I had no idea what I’d been expecting to find inside. Grandma hadn’t had anything of value. At least I hadn’t thought so, but then again, I’d never imagined a secret house more lavish than anything I’d ever seen, either. As I was quickly becoming accustomed to, the safe was more than it appeared to be. It was a safe, no doubt. But much larger than it should’ve been, given its appearance.
When I thought that nothing more could surprise me, I’d been dead wrong.
Inside, there were stacks of papers, bundles of cash, and jewelry. Gold bars, one on top of the next, lined the far back. When I pulled out a few of the papers, they weren’t just paper at all.
Without being an expert, the documents looked to be stocks. Bonds. Deeds to other properties. My eyes bulged and words escaped me. What could I say about all of this anyway? We’d lived in almost poverty, barely scraping by, without a single splurge. From the time I’d been little, the phrase we can’t afford that had dotted my memories.
“What is this?” I finally asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Your future,” Luken said with a wide grin. “You’re set for life. Financially. If you’re smart.
His words made sense, but the information did not. As I began to attempt processing what he’d said, we pulled one thing after the other out of the safe. My mind raced at the amount of property Grandma had owned. None of this made any sense. Well, I guess it was property that I currently owned, as so much of it already had my name written on the deeds in place of hers. What wasn’t already in my name would’ve been mine, too, given that I was her only family. Only heir.
When would she ever have had the time or money to do all of this?
Excitement coursed through me, along with the confusion as Luken and I embarked on the greatest treasure hunt of my life, possibly of anyone, anywhere. Suddenly I was searching for the next great find in a land I’d had no idea even existed.
The saddest part, for me, was that this was the closest I’d ever felt to her. Going through my Grandmother’s things had shed an entirely different light on her as an adult.
It was too much to take in all at once. I shook my head and began frantically stuffing things back inside the safe. Luken followed my lead and did the same. It’d take me a long time to truly come to terms with what we’d found. Maybe I never would.
“I just don’t get it,” I said, more to myself, but with him being right there, he’d obviously heard.
“She wanted to make sure you were taken care of,” he said back quietly.
“Well, if she wanted to do that, why wouldn’t she have given us a better life while she was still here? Why didn’t we leave Warwick? There was nothing here for us and it’s torture.”
Luken shrugged as he ran his bottom lip through his teeth which gave me the impression that he was contemplating something. “There’s a lot you don’t know, Miranda.”
Finally, I turned his way and looked up at him. “Then tell me. How did you know this was here? How do you know all of these things?”
He shook his head and his jaw tensed. “That’s not exactly how it works. Some things you have to discover for yourself.”
“Like the fact that my grandmother was the richest woman on the planet?”
His chuckle rippled over me as if I could feel it. “That’s not quite true.”
“Seems that way to me.”
As we finished our first look through things, Luken murmured, “There’s more you should think about regarding your future.”
I nodded. He was right, after all. I felt like I didn’t know myself at all anymore, let alone what I’d now do with my life. “Like a career. I get it, but all of this”—I gestured to the safe—“should at least buy me some time.”
He shook his head. “Actually, this is about your powers.”
“Powers? What are you talking about?”
“I’m a witch, Miranda. Or Warlock if you prefer but a witch just the same. And so are you.”
“Witches aren’t supposed to be real, Luken.”
“Am I real?”
I shrugged. “Look pretty real to me.” I meant that to sound light and as I hadn’t spent a lot of time looking at him without him knowing. It wasn’t like I was longing for him, I told myself. I’d never longed for another person a day in my life. My feelings were betraying me.
“How do you explain all of this?” He waved his arms around the secret mansion my grandmother had somehow kept hidden from me my entire life. Until the moment she’d died. Shit. He had me there. “How do you explain being able to open the safe with your touch?” he asked.
“Technology?” I suggested halfheartedly. “Grandma was a super-secret spy for the CIA who had access to spy grade materials.”
He tilted his head to the side, a smile playing on his lips. “Miranda.”
Holy shit. What he was saying couldn’t be true, could it?
I quickly went over everything that I’d seen and there was no logical explanation I could come up with. The secret mansion wasn’t a matter of Grandma keeping the doors locked. Not at all. No one could see it from the outside, either.
Allegedly, I was a witch. Here I’d been trying to convince myself that I had rented a room to a crazy person whose brand of crazy was contagious. I’d even thought that my mind had snapped under the weight of my grief.
Now I knew neither of those things were true.
Chapter Eleven
Luken
Miranda’s face scrunched together in such a way that I wasn’t sure if she was confused or thought I was crazy. Maybe a little of both. There was no easy way to break the news to a person who didn’t know they were a witch or that magic and witches even existed. In that moment I was absolutely sure, just as I had been in my own life, that keeping secrets led to painful ends. Hiding the craft from us growing up had absolutely been the wrong choice and I couldn’t fathom why some in our world still made that choice.
“How can I be a witch when I don’t have any powers?” she mumbled back on her way to believe me. It wasn’t an easy thing to come to terms with, but I needed her to do just that and quickly.
I laughed. “You have powers. You just don’t know about them yet.”
“Luken!” She threw her arms out into the air. “I was ridiculed my entire life. For being poor. For living in a house that was falling apart. For being a freak. For being ugly. The kids in town tormented me with pranks and shit in my locker at school. They said truly awful things about how my parents died to get away from me as well as about how my grandmother had to be paid to take me in.” She took a deep breath. “If I had powers, I would’ve used them then.” She thought for a moment, then smirked. “You know, turn kids into toads. Nothing lethal, obviously.”
How anyone could’ve told her she was ugly was beyond me. Miranda wasn’t even a case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. At all. If I’d seen her on the street, I would’ve done a double take. The woman was beautiful.
Her blonde hair hung in soft, silky waves down her back and those deep blue eyes… I could’ve gotten lost in. And I didn’t even want to get started on her body. Well, I did want to get started but now wasn’t the time. I had to assume that the guys she went to school with were blind as hell.
As I opened my mouth to explain, the shrill sound of my phone ringing came from inside my pocket. After fishing it out and looking at the screen, I sighed deeply.
Michael. Head councilman. Fuck. Not exactly what I needed right then but I had to answer it.
“Give me a minute,” I told her. As the unwelcome sound continued, I slipped out of the secret mansion for the regular house and turned down the hall. I didn’t stop until I found the door at the end, opened it, and climbed up the attic stairs.
This was where I’d get lectured. I could feel it coming as if it’d already happened and didn’t want Miranda to witness it. She was still struggling with the mere idea of being a witch and didn’t need to see everything that entailed right now. Plus, she wasn’t part of the cov
en yet which meant the information wasn’t for her. Thirdly, if Michael scared her, that would definitely be something to sway her decision. We needed her in the light.
“Luken,” the councilman greeted before I could get a word out.
“Michael,” I replied. When I’d been sent here, I’d left so quickly that his stern warnings remained silent. Yet were still very much present.
“You haven’t reported in. Did you find Miranda Deerborne?”
“Yes.” I didn’t want to give him more than I had to. Not just yet.
“You haven’t reported in,” he repeated.
“Been a little busy.” That wouldn’t fly but the excuse filled any silence.
Michael sighed on the other end of the phone. “With Miranda?” That one I definitely wasn’t going to answer. “You shouldn’t tell her too much,” he reminded me. He’d said that before I’d left on this job. “Miranda Deerborne must choose to be a witch in the light of her own free will. We can’t make that choice for her.”
“I understand all that, Michael,” I snapped, resenting the reminder, as if it was a given that I’d fuck this whole thing up. “But I’d also like to remind you that I, too, had no idea of my powers or what they entailed until I was older. I needed guidance. That’s what she needs.”
“Guidance can quickly become pressure. Or even something else.” The tone of his voice on that last part irritated my nerves.
“I needed help and people gave it to me. You included by letting me stay. You all kept me out of trouble until I could control my powers and I’d like to do that for her. My hope is that after learning control, she’ll feel whole,” I explained as I ran a hand over the back of my head. I believed what I was telling him but didn’t want him to ask for details.
Talking about how the coven had affected me wasn’t my favorite thing to do. But that was how it had been for me. I’d been lost. Feeling out of control, as if I hadn’t known myself at all. Once I’d learned how to use my powers on command rather than having them act of their own accord, I’d become myself again.
So far as I could tell, Miranda hadn’t caught on to the fact that she’d already been using her powers. Like in the cemetery. That lightning strike had not been random. The purple hue around the tree was the tell-tale sign that magic had played a part.
“What is your feeling of her?” he asked.
Something else I didn’t want to explain but now I had no choice. “My feeling of her is… incomplete.”
“Incomplete?” Michael asked, as if he didn’t understand the word.
“Yes. Incomplete. I think she’ll go toward white magic but can’t be sure just yet. I need more time.”
Michael grunted. “Be prudent, Luken. Let me remind you that we are aware of your movements. Do not let us down.”
As if I needed that reminder, either. I swallowed hard and nodded, though he couldn’t see me… I didn’t think. But they could scry and know where I was at any moment. They had tricks I wasn’t even aware of yet.
“One more thing,” Michael continued. “I’ve decided to send you some help.”
“Help?” I locked my jaw because help to the council could’ve meant anything. “I haven’t been here long. How much progress were you expecting?”
“I’d watch your tone, if I was you,” he replied, and he wasn’t wrong. Keeping my patience with the council wasn’t optional. “To answer your question, I’m sending Miller to you. Just to make sure things go smoothly.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear and groaned quietly so he wouldn’t hear me. “That’s not a good idea.”
“It has always been the plan. I’m surprised Miller didn’t tell you.” He paused as if waiting for a reply that I didn’t have. “Good. I expect to hear from one of you soon.” Then the line went dead.
I didn’t think Michael had ever said goodbye a day in his life. Over the phone or in person. He just didn’t seem the type.
I’d spent my entire life trying not to disappoint everyone. Even before I could cast spells and control things. Sure. My reputation was more of rebel badass, in my heart, I was a guy who just wanted to be loved and understood. Since my mother had died, I’d felt nothing but alone.
And damn I’d wanted to do this alone. Especially now that I knew Miranda a little. Last thing she needed was Miller hanging around. The last thing I needed was Miller hanging around.
I’d stood there with my phone in my hand long enough. I needed information so I chose Miller’s name on the contact list. The phone rang three times before he answered.
“I’m guessing Michael called you?” he asked instead of saying hello. Not greeting people seemed to be a trend among my coven.
“Just hung up with him. You’re headed here?”
He sighed. “Yup. Sorry. I tried to talk them out of it.”
“As if they can be talked out of anything.” I rubbed the back of my head roughly as I walked toward the old couch sitting in the attic. “You’re on your way now?”
“Yeah. Taking some detours though.”
I nodded. “Good.” Miller and I tried not to give in to the coven any more than we had to. Leaving them altogether was always an option but there was a level of protection that came with being in. That didn’t mean we had to act like trained monkeys.
“Hey, do you think she’ll let me stay there or am I going to have to find someplace?”
I wanted to tell him to find a hotel because I knew that would put him outside of town. But that would honestly just cause him more trouble when none of this was his fault. Maybe having him here to help figure out what Sarina had been up to wouldn’t be so bad either.
“I’ll have to talk to Miranda but I’m sure you’ll be able to stay here.”
“Excellent.” He barely paused before asking, “Is she hot? As hot as in my imagination?”
I snorted but a weird angry jealousy swirled in my chest. “Miller,” I warned.
“Oh fuck. She is, isn’t she?” he knew exactly what my warning meant. “Can’t wait.”
“Damn it, Miller.”
He chuckled into the phone. “No worries, Luken. You were there first. I get it. But I can’t be held responsible if she likes me more.”
I pulled my phone from my ear and squeezed it tightly in frustration before bringing it back to my ear. “Miller can you try to be less… you.”
He laughed so loudly that I had to pull my phone from me ear for a moment again. “Listen,” he said once he settled down. “I’ll do my best but no promises. I’ll be there in a bit.”
The line went dead. Again, my coven doesn’t ever really say goodbye.
Chapter Twelve
Miranda
I shouldn’t have followed Luken out of Grandma’s secret house to the attic. I really shouldn’t have listened in to his phone calls. None of it was my business but I had. I’d given him a ten second head start before pushing to my feet and leaving behind him.
I trailed him as he went to the end of the hall but was shocked when he found the attic and turned the doorknob. The room had been locked my entire life, like most things in the house. But apparently Luken had the magical touch. I really shouldn’t have been thinking about his touch right then.
Excitement took over when I realized he’d gained access to a room that had been impenetrable and I didn’t even think about right from wrong. Now I just had to see what was in that room. Especially given that I’d just found an entire secret house attached to the one I’d spent my childhood in. The attic could’ve been anything.
If my being there interrupted his conversation, so be it. Luken could’ve gone outside to take the phone call if it was important that I not overhear. I almost never spent time in the yard—had almost no memory of playing outside like the other kids—so he could’ve been alone had he really wanted to. Or if he’d gone into his bedroom, I wouldn’t have bothered him. There’d been lots of choices.
But he’d chosen to unlock another room. In my house.
I paused outside for a mo
ment as I contemplated the right and wrong of the whole thing and in the end, went inside the attic.
As he ended his call, the pain rolling off him was palpable. I could not only feel it but could almost see it as well.
I had no idea what made me do it. Maybe it was the time we’d spent together in my bed last night or that I’d been drawn to him since the first moment he appeared in the cemetery. I had to make him feel better. Had to make him feel something good. Not love exactly, not yet anyway, but wanted. Needed. Nothing about what he’d said to whoever was on the other end of the phone call made me believe he needed that from me.
It was something else. Something intangible.
I stepped all the way into the attic and forgot about the fact that I’d always wanted inside. Now that I had, being there didn’t feel odd at all. I barely glanced around to see what she’d been hiding up here. There’d be time for that later. Apparently, the entire house was at my fingertips now that Grandma was dead.
Curiosity would have to wait.
Luken turned my way, his dark hair messy, as if he’d been running his hands through it. When he saw me, is arms opened up widely. I didn’t hesitate. I walked right into his embrace and he wrapped those strong arms around me tightly.
This was a weird situation for me. I’d only ever been close to my grandma. Barely ever had any friends. Didn’t trust boys after my experience with David yet Luken had me falling into his arms. This wasn’t like me at all. Maybe that made me naive. Maybe it made me gullible. But he was also the first person I’d ever felt truly needed me to comfort them.
At first, Luken just held me as we stood there in a musty old attic full of the things my grandmother had collected over the years. His cheek rested against the side of my head. But then he pulled away. Just far enough to bring his hands up to my cheeks and tilt my head back.
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