“Yesterday…” I swallowed. “The call. It was Carly.” My mother gasped, and I nodded. “Carl was fighting off rogues. Before he went out, he told her to call me. Mom.” I walked closer and sat next to her on my bed. I grabbed her trembling hands and squeezed. “When we got there, he was already too far gone. We fought the rest of the rogues and burned their bodies, but Carl. He didn’t make it.” My mother covered her face and started to cry. “I’m sorry.”
My mother dropped her hands and sniffled. “It’s not your fault, baby. We knew this day would come. He was just a close friend.” She wiped her tear-streaked face. “How’s Carly?”
I blew out a breath. “As good as can be expected. I buried him under a tree so she can go see him every day. And I promised to bring him back for her big moments.”
“He had been preparing for last night.” Toya picked at my blanket. “He had clothes for all of us. We each had a room. Letters. It was impressive.”
My mom laughed through her tears. “He was an impressive man, through and through. He was very prepared. He said being prepared for everything made his gift a lot easier to process.” I nodded.
I looked back to the closet and the door there, and it reminded me of the letter Carl had left taped on the door for me. I brought it to the apartment and stuffed it into my bag after shifting back. I stood and walked to the bag that held my laptop and pulled it out.
“What’s that?” Toya leaned closer as I sat back down.
“A letter from Carl. He had it taped inside the door in my closet at the cabin.”
“The door?” My mom asked, and I pointed to the door in the closet.
“He built a room like that. It’s…”
“Weird.” Toya finished.
“Confusing.” I countered. She smiled at me but shook her head. I opened the letter to see his scrawling hand writing.
“What does it say?” My mother looked over my shoulder, but I pulled back as I got up. I handed it to her as I made my way back to my bag and grabbed my Book of Shadows.
“You need the rock?” Toya’s eyebrows rose.
“The rock?” My mother looked over at me from the letter and furrowed her brow.
“It’s my Book of Shadows.”
“Her magic book. It’s concealed as a rock.” Toya waved her hand and I laughed. “Look, it’s weird as fuck seeing you reada rock, even knowing what it is.” Toya leaned back against the headboard. “It doesn’t change from a rock to a book unless you hold it.” Toya finished.
My mom turned back to the letter as I started flipping through the pages, looking for what I needed. My mom gasped, and I just nodded. “Clever man.” My mom whispered, and Toya pushed off the headboard and crawled over the bed to us. She started reading the letter over my mother’s shoulder.
“What?” Toya’s eyes darted over the letter and then snapped up to the doorway. “You have got to be kidding…you can do that?”
I looked up from my book to see them both staring at me expectantly. “I don’t know.” Toya pointed at the book in my hands and then back to my face.
“Well, hurry, man.” She jumped up. “That would be so fricken helpful.” She looked around at all of our bags. “We could bring everything in seconds.” She spun back to me. “What do we need to get?”
I looked back to the book. “I don’t know yet. I haven’t found it.”
Toya sighed as she laid back down on my bed. “I-” There was a knock on the door and all of us turned towards it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ihid my book under my blankets before I made my way to the door. I reached for the doorknob as another knock sounded at my door. I opened it to find myself face to face with Shannon. She looked…thinner. “Shannon?”
“Amy!” She smiled wide, and she pushed my door wider, exposing my mother and Toya. “I haven’t seen you in forever.” She stepped in and instantly my back was up.
Toya scoffed. “Who the fuck is that?” She whisper-yelled and leaned closer to my mother. “That isn’t the same Shannon I met.”
I watched Shannon’s eye twitch before she smiled wider. She leaned around me. “I know I was a bit of a bitch at school.”
“A bit?” Toya interrupted, but Shannon pushed on.
“Okay, a lot,” she raised her hands. “But I can say that I was stupid. I went from being important to being at the bottom of the totem pole. It’s a hard change to take in, and our first year was a rough one for me. But,” she looked at my face. “I grew from it. I came here to apologize to you.”
