Page 23

Story: Enraged By Magic

“I don’t hate Travis,” she said, exasperated.

I chuckled. I’d been there in the aftermath of when Travis accidentally stripped her powers. She fucking hated him.

“You try suddenly being non-magical and see what you do,” Jennie said.

“I don’t think Randy meant it like that,” Liam said.

I said, “Yes, I did,” at the same time Jennie said, “He did.” She sighed. “You’re just always sticking up for him.”

I smirked. It was true. Liam was always trying to make me seem more manageable to everyone else. It was a good thing Norah understood me.

Finally, the front door opened. Travis ran through it, then stopped to a walk when he saw the back of his sister’s head. She paused, too, before cramming the handful of chips she had in her hand into her mouth. She crunched away, not looking back even though she had to have known Travis just came in. To me, she almost looked a bit frightened.

Travis came around the side of the sofa and then reached for her hand, hauling her up into a hug. He held onto her tight. “What are you doing here, Jennie?”

Jennie’s eyes widened. “We’re a hugger now?”

Norah and Gabe stood back on the other side of them, taking it all in like Liam and I were. He let her go, and she stumbled back a few steps.

“Well?” he said.

“You know why I’m here,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I told you to stay in Adams.”

She rolled her eyes. “Like I’m going to listen to you. Jax means as much to me as he does to you.”

“There’s nothing you can do here.”

She moved her shoulders back and stood straighter. “You don’t know that. Maybe he’ll come out of hiding if he knows I’m here.”

“Maybe you’ll just get yourself hurt,” I said.

Both Travis and Jennie glared at me at the same time. I didn’t care. I thought this was a horrible idea. She shouldn’t be anywhere near here.

“Mate,” Gabe started. “Why don’t you share with the group what’s going on…”

Travis fell back into the recliner and Jennie did almost the same thing, taking up the middle of the sofa. Gabe put his arm around Norah while Travis said, “I called Jennie to tell her I saw Jax.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I fucking deserve to know,” Jennie said.

Norah’s eyes widened, and a flash of anger swept over her.

Travis shook his head. “I thought she deserved to know. What I didn’t think would happen is that she would believe it was a good idea to come to Salem to what? See him?”

Jennie ground her teeth together. “I—”

“He’s not the same Jax,” Liam said, his voice soft and weathered.

“We don’t know that,” Travis said.

I stood. “Are you fucking kidding me? We don’t know he’s not the same Jax? How about all the shit he’s done? Did you bother telling Jennie about that? About the witches he drained and killed, about the different paranormal creatures he’s sent after us including a familiar. The fact that he tried to kill Norah.”

Jennie finally looked up. She blinked when she saw Norah standing there with Gabe. She zeroed right in on his hand around her shoulders. “Wait. I thought you were with my brother.”

“She’s with all of us,” Gabe said.