Page 70 of Anchor

“No—never,” Taylor said. “I can’t do magic—I’m Mud.”

Mud.

She was Mud.

My ears rang and I realized I’d forgotten that part completely. Here I was, thinking about how she was fourteen years old and she couldn’t have possibly gotten a spell to work for her the very first time she tried—completely overlooking the fact thatshe was Mud!

Now I panicked. Being the adult no longer mattered—I was panicking.

“I need you to listen to me very carefully, Taylor,” I said as I looked around the forest, finally thinking to make sure that we were alone. Finally thinking to make sure that nobody had seen that. “You will tell nobody about this, okay? Nobody at all. And if somebody saw—your family or your neighbors or anyone at all, and they ask you, you say that I was doing firework spells for you, okay? You sayImade those colors with a spell. Do you understand me?” She nodded her head a million times. “No matter what happens, no matter who asks you—Idid that magic, not you.Idid.”

“You did,” she repeated, still just as breathless. Just as terrified.

And somehow, I felt even worse.

“I’m sorry, Taylor. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have…” My voice trailed off as I shook my head.

Done what?I asked myself. I shouldn’t have given her an old bracelet made of mud to play with? I shouldn’t have told her a first-degree light-calling spell that she shouldn’t have been able to pull offeven if she was Iridian?

I shouldn’t havewishedI could have given her all my magic, just to see her happy a little longer?

Goddess, what the hell is happening?

“It’s not your fault,” said Taylor. “It’s not—it’s not your fault.”

But it was.

If I hadn’t been here tonight, she’d have been in her trailer, sleeping. That bracelet wouldn’t have been in her hands, and I wouldn’t havestupidlywished to give her all my magic—that stuff was dangerous! Magic was dangerous—something I knew well.

I put the bracelet in my pocket. “It’s late. We’re both tired. Let’s get you to bed, okay? Let’s get you to bed.”

For once, Taylor didn’t protest, didn’t ask me to stay longer. For once, she followed me in silence all the way back to theedge of the forest and her trailer. Nobody in the street—it was late, and the lights in most houses of the neighborhood were off. Nobody around us that I could see.

“What’s going to happen now?” said Taylor, and again, she sounded so afraid.

I lowered on one knee in front of her and grabbed her hands—shaking, so cold. “Nothing,” I told her. “Nothing at all is going to happen because nobody saw. I’ll be staying here for a little while longer to make sure of that, okay? Nothing’s going to happen, Taylor.”

“But why didthathappen? What…” She shook her head, squeezed my hands tightly. “What’s wrong with me?”

Goddess, that hurt.

“Nothing!Are you kidding me—nothing’s wrong with you. You’re actually perfect,” I said because she really was. “And I’ll figure out what happened for sure, but it was probably just my magic that got mixed with you and the bracelet somehow. Remember my friend that I told you about who helped me in the Iris Roe?” She nodded again, some of the fear fading from her face. “I’m pretty sure this was like that, only it happened accidentally.” Which was the only explanation I could think of so far. “You’re safe—that’s all that matters. You’re safe.”

“Okay,” she finally said. “Okay, yes, okay.”

And she hugged me.

Not as surprised as I was to see a rainbow coming out of her hand, but close. She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me to her chest tightly for a second, then let go and ran all around the trailer, disappearing from my view.

Meanwhile I was still on one knee on the ground, blinking slowly while I stared at nothing, trying to come to terms with the way this night had gone so far.

Eventually, I stood up. Eventually, I went to the other side of the street, hid under the shadow of the last house across fromTaylor’s trailer, and I stayed there for over an hour, just to make sure that nobody had seen. Just to make sure that nobody was coming for Taylor, that the IDD hadn’t somehow witnessed that rainbow of light.

They hadn’t, though. It would have taken them less than an hour to get here—and that’s without hurrying—so I was pretty sure nobody was coming. And for as long as I waited, I didn’t allow myself to think at all.

Finally, when two whole hours passed and nobody moved around the neighborhood, and nobody came for Taylor, I convinced myself to get on my bike and go home.

Madeline had been very…forgivingabout me going out and coming back at odd hours since the Iris Roe, for which I was thankful. I wasn’t trying to sneak in or out anymore to keep off the guards’ radar, and she hadn’t once mentioned me being late or threatened to not let me in if it happened again—which I expected. Not that I’d have stopped but it was easier not to have to think about avoiding guards and tricking wards, especially tonight. Especially when I felt like a ghost rather than a real person as I ran up the stairs and into my room, locked the door and forced myself to breathe.

---