Page 22 of Surviving in Everton

“I don’t know, Sunday? Hudson talked to his dad and they went through Mr. H’s books. I guess Hud found a potion that he thinks Harris could have used on me. It explains the problems with my memory, including the conflicting memories I have. We just talked about it Sunday, then Hudson found the tea container and took it home, where he did a bunch of tests to see if there was any magic in it. We decided I should probably see a doctor since it was likely I had been spelled repeatedly for ten years, but I couldn’t get in until yesterday,” I explain.

“Well, what did Dr. Johnston say?”

I run my hand through my hair trying to hold myself together long enough to tell her everything. “He said…” I look up at her with tears in my eyes. “He said I have a magical tumor on my brain,” I tell her as calmly as I can.

She sucks in a breath, then schools her features. “Did he say what caused this magical tumor?” she asks with a hard look. It’s the look of a woman that wants to kill someone.

“Well, he did a magical exam, and he’s doing more research before he gives us the results… but the running theory is that I was spelled with some potion so much that the extra magic all congregated on my brain.” I sniffle, trying to hold back the tears.

“Extra magic? What do you meanextra?”

I explain everything I can remember about the doctor’s appointment yesterday. Then we sit there on my swing as I fill her in on the plan the guys came up with. As soon as I’m done, she pulls me into her arms and we cling to each other. This woman has been my rock my whole life. I know I have the guys and I’m not alone in all of this, but I don’t know if I could do this without her. Thankfully, I’ll never have to find out.

“Come on, let’s go inside, sweets,” Quinn says gently.

I nod my head then we get up and head inside. We get comfortable on the couch and settle in as we wait for the guys to get here.

“So anything else I should know about?” she asks with a raised brow and a smirk. I smile and duck my head to hide my blush. “Oooooh!” she exclaims, pointing a finger at me accusingly. “What is it?!? Tellll me!” she demands and I know she’s going to drag it out of me one way or another.

“Well… Declan stayed the night last night…” I trail off and bite my bottom lip as I remember everything that happened.

“Oh, no you don’t! Don’t you dare stop there!”.

I chuckle and cover my smile while I look away from her. She clears her throat loudly, informing me she’s not about to let this go, so I decide to give her just enough information to get her off my back.

“Okay, okay, we slept together. And it was amazing. But you’ll never guess the reasonwhyit was so life-altering,” I tease her. Which I shouldn’t have done, because that just opened the floor to her outrageous guessing.

“He gave you your first O? He actually knows how to use what he’s got? Oh, I know! He knows just what you want because he can read your mind! That’s it, I win!” she proclaims. Then proceeds to do a victory dance in her seat while sticking her tongue out at me, taunting me for saying she’d never guess. But while she’s right on all accounts, that’snotthe reason. Or at least not the one I’m talking about.

“Are you done yet?” I ask her with a roll of my eyes. “Because, while you are correct on most counts, that’s not the reason I was referring to.”

She stops her antics at that and tilts her head.“What do you mean that’s not the reason you’re talking about? What else could there be?”

“What do you know about soulmates?” I ask her seriously, but she just bursts out laughing.

“Soulmates? Besides all the stories we used to read when we were kids? Nothing. Why? Are theyreal?” she questions me when she finally registers the look I’m giving her.

“They are most certainly real. But the books we read were nowhere near the truth,” I tell her and she looks at me with interest. It appears I have her undivided attention now.

“What do you mean?” she asks me earnestly. “Stop holding out on me! Give me the goods, damn it!”

I can’t help but laugh at her. “Well, for one, on rare occasions, soulmates gain extra abilities…ifboth of them have a special ability.” She’s looking at me with an odd expression on her face, so I go on. “Yeah… apparently I have one,” I trail off.

“One what? What are you rambling about, Rowe?” she huffs at me.

“Ugh. I have a special ability, Quinn!” I screech at her.

She sits there with her head cocked, just blinking at me. “Umm no. I think I would know if my best friend had some special ability,” she argues and she’s not wrong. She would know more than anyone.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I guess it’s not very strong, but it’s definitely there.” I shrug.

“Fine. What is it then?” she demands. She’s not very happy that there was something different about me and she didn’t know it.

“Apparently, I have empathic abilities,” I start and her eyes widen as she slowly nods.

“Okay, I can see that. You’ve always been sensitive to other people’s feelings. It was just never something obvious enough to make me think it was a power,” she offers with a shrug of her shoulder.

I bite my lip as I think about how she’s going to react to the next bit of information I’m about to throw at her. “I’m not the only one with that power.” She gives me a look like she’s going to seriously hurt me if I don’t get on with it already, so I just spit it out. “Violet’s an empath too. If I had to guess, I’d say her power is a lot stronger than mine.”

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