The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic(109)

“I’m not going anywhere. This? You and me? It’s going to be good.”

“That sounds like a promise.”

“Oh, it’s a guarantee.”

“Shut up and kiss me, please,” she murmured as he pressed her against the car.

By the time they went inside, her cheeks were flushed, and she wasn’t quite as tired as she’d been before.

“I guess you can keep my dog,” he murmured against her hair.

“Our dog,” she corrected him.

Raquel had made tea, and the back door to the garden was open. The faint smell of a freshly lit cigarette trickled in. Seth met Sadie’s eyes across the kitchen table and nodded. Gigi was there.

Raquel’s head rested on Seth’s shoulder. Uncle Brian and Kay were arguing about the proper way to make a margarita while Anne rolled her eyes and Tava spoke in a baby voice to Abby (curled on her lap) and Bambi (curled at her feet).

She’d spent more than half her life in fear of heartbreak, reveling instead in being strange, different, latching onto the Revelare name like she had no other identity. And for the longest time, perhaps she hadn’t. Her days had been structured around order and tradition, control and fear. Now, the unknown settled into her bones like adventure instead of panic.

She’d only ever trusted her magic. Now it was time to trust herself.

She kissed Jake goodbye and hugged Raquel as she left. Anne put Sage to bed while Brian fell asleep on the couch, snoring within seconds. Tava and Kay left to stay in their flat above Lavender and Lace’s Ice Cream Parlor.

She and Seth were the only ones left in the kitchen. And still they waited. In a silence that had grown heavy with expectation, until Anne came in with a look of determination on her face. And Sadie knew in a way that didn’t need words or magic that her mother wasn’t coming back tonight.

“Why?” Seth asked, sensing the same fact.

“Here,” Anne said, sliding an envelope across the table.

Sadie opened it, and Seth leaned over her shoulder as they read it together, their mother’s elegant script spilling across the page like a spell.

Seth and Sadie,

First of all, I’ll be back. I promise. But I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, and its time I made up for one of them. Sadie, I know how much your magic means to you, and I’ll be damned if I don’t do everything in my power to help you get it back. Because I believe you can get it back. Seth, now that you’re safe and your magic is under control—explore it. I know, like me, you wanted to be normal. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that being normal is an oxymoron. There is no “normal.” Even without magic, every single person is so uniquely significant that there’s no plumb line for being ordinary. That’s what makes us all extraordinary. Embrace it instead of hiding from it. And let your sister help you.

Sage will be staying with Kay and Tava. Check in on her for me, will you? I’ll be back, hopefully with answers, and we’ll be a family.

Your loving mother

“There’s no way,” Sadie said breathlessly. “Is there? For me to get my magic back?”

“If anyone could find out, it would be Florence,” Anne said.

“Yeah, you’re the one who’s always talking about hope and believing,” Seth said with a grin as he slid the letter back into the envelope and into his back pocket, like a talisman.

“Hope,” Sadie said, and the word sounded like a blessing.

“Yeah. And no more curses either,” he said.

“The thing about curses is that sometimes they’re actually blessings in disguise.”

Seth merely gave her a pointed look.

“But yeah.” She laughed, feeling light. “No more curses.”

“And I’m going to go to therapy,” he added. “Now that the curse is gone, it’s like I can feel which parts of the darkness were because of the life debt and which parts are just me. I know the sacrifice wasn’t a cure, but it feels like the start of understanding how to manage it, you know?”

“I suppose we have Raquel to thank for that decision?” Sadie smiled.

“She made some valid points,” he admitted. “And I see how different she is, how much it’s helped her. And I want to be the best version of myself for her.”

“My brother and my best friend,” Sadie said, shaking her head, still in disbelief. “Well, then you’ll also be happy to know I’m going to go to grief counseling,” Sadie said.

“Raquel strikes again. And hey,” he said, patting her on the head like a dog or a child, “when you’re ready, I’ve spent the last few weeks researching the best literary agents to query for a cookbook. I have a whole spreadsheet. And a bunch of links for legal and business stuff you need to fill out to teach cooking classes.”

“Seth,” Sadie started, but her throat was too constricted with the effort of holding in her tears.

“Stop,” he said, holding up a hand. “I needed something to do. And you needed a kick in the ass to do something for yourself.”

She threw her arms around him and squeezed until he groaned in irritation.

“Thank you,” she breathed. “Thank you for being the best brother in the whole world.”

“Thanks for almost dying for me,” he answered with a soft smile.