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“Because I’m worried about you. We need to tell them everything.”

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I can’t believe you just said that. I’m just sick. Okay? Maybe I got the flu or something. I don’t know.”

“The flu?” Murphy prodded. He tried to stay in control of himself, but he was losing that battle. “You don’t have the flu, Anna. You can’t even do magic right now. It’s almost as if magic has left your body, taking your health with it.”

Taking what he said into account, I searched inside myself again, using my purple magic to push out against the seams and search in front of me for any truth to what he said. I felt his magic, and I recognized those who were usually with me right away though Liam’s essence was a little cloudier than it usually was. As far as Anna’s power, hers was just a spark, a little ember barely on fire. If she was a witch, she was dangerously close to losing her magic.

“Have you used a lot of magic recently?” Travis asked her.

She shook her head. “No. Not at all.”

“I can vouch for that,” Murphy said. “We aren’t heavy magic users to begin with. Just inherited—Naturals—and learned the basics. Nothing like you guys do though. I’ve never seen her like this before. I was hoping you guys would be able to tell us if she came across something she shouldn’t have.”

“Murphy,” Anna said, but her words cut off into a cough that doubled her over.

Travis looked around at the rest of us, but there was nothing else to say. There was absolutely no evidence of evil magic here. None. No feelings. No tugs. No awful aromas. There was one sickly woman though. “I’m sorry, Murphy. No signs of it or anything. I don’t know what to tell you.”

Gabe placed his hands in front of him. “I really think you should get her to a doctor, Mate.”

I nodded alongside him. It didn’t appear to be a witch problem, it just seemed to be a natural human problem. Though, as witches, we didn’t get sick like humans did. There was something about the magic in our blood that helped us repel things like the common cold or flu. I hadn’t known Anna when she was healthy, so I didn’t know if she was a powerful witch or not. It was clear she wasn’t now though. It was heartbreaking to see her like that. Someone’s life stripped away from them, almost glaringly so. She lacked the glow most people had.

“We’ll keep in touch, though,” Travis said. “If something comes up, we’ll let you know.”

“Let us know, too,” I added. “If you take her to a doctor, please let us know what they say.”

I’d seen Granny heal a witch once who’d gotten sick. Something about chakras and a lot of things I hadn’t understood at the time. If it came down to it, I could get Granny to visit me in a dream again, so I could ask her what to do.

Anna stared up at me and she smiled. “Thank you.” Her cheeks pinkened just a bit more. Just our presence had improved her mood a little, or so it seemed. Maybe she needed fresh air and company other than just herself and Murphy.

We all said our goodbyes and then Travis, Gabe, Liam, and I walked wordlessly back to the big Jeep.

“Poor thing,” Gabe muttered. “She looks so different.”

We got in the car, and Gabe held me to him a little tighter. I knew that feeling all too well. It hurt to watch Murphy with Anna. It was obvious they cared so much about one another and that he was going through this illness with her. I peeked at Liam and frowned. There was a lot of that going on lately.

Chapter Seven

By the time we got back into Salem, it wasn’t worth it to open the shop for the day, and the guys had already missed their classes. Gabe still wanted to get dropped off because he had practice and he wasn’t willing to miss that. It was becoming evident that having one car and one motorcycle between all of us wasn’t cutting it. The idea of having a Jeep big enough to fit all of us in it was a good one, just not practical when we all had our own things going on. Especially when the guys graduated college. Everyone would probably be going in separate directions then.

If we didn’t want to get another car, we were going to have to find a new place to live. Somewhere closer where we could walk to where we needed to be.

I fell asleep in the Jeep on the way home and only woke up when I felt the vehicle come to a stop. I blinked, disoriented for a moment before recognizing the walkway that led up to the front of Liam’s parents’ house. Head still groggy, I pushed the Jeep door open and hopped down.

Randy was in the kitchen making himself a sandwich when we came in. Travis filled him in on the particulars, and then Randy motioned for me to follow him up the stairs. My heart lurched. I grabbed a banana from the bar and tried to step around Travis when he said, “Um, Norah?”

I stopped and looked back at him.

He ran a hand through his dark hair, his green eyes glinting. “Can you wait a sec?”

I looked back at Randy. “Talk to you later?” I guessed. Since Travis and I rarely ever conversed, this must be important.

Randy waved at us both and headed up the stairs, a small smirk on his face. Liam had already sat himself on the couch in the living room and pulled the laptop into his lap. Travis motioned for me to follow him into the vestibule. Instead of stopping there, he led me out the front door. “Sorry for being so secretive,” he said. “I didn’t want Liam to hear what I was going to say.”

“Oh. Okay.” That didn’t give me much information at all, but sure.

“I’ve been thinking we should probably practice magic together. I know you four have done it together and found some things out...”

“And you didn’t want to join,” I added. I didn’t want this to turn into a conversation about him being left out. He was the one who refused to join in on shit like that. It was never us excluding him.