Page 124 of Shroom for Improvement

I puffed out a breath... clapped my hands together.

Right, start again.

Only this time, I allowed myself to think about Sonny. Maybe that was the secret. After all, hadn’t the compass pointed to him when I’d asked it to solve the ritual? Maybe thinking about Sonny was the key to unlocking the glamour.

I thought about the moment I first saw him—on platform three of South Waterside U-Rail station. The previous train had terminated there twenty minutes before and the train’s staff—the driver, the security officer, two onboard cafe assistants, and me, the train’s conductor—were returning from our breaks. Sonny had taken ownership of an entire bench on the platform. He had a laptop open on his knees and paperwork spread across the vacant seat.

Magpie fae.The first words that had floated through my mind.

I’d instinctively patted down my pockets to remind myself my wallet and keys were still there, and that my radio was still attached to my belt should I need to call for security.

They were an unsavoury bunch of fae. Tricksters, and thieves, and charlatans. At least, that was what my mother had told me growing up. Being the kid who’d taken everything at face value, I’d never questioned her. So, when I spotted Sonny sitting there, typing away on his keyboard, my instinct was to protect myself, my belongings, and my passengers.

Still, it didn’t account for the weird bubbling feeling he gave me. Mummy never warned me just how beautiful magpie fae would be. And he was.

Breathtaking.

He lifted his head, and we made eye contact. My stomach flipped, and for a few seconds, we’d simply stared at each other.

That was, until a whistle blew, signalling the idle train at the platform would begin boarding. At which point, Sonny leapt to his feet, collecting his scattered paperwork and snapping his laptop shut.

And I had tickets that needed stamping.

But he’d followed me, from the first carriage all the way to the caboose, grinning like a weirdo and laughing. I’d thought he was trying to rob me, or was taking the piss out of me. Another gorgeous schoolyard bully. Looking back with the information I knew now, that wasn’t the case.

Sonny always got like that when he was overexcited. His words tumbled unfiltered from his mouth. He giggled. His overlong limbs got twitchy.

Oh, my gods! That morning three years ago, Sonny had been nervous.

And excited. To meet me. And I’d only just realised.

I was so disgustingly in love with him.

The fireball of warmth in my chest exploded. There was no time for floating plasma balls. Instead, a jolt shot from the palms of my hands directly into the sky. A fraction of a second later, it snapped down to the stone tablet at my feet.

The soil around the tablet glowed red for a moment and then returned to its normal non-porous, watery brown dust soup.

I’d done it.

I’d conjured a lightning strike on my own.

Admittedly, still with Sonny’s help, but he wasn’t here. Which meant I could do it again without him present. He was free to go back to Remy and live his dream.

I had to tell him.

“Jenny, where’s Sonny? Is he in the library or the lab?”

Nothing.

Right, I’d forgotten Jenny had stopped responding.

Regardless, I ran towards the house. I tried the library first because it was closer. And there he was, sitting at the table in the centre, almost entirely hidden by a city of book skyscrapers. His head bent low, a pen scratched furiously across a notepad while he absorbed as much knowledge as possible in his last few days.

He lifted his head, just like the very first time we’d met at South Waterside, and my heart threw itself against my windpipe.

I had two thoughts.Gods, I love him. And,whatever you do, Claude, do not tell him you love him.

I did not need to lay that guilt on those perfect shoulders.

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