Familiarity Breeds Witchcraft (16 page)

She wasn’t sure what she expected to happen. Enid wishing Fox good luck, maybe. Fox asking what she should do next.
 

But
nothing
happened. They all stood in silence for several moments as the magic faded.

Keeping her eyes closed wouldn’t cause her to hurt any less. She just needed some extra time to adjust to the knowledge that nothing could ever be the same after tonight. Her life would change in ways she’d couldn’t yet imagine.
 

Gemma winced, balling up her free hand as she worked up the courage to open her eyes.

“Look!” Fox said with a little laugh. “
Gemma.
”

Her heart thumped. Fox never called her by name.
 

Gemma’s eyes opened from the surprise of that alone.

The cord glowed a gentle orange and looped around one of Fox’s wrists. Gemma expected the cord to trail from Fox out the kitchen door as she’d seen seeking spells do in the past.
 

But the cord didn’t leave the room. It didn’t even droop to the floor.

Gemma followed the soft glow from Fox’s left wrist, up her arm, up, up…

…until the cord looped around her own wrist, the one resting on Fox’s shoulder, like a glowing bracelet.

She glanced at Fox, back to the cord, and then to Fox again.

Fox cast a startled glance at Enid. “Is this right?”

“The spell worked,” said Enid, meeting her sister’s eyes. “Right, Gemma?”

Gemma blinked, but the cord wouldn’t disappear until someone declared the spell ended, whether that be Enid, Fox, or Fox’s potential love match…which meant Gemma herself could declare the spell ended.
 

After everything she’d prepared herself to face, she hadn’t expected this.

“I don’t understand,” Gemma looked at her wrist as though the appendage belonged to someone else. Glancing at Enid, she said, “I…I’m barely functional. As a witch, or as…as a person? I didn’t think…how could I?”

“Hey.” Fox looked up at Gemma with…fondness? “That doesn’t matter to me.”

Surprise prevented Gemma from responding.

“I can’t say this comes as a shock,” Fox said. “I mean, you are one of the best people I know. You have been for years. And I don’t want you to think I expect you to be some perfect, idealized version of you, okay? I expect you to be
you
, babe. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s all I need.”

Dazed beyond the ability to put together a coherent sentence, she just said, “Yeah?”
 

“Yeah.” Tension tinged Fox’s nervous laugh. “I want…whatever you have to offer. I want you.”

With that, Fox placed her left hand over Gemma’s right. The spell shone bright around both their wrists, and, with so little distance between their hands, the cord barely registered, so they saw just the two of them, joined together within the gentle glow of love.

Gemma leaned forward as though she were going to kiss Fox the way she’d wanted to for so long. She got close enough to feel the warmth radiating off Fox’s skin and paused. What if this wasn’t what Fox wanted? She hadn’t said anything about them moving beyond friendship. Could they share a platonic love relationship? Was such a thing possible?

“Oh, come
here
.” Fox placed her hands on Gemma’s cheeks, her touch gentle, not pulling her any closer.
 

Gemma closed the rest of the distance between them.

The first brush of Fox’s lips caused Gemma’s heart to soar. She’d been afraid she’d be awkward with someone as worldly and attractive and, well, like
Fox.
But Fox threw her arms around the back of Gemma’s neck and pulled her closer. They kissed with the ease and perfection of two people meant for each other. She felt no awkwardness in the touch.
 

But then, even if the kiss had been awkward, Gemma still would have felt this as the perfect experience. She couldn’t imagine anything less. Not from the great love of her life. Not from Fox.

Then the kiss deepened until she could no longer think. The two of them became one.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when they broke apart. Her eyes looked down into Fox’s, the love she felt reflected back at her, and the tears she’d been fighting for so long that night started streaming down her cheeks. Only they were no longer tears of grief at the idea of losing her good friend, but tears of joy at having found the love of Fox’s life. She couldn’t believe she’d been so afraid of the spell casting that she’d planned to head up to her room to hide.
 

Gemma looked over to find Enid staring at them with a very pleased expression on her face. Her sister lounged against the counter, at ease amidst what must have looked like the ending of some bad rom-com, watching with no hint that she might be a third wheel in the situation. Getting alone time with Fox in this house might be a little difficult with her darling sister around.

Plus, Gemma knew she’d never hear the end of this. Enid must have insisted on them doing the spell right away because she’d already known the outcome. In fact, she must have known all along what would happen during the casting. The smug, self-righteous, know-it-all…

Enid winked and started to laugh.

Then Fox once again pulled Gemma into an embrace and she found she couldn’t bring herself to care about how much her sister annoyed her at that particular moment. She and Fox might as well have been alone in the kitchen.

And soon they were…

☆★☆

Days later.

“How’s the Academy coming along?” Fox asked.

Gemma grinned down at her screen. “Everything’s great so far. Classes will start whenever Rowan’s ready. Nana said that might be sooner rather than later since she’s getting a little stir crazy at home with Siobhan all day.”

“So what are you working on now?”

“Ritual spaces.” Gemma held up the tablet and pointed. She stood in the glass-walled room, a space she felt to be more than appropriate for spell work since the young witches could see the outdoors so well. “That’s what all the tables that popped up during the rebuild are for. But we’ll still need computers. I think future witches, even in this town, will want to keep most of their paperwork digital.” She turned the tablet so she could once again see the screen.

“Seems practical.” Fox grinned. “I miss you, babe.”

Gemma adjusted her device as she sat down again. “Miss you, too. Things are very quiet here without your bubbly presence.”

After the ritual, Fox had returned to Seattle like she’d said she would; after all, she needed to get things wrapped up back there before they could decide what to do next.

In the two weeks since Enid cast the love-seeking spell, Gemma and Fox talked daily the way they always had…only now the conversations were better. Gemma knew what she felt for Fox, and she knew Fox felt the same way, so now they could send each other sappy messages that Gemma read aloud in a dramatic voice for Enid’s benefit.
 

Enid always made disgusted noises. Getting on her sister’s nerves felt great after what she’d been through.

Gemma heard a door open downstairs.
 

An adult voice called her name, and a child’s voice made a joyful, wordless noise.

“Upstairs!” Gemma looked down to Fox. “Looks like alone time’s over for the moment.”

“Broomsticks!” Fox said. “Guess the time has come to start on my next comic. I should be happy to have a girlfriend with a schedule that allows me a lot of time to work.” She winked. “Now why did I think that would be a good idea?”

Gemma grinned. “I know. I’m so mean…and you’re such a slouch.”

Fox made a kissy face. “We’ll talk tonight, babe. Love you.”

“Love you.” Gemma’s face relaxed. “If you’re lucky, I might call you before dinner.”

Fox clapped her hands. “Does that mean we could watch TV together?”

The sound of footsteps grew ever closer. “There aren’t any big coven plans tonight.” Gemma looked up to see Orianna at the top of the stairs. “Right?”

“None that I know of,” Orianna said. “Is that Fox?”

Fern whooshed past Gemma and ran circles around the room.

Nodding, Gemma held up her tablet so Fox and Orianna could see each other.

“Perfect,” Fox said. “Talk to you soon. Bye, Orianna!”

Orianna smiled and waved. “Bye.”

“Later.” Gemma shut down the program and closed her tablet as she looked up at Orianna again. “Just what brings you to Ash Academy on this fine day?”

“We wanted to see the progress you’re making. Well, Fern did, anyway. And I thought
I
was excited about her school.” Orianna grinned toward her daughter, who’d stopped running and now spun in circles with her arms out to the sides. She seemed nothing like the child she’d been before Rowan returned home all those months ago. “Would you like to take a break and do lunch? I’ve noticed you sometimes forget to eat…and that isn’t good for you.”

An initial surge of anxiety swept over Gemma as she realized Orianna was being nosy and meddling.

But anxiety quickly turned to gratitude.

If Gemma wasn’t going to take care of herself, then someone needed to do it. And luckily, the coven was filled with people who wanted to do exactly that.

“Sure, I’d love some food,” Gemma said. She tucked her tablet into her messenger bag and looked around the room to be sure she had everything. Just in case she decided to head home for the day without coming back.

Orianna wandered to the window and looked out over the lawn. In a casual, sweet, and oh-so-innocent voice, she asked, “So…how is Fox?”

“You saw.” Gemma slung her bag over her shoulder. “She’s good.”

“Visiting Secret Hallow again any time soon?”

Gemma shrugged.

“Come on, Fern. Time to go.” Orianna held out a hand for her daughter while watching her friend. She heaved a frustrated sigh. “You’re too good at keeping things to yourself. Don’t make me ask your sister for a progress report.”

“Enid will tell you the same thing.” Despite being annoyed at her sister, she knew Enid to be loyal. Both the Ash sisters had been getting rather intense questioning since the town figured out their visitor had stolen Gemma’s heart.

Of course, the whole coven was very happy for them.

As Orianna and Fern headed for the stairs, Gemma did one last check of things before following, making extra sure to brush her fingers over the plane ticket she’d started keeping in her tablet case for fear she’d lose it.

What Gemma wasn’t telling Orianna was that she and Fox did have plans in place. The website where they’d met, the one for queer witches, was having a convention in Florida in a few weeks. Orlando, to be exact. Lots of fun things to do there. Gemma and Fox planned to go and do those fun things together and meet all their friends they’d made on the website over the years. The trip would be a perfect vacation.

Gemma hummed to herself as she stepped outside into another beautiful autumn-like day.

☆★☆

Next book:

Stranger Than Witches

Kimberly Leif’s Story!