Lydia’s room was so perfectly Lydia, it was impossible to imagine anyone else could ever live in it. What had once been a very traditional girl’s bedroom, canopy bed, pretty white furniture, pale pink walls, had been transformed by a riot of clashing colour and mixed mediums. The original canopy had been removed and replaced with what looked like tactical netting, the kind they made soldiers crawl underneath during training montages in movies, and while the walls were stilltechnically pink, she’d covered them with a collage of neon fabric, cut in all different shapes and sizes, and stapled into the plaster. I could only imagine how her grandmother had taken that.
‘What can I get you to drink?’ she asked, opening a mini fridge next to her bed. Ever the rebel but she still knew her manners. ‘I’m glad you stopped by, there are a million things we need to confirm before the big day.’
I accepted a freezing cold can of Sprite, offering a slightly blank stare in return.
‘Your birthday party?’ Lydia prompted. ‘Saturday night? Three days from now?’
‘The party,’ I said on an exhale. ‘Right.’
The pop and fizz of Lydia opening her Coke punctuated her disbelief. ‘Don’t tell me you forgot your own birthday party? Emily James, what is going on with you?’
‘Nothing, only I was thinking. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go with your grandmother to visit your mom for the weekend?’ I suggested, fully aware that she would not.
‘No, because I’m throwing my girl the greatest birthday party Savannah has ever seen and before you question that statement, do not ask me if I’ve rented a bounce house for the backyard, because I’ve totally rented a bounce house for the backyard. They arewastedon little kids.’ She threw a fierce glare across the room when I opened my mouth to argue and I shut it immediately. ‘The deposit was non-refundable so unless you’re about to tell me the world is ending between now and Saturday, this party is happening.’
Condensation ran down the side of my Sprite and dripped onto the bedroom floor.
‘Lydia, the world is ending between now and Saturday.’
She crossed her arms and glared.
‘Non. Refundable. Deposit.’
‘Lydia, please.’ I began again, urgency creeping into my words even though I was doing my best to stay calm. ‘You have to leave town. You and Jackson and anyone else you can convince to take a trip out of the city limits. It’s not going to be safe.’
‘Why are you freaking out? It’s just a party.’ She crashed back on the bed and sipped her soda. ‘And why are you so pale and sweaty? Bestie, you have to get a better setting spray, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘I haven’t actually, not in the last few days anyway.’
‘Shut up, you can see ghosts,’ she laughed at my not-joke. ‘You’ve been spending too much time on WiccaTok. Hate to break it to you but you’re not a witch. You’re the one who told me they aren’t real, remember?’
‘I am though,’ I replied through gritted teeth.
‘Em, I am all for self-expression,’ Lydia said, lying down on her side and stretching out her legs along her bed, ‘but you’re officially taking this TikTok stuff way too seriously. The ritual in the park, claiming you can see ghosts, that’s totally OK but end of the world? Come on.’
‘It’s not TikTok stuff, and maybe it’s not the end of the world but it could be,’ I said. ‘Lyds, you have to believe me, I’m a witch.’
She pulled her knees up to her chest and I sensed a flicker of doubt creeping over her. I could feel her mood and she wasn’t impressed.
‘OK, this is starting to get weird. You can quit it now.’
‘You don’t remember what really happened in the cemetery,’ I said, desperate for her to believe me now. ‘If you did, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I don’t fully understand why you forgot, but I think it had something to do with the black crystal I found in the ashes of the cedar wood. I am a witch, I’m descended from a family of witches, and I’m tellingyou this because you’re my best friend, Savannah isn’t a safe place to be this weekend.’
At first she didn’t move. Lying on her side on the bed, soda can in her hand, she stared at me. I didn’t move, I didn’t blink.
‘You’re a witch?’ she said.
‘Yes.’
‘Is Catherine a witch?’
I paused then nodded.
‘What about Ashley?’
‘No.’
‘But you are?’
