Page 98 of Starrily
Chapter 23
Callie’s chest felt heavy and compressed, as if strips of steel had wrapped themselves around her heart and were squeezing it. Why did she ever come back here—to this town, this house, this very room, where all of her memories still lived?
Raleigh held her tight, and she hid her face in his shoulder, vaguely aware she was soaking him with her still-wet clothes. The shirt they’d given him smelled fresh, herbal, and citrusy, and like all the others, the memory fell into place—lemon verbena. Aunt Phoebe put it everywhere, from decorations to bouquets, to ward off evil spirits.
“What happened?” Raleigh’s voice was soft and gentle as he caressed her back.
Oh, Raleigh.The one person that could make her come back here. Losing him might be worse than facing her memories—but it didn’t make facing them any easier. Perhaps she wasn’t that brave after all.
“You know Mom and Phoebe are twins?” she muttered into his shirt, then tilted her head to the side. “Nana used to have a twin,too, but she passed away. And her mom before that. I was the first in five generations without a twin. Then I met Mila. We got along right away. She was like the sister I never had.”
“You looked so similar,” he said.
Callie nodded. “Mom said she was my twin soul. We weren’t related, but we were connected. In here.” She tapped her chest above her heart. “We did everything together. At school, we’d sit close to each other and pass notes. We got in trouble so many times.” She smiled at the bittersweet memory. “And after school, we’d play—sometimes around town, sometimes in the bayou. We’d find animals and inspect them for science, dig for buried treasure, or pretend to be river pirates.”
“Sounds like a wonderful life.”
“It was. Life was one big adventure.”
“I knew you had it in you,” he said. Not accusing, but encouraging.
“Oh, I was a wild child. I believed in everything Mom, Aunt, and Nana said, too.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Speaking with ghosts through Ouija boards. Card readings. Chants for warding off bad spirits. Everything in the worlds beyond our own. I thought if I went out on a full moon, a werewolf might snatch me. And sometimes I considered it because it would be so cool to see one.”
“I should’ve tried that, not this ghost thing,” Raleigh said. “Hairiness is probably preferable to immaterialness, huh?”
She snorted, but then she remembered where she’d left off, and any lightness dissipated. “One day, during the summer, Mila and I took a small boat and went out in the bayou. Playing explorers. We sat in the boat and … I don’t remember how it began; maybe we were trying to catch a fish or arguing about where to go, but the boat heaved, and Mila fell overboard.” The bands around her heart constricted as images rose in her mind.“She knew how to swim, we both did. But after a few seconds, she didn’t resurface. I jumped after her, even though the water was so murky I could barely see anything. I found her, and she was reaching for me, and I pulled as hard as I could …”
She choked on the incoming tears. Raleigh caressed her shoulder and her upper arm.
“She didn’t budge. Her foot must’ve gotten stuck in a branch. I tried so hard … I screamed her name …” She shook her head. “I don’t remember what happened afterwards, but I woke up at home. And Mila was dead.”
“She drowned.”
Callie nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
She clenched the collar of his shirt. “All of their mumbo-jumbo didshit.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No reading my mom did indicated anything would happen that day. There was no warning from the great beyond, no ominous mark in tea leaves,nothing.”
“Hey. Hey.” He ran a hand over her hair. “Calm down. It’s all right.”
“Phoebe found us on the riverbank. I must’ve finally dragged Mila there, but it was too late. Where were all the warnings”—her voice broke, and she swallowed a lump in her throat—“when Mila needed them?”
“Maybe …” Raleigh’s tone was cautious, “it doesn’t work that way?”
“Because it doesn’t work at all. I was so stupid. I even asked Aunt Phoebe to let me speak with Mila’s ghost. She wouldn’t do it, but thinking about it now …” Her world had collapsed that day, in more ways than one. Mila was gone, and all the magic in Callie’s life was also gone. Only hurt and shame remained.
“You don’t believe it’s all fake,” Raleigh said.
“I believe in science.” She slipped her hand out of his and stood. “I believe in the things we can prove with models and theories and thorough examinations.”
