Win leaned across and buried her face in her sister’s warm hair, drinking in her warmth. “You’re wrong.” Grayson’s voice was in her head. “You’re stronger than you know.”
The afternoon dwindled on to the point where Win couldn’t lay in bed anymore. She winced as her feet touched the floor, creeping down the hallway and out into the backyard. The house was quiet; she shuffled to the bottom step of the porch, spying her father, who was locking up the barn. He smiled when he saw her shuffle to her bottom, joining her on the porch.
“You’re up,” he marveled. “I thought you’d be asleep for the whole weekend.”
“Nah, I got bored.” She wondered where Luke was. “Where is everyone?”
“No idea about Luke, but Rowan was doing laundry last time I checked. I think Evan is trying to reorganize the kitchen. Not a bad idea!”
“Why were you in the barn?”
“I was checking out the dimensions. Thing is huge and crying out to be converted. Seeing as we have this rapidly expanding family,” he chuckled. “How are you doing?”
Win gave him a weary half-smile. “I hurt all over.”
“No,” his eyes darkened. “I meant….the guy. Grayson?”
She sagged against his shoulder, tired and sad. “I’ll be okay.”
“You can talk to me, you know,” he told her. “I don’t know how I’m doing lately. Having two daughters is a minefield sometimes. But I’m a good listener.”
“I know.” She couldn’t look at him in the eye in case he saw her embarrassment. It wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with her father, not right now. “You’re doing good.”
He wrapped a warm, comforting arm around her shoulders. “We’ll be alright, you know, without him. I can hear him in my head, laughing at me, chastising me about something. I’m going to miss him.”
The falcon landed on the railing. It tilted its head, watching both of them intently. Ben cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable, as she hopped closer. Win narrowed her eyes, watching his face change, his mouth tighten. He couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t stand to see his Alice in her true form. He got up, shoving his hands in his pockets, giving her a small nod before going indoors.
He doesn’t have to leave every time I appear.
The breeze was picking up. She closed her eyes. The leaves were turning golden, crisping, and littering the yard. Fall was coming. “He can’t help it, Mom. I thought he was doing better.”
He blames himself.
“There’s a lot of that going around.” She hugged her knees.
You didn’t kill that boy, Win. You couldn’t have known…about any of it.
Win swallowed, fiddling with a stray leaf blown across the grass, landing at her feet. “I can’t hate him. I know I should, but I can’t. What am I going to do now?”
The falcon chuckled. Go to school, graduate, go to parties. Fall in love again.
“As long as I don’t leave this town, huh?” She let the words trail off into the wind; it shifted, whipping up leaves and stones. The bird hopped closer, nestling the side of her face before she took off. Win trudged around the yard, watching the way the trees moved in the breeze. For a moment, she froze, thinking she’d seen a shadow darting among the trees, a figure hidden in darkness. She crossed her arms, realizing they were only the shadows of looming tree branches.
“Thought I might find you out here.” Luke sprang up beside her. She jumped, not hearing him approach. She was perched on the end of an old truck, playing with the long grass growing up between the slats. He hopped up beside her. “You alright?”
Tears sprung to her eyes, hot and treacherous. Luke shifted next to her; she rested her head on his shoulder. He linked his fingers between hers. Their palms pressed together. She was glad he’d come back. Her lungs released air, their shoulders brushing as she leaned into his shoulder. She hardly noticed as he ran his fingers through the back of her hair.
They sat there for a while in silence. “Everything is different now,” she said. Luke rubbed
her back gently. Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he’d seen a kestrel fly overhead, vanishing into the trees.
Rowan watched the two of them from the window, smiling to herself as she folded away Win’s laundry. She tucked away her shirts, gathering up old underwear and socks that had fallen onto the floor. She straightened Win’s bed, folding the sheets under the pillow. Her fingers brushed against something sharp. She frowned, lifting up the pillow, finding something she thought must have been left for Win to discover. Shaking, she picked it up, staring down at it in horror. Evan opened the door behind her, and she jerked.
“You want to go for a run when you’re finished?” Evan smiled brightly.
Covering her surprise, Rowan laughed, hastily folding the object into her jeans pocket. “Sure,” she said with a smile. Evan winked, closing the door and bounding down the stairs.
Rowan pulled out the object and stared at it. It was an arrowhead. Her mouth was dry, her eyes flicking to the window; it was wide open, the drapes billowing in the breeze. Outside Win, and Luke walked back to the house, chatting about something, their arms linked.
How on earth had it got here? Rowan ran her thumb over the sharp edge. It had been placed there for Win to find later— when she was alone.
He was alive. Grayson had left it for Win. Rowan’s skin went cold.
“Rowan, you okay?” Win’s voice came from the door. Rowan startled, laughing breezily as Win came in, grabbing a jacket from her closet. She saw Win’s gaze linger on the green coat, running her fingers longingly over the lapel, before shutting the door. She smiled at her.
“Luke is taking Ella and me for pizza,” she said. “You want to come? And Evan?”
Rowan’s stomach tightened. She loved Win for trying. Her eyes were swollen, dark circles spread hauntingly out from under her lower lashes. The arrowhead burned in Rowan’s pocket.
“I’m good, honey. You three go,” she said.
Win gave her a long look. “You sure?”
“I’m good,” she said again, fixing on her smile. Her mouth wanted to form the words; she wanted so badly to erase the sorrow from her eyes. But she wanted Win to be free of him. She waved as Win headed out the door, waiting before she headed downstairs and out the back, tossing the arrowhead into the trash.
Epilogue
MOONLIGHT TOUCHED HER hair as she crept through the forest, her bare feet crunching across the fallen leaves and twigs. The stone loomed down upon her, its granite structure casting a long thin shadow across the clearing. Its energy hummed, the tips of her fingers tingled, sparks of violet energy flowing up her arms. She knelt before it, writhing as her body vibrated with the current, closing her eyes; she threw back her head, long dark tendrils falling down her back.
She lifted her arms to the stone as if offering it an embrace, welcoming it like a lover. She smiled and softly chanted, her voice low.
The stone glowed, shining brilliantly like a beacon. In her palms, energy fizzed and crackled. She opened her eyes, languid, her body melting away like she was floating, her chants becoming cries in the night. The blue light pooled all around her. She reached her fingers into the waves, feeling the electricity whirling around her like a circuit board. She caught the energy between her palms, letting it flow through her. Her eyes shone the brightest, most luminous blue.
The falcon had been summoned. It landed in the blue light, its beady eyes confused, afraid as the light tore through it. Lifted into the air, suspended above the ground, Evan smiled, chanted, and watched as the falcon spread its wings, unable to move.
The falcon burned. Its wings charred, coiling as it turned to ash. There was no time to hear it scream. It went up in flames, a fiery star in the haze of blue light.
Evan rocked, chanted, and held the energy, letting it flow away as the ash fell from the sky, floating down to the ground like fresh snow. She let the blue light drawback, releasing it from her palms until
the stone was cold and dark once more.
Rocking to her feet, Evan hurried across the clearing to the shape huddled on the ground. A woman crouched in the dirt, a mass of strawberry blonde hair trailing down over her naked back and shoulders. The woman jumped, shrinking away as Evan knelt beside her, flinching from her touch. She was terrified, trembling.
Evan rubbed a hand over her back, easing her hair out of her dirty face. Those eyes, so familiar, palest green staring out of a porcelain face, her lips quivering.
“Alice, it’s alright,” Evan said tenderly. “You’re going to be fine.”
“What happened to me?” The woman’s voice cracked, weak from years of waste, her vocal cords disused. “What did you do?”
Evan wrapped her arms around her shoulders and attempted to lift the woman to her feet. She clutched at her breasts, exposed and naked in the cool night air. Evan got her a blanket.
“It’s time to go home, Alice,” she explained kindly, tucking the blanket around her. “I brought you back. Your daughters need you.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I released The Curse of Win Adler in December 2020, after a long year of isolation and no work, I never expected to be writing another acknowledgments passage for a second book. I never imagined that my characters would come to life so vividly and that people would come to care as much about them as I do. But here we are.
I’m so grateful for all the wonderful people I’ve met on this journey, who’ve embraced me into this community, and for the support and love, they’ve shown.
First of all, I hope you enjoyed this story. It was truly fun to write, completed in the summer of 2020, while home-schooling and trying to build an author platform, run a business and maintain a home and my sanity. I loved writing this chapter of Win’s story, and I’m so excited for you to read what’s to come, so if you picked up this book, and finished it, thank you so much.
To my husband and my daughters Eva and Grace, thanks for understanding why I get so zoned out when I’m writing. I live in the hope that my husband is actually listening when I waffle on about all this, not just nodding and smiling. But thanks anyway, hun!
And to some special people, who beta read and critiqued for me, thank you for all the support and encouragement, and those who were just brilliant and caring. Bethany, Kent, Orla, Marina, Dan, Alicia, Kim, Helen, Hannah, Sabrina, Richard, Chris, Don, Emily, and Day. Phew, that’s everyone, I hope! And thank you, Thea, for making my front cover look insane!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Victoria Wren lives in Essex in the United Kingdom, with her husband, two girls and three cats. Since the age of thirteen she has written short stories and novels for young adults, creating worlds she wished were real and characters who are dear to her soul. She is a huge fan of paranormal fiction, loves scaring the life out of her kids and anyone who wants to read her work. Victoria is the proud author of the young adult series ‘Wild Spirit’ and looks forward to publishing more books in the series this year.
Find out more about the author at victoriawrenauthor.com
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