“Mind your own business,” Kylie remarked to Jesse as she passed the waitress on her way to the door when their supper was done.
“What goes on here is my business,” Jesse responded. “I’m the manager. Stay clear of Tom Lockland if you know what’s good for you.”
* * *
As they set off down the High Street, a wind had come up and the birds stirred in the bushes. What fools some people were. Kylie agreed with Tom on that. They walked along the fens, where water rimmed the side of the road. Already the night was pitch dark and pools that had collected at the change in the tide were difficult to avoid. Kylie stumbled into a puddle that nearly reached her knees. Tom seized her arm so that he might pull her back to the road. “Stay here by me,” he said, and she did so, for she had a fear of water, instilled by her mother with all her talk of drownings and sea monsters. If there were to be a monster anywhere, Kylie found herself thinking, it would likely be here on the outskirts of Thornfield. The twisted forms of old trees emerged out of the dark and there were tall hedges of bramble on either side of the road that shifted in the gusts of wind, throwing up a peppery smell that made Kylie’s eyes itch.
“I usually stay away from water,” she admitted.
“Let me guess. You were warned away by your family.”
Kylie was surprised that he’d guessed correctly. “My mother. We were never allowed to go swimming.”
“What people don’t understand they fear.” Tom seemed more relaxed then he’d been at the pub. “I’m sure they’d all warn you away from me.”
She saw the way he was looking at her, even in the falling dark.
He took a step closer. “Or maybe they already have.”
There was something there between them that made Kylie uncomfortable, a flicker of heat. “I’m in love with someone,” she reminded him. “Gideon.”
“Glad to hear it,” Tom said with a laugh. “Can’t say I’ve ever experienced it. I don’t think it runs in my part of the family.”
It was now so dark that when a sheep in the meadow they were passing suddenly appeared at a fence, looming in the night like a ghost, a scrim of panic overcame Kylie, head to toe. Everyone was so far away. She’d only been in Essex for a few hours, yet she felt understood by Tom Lockland. As they’d walked along, he slipped an amulet into the pocket of her raincoat, an unbreakable knot that would keep her close to him, a binding spell, what the Greeks called katadesmos.
Once at the house, they said good night and Kylie went up the narrow stairs to the bedroom. She could hear Tom downstairs, making up the couch, and she considered all that magic had done to them. Gideon, who was so good at heart, would never understand what had ruined them but Tom Lockland knew what it meant to be cursed. Kylie turned off the light. There was a candle on the bedside table, which she lit before opening her bag. In the flickering yellow light, she slipped out The Book of the Raven, turning to the last two pages that were stuck together. What are you willing to sacrifice? How much are you willing to pay?
“I need to read you,” she commanded, but the pages would not open. Magic was thwarting her and time was spinning away. She recalled Jet’s warning that whoever ended the curse would face danger, but that everything worthwhile was dangerous.
Kylie made her way downstairs in the dark and found Tom sprawled on the couch, a book in hand, one he planned to toss onto the flame of his small fireplace when he was done. Worthless, he thought, as most books were in his opinion. He was pleased when Kylie appeared, but not surprised. He’d concocted a Need You spell, made of wax and pins and a small straw poppet, hidden beneath her pillow.
Who one dared to love was complicated, but who to trust was even more confounding. Kylie thought of the warnings from the waitress at the inn, and of the librarian in London, and from her aunt Jet. She felt such shame each time she thought of her beloved Gideon, whose life she had all but destroyed. Perhaps it was best if she stopped considering every option and simply acted on instinct. It was dark in the parlor, but there was the glow of bright moon shining through the window and they could see each other quite clearly.