Page 48 of A Touch Enchanted

“Oh. Right.” A dark cloud passed over her eyes, like she was disappointed I didn’t tell her to go ahead. It was so unfair that she got stuck with Cole. If he’d been paired with Kenna, the two of them would’ve been happy to go the rest of their days never touching.

“It’ll happen.” I squeezed her shoulder. “Soon enough we’re going to need you.”

“At least I know I’ll be immune to the side effects.” Brooke crossed her arms and glared across the parking lot to where Cole stood alone, scowling at everyone in his immediate vicinity. “If Cole Latham was the last living being on earth, I’d jump into the ocean and take my chances on repopulating with the fish.”

“We’ll see about that.”

I had no idea what the side effects would do to two people who genuinely didn’t like each other. Audrey had hated how much she couldn’t hate Wes, and Thora hated what she thought Finn had done to her, but neither of them had a bone-deep hate for their match. I’d been hurt by Donovan’s silence, but I could never hate him.

I’d have to ask Kenna how she felt when Galen touched her.

My parents arrived and waved as they approached the parking lot. I excused myself from Brooke and met them halfway. “Hey. Did you get the new scuba tank I ordered?”

My dad ruffled the top of my head. To him, I’d always be a five-year-old with skinned knees and pigtails. “We did, but you didn’t have to do that, Squirt. Accidents happen.”

“Still. It was my fault. I should’ve known the curse would sabotage the equipment.”

My parents gave each other looks. The kind they gave when they had bad news to deliver, but weren’t sure how to go about saying it. They heard plenty of rumors in their shop, and now that the beach was unusable, I had no doubt that residents were finding excuses to stop by their place and buy something, knowing they were hurting right now. Even when I was mad at this town, I still loved them for the way they took care of each other.

“People are talking,” my mom said, “about what happened on the beach.”

“What are they saying happened?” I did my best to keep the bite out of my voice, but not a good enough job considering the way my parents gripped each other’s hands tighter. This was hard on them too. They wanted to support me, but this was beyond their scope.

No one came right out and told us what the mayor had said in the park after the eel incident on the beach. We’d been able to gather that he was trying to blame us for letting the curse loose, but I hadn’t heard exactly how he justified that. Especially because everyone knew the legend and knew that we were separate from the curse. That we’d been tasked to stop it.

My mom waved it away. “They’re saying nonsense.”

My dad took off his sun-faded Red Sox ball cap and gripped it in his fist. “The mayor is saying you all stood on the beach and called those eels in to attack the tourists so you could use that incident to force a shutdown. Nonsense, like your mom said.”

“Those aren’t real eels. This isn’t even their natural habitat.” It was all I could think to say. I’d known the mayor was saying something along those lines, but to have it stated so plainly was a shock to my system.

A sick sense of dread crept down the back of my neck. How could the town believe that we’d hurt people on purpose? That we’d go to such extremes to force a shutdown? We didn’t even want to shut down. Not really. We just wanted to prevent worse things from happening. The eels were a warm-up act to something much worse.

The more it sank in, the madder I got. “Did they miss the part where Finn and Thora almost passed out from the physical pain they put themselves through to heal hundreds of people within minutes? Or me swimming through electric-eel-infested waters to pull everyone out, while Donovan did his best to clear paths for me? Or Wes and Audrey freezing the water to kill the remaining eels? They saw us standing on the beach, but did it ever occur to them that we might’ve been down there trying tohelppeople?”

My mom paled when I mentioned what part I’d played in the beach rescue, and I wanted to punch myself for not softening that blow. But it didn’t stop me from raising my voice loud enough for people nearby to stop their conversations and gawk at me. I hoped they got an earful too. They were more than welcome to pass that information around.

“We know you’re doing important stuff right now.” She worried her long braid between her fingers. “I think this town knows too, deep down. They’re just scared.”

I was scared too. So fucking scared that we’d fail. That we’d put everyone on the island in danger because we weren’t strong enough to defeat this curse. Every minute of every day, I worried about the people of Zodiac Cove, while they sat around and villainized me because my ability to protect them made them uncomfortable. It was all so frustrating.

“What do you want us to do, Squirt?” My dad stared at me like I was going to save them. And because of that, I almost believed I could. “If Wes brings up a shutdown, should we get on board? Stand up and say we’re with you all?”

As much as it warmed my heart to have my parents on my side no matter what, I worried about them. They now had no income from scuba lessons and equipment rentals coming in, thanks to those asshole eels. That made up ninety percent of their summer income. If they stood with us, would the locals still stand with them? Would they still stop at their store to buy things they didn’t need just to keep my parents afloat? Somehow, I didn’t think so.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” I loved that they wanted to stand with me, but they couldn’t afford to alienate the town. “I told you to wait and see, and I still think that’s best.”

“What the fuck, Violet?” At the sound of Donovan’s voice behind me, all the blood drained from my face. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“Donovan. It’s not—” I reached for his hand and he recoiled from me. Recoiled. I felt like he’d just slapped me. And not in the fun, sexy, bedroom way.

“This is bullshit. We’re all out here busting our asses trying to keep people safe, risking our necks every damn day, and you’re siding with them?” He swept his arm out, gesturing to the residents who weren’t even pretending not to gawk anymore.

“I’m not siding with anyone. This isn’t about sides.”

He opened his mouth to respond when the town hall doors burst open. Our cue to get inside and find our seats. “We’ll talk after the meeting.”

“Fuck the meeting,” I said. “We need to talk now.”

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