“I have a favor,” Sadie said in rush.
“No,” Seth said.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Sadie said shortly. “Raquel, my beautiful, wonderful best friend. How would you like to go for a little drive?”
“Where to?” she asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Wild Rose Hill,” Sadie answered innocently.
“You must be out of your mind,” Raquel barked. “You, of all people, know that place is haunted.”
“She does know. Which would beg the question: Why, sister?”
“Mount Diablo buckwheat.” Her voice was a little breathless.
“Oh, come on,” Seth said, rolling his eyes. “Seriously?”
“Should I know what this is? I mean I’m not exactly filled with comfort with the word devil being in the name.”
“It’s for Gigi. I’m working on a spell for her. For the cancer.”
“And this flower is supposed to be crazy powerful. Where our magic originally came from,” Seth added.
“Not only that,” said Sadie, “but remember that fire a few years ago? Wild Rose Hill was blackened. And now it’s lush again. The most powerful Revelare flower, life growing from death. It’s the perfect symbolism. Please,” she pleaded to Raquel. “I don’t want to go alone, but I will if I have to.”
“Alright, alright, keep your shirt on. I’ll come,” Raquel said. “But Seth is coming too.”
“I am?”
“No, he’s not,” Sadie said with a short laugh. “He doesn’t believe in what I’m doing.”
“Seth?” Raquel demanded with an arched brow.
“Fine, fine. I’ll go,” he said after only a moment of pause.
Sadie refused to acknowledge that she was grateful for his presence. Because the second she admitted that, it would mean she was giving credence to the haunting. And everyone knows that the moment you look the dark things in the eye, they become far too real.
Wild Rose Hill was twenty minutes outside of town, and the trio was silent as they drove. They all knew the stories. And knew, too, that Gigi would have banned them from going, which is why they didn’t tell anyone. Sadie idly thought about Jake. About what he was going to tell her. And knew that she didn’t want to hear whatever he was having trouble getting out. She couldn’t hold him off forever, but a little while longer wouldn’t hurt. It was just another dark thing she didn’t want to look in the eye.
The hill loomed eerily in the distance, like the arched back of a slumbering giant. Around the base was a forest of trees that stopped abruptly as the incline grew steeper. Then, at the top, was a single, towering oak.
“I already have goose bumps.” Raquel shivered.
“They’re just stories,” Sadie told her.
“Nothing is ever just a story,” Seth said from the backseat, sounding like a Revelare.
“We’re here.” Sadie cut the engine and let the silence fill her. None of them moved.
A rock hit the side of the car, and all three of them jumped.
“Fuck it,” Seth said taking a deep breath. “Let’s go. This better be worth it,” he added to Sadie.
She swallowed hard and they set off—with flashlights and a resolution that didn’t quite feel steely enough.
“You really believe the story?” Seth asked quietly as they reached the tree line. “That this is where Evanora got her magic?” His voice was strangely serious.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
She could practically hear his shrug.
“What exactly was the price of that magic?” Raquel asked in a whisper.
“Probably whatever’s left haunting this place,” Seth answered.
An owl hooted nearby, and Raquel let out a small noise. Seth positioned himself between them, a knife in his hand.
“What the hell, Seth. A knife isn’t going to work on what’s here.”
“Better safe than sorry” was all he said.
By the time they were through the thicket of trees, Sadie was sweating despite the cool air.
“Put these in your pocket,” she said, handing them each a few stems of vervain.
“We come in peace.” Seth let out a quiet laugh, reciting the symbolism of the flower. “It’s a ghost, Sadie, not an alien.”
“You remembered,” Sadie said in surprise.
“More than you might think, sister.”
There was something about the stillness of Rose Hill that made them draw closer together. No crickets chirped, the frogs were silent, and even the wind seemed to tiptoe. The smell of pine and wet earth grounded her, even when it felt like they were entering another dimension.