The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic(81)

“Everything,” she said breathlessly.

“Okay,” he said, laughing. “I love it when you go into intense mode. I’m headed back to the station. I’ve got another twenty-four hours, then I’m off for forty-eight.”

She nodded without seeing him and thought he’d gone. But a moment later she heard his voice from the door.

“Hey, Sade?”

“Hmm?” she asked, running a finger down the recipe on the page.

“Can I have my dog back now?”

“No.” She smiled without looking up, and when she turned around again, he was gone. The scent of rosemary wafted up as she ground it with mortar and pestle, and something tugged at the edge of her thoughts. Something about Jake that was trying to make itself known as the pungent herb took over her senses. But she pushed it away, focusing only on Seth and how to save his life. Nineteen days felt like forever and no time at all.




She made five loaves of lemon rosemary cake, leaving four for the café and bringing one home. She found Seth with Florence and Anne, and pulled him aside, dragging him into the kitchen, where she pushed him into a chair.

“We’re going for a walk,” Anne called from the front door.

“Eat,” Sadie said once the door had closed, pushing a slice of cake toward him and taking a bite of her own.

He stared at the plate and then back at her.

“Listen, dumbass,” she said around a mouthful. “I need your help. We need clarity. This will give us that. I’m not letting you die, got it? Now, eat.” She pointed to the cake again.

Wordlessly, Seth took a heaping bite. She watched as he chewed, and her stomach flipped as his eyes went wide.

“What? What is it? Did you think of something? An idea?”

“It’s all so clear,” he whispered. “But no, it doesn’t make sense.” He shook his head, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“What! What doesn’t make sense? Just tell me, and we can figure it out together.” Her voice was breathless. She didn’t think her food had ever worked so fast before, which had to mean something good.

“You need …” He paused.

“What?”

“To go on a vacation because you are way too uptight,” he finished, laughing.

She screamed in frustration and threw her piece of cake at him as he kept laughing.

“I’m sorry,” he said, wiping frosting from his cheek with his finger and then licking it off. “I mean, great cake, first of all. And second, you had to know that was coming.”

“Seth, you’re not taking this seriously!”

“Oh, I’m taking this quite seriously, sister. I just refuse to let it ruin what time I have left in case we fuck everything up, and I don’t make it.”

“Stay there,” she said, her voice stern. It was time for something drastic.

She grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil, sketching an intricate diagram that reached the edges and then snaked right off.

“Why do I feel like this is a bad idea?” Seth said. He may not have liked the legacy growing up, but he knew enough to know a summoning spell when he saw one.

“Shut up and grab the Thieves and clary sage while I get something of Gigi’s.”

She almost lost her nerve as she reached Gigi’s door. But she needed a charm. A totem. Something to represent her grandmother. Stealing in with silent footfalls, she quickly grabbed the knot of Isis without looking around. Next, she pulled twice-blessed salt and a pure white candle from the cupboards before forcing Seth up and outside. They trekked out past the tree line. Simon followed them to the edge, but refused to go further.

Her heart was a syncopated rhythm. This could work. It had to work. They needed answers.

Lighting the candle, she waited until there was a small pool of melted wax, and then scattered salt in to bind Gigi’s spirit. She held out her hand and Seth wordlessly handed her the Thieves essential oil and clary sage, the first for fortification, and the other for clarity. She put a few drops of each on a small bundle of dried pine needles before lighting them on fire.

“I really don’t think—” Seth started, but Sadie cut him off with a glare as she placed the knot of Isis on top of the diagram.

“Show yourself,” she whispered under the canopy of trees. Light filtered in from above, the wind less fierce in the thick copse. The flame flickered. She closed her eyes. She smelled sap and pine and that particular bite of cold that promised rain. Sticks and rocks poked at her legs as she knelt on the ground, but she ignored them.

“I need to know what to do. Please, Gigi.”

She picked up the knot of Isis and squeezed it in her hands, focusing on the memory of Gigi with every ounce of willpower she possessed.

Simon’s gravelly mew from the tree line startled her eyes open. The flame was still lit, swaying gently.

“Please, please, please,” she whispered over and over until the silence threatened to undo her. She grabbed Seth’s hands in hers, and her eyes pleaded with him to at least try. He sighed but closed his eyes, focusing.

And that’s when she felt it. A bone-seeping cold that stole her breath like a bad dream. It was back. She shivered, and her breath came out in a puff. The flame blew out, and with shaking hands she tried to relight it.

“No, no, no,” her teeth chattered with cold and anger. “Not right now!” She took a handful of salt and scattered it in a circle around her and Seth.