Page 147 of The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I never meant to put that on you.” Sara looked down at her feet, ashamed. “To me, the Magical Destiny, the Volta, the Blue Moon, were gifts I wanted to pass down to you. This whole time, I thought I was supporting your dreams, but I was really forcing my dreams on you! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know for a long time that I was allowed to dream of anything other than my Magical Destiny,” Talula said quietly. “Deep down, I was too scared of disappointing you to talk about it. That’s one of the reasons I’ve had a hard time being open with you about relationships. I thought that because you weren’t pursuing love, it meant that I couldn’t either. Not until I could measure up to you. I’ve been crazy about Dahlia for months now, but I was too afraid you’d tell me I wasn’t good enough. Or that she was too big a risk for our magical mission.”

“Oh no.” Sara shook her head adamantly. “My dear one, I never meant for you to be like me in the romance department.”

“You didn’t?”

“No, not in the least! And for good reason, trust me.” Sara slumped in her chair. “But I understand. I was setting an example, and children follow their parents’ lead. I had no idea the message I was sending, and I feel foolish for not being clearer with you.”

“Then why didn’t you look for love?” Talula asked with open curiosity.

“I’ve had many loves, far before your time. But after a while, I stopped looking for a life partner because, well…my life just goes on and on.” Sara skimmed a hand over her veiled hair. “Though I did find my first gray hair the other day. I think the last few weeks may have actually managed to age me.”

Talula laughed at that.

Sara turned to Talula with a soft smile. “When you came into my life, my extraordinary, one-and-only progeny, you were all that I cared about. From the moment I knew you were going to exist, you have been the greatest magic I’ve ever done. I didn’t want to waste a minute on anyone or anything else that wasn’t as important as you are to me. As your happiness is to me.”

“So if I choose a different path than the one you envisioned for me, you won’t be disappointed?” Talula was sure she knew what the answer would be, but she asked the question anyway. The small part of her that was still that uncertain child needed to hear it.

“My wonderful, beautiful, brilliant daughter.” Sara held both of Talula’s hands, her eyes shining. “You could never disappoint me. You deserve good things not because of any purpose you serve. You are deserving just because you are.”

Tears of relief filled Talula’s eyes as weight lifted off her chest. “Even if I don’t want a Magical Destiny?”

“What you don’t want is just as important as what you do want, light of my life.” Sara brushed a tear away from Talula’s cheek. “And I will love you, just as you are, unconditionally, from the bottom of my heart. Always. I will be sorry for an eternity that I didn’t show you that sooner.”

Sara leaned over to wrap her arms around Talula. Talula leaned into the hug, feeling warmth and strength.

“I love you, Mom,” Talula murmured. “I need to do a better job of telling you what’s important to me and standing up for what I want. And I need you to do a better job of listening. Can you do that?”

“Can I do that? Can I do that?” Sara’s voice became mischievous. She loosened her hold on Talula to raise a perfect brow at her daughter. “Who unhexed the rabid werebear of the Deathless Forest?”

Talula rolled her eyes. “You.”

“Who unionized the kikimoras of Montenegro?”

“Why do we always have to do this?”

“Who tamed the haunted wildebeest of the sacred mung bean fields?”

“Wait, I thought Simon—”

“He helped. And who taught you how to tie your shoes?”

“Mom,” Talula groaned with a chuckle.

“If I can do those things”—Sara stared straight into Talula’s hazel eyes—“it would be my privilege to do a better job listening. Now, what would you like to talk about?”

Talula smiled, her heart lighter than it had been in years. “Everything.”

36

A few weeks later, when the wreckage was clear and she was a bit more healed, Talula visited the remains of the Blue Moon. She still had questions about what had happened to her on Samhain, and there was only one place to find answers. Simon—who’d been glued to Talula’s side since Samhain—went with her.

“It’s not pretty,” he warned her.

It wasn’t. The debris had mostly been cleared away, shoved aside by bulldozers. The place where the Blue Moon once stood was just bare, rumpled earth. But Talula knew better.

She tapped into her earth affinity and opened up the ground. There, the raw Volta simmered, a wellspring of shining, depthless blue magic. She left Simon fretting by the sidewalk and, as if she were slipping into a pool, Talula sank into the Volta.