Page 8 of A Touch Charmed

I figured since I’d already gone through the effort of getting ready, I could knock out that round of checking things out down at the festival. Then I could spend another week preparing myself for the next time I needed to go into town. One day I’d get used to the stares and quiet judgment again without it sapping all my energy, but I was out of practice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t keep you here all day.” She pulled me over to a stool and handed me a bottle of water while she shot off a couple of quick texts, then gave me her undivided attention. “Have you accepted that you have magic yet?”

“Not right away, but I got there eventually.”

“I told Finn it wouldn’t take you long, but he was all ‘Thora hates me, so I’m going to do a bunch of dumb boy brooding until she seeks me out,’ and we donothave time for that shit.”

I let out a laugh, my first one in what felt like weeks. “Your Finn impression is spot on.”

“Thank you, I’ll be here all week.” She gave me a fake curtsey and hopped up on the counter that held her register. “Seriously though, how are you handling it? It’s a lot to process.”

“Yeah.” I rolled the bottle of water between my hands. “I have questions, but I’m not really sure where to begin. I was hoping you could fill in some blanks for me.”

“I got you. Let me start from the beginning, though.” She crossed her legs, making herself more comfortable. “With the first earthquake a few weeks back.”

She filled me in on everything that had happened between her and Wes, leading up to the night I stood on the beach and watched a black cloud the size of the island rain down fire on the forest. Honestly, it had surprised me to learn they hadn’t been together the whole time I’d been gone. The way they looked at each other in high school could set whole rooms on fire.

She also shared that we needed to defeat the curse, which had not been on my agenda. I thought it was just going to be a matter of repairing the stones, but apparently, that wasn’t the case. The curse wanted us to put our magic in the stones. Something about that nagged at the back of my mind, but I couldn’t quite grasp why it didn’t sit right with me. Other than entering into a battle I didn’t ask for or want to be a part of in any way.

Though the legend had been correct to a certain extent, at least. Audrey believed the order in which the attacks would come was accurate. The rest was left up to us to figure out.

There were probably some more specific details she kept to herself, but from what I’d been able to gather, I needed Finn to use my magic. I couldn’t access it at all without him. Touch activated my powers, but I couldn’t get it from just any sign, or even any Libra. It had to be Finn. That’s what he had meant by saying our magic worked together like a magical battery.

“Those side effects are going to be a problem.” I frowned as I thought back to the overwhelming need that rose in me when I touched him. It was hard enough to resist him in a regular state, but now I had a super-charged attraction to him?

“I’m sorry.” Audrey’s brows pinched together as she gave me a sympathetic look. “I know it’s not ideal, given your history, but we need you. Especially now that we know you’re a healer. Wes and I can’t fight this thing alone.”

It was a lot of pressure. The last few weeks had been hard, so much harder than I wanted to dump on Audrey, who I really didn’t know that well. Though I had a feeling she understood. She was also someone who kept a barrier up with most people, and like recognized like.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” I said.

I didn’t want to work with Finn. I didn’t want to see him at all.

Our relationship hadn’t been perfect. I’d be the first to admit that my time away in college tested us in ways neither of us had expected. I needed independence from my father, while Finn needed me to need him. That had been our dynamic. He struggled with me being gone, but I also think he struggled with me finding my way somewhere else.

It all fell apart the day before I had to return to school for my senior year. After Finn walked away from me, I sat at a cold table with my colder parents and pushed food around on my plate. The overly sweet scent of dying roses from the ornate centerpiece permeated the air. My mother scrolled through Twitter and my father scrolled through Bloomberg and neither of them so much as looked up when I stood and left the table five minutes into dinner.

They didn’t ask how I was or where I was going. I was a ghost.

A week later, I started getting texts full of fake concern from faker friends, asking if I’d had a chance to see Olivia Beaumont’s Instagram. She’d been my best friend in high school. The minute Olivia started crying on FaceTime, I hung up and I blocked both her and Finn. Then I started making plans to stay in Boston after graduation.

It wasn’t that hard to leave for good when there wasn’t anyone to miss me.

I must’ve been wearing every thought in my head on my sleeve, because Audrey reached over to me and squeezed my hand. “What can I do to help?”

“Find me someone else to work with?” I knew it was useless to ask, but I had to try. I wanted to use my magic. Just not with Finn.

“Finn was the descendant who was gifted with magic. There are only twelve of us. It has to be him.” She frowned as she picked at the edges of her blood-red nail polish. “He was pretty torn up after you two broke up.”

I pursed my lips. “So torn up he spent every night partying at Leo’s?”

She grimaced. “I’m not saying he dealt with it in the best way, but—”

“He slept with my best friend a week after I left.” Just thinking about Olivia twisted the knife in deeper, cutting the very air from my lungs. “I know you two are close, so you feel obligated to defend him, but please don’t. Not to me anyway.”

“Okay.” Audrey clasped her hands together. “I’m just going to say that I used to think I had good reason to hate Wes, too. Just… try with Finn. You might be surprised.”

Surprised that I wanted him? Surprised that just being near him lit me up from the inside? Surprised that after all these years I still didn’t know how to stop loving him?

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