Spells

make sense that we should do this exact same thing with such drastically different results. At the very least they should be similar.”

“This isn’t physics, David; it’s not science. It works for me because I’m a Fall faerie, and that’s the end of the explanation. Well,” she said, taking the tube from David, “it almost works.”

“But, why?”

“I don’t know!” Laurel said in exasperation.

“Well, do you blow it in a certain way? Is there a technique I can’t see?” David asked, not catching her tone at all.

“No. What you see is what I’m doing. No secret method or whatever.”

“Then what am I doing wrong?”

“What are you doing wrong?” Laurel laughed cynically. “David, I don’t even know what I’m doing wrong!” She slumped down on her bed. “In Avalon, I spent an hour every day for the last three weeks practicing blowing glass vials. And I haven’t managed to make a single one without breaking it. Not a single one!”

David joined her on the bed. “An hour every day?”

Laurel knew he was wondering if practice would help him blow vials too, but at least he didn’t say it. “My instructors keep telling me that if I’ve studied the components and the procedures, my intuition should do the rest, but that hasn’t worked yet.”

“So you’re just supposed to know what to do?”

“That’s what they keep saying.”

“Like…instinct?”

At that Laurel flopped down on her back, a frustrated breath whooshing out of her. “Oh man, instinct, that’s like the F-word in Avalon. Yeardley kept telling me, ‘You are trying to rely on instinct, you need to trust your intuition instead.’ But I looked up those two words and they mean the exact same thing.”

David lay down beside her and she rolled over, snuggling into the crook of his arm, her hand draped across his chest. How had she lived without this for eight weeks? “It’s just so frustrating. Everyone my age in Avalon is so far ahead of me. And they’re just getting farther ahead. Right this minute!” She sighed. “I’m never going to catch up.”

“Sure you will,” David said softly, his lips tickling her neck. “You’ll figure things out.”

“No, I won’t,” Laurel said sullenly.

“Yes, you will,” David repeated, his nose touching hers. His arms tightened around her waist and Laurel couldn’t help but smile.

“Thanks,” she said.

She closed her eyes, waiting for his kiss, but a rap on the doorway made her head jerk up.

“Can you at least not make out on your bed while I’m home?” Laurel’s mom said dryly. “You know, pretend you’re following the rules.”

David had already shot to his feet and stepped about three feet from the bed.

Laurel dragged herself up slowly. “I did leave the door open,” she said.

“Oh, good,” her mom responded. “Can’t wait to see what’s going on next time I walk by. I’m heading to the store,” she continued before Laurel could respond. “I want both of you to come downstairs, please.”

Laurel watched her mom walk away, wearing a nice skirt and blouse, with a very businessy-looking bag on her shoulder. Just one of the many changes that had greeted Laurel on her return from Avalon.

The first one had been awesome. David had driven Laurel back from the land yesterday and pulled into her driveway beside a black Nissan Sentra, complete with a red bow. “I figure, since you’re responsible for our current financial situation, you should reap some benefit from it,” her dad had said with a laugh as Laurel squealed and hugged him. The diamond Jamison had given Laurel last year to prevent her parents from selling their land had covered more than just her dad’s medical bills. But Laurel had not anticipated such a personal perk.

The second big change was one she knew about. Her parents had decided to renovate their very small house by adding on a rec room — with lots of big windows for Laurel — and enlarging the kitchen. Laurel’s being away for the summer had struck them as the perfect opportunity. The work was supposed to be done by the time she got back, but the first thing Laurel did after walking in the door yesterday was trip over a bunch of tools. The contractors promised to be out by the end of the week, but Laurel had her doubts.

The most drastic change, though, came as an even bigger surprise than her car. In the spring, Laurel’s dad had acquired some shop space next to his bookstore, intending to expand his store. But shortly after Laurel left for Avalon her parents decided to open a new store, instead — a naturopathy store for her mom. Nature’s Cure — which had opened just before Laurel got home — sold homemade remedies and a wide array of vitamins, herbs, and natural foods, as well as a nice selection of health and wellness books provided by the lovely bookstore next door. With all the time they both spent at their stores, her parents actually saw each other more now than ever before in their marriage.

Which is great! Laurel told herself. After all, her mom should have something like this that was all her own. But in Laurel’s absence her mom had grown…distant. Her dad couldn’t seem to hear enough about Avalon, but during those discussions her mom would suddenly remember something she needed to do in another room. Laurel felt like the new store presented an additional avenue of escape; in the twenty-four hours Laurel had been home, she’d only seen her mom for a short dinner and once or twice as she rushed in and out on errands.

She sighed and stood from the bed. “Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

“Yeah, but…” David gestured at the glass-making supplies on Laurel’s desk.

“I’m done for today,” Laurel said. “Let’s go do something fun. We’ve only got a few days before school starts again.” Laurel pulled him toward the door. “My mom made cinnamon rolls this morning,” she added, trying to give him incentive.

He let Laurel drag him away this time, but not before giving the desk a long look.

In the kitchen David pulled a cinnamon roll from the pan and slathered it with cream cheese frosting. As he bit into it, he turned toward the large kitchen window — a new addition Laurel was quite fond of.

“I haven’t seen Chelsea yet. Should we call her and see if she wants to watch a movie or something tonight?” Laurel secured the plastic wrap back over the bowl of frosting. The smell always made her a touch nauseated.

“Sure, if she’s not hanging out with Ryan.”

“Ryan?” Laurel asked, stowing the frosting in the fridge. “Tall Ryan?”

“Yep.”

“Are they, like, together?”

“Chelsea’s been a bit closedmouthed about it — if you can imagine — but if they’re not together now, they will be soon. Maybe you can worm something out of her.”

“Maybe. That’s weird.” Not that Chelsea would have a boyfriend — Laurel was way excited about that — but that she would choose Ryan. Tall, gangly Ryan, who didn’t talk a lot and was particularly unobservant. Laurel was all for the idea that opposites attract, but maybe there was such a thing as too opposite.

And then, of course, there was the issue that Chelsea had been enamored with David for the last several years. But if she was over him now then, hey, all the better.

They were silent for several minutes, David finishing off his cinnamon roll and Laurel staring out the picture window, thinking about Chelsea. Finally David swallowed his last bite and took a deep breath. “I thought I saw Barnes yesterday, just before coming to pick you up.”

An icy shudder of fear clutched at Laurel’s chest. “You thought?”

“Yeah, wasn’t him. It was just that guy who runs the bowling alley.”

“Oh, I took a double take at him a few months ago too.” Her laughter was tense, and it died away completely when she saw David’s face.

“Why hasn’t he come back, Laurel?” he asked quietly.

Laurel shook her head as she looked out the picture window at the woods behind her house. She wondered just how many faeries were living there, watching her right at this moment. Maybe now was the time to talk to David about her conversation with Jamison. “I don’t know,” she said, putting it off a little longer.

“We ruined his plans. Big, big plans. And he knows where you live.”