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“What is it?” Sterling spits out. “Is it my magic? I’ve never had much of a tie to ghosts—except for Wendy—but⁠—”

“Not everything is about you,” Jewel says, her tone clipped. “This… this is your magic, Aurora.”

I turn to face her, my lower lip trembling. “This isn’t my magic.”

But it is, isn’t it? That’s what Wendy said. A medium. That’s why I was the only one—aside from Sterling—who could hear her. She wasn’t haunting me at all; my magic was reaching out to her.

And she was trying to get my attention. But why?

“When did your hair start turning white?” Jewel asks, bringing me back into the moment.

“After my father died… from stress.”

“Not from stress, no.” She stops outside a door. “Do you want Sterling to join us? You’ll need to remove your clothes and get into the bath.”

I nod. “That’s fine.”

Sterling crosses his arms and glares at Jewel, even though she’s trying to help.

“It’s rare,” Jewel says slowly. “But traumatic events can change one’s magic type. I’ve been theorizing for some time that this may be the case for you. When your father died…”

“Go on,” Sterling says.

“The part of you that missed him picked a new magic. Mediumship.”

Sterling hisses. “Dammit all.”

Wendy was right. How could she be right? I suppose she was a witch before her passing. She probably realized I was the only one who could really, clearly hear her.

“I can talk to ghosts?” I ask. “I’ve only done it once. It was a spell—anyone can do that spell.”

“But not everyone can carry this many ghostly attachments,” she says. “Our souls can’t handle it. Yours can.”

It doesn’t feel like mine can.

Sterling says as much, like he’s reading my mind, huffing out the words with indignation as I strip down to my underthings and slide into the bathtub. Jewel and Michelle fill the tub with herbs, flowers, and crystals, whispering spells over the water.

Sterling watches me with pure terror in his eyes, never looking away.

“You’ll have to learn to clear these yourself and to ground so they don’t bother you unless you want them to,” Jewel says. “They’re only here because you invited them in, whether knowingly or unknowingly, when you did that spell. It should be easy magic to keep them away. Sterling may even be able to help.”

After today, I doubt he wants to help me with anything. He doesn’t look at me like he loves me.

He looks at me with an expression I know well, like he wants to run.

Chapter 45

Sterling

My heart doesn’t stop racing until the ghosts are gone. Considering the look on Aurora’s face—sheer pain—I know she can hear their parting screams as loudly as I do.

Her magic has changed, and I’m not self-centered enough to think it’s my fault. This is something bigger than a single person or a relationship. It’s loss. It’s trauma. It’s the things I know so well, but I wasn’t there to take care of her.

I should have helped her more.

“Keep her warm,” Jewel says. “She needs to stay emotionally and physically regulated so she doesn’t create more attachments. I’m going to the apothecary to get more supplies.”

I sit beside Aurora on the couch, right near the fire, and wrap a soft blanket around her shoulders. “C’mere. I got you.”