‘You can feel that?’ he asked.
‘I can feel him,’ I answered. ‘Or at least, I could.’
‘You can’t sense the wolf?’
‘Can we talk about something else?’ The wolf was racing further and further away from me, leaving an unbearable emptiness where my heart should’ve been. ‘Anything, really. School, sports. College? Do you know where you want to go yet?’
‘There’s a shortlist,’ he replied. ‘What about you? You already graduated, right?’
‘Thanks to the wonder of homeschooling,’ I confirmed. ‘I was planning to travel for a year, visit some schools on the East Coast then enrol next fall. Dad wasn’t crazy about the idea of sending me off to college at seventeen.’
‘But?’
I attempted to block out the loss of Wyn and shook my head. ‘For a family without magic, you sure are good at reading minds.’
The corners of his eyes crinkled in response.
‘Just good at reading people. What’s stopping you following through on the plan?’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Missing family members, mystical threats, that sort of thing. Not that being the subject of an ancient prophecy wouldn’t make for a killer personal essay, but what am I supposed to do, major in English and minor in apocalypse avoidance?’
‘Maybe the other way around. Just to be safe.’
‘Metaphysical poetry at nine, astral projection 101 at ten?’ I sighed and stood up straight, rubbing the indentations of the railings out of my forearms. ‘It might be easier to plan a future if someone had bothered to put together some sort of schedule, but there’s nothing. No instructions, no QR code, batteries not included.’
‘This does feel like an ancient-scroll-type situation,’ he agreed.‘Or at least a stone tablet written in an archaic language we could translate as a summer project.’
The laugh that rattled out of me took me by surprise.
‘See?’ Jackson said with a sly grin. ‘I make you laugh – key sidekick trait.’
‘Key friend trait,’ I corrected. ‘And don’t think I don’t appreciate it.’
With a roll of his eyes, he brushed off the compliment. ‘Like we said, you can’t fight fate. You were always going to be stuck with me, one way or another.’
My eyes found his, a genuine, grateful smile playing on my lips.
‘This whole prophecy thing,’ he said. ‘It’s a whole lot of pressure to put on one person.’
The smile faltered.
‘Agreed,’ I said. ‘The powers that be could’ve shared out the responsibilities a little. Why do prophecies always pick one person? Why can’t it be a team?’
Jackson reached for my hand, his skin warm and soft as he squeezed it between both of his.
‘But there is a team. You’re not on your own, you know.’
Behind us, the doors to the terrace slid open and stayed open, a slow song echoing out from the dance floor.
‘Miss Emily James Bell.’ Jackson took a step back and bowed at the waist. ‘As your fated friend, may I have this dance?’
‘Mr Jackson Powell, you may,’ I said, accepting his arm and following him back inside, the sharp shift from the humid night to the chill of the air conditioning prickling my skin into goosebumps.
No one looked at us as we snuck onto the floor and Jackson expertly pulled me into a dancing position. I felt the careful weight of his hand on my waist as I placed mine on his shoulder, our two joined hands starting somewhere in the air around myshoulder until I rested them against his chest. The corners of his mouth turned upwards, his eyes soft, as we shifted our weight from foot to foot without really going anywhere. Silently, I let the energy of the room wash over me, all the fast-beating hearts, the excitement and disappointment that was to be expected when you put a bunch of teenagers together, turned down the lights and played slow songs. But whatever magic was here before was gone now. It was only us.
Dancing with Jackson was so comfortable, so easy. I leaned in to tuck my head under his chin and heard him sigh contentedly. He meant what he said. He was on my team. But putting my loved ones in danger was something I could not allow. Pain was a warning. You only touched the hot oven once. According to the prophecy, there was much more pain in my future but I would protect them from it if I could. I would be the only one to suffer the flames, I would not hold my friends’ hands to the fire.
‘You ever think how different things would be if you’d grown up here?’
