Emma Catherine only smiled and shook her head.
‘There are no right or wrong decisions,’ she replied. ‘No good or bad. There will only be a before and an after.’
‘Then I choose to save the world,’ I said fiercely. ‘Now and forever, that will be my choice.’
My magic thrummed under my skin, rising up to meet my declaration as I looked at the world around me. The square, my home, my friends, my family, the whole world. How could there be any other?
My ancestor cocked her head to one side, as though she heard something, though the night was eerily quiet to my ear.
‘It’s time for you to go inside,’ she said, a breeze picking up out of nowhere and pushing me in the direction of Bell House. ‘Quickly now, he mustn’t know you saw him.’
‘Who?’
I spun in a circle to check the square for signs of life.
‘There’s no one there,’ I said, but when I looked back to the ghost, she was gone.
‘Two steps forward, one step back,’ I whispered to myself as I started for home, walking quickly across the street and opening the gate. The second my feet were back on Bellproperty, I felt infinitely more at ease. Emma Catherine’s sacrifice. Her first gift to her descendants.
The front door opened without a key, swinging on silent hinges, but something made me pause. Hiding behind a pillar, I peered back to the square and watched with wide eyes. A tall boy with dark ash hair was stalking away beneath the trees. Jeans, a grey T-shirt, a familiar graceful, loping gait. I held my breath until he disappeared completely then exhaled a choked sob. I’d followed Emma Catherine’s instructions: he hadn’t seen me.
But I had seen Wyn.
Chapter Fourteen
It wasn’t yet 9 a.m. when I held down Lydia’s doorbell the next morning. Far too early to call on anyone but she had said to come over and meet her mom, and I was sure she wouldn’t mind. At least, I hoped she wouldn’t.
Sleep had evaded me all night long, my body, mind and soul racing after I crept back into Bell House. Nothing helped bring me down, not the warm shower, the hot tea or my soft feather bed. I was full to bursting with all the things I had seen, the words Emma Catherine had spoken and the sight of Wyn walking away in the shadows. The sun was barely over the horizon when I gave up on sleep altogether and took myself downstairs to make an admittedly terrible breakfast for Ashley and me, never eating a single bite. I’d half-expected Wyn to be waiting for me on the doorstep but there was no sign of him and I’d had no word from Jackson to say that they’d been in touch. Perhaps he got Jackson’s message and drove straight here to make sure I was OK. Perhaps he thought it was too late to call by the time he got into town. It was wishful thinking. Wyn could’ve flown in on the wings of an eagle at four in the morning and he still would’ve climbedright up the magnolia tree outside my room and knocked on my window. Whatever reason he had for not letting me know he was back in Savannah, it was known to him and him alone. For now.
The girl reflected back at me in the Powells’ front door was far from a proper little lady, come calling on her friend. My hair was a matted mess from where I’d attempted to sleep on it wet, and my meagre makeup skills were no match for the dark circles under my eyes. Possibly I could’ve chosen a nicer outfit than a baggy T-shirt and running shorts, but fashion wasn’t super high on my current list of priorities. Perhaps Emma Catherine was right and answers only led to more questions, but today I was determined to cross at least a few queries off my list.
As I pressed the doorbell one more time, all the things I wanted to ask Alexandra Powell ran through my head at once, tumbling around like bingo balls. I truly didn’t know which one would escape from my mouth first. Had she been in touch with my dad all the years we’d been away? What could she tell me about my mom? Did she know about my family’s magic? Did she know aboutherfamily’s magic? A blurry figure appeared in the glass pane of the door and a shred of my anxiety escaped in a little high-pitched squeak.
‘Good morning—’ I started to say as soon as the door opened but Virginia Powell cut me off before I could finish.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, half hidden behind the door, eyes downcast. ‘This is not a good time for visitors. I shall let Lydia know you stopped by.’
‘But she told me to come,’ I said, trying to jam my arm into the sliver of space between the door and the wall.
Not once did her eyes meet mine, rather they stayed on the ground then skirted up to the sky, looking anywhere other than at me.
‘I know it’s still early,’ I said, though she was already dressed. ‘But Lydia said I should stop by and meet her mom.’
‘Then she misspoke.’ Virginia’s words were as cool as her manners. ‘Both Alexandra and Lydia are otherwise occupied.’
‘Otherwise occupied?’ I repeated. ‘Do you know what time they’ll be free? Is Lyds here? Can I just see her for a moment?’
If I sounded desperate it was because I was.
Finally, Virginia’s eyes found mine, a watery blue that complemented her greying blonde hair, but her usual fragile composure had been replaced with a steely determination I’d never seen on her before.
‘No.’
‘No?’
‘No,’ she said again. ‘Miss Bell, neither my daughter nor my granddaughter will be home to you today or tomorrow or the day after that. Neither will my grandson, for that matter. So I would ask that you stay away from my house.’
‘Stay away?’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. ‘But why?’
