Page 31 of The Midwinter Mirror
“How could I forget?”
“Amber made us all invisible, but then she gave us a spell to use in case we got separated, so we wouldn’t have to be invisible forever.”
I do remember. That was amazing. It was the first time I’d actually seen her use her powers for something exciting—it made me realize how cool witches are. I search my mind, tryingto remember the spell, but only vague words come to mind. “Can you remember it?” I ask. Josh is cleverer than me. Maybe he has it memorized.
“No,” he answers.
“Well, that sucks big time.”
“But,” he goes on, “I wrote it down in my journal.”
“You have a journal?”
“Duh, yeah. I write everything important in there. It’s secret. But I think I have the spell. Come on, let’s go look.”
I follow him up the stairs to the room we’re sharing—Grimlet’s sitting on his shoulder but hops onto the pillow. Josh pulls his backpack from beneath the bed and rifles through it.
“Here it is.” He sits on the bed, his legs dangling, Grimlet crouched beside him, and flicks through the battered blue notebook.
“I found it.” He hands the book to me. “I mean, it might not work,” he says. “Maybe it was just specific to being invisible, but Amber said it was a spell to stop spells. So maybe it’s worth a try, right?”
“Hell, yeah, it’s worth a try. Anything’s worth a try at this moment. I’m going to go find Holly and try it out. You go talk to Milo, see if he found out anything else in the library.”
“Okay.” He jumps off the bed and scampers out of the room, Grimlet close behind.
I sit for a moment, trying not to get my hopes up. Magic is such a tricky thing. Who knows whether it will work or not? But as I said, anything’s worth a try right now.
Getting to my feet, I shove the journal in my pocket and cross the room to look out the window. Holly’s just climbing the steps to the front door. I give her a few more minutes, and then I open the door and step out into the hallway just as she hits the top of the stairs. She stops in front of me and looks up into my face. I can’t tell what she’s thinking.
“That’s a very useful trick you have,” she says. “And the fire—it must come in handy.”
An image flashes in my mind: bodies burning, screams filling the air. “Yeah, sometimes useful. Sometimes not. Depends on whether you like your enemies crispy.”
She frowns at that. She probably thinks I’m joking.
Suddenly, I need to touch her. Just to connect. To somehow let her know that she’s not alone in all this. That I love her even if she is a witch. Hell, my only two real relationships have been with a witch and a werewolf. I’m not fussy. But maybe I shouldn’t tell her that.
“Look,” I say, “there’s something I want to talk about. Something I want to try.”
Suspicion flashes across her face. “I don’t suppose it’s some sort of kinky sex thing?” She sounds hopeful, and I hate to disappoint her, but…
I shake my head.
“Damn.” She sighs. “Okay, come to my room. I suspect I need my slippers and my favorite dressing gown for this conversation.”
I follow her down the hallway to her room. I used to spend a lot of time in this room that last year in Elderfell when we’d just discovered kissing. I go instantly hard at the thought and push it away. Now is not the time. No kissing until we solve this problem.
She pulls on her fluffy slippers and the pink dressing gown she’s had since she was about twelve and sits on the bed. Then jumps up again.
I can see the sadness in her face, the fear of failure. I know because I feel it myself.
“One thing first, before we get to the serious stuff,” she says. “Will you kiss me?”
Okay, maybe just a little kissing before we solve this problem.
I step closer and cup her cheek, then I lower my head, and our lips touch. I breathe in her scent: snow and roses, sweet and cold. Then I wrap my arms around her and hug her close. For a second, she melts against me, resting her cheek against my chest, and we stand that way for a long moment.
I feel her stiffen against me, her palms press to my chest, and she pushes away. Then she straightens her shoulders. “Okay, I’m ready. What is it you want to try?”
