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“And it was Gilbert?” I prompted, raising my brows.
“Uh huh,” Abi said, covering her face with both hands. “He just…he just made thisnoiselike a starving man before literallysprintingdown the hallway.” She uncovered her face to look at me. “Celeste. I’ve never had a man see me in my panties andrun away from me before.”
I covered my mouth with my hand. My friend was obviously distressed, but the situation was just so absurd. “I’m sure it wasn’t that, Abi,” I reassured, trying to be supportive.
“You saw how awkward that was!” she said, finally propping herself back up.
“Maybe next time you should answer the door totally naked,” I suggested, waggling my eyebrows. “See if that gets you more than a groan.”
“Celeste!” Abi yelped, grabbing a pillow before whacking me with it. I fell backward, laughing. “I’m supposed to be the one with lewd suggestions, not you!”
“Turnabout is fair play!” I giggled, holding my arms in front of me as she tried to thump me again.
“Whatever!” She tossed the pillow at me. “Are you sure you don’t want to shift? Because you don’t seem any different to me. Maybe you’re making all this wolf business up.”
“I know what you’re doing,” I countered, sitting back up. I sighed. I didn’t really mind Abi changing the topic, but I still wasn’t certain that Walter’s suggestion would work again, especially when Fenris was just fine downstairs. “But…I didn’t exactly do it on purpose both times, and I don’t want to get stuck again.” I looked down. “You know, growing up, my Aunt Esme used to tell me all sorts of fantastic stories about witches and wolf shifters and faeries. You name it, she had a story about them. But that’s all I thought they were—stories.”
I took my head, quiet for a minute before looking back at my friend. “And here I am, you know? Sometimes, I feel like I’m stuck in the middle of one of my aunt’s stories, like it can’t possibly be real, and I just…I don’t know. I just want to be normal. I kind of miss when all I had to stress about was a birthday party or if I was giving a tour tomorrow, you know? If the kids would be wild or not. Those were the stakes.”
Abi smiled in a quiet, understanding expression. She reached over and gave my hand a squeeze. “That makes sense.” She glanced around the room for a moment. “You know what I think? I think we should have a girls night soon. There’s plenty of room down here if we want to hide away from Fenris.” She stood up and started to pace the floor. “We could invite Val, too! And her niece—what was her name? Morgan?”
“Yeah, that’s right.” I frowned. “Morgan isn’t on Isla Lobo right now, though. I’m not sure how easy it’d be for her to get here.”
Abi flapped a hand. “She’s a witch, she can pull off a spell. Or say no. But I think we should still invite her.” I snorted, but Abi kept talking, never discouraged by logistics. Just like when we planned anything for our friend group in college. “We can watch a movie and do each other’s nails—don’t look at me like that! They always look better when someone else does them, professional or not. And Morgan and Val can give us all the good, witchy gossip.” She paused, grinning. “I could use a little bit of normal, too. I know you’re training and stuff, but I think a break always helps.” She gave me a knowing smirk. “Just like college.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Back then, Abiwasusually the one dragging me away from my desk whenever I’d hunched over a textbook so long, I had trouble standing up. Sometimes, it was just to go down the street and get a milkshake. Other times, she’d decide I was hers for the rest of the day and we’d explore a part of town we’d never been to before. At first, I worried these outings would harm my grades, but my best friend was usually right. Once I’d had a break, I felt refreshed, and it was easier to study the next day.
“Okay,” I said.
Abi bounced on the balls of her feet, clapping in excitement.
I leaned in closer. “But if we’re going to do this, you’re going to have to help me out with something.”
“Oh, yeah?” Her eyes brightened, and she moved in, clearly sensing a secret was coming. “Go on.”
“I’m sure you’ve noticed the moon eyes Walter keeps giving Val, and how Val always gets all demure and shy when he notices her. I think we need to give them a little nudge or two, and I don’t want to be the only one playing matchmaker.”
“Ooooh,” Abi sighed, wiggling with excitement. “I’m totally on board. OperationValteris a go.”
“Valter?” I repeated, trying not to laugh. “It sounds like you have a bad accent. Isn’t mashing up their names a little too on the nose?”
Abi sniffed. “When you think of a better name, you can rename our plan,” she retorted. She was quiet for a few moments before sitting beside me again on the bed. “Hey,” she said, sounding much more serious. “I know I have to be here with all this wild magic shit happening, but I’m kind of going stir-crazy, Celeste. I don’t even have any of my things. Would it be possible for me to get my stuff from my apartment in Tallahassee? I know I can’t grab it all, but to have my own phone, my Nintendo Switch, myactualromance books…” She paused, rubbing her chin. “I’d like to check in on my family, too. Give them a call.”
I frowned. “Wouldn’t Walter let you use the line on the island?”
“He would, but I don’t have everyone’s numbers memorized,” she sighed. “My parents got new numbers when they retired to South Carolina, and why remember those numbers when my phone does, you know? I never planned to be stranded on a remote island.”
I sighed, knowing exactly what she meant.
“And,” Abi added, “you know we never got to check back in with Liana, either.”
I groaned, rubbing my face with my hands. “Crap. You’re right.”
I needed to make sure Liana got paid—I seriously doubted my aunt had shown up to pay Liana for my wedding dress, only to disappear again without saying anything to anyone else. Liana had also broken up with her longtime boyfriend a few weeks prior to all this shit going down. That was part of the reason she was in Kansas in the first place.
A stone settled deep within my stomach. Liana had been putting on a brave face, but Abi and I had originally planned to take her out after my wedding to see how she was really doing. Obviously, none of that ever happened.
“Ugh,” I groaned. “I’m a terrible friend.”
