Page 52 of Hex You

He swiped his trash from the table and motioned for Hunter to follow as he chucked his mess into the garbage can and walked toward the double doors that led to the courtyard.

Hunter hurried behind, her eyes widening and brows pinching as she sent him covert messages only years of friendship could decipher. She needed Kylie.Theyneeded Kylie. The spell couldn’t be broken without her.

As Hunter opened her mouth to say as much, a squawk of annoyance erupted behind her.

“This is ridiculous,” Kylie seethed, racing past Hunter to catch up with Jax. “And that’s the absolute last time you choose her over me.” She pushed open the door. It crashed against its stopper and swung back, knocking into Hunter as she hurried through.

Kylie kept speed walking, scolding Jax as she marched through the courtyard and around the back of the gym building where smokers gathered between periods.

“So, what is it?” She stopped and spun around. “What wassoooimportant that you felt you had to take Jax away to talk about?”

Hunter ignored her hammering pulse and locked her trembling knees. “I’m a witch.”

Kylie blinked, her mouth opening and closing with an unspoken thought.

“A real one,” Jax said, his gaze never leaving Kylie.

“Right.” Kylie tented her hands on her hips. “I mean, that’s what pretty much everyone is saying. Heather and Tiffany even said that—” Her voice caught, and she cleared her throat, her eyes glossy with tears. “I may hate you, Hunter, but I don’t think you and your sister are going around hexing people or cursing them to death.”

Hunter’s chest tightened. “You hate me?”

She wanted to reach out to Jax, squeeze his hand, and have him tell her that everything would be okay. But everything might not be. She’d done a bad thing. She only hoped it wasn’t unforgivable.

Kylie’s gaze fell to the ground, which was littered with cigarette butts and vape cartridges. “Yes.” She shook her head. “No.” Another shake of her head. “I know how I feel about Jax, but everything else…” Her hands turned to fists by her side. “It’s all foggy.”

She inhaled, eyes wide, lips parting with a grin. “You can help. You’re a witch. Heather and Tiff said that you don’t hurt people, and Emily’s told stories about your mom. She helped all sorts of people. She’s the whole reason Em’s parents fell in love.”

Kylie lunged forward and grabbed Hunter’s hand. “You’ll help me, won’t you?”

Tears bit the backs of Hunter’s eyes. “I don’t always do good things.” She couldn’t bring herself to look at Kylie or Jax. Instead, she stared at Kylie’s hand in hers and wished it would stay there forever. “I put a spell on you. I’m the reason you’re foggy. I’m the reason—”

Kylie let go and shuffled backward.

“I can fix it.” Hunter took a step forward, and Kylie stiffened. “I can take it all back. I can undo it. I just need your help.” She knelt against the cigarette-and plastic-speckled earth, tossed the hall pass aside, and opened her folder. She pulled out the page of spellwork ascrisp and dry as a dead leaf and offered it to Kylie. “Take this,” she instructed, fishing the lighter from her pocket and holding it up as well. “And this. You’ll kneel down, light the page on fire, and Jax will bury the ashes.”

“Here?” Jax asked, jabbing an empty cartridge with the toe of his shoe.

“It doesn’t have to be deep,” Hunter offered, hoping his desire for this to end would outweigh his grumblings.

Jax groaned and kicked the debris aside before kneeling down next to her to scoop away handfuls of loamy dirt.

Kylie stomped her foot. “She put a spell me, and you’re just going to dig a hole?”

“She put a spell on us both.” Jax wiped his hands on his shorts and looked up at her. “It won’t be over until we do this.”

Kylie plucked the lighter and the delicate page from Hunter’s hands and sank onto the dirty earth. “What do I have to do?”

Hunter dragged her sweaty palms against her jeans. “Light the spell page and drop it into the hole. When it’s done burning and the page turns to ash, Jax will cover it.”

It wasn’t a complicated spell and barely required any magic; more important were fire and earth and the willingness of the people involved. That was also the trouble with undoing a spell—some people didn’t want it to end, while others were too far gone to agree.

Kylie narrowed her eyes. “I’m only doing this because I trust Jax.”

Hunter had been right. Nothing would ever be the same.

Kylie flicked the lighter and held the flame under the paper. It caught quickly and burned slowly, a magical slowness that cradled the page more than destroyed it. The rippling flames drew Jax and Kylie in like moths. They stared at the page floating between them on a sea of fire, unaware of the world around them.

Hunter stared up at the blue sky, at the icy white moon she knew hung above.“Erase this spell. Set these two right. Scrub this magic out of sight.”