Page 1 of Charmed, I'm Sure
Prologue
22 years ago…
Itwasanunusuallycold day in January when all of Louisiana was hit with a freak snowstorm. Cities all around the state shut down because—well, it’s the South. We don’t get snow very often. It’s like hurricanes hitting New York City—rare. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop my parents from having to go to work.
They both worked at a local hospital, and since most people can’t even drive in the rain, icy roads made for treacherous journeys. Sometime after midnight, they were on their way home when a car in the opposite lane hit a patch of black ice and hydroplaned. My dad swerved, trying to avoid a collision, but the other car slammed into them, throwing them through a bridge railing and into the river below. They didn’t make it home that night…or any night after.
I was eight, my sister Madison was six, and little Meredith was only three.
The only family we had left was outside New Orleans, so we packed up and moved from Baton Rouge to Bellevue.
Bellevue, a tiny town with one stoplight, giant oak trees, and even bigger gossips. Known for its strawberry and crawfish festivals, gumbo competitions, and the “witch” who lived in Bellevue Manor. That so-called witch just happened to be my Aunt Evangeline. And it wasn’t until my sisters and I moved in with her that I learned the quotations my mom always put around the word were unnecessary.
Aunt Evie was young and fun. With hair flowing down to her waist and dyed the color of a firetruck, she looked a lot like Jean Grey from X-Men—just with bell-bottom jeans, cut-off band tees, and an amethyst pendant dangling from her neck.
She took us in without batting an eyelash, going from footloose and fancy-free to Auntie-mommy with two kids in school and one who had just gotten the hang of using the “big potty.”
But from the moment I walked into that house, my life changed.
Her house was full of plants and books, love, andmagic.
I felt it the moment I stepped through the large teal door of Bellevue Manor, a tingling sensation brushing against my skin, like it was saying, “Hello, nice to meet you at last.”
It felt like coming home, even though I had never been there before.
Madison had felt it, too. She’d tugged on my hand, her eyes wide as she turned to me. “Mags, do you feel that?”
Aunt Evie let out a low laugh behind us when I nodded. Squatting down to our level, she pulled Meredith between her legs and grabbed both mine and Maddie’s hands. “My sister,” she began, clearing her throat as she blinked back tears, “was an amazing woman. And though she wasn’t ready for you to know about this part of our family just yet, fate and the Mother had other plans. You have magic, little ones. Beautiful, blessed magic. And this home, and all within it, is our legacy.Yourlegacy. Welcome home, little witchlings.”
As the last word fell from her lips, flecks of light, like fireflies, danced around our heads, forming tiny crowns.
And despite myself—despite the fact that I had just lost my parents and the only home I had ever known—I smiled. Madison joined me, and even little Meredith giggled.
Home. We were home.
1
Dear Maria, count me out.
Magnolia
Present Day…
Oh,fuckme.
Sophie Larson was practically skipping toward me as I slipped the key into the door ofCharCutie, dragging some poor soul behind her. The sun was bright behind their heads as they made their way down the sidewalk, so I couldn’t see his face, but good gravy, that man was tall. Towering a good foot over Sophie’s head with a seemingly good head of hair and well-toned legs that went on for days, there was no way he didn’t have a face to match. But it was the tightness in his broad shoulders that pulled my focus. Poor guy looked more anxious than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, probably desperate to be rescued from little Miss Shrill.
“Maggie!” The excitement in her voice grated against my nerves like nails on a chalkboard as she hollered my name again.
Groaning, I finished unlocking the door and turned toward her, a manufactured smile plastered on my face. I couldn’t stand the woman. She was the head cheerleader in high school and had made it her solemission in life to make me feel the size of an ant—something that hadn’t changed after high school either.
I silently thanked the Mother as a cloud rolled in front of the bright sun, then promptly retracted it and cursed her instead as my lady boner shriveled up and died. Taylor mother-fucking Hallows. The bane of my existence in high school and my sworn enemy—not that he knew that. I was pretty sure he didn’t remember me or the torment he and his cronies put me through during their final year at Bellevue High.
“Maggie, you remember Taylor Hallows from Bellevue High, don’t you?” Sophie beamed at him like he was the fat, prized pig that had won the blue ribbon at the fair. Pig? Yes. Fat? Pretty sure his body had never heard the word.
Squinting, I canted my head to the right, pretending to give a shit. “Can’t say that I do.”
As the words left my lips, Taylor’s gaze lazily perused down my body before settling back on my face. A small smirk tugged at his lips as he extended his hand. “Taylor Hallows, pleasure to meet you.”
