… That was the beginning of my journey down this path, Lily. I met the shaman and I shouldn’t have. There was a reason witch magic and shaman magic were kept separate, although I didn’t know it then. But I did it for Mom.
*
Lily awoke to the homey smell of roasting turkey. She rolled over and felt a body next to hers.
“Be careful. Rowan will strangle me if you reinjure yourself,” Juliet said. She stowed the book she was reading and slid down on top of the covers, laying her head on the pillow next to Lily’s.
“Where is he?” Lily asked groggily.
“Cooking dinner. He’s an amazing cook,” Juliet said.
“I know.” Lily grinned. “Wait till you see what he can brew up in a cauldron.”
“Oh, I’ve seen plenty of that while he was healing you, although he had to settle for one of Mom’s old stockpots until he ordered a real cauldron off the Internet.” Juliet bit her lower lip as she thought about what to ask. “I’ve seen Rowan do a lot of strange things. Is he really from a parallel world like Mom said?”
“Mom’s not crazy,” Lily replied quietly. “There are countless other versions of the world. I’ve been to one of them. Mom sees all of them, all the time. That’s why she seems crazy—because she doesn’t always know which world her body is in when her mind is in so many.”
Juliet’s luminous brown eyes rounded with sadness. “We just pumped her full of drugs,” she whispered.
“We were wrong.”
The two sisters cuddled closer to each other, silently giving the other permission to forgive herself.
“And everything Rowan told us about witchcraft and willstones and mindspeak?” Juliet asked, still trying to absorb it all.
It’s all true, Jules. Magic is real. He’s what’s called a mechanic and I’m a witch. This is mindspeak.
Juliet’s eyes widened for a moment when she heard Lily’s voice in her head, and then they darted down to the three faintly glowing willstones hanging from a chain around Lily’s neck. “I guess I should be more surprised, but I’m not,” Juliet said, a dreamy look stealing over her face. “I think we’ve always been able to read each other’s minds a little.”
I think we have.
“You gotta teach me how to do that,” Juliet said, grinning.
“Deal,” Lily agreed.
“So,” Juliet said, her eyes narrowing teasingly, “are all the guys in this other world like Rowan? And if they are, can you get me one?”
“No, they are not all like Rowan,” Lily replied, laughing.
“Damn.” Juliet sighed and rolled over onto her back. “I guess I’ll just have to keep imagining a gorgeous, intelligent badass who lives and breathes for me.”
“Your guy’s out there,” Lily said. She gave Juliet a devilish smile. “But Rowan’s mine.”
“Apparently,” Juliet replied dramatically. “He’s hardly left your side at all. I had to force him to take yesterday and today off and just get out of the house. And no wonder.” Her face suddenly pinched with worry. “We thought you were going to die. You were so badly burned we were sure there was no way anything could save you. But Rowan did it somehow.”
Lily took her sister’s hand. “I’m sorry I put you through that.”
Juliet suddenly smiled and got out of bed. “Well! You’re here now, you’re safe, and you’re going to stay that way,” she said briskly, avoiding her feelings. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving,” Lily said. “Do you think you can get me downstairs? I’m sick of being in bed.”
“Your feet are the worst,” she replied dubiously.
“Please, Jules. I’m going stir-crazy.” Lily gave her sister a pitiful look.
“I guess if we go slow it’ll be okay,” Juliet said, relenting.
Juliet heaved Lily to her feet and they shuffled down the hallway together. Lily’s feet stung so much she found herself laughing at the pain as they minced their way down the stairs.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Rowan asked scathingly from the bottom of the stairs.