I can’t sleep, especially with Natalie lying as stiff and silent as a corpse beside me, so I rise before the sun and get dressed in the first outfit I pull out of my suitcase—jeans and a white T-shirt that says ‘no thank you’ in small letters across the front. Ethel trots at my heels as I slip out the door.
In the courtyard, we curl up in a hammock together, her watching the koi fish undulate in the pond, me replaying the same few seconds incessantly: Hazel shooting me that last glare before climbing into the car with Oaklyn, choosing the Madsens over me.
I don’t understand. In her shoes, I don’t think I could ever choose a girl I’d just met over my best friend.
Then again, I suppose part of me understands what it’s like to fall hard and fast. I fell for Natalie fast enough to break the sound barrier. Is Hazel going through the same feelings with Oaklyn, and should I be more empathetic?
Empathy would be easier to summon if she weren’t dating an unhinged criminal.
Ethel purrs as I stroke her back, and far above, birds have started their morning songs, oblivious to the fact that today, witches will go slaughter dozens of ancient beings they don’t understand. And I’ll probably be thrown in jail anyway for refusing to help them.
It seems like years ago that I was flying back here, thinking I could slide into the coven and resume my old role helping Natalie find curses. What a reality check.
Footsteps swish through the dewy grass, and I don’t need to look up to know who it is. My skin crackles as Natalie’s energy reaches me—the pull that’s grown stronger and more mystifying the longer I spend in the presence of magic. Her scent reaches me next, that warm, herbal blend I’ve come to associate with safety. Now, it makes my heart jump with uncertainty.
She sits on the grass in front of me, her forearms resting on her knees, watching me rock the hammock. She’s in a cropped brown sweater and joggers, looking cozy enough to cuddle up against. The brightening sky illuminates her brown hair, highlighting the little green and yellow braids peeking through. There’s a butterfly bandage over the cut on her cheek.
We sit in silence for a long moment, a gulf between us.
“I was thinking about you and your ability,” she finally says, her voice low, “which none of us really understand. I thought about what you read in the library, about the ancient Guardians… And I’d heard something like that before from my dad…” She runs her fingers through her hair, looking uncomfortable, and huffs. “He told us witches didn’t always hunt magic. Said there used to be witches who communed with it instead, until the abuse of power happened after the turn of the century and everything changed. I never thought much more about it. Just accepted it as history.”
My hand freezes mid-stroke on Ethel’s back. She looks up at me and paws my arm, annoyed that I stopped.
“What are you saying?” I ask.
“I thought about it all night, and I believe you when you say you’re communicating with the chimeras.”
Her words hit me like a branch falling on my head. I prepared for more doubts and dismissals, running through arguments that all endedin worst-case scenarios—Natalie and me breaking up, me flying back to Toronto, living the rest of my life trying to pretend none of this ever happened. But after all this time spent drowning alone, grasping for any help, this feels like she’s thrown me a rope.
“What changed?” I ask, my voice hoarse.
“Nothing. I just…remembered what matters.” She moves closer, resting her hand on my knee. “I’ve watched you sense curses that no one else could detect. I’ve seen you follow invisible trails that helped me do my job and even saved our lives. Your intuition has been right time and again. More than that, I trust you. And I’m sorry for doubting you.”
My eyes prickle. After all these arguments, losing Hazel, and battling with the coven, her belief in me feels like the first ray of light in days.
“I was scared that bio magic was manipulating you,” she continues. “Scared of losing you to something I didn’t know how to fight.”
I reach out and squeeze her hand. “I know you were just looking out for me. I love you so much, and I…I didn’t want to have to choose between you and what I know is right.”
She rises to her knees. “I don’t want that either. I’m on your side in life—now and always.”
I press my lips together into a small smile. “Thank you.”
She leans forward, and Ethel scrambles down from the hammock before she can get squished.
Natalie kisses me gently, and as her familiar scent surrounds me, I lean into her, feeling for a moment like everything might be okay.
But as we break apart, I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter though. Any minute, the Shadows will be on their way to try and kill them all.”
“We’re not powerless.” Natalie shakes her head. “It’s ridiculous, really, that we sent you out there with some enchanted net when the solution was staring us in the face.”
I raise an eyebrow, trying to understand what she’s getting at.
“Your ability,” she says. “That’s what we needed all along. Not traps.”
“But how? What am I supposed to do?”
“You can talk to the chimeras.” Natalie stands, extending her hand to me. “So let’s go talk to them.”
