I pressed my lips shut, rather than carry on the game. When we were younger and sometimes when we were not so much younger, this could continue for a long time. I didn’t want to playthough, not when Aster was scared to tell me something. I rested my hand on his knee and silently invited him to go on.
He grabbed my hand between both of his. ‘Promise you won’t hate me?’
‘I could never hate you.’ My heartbeat remained steady and sure.
Aster nodded with his whole upper body, then dropped my hand so that he could lean forwards and press his fingers into the grass. ‘It’s easier to show you.’
He closed his eyes. His brow furrowed, then a weird pulse went through me. Just as I opened my mouth to ask what was happening, bright tangles of green appeared on the river bank. Vines sprang out of the soft ground. Leaves burst into life and tiny white flowers bloomed.
‘Aster,’ I breathed. ‘You’re doing that?’
He sat back, hands held palm up. His skin was tinged green by the grass. One deep breath, and tiny sparks of blue lightning crackled from his fingers.
‘Fuck.’ I reared back, like any normal person would when their best friend suddenly spouted electricity. My reaction was more than justified. Aster had once tripped over the air then thrown a whole bowl of baked beans over me. It was a legitimate response to be scared of him magicking lightning from nowhere.
The sparks dulled and his shoulders slumped. ‘For once, I would really like to reveal I’m a witch and for someone to say, Oh my gosh. That’s fucking awesome.’
I nudged my shoulder into his, unafraid now the electricity had been put away. ‘Oh my gosh. That’s fucking awesome.’
Aster’s bad moods were like a wisp of cloud passing over the sun. Barely there one second, gone the next.
He bobbed, like the energy inside of him couldn’t be contained. ‘It is, isn’t it?’
‘When did you learn you’re a witch? Was it when you came to Doughnut?’ There was something about this island. We came here as humans, and transformed into something else.
Aster stilled, then bit his lip. ‘I’ve maybe kind of been a witch my whole life but before I came here I couldn’t do much of anything and Doughnut awakened my powers,’ he said in a rush.
‘Oh.’ My shoulders’ turn to slump. ‘Wow.’
I hadn’t thought Aster kept anything from me. He talked so much and in such detail about basically every moment we didn’t spend together and many that we did, so I’d assumed I knew everything about him.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.’ Aster crowded into my side and wrapped his arms around my neck. ‘Dad made me promise not to blab because being an actual witch probably wouldn’t bother lots of people but it would freak out some, and the more people that knew the more risk there was of being discovered and burned at the stake or whatever.’ He nuzzled into the side of my face. ‘You better believe the argument we’ve had the most, after when is an appropriate bedtime for a grown man, is whether or not I could tell you. I figured I can now, since you’re a mystical being too. Just don’t tell Dad.’
I wriggled an arm free to pull him into my side. I’d always loved cuddling Aster before I turned into a werewolf, but now there was a whole extra layer to it. I liked his scent on me, the reassurance his warmth gave that he was close and safe.
‘I get it.’ The initial shock had worn off that Aster was capable of keeping such a huge secret from me. In its place was understanding. I now had a massive secret I wouldn’t be able to share with anyone, not unless they were super trusted. Aster had already told me the story of what happened to Callum’s family. I wasn’t about to let history repeat itself by telling anyone who might go on a homicidal rampage that I was a bit more wolfy than the average human.
And it wasn’t like I hadn’t been keeping a secret from Aster for years. If I had my way, he would never know about my inability to feel attraction.
At least I wouldn’t have to hide my new wolfy nature from Kit. He was a beastie too. It would have been strange to live with him again and try to hide my baby wolfness.
‘Can I borrow your phone?’ Mine had broken during the storm. Most the stuff in my backpack was ruined. ‘I’d like to call Kit, if that’s okay.’
Aster wiggled out of our hug and laid flat on the grass to extract his phone from his jeans. He jumped to his feet, just as Tim and Albert leapt to where his head had been laid on the grass seconds ago.
‘You two are nutters,’ he shouted as they ran away. He held out his phone. ‘Call whoever you want, but don’t wander too far. There’s a patch of signal around the cabin that’s not huge.’
I nodded. Didn’t say the only person I was interested in talking to was Kit.
I waited until Aster had run off around the cabin with the goats before I flicked through his phone to Kit’s number. My thumb hovered over it. How we’d left things before my life became more like one of the stories in his bookshop’s fantasy section wasn’t great. But he’d said things would be fine. Then he’d braved a storm to rescue me. Surely he would want to chat despite the awkwardness we’d have to overcome.
I tapped his name before I could overthink it. He answered on the first ring.
‘I’m not going to apologise for texting you five times in a row, Aster.’ Even though Kit’s words snapped with irritation, his voice settled me. ‘If you want me to stop pestering you, then you need to send actual information about Lucas more than once a day.’
‘Hey.’
‘Aster?’ Kit’s tone changed from waspish to cautious.
