Page 17 of Until the Stars Fall

But he cleared his throat and straightened his body and face into a more serious demeanor. “For the sake of all our lives on the ship, of course.”

Nope, no friend here. Only more reminders of the losses my magic had caused. My dead parents, my doomed relationships, my lost career. Tears pricked behind my eyes. “I think I’m beyond help at this point.”

I turned, and he said nothing as I walked away.

A couple of hours after lunch, Hannah texted me to meet her in the med bay for tea with Zola. Eager for both headache medicine and my sister’s company, I left my work and headed straight there.

The double glass doors opened at my approach. The lilt of their conversation drifted into the reception area from the staff rooms beyond, and I followed the sound to find them in a long, wide room with a dozen open patient alcoves around the edges. Instead of a nurse’s station, several long metal tables filled the space, some empty and some filled with supplies. Mismatched wooden china cabinets and armoires with glass doors had been conscripted from their civilian homes and lined up along the one available wall, and a narrow bookshelf in the corner was stuffed with medical books and romance novels.

“Gemma!” they exclaimed in unison.

“We waited for you.” Hannah jumped up and grabbed three mugs as Zola took a tea kettle off a hot plate. The latter studied my face a fraction longer than normal. What did she see when she looked at me?

Hannah dropped tea infusers into the mugs as Zola poured. “Earl Grey alright?”

“Sure, that’s fine.” I slid onto a stool beside Hannah.

“I’m so glad you came with us, Gemma.” Zola reached across the table and grasped my hand. “I’ve wanted to get to know you better for so many years, and I’m relieved you and Beck are writing up the grimoire. I don’t think I can perform another spell under pressure like we did yesterday.”

I tried to hide my inward cringe at the word grimoire while Hannah fixed mischievous eyes on me, murmuring, “You and Beck.”

Zola’s mischievous demeanor was a clear sign of her matchmaking complicity, but I ignored Hannah’s implication. “You didn’t seem ruffled at all,” I said to Zola. “I don’t know how you were so calm.”

“Blame it on my balanced chakras.” She laughed, holding her arms palms up on either side of her head. “Some of my notes are already in the box, but I’ve been writing down my other contributions to the spell systems.” She grabbed a stack of papers and sat them near me. “I have a little more to go, but this is most of it.”

“Thank you.” I gathered the stack before me, trying to decide how to ask my question so as not to offend. “Beck mentioned that he’s an eclectic witch who dabbles in...arti-something and divination. What kind of witch are you?” I asked. “I know that’s not how to ask that question, but—”

“That’s okay. I work with auras and energy healing.”

Auras. That explains why she kept looking at me off-center. I’ve always been rubbish with auras, even as a teen when I was actively trying to develop my magic. I flipped through the stack of papers, seeing references to several spells interfacing with mechanical systems. “How do you do aura work on machinery?”

She smoothed her pink sweater where it hung off her dark shoulders and smiled like a cat with a canary. “Your first mistake is separating animate beings and inanimate items in your head, when the truth is that the whole universe—every element—is made of energy. Down on its most basic level, every atom is a mini-verse of spinning energy. It’s the concept behind a lot of healing work, like Reiki, and if you’re clever, you can do healing work on more than people.”

“Energy healing, like when you helped Eyre with her eczema.”

“Exactly.” She scooped three teaspoons of sugar into her mug and expended a little bit of magic to set a spoon stirring on its own. “Gemma, I know we don’t know each other well yet, but I’m worried about you. I can’t help noticing you’re carrying around a lot of negative energy in your aura.”

Hannah looked between us. “Zola’s the best with aura cleansing. She can make you feel so much better, Gem, maybe make you even open to loooove,” she said, drawing out the word as she shimmied her shoulders.

Zola watched us over her mug as she took a sip, a gleam in her eyes.

“She’s relentless,” I said to Zola. “She’s trying to hook me up with Beck, but it won’t work.” The absolute last thing I needed was to get involved with a witch while I was on my way to get my magic removed.

Zola leaned toward Hannah, smiling at me. “They would make such a cute couple.”

“Right?” Hannah said. “The cutest.”

I leaned my elbows on the table and rubbed my forehead with both hands. “Not you too, Zola. Can’t I have one sister who’s not trying to pair me up? This headache’s punishment enough.”

Zola popped up from the table while Hannah tried to defend her position. “I’m just saying, as someone who knows the both of you, I think it’d be a great match. Zola, don’t you agree?”

Zola returned with two small bottles of medicine. “Here, take your pick. You should’ve told me sooner you didn’t feel good.”

“Thank you.” I picked up the ibuprofen and downed two with my tea.

“I think he likes you,” Hannah insisted. “He was acting all kinds of weird around you last night.”

Zola was no help, watching me with her full lips pressed together in a barely suppressed smile. She shook her head, tassel earrings swaying, and brought her mug to her lips. “He was acting suspiciously weird. I’ve never seen Beck so...subdued.”

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