeated.
Chloe smiled as she pressed her body closer to his. Every part of her felt light and delicious, like spun sugar. Nothing had ever tasted as sweet as those words. She wanted to lie there and savor it forever.
But after a few moments, a thought soured her sweetness. How could Louis love her if he didn’t even know who she really was? If he didn’t know what she could do? Chloe had spent her life hiding her gift. For the last three years, she’d faithfully studied the spell book she found in the bookstore but always in secret. All her experiments with magic were done in extreme secrecy.
Right now, she could feel the weight and joy of all the water around her, the ocean calling out to the power inside her. She’d known she had to hide her magic from her mother, but was it right to hide it from the man who loved her? What if he asked her to marry him someday? She couldn’t hide her whole life, and certainly didn’t want to. Not from Louis. She’d already spent much too long doing that.
Chloe’s stomach knotted; her hands grew cold.
Do I tell him?
Louis hugged her tight and kissed her hair. “Hey, you okay?”
Chloe ran her finger over his chest. If he could sense such a subtle shift in her emotions, why shouldn’t she tell him? He loved her and knew her better than anyone else. It was time. “Yeah, I’m fine. There’s just something I want to tell you.”
Louis closed his eyes, content with her touch. “Oh no, you got another fella on the side?” he joked. Chloe smiled weakly, but didn’t laugh. Louis opened his eyes. “Hey, what is it? Is it serious? Come on, you know you can talk to me about anything.”
She nodded, exhaling to ease the tension in her stomach. How do I start? “There’s something about me you should know. Something no one else knows.” Chloe craned her neck to try to see his face. She needed to see his face when she said this. With a hand still on his chest, she pushed up into a seated position, keeping the blanket wrapped around her. Louis followed her lead and sat up too.
Chloe tried to smile. “This is hard to say.”
He took her hand. “Just say it, baby.”
“You know how you like to tell me there is a glow inside me, a spark you’ve never seen in other girls?” He nodded, smiling. “Well, there’s a reason for that.” Chloe swallowed, not sure how to explain. “I suppose it might actually be easier to show you than to tell you.” Chloe studied his face for a moment, open and receptive, then turned her eyes away from him, lifting her free hand toward the ocean. Her palm flared hot as she called to the magic, and within seconds a huge globe of water lifted from the sea, floating toward them under her command. She guided it closer and then swept her hand in an arc to form the water into a dome over them, completely encasing them in a cool, salty bubble.
Finally, she looked back at Louis, her body full of anticipation; she had never shown anyone her ability before. But what she saw on his face was not the wonder and awe she had hoped for. All the color had drained from his skin, now white as the sand beneath them. His body shrank away from the water, eyeing it with malice. Something cold formed in Chloe’s gut. “I’ve been able to do things with water since I was a little girl,” she rushed to say, hoping further explanation would help ease the shock. She regretted not saying something to prepare him first. “Don’t be scared,” she added; and he flinched, finally looking at her. Everything in his face changed, foreign and wrong.
“What the hell are you? Some kind of . . . witch?” he spat at her.
Something in that word on his tongue sliced a hole in her heart. “Louis, I . . . it’s just . . . You don’t need to get angry.”
“Angry? I’m not angry. I’m disgusted.” He looked up at the water. “Get this away from me. Now!” The harsh cut of his words made her flinch and the water dropped all around them, soaking them both. Louis immediately leaped to his feet, brushing vigorously at the water on his skin as if it might infect him. He snatched his clothes off the sand.
“Louis, wait. I’m sorry! Please don’t go,” Chloe begged, still sitting in the sand, the blanket pulled tight around her body, her wet hair plastered to her face. Panic turned her stomach. “Please! Let me explain.”
Louis turned cold eyes on her. “Don’t ever talk to me again, you . . .” he looked around where the water dome had been and then hissed, “freak!” With that, he was gone.
Chloe blinked after him, the surface of her eyes hot, stinging. She pulled the blanket even tighter and higher up her neck, trying to rid herself of the creeping feeling of raw exposure, of a nakedne
ss she’d never felt before. Her body grew cold. Tears streamed down her face.
Mom was right to make me hide it.
Sitting in the wet sand, the ocean pulsing behind her, Chloe felt something inside her crumble and begin to die, a painful death that would linger and grow worse when the word witch, spray painted in red, appeared on her house’s fence two days later; a pain that turned to acid when a group of guys from school, Louis in the lead, cornered her in an alley, threatened horrible things, pushed her around and then left her shaking and alone; a bitterness that would sour when she was forced to change colleges and disappear from everything she had known.
A terrible secret that would fester inside her her entire life, flaring red hot on the day she watched her own two-year-old daughter grow a tulip from the ground, clapping when the bloom burst to life.
Chapter 30
Blessing Moon
July—Present Day
The minutes didn’t drag—they sat down in the mud and threw rocks at him. Nothing could distract Simon while he waited for Willa and Rowan to get back from the cave. He’d tried talking to Charlotte and Elliot, but he couldn’t focus on the conversation. Reading was hopeless; TV a lost cause. Finally, he fled to the backyard.
Wynter and Rowan had used their gifts to turn the once wasteland into a lush haven; it looked nothing like it had the night they rescued Wynter. Where there had been dead grass, there was the softest, most vibrant green lawn. Where there’d been dead bushes and dusty earth, there were now overflowing flowerbeds, rose hedges, and a huge garden that produced fresh produce overnight.
And, of course, the gigantic willow lording over it all.
Simon walked under the weeping branches, which reached out to brush his arms in greeting. Images of the wedding moved pleasantly through his mind. Though impulsive, the decision had been right. He had never felt as stable, as at-home as he had last night. Though he had always considered Willa family, now it was official in every way, and that eased his lifetime ache more than anything else had.
If only all the contented emotions could take away the dull ache at the back of his head.
