I took one last glance around the camp; a place that had kept Jet and me safe. Gratitude flooded through me. With tears in my eyes, I made my way inside the tent and lay down. Pearl decided to forgive me and snuggled against my leg.
As I closed my eyes, I was filled with visions of my family. I’d known by the look on Ezra’s face that they were suffering. My heart overflowed with pain before heat engulfed me once more, turning my pain into a thirst for revenge.
‘Eva – wake up!’ said Jet as he gently shook me.
‘What? What’s wrong?’ I sat up, my senses switching to high alert.
‘Everything is okay,’ said Jet.
I slumped back on my pillow, and the reality of what the day ahead might bring flashed through my mind.
‘Come on,’ he said, passing me my jacket.
‘What’s going on?’
‘We’ve got work to do.’
I gazed through the door flap and was met with an inky sky.
‘Now? It’s okay – we have time to pack up in the morning. Come back to bed. I promise not to attack you again.’
‘Do you want to learn the curse or not?’
I sat bolt upright. ‘Really?’
‘Come on, before I change my mind,’ he said, shuffling from the tent to where Boy stood waiting.
In seconds I was beside him, slipping on my shoes.
‘Let’s go,’ he said, striding ahead into the bush.
I followed him and had to almost jog to match his long strides. He took us on a new path, which went straight up into the nearby hills. I was completely out of breath by the time we reached the apex of the tallest hill.
The light around us began to change, and I made out an old rock cairn in the middle of the small flat space where we stood.
‘Eva, I will teach you the curse, but again I beg you – please promise me that no matter what happens, no matter how bad things get, you will follow your heart – your true heart.’
I stepped towards him. ‘I’ll try, Jet – but I’m changing. What if I can’t?’
‘You wrote that note last night, didn’t you?’
‘Well, yes, but that was after I threw myself at you. I’m sorry about that – it wasn’t fair. It won’t happen again.’
Jet glanced away for a long moment before he turned back and took my hands. ‘Eva, you must know that I care for you.’
‘I know, and I’m incredibly grateful for your friendship.’
‘As I am for yours.’
Inside me, my broken heart started to hurt, as though someone were tugging at it.
‘I don’t only care for you as a friend,’ he said.
A nearby kookaburra started to warble its song to welcome in the day.
‘I know, we’re more than friends – more like best mates,’ I said. ‘How could we not be after what we’ve been through?’
Jet took a deep breath, stepped forward, closed the space between us. Then he bent down so that his lips gently touched mine. ‘My best friend and my soulmate and…’
Desire bloomed inside me as he reached for me, pulled me close and kissed me in a way that told me we were not just friends. And then he pulled away.
‘I want to be with you, Eva – not just because we’ve been stranded together and not just because we’re witches and you happen to be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. I want to be with you as your boyfriend because I love you, because I’ve always loved you.’
All around us the sky turned the colour of an apricot.
‘But you’ve been hurt, badly. I know you love Ezra and if it weren’t for his father, you would be with him now…and you may be with him again.’
In that moment, I pictured Ezra asking me to marry him – to become his partner for life. The pain, which I’d managed to lock away, broke free.
Jet dropped my hand. ‘And that’s why we can’t be together.’
Tears spilled down my face.
‘Not now,’ he said, gazing out across the view that was revealing itself in the too-beautiful morning light.
I reached out and took Jet’s hand, kissed it. ‘Don’t give up on me, okay?’
Jet grinned, dimples appearing on his face. ‘When have I ever given up on you?’
‘Well, you might – if I become the Fire Queen.’
The smile froze on Jet’s face. ‘Maybe not even then.’
I took a deep breath and dug deep, searching for the young woman capable of keeping her promise to Jet. There she was, hidden deep inside me.
‘I promise you that I will follow my heart, no matter how bad things get.’
Jet nodded before whispering, ‘Okay, I will teach you.’
My heart began thudding in my chest. I was about to learn the darkest of dark magic – the kind of magic that would make me powerful, but that could also fulfil my destiny and kill all of the goodness inside of me.
From his jacket, Jet pulled out a long black crystal.
‘For a witch to issue a killing curse, they must use the power of a black wand.’
I reached out for the wand, but Jet moved it further away.
‘For the wand to work, it must first be cleansed using the light from the sunrise and the darkness on the darkest night of the month, so tonight.’
Every part of me wanted to take hold of the wand, let its powers ooze into me.
Jet cleared his throat, and my gaze darted to his eyes. With deep creases on his forehead, he held out the wand. I stopped myself from snatching it, instead reaching out for it and taking it
