‘If I could just know he was OK.’
Reaching deep inside, I tried to see our connection, trust the blessing, know it was there. All the things Catherine and theancestors told me to do. Still nothing. Without our golden string tying me down, I didn’t know what to do, which direction to turn. Something or someone had pulled on our thread and the whole tapestry was unravelling faster than I could stitch it back together.
‘A more cynical person might suggest it’s not real trust if you’ve always got to have eyes on him,’ Ashley said. ‘Eyes, magical connection, an AirTag – same difference. And you do trust him, right? Completely and utterly beyond a shadow of a doubt and I’ll never ever ask you this again I swear it on my own life?’
I thought of the second wolf I’d imagined on the beach. Of the ash-haired shadow walking across Lafayette Square in the dead of night. And then I nodded and smiled, allowing Ashley to turn into the Stovells’ backyard in silence because anything I did say would be a lie.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
‘What is in these biscuits?’ Lydia asked as she grabbed for her third helping of breakfast the next morning. Just like she always did in times of trouble, Ashley had turned to baking to soothe her soul, filling the kitchen with so much food, we’d been forced to eat at the dining table just to find room for our plates.
‘They’re regular biscuits,’ my aunt replied, watching on while Lydia smothered honey butter all over both halves then sandwiched it back together before taking an enormous bite. ‘They haven’t changed.’
‘It’s your magic,’ I explained, wiping sleep from my eyes, still exhausted.
We hadn’t found Wyn in Hilton Head, we hadn’t found anything save a couple of white-tailed deer and an all-night doughnut shop on the way back to Savannah, and the couple of hours I’d spent tossing and turning in bed weren’t nearly enough to prepare me to deal with my newly minted witch.
‘While everything is in flux, your senses might be more overpowering than usual,’ I told her. ‘It’ll settle in a day or so, or at least it did for me.’
‘It better not. You can’t give a girl turbo-charged tastebuds then threaten to take them away.’ She piled her already crowded plate with more food: pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage patties. ‘How are you not eating constantly? I have never tasted anything so good. Jackson, you gotta try it.’
‘It’s a biscuit,’ he replied, sullen-faced. ‘How good can it be?’
His sister waited impatiently, holding out her breakfast and waiting for him to take a bite. With a disgruntled sigh, he opened his mouth and she shoved it in, making him splutter and cough.
‘See?!’ she exclaimed. ‘Isn’t it the best damn thing you ever tasted?’
‘It’s a biscuit,’ he said again, napkin held over his full mouth. ‘Excuse me.’
When he stood to leave the table, none of us made any attempt to stop him.
‘He’ll be fine,’ Lydia said, pouring maple syrup all over her plate. ‘He was exactly the same when I got my driver’s licence before he did.’
‘Sure,’ Ashley snorted. ‘Exactly the same.’
Lydia smiled at her sweetly. ‘I’d tell you to shut up but these biscuits may have changed our relationship forever.’
‘Good luck ever getting me to make them again.’
‘When you’ve finished eating and bickering,’ I started to say, wondering if that moment would ever come to pass. ‘We need to figure out how we’re going to tell your mom and your grandmother about all of this.’
Lydia dismissed my concerns with a carefree wave. ‘Don’t sweat it, I know exactly how to do it. I intend to broach the subject with the utmost tact and diplomacy.’
With an uncertain frown, I broke a biscuit in two and swiped on a smear of honey butter.
‘Really?’
‘Really!’ she replied, loud and reassuring. ‘One less thing for you to worry about.’
‘Hey y’all, did you know I’m a witch?’
Alex Powell went still and Virginia dropped her coffee cup, the precious antique rolling off the breakfast table and onto the floor where it smashed into a dozen pieces.
Hovering behind Lydia, I held up a hand as a hello but kept my mouth firmly shut.
‘Mmm, even this toast tastes amazing,’ Lydia gushed, grabbing a slice from her mother’s plate and taking a bite. ‘Em, you want some?’
‘I’m fine, thank you,’ I said, flashing my eyes at her. It was my own fault. I should’ve known better than to let it go when she said she knew what she was doing.
