??2??
“WHAT THE HELL?” RAQUEL cried just as the smoke alarm went off.
After a moment of sheer panic, Sadie grabbed a dishtowel and jumped on a chair to fan away the sudden onslaught of smoke, the acrid scent making both their eyes water. Raquel snatched another and windmilled her arms like the force of nature she was. A second later Gigi came rushing through the door just as the shrill beeping cut off, leaving them in an echoing silence.
“You trying to give the customers a heart attack?” Gigi demanded, and then stopped short when she saw the look of horror on Sadie’s face. “Okay, toot. You’re done for the day.”
“Dios mío, I saw her put those cookies in,” Raquel said, making the sign of the cross. “How did they burn that fast?”
“I’ll call Gail for backup,” Gigi said, her voice going soft as she patted Sadie on the arm. Gail, Gigi’s oldest friend and part-time employee at the café, would be there in under ten minutes with ready hands and a smile on her face. “You need to get out of here before you blow this place to bits. What’s rule number twenty-one?”
“‘Don’t mess with Revelare magic.’” Sadie groaned, her heart beating hummingbird fast. It wasn’t even noon, and her world was crumbling. Her chest tightened, her lower back seizing up. The kitchen, which had been stifling before, was strangely cold now. It was all smoke and ice and heavy silence, like everything had been blanketed in snow.
“That’s right. Some things you can change, but those you can’t are best left well respected. Take this with you,” she added, pushing a small vial of salt and angelica into Sadie’s hands before shooing her out of the kitchen.
Sadie washed her hands and slid all her rings back on like a soldier strapping on battle armor. Then, she silently followed Raquel out the kitchen door after making sure Jake was nowhere to be seen. Several customers called warm greetings to her as she passed, and complimented the orange essence croissants. She smiled absentmindedly while a burning heat climbed stickily up her neck.
The air was brisk as ginger snaps as the sun made its daily commute into the sky, but it only served to make her skin clammier. Though it was still early, Sadie could see Cutsie’s Diner, across the way, filled with breakfasters. Standing there on the sidewalk, it felt like looking in on a dream she couldn’t quite touch.
“So that went well,” Raquel said, breaking into Sadie’s thoughts. Her brown skin seemed to give off a glow in the early light. She linked Sadie’s arm through hers and pulled her across the street. When Raquel took charge, there was really nothing to be done, so Sadie let herself be pulled. For someone who was always in control, it was a foreign feeling.
“Ten years,” was all Sadie said.
“I know.” Raquel sighed.
“He was my first heartbreak. He’s the one who started my curse,” Sadie said with such force that her face flushed with the heat of memory.
“You’re so dramatic,” Raquel said with pursed lips. “I told you, curses are only real if you believe in them.”
“That’s what you think! Do you remember what happened to my, my—you know what,” she whispered, eyes scanning the sidewalk, “after he left?”
“I’m extremely terrified of what you’re referring to.” Raquel raised her eyebrows.
“My magic!” Sadie hissed.
“Oh yeah. Something spontaneously combusted every time you walked into the kitchen. That was weird,” Raquel said thoughtfully.
“And the plants in the garden kept dying. And the electricity in the house kept going out. It was a disaster. The same thing happened after Seth left. My magic is only now settling back in. Both times it took almost a year for things to go back to normal.”
“Your definition of normal could use a little work.” Raquel laughed, her stick-straight raven hair blowing in the early autumn breeze, carrying with it the scent of strawberries and anticipation.
Sadie nervously scanned the street and down the sidewalk. But he was nowhere to be seen. They waited at the crosswalk, and Sadie shivered. There was no stop sign here, only a blinking stoplight up ahead at the four-way intersection that led further up the street, and crossways to smaller, winding neighborhoods or large pastures with even larger barns. Here there was only a friendly sign, its pole wrapped in cheery climbing ivy, that read “Look Both Ways!”
“If I were a real witch, I’d have hexed you by now,” Sadie said, but her heart wasn’t in it.