by J. L. Weil
“The magical kind of stuff,” he said evasively.
Smooth.
I let it go. He obviously didn’t want to talk about it. And did I really want to know? There was enough bouncing around inside my head without worrying about what kind of trouble Gavin was getting into. I’m sure it was plenty.
“How have you been sleeping?” he asked, studying my face, looking for any physical indication I was having restless nights.
What he really wanted to know was if I had any of those crazy dreams, the dreams where I summon other people. “I haven’t had any of those kind of dreams, if that’s what you are wondering.”
“What kind of dreams are you having?” he murmured, and I felt myself getting sucked in again.
I grabbed the nearest pillow and tossed it at his head. Gavin had reflexes like a ninja and magic. Before the pillow had a chance to hit him on the head, it met an unfortunate demise. Fabric and stuffing snowed all over the bed, Gavin’s spell having destroyed it.
Lunar was going to go bonkers over the mess, if he ever came out of hiding. I glared at Gavin in annoyance. “Was that necessary?”
He held up both hands smirking. “Hey, you attacked me.”
Resting my head on the headboard, I chewed on my bottom lip. The mention of dreamscaping had flooded back all the emotional anxiety about Lukas.
Gavin angled his body toward me, sapphire eyes narrowing. “I can see a gazillion questions running around in that head of yours.”
Boy, did I have questions. I started with the one that seemed to be the cause of all my trepidation lately: dreamscaping. What exactly was it, and how the hell did it work? “You said I dreamscape. What does that mean?”
“Dreamscaping is a merger of dreams. Usually it involves two people, but in some cases, if the witch is powerful enough, they would be able to summon more.”
I gulped. One time I had both Gavin and Lukas in a dream together. Worse, I didn’t even know I was doing it.
With a deadly smirk, his fingers plucked pillow stuffing strewn in my hair. “We’ve shared dreams, and as you know, they can be very real.”
Uh, you could say that again. I absently played with pieces of stuffing on the bed. “The people I summon, can they refuse to dream with me?”
“Yes. The person you summon can accept or refuse. Although, there are witches with the power to take the decision out of their hands,” he added.
Oh, God. Was I that kind of witch? Did I force them into my dreams?
He noticed the self-conviction that spread over my expression, lifted my chin with his finger until my eyes met his. “You didn’t force me into your dreams.”
“Well, at least that’s comforting,” I muttered. But what about Lukas?
“Bri, you’re too hard on yourself. Give it time and you will feel more in control.”
He was probably right. I needed practice, loads of it. Then I might feel more in my own skin and used to being a witch. Now would have been the perfect opportunity to explain about Lukas, except my tongue wasn’t cooperating. Try as I might, I couldn’t form the words.
Instead, I chickened out, like a total pansy. “You’re right. It’s just I’ve never felt so unsure or lost before.” Not since I lost my parents.
“We’re going to change that.” Always the voice of reason, and he said just what I needed to hear. His confidence was like a shield.
I envied him for it. “This is so much more complicated than I bargained for,” I mumbled.
“It might be, but the pay-off is huge. Plus you get to spend more time with me.” His grin said it all.
“This is serious,” I groaned.
His eyes sobered. “I know. I just don’t like seeing you stressed.”
Tucking my legs underneath me, I turned and faced him. I wondered if there was any chance that dream- and weather- casting were the extent of my abilities. Was that all the magic I had? “So, should I expect any other abilities to pop up?” As if dreamscaping and weathercasting weren’t enough.
“Something tells me that exploring your magic will be anything but dull. It should be downright entertaining.” His eyes gleamed with anticipation.
Gavin had a warped sense of entertainment. “Great,” I replied, dripping in sarcasm. “I can’t wait.”
Just what kind of witch was I?
And who the hell was going to clean up this mess?
Chapter 4
SATURDAY ARRIVED FAR TOO QUICKLY, and not soon enough.
My hands were unsteady, my palms were sweating, and I couldn’t decide if I was going to throw up or pass out. It was like a giant mountain of emotions. Fear. Guilt. Excitement.
Sweet Jesus, I was a disaster.
All morning I fought with myself. Did I text him to cancel because I was chickenshit? Or did I grow some ovaries and get the answers I sought? These were the kind of questions that ran through my mind. Even if he didn’t show up, I could summon him in my dreams, and get the answers I wanted. But if I was being honest with myself, I wanted to see him. I needed another visual to make sure he was real, that I hadn’t imagined the whole encounter.
I hated that I was keeping Lukas a secret from the people that mattered most. My heart ached just thinking about Gavin, pinpricks of pain spearing my gut.
So why was I?
The answer was like trying to figure out the meaning of life.
What I did know was I needed the truth. And Lukas was somehow part of this. I needed to find out how he fit in, if he fit in, and what he knew.
I tossed another crumbled up shirt into the corner of my room, and changed for like the zillionth time. Fed up with my wardrobe, I huffed and sent him a quick text before I changed my mind yet again. Then I headed for the door.
Well, here goes nothing. If anything, I hoped I would at least walk away from this with some kind of understanding of what was going on between us. Only then I could move forward to the next problem in line.
The University of North Carolina campus was a maze for a small-town girl like me. Even though I had been here before, suddenly it felt as if I was being swallowed up. I was Alice, lost in Wonderland.
We were to meet at a place called the Hawk’s Nest, a large dining center on campus. There wasn’t an abundance of students lounging around, probably because it was a Saturday. The wind destroyed my ponytail, and I brushed aside the flyaways as I scanned the sitting area and locked with a pair of emerald eyes I knew far too well. I would have even recognized him in my sleep.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
If I didn’t find some form of humor in all this, I was going to lose my nerve. My legs were like Jell-O as I walked toward him, and I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. For reasons I couldn’t explain, this wasn’t like meeting Lukas in my dreams.
This was more…real.
Putting one foot in front of the other, I concentrated on each step. It was his sunny smile that finally set me somewhat at ease. That smile was familiar, with those deep dimples, and it would warm even the coldest of hearts. I was still anxious about what I would learn, but this was a guy I had spent more time with than any other.
This was Lukas. My best friend. The guy who knew all my secrets and every nitty, gritty detail.
It didn’t have to be weird. I just needed to stop thinking about all the dirty laundry he knew, and I needed to stop thinking about the kiss and what it could have meant.
I slid into the seat across from him, giving him a sheepish grin. “Hey.”
His smile brightened. “You’re nervous,” he said, hitting the mark on the head.
There he went, reminding me how well he knew me and how little I knew him. “Uh, I am. Is that weird?”
“In this situation, I don’t think weird cuts it.” He had on a UNC T-shirt, looking like just another college boy.
I took a moment to study him, see if there were any differences between dream-Lukas and the real version. He looked exactly as I could recall. A poster ad for the boy next door: sandy hair, football-player build
and a smile as bright as the sun, with the greenest eyes I’d ever seen.
“Do you want something to drink?” he asked.
A drink would be good, something to do with my hands and calm my jittery nerves. We could get to the heavy stuff in a minute. “Sure. Caramel Macchiato?”
The corners of his mouth lifted. “You would be one of those girls that drinks fancy coffees I can barely pronounce. I’ll be right back.”
I watched him stroll over to the Starbucks stand with carefree swagger. He filled out his jeans in all the right places, and was hard to ignore. I didn’t seem to be the only one who was looking—girls turned their heads as he walked past.
Who could blame them, when he aimed dreamy dimples their way? I’d have to be dead not to be affected.
Seriously, I totally shouldn’t be checking out his ass. I forced my gaze back to the table, mentally scolding myself, and fumbled with the stones on my necklace. It crossed my mind that not too long ago, I was in a coffee shop with Gavin.
The thought weighed heavily on me.
A few minutes later, Lukas set a paper cup in front of me, bringing me back from my trip down memory lane. I was glad to have something else to do with my hands. Wrapping them around the paper cup, I blew off a stream of steam.
Silence stretched between us. Where did I even begin? Lukas took care of the matter, and I couldn’t have been more relieved.
Stirring a cup of black coffee, he said, “So you finally figured out you have magic.”
My eyes glanced around the room, and I realized that we were strategically situated in a far corner, away from anyone who might pick up pieces of our conversation. Wouldn’t that have been an epic debacle? “Yeah. It only took me seventeen years.” I took a huge gulp of my frothy drink.
Heaven.
He chuckled low.
“How is it that we practically live in the same city and have never run into each other before?” I asked what had to be on both our minds.
He shrugged, causally stretching his legs out under the table so they just touched mine. I couldn’t tell if it was deliberate or not. “Honesty, I haven’t got a clue. It’s been running through my head since the market. I knew you were out there, I just—”
“How?” I interrupted. “How did you know that I wasn’t just a dream?”
His eyes danced at my confusion. “Because we have more than just dream-sharing in common. I’m like you, Brianna—a witch.”
“A witch!” I cried. Christ almighty.
He nodded his pretty-boy head. “I would have thought you would have figured it out by now.”
He thought wrong. But now that he said it, I should have known. I should have seen the signs. Tingles. Bizarre crap. The fact that he knew more about witchcraft than I did.
There might as well have been a giant neon sign over his head flashing “I’m a witch.” I could thump myself on the forehead. For someone who was so smart, I could be so dense sometimes. And to think, I wasn’t sure anything could surprise me anymore.
Boy was I dead wrong.
The golden witch, that’s what I saw when I looked at Lukas. It fit. He was as light as Gavin was dark. “It makes sense now, but I only just found out witches exist. So you knew that I was dreamscaping you?” I tripped a little over the word, still foreign to me. Actually, anything witchcraft-related felt odd coming from my mouth.
“I did,” he said carefully, like it was a trick question. “Is that a bad thing?”
I was feeling sort of cheated here. Why did I always have to be the one who was utterly naïve? Sighing, I replied, “No. I just feel like an idiot.”
“I’m sorry.” His eyes did that puppy thingy. On Lukas, it was impossible for your heart not to melt, even a tad.
I turned the cup in circles between my hands. “It’s not your fault. I just wish I had known sooner. Before things suddenly became…hectic.”
“Has something happened?” Alarm instantly broke out across his face. Leave it to Lukas to go all He-Man on me.
“I’m not sure yet.” I was hesitant to tell him about the hellish dream I’d recently had, featuring none other than Morgana le Fey. It just didn’t seem like the right time. My eyes kept shifting to the other people in the café with us, innocent to the world around them. I used to be that blind. There was a kind of bliss I missed in not knowing—less problems, for sure.
“Should we enchant them?” Lukas teased, noticing my wandering gaze. At least I hoped he was teasing. It was possible this was his way of trying to lighten the mood.
“You’re joking, right?” He wanted me to enchant them? That was a laugh. I might be a witch, but I was pretty useless when it came to performing spells. Only recently had I begun to experiment with the energy that lay inside me. The results were often unpredictable. I would probably end up conjuring a storm inside the Hawk’s Nest. Unless he wanted to soak everyone, I wasn’t the kind of witch he needed.
Lukas’s smile widened.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t want to cast a spell on them. I was just remembering that I used to be like them. Clueless.”
“And do you think you would be better off clueless?”
I stared at the cooling macchiato. “I don’t know.”
He moved from his seat across the table into the one beside me, closing the space between us. When he spoke, his voice held conviction. “What you have is power. Not just any kind of strength. Magic. It’s whatever you want it to be. You have the world at your fingertips now, Brianna. Take advantage of it. Don’t run from it.”
Whoa. Who knew the college boy could have such inspiring words?
He leaned in, and all I could think was… Oh, shit. He is going to kiss me. His breath warmed my face, but instead, his fingers grazed over my necklace. The spot on my throat tingled. His touch caused the amethyst to illuminate and the moonstone to radiate, both glowing brightly against my skin.
“We have signature magic,” he said in a low voice, his eyes holding mine.
Huh? What did he mean, “We had signature magic?”
I watched, stupefied, as his emerald eyes took on a mystic glow, probably a lot like mine did when I used magic. I could almost feel mine taking on the same iridescent hue. His fingers stroked the stones, and like a switch, a surge of pleasure ran through me.
“You have the most beautiful eyes.” His tone had gone velvety and smooth.
There was no doubt in my mind that my eyes were lit up like the Northern lights. Warning, screeched my internal alarm. This was stepping into a territory I wasn’t willing to go. Not while my feelings were jumbled with uncertainty, and I hadn’t had a chance to tell Gavin about Lukas.
I owed them both that.
There was something about Lukas’s energy that mirrored mine, and before I did something stupid that I was going to utterly regret, I pulled back. The small distance was like a breath of fresh air.
“What was that?” I asked, with accusation in my tone. I didn’t know if I could trust Lukas, or even if I could trust myself.
An air of disappointment reflected in his eyes, eyes that had lost their luster. With a heavy sigh, he reclined back against the seat. “I don’t know exactly.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. I wanted to call bullshit.
“It’s the truth. There is something about our magic. It’s like they’re companions. One identifies the other.”
“But don’t all witches recognize on another?”
“They do, but this is different—on another level, so to speak. Sure, when we first met in your dreams, I knew you were a witch. I was young and didn’t really understand, but as we got older, I could tell that it was more than just us being witches. My power is drawn to you.”
“And you never thought to tell me?” I couldn’t hide the irritation.
His emerald eyes softened. “Do you honestly think you would have believed me? A guy in your dreams trying to convince you that you are actually a witch? You could barely believe that I was real the other day.”
&nbs
p; Fine. Sure, he had a point. That didn’t necessarily mean I was okay with it. “I never would have believed you,” I conceded. “In fact, I probably would have thought I was losing my freaking mind.” Some days I still did.
He leaned forward on the table. “We could help each other.”
I tilted my head to the side, wondering what he had up his sleeve. “How so?”
“I can help you learn to use and control your magic. There is something unique about our energies. They parallel one another. I want to see what they can do together.” There was hope and curiosity in his face. He really wanted to do this.
I thought about what he offered. I couldn’t deny that I had felt something weird, more weird than usual. The few times I had done magic with Sophie or Gavin hadn’t come close to the surge of power I felt briefly with Lukas, except in my vision of Morgana.
The idea was both intriguing and seductive.
That scared me.
“Are you game?” he asked after a few prolonged moments of me just staring at him with drawn brows.
There was another long pause as I contemplated his offer. “Why not?” I heard myself respond. What did I possibly have to lose? Somewhere, the back of my mind warned me that I might be risking more than I was willing to pay, but how could I ignore the opportunity to gain such knowledge, to control this gift? It wasn’t like Lukas was a stranger. I would be safe with him.
All I had to do was tell Gavin. I couldn’t hide Lukas forever.
This should be fun.
Chapter 5
SUNDAY, I HAD TO WORK. I had done a damn good job of evading Gavin all day yesterday, but I knew the time had come.
With the impending holidays, Mystic Floral and Gifts was in full swing. Strands of twinkling lights were strung around the shop like tiny crystals. The whole place smelled of pine, candy cane, and mulberry spice. Poinsettias, garland, wreaths, and lilies decorated every corner of the shop. Confetti snow dusted the counters and displays.
