And now, with Valerie missing, it felt the same, the floor dropping out from under me all over again. Like I could lose someone else.
I scrubbed a hand over my face and forced myself forward. Valerie had said I drained her. That she didn't need saving, especially not from me. But we don’t always get what we want. And right now, what Valerie wanted didn’t matter. Not until she was planted in a lounge chair, sipping a tequila sunrise with a bowl of cherries in her lap, spitting insults in my face.
Not until I found her.
Chapter 8
Valerie
The falls were beautiful,but whatever enchantment ran through the crystal-clear waters hadn’t worked on me. My toes dangled in the current as I stared up at the majestic scene. A curtain of white water spilled over the cliffs, and mist rose in cool ribbons that glittered like frost on a windowpane. Droplets clung to the ferns like tiny glass ornaments strung along the rocks, and red flowers dotted among the greenery.
Leave it to our tropical island to look like a winter wonderland, baking in the sun.
A chilly gust threaded through the palms, as if the island read my thoughts. But it wasn’t snow about to fall from the gray clouds overhead. Grant’s superficial weather report from last night had been right. It was going to rain, and unease told me it was time to head back.
I’d hiked out at dawn, full of purpose, certain this ritual would fix my glitch. But it hadn’t. I’d done exactly what the stories said, wading up to my knees in the current and whispering the spell. Nothing happened. I still felt the same: off-balance, drained. Not just my energy, but my faith in my magic.
The longer I stood there, the sillier I felt. Now my toes were numb, along with my heart.
“This isn’t checkmate,” I told the falls, pulling my feet out of the water and shoving them back into my shoes. “I’m not giving up. There are plenty of other things to try.”
I still had my magic, what was left of it, anyway. My enthusiasm, however? That was questionable. I didn’t have a solid backup plan. But before I'd left for this retreat, I'd jotted down the number for a twelve-day hex-detox smoothie kit I saw on a late-night infomercial.
So I could start there.
Hopefully, they had a strawberry-banana flavor. But realistically, a hex-detox probably tasted like mushrooms and vinegar.
I wrinkled my nose and dusted the dirt off my shorts. Maybe they offered a three-day concentrated emergency kit. Because with the waterfall failure, I was definitely veering into emergency territory.
Taking a sip of water and then slinging my pack over my shoulder, I eyed the trail leading back to the resort. Grant was probably furious that I’d ditched him for breakfast, and cursing my name through the mandatory meditation circle. Which, honestly, the word mandatory kind of defeated the appeal of meditation. But that was beside the point.
My romance-starved brain, apparently, didn’t care what the point was, because the moment I thought of Grant, last night’s near-kiss flashed like lightning behind my eyes. If I kept them closed, I could still see the look in his eyes when he'd been a second away from kissing me. Mixed somewhere in all that fire and smoke between us, there was something else. Something that hummed with magic, not malice, and might’ve been the spark we needed, if we weren’t both so sure we’d get burned.
When was the last time I’d felt like that? Not some innocent infatuation or the warm buzz of attraction, but true intensity? Desire so strong it clouded my judgment.
I shook my head hard and forced my eyes wide open.
Oh, hell no.
I was not spiraling over a maybe-kiss, that definitely would have sucked—obviously—with the man who had aValerie Spellman is the Worstchecklist.
My teeth sank into my bottom lip.
I did love a good checklist, though.
No. Focus!I already had my excuse lined up for missing this morning's activities: food poisoning.
If I left now, I could still make it back in time for our bowling challenge to rise from my fictional, spoiled-shrimp ashes and lead our team to victory. Maybe I'd score a few more points with the board while I was at it.
I took my first step toward the trail, only to freeze when something tickled my shoulder. My head turned slowly, like I was the next victim in a horror movie about to face the monster—and what a monster it was. A beetle the size of a peppermint candy clung to my skin like it had hitched a ride back to the resort.
“Nope!” I yelped, hopping in a circle, arms flailing as I tried to shake it off without actually touching it. The beetle held on through my screeches and frantic aerobics, and for a split second, I considered throwing myself into the falls.
Bad idea.But try telling my bug-phobic brain that.
I doubled over, wildly wiping my shoulders and raking my fingers through my hair.Dear God, don’t let it be in my hair.
Finally, the beetle plopped to the forest floor and scurried under a leaf. My knees buckled with relief, and I let out a shaky laugh.
