Page 1 of Castings & Curses

A SUMMER OF LOVE & DEATH

AN ASHUAN LUST BONUS ADVENTURE

JANNA RUTH

LUCILLE

If someone had toldLucille a year ago that she would have to spend two weeks of her summer holiday stuck in Greenvalley, she would’ve been dismayed. While it was her home, the prospect of having to spend any prolonged time in a backwater small town in the Harz mountains would have filled her with dread. As pretty as it was, it didn’t compare to the resort in Bali with its endless beaches, crystal-blue water, and colourful birds. But there was one thing Greenvalley had over Bali, and that was magic. Real magic.

As soon as Lucille stepped foot back into town, she felt the magic wash over her. Her spells had worked fine in the resort—not that she needed to use any—but the presence of the spring of magic in the forest grounded her. This was where she belonged.

She didn’t mind spending a summer with magic at her fingertips, but barring any monster attacks, there was nothing to do in town.

Bali had diving spots, parties, and cute boys. Greenvalley had an outdoor pool.

Lucille sighed as she stepped out of her car. An outdoor pool would have to do. At least, by the looks of it, half her class was spending their days there. She was bound to run into at least one of her friends, if not all of them. Unless they were out hunting monsters, but with the sun beating down on Greenvalley and joyfully shrieking children splashing in the pool, it was hard to imagine monsters prowling the area.

Wolf whistles followed Lucille as she strutted past the swimming pool, searching for a familiar face. She was wearing the new bikini she bought in Bali, a bare minimum of burnt orange fabric covering her body. There were a dozen like her on the beaches there, but Greenvalley was a lot smaller, garnering Lucille enough attention to put a smile on her face.

On the opposite side, she saw Alan, the school hottie, lower his sunglasses to catch a better look, and two guys from her history major were grinning at her as she walked past. In the water, Robert was staring so much he didn’t see the ball until it hit him in the head.

“What are you looking at?”

Lucille knew that voice. Sure enough, she spotted the familiar mop of ginger hair. In the shallow end of the pool, the water didn’t even cover Fabian’s hips. Even though he’d probably spent all summer outside, apart from the sunburn covering his shoulders, his skin was still pale. Only the freckles on his face had darkened.

“Lucille!” His eyes lit up when he saw her. Immediately, he abandoned his game with Robert and a couple of other guys from school and sloshed through the water to where she stood. “You’re back.”

She pushed her sunglasses into her hair and smiled at him. “I am. And judging by how everybody is enjoying themselves, Greenvalley is still standing.”

“Barely so,” Fabian joked, then pulled himself out of the pool. “It’s good to have you back.” He leaned in for a hug.

“No, no!” Lucille took a step back. “You are wet.”

“You’re in a bikini.”

Lucille huffed. “A bikini made for walking. Not swimming.” When Fabian raised his eyebrow, she laughed. “I’m not married to the water like you are.”

After all, Fabian was a water mage. The pool was exactly where she would’ve expected to find him. She glanced past him trying to find another familiar face—where Fabian was, Samantha and Rachel usually weren’t far behind—but came up empty. “Where are the others?”

“Rachel is in LA with her father. Samantha is travelling Canada with her family, and Jan finally got a job.”

“Someone hired him?” After failing most of his courses last year, Jan had decided to abandon school and throw himself into the workforce. It would take a lot to convince Lucille that had been the right decision.

Fabian grinned. “Oh, yeah, he’s now a general dogsbody for the youth hostel on the Witch’s Hump. They’re super busy in summer. He’s constantly complaining about the youth groups and families that make his life harder now.”

Lucille could imagine how Jan would struggle with that. At school, he’d always stood out for tardiness and truancy. “I see. And Matt?”

Instantly, Fabian’s face darkened. A couple of weeks of summer hadn’t softened his opinion about the half-demon they called a friend. Not after he’d abandoned them in the middle of a fight for their lives. “I haven’t heard from him since the beginning of the holidays. The only thing I know is that he visited Samantha, and since then, nada. He’s gone.”

“Samantha? Did she say anything?” The two of them had been at odds for most of the year, but when push came to shove, Matt had saved Samantha’s life. Hope reared its head that perhaps Samantha had finally forgiven him for his previous failings.

“Nope. Just that she needed time to think.” Fabian pursed his lips, obviously unhappy with this lack of communication from his best friend. A second later, he shook his head and smiled, though. “Doesn’t matter. It’s summer. The sky is blue, the water is warm. Do you want to give that bikini a try? It might be made for swimming after all.”

Lucille laughed. “I did enough swimming already this summer. In different bikinis.” Despite her words, she sat down on the rim and put her feet into the cold water. With the sun beating down on them, it felt marvellous.

Fabian pulled a face. “Of course, you’d have a variety of them.” He took a seat next to her. “How was your vacation? Or should I say your vacations?”

Her cheeks flushed at the reminder of how much more affluent her family was compared to the rest of them. She refused to feel ashamed because of that, though, and squared her shoulders. “Bali was a dream. I spent most of my days diving, and we saw dolphins. It was amazing.” Almost amazing enough to ignore her father being on his phone all holiday long. “Before that, France was… okay. I broke things off with Dion.”

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