by J. L. Weil
Oh, God. He was right. With a lot more effort than it should have taken, I closed my fists, calling back the energy bursting to break free. It screamed inside me, begging to be released. I closed my eyes, evening out my breathing. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this. It is eating me up inside,” I said, my eyes opening.
He saw my struggle. “I will find a way to counteract the darkness from absorbing that asshole’s magic. I promise.”
I rubbed the end of my nose. “Do you have ideas?”
“Not yet, but if I ever get my hands on him…”
No other words were necessary. The menacing scowl on his face said it all. He would kill him. If Lukas knew what was best for him, he’d never show his face in Holly Ridge again. Hell, crossing the state line of North Carolina might not be far enough. Gavin had a ruthless determination, and regardless of what happened to me, Lukas was going to be Gavin’s number one target.
Morgana’s warning echoed in my memory. It was one I’d likely never forget.
Two boys. One destined to be your true love, bound by more than just magic and love. The other…well, he isn’t so lucky. He will destroy all the good you possess. Squash your pureness, which is also your strength. He will poison you with darkness—blacken your soul. And make you turn from all you love. The choice is yours, great-granddaughter. Choose wisely. For it can’t be undone.
Well. She had pinned the donkey on the butt. Lukas had definitely poisoned me, but it was of my own doing. I made the choice to take his magic. And if we didn’t find a solution soon, I was likely to lose all those that I loved.
Chapter 27
Time passed. Weeks turned into a month. Graduation loomed right around the corner, and I isolated myself from all those I loved. The magic breathing inside me continued to spread like a nasty virus.
I snapped at my friends for no reason.
I pushed Gavin further and further away.
I snarled at my aunt when she was only concerned.
The list of cruel things that came out of my mouth the last few weeks could fill a book. It was embarrassing, and so out of character for me, but nothing I did, not matter how hard I tried, I could not hold back the darkness from swallowing me.
And while I was wallowing in the dark, fighting every day to win this internal battle, Gavin was spending every waking moment trying to find a way to save me. He never gave up, which was more than I deserved.
I secluded myself in school, was unusually quiet at home, and I lacked pizzazz at work (not that I’d had a lot to begin with). Looking at myself in the mirror, I didn’t recognize the person who stared back. Her eyes were sunken—lackluster. Her clothes were baggier than they should have been, thanks to my lack of appetite. And I didn’t need Sophie to tell me that a shroud of darkness surrounded me.
Turning away from my reflection, I did what I could to make my appearance as normal as possible, but I fooled no one.
Downstairs, Aunt Clara was washing off her breakfast plate. “I can’t believe this is your last week of high school,” she said when she saw me, drying her hands.
My heart sunk. One more week. I might cry. Big. Blubbering. Sobs. Not because high school was coming to end, but because my time here in this house, living with my aunt, was coming to end. I finally came to the decision that for her safety…I had to leave. After graduation just seemed like the appropriate time. I didn’t see the point in lingering. It would only make the choice harder by prolonging my departure, and every day that the darkness became stronger, my resilience weakened.
“Don’t cry,” I said, seeing her eyes well up. “I just applied this makeup, and I don’t have another twenty minutes to fix it.”
She laughed, shaking her head and sniffing. “Don’t expect a no-tear policy at graduation,” she warned, dabbing at her wet eyes.
I tried to hide my sadness. “You can bawl like a baby.”
“I will,” she assured, smiling. “So what do you have planned on your final Saturday before freedom?”
God, if she only knew. It was better she didn’t. I took a seat. “Nothing special. I thought I would go to the beach later.”
She stood behind the counter across from me and folded her hands. “You have always loved going to the beach, even as a baby. Your entire face would light up.”
Threading my fingers through my hair, I smiled. “Some things never change.” Like my love for her, the woman who raised me alone. She was the strongest person I knew.
I didn’t have any idea how to write a goodbye letter, but I had to have everything in order, because immediately after graduation, I was out of here. Time was running out, and we were no closer to finding a way to stop the evil from winning.
How did I say goodbye to the two most important people in my life? The one who was in every memory of my past, and the other who was in all of my dreams for the future.
But to stay was a risk I was unwilling to take, not until I found a way to save myself, because the day darkness ruled me was swiftly approaching. They weren’t safe while I was around and unstable.
I know that they would both feel hurt and betrayed by my leaving. I could only hope in time they would see it was for them—that there was no other way.
She tweaked my nose. “I am so proud of you.”
I drank in the sight of her, searing it to memory. One week wasn’t long enough. “Well, you only have yourself to thank. You taught me to be the person I am.”
Her eyes filled with sentiment. “Oh, now you’ve done it.” She wiped at her cheeks.
Jumping off the stool, I walked around the counter and gave her a hug. It was harder to pull away than I bargained for. I drew a sharp breath, suppressing the thick emotions that were clogging the back of my throat. “I’m meeting Gavin; I should probably go,” I said, struggling to keep my voice even.
“Don’t forget a sweater. It’s cooler by the water,” she said, the motherly instinct always there. She had been more mother than aunt to me, so it was fitting.
I nodded and walked toward the garage. If I stayed another minute, I was going to lose the hold on my emotions. I took one last glimpse over my shoulder before I left.
The tears broke free once I saw the house I loved in my rearview mirror. My chest tightened, but I squared my shoulders and focused ahead. Pointing my car the direction of the beach, I took a deep breath. There was still one more person I needed to say goodbye, and this one would take all my strength, all my sheer will, and an act of God.
Today I would tell Gavin goodbye.
In my own way.
I sat cross-legged on the beach. Waves crashed like cannon fire, the earth shook, and the water swirled. My emotions were going haywire.
Oh dear Mary, mother of God. My heart splintered, shattering into a billion fragments of sorrow, pain, regret, anger, longing. The range of feelings just kept piling on. I was wigging out. One minute I was confident I could do this—that I must to do this—for his protection. The next I was whimpering, on my knees, begging for a miracle—a cure to this madness choking me.
I had to get this over with. The anxiety was enough to kill me. I couldn’t go another week with this weight on my chest. He would do everything in his power to stop me, which was why I wasn’t precisely telling him my plans. Yes, I was saying goodbye without actually saying the words, but after I was gone, he would know.
His appearance brought forth conflicted feelings, but love overshadowed them all. My fingers shifted in the sand. “Hey,” I greeted, watching him plop down next to me.
“I take it you are having a bad day?” Gavin asked, nodding to the turbulent waters churning.
I knew he was worried about me, and who could blame him? The whole reason I was here was because I had become someone else. The Brianna he knew had changed, and I didn’t know how to get her back.
I wasn’t her. Not anymore.
I had avoided his gaze until now, because I knew that once our eyes collided, I wouldn’t be able to look away from his brilliant blue eyes. “I’ve had better.�
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His boots dug into the sand. “I’m not giving up, and neither should you.”
“Our window is closing, Gavin. And it’s no one’s fault but my own. If I had found another way—”
“You can’t blame yourself for things that are outside your control. We don’t pick the gifts bestowed upon us. We are given only what we can handle, so someone must think that you have it inside you to overcome. I believe in you.”
If only that was enough. Too bad my life wasn’t a fairytale.
What he said was true, but it didn’t change my decision. We sat together, talking and listening to the sounds of the beach. There was no one here but us. Being with him was so easy. It was effortless and that was what I loved about us.
I fumbled with the chain of my necklace, my first real item of magic. Not always effective, but I had kept it with me.
Gavin inched closer. “Holy shit.”
He startled me. “What?” I was clueless, but it was obvious by the expression on his face that it was important.
He ran a hand through his raven hair, eyes meeting mine. “I think I figured it out, how to keep the darkness at bay.”
Say what?
I did a double take, thinking my ears deceived me. “Oh,” I said. I had nothing else. It seemed unreal, and I wasn’t getting my hopes up. My heart couldn’t take it.
Twirling the stones at my neck, his fingers grazed against my skin. I waited expectantly as he worked through whatever theory was running through his head. Twenty seconds ticked by.
Was he going to tell me or torture me by keeping me in suspense?
He tugged the hoop on his lip. “It was right in my face the whole time. How did I not guess sooner?”
I still had no idea what he was referring to, and now I was getting annoyed. I turned my body to face him, my knees in the sand. “Are you going to tell me what you are talking about or just keep speaking in circles?”
He arched a brow, the corner of his lips tipping. “It’s your necklace.”
“How is my necklace going to save me?” I asked, thinking he had lost his freaking mind.
Exasperation posed on his face. “Not the necklace, but the moonstone.”
Right that made perfect sense. Not. The doubt was written all over my expression. A cloud passed over the sun, and the temperature seemed to have dropped. “I’m still not following.”
A small smile pulled at his lips, and I saw the beginnings of excitement shining in his eyes. “It’s an ancient remedy, no longer practiced. Crystals were never my thing, but my mom, being a healer, it’s part of her craft. Crushed moonstone has properties that purify a soul.”
Something clicked. “Moondust.” The voice of the tarot card reader echoed in my head. You keep it close to you. I didn’t realize she meant literally.
He nodded. “Moondust.”
“How?” It was impossible to believe that my cure was so simple. There had to be a catch.
His hands grasped the sides of my cheeks. “I’ll show you.” He held out his hand.
I took a breath. With slightly shaky hands, I fumbled with the clasp at the back of my neck, removing the necklace and dropping into his waiting palm.
Without a second of hesitation, he closed his fist over the stone, whispered words that sounded foreign on the tongue. My expression grew incredulous. The blue in his eyes illuminated as bright as the stars. I was transfixed by his power, by his words, by him. Drawn by the shimmering of magic pouring from his hands, the milky-blue stone started to glow in his clench. When the spell was completed and he opened his palm, his eyes meet mine.
This was it.
Sink or swim.
I blinked. The once-solid crystal was a bluish-white power in his hand. I watched in amazement. The dust was still glowing. It was spellbinding.
Holy smokes.
“Now what?” I asked in a voice just over a whisper.
His lashes lowered, and he brought his handful of moondust up to his mouth. Then before I knew what his intentions were, he blew the magical dust over me. I gasped. The ever-present dark ribbons inside me roared as the sparkles floated down upon me.
Time moved in slow motion. I could see the diamond-like dust in the air, swirling. It landed on my skin, in my hair, and I breathed it in. Tiling my head back, I drank in the salty air infused with magic, letting the wind and the sun wash over my skin. I closed my eyes. My heart felt lighter. My magic purer. My soul repaired. I felt like myself.
And I owed it all to Gavin.
He waited patiently, expectantly, for me to say something. No words came. So I grinned, and threw my arms around his neck.
His arms tightened, and he buried his face in the hollow of my neck. “Does this mean it worked?” he murmured.
I swallowed. “I never should have doubted.”
“Damn right,” he responded.
I laughed, pulling back to look into his face, unable to comprehend that he had found a way to counteract the use of such dark magic. “What did you say, the words to the spell?” I asked, still hardly able to believe I was free of the darkness. My entire body felt cleansed.
“To sea. To sky. To night,” he whispered.
It was beautiful.
And he was breathtaking.
Gavin slipped his arm around me as I leaned into him. He kissed my temple. And I sat with him while the storm shifted out to sea, the thunder quieted, and the whips of rain and wind turned to soft patters.
“So you think we are meant to be?” I asked with a grin in my voice.
A wealth of emotion shone in his dazzling blue eyes. “I know it.”
“How?”
He angled his head. “You know why? That charge of energy you get whenever we touch, it’s not coincidental.”
That was twice this year that two different guys claimed that I was destined to be theirs, except this time…I believed him.
I grinned in embarrassment. “I’m glad it’s you.”
He smirked, eyes twinkling. “There was never another choice for me, Bri. It was always you.” Then he swept me off my feet.
Chapter 28
On the afternoon of graduation, Tori stood in my bedroom, twirling a medium-sized curling wand through my hair. I fidgeted in front of the mirror. “Are you almost done?” I complained.
She grinned. “Shut up and sit there. You’d think I was killing you.”
“It feels like it,” I grumbled.
Austin spun in the desk chair, facing us, his brown hair slicked back and his bottle green eyes twinkling. “Babygirl, what are you going to do without us?”
“Use a spell.”
The two of them looked at each other and then started laughing. “Why didn’t you just say so?” Tori asked, waving the curling wand behind my head.
I met her reflection in the mirror. “Because this might be the last time you do my hair.”
She put her hand over her heart, her eyes watering. “That is so sweet.”
Austin coughed. “B, sweet? What has the world come to?”
I socked him in the arm. “I have my moments,” I defended, tears stinging my eyes. I had a feeling it was going to be a day full of them.
Tori put down the wand and wiped at her eyes. “Thank God we haven’t started our makeup yet.”
I groaned. “I think I’ll take the easy way out.”
“Me too?” Tori asked.
“You better not leave me out,” Austin chimed in.
Surprised, I nodded. My friends wanted me to use magic on them! I adored them to death. “As if I could forget about you.”
Calling forth my magic, no longer tainted, it flowed through my veins like warm silk. A violet mist swirled around us as I recalled the words to a spell that Sophie had taught me. It was a simple one to enhance one’s natural beauty. Smooth wrinkles, vanish blemishes, enhance the eyes, refresh the skin, it was like spending hours in a fancy spa, bottled in a spell.
“There,” I said grinning. “Voilà.”
They both rushed to
my full-length mirror. “You are kickass to have around,” Austin smiled, catching my eye in his reflection.
Tori puckered her rosy lips. “Screw all those expensive bottles in my bathroom. You are so much cheaper.”
I stretched out my legs. “Thanks, I think.”
Tori spun around, giggling, her short black dress flaring with her movements. “I can’t believe we are graduating today.”
Austin went to the side of my bed, rummaging through a bag he had brought with him. “And now that you aren’t witch-a-saurus anymore, I think a toast is in order.” He pulled out a green bottle of what looked like champagne.
I should have been totally offended, but I wasn’t. I had been a complete and utter bitch the last few weeks. “Where did you get that?” I asked.
Tori grinned like she got caught eating the last Krispy Kreme at a cop convention. “It was a gift from my dad.”
I shook my head. “He does realize you are only graduating high school, not college?”
She shrugged. “It’s free booze. Who cares? We deserve it.”
“Here, here!” Austin chanted.
The three of us held our glass flutes in the air. “I love you guys. You are the best friends a girl could have.”
Austin clucked his tongue. “After the shit you put us through this year, your skinny ass better love us.”
We clinked our glasses together. “Cheers,” we said in unison, grinning.
I took a sip and immediately made a not-so-pretty face.
Austin had drained his glass. “Let’s graduate, bitches.”
“Stop fidgeting,” Gavin whispered.
“I can’t. This gown is itchy.” I tugged at the collar of my god awful purple and gold robe. Whoever designed these things should be shot. Haven’t they ever heard of comfort?
He chuckled.
My entire graduation class was sitting in the football field, with our parents and loved ones in the stands, crying, smiling, and cheering our accomplishment. We had survived high school. For me, that was almost a bigger triumph than passing my classes. With Gavin at my side, we waited for the principal to call our names.
