When Dagmar was satisfied with the fear she’d instilled, she turned back to me.
“Though I appreciate your attempts at helping while they were left unsupervised, Sabine,” Dagmar said, taking one last dig at the lackadaisical counselors. “Maybe do it with a bit more physical distancing, hmm?”
I gave Dagmar an awkward thumbs-up. “You got it, Daggy.”
Dagmar wrinkled her nose. “Only Iris can get away with that.”
“It sounded wrong as I said it,” I admitted sheepishly.
“You are due at the lake for your shift in two minutes,” Dagmar added, tapping her watch for emphasis. “I suggest you book it like a black cat on a hot tin roof.”
“Right, okay. Uh, bye, everyone!”
I made a point to not look back at Gwen, but I had a feeling that my antics had made her red-lipped frown turn into a smile.
20
Gwen
My heart skipped a beat when I pulled out Sabine’s note.Meet me in the boat shed at midnight.
My limbs were buzzing for the rest of the day, my chest fluttering as nerves wound my muscles tight. I lay in my bunk, staring up at the ceiling above me while I counted down the minutes. I knew whatever was about to happen between us would be incredible—and there would be no going back from it. Something would change, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to. I didn’t want to be in a coven. I didn’t want the Maple Hollow life. . . or did I? And if I did and Sabine didn’t, would we wind up being two ships in the night, swapping places, only ever able to be together for this one summer?
I slung my forearm over my eyes.Catastrophic much?
Butterflies danced low in my belly. I’d never been with a girl before. Well, unless I counted the time I’d kissed my friend on adare during sophomore year. Granted, it had been a dare thatIhad proposed because I’d really wanted to kiss her, so . . .
But everything with Sabine just felt so right. She made it easy. The way I’d just grabbed her and kissed her like I’d done it a million times before, the way she’d reciprocated without missing a beat, and now this note?
My body thrummed in anticipation of what might happen this time.
Whatever it would be, I knew I didn’t need to second-guess it. With Sabine, I could just be myself, and even if I didn’t fully understand who that was, she seemed to like it, which was such a radical notion that I couldn’t quite believe it. Normally, I felt like I was always trying to perform the role of the person my boyfriends wanted me to be, but with Sabine, I was simply me, flaws and all.
When the analog clock on the wall finally ticked to 11:52 p.m., I couldn’t contain myself any longer.
I sleuthed out of bed, using the quieting spell that Faith had shown me during our hex class. Not bothering to change out of my sleep shorts, I grabbed my new Lake Nevermore hoodie and slipped it over my crop top. Then, I picked up my shoes. I’d wait to put them on until I was outside. At least then, I could drop them in a nearby bush if I was caught and pretend I’d suddenly picked up a sleepwalking habit.
The normally creaking floorboards beneath my feet didn’t make a sound as I tiptoed out the door and into the night without so much as a change in breathing from my bunkmates.
Apparently, it was unusual for witches to be asleep before the witching hour, but at camp, they shifted to more human hours to accommodate all of the summer activities. I wondered if my night-owl tendencies all these years were actually due to the streak of the paranormal in me.
I snuck through the night, pausing when Hera flew overhead and landed on a nearby branch. I sucked in a breath. Now that I knew she was Dagmar’s familiar, I waited until she flew off before I moved again. Hera would rat me out to the head witch for sure, and getting in trouble with Dagmar sounded like a nightmare, especially if I decided to come back for the next three years.
I paused halfway to the boat shed, collecting the threads of those thoughts and weaving them together in my head.
WasI planning on coming back?
I hadn’t even expected to make it through the entire summer, and now my subconscious was planning for three more years?
I didn’t know which factor had me reconsidering: my friendship with Faith or the fact that my bunkmates had accepted me.
On some level, both were true, but I knew the real reason, and she was waiting in the boat shed for me.
I took off through the forest in a half tiptoe, half run. The silencing spell was wearing off, so every step I took got louder and louder until I finally reached the small shack’s door.
Panting, I searched for any sign of Sabine through the darkness. My heart faltered as I thought that she forgot or worse . . . what if she got caught?
My heart pounded harder. I was debating going back to the cabins to check on her when I heard “Psst!”
