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“Fine. But I am going to kill you for not warning me that your ranch is some kind of supernatural Love Island.”

Behind her, I hear Jez and Arliss giggling.

* * *

“Look,” Avery says gently, like I’m some kind of spooked animal, “I know this is a lot. I freaked out too. We all did, at first. But you’re not alone. We’re here. And believe it or not? This thing with Zeke? It’s real. And it’s good.”

Her voice is calm and steady, like a balm I didn’t know I needed. I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping to stop the flood of feelings surging up from somewhere deep inside me.

My heart’s still racing. There’s a sheen of sweat on the back of my neck, and my fingers twitch like I’m one bad thought away from bolting.

But underneath all that panic, underneath the fear that I’ve somehow stepped straight into the plot of a supernatural soap opera, there’s something else.

Something quieter.

Something dangerously close to hope.

Something I don’t want to name yet.

Something I can’t name yet.

Because if I call it love and I’m wrong?

If this isn’t what I think it is?

It would break me.

But even still—it feels like the start of something.

Not just new. Everything.

I take a deep breath, stand on legs that feel like Jell-O, and slowly open the bathroom door.

There they are—Avery, Jezebel, Penny, and Arliss—all standing in the bedroom where Zeke recently rocked my entire world.

Their eyes are so full of sympathy and this terrifying, wonderful thing called understanding.

And for the first time in a very, very long time, I’m not running.

I’m facing it.

No, I didn’t believe in fairytales before I came to the Motley Crewd Ranch.

I’ve always thought those kinds of stories were mostly dark and scary underneath the glitter and gowns.

And maybe they are.

But maybe that’s the point.

Maybe the beauty only matters because of the dark.

I want to believe. In the magic. In this place.

And in him.

Because every time I’ve visited, I’ve felt something strange and ancient in the bones of this land.

Something powerful. Sacred, even.