Page 15 of Hex Appeal
“How many are there?” I asked.
“In a place like Hallowell Bay? A handful, maybe more. We find one, we can send him packing.”
I called Bianca. She showed up ten minutes later in pyjama pants and a sparkly hoodie, carrying a pint of rocky-road ice cream.
“This better not be about you hating on Etan trying to flirt with you again?—”
“It’s not,” I cut in. “It’s Nate. The real Nate. I saw him in my mirror, and he’s trapped in the Mirror Realm.”
She blinked. “Like, right now?”
“Right now. Etan’s keeping him alive just enough to keep his anchor here stable. Raven says we can get him out if we find one of the veil seams around town and shove Etan back through it.”
Bianca blinked. “Thin magical portals scattered around Hallowell Bay. Of course. Totally normal Tuesday.”
“It’s the only shot we’ve got,” I said. “We’re running out of time.”
Bianca’s smirk faded. “That’s not good.” She set the ice cream down. “Okay. Tell me exactly what you saw.”
Raven flapped down from the curtain rod. “While you two compare horror stories, remember Nate’s life force is draining by the second.”
Bianca pointed her spoon at him. “So, what do we do?”
Raven’s gaze was sharp. “Find a way to banish Etan before Nate fades out completely. To do that we need to find a seam.”
“A what now?” Bianca asked, her face scrunched up in confusion.
“A seam is the thinnest part of the veil,” Raven added. “Think of the veil like fabric, a seam is where it’s worn enough for something to push through.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay. Then we’d better start looking for seams.”
College was supposed to be my big challenge this year, dorm shopping, class schedules, figuring out if I could survive on instant ramen. Instead, my survival plan involved not getting the man I love murdered by my lip gloss mistake.
Bianca grinned. “Operation Save Nate is a go.”
Raven groaned. “This is going to end in fire.”
In the flamingo mirror, the faint crack throbbed like it could hardly wait to burn.
Three days down. Four left. The number sat in my head like a dripping faucet I couldn’t shut off. Every drop was a heartbeat I couldn’t afford to waste.
Before we left, I decided there was no way I was going to hunt magical portals on three hours of sleep and zero caffeine.
“I need coffee,” I announced, heading for the kitchen.
Bianca tilted her head. “Like mortal coffee, or the kind that ends with me dodging shrapnel?”
“I can speed this up,” I said, ignoring Raven’s groan. I aimed at the coffee maker and whispered the incantation under my breath.
The machine gave a promising whirr, shuddered, and then exploded in a spectacular spray of scalding coffee grounds and glitter.
Bianca almost dropped her spoon, laughing as she whipped out her phone and started typing. “Oh, this is definitely going in my blog.”
I wiped glittery sludge off my cheek and glared at her. “Glad my magical screwups are your favorite form of entertainment.”
“They are,” she said without looking up. “And the comments section loves them too.”
Raven hopped onto the counter with a sigh. “It smells like a unicorn died in here.”
