Page 16 of The Secret Life of a Witch

“And it feels great to stretch them out, too” She twists her wavy brown hair into a messy bun and secures it with an elastic. “But you know the rules. Faeries can only keep their wings out while they’re around other fey or in the fey realm, which makes sense. I mean, can you imagine if we walked around all the time with them out?” She visibly shudders. “We’d have a real traffic problem going on in the path to the fey realm.”

“Has any fey ever accidentally sent someone there?” My phone goes off in my pocket, and I realize I never did check the message from early. You know, back when Hunter wanted to get all intimate on me and tried to share his magic. Although, to him, he probably looked at his sharing time as a friend helping out a friend in need, because that’s the kind of person he is. A guy who would do anything to help the people he cared about.

She nods, zipping up her hoodie. “It’s happened a few times. And there has even been a couple of times when someone forced a fey to let them touch their wings so they could go to the fey realm.”

“Why would anyone want to go there if they aren’t fey?” I ask as I swipe my finger across the screen of my phone.

“To steal power,” she says, causing me to glance up at her. “It grows all over the trees. And anyone who goes there can take it.”

The craziest thought crosses my mind in that moment.There’s extra power in the fey realm that anyone can just take? If I took it, would I become more powerful?

I quickly dropkick the ludicrous thought from my mind.Seriously, Eva? You’re getting so desperate now that you’re thinking about stealing power from a different species?

Witches of all witches, what the hell is wrong with me?

“That’s crazy.” I redirect my focus back to the phone.Three missed messages? “That power just grows on trees.”

“Well, the fey realm is a magical, magical place,” she singsongs through a laugh. “I wish you could see it.”

“Me, too …” The words taper off from my lips as I read the missed messages. One is from my mom, reminding me to check on the house while they’re on vacation, but the second sends a chill up my spine.

Unknown: Time to play a little game with my favorite archenemy. It’s called: payback is a witch in the ass.

At first, I think the text is from whoever took my sister’s body, but then I read the third message and become aware that I have other problems on top of finding the body snatcher.

Unknown: Remember that day you told my longtime crush that I liked him and he never spoke to me again? And then I got teased so badly at school I had to be sent away to boarding school across Mystic Willow Lake? Well, I’m back now, and I’m seeking revenge. I’m going to be real nice about it, though, and give you a hint. An eye for an eye. Or, in our case, a lost crush for a lost crush.

I press my fingers to the brim of my nose.

Great. Now, on top of finding my sister’s body, I have to worry about a crazy witch hopped up on revenge.

EVALEE

Okay, so let me explain myself before you start thinking I’m a terrible person who outed another witch’s crush.

Claire, aka my unknown texter, is a witch I befriended during my freshman year when we were partnered up for a project. We were both little weirdoes and instantly hit it off enough that we shared some of our most private secrets, like the wizards we had a crush on. The problem with our friendship was that we were both clumsy in the magical department, and during Practicing Wand Twirling for Amateurs class, she accidentally set off her wand and blasted me with a spilling secrets spell.

It wouldn’t have been too terrible—at least for her—if the spell didn’t reflect off my wand, causing a magical reflection, which basically means that, instead of me spilling my own secrets, I spilled hers. Then, it might not have been too bad if she hadn’t had a crush on Troy, the most stuck-up, douchey wizard in school—aka Hunter’s older brother—and who a lot of people thought was completely out of Claire’s league.

Needless to say, after I spilled the beans, she became the laughing joke of the school and was constantly tormented. I tried to stick to her side and stand up for her, but she refused tohave anything to do with me. Then, about two weeks after the incident, her parents decided to ship her off to boarding school where she could have a fresh start.

I always hoped that, if I ever saw her again, she’d finally forgive me. Apparently, quite the opposite has happened.

“What’s wrong?” Opal asks worriedly. “You look like you’re about to be sick.”

I release an exasperated exhale as I stuff my phone into my back pocket. “Do you remember that thing that happened between Claire and me in high school?”

“You mean, when you told everyone in school that she was crushing on Troy,” she says, nodding. “Of course I remember. I felt so sorry for her. Kids can be such asshats. So a girl has a crush on you? So what? It’s no excuse to treat a person like crap and act like a total douchebag.”

“Yeah, I know,” I agree. “For the record, Troy was a douchebag way before that.”

She flicks a piece of silver glitter over her shoulder, and for the craziest, stupidest moment, I question if Opal took my sister. Then I mentally kick myself in the ass.

Seriously, Opal? She’s like the nicest fey—no scratch that—person ever. What would she even want with a dead body?

“You know, I’ve always wondered how someone as sweet as Hunter could be related to someone as stuck-up and kind of stupid as Troy,” Opal states, slipping her hands into the front pockets of her hoodie.

I chuckle. “He definitely isn’t the nicest and brightest bulb in town, is he?”

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