Page 24 of Magic's Dawn

Harper, Ambyrlynn, and a few others head toward the tree line at the outer edge of the lawn, and another shudder goes through me. It’s a good source of sticks, but you won’t catch me traipsing around inside. There be monsters in those woods.

I turn to Delilah, who remains seated at our table. She had manipulated water to lead us to where she and the other witches were being held captive. Something near the ocean might speak to her.

“Do you want to go down to the beach with the others?” I glance toward the house. “I’m sure Ambros would come out to carry you down there.”

She shakes her head with a soft smile. “I’d rather spend time in the garden.”

I lean back in my chair, taking a deep breath of the evening air. It carries the sweet scent of lavender and earthy sage, along with dozens of other herbs I can’t name. Clumps of yellow, orange, and purple flowers bloom beside greens in every shade.

It’s pretty, and there are some thicker branches that could be used for a wand, but again, it doesn’t call to me.

I glance back at Delilah, who seems in no rush to start her hunt. The sun makes her auburn hair glow, catching in the silver strands at her temples, and the blue-green of her eyes looks exactly like Ambros’s.

She’s Ros’s sister, and therefore my family, which is an odd feeling. I’ve never had a sister before, and I’m not sure what to do with her.

Her pale face breaks into a soft smile. “Why are you staring?”

“I’ve never had a sister before,” I say, speaking my thoughts. My brow scrunches. “How do I support you?”

She lets out a tinkling laugh that fills the garden. “You know I’m nearly twenty years older than you, right?”

I cock my head to the side, studying the fine lines on her face from her hard life. “But you were at the same point as me when your life was stolen from you.”

Her smile slips away, and her head bows. “Yes.”

I glance toward the house, then out over the garden. “The world must be so different from how you remember it.”

“It is. Technology and ideologies have advanced so much.” She raises her chin, and her smile returns, chasing all the ghosts from her eyes. “But I’m not the only one whose world has changed drastically.”

My gaze jumps toward the beach, then to the woods, where the other witches laugh together as they gather their materials. “You’re right. I need to talk to the others more about what they need.”

A soft hand covers mine. “I’m talking about you, Rowe.”

Surprised, I turn back to her. “What about me?”

She squeezes my fingers. “My brother tells me you didn’t grow up here.”

My shoulders tense. “No, we only visited in the summers until my mom…died. After that, my dad stopped bringing me. I came here with Tris because we had nowhere else to go. At the time, I thought my grandma would still be around, but she had died.”

“Which means you didn’t know about your heritage until a few months ago.” Sympathy shimmers in her eyes. “You didn’t know about wolf shifters, witches, or vampires.”

“Well, I kind of knew about witches.” My attention drifts back to Tris, where he struggles to break off a piece of driftwood. “At least, I knew about curses, so I had an inkling about witches.”

My focus shifts back to Delilah, and I drop my voice. “Though, I kind of imagined them all as evil. Like the witch from Hanzel and Gretel.”

Delilah throws back her head and laughs.

“Only someone truly evil would try to neuter Tris,” I say defensively.

Amusement twinkles in her eyes. “You two are very close.”

“We’ve been through a lot together.” I smile toward my best friend. “He’s the best. I wouldn’t be here without him.”

The statement isn’t just lip service, either.

Without Tris, I wouldn’t have made it through my dad dying so suddenly, leaving me alone in a world I’d been cloistered from. Tris is the reason my dad started letting me out on small excursions, where I discovered how little I understood. Hidden away with nothing but books and TV for company had definitely warped my sense of reality.

And Tris is the reason I was brave enough to escape Bryant when he tried to take over my life. Without him, I would have been locked up, just like Delilah and the others.

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