Sophie is lost. “What is going on?”
Barbara’s face cracks into a tiny smile. “It’s obvious, hun. Joey here has just turned back time.”
69Joey
To her credit, it doesn’t take long for Sophie to absorb the whole story.
“You justleftme there?” she says in mock fury, but then her face breaks out into a torment of worry. “Let’s go over the plan one more time so I know what I’m doing.”
She looks nervous, so Joey repeats what she thinks would be the best approach. Slow and quiet, so they can get Elena’s attention without alerting Cal. This seems to be enough for Sophie, and they don’t waste any more time talking.
The spell circle is wet, and a little pool has formed in the center, somehow giving what they’re about to do more reverence. They take their seats anyway, both of them too frantic with what’s at stake to worry about the rain. Joey waited for Sophie’s doubt, to hear hesitation in her voice when she told her she’d done magic without the book. But Sophie had given her a supportive nod and just said, sagely, “Intuition.”
Now, Joey is nervous that it’s somehow going to fail her. It might not work a second time. It may have just been a fluke. But when she looks over at Sophie, she sees resolve. She tries to imitate that feelingand finds herself being filled up with the magic. She closes her eyes and speaks out loud.
Within seconds, before Joey has any time to think about whether it worked or to worry that it didn’t, the trees whisper. The sound is almost like a melody, and it soothes Joey’s ears. It’s beautiful, she realizes, when the trees whisper. There is nothing that could sound any more like magic. She thinks she hears the faint sound of Sophie laughing, and honestly, Joey feels like doing it too. But she doesn’t. She concentrates, listens, and then repeats the incantation the trees are whispering.
It takes time, but Joey doesn’t doubt that it works. Not this time. She knows with all the cells in her body that she has command over this magic. The trees have been here this whole time, and they haven’t been agnostic like she’d always thought. They have only been silent because no one asked for their help.
And then, just before she opens her eyes, she feels it. There’s a book in her hands. A weathered cover she hasn’t felt in a long time. Tears prick at her eyes and her face feels hot.
“You did it,” says Sophie. A summoning spell. Without the book.
“He’s going to notice,” says Joey, standing and wrapping the book in a wet bag and stuffing it into her trail running backpack. She reaches down for Sophie’s hands. “Time to go.”
70Elena
The rain is really coming down. Elena is looking out the window, her senses heightened by a spark of something she hasn’t felt in a while. Excitement. She finally,finallyfeels like she’s on track. She tries to imagine what Gael will say about this role that’s fallen in her lap, and she doesn’t know, but it will be perfect, whatever it is. She wants to thank Cal too. Thank him for what he’s done for her because he really does have no idea. But she won’t gush. That’s not her style.
Cal is mixing drinks in the kitchen, and he’s put music on to signify that the work is done, and now it’s time to reward themselves. She looks up to see his reflection in the glass. He buries himself in the refrigerator.
Past the reflection, she sees something moving outside. A person. No, two people. They’re coming closer. Elena’s heart leaps into her throat. She cups her hands around her eyes and presses up against the window. What the hell?
Joey is sprinting, hunched over, toward the front door. Sophie is right behind her. They both throw a finger to their lips.Shhh.Elena has no idea what is going on, but she gets the sense that they do, so she spins slowly to look at Cal out of the corner of her eye. He’s still doingsomething with his back to her. She creeps along the wall and behind the staircase to reach the front door and pulls it open. Rain splashes on her shoes, and she pulls her friends inside.
Sophie reaches out and touches Elena’s sleeve. “Thank god,” she whispers, and she looks desperate, relieved.
“Listen to me,” says Joey as quietly as possible. Her eyes are wide and flecked with fear, and seeing this is what finally makes Elena realize something serious is going on. Joey is looking around. “Where is he?”
“In the kitchen,” whispers Elena. She feels Joey’s hand on her wrist. She pulls, but Elena yanks her hand away. “What’s going on?”
“He’s dangerous, okay?” Joey reaches for her again, but she doesn’t tug this time. “He murdered Quinn as a blood sacrifice so he could steal the magic, and he’s going to try to kill you tonight for that same reason.”
Elena frowns, confusion jumbling her thoughts.
“Please, Elena. We’ll explain everything. Right now, we have to go.” Sophie’s now tugging on Elena’s arm.
Elena only has a minute or so before Cal comes back with the drinks. She doesn’t know if it’s the lack of Sophie’s typical positivity that does it or Joey’s uncharacteristic frenzy, but she suddenly knows what they say is true. She can feel the truth moving through her, slipping along with the blood in her veins. There’s an echo of something, a memory or a dream, that calcifies her thoughts. He’s dangerous. Elena knows this. She didn’t realize it before, but suddenly, unequivocally, she does.
And then she just feels rage. “I’m not going anywhere,” she says.
Their faces drop.
“You say he stole our best friend, that he drove the rest of us apart, and you think he desecrated our magic.” Elena doesn’t ask this. She is just laying out the facts as she sees them. They both nod. Joey cranes her neck to try to see beyond the staircase. Elena continues, “But you want to let him get away with it?”
“No,” says Joey in a whisper-yell. “We’ll go now and deal with him later. Let’s just get somewhere safe.”
“I saidI’m not going anywhere,” she says, wrenching her arm free of Joey’s grip. “Quinn deserves fucking justice.” Joey and Sophie are apparently speechless. The seconds are ticking away, and there are no more sounds coming from the kitchen.
