Page 42 of Cherish

“Pretty sure that was a bean, not a seed.” Flint rolls his eyes. “Besides, these are from Macy. She felt guilty and said we should use them anytime we need a portal.”

“A portal?” I look at the bag with fresh eyes. “Are you telling me Macy charmed a seed so that it will grow into a portal?”

“That’s what she told me.”

“Where would she even learn that?” Eden asks, reaching for the bag to look inside it.

“Maybe from that all-witch academy she was at before she got kicked out?” Flint shrugs. “I don’t know. I just know she said they worked. But she said, like her regular portals, they can only go where she’s visited before. Good thing the Vampire Court is on her been-there, done-that list!”

“Well, I guess there’s no time like the present to find out.” I look around, ensuring everyone’s got their travel stuff ready to go, then look at Flint. “Do you want to do the honors?”

“Hell yeah! I’ve been dying to!” he answers, retrieving the bag from Eden. Then he pulls out a single iridescent black seed.

We all take a couple of steps backward as he performs the spell Macy taught him before tossing the seed into the dirt a few feet in front of him.

And then we all watch in awe as Macy’s seed blossoms into an actual portal. It’s the most bizarre and most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, and I’m captivated by the entire process. How can I not be, when it literally burrows into the ground in front of us under its own power?

Several seconds pass as it continues to bury itself in the dirt, and then, in the blink of an eye, a tiny green seedling breaks through the topsoil. It’s tiny at first, a little shoot of a plant just beginning to bud. But then it grows and grows and grows.

Branches sprout out of it in two directions, and within seconds, they’re curving upward as they grow larger and larger. Seconds later, they’re tangling and twisting together at the top, forming a circular shape that brings to mind Snow White’s evil stepmother’s magic mirror.

But this little seed hasn’t grown into anything as mundane as a mirror. No, this is a portal sparking with power and electricity, strength and rage—exactly like the magic that created it.

There are no rainbows here. No kaleidoscope of colors that welcomes you in the way Macy’s portals normally do.

No, this portal is filled with a dark, swirling magic that fascinates me even as it makes me worry for my cousin all the more.

“I’m not sure if I’m ever going to get used to this,” Flint murmurs.

I don’t know if he’s talking about the seed or the ominous overtones in Macy’s new magic, but I feel him on both fronts. Maybe that’s why my heart is beating at a frantic tempo when I take my first hesitant step into the portal.

The second I step inside, a chill sweeps through me that sinks all the way to my bones. It makes me shiver uncontrollably and ache like my body is starting to give out. At the same time, thorns skate across my skin, pricking me one after another—not enough to draw blood but more than enough to make me hurt.

One digs deeper than the others, and I gasp as I finally stumble out the other side of the portal and land—as I nearly always do—on my ass.

24

Home Not-So-

Sweet Home

I have a few moments to glance down and make sure I’m not actually bleeding before Hudson walks out like he’s taking an early-morning stroll along the Thames.

The jerk.

“Well, that was fun.” Sarcasm drips from his words as he reaches a hand down to help me up.

“No kidding. What the hellwasthat?”

He looks like he wants to say something, but in the end he just shrugs and walks away from the portal. Which has me wondering exactly what kind of portal we just went through. Because something about it didn’t feel right to me—and Hudson’s reaction is only reinforcing that fact.

Once I’m on my feet, I take a moment to dust off my butt and look around, trying to figure out where the portal has dropped us. I know we’re at the Vampire Court, but we’re definitely not in a part of it that I recognize.

The Vampire Court I know is all creeping shadows, torture devices, and concrete crypts.

Thisroom is decorated in three varying shades of…white. White on sort-of white on creamy white. The furniture is minimalist, dark wood when not covered in more white. White cushions. Off-white lumbar pillows. Even the massive rug covering the dark hardwood floor consists of swirls of varying shades of white.

And it’s all fucking gorgeous.

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