Page 2 of A Touch Charmed

He whipped around so fast, he threw the ladder off balance. “Oh, shit.”

He wobbled and tried to grip the gutter, but it was too flimsy. The ladder had already been flung into motion. Metal scraped against the siding as the drain broke off and crushed the hedge that outlined the guest house. I screamed, biting down on my fingers as Finn tilted to the side in what felt like slow motion. I dropped my sandals and ran, unable to make my legs work fast enough to reach him in time.

His back slammed into the ground. He landed at an awkward angle on the concrete walk with a sickening crunch, followed by a hollow snap. My stomach rolled as I took in his leg bent to the side underneath him. He let out a string of swears. A jagged portion of his femur stuck out where his knee should’ve been.

“Fuck.” He leaned up on his elbows and looked down at the protruding bone. His upper body swayed as his face turned green. “I can’t afford a broken leg right now.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” I kneeled beside him, my trembling hands hovering over him, unsure of what to do, afraid I’d make things worse.

“I’m in shock. Let me keep my head while I can.” He sucked in a breath as thick tension veins lined his neck. Sweat dotted his forehead. The muscles in his stomach jumped as if he might puke at any moment. “How quick can you get a doctor down here?”

“I don’t know.” We didn’t have an ambulance or hospital on the island, only a med center. But this would require serious care. There was a lot of blood. Not a life-threatening amount, but still enough to scare me. “I’m going to put pressure on your leg.”

His gaze snapped to mine. “You sure about that?”

“That’s what they always do in the movies to stop the bleeding.” I chewed on my lip as I surveyed the damage. “This might hurt.”

As gently as I could manage, I pulled his limp and useless leg out from underneath him.

Finn gritted his teeth. “That face you’re making is not giving me a lot of confidence.”

“Stop talking.” I waved a hand to shush him. “You’re making me lose my concentration.”

“Oh, right. God forbid the guy with a bone sticking out of his leg has some shit to say.”

“Seriously, be quiet.” Why did I feel like laughing right now? Was this hysteria? Panic thrummed through my veins, winding through me like a tightly corded wire. I was very much on the verge of breaking down and had no idea what I was doing.

Blood continued to seep into the concrete. The metallic scent soaking the air tested my gag reflexes. I bit the inside of my cheek and placed my shaky hands on his leg. As I put pressure on the open gash, warmth flooded through me. It reminded me of hazy bonfires on cool summer nights. A clear light glowed from my palms and wrapped around Finn’s thigh.

My eyes widened as the bone in my own leg began to break inside me. Pain burst behind my knee, blackening my vision, but I couldn’t even let out a gasp. The shock had stolen what little air I had left in my lungs. But within seconds, my bones snapped back together.

And so did Finn’s.

The broken shards hardened, becoming smooth and whole. Torn muscle repaired itself, and his skin began to knit over his open wound. I gripped his leg, turning it from side to side, while he watched me with quiet eyes. His broken leg had completely healed. No damage whatsoever, aside from the tear in his work jeans and the blood on the sidewalk.

I jumped to my feet and backed away. My hands still glowed with that clear light, but it began to dim as he got to his feet and stood without difficulty. I couldn’t have imagined it. His blood still dripped from my fingertips. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

The screaming was all inside my head.

I turned and ran toward the beach, debating between cleaning the blood from my hands or flinging myself into the ocean in hopes that the waves would carry me away. I glanced over my shoulder. Finn continued to stare at me with a dazed expression on his face. I pushed forward, running without really seeing where I was going.

Tripping over a piece of driftwood, my hands hit the sand. They no longer glowed. But they had gleamed with a clear light just a few minutes ago. I wasn’t going out of my mind. The light that poured out of me had fixed Finn’s broken leg. How? What was happening to me?

I crawled over to the shoreline and plunged my bloody hands into the sea. Sand swirled around the red-tinted water, washing away the last sign of his injury.

After I stood and wiped my hands dry on my skirt, I looked them over. A floating sensation made my head woozy. I no longer had the small cut on my thumb I’d gotten from chopping an unruly tomato last night. It had healed as if it had never been there at all.

“It’s magic,” Finn said.

At the sound of his voice, I spun around and backed up a step, slipping on seaweed and landing on my ass in the water. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re a descendant of Aries.”

“There’s no such thing.” I shook my head. “That’s just a legend.”

As the events coordinator for the island, I knew better than anyone how we used the legend to drive tourism. As the story went, Zodiac Cove had been formed from the sea by the gods and goddesses of the constellations as a gift to their human lovers. It had been built to be a place full of love and magic. They lived in peace until Ophiuchus got all pissed he hadn’t been invited to the party and unleashed a curse on the descendants.

The curse started out messing with their minds, then it took a corporeal form and attacked them physically. Eventually, it prevented anyone from leaving the island, then it blocked out the sun. Trapping them in the dark with their fears and frustrations. The descendants worked together to bind the curse in a cave at the center of the island, but they used all of their magic to do so, holding it within twelve birthstones that framed the cave’s entrance.

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