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“It also might hurt. Nature and balance can quickly become dark if you don’t handle it correctly,” Grandma warns.
I close my eyes, rolling them behind my lids. “I know, Grandma. But if I could use it for good, for safety, I think it would be stupid of me not to.” I don’t tell them I used it last night, or how good it felt as the energy wrapped around me.
How it felt like coming home.
“I’ll never keep you from what we are, Hazel, but I need you to think long and hard about it. You were serious about wanting to stay away, and now you’re thinking about it again. What changed?” my mom asks, walking over to the table and sitting in the chair across from me. Her hands reach out, and she grabs onto mine, squeezing them gently on top of the table.
I nudge my plate away with my elbow, bringing my attention to her. “When the people you care about are in danger,what I wantisn’t a question as much aswhat I needto do. If someone is at risk, or if something evil is near, I can’t just sit back and let it happen. It’s not in my blood.” It goes against every grain in my body to watch these entities attack us, to see Atticus get hurt, to see all of my friends helpless last night.
I should’ve stopped it. I should’ve stopped all of it.
My mother drops my hands, reaching up and brushing the tear I didn’t even realize had slipped past my eye. “That is why you are my daughter, because though there is always a darkness when it comes to what we do, you know the light. You are the light.”
I nod, knowing what I have to do.
I need to stop pretending I’m not a Wiccan, or that I can’t do more, because I can.
And I will.
“Idon’t know what the fuck has been going on the last few days, but this is exactly the shit I needed,” Atticus says as he leans back in the chair, blowing out a stream of smoke before taking another pull of the blunt. “Exactly what I needed.”
“I think we all did,” Levi sighs from the hot tub, his eyes closed with his head toward the night sky.
I nod, not saying a word, but agreeing. The last few days have been hellish, and finally, today has been an entire day of peace and quiet. I did some work from my home office, and Atticus and Levi just came over a little while ago with a bag full of marijuana and a fresh pack of blunts.
No better way to spend the evening.
“It actually feels just a little bit normal, sitting here tonight. No creepy shit, no everyone panicking,” Atticus groans.
“Yeah, you know this shit is going to be short-lived.” Levi chuckles.
I sigh, grabbing the blunt from Atticus. I know he’s right. Sooner or later, shit is about to come crashing down. It seems things can never be normal when it comes to Castle Pointe.
We sit in silence, the evening air cool and comfortable as we smoke and drink. Malik is busy with Vera, and I haven’t seen Hazel or the girls in a few days.
Ding, dong.
Atticus lifts his head, glancing at me with heavy eyes. “You order food?”
I shake my head, standing up from my chair by the pool. I walk through the open back door of my house, heading through the house to the front door. Unlocking the deadbolt, I pull the door open, my eyebrow lifting when I see Hazel standing there, her backpack on like she’s still in high school, her arms filled with a stack of books.
She barely even spares me a glance as she barges into my house like she owns the fucking place. “I know we hate each other. I wanted to go just about anywhere else in the world, but Piper is with her mom, and Blaire has a migraine, and Vera is, well… always with Malik, and my mom and grandma are driving me absolutely crazy, and I have nowhere else to go, and…” She takes a deep breath, spinning around. “I need to talk to someone because I’m going absolutely crazy reading this shit by myself.”
I stand there, my hand still on the door, watching her blankly as her cheeks bloom red, finally coming back from reality. She glances down at my bare chest, then my pool shorts that mold to my thighs. My stomach tenses from her heavy glare, and it feels as if her eyes burn into mine as she reaches my face.
“Am I…” She glances over my shoulder, her eyes widening when she sees Levi and Atticus outside. Her body stiffens, and her free hand reaches up, brushing the hair from her face, suddenly nervous. “Oh, okay. This isn’t a good time. I’ll come back some other—” She brushes past me, and my arm swings out, wrapping around her waist.
“Not so fast, little witch. I’ve got all the time in the world. Come hang out with us and tell us how you’re going to save the world.”
The heels of her boots dig into the floor, but I pull her along. Her shoulder digs into my arm when she tries to wiggle out of my hold as we go through my living room and out the back door. “Hey, look who came to pay us a visit.”
Atticus smirks evilly, while Levi looks at her like he’s already bored.
“You bring your friends?” he asks lazily, looking around her.
“No.” She frowns, then turns her eyes to mine. “I’m just going to go. Clearly, you guys are having”—she waves her hand around, the little bit that she can while holding on to her books—“bro time. I don’t want to intrude.”
Fuck, she looks so nerdy right now, and for some reason, it’s the hottest she’s ever looked.
