“Any kind of object.” Shanna met his eyes. “But maybe it doesn’t even have to be an object. It could be an idea, or—”
“A person.”
In unison, they looked at Chris.
“What?” she said, crossing her hands in front of her chest.
“The Mercurial Crystal is made through an investment of two people in it,” Shanna murmured. “An investment of soul and heart. Of love.”
“Yeah, but, I don’t—” Chris’s objection was interrupted when Shanna buried her in a hug.
“It’s you,” Shanna said. “You’re our Mercurial Crystal.”
“I refuse to be objectified,” Chris said, but with more smile than bite in her voice.
“We can finish the ritual. With you.” Shanna extended a hand to Simon and drew him into the hug, sandwiching Chris.
“In death made, in life broken,” she whispered.
“In death made, in life broken,” Chris repeated.
“In death made, in life broken.” Simon intertwined his fingers with Shanna, letting their tattoos touch.
It began as barely palpable heat, spreading from that touch as they repeated the words. Then, suddenly, his wrist blazed up,as if the tattoo had turned into pure flame, even though on the surface, no change was visible.
“Hold on.” Shanna gripped his fingers tighter.
The heat was so strong Simon thought it would turn his bones to ash. The coiled design of the tattoo unwrapped itself, turned a fiery red, then a dull brown, and slowly faded as the scorching subsided.
“Did you do it?” Chris asked.
It took a moment for Shanna to slip out of his fingers, as if she didn’t want to lose the contact. But she moved away eventually; to the end of the terrace, and then beyond onto the gravel pathway leading from the resort toward the lake.
Fifteen feet. She stepped further away. Thirty, fifty—a hundred. Simon waited for the tug on his wrist, but it stayed undisturbed, his arm hanging limply by his side. It felt wrong and right at the same time, and Simon’s legs twitched as if, subconsciously, he wanted to go after her.Don’t leave me. Stay.
Shanna came back. “It’s done,” she said. “We’re free.”
He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. “Well done, witch.”
When Simon woke up the next morning, Shanna wasn’t in bed next to him. He squinted for a moment, confused, before he remembered the bond was gone.
It was, in a way, the end of the journey. He could return home now. Only three weeks ago, he wanted nothing else but to be free of the bond. He wanted to rush back to San Francisco and brute-force his way back to the truth, if necessary. But some time in between, those three weeks became timeless, and the memories of the time before New Zealand felt as if they were coming from years ago. And he owed it all to Shanna. She’d more than saved his life, in a literal sense. She gave it a new meaning, too.
His stomach churned at the thought of the messy knot he still needed to untangle. He hadn’t checked on his company since the disaster in Ross, but he should do so. Perhaps he’d see no news. Perhaps Everett was only lurking at the moment, giving Simon a few extra days of vacation. Time to talk with Shanna and ask her what she wanted to do.
Ask her if she’d want to stay his wife.
He turned over in bed and reached for his phone to check the news. He swiped away weather forecasts and clickbait titles about actors found doing scandalous stuff and searched for Aries. He’d already seen those articles, about the new line of phones and his death…
Will Dean Everett’s crucial presentation secure his title as Aries’s new CEO?
Simon shot up as his heart jumped into his throat.
***
Mom’s actions were harder to comprehend than the desires of some witches to reach for shadow work. Shanna had been mulling over the clues since the early hours of the morning. Now, the sun had risen, but she paid little mind to the terrace’s scenic view of the snowcapped mountains, melding against the pale blue sky.
Mom knew Shanna would one day come here. She knew she’d be with someone else—Simon. And she might have known about Chris, too; the letter referred to a solution to her curse, and that had to be Chris. Was that why she destroyed the bracelet? Because she knew Shanna wouldn’t need it?
