Page 57 of Untraced Magic
A shudder coursed through my body at the memory. I couldn't be sure, but judging by Tyler’s reaction, I’d say Wesley had been seriously downplaying his sensor gift.
The tips of my fingers settled on my eyelids. “Betty? As in Betty who owned this house?” I mumbled.
“Yeah, her,” Wesley said from where he still lay peeled out on the floor.
Tyler straightened behind me. “Surely not,” he scoffed. “We’ve lived next to her for years. She couldn’t possibly be linked to Morgan.”
Skye helped Wesley sit upright, his weighted stare swiftly finding Tyler’s. He nodded in my direction. “Ask her, not me.”
Wesley wouldn’t look at me, and I wondered if he felt he’d overstepped the boundaries between us.
Tyler’s breath warmed my neck as he pressed his hand into my shoulder. “Do you know how to contact Betty?” he asked, turning to face me.
I sucked in a breath. Only inches from mine, his steel irises were exquisite. A dark charcoal around the edges, blending into a faint blue-gray as they neared his pupils. His proximity took my breath away.
I fumbled with my words. “It’s… on the fridge.” I gestured in that direction.
My skin tingled in response to his closeness, each hair coming alive as if it were pleading for mercy. Why did he make me so nervous? No man had ever gotten under my skin like this.
Skye broke my thoughts, handing me the note from the fridge with Betty’s familiar scrawls on it. The paper stared back at me, and I exhaled a long breath as I skimmed over her phone number.
I looked around the group. “I don’t know, guys, is this a good idea?”
Skye moved closer. “Morgan, we need to speak to her. Ifshecast the spell, maybe she can break it, too.”
Tyler clutched his hands behind his head. “I very much doubt Betty cast the spell; we would know if she was a witch.” He turned pointedly to Wes. “You would have sensed her.”
Wes sat with a bent knee, an arm resting on it. “Don’t shoot the messenger,” he said with a slight raise of his hand.
My stomach flipped with uncertainty; I knew Skye was right. “She may know who my birth parents are,” I whispered.
I found it hard to believe this was all some huge coincidence. Had she known who my birth parents were all along? I didn’t know how to feel about that if it were to be true. A flare of anger streaked through me as I studied the numbers on the note again, unsure how to proceed from here.
Adjusting my top, I moved a stray hair from my face. This could go one of two ways. The small set of numbers could hold the answers to my entire life or become my worst nightmare.
Pulling my phone from my back pocket, the paper trembled in my hand. When the call connected, nerves scattered my breath.
Betty’s voice hit my ears soon after, and it took all my effort to keep my voice steady.
“Hi, Betty, it’s Morgan. I have some more mail here if you would like to come and collect it sometime.”
“Hi, Morgan darling. More bills, I imagine. I’m going to head downtown shortly. I can stop by on my way past if that works?” she chimed from the other end of the line.
“Okay, that sounds great. I’ll see you soon.” With that, I disconnected the call.
A silence lingered in the room, weighing heavily between the group.
“So, how are we going to let this play out?” said Skye, glancing around the room.
I fumbled with the chain around my neck, unsure how to proceed from here. Unsure how to feel, about everything. Was it a complete coincidence I had ended up living in her old house? Or as Wesleysuspected, had she something to do with this whole scenario in some weird witchy way.
Tyler ran an uneasy hand through his hair. “I think we just need to be straight up with her.”
Skye’s fingers turned over the ring she wore on her thumb. “Worst-case scenario, you’re in a room with three witches.” She shrugged.
Her words didn’t convince me. But it was my only lead. My only option.
Tension filled the room, simmering below the surface like an undercurrent.
