Page 7 of Cursed (Court of Isles #1)

Chapter 7

“Guess what?” I looked into Eloise’s eyes.

The poor girl looked at me with wide, terrified eyes. I didn’t blame her one bit. According to her mother, Eloise had been brought from one Healer to another in the last twenty-four hours, ever since the mystery rash had first appeared. Nobody had been able to figure out what was causing the rash. Now, a fever was presenting along with it.

“What?” Eloise’s eyes filled with tears.

I grinned. “You are going to be just fine.”

“But my mom said...” Eloise looked up at her mother, who also looked at me like I was nuts. “I’m very sick.”

Both Eloise and her mother were stunning. I didn’t know much about the paranormal world, but considering their golden hair, the slight point to their ears, the beautiful, porcelain skin—I would venture they were of elfin descent. At least, based on the super-crash-course Millie had given me on some of the different species living here on The Isle .

“Do you see this little rash here?” I gently pulled Eloise’s head toward me and swept that gorgeous curtain of golden hair off her shoulder. “It looks like a bullseye.”

“Yes, of course,” Eloise’s mother snapped. “Along with the fever and chills. That’s why we came today, to see you. We can’t find out what’s wrong.”

“Eloise, my dear,” I said to the little girl. “I’m pretty sure you’ve been bitten by a tick.”

Anyone within earshot stilled around me, like I’d just given her a prognosis with zero percent chance of survival.

“Which is not that big of a deal,” I said. “We caught it fast enough that some antibiotics will do the trick. Doxycycline is an incredibly effective treatment, especially this early.”

“A tick?” Her mother waved her hands in obvious confusion. “Is that some sort of...”

“Bug,” I said. “Well, not technically bugs, since they’re arachnids. More like spiders or mites.”

“A bug bite?” Eloise stared at me blankly, as did her mother, as did everyone else around me including Millie. “I’ve never heard of a tick before.”

“Never heard of...” I glanced around and asked the larger group. “You’ve never heard of a tick before?”

A collective shaking of heads.

“Well, then, good news for you,” I said. “You’re going to be just fine. Let me talk to some adults about how to get you the right medicine, and you’ll barely remember this happened in a couple of weeks.”

“How did I get it?” Eloise asked.

“Do you like to play in the woods?” I asked. “Pick flowers in tall grasses, build forts, things like that?”

“Yes,” she said. “I swim in the creek by our house every day. There are lots of grasses and trees around.”

“Well, there you go,” I said. “I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. “

Eloise stood, then threw her arms around my neck. “Thank you for saving my life, Dr. Alessia.”

“Eloise!” her mother chided. “You don’t use her first name. It’s Doctor...” Her eyes slid over to me. “I’m sorry, I don’t know your last name.”

“It’s Dr. Alessia,” I said with a smile at Eloise.

I wasn’t foregoing a formal title just to be on familiar terms with my new community. It was more complicated than that. When Eloise’s mother had asked for my last name, I realized with a startling jolt that I simply didn’t feel like giving them one.

Before I’d been whisked away to The Isle, I’d been mere minutes away from acquiring a new last name. Smith. I would’ve been Allie Smith had the wedding gone through. It was the most standard of American names, and I hated it. Maybe because I didn’t like Simon, and he was the reason I was becoming a Smith. Or maybe because I now realized I preferred my real first name, instead of the one my mother had seen more fitting for me.

Either way, I hadn’t become Allie Smith. Before Simon, I’d been Allie Wells. Doctor Wells had always been my father. I’d never felt like that name fit either: the Allie or the Wells. Neither had been mine.

Here, on this island, I finally felt like I’d reclaimed a little piece of myself. A piece that was true only to me—for no other reason than I liked it.

Alessia. Last name TBD.

Eventually, I’d probably go with Wells because what else made sense? But for now, I liked having complete separation of the now from the past. I’d been under the Wells Rule for long enough. I was under my own rule now.

“Dr. Alessia.” A voice broke through my thoughts. “Can you look at my mother? She’s been having these episodes for a while now, and we can’t figure out what’s causing them.”

And so forth it went. For hours. Hours and hours.

“I’m so glad you stuck around.” A pretty blonde made her way to the front of the line after waiting all afternoon beneath the warm sun. “My name’s Poppy. I’m a vampire, and I’m blood intolerant.”

I did a double-blink. “Huh?”

“I’m a vampire, but I really don’t like blood, so my cousin Lily—the Mixologist—crafts this potion that helps take care of the bloodlust and all my nutritional needs. They’re called Vamp Vites, but I’ve gotta tell you—they’ve been giving me terrible heartburn lately. Is there any chance you might have something to help with that?”

I just stared at Poppy for a long moment. Then muttered that I would get back to her, as Millie shooed this bubbly, blood-intolerant vampire along so someone else could show me their weird-looking bruise.

Apparently everyone on The Isle had an ailment they needed looked at by yours truly. Everything from loose teeth to suspected Alzheimer’s to the common cold. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that most of these people didn’t have any issues at all, except for a burning curiosity to meet the new human doctor.

I’d just given a diagnosis of athlete’s foot to one very grumpy gnome named Chuck along with instructions for proper care when Millie finally waved her hands and cut off the line.

“That’s it for today! We need to let the good doctor get some rest,” Millie announced. “Shoo, everyone. Yes, you too, Chuck. I see you eyeing the pasta salad—take it and scram. And fix your foot fungus while you’re at it. Lily’s given your wife cream at least three times, and you keep refusing to use it. ”

Chuck tucked the pasta salad under his arm, then turned his tomato-red nose in the other direction and stomped out of the cottage garden.

The guests slowly cleared out. As the last partygoer left, I turned to find Silas—hoping he was leaning against the fence where I’d last seen him a couple hours ago.

But once the guests had all vanished, it was clear Silas had vanished along with them, leaving me and Millie alone in the garden. I tried to ignore the wave of disappointment that cascaded through me at his absence. There was no reason to feel disappointed. I barely knew Silas. Had I really expected him to stick around holding up a fence post for—how long had I been seeing “patients”?—four hours at least?

“Good job, Doc.” The voice came from behind me. A low rumble of thunder.

I turned to find Silas sidling out of the kitchen. His hands were shoved into his pockets, his dark eyes landing on me.

“Very impressive.” Silas’s brows flicked up with amusement. His words were gentle and playful as he teased, “Curing foot fungus must make you feel like a hero.”

I crossed my arms. “It’s a good thing I spent all that money on medical school.”

“You know most of them didn’t have any real ailments.”

“I’m the doctor,” I said. “Of course I know that. ”

“They just wanted to see you. They need something to feel excited about.” Silas shoved his hands in his pockets, his voice softening as he spoke of his fellow islanders. “They’re curious about you.”

“So I gathered. Dr. Alessia—the new exhibit at the Zoo of Odd Humans.”

“Hey, at least you’re the good kind of odd.”

I cocked my head. “Is that a compliment?”

“It didn’t sound that way?” Silas’s eyes glimmered. He stepped closer, furrowed his brow as he studied my face. “You’re exhausted.”

“It’s been a whirlwind of a few days.”

“Will you come with me?”

“I don’t know, Silas,” I said. “The last time you asked me to do that, I ended up sucked into a magical world of curses and coffee where I’ve almost been killed by a siren, have healed dastardly curses, and suddenly believe in elves.”

“I’m always a good time,” he said dryly.

I couldn’t help but laugh. I rolled my eyes.

“Sure,” I said finally. “Why the hell not?”

I reached out and took Silas’s hand. He pulled something out of his pocket, a little vial, and shook the dust inside into a circle formation around us, sort of like he was salting a main course. With a lot of vigor.

“Hold on tight,” Silas warned. “Preferably to me. ”

Those were the only instructions before suddenly, my legs trembled, my teeth clattered, and it felt like a train was rushing its way through my body—down my arms, around my legs, loop-de-looping in my belly.

Then the rumbling stopped, and I let out a woof of air I hadn’t known I’d been holding inside. It gushed out of me, hard and fast, as I crashed into something hard, like a rock.

Except it was definitely not a rock. It was Silas’s chest, and he was holding me to him with a vice-like grip, my figure clutched to his as he took the brunt of the force as we landed on an actual rocky surface.

“Well,” I said, wheezing with unladylike zest for air, “I think I prefer the horses.”

Silas smiled up at me. We were intimately close. He was laying on the ground with me on top of him. We’d landed like a pile of bricks. But despite the firmness of his chest, he was holding me with decided softness.

“It gets easier.” Silas tucked a wayward strand of hair out of my face.

“Somehow, I don’t believe you.” I shifted my gown, clambering off him like his touch burned me. I pulled myself to my feet as he dusted himself off and rose to his full height. “What was that?”

“Pixie dust,” he said. “It’s a very unstable way of traveling and should only be used by someone with a lot of experience. ”

“Right, right ,” I muttered. “Obviously.”

“Sit down, Alessia.”

I looked at him, a retort on my tongue. I really, really didn’t like being told what to do. Then I saw something that made me stop in my tracks.

“Where are we?” I asked, scanning the horizon and seeing all of it.

The pixie dust had vaulted us miles and miles in elevation. A shotput to the top of the earth. No wonder the ride had been a little rough.

Silas had propelled us to a little cave on the side of a mountain. A little peek over the ledge had the coffee I’d sipped all day threatening to come right back up. I wasn’t a huge fan of heights. Was it hot up here, or was that just my anxiety?

“I’ve got you, Alessia.” Silas’s arm wrapped around my waist as he guided me gently back from the ledge. “Sit down.”

I hadn’t even realized I’d frozen solid in fear. I couldn’t move. I was a complete gargoyle, afraid to even breathe at this altitude.

“Of course you do,” I managed, my chest tight with the effort. “At least until I break the stupid curse. What happens after that, Silas?”

“Sit down,” Silas repeated firmly. “Now. ”

“I really hate being told what to do.” I whirled to face him. “Look, I don’t think you’re a jerk, but sometimes it feels like you work pretty hard trying to act like one.”

Silas just smiled. “It worked, didn’t it?”

Sure enough, I’d marched myself away from the ledge and the fear was gone. Displaced by anger and frustration. Silas had purposely redirected my fear and paralysis into something I could work with: annoyance.

“You were riling me up on purpose,” I said. “Pushing my buttons.”

“You have very shiny buttons,” Silas said softly. “It’s hard to resist.”

I hid a smile, then turned and shielded my eyes from the sun, which was just beginning to set in the distance.

“Now, your highness, would you please consider, maybe possibly, deigning me with your presence?” Silas gave an overly-exaggerated bow. Then he straightened, mischief written on his face. “If I ask you politely, will you please just sit your ass down and watch the sunset with me?”

I debated annoyance, but I could see the teasing in Silas’s gaze. He was genuinely trying to do something nice for me, and I was fighting him tooth and nail every chance I got—resisting him because that was what I did.

This whole experience—others doing nice things for no reason at all—was new to me. I wasn’t used to it, and my natural inclination was to fight back. It was really kind of sad, if I thought about it.

“Only if you sit your very fine ass down next to me.” I smiled back.

A soft chuff, almost a laugh, and he did sit that behind down next to me. “That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Don’t take it as a compliment.” I tentatively swung my feet over the ledge. Sitting next to Silas, leaning against him, gave me a confidence to face heights that I’d never had on my side before.

“How should I take it?”

“A factual study,” I said. “I’m a doctor. I’m just commenting on your well-structured glutes.”

Silas grinned broader. “I’ve got other impressive anatomy if you’re interested.”

“I’m good, thanks.” I raised a hand and waved him off, my cheeks coloring. “I’ve passed all my exams. With flying colors, no more studying of the anatomy needed.”

“I was talking about my ears.” Silas tilted his head to one side. “I’ve been told I have very fine ears.”

“Uh huh.”

“What were you thinking?”

“Shut up.” I glowered.

There was something about Silas that was different from Simon in the way he looked at me, in the way he spoke to me, in the way he was with me. I could feel Silas’s respect for me, even throughout his teasing. I could feel the trust and belief flowing between us, even though our relationship was a fledgling friendship at best. I’d known him for mere days, and it felt like he saw more of me than anyone else had throughout my whole life.

The only thing holding me back from throwing myself full force into a friendship—or something else entirely—with Silas was the fact that he had an ulterior motive to keep me alive. He needed me to break his curse. He was still using me in some way, and I couldn’t let myself forget that on some level, I was merely a means to an end.

“What you did for the islanders today was a very good thing.” Silas’s voice was a low rumble, distant thunder. “It’s been a while since we’ve had something new and good on this island. Our people needed hope, and you gave them that.”

“Why is nobody talking about the curse?” I asked. “Even Irina and Henry, when I saw them today—she boasted only about how I delivered the baby in a complicated situation. Nobody mentioned the curse. It’s like people are ignoring it.”

“We kept that part quiet from the general public, and we asked Irina to do the same,” Silas said. “Ranger X and I agreed it was for the best.”

“Why?”

“We didn’t want to give the others too much hope.”

“I don’t understand. ”

“You were able to spare Irina from the curse, yes,” Silas said thoughtfully. “But if word got out that we had a cure for it, then people might get reckless. We didn’t know if it was a fluke, or if you’d be able to repeat the cure.”

“I did repeat it,” I said. “I cured the siren.”

Silas rolled his eyes. “Unfortunately.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a fluke?”

“ I never believed it was a fluke,” Silas said. “But it’s more than that. We don’t know how much of the antidote Lily can create. We have limited ingredients, and she has limited time. Not to mention how healing people drains you. We can’t ask you to save everyone indefinitely, day after day. It’s not sustainable. We need everyone focused on a way to break the curse once and for all.”

“I don’t mind helping people, Silas. It hasn’t been too much.”

“It hasn’t been too much yet ,” Silas corrected. “It will be. The wards are breaking. The curse is strengthening. Pretty soon, it will be too much for you and Lily. We need to focus on the root of the problem, not continue to throw bandages at it.”

“Before, when we were patching the wards, you never answered my question.”

“Which one?”

“Why me?”

The question hung here, on the top of the world, dangling between us like a carrot that neither of us wanted to touch. But there was no Ranger X appearing this time, no wards in desperate need of patching.

Silas looked at me. “I’ve already told you how much power runs through you, and that isn’t something that can be learned or taught. You bleed magic. You see magic. You are magic.”

My shoulders fell forward in a bit of a slump. “I hate that.”

“Which part?”

I looked into Silas’s eyes. “I was born into a privileged life. I had a silver rattle worth more than most babies’ entire nurseries. I attended Harvard because my parents wanted me to, and they could just write a check for it. It’s not fair to everyone else. Now, it’s happening all over again. I feel like I won the magic lottery.”

Silas considered, and I appreciated that he didn’t just reach for the lowest hanging fruit and tell me none of that was my fault. I already knew that. It didn’t help my guilt that came with it.

“We can’t help the way we’re born, and trust me, having the sort of magic you do is both a blessing and a curse. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” Silas said. “But that’s not the point here.”

“Oh, yeah? Then what is the point?”

“The point is the opposite. The privilege you experienced in your mortal life…it’s different in the magical world. The type of magic you have is not given to an un worthy individual. What matters, Alessia, is what’s in here.”

Silas reached out, pressed a hand gently over my heart.

“What you did today required the use of no magic at all.” Silas’s eyes were dark, searching. “You helped others out of the kindness of your heart. You sat, completely exhausted and new to this world, and listened to people bear their worries to you.”

“I don’t know about bearing their worries,” I said. “It was a lot of foot fungus and weird bruises, to be honest.”

A twitch of a smile. “People weren’t looking for a cure. They were looking for patience and kindness and trust and understanding. They wanted someone to listen, to believe them, to give them hope. You did that because you’re you. Not because you were born wealthy or born with special magical abilities.”

My throat was dry. No one had ever said anything like that before. Anytime I’d expressed a desire to help people before, there had been an angle to it. My father had frowned upon my choice of family medicine. When I’d looked into volunteering in a third world country, he’d wondered if there was some sort of tax write-off. My parents were incapable of seeing life as anything but a series of transactions.

“Yes, you are powerful,” Silas said. “Beyond powerful, but the power is inside of you because your heart is deserving of it. Your spirit is deserving. The kind of magic you have is special and rare, and it isn’t given by the universe freely.”

Silas paused, pushed a strand of hair out of my eyes. I probably looked like I’d been through a wind tunnel.

“You are special for the purest of reasons,” he continued quietly. “That is why you are powerful—not because you are skilled and wonderful, which you are. But because you don’t want the magic in the first place. That, in and of itself, is your greatest strength.”

I shivered. I felt brittle and raw and exposed. A dry leaf, trembling on a branch as winter crept closer.

“If I do have some sort of special curse-breaking power,” I said. “I want to help. How do we find this power source?”

“We’re actively looking, and if I knew, I’d tell you,” Silas said. “What we do know is that the curse isn’t new. It’s been around for a long, long time.”

“Are we talking years?”

“At the minimum. Possibly centuries.”

“How long have people been fighting the curse?”

“That’s the thing. Nobody can tell when the curse actually began. The Ranger Program monitors everything. If a curse was suddenly targeted at the island, they’d know about it.” He paused. “Which leads us to wonder if the curse has been around since before the inception of the Ranger Program.”

“How long ago was that? ”

“The Ranger Program is relatively new in the scheme of things,” Silas said. “If this curse truly has been around for a while, there have just been wisps of it baked into the magic of this island. So much that it had never set off alarm bells until about eight months ago. Since then, it’s been growing exponentially in strength. We’ve been aware of it, frantically searching for a solution.”

“When did you put up the temporary wards that you showed me?”

“Six months ago. I’ve had to repair them a few times since, but within the last few weeks, I’ve been patching them almost daily.”

“If the curse has been around for hundreds of years, then what triggered it to suddenly explode in power?”

“We don’t know for sure, but I think it’s linked to a resurgence in a specific kind of power.” Silas looked at me, waited a beat. “Your kind of power.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve spent countless years searching for you. It wasn’t until eight months ago that I got a lead to your whereabouts.” Silas expelled a breath. “I found a source that confirmed you existed.”

“Who is this source?” I asked. “Can I speak to them? Maybe they know more about my history.”

Silas clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Three days after I spoke to this source, he turned up dead. ”

“Someone else got to him,” I figured. “Then killed him.”

“Yes,” Silas confirmed. “Within a week, the curse grew strong enough to start ringing alarm bells. The Rangers became aware of it. We began working to break it, had no luck, and that’s when I finally set up temporary wards to buy us more time.”

“I’ve seen the temporary wards,” I said. “But I’ve heard mention of other wards. The permanent, original wards. Why aren’t they protecting the island from the curse?”

“That’s one of the questions we’ve been asking,” Silas said. “The most likely scenario is that traces of this curse have been present for so long that the original wards have adapted to it. They no longer view it as foreign magic, and therefore they don’t fight against it like they should.”

“Sort of like how some bodies have trouble fighting off bad cells,” I said. “They don’t see them as foreign.”

“Yes.”

“I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around why someone would have set a curse hundreds of years ago, then ramped it up only after learning about my existence. How could they possibly know that I would end up here before I was even born, possibly hundreds of years ago?”

“There are prophecies,” Silas said vaguely.

“The card you gave me? ”

“Yes,” Silas said. “If you have the sort of magic I think you do, then it is directly linked to this island. You have always been destined to end up on these lands. I can only imagine that whoever set the curse ages ago was familiar with the prophecy and was laying the foundation for your arrival. Setting the stage, so that when you did emerge, they’d be prepared to destroy you.”

“How do we break this curse?” I asked, more desperate now. “You keep saying I’ve got all this magic, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to be using it. It’s a lot of pressure without a lot of information.”

“I don’t know how,” Silas said. “That’s why you’re here.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Silas rested a hand on mine.

“Please, Alessia.” His skin was warm against mine. “I know there’s a ticking clock on this, but you deserve a moment to breathe and rest. We can discuss more details tomorrow morning, once we’re back home. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to help anyone else. You need to rest tonight.”

“One more question,” I said, and before Silas could argue, I said, “Talk to me about ticks. Why has nobody heard of one before?”

“Those bugs are a decidedly human thing.” Silas looked out over the land—his lands. Lands dotted with magic, sparkling with life, surrounded by endless blue water. “Most people who are born here never leave this place.”

“Why would they?” I felt breathless witnessing the beauty of it, and I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to leave.

Or maybe it was the way my leg rubbed against Silas’s as we sat on the cusp of the mountain, just inches away from the heavens. The way his arm brushed against mine, the way my heart felt like it was thumping so loud he could hear it.

“Can you hear it?” I asked.

“What?” Silas didn’t look my way.

“My heart,” I said. “I don’t know if Hunters have super hearing or whatever.”

The side of his mouth quirked upward. “We’re not vampires, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“There’s a lot of lore to this place.” My fingers played on the dusty ground next to me. Almost ashy, it looked like.

Silas reached out, extended a hand toward me. I studied him for a moment, then understood what he was suggesting. I took his hand, placed it over my chest so he could feel the pounding of my heart underneath.

“Afraid of heights?” Silas left his hand to linger a beat longer than needed before withdrawing it.

“I’m not sure that’s it.” I swallowed hard.

Silas glanced over at me, not moving his leg away from mine—either on purpose or on accident. “I’m not using you as a pawn. I need you to know that. Yes, you’re here for a reason, but that’s not all you are to me.”

“It’s fine if you are,” I said. “Just so long as we’re honest about it.”

“I’m telling you: I’m not .”

“Okay.” Then, because I didn’t feel comfortable with this topic, I switched it. “Why are we keeping this business about you being a Hunter a secret?”

Silas licked his lips, looked down. “There are some old laws that remain in existence, either for a good reason or because they’ve been long forgotten about, on our island. One such law originates from the years after the courts fell, and it’s that Hunters can be killed on sight.”

“Well, that’s a pretty good reason to keep your genetic makeup a secret,” I said, thinking I was playing this life-or-death declaration very cool indeed. “That seems harsh.”

“It’s not harsh enough.” Silas gave a single, swift shake of his head. “Not harsh enough for what we did.”

“It was millennia ago.” I rested a hand on his wrist. “Surely, you don’t blame yourself for the slaughter of the Fae Queens?”

“It runs in my blood,” he said. “The blood my ancestors spilled.”

“I don’t believe all Hunters are bad,” I said. “I can’t believe it. That’s like saying all humans are bad because a small percentage of them are terrorists. ”

“Aren’t all humans bad, at least in some small way?”

I considered this, then answered honestly, “I don’t know.”

“It’s like that, but stronger for paranormals,” Silas said. “There are certain traits and characteristics that run from species to species. Vampires struggle with bloodlust. Elves are generally fair and honest, yet they’re easily tempted by pretty things. Hunters are killers by nature.”

“Apparently some vampires can control the bloodlust,” I told Silas. At his curious look, I said, “I met Poppy today. She asked if I could help with her heartburn.”

“Ah, Poppy. She’s a unicorn among vampires. But even those vampires who control their bloodlust successfully, at one point, it was a battle. I don’t know a single vampire who would deny that.”

My hand was still on Silas’s wrist. I barely remembered putting it there.

“For what it’s worth,” I said, “I trust you. I’m not afraid of you.”

“You should be,” Silas muttered. “More than you even know.”

“I’m not. I believe in good. I believe in second chances. I believe in you.”

Silas opened his mouth as if to reply, then he snapped it shut. He merely looked out as the sun tiptoed down to the water’s edge, playing peekaboo with its sparkling surface .

“I hope you know how incredible you are,” Silas said gruffly. “Simon didn’t deserve you. He didn’t see your goodness.”

“Don’t say things like that.” I withdrew my hand from his. “It’s not part of our arrangement, and it makes me think you care.”

“I do care.”

“You shouldn’t,” I told him. “What if I don’t stay here?”

“Where else would you go?” Silas looked like he really had no clue.

“Home. Where I’ve been all my life .”

“This is your home. Surely, you feel it.”

“Back to my original question, I’d really like to get Eloise treated for Lyme disease.” I licked my lips, desperate for a reprieve from more serious topics. “Do you have a way we can access antibiotics from the mainland? I’m assuming the magical Healers don’t have what we need. Which boggles the mind, but still.”

“Which part is mind boggling?”

“The part that you’ve got magical Healers who couldn’t recognize a tick bite?”

“This land was created for us,” Silas said. “If you were in charge of creating a magical safe haven, would you put ticks on it?”

“That’s a great point,” I conceded. “I most certainly would not. But surely the Healers can figure out a way to treat it? ”

“I’m sure they could,” he said. “I’m sure they’re already looking into it. But human vaccines and medications don’t just materialize overnight, and not all magical potions do either. I think the bigger question is how she got a tick bite in the first place.”

“Playing in the woods,” I said. “They’re incredibly common.”

“Not here,” Silas said. “So how did we get a human tick on our lands?”

“Maybe it came across on someone’s pant leg?”

Silas stared blankly at me.

“If you have any better ideas,” I said, “I’m all ears. About the medicine—can we get some? I don’t want to wait around for a magical cure if we can help it. This is an easy fix if treated early. If not treated correctly, it can become very serious.”

“Of course. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to get what you need.”

“I’ll need to get someone to write a prescription, and...” My voice trailed off as I glanced over at Silas and his big muscles and his big magic. “Right. You can probably magic some antibiotics out of a pharmacy.”

We stared out over the ridge in silence for some time, until the sun danced with the moon, and the tides began to shift, and the air began to cool .

Silas took out a flask, handed it over to me. I took a sip. It was the most incredible thing I’d tasted, and I’d tasted a lot of beverages.

“What is this?” I managed, savoring the floral, slightly sweet, possibly alcoholic beverage.

“A brew crafted from ambrosia,” Silas said.

“Tastes like kombucha and a bellini and elderflower and a wine slushy all in one,” I said. “With probiotics.”

Silas grinned as he took in a swig. “It’s good for you. Relaxes the mind.”

Sure enough, we sipped our magical hooch, and we watched the sunset, and when my head felt heavy enough, I rested it on Silas’s shoulder and dozed. I couldn’t talk myself out of it. I was just so comfortable, so warm, so... safe .

At some point, I kicked my feet up onto the ledge, tipped sideways, and lowered my head into Silas’s lap. His hand stroked through my hair, like he thought nothing of this intimate pose that felt all too natural.

By the time I opened my eyes again, the moon had risen, the ambrosia had worn off, and I was feeling limp with happiness. Silas gently stroked my hair.

“I should get you home,” he whispered. “It’s late.”

“It’s so nice here,” I said. “So warm.”

“That’s what happens on a volcano.”

My body froze. I sat up, stared him directly in the eyes. “Did you just say volcano?”