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“That girl you found?” Eilidh murmured, her eyes fixed on the grass at their feet, her lip caught between her teeth. But there was a familiar hardness to her eyes that Joy had always admired, to be so strong at such a young age. “It was … it was Freya. My cousin.”
“What?” Joy breathed.
Her stomach swooped, the body on the beach flashing behind her eyes, the images cruelly vivid.
That was Eilidh’s cousin…
“Oh, Eils,” Joy whispered and wrapped her arms around her friend tighter. The ache in her chest intensified as the realisation settled in. Eilidh had been through so much these past few days. And she’d just soldiered on as if nothing was wrong. “You should have told me.”
She tried not to be hurt that she hadn’t.
And poor Freya. Joy’s chest hurt even more as she remembered the girl’s body. The blood on the beach, the body splayed, face carved into, the wand snapped beside her. Joy fought to hide what it did to her, remembering too clearly how it felt being without her own wand. She clutched it in white knuckles now, the amethyst warm and reassuring.
Eilidh rested her head on Joy’s shoulder. “I was worried if I told you, it might make everything so much worse.”
“Worried aboutme?” Joy frowned.
She was used to being the friend worrying about everyone else, not the one being worried about. It was a strange feeling, but she was more than a little touched.
“Why would you be worried about me?”
Eilidh lifted her messy head to give Joy alook. “You were accused of murder, Joy. That bitch locked you up—and Gabi was so angry—and Iknewthe conditions had to be bad, to make her that angry. Before, when she was showing us the … showing usFreya, she seemed calm and serious.”
“Uptight,” Joy corrected with a faint laugh that eased up the panic’s grip just slightly. “That’s just her; she doesn’t show her feelings.” Joy smiled, then remembered what Eilidh had said, and her breath hitched. “Gabiwas angry?”
Eilidh nodded, her hair brushing Joy’s jaw. “I thought she was going to kill Paulina, to be honest. I’m glad it’s her looking for the bastard who killed Freya. She doesn’t seem like she’d letanyonego unpunished.”
“No,” Joy agreed, “she wouldn’t.”
Eilidh nodded, and they fell silent again, only the murmur of the nearby sea filling the quiet.
Joy squeezed Eilidh into another hug, so many emotions vying for control inside her, all of them building into an ache in her chest, lungs, and throat. It wasn’t fair that Eilidh had to lose her cousin, but death was never fair. Joy had learned that cruelly quickly when her mum died. It still made her angry though.
Eilidh sniffled.
Joy almost asked if she was alright, but the answer wasobviouslynot. When Joy lost her mum, she’d quickly got tired of that question. So, she waited for Eilidh to speak instead of pressing her.
“We saw—in the mirror—Freya drank this tonic and then—all of it. We sawall of it.”
“Oh, gods. Eilidh…” Joy breathed.
She’s watched her cousin's murder. Joy couldn’t begin to imagine how furious and grief-stricken she was right now.
“It was a woman. Like we thought.” Eilidh inhaled jaggedly, huffed in frustration at her own breathing, then stubbornly forced her breaths to steady. It was such an Eilidh thing to do that a bit of Joy's pain eased. Stubborn and brave and determined to crush any sign of weakness; that was Eilidh.
“Freya—she was still alive, justbarely, when her—when thatbitchcut her face.”
“Shit.” Joy was going to be sick, and that was just at thethoughtof it. What were the others feeling? They hadseenit. Joy silently wiped away Eilidh’s tears, her heart drumming in her rib cage.
Eilidh growled a sudden breath. “I don’t get it. What the fuck is it meant tomean?Freya didn’t do a single damn thing wrong. She was a normal fucking girl and I—” Eilidh’s voice became too thick for words; she made an angry sound and flicked away her tears.
“She didn’t do anything wrong,” Joy murmured, stroking her friend’s hair. “She didn’t deserve that. And I promise you, we’ll find her killer and make her pay.”
Eilidh nodded but didn’t say anything for a while. And then she took a ragged breath and asked, “Can I have some hot chocolate? With cream and marshmallows?”
“Of course.” Joy rose, pausing when she realised Eilidh didn’t plan to come inside with her. But maybe she needed a moment alone. The hot chocolate had been an excuse. “I’ll be back in a minute. Do you have protection spells?”
Eilidh nodded, looking at the beds of herbs and medicinal flowers. She patted her pocket with a shaky hand. “Three. And I can grab something from the garden if I run out.”
