Page 49 of Lost in the Moonlight

Lyrica was right, and so was Sienna.

Trinity was waiting for my reaction, chewing on her nails and pacing off to the side.

“It’s perfect,” I said with a grin.

Her eyes widened, her fingers dropped from her mouth, and she froze. “What?”

“First, the artistry is incredible. I don’t even know how you did it, but the dragon’s scales change colors as I move, and I swear I can smell the sulfur of his breath. And, Jesus, the castle itself. It’s literally glowing.”

“The first time I saw the castle, the painting popped into my head.”

“Wait. This is a real castle? Where?”

Trinity laughed, and with her beat-up voice, it sounded weirdly off-kilter. “It’s actually just down the road a bit. It’s called River Briar, and I work for the catering company the owners use for all their events, so I’m there quite often.”

“There’s a fairy-tale castle here in Virginia?” I repeated, shock turning me stupid.

“Yep. Some recluse built it, and no one even knew it was there for a long time. But after his daughter inherited it, they started using it for weddings and charity events, that sort of thing.”

“Do all your pieces have the castle in them?”

“No.” She shook her head and tugged on her turtleneck. It was then that I saw the scars. Long streaks down her throat. She’d been hurt. Somehow. Someway. Another woman with wounds. I almost let out a dark laugh. Leave it to Sienna and Lyrica to bring me another person who’d suffered and needed looking after. Needed good in their lives.

It only made me think of Willow and whatever it was she was hiding from—whomever she was hiding from. My eyes darted out the window, but I couldn’t see the café from this angle. She wasn’t supposed to be there today. She was supposed to be tucked away in the cottage with her own bit of fairy-tale magic out front.

Trinity bent to a backpack that she’d left by the door and brought out a tablet. “It’s not the same. I swear they look better in person, but…”

She handed me the device. It was open to a seascape with a mermaid peering over a modern-day sailor’s shoulder as he drank from a mug that read,Life is more than coffee, but coffee is life. I swiped to the next image and saw a frog chasing after a little girl as if caught in a game of tag. The girl wore jeans and a Watery Reflection band T-shirt. Modern and yet a fairy tale. Another painting had a person with a backpack and sneakers walking along the forest floor while, in the treetops above, little lights waved, and I swore I could hear wee-folk pipes playing.

They weren’t the same on the screen as they would be in real life, but if the paintings in front of me were anything to go by, the light would shimmer from all of them. The scents and sounds would almost twirl through the air. Trinity captured and used life and light in such a vivid way it was tantalizing.

It firmed up the ideas that had started to form last night. Her paintings were real life and fantasy twined together. Just like my own. Fairy tales in our modern world. Good and bad. The best and the worst. And in the end, the magic winning out.

“I definitely want to do a show,” I told her.

Her eyes lit up, a brightness seeping through the dark clothes and the shadows that clung to her. “Really?”

“Really.”

She squealed and jumped and spun around. She came at me, wrapping her arms around me and hugging me tight before dropping back and looking at me with startled eyes. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know why—”

I waved her off. “Don’t worry about it.” I pointed down at the screen, which appeared to be just a normal beach. Water and sand and early morning dawn. “What’s this one?”

She stepped closer, and we were head to head when I caught movement out of the side of my eye. When I lifted my gaze, I saw Willow framed in the doorway. Happiness instantly wove through me, and a sudden rush of air filled my lungs as if I’d been holding it ever since I’d last seen her.

I stepped toward her just as her eyes darted between Trinity and me. A look of surprise, and resignation, and maybe even sadness drifted over her, as if she thought there might be something between Trinity and me that didn’t exist. The hug I’d shared with Trinity had been a connection born purely of art, whereas the strings binding me to Willow felt like a permanent part of my soul. And in that moment, I knew Sienna had been right. Willow was the light guiding me home. She’d be the beam that ensured I was never lost in the dark again.

Chapter Sixteen

Willow

HAPPINESS

Performed by The Fray

My morning had started with ajoyfulness that had been contagious.

After Mom had taken me and the trays of miniature desserts to the café on her way out of town for the decathlon, Hector had walked her out to the car. Shay and I had given each other a high five. And when Hector had come back, beaming and doing a little two-step as he said he was practicing for his date with Mom, we’d hugged each other and did our own dance.

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