Not for her.
Not after they’d thrown her books into a fire in the backyard.
Raya screamed and the world shook, reverberating with rage.
She’d show them. She’d become the greatest witch ever known. It wouldn’t matter anymore that she’d been thrown out of the house and disowned by her own family, not when she could command powers beyond their understanding.
The dark scene dissolved, replaced by a forest of tall trees punctuated with massive boulders.
Raya touched a tree trunk and felt the rough bark under her fingertips. Sunlight filtered through the canopy and danced across her skin.
Why was she here? What was happening?
Raya tossed and turned in the bed, the movement dragging her up from the depths of the dream like a swimmer buoyed to the surface of the water.
The cloying scent of the lotion suddenly repelled her.
She threw off the covers and staggered to the bathroom. The sight of her tear-streaked face in the mirror made her turn away in shame. She twisted the shower taps, removed her clothing, and stepped into the water before it was even warm, scrubbing the lotion away as fast as she could.
Never again.
The past was nothing but an ugly dream.
With every trace of the dream-enhancing lotion removed, she stepped out of the shower, dried off, and put her pajamas back on.
Still she shivered.
In the darkened hotel room, she reached for the new leather jacket she’d carefully hung in the tiny closet. She slipped it on over her pajamas, wrapped it tightly around herself, and curled up in the bed, her hands clutching the soft leather until the shivering subsided.
Oversleeping wasn’t a great way to start the day. Raya felt like her feet were dragging through mud as she trudged into the convention hall. She’d skipped coffee to get there faster.
It was possibly the worst decision of her life.
Well, right after the decision to put on that damned dreaming lotion.
Raya shuddered.
What a disaster.
Determined to make the best of the day, she sought out the vendor hall. She’d stuffed her pockets with enough dollars and euros to make a sizable dent in the stock of any shopkeeper.
Magical supplies, after all, were far more important than groceries. She’d figure out how to continue eating when she got home to her real job as a school librarian. For now, she was going to spend her money like a sailor on leave—minus the excessive booze and questionable paid company.
Phoenix was the very definition of questionable company, but he certainly wasn’t paid, and a few glasses of champagne here and there couldn’t possibly be considered excessive.
Her self-justification firmly in place, she entered the vendor hall. Skirted tables and fabric booths stretched in long rows through the room. Raya hardly knew where to start, so she plunged into the nearest row, her head swiveling from side to side as she attempted to take it all in.
“Raya.”
The voice over her shoulder, so clear and controlled that it cut through the ambient noise, sounded familiar. She turned. “Nathan.”
Nathan crossed his arms. “That was quite a stunt you pulled at the opening presentation.”
Raya made a snap decision to brazen it out against his appraising gaze. “Of course it was. How else was I supposed to get your attention?”
His thick eyebrows rose. “It worked.”
“Not unless you tell me all your magical secrets. And skip the stuff inWitching Into the Dark—I have it memorized.”
