Boone deposited me on the stoop, waiting while I unlocked the door.
Turning, I couldn’t quite meet his gaze. “I, uh…”
Reaching out, he brushed his fingers across my collarbone. Shying away slightly, I blushed when he tugged the pendant out of my top and rested it in his palm.
“Did it work?” he asked.
“I…” Plucking it from his grasp, I curled my hand around the quartz point and felt a hum vibrate through my skin. “I think so.”
He smiled, the air still tense between us, or it just might’ve been my own embarrassment. After an awkward moment, he stepped down onto the path.
“Stay safe,” he said, backing along the gravel between the lavender bushes. “I’ll keep an eye out.”
Tightening my grip on the quartz, I watched him disappear through the garden and around the corner onto the main road. Why was I so stupid?
Opening my palm, I frowned when I saw the clear crystal had taken on a lemony hue. Its core was tinged with a golden thread that only seemed to deepen the longer I stared at it. I guess the spell worked, after all.
Closing myself in the cottage, I hoped it was worth the hassle.
Chapter 15
Playing with the golden crystal hanging around my neck, I stared out the window of Irish Moon, mesmerized by another waxing crescent.
Outside, Boone was helping Mrs. Boyle weed her garden, his ass sticking up in the air. When I said Mrs. Boyle was helping, it was in the minimalist way possible. She was leaning against her weapon of choice—her broom—watching him do all the hard work. One eye was on the garden, the other was on the street, watching for children to chase.
Sometimes, I wondered why she lived in the center of town if she didn’t like people that much. Only last week she clocked a poor schoolboy over the head with the end of her best straw broom. Then, when his mother came to waggle her finger at the old lady, she got a whack to match that of her son.
Mairead stood beside me and followed my gaze. Boone’s ass was up in the air as he bent over to pull out a stubborn root, and for a guy who could morph into a tabby cat, it was pretty damn fine.
“Lovely view this mornin’,” she declared, causing my mouth to fall open.
“Mairead!”
“So… Are you and Boone…” She raised her eyebrows.
“No,” I shot back a little too quickly. “Boone and I are just friends.”
Just friends, who’ve had too many almost-kiss moments and shared an outlandish secret no one would understand.
“Yeah, right,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You need a bib you’re droolin’ so much.”
“Don’t tell me you saw him first because the age difference is phenomenal.”
“Age has nothin’ to do with it!”
“Age is a legality, Mairead.”
She pouted. “Age of consent is seventeen, so there! Anyway, I’m eighteen in August.”
“And you’ll be in Dublin by then with a whole University full of hot men your own age.”
“You’re only sayin’ that because you want him for yourself.”
“I’m only saying it because it’s true. You want to see the world, yeah?” She nodded. “If there’s one thing I know about Boone it’s that he’s probably never going to leave Derrydun anytime soon. Do you want to be stuck here for the rest of your life for a pretty face?”
Mairead screwed her nose up. “I hate you.”
“You love me,” I declared, turning back to the window. “A crush is some harmless fun, but a relationship…” I sighed.
“What?” the girl asked behind me. “Have you had your heart broken by some Australian surfer guy?”
“Not everyone in Australia surfs,” I said, rolling my eyes. “That’s a cliché.”
“Whatever. So? Did you?”
Looked like I wasn’t going to get out of her cross-examination anytime soon. Turning away from the window and Boone’s display outside, I rounded the counter and sat behind the till.
“Yeah,” I said. “Right before I came here.”
“What did he do?”
“He didn’t do anything,” I replied, taking out the tarot cards. “Sometimes, people grow apart.”
“But you weren’t expectin’ it, right?”
“What’s with the good cop, bad cop, Mairead?” I demanded, shuffling the cards.
I hadn’t thought about Alex for over a month, and I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved about it. We’d been serious, like weeks away from saying the L-word to one another kind of serious. Now that life felt like a dream, and it was already fading.
“Just tryin’ to figure you out.”
“There’s nothing to get,” I said, pulling a card from the deck. The Star. I felt better about this one and the having faith part now.
“So are you goin’ to stay? After the summer, I mean.”
I set the tarot cards down and sighed. I guess I was stuck here now that I knew I was a witch with a mystical sacred duty to the village. It wasn’t so bad. Was it?
Thinking about yesterday’s stupid episode at the tower house, I cringed. Nothing had shown up, but it had only been a day since Boone found me asleep in the meadow. There was still time to kill everyone with my stupidity.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I guess I’m staying.”
“So… Will you need some help in the holidays?”
Her face was lit up with such an innocent look of hope, despite the black lipstick she’d worn today. I nodded.
“Sure,” I replied. “I guess.”
There was no running from destiny.
* * *
It was a long day behind the counter at Irish Moon.
Three busloads of tourists shuffled around Derrydun and tramped through the store, buying up crystals, handmade wind chimes, books, and knickknacks, feeding the till. It was a fantastic day for takings, but my nerves were shot.
I didn’t like looking over my shoulder for an enemy I wasn’t even sure was coming.
By the time I made it back to the cottage, I was on edge. Thankfully, there had been no fae sightings among my customers, nor had there been any twisted and craggy monsters roaming about the
