I reached into a small leather sack that Kaylee held. My fingers curled around the cool grainy powder inside. A trail of dark particles followed my hand as I moved it closer to the bowl.
This was it: my spirit-being-aura—whatever you wanted to call it—was about to be cast to the nearest witch. It was a good thing I liked him.
“So I will it, so mote it be!” I threw the powder into the bowl. Sparks and flames erupted, burning the notebook paper. Its ashes drifted upward like snowflakes in reverse.
Isaac held his hand inches from the bowl. “So she wills it, so mote it be!”
The ashes swirled higher. The gnarly fingers of the flames twisted into a braid that Isaac sliced in half with his hand, like a sword through rope, leaving a small fire to finish off the herbs.
“It’s done,” Josh said.
“How do you feel?” Kaylee asked, squinting at me as if she didn’t recognize me.
I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, relaxing only when I saw I looked exactly the same as I had before we’d cast the spell. Thankful that I hadn’t gone three shades paler by messing with my aura, I returned to the circle and chastised Kaylee for worrying me.
“Stop looking at me as if I’ve grown roots.”
She closed the pouch and admitted, “I was sort of expecting to see a part of you drift away to Isaac or something. I don’t know.”
“I feel fine. Relieved, actually. Reed really messed with my head yesterday.”
So much so that I’d dreamed I was on my deathbed, begging Reed to take away the pain, only I’d waited too long. He’d lost interest in me and came to say goodbye. I had woken in a cold sweat, afraid to go back to sleep yet unable to keep my eyes open. I remembered bits and pieces of the dreams that followed: walking into an abyss, Natalie welcoming me to Sanctus, looking in a mirror to find I had pointy ears that poked out from beneath my hair, Chase with slanted eyes, Dad laughing hysterically as he ate the candy in the bright wrappers, Isaac unable to look at me. The memories of the nightmares were awful.
I hugged my stomach and reminded myself that I had woken exhausted but without the cravings. With Reed gone, my mind no longer felt as if it was swimming in my skull. And now, there was no way he’d hurt me again.
We left the candle to burn. The spell would be even stronger once it was a tiny nub.
Kaylee drove me home shortly after eleven.
“You sure you’re going to be okay?” she asked from the driver’s seat of the MINI.
“Positive. Besides, I’ve got Isaac’s hocus-pocus looking out for me. I’ll be fine.”
She bit the side of her lower lip. “You’ll call if Reed shows up?”
I touched my hemp bracelet. “I promise I will.”
I gave her a hug and jogged up the walk. Once inside, I quietly locked and deadbolted the front door and went upstairs, hoping Brea had come back and praying she’d help me get rid of Reed once and for all.
Except Brea wasn’t in my room. I hadn’t seen her since I’d discovered who Reed was.
I plopped down on my bed. I had a lot of questions for her. Like why hadn’t she told me her brother was here or that he’d been behind Natalie’s disappearance? Was she helping him? Was that why she’d stopped coming by? Did she feel guilty? Were Fae even able to feel remorse? Was it really too late for Natalie?
I considered summoning Brea but didn’t know what I’d do if she was in league with Reed. While I wanted to believe she was a friend and wasn’t helping her brother, there was the possibility I was wrong. The longer she stayed away, the more I started to think Isaac was right: no matter what the answers were to my questions, she couldn’t be trusted.
All I could do, then, was take advantage of her absence. And I knew exactly how to manipulate Reed into helping me do just that.
Chapter 18
“It’s foolproof,” I said to Isaac, Josh, and Kaylee the next morning. We were in the student parking lot about ten minutes before class started.
“How is standing in your house, calling Reed’s name foolproof?” Josh asked, incredulously.
“How do you even know he’ll hear you?” Kaylee added, hand on her hip.
“I caught a whiff of him in the kitchen.” I shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal, even though I knew it was a huge one.
Kaylee’s eyes bugged out. Josh’s expression hardened. Isaac punched the trunk of the Mustang.
“Dude!” Josh pointed to the fist-sized dent in his car.
“Sorry.” Isaac rested his hand over the damage he’d inflicted. Vanilla and spearmint filled the air around us, and the metal pushed outward with a muffled groan. When Isaac lifted his hand, there wasn’t even a blemish visible.
I quickly defended my plan. “I knew he was in the kitchen, but I didn’t get lightheaded. That’s good, right? It means our unity spell works.” Of course, I hadn’t stuck around long enough to find out what would happen if I’d spent more than a few minutes in the same room with him. “I won’t be in danger.” I hoped.
“You’re planning on lying to him!” Isaac said. “The moment he realizes that, you’ll be in mortal danger. Madison, right now he’s playing nice. Upset him and you will bring out his evil side.”
“He brought out his evil side when he kidnapped Natalie,” I hissed. I waited for a group of sophomores to walk by us before continuing. “By the time he realizes it’s a trick, he’ll be gone. Guys, that’s what so clever about my plan. I’m asking him to bring Natalie by for a visit, and in return I’m agreeing to give him something he wants.”
“Yeah, because telling him you’ll be his date at that winter solstice thing is a good idea,” Kaylee scoffed.
“This will work.”
Isaac folded his arms over his chest. “If you agree to go to the celebration, why bring Natalie here? Why not just take you to see her when you’re in Sanctus?”
“The solstice is over a week away, and I’m asking to talk to her
“
“And if Reed’s stupid enough not to realize it’s a trap,” Isaac said.
“And if he doesn’t manage to mess with your mind again,” Kaylee so helpfully added.
“There are too many ifs. I don’t like it.” Whether Isaac realized it or not, his powers gripped me in a protective bubble.
I rested my hand on his arm and said in a gentle tone, “It’s a plan. The only one we have. It’s worth trying.”
Three very skeptical faces watched me. I could tell they hated that my strategy didn’t include them, but I had to do this myself. There was no way Reed would show himself if they were with me when I called him. And since I didn’t need them to close the door I’d opened, that really wasn’t a problem.
“You can wait at Kaylee’s,” I said. “She lives three minutes away from me.”
Finally, they agreed.
We got back in our vehicles and left before the first bell. Isaac drove up my block at a crawl until we could clearly see that my dad’s red pickup truck wasn’t in the driveway.
Before I could hop out of the Jeep, Isaac grabbed my hand and said, “Promise that you’ll call at the first sign of trouble. No hesitating, no thinking you can handle Reed on your own.”
“I promise.” I wasn’t trying to be the hero. I just wanted to correct the mistake I’d made and move on.
Isaac leaned closer and kissed me. His hand slid to the back of my head, holding me close. I tucked my
