“That’s true.” She smiled and held her right hand up, showing off the matching vines on her forearm. “Grow, baby, grow.”
I chuckled. “Now back to Chris…”
Her smile turned wicked and she arched one eyebrow at me. “You’re worried about him?”
“No…but yes, though not the way you think.” I shrugged and glanced over her shoulder to where Chris stood on the other side of the glass doors – watching us. “I can feel his desires, Em. Whether I want to or not.”
She frowned. “That’s partially my fault, if not entirely.”
“How do you figure?”
“It’s like that Britney Spears song, Oops I did it Again.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “WHAT?”
“I got carried away, lost my senses—”
“And you’re just not that innocent?”
“Exactly!” She threw her hands up. “I thought I was happy. I thought I was getting what I wanted and then I realized far too late I wanted none of it. His heart may have been a casualty.”
“Yeah, there’s Tegan’s twin.” I shook my head and laughed.
She covered her mouth with her hand and snorted.
I opened my mouth to speak when my phone blared an alarm from my pocket. I cursed and dove for it. I knew whose ringtone that was.
Tennessee.
“Oh, God…” Emersyn stared at my phone like it was a morpher demon. “It’s him, isn’t it?”
I nodded and opened up his text. “Let’s see…”
Hey, D. Just realized I didn’t actually ask before, and that’s rude. Can Tegan and I stay at your place?
I frowned and typed my response. Of course you can, you never have to ask. Open door, boss.
Those three bubbles popped up immediately. Thanks, D. See you then.
And then it really hit me. Tennessee was coming to New York…and staying in my apartment. Tomorrow.
No big deal. No pressure at all. It was going to be fine.
Emersyn groaned and let out a strange sound effect…then turned and stormed off down the hall. Thick white smoke trailed behind her and the tips of her hair sparkled with glowing embers.
“Em?” I shoved my phone back in my pocket as she continued to run away. “Emersyn!”
She was halfway down the hall, shaking her arms out beside her. “SO many things to do!”
“EMERSYN! Where are you going?” I sighed. “Come back!”
She didn’t. She just kept mumbling in a panic and raced out the doors at the other end of the hall. I wasn’t even sure where it led, but I wasn’t going to chase her down. She was freaking out, so I needed to not add to her anxiety.
In fact, I needed to try and calm her down, otherwise she was going to give herself a heart attack. It was self-imposed pressure but that wouldn’t matter. Pressure was pressure and it was crippling. It was my job as her soulmate to make sure she didn’t crack.
I summoned my magic to my hand, then pushed it out while thinking of one specific person.
Thirty seconds later that exact person came walking out the doors to the ballroom with her red hair piled on top of her head. Caroline frowned and glanced around before turning to me. “Did you do that again?”
“I did.”
She shivered. “That’s hella creepy, ya know.”
That made me chuckle. “I’m okay with that.”
She rolled her emerald eyes. “So, what’s up?”
“I need your help.” I rubbed my palms together and nodded down the hallway. “Emersyn is freaking out over Tennessee’s arrival tomorrow, so I’d like to distract her tonight—”
“I think you know how to do that—”
“Caroline,” I said through clenched teeth. “We’re not there yet, not that it’s any of your business. Regardless, that’s not what I had in mind.”
She chuckled and started typing on her phone. “All right, don’t get your tinsel tangled. You wanna take her back to that line dancing bar, right? Let’s do it. I’ll get us set up.”
Chapter Seventeen
Deacon
“Thanks, Stedman!” Emersyn leaned forward and kissed my butler on the cheek, then jumped out of the car.
I pursed my lips and nodded. “I think she’s excited.”
Stedman chuckled. “It’s cute. You two have fun. Call me when you’re ready to come home and I’ll be back.”
“Thanks, Steds.” I squeezed his shoulder, then slid out of the back seat and hopped onto the sidewalk next to Emersyn. “Look at you rushing into the tundra.”
She jumped up and down while hugging her long faux fur coat to her body. Her crystal covered cowgirl boots glistened amidst all of Manhattan’s lights. “Don’t get used to it, let’s go!”
Without another word, she grabbed me by the hand and dragged me to the front door. The security guard at the entrance nodded and let us in without waiting in line. His name was Derrick, and we were old friends from different bars around town. Normally, I liked to stop and chat with him, but Emersyn’s ninja grip and furious determination had me crossing over the threshold without pause.
I pointed to her and frowned. “Sorry!”
He laughed and shook his head.
The second we were inside, my senses went into overdrive. The sound of a steel guitar and stomping boots thundered in my ears. The bar was dimly lit, with only the neon signs to brighten the way. Like every other New York bar, there were so many people crammed into the small space that it turned the place into a sauna. We stepped to the side, next to the dance floor.
“Here, give me your coat at least.” I tugged on her hand, pulling her to a stop.
She grimaced, “Okay. I’m still cold, but okay.” She quickly unbuttoned her white faux fur coat then slid it off.
I threw it over my shoulder. “Warm enough?”
“Nope.” She shivered and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Mistakes were made.”
That was when I noticed what she was wearing. Despite the single digit temperature, my soulmate wore dark blue jeans with so many rips and holes in the material she had more skin uncovered than covered. The sleeveless shirt wasn’t helping,
“Why did you wear that? You have to be cold.”
Emersyn shook her head and her teeth rattled together. “Back h-home…we’d j-just run inside and be warm enough. B-b-but I m-m-may have underestimated this c-c-cold.”
I chuckled and pulled her into my chest, then rubbed my hands up and down her back. Her shirt was far too thin for this weather. I sighed. “Oh, my little Southern girl.”
“Why are you two standing here?”
“Emersyn is cold,” I responded to Caroline before I turned us around to face her. “We stopped to warm her up.”
“Girl, we’ve got to train you for winter fashion.” Caroline chuckled and flipped her red hair over her bare shoulder. “Now, c’mon, I got us a VIP table.”
I spun Emersyn around and wrapped my arm around her waist. Her body was cold under her thin layers of clothing, so I squeezed her tight against me. We pushed our way through the crowd, following Caroline to the back of the bar to where the line of circular booths of the VIP section were beckoning us.
“Heeeeeeeeey!” Noah jumped up from the booth and threw his arms out wide. “My favorite country girl is finally here!”
Emersyn chuckled and waved. “Hiiiii.”
“Okay, so Em, we have a gift for you.” Noah wagged his eyebrows and pointed to Caroline. “You ready, boo thang?”
Caroline sighed. “Why do I like when you call me that?”
Noah bent over and picked up two brown paper bags. He held one out for Caroline. She took it, and then they both turned their backs to us. It was dark in the bar, so it was difficult to see what they were doing…and then they spun around.
My jaw dropped.
Emersyn gasped.
They both had on bright light blue wigs and fuzzy green dino slippers.
“Oh. My. God,” Emersyn shouted.
Caroline smi
led sweetly and ran her fingers through her blue wig. “We know we can’t take back what we did last time, but we were hoping this would help show how sorry we are.”
Noah pointed to their feet. “And we didn’t use magic so that we can’t take it off so easily.”
Emersyn threw her head back and laughed.
“Sooo…is there a story here?” A familiar voice said behind me.
I shook my head and glanced over my shoulder to Christian. “Long story. But it’s amazing.”
Emersyn was still laughing. “Last time I was here—” She gasped and her eyes widened.
“OH SHIT!” Christian bounced on his toes.
I frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Emersyn spun around to face the dance floor. “Fireman.”
“This was our dance.” Christian turned to Emersyn with wide eyes. Then he held his hand out in front of her. “Remember it?”
Emersyn squealed and took his hand and then he was dragging her out onto the dance floor. The second their boots hit the glossy hardwood dance floor, Christian spun Emersyn into tight circles. Her long blonde hair went flying like a cape in the air. She twirled like a figure skater in the Olympics, then jumped right out into a sequence of intricate dance steps.
“What’s happening right now?” Noah asked with a chuckle.
“They’re dancing.” I smiled and watched her grin spread wider with every beat of the song. “They clearly know the dance to this one.”
“Yeah, this was our dance were his exact words – if I recall correctly.” Caroline slid in beside me and nodded toward Emersyn and Christian. “You okay with this?’
“Okay, this still doesn’t help me.” Noah held his phone out in front of us. “According to Shazaam, it’s a song called Fireman by a guy named George Strait.”
“It doesn’t matter what the song is.”
Caroline eyed me like I’d grown an extra head. “You are cool with this.”
“The whole point of coming here tonight was to distract her from Tennessee’s arrival tomorrow.” I frowned at her, then pointed to Emersyn. “Look at that smile. This is why I’m here. This is all I need — to see her happy.”
Something hot and sharp shot through my hand. I flinched and looked down at my right hand…and my jaw dropped. Our soulmate glyph had now grown into the back of my hand. It was so close to complete…and I couldn’t wait.
Chapter Eighteen
Emersyn
Today was the day.
Tennessee and Tegan were coming.
All my talk of not being concerned about my twin’s arrival vanished the second my eyes opened this morning. There was a chance Tegan would find problems we didn’t even know we had. Issues we didn’t know to look for. Because Tegan was an unpredictable force of nature.
And then there was Tennessee.
My stomach turned and bile rose in my throat. I wasn’t afraid of him in the way that some of my other Coven-mates were…I knew he was a big old teddy bear. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me or Deacon. I knew he wouldn’t strip our magic or our Marks. And not because his soulmate was my twin sister or that his adoptive father was my uncle. Tenn just had a big heart.
And that was why this was so important.
After everything he’d been through – which I now knew just what that entailed – he deserved for things to finally go his way. He was putting a lot out there for us to start this school. A lot of adults wanted us to wait and take our time, do it slowly. But not Tenn, He took a leap of faith, and I didn’t want to fail him.
I’d been a wicked hot mess since I got his text that he was coming. Luckily, Deacon knew how to take my mind off things last night with line dancing but there was no dancing here. I sat down at the desk and tried to reign in my chaotic thoughts…except being alone in silence wasn’t helping. I was just about to get up and go sit in a classroom full of first graders when Heather and Claudia walked in.
“Good morning, Emersyn,” Claudia said with a warm smile. She sat a big bowl down in front of me. “This is a calming potion. Disguised as soup, naturally. But having you all jumpy when he gets here is only going to make him suspicious.”
I opened my mouth to say that wasn’t true…and then realized she was right.
She winked at me and sat a spoon down next to the bowl. “Deacon said you’re a chicken noodle soup person, so you should like this.”
I reached out and cupped the bowl with both hands. The warmth coming off it helped take the edge off. I sighed. “Thank you, Claudia. I’m just spazzing out.”
“That’s understandable, dear.” Heather walked up to my desk and sat stacks of papers down. “Deacon is working with a couple of the combat classes this morning on a little field trip—”
“Field trip?” My heart stopped. “To where?”
“Don’t worry, within the city limits.” She pursed her lips. “I think they’re in Central Park, but they’re close by. Deacon assured me he was staying nearby.”
The relief that hit me was so strong I actually fell back in my seat. I fanned myself and tried to slow the chaos that just went through my pulse. “Okay. Cool. Thank you. Will someone let me know the second he’s back?”
Claudia chuckled and plopped down in a seat in front of my desk. “Oh, I put a little spell on him so that we’d be alerted as soon as he returns to school.”
I cursed and scrubbed my face. “Goddess, I love magic.”
“Now…” Heather sat two more papers down before she took the other empty seat in front of me. “Just so we all feel prepared for their arrival, let’s go through the checklists, shall we?”
“Yes. Please.” I sat up straight and leaned my elbows on the desk. “Talk to me.”
Heather licked her lips and tucked her hair behind her ears – and it was the first sign I’d ever seen that perhaps she, too, was nervous about this. She cleared her throat. “I’ve got things separated into groups. In these stacks you’ll find every single piece of documentation we have on everything we’ve done. That way, should they need to see plans or receipts – or whatever – we’re prepared.”
“I love how organized you are,” I said in a rush.
“Thanks.” She chuckled. “Okay, so we’ve got decorations, floor plans, tables and chairs, DJ, lighting, food, and then miscellaneous stuff.”
I exhaled a deep breath. “God, that’s a lot.”
“Now, a little later this morning – just before lunch, I have arranged for you and Deacon to do a food tasting with our chef.”
“Really?” As if on cue, my stomach growled. “That’s exciting.”
Heather shook her head and tapped on the papers. “But not until later. For now, we have work to do.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I tied my hair up on top of my head in a Tegan-inspired messy bun. “Let’s get to work.”
Chapter Nineteen
Noah
“Wait…what are we doing?”
Deacon pulled a freaking lollipop out of his mouth and used it to point straight ahead of us. “Practice.”
I frowned and looked around. We were deep in Central Park, in an area that I had somehow never seen despite being born and raised in Manhattan. This part seemed tucked away from normal human paths, like we’d wandered into another dimension or something. Which I knew wasn’t true. It still looked normal. The sky was the same pale gray, and the trees were the same wintery brown. Snow dusted the ground and was starting to pile on the leafless tree branches.
A bitter gust of wind ripped through the dead shrubbery and pierced through my coat. I cursed and pulled the lapels of my coat tighter. It was freezing cold outside, too freaking cold to have four classes worth of students outside. Caroline groaned but with her shivering it sounded more like a growl. She wrapped her arms around mine and huddled closer.
And in that moment, I knew exactly which of us were arcana…and which were shifters.
The shifters all smiled and closed their eyes, holding their arms out like they were trying to dance with the wind like they were
Pocahontas or some shit.
Christian, Emersyn’s ex-boyfriend, rolled his shoulders and sighed. “Feels good out here.”
I glared at him. “Boy, I will magically reprogram all of your electronics if you keep up with that shit.”
Deacon shook his head. “Sick burn, bruh.”
I shrugged. “Hey, I know I got nothin’ on a shifter in a physical fight. Gotta know your limits. Imma be like a papercut. Won’t kill ya, but painfully annoying for an extended amount of time.”
“Describes our weekend,” Caroline mumbled, still trying to use me as a shield from the wind.
I eyed the shifter dude in question. “Yo, Chrissy, what kind of beast are ya, anyway?”
Christian grinned and winked one eye at me. “A lady never tells.”
“That depends on your species, actually.” Marcy blew a big pink bubble with her chewing gum then popped it. “I’m a mountain lion and a lady. Not only will I tell, but I’ll eat ya, too.”
Christian – or Chrissy as I liked to now call him – looked Marcy up and down and grinned. “I could be okay with that.”
One of the younger girls, maybe ten years old, frowned and glanced back and forth between the two. “Mr. Deacon, sir, what exactly are we practicing here? Because I don’t know how to do this…”
Deacon stuck that damn lollipop back in his mouth and laughed.
“Bruh. The lollipop?” I mimicked him like a damn mime. “That’s not gangsta.”
He frowned like a little kid who dropped his ice cream cone in the dirt. Then, while holding my gaze, he held his hands out to his side. Red mist pooled in his palms. He lifted his hands then thrust them forward. That red mist shot out like a fireman’s hose into the park. The air cracked around his body and then bright, neon red lightning shot out of him.
Every single one of the students around me gasped and jumped back. Their eyes bugged out of their heads. Not that I blamed them. I’d never seen that kind of magic until Deacon showed back up here last month.
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