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Not knowing how to explain it, I handed her the note. She read it for the longest time, and when she lifted her eyes back to me, they’d changed.
“So my little Zayn found someone.”
Little? Zayn wasn’t so little anymore. I wondered what he’d looked like as a boy.
I gave her a rueful smile. “And promptly ran for the hills.”
She handed me back the note, then looked me up and down, as if noticing my bedraggled state for the first time. She eyed the wine bottle in my hand. She looked like she needed it just as much as I did. So I held it up to her, and she took it gratefully, swallowing down a healthy gulp.
“I’m Sybil,” I offered, since Zayn had only called me Kitten in his note.
“Farah.”
How ironic. Farah meant joy, but she only emanated sadness and despair. She’d lost her husband to the curse, and now she was losing her son as well.
“I’ve got something I should probably give back to your family,” I said, thinking of the watch on my table. The clasp was still broken, and I hadn’t bothered to fix it since Zayn had left the day after we’d gotten back.
She seemed confused but followed me into my apartment anyway.
Salt and Pepper greeted us from the couch, and Farah made a small, strangled sound in her throat before she stopped herself. Oops. I’d forgotten how most people reacted to them, especially when they were roaming free and not in their cages.
“They won’t bite, and they’re very clean,” I assured her as I picked up the gold timepiece and gave it to her.
“My husband’s watch.” She took it from me, and tears filled her eyes.
I explained how I’d cast a forbidden spell using the watch to help Zayn control his shift. “It kept the curse at bay but didn’t break it,” I finished. “I’m sorry.”
My phone rang, and I dashed for it, picking it up without even looking at the number. Some stupid part of me hoped it was Zayn. It wasn’t. It was Tansy. Unlike me and Zayn, Tansy and Eamon were still happily together. They’d fixed their evil spirit problem and were now officially a couple.
“What’s wrong?” She heard it in my voice almost immediately.
I wasn’t typically one to share my problems with others; I preferred to be the one doing the consoling.
“It’s nothing.”
“Liar! You’re upset. I can hear it all the way though the phone. I was calling to ask if you wanted to come by and spend some time poolside. Now you don’t have a choice. You’re coming over.”
“Give me a moment,” I said before covering the microphone on my cell.
I turned to Farah uncertainly. My speaker was pretty loud, and she looked like she’d heard everything.
“Go. Be with your friends. I’ll be fine. I’ve gone through this before.”
Hmph. She didn’t look like she was going to be fine.
“Where are you staying?” I asked her. Zayn had mentioned his mom lived in New York City. She must have driven here when he stopped answering his phone.
“I don’t know. I didn’t think that far ahead.”
“I’ll see if I can find you a place to stay tonight. You shouldn’t drive back without some proper sleep.”
I uncovered my phone’s microphone. “I’ll come by in exchange for a favor. I’ve got a friend here who needs a place to stay for the night.”
“We’ve got the spare rooms here. No one’s using them right now. Let me practice opening a portal,” Tansy said excitedly.
I smiled and relaxed the ward around my place. “Go for it.”
“A word of warning, I’m still super new at this. All right, here goes nothing…”
