Page 30 of Everything She Does Is Magic (Fableview #1)

Darcy

If my parents didn’t want me to sneak out every once in a while, they wouldn’t have given me the bedroom with the balcony.

This used to be my mom’s room when she lived here with my grandparents, and I know for certain she did her fair share of dashing off into the night, because the first time I ever tried it myself, there were obvious spaces for my hands and feet to go, ledges and jutting rocks placed in the exact spots you’d need when making your way to the ground.

Which is why, even after our sentimental evening of bonding, I don’t feel bad about doing this.

If anything, it’s another proud tradition I’m carrying on—a continuation of my mother’s legacy.

And frankly, I’m not missing my last Friday at the haunted carnival.

I have no transportation other than my old bike, chained up to a rack at the end of our alley.

It’s been so long since I’ve ridden it that it no longer stands on its own.

It’s dusty and dirt-covered from spending countless undignified months on its side.

The tires are so low on air that they’re squishy to the touch.

“Please,” I say, like the bike is sentient. In this town, maybe it is. “Just one ride. That’s all I need.”

I’m not even off the cobblestones of Fableview Boulevard when the back tire blows out. It’s as loud as a firework and just as shocking. I panic, worried one of my neighbors is going to come out and see me, and my gentle grounding will become something much more intense.

A car drives down the boulevard, and it’s all I can do to stay looking forward as I wheel my bike beside me, hoping it’s not someone I know. Perhaps a tourist has come through to enjoy the twinkle lights.

“Darce?” Of course it’s not a tourist—it’s Kyle Holtzenberg, who is developing a supernatural talent for always being everywhere I don’t want him to be.

“Hey, Kyle,” I say, not making eye contact, wheeling my bike forward.

He’s driving two miles an hour with his head leaned out of his rolled-down window.

“You goin’ to the carnival? My parents made me come back home to pick up a basket for them.

Something they swear they need. I was like, ‘Mom, you can’t be serious.

’ But she was deadass. I was in the middle of a legendary basketball game.

People were gathering around me. I made something like one hundred or two hundred baskets in a row. ”

“That’s a wide estimate,” I interject.

“Yeah, well, they cut me off to come do this. I had to let go of the exact stats, or it’d eat me up inside. Anyway, I feel like I’m living your life right now. The errand boy.”

“Yep.”

“I can give you a ride,” he says. “Since we’re headed the sameway.”

“No need. I can walk just fine.”

“Is this about Anya?”

This gets me to change directions. I don’t know what my plan is, but I’ll cut across the creek and swim if needed. Anything to avoid this conversation.

Kyle puts his car in reverse.

“C’mon,” I plead. “I don’t want to talk to you about her. Not when you’re the one who told her that you and I are ‘kind of dating.’?” I say the last part in his tone of voice, an impression so mocking that it teeters on the edge of being mean-spirited.

He parks his car in the middle of the street and gets out. It would seem imposing, maybe even scary, if he wasn’t looking at me with such surprising…kindness?

“I shouldn’t have said that,” he admits. When he moves, it’s not to reach for me but to grab my bike so he can be the one to wheel it along.

“You don’t even know where I’m going,” I say.

“Neither do you.”

Touché.

“I could tell that she liked you,” he says, bringing the conversation back to Anya.

“And you liked her. And, you know, I can admit that I got a little threatened at first, all right? I know that’s not cool to say, but it’s true.

That’s why I called her your girlfriend at the orchard.

I want you to know I’m okay with it now.

I’m not okay with her taking my apple bobbing prize, though.

That five hundred dollars was for my Lego castle. ”

“Lego castle?”

Kyle does a flailing movement with his hands, like he’s only just now realized what he said and he knows there’s no way to take it back. “My little brother is obsessed with them. We have the medieval town square already, and he really wants to add the castle.”

“It costs five hundred dollars?”

“Basically. They’re super expensive. But they’re really cool. Very detailed. You can do all kinds of stuff with them.”

“Like be a charming prince?” I tease.

“Yeah,” he says with a grin. “Exactly.”

I can’t tell if Kyle would really spend that much money on making his little brother happy, or if he’s lying and it’s actually for himself.

Either way, it’s sweet. Kyle’s just so Kyle, I never once thought about how he bonds with his brother.

It’s a good reminder that even when you think you’ve got a person all figured out, they might still have some surprises up their sleeve.

“I’m sorry you didn’t win. And that you’re on errand duty. I really do get how much that sucks,” I tell him.

“It’s fine. Anya better take you out on a nice date with all that cash.” Someone honks at Kyle’s parked car, and both of us turn. “Are you sure you don’t need a ride?”

“Actually, yeah,” I say. “I do.”

We leave my bike against the last shop on the boulevard, and I hop into Kyle’s car.

“You really like her, huh, if you’re breaking your whole Fableview rule?” he asks.

“I do,” I admit.

“Nice,” he says. “She’s kind of intense, though.”

I give him a warning look, and he lifts his hands from the steering wheel for a moment. “Hey, hey. It’s not a problem. Just a fact.”

“She is,” I tell him, softening.

“Did she tell you she almost failed gym class last year?” he asks.

“I’m sure that was your fault.”

He seems to really think on this before he says, “Damn. Maybe it was. Anyway, seems like she kind of makes you braver.”

I’m ready to make another argument, but in his weirdly sage Kyle way, he’s right again.

She does make me braver. Even this act, sneaking out to see her.

All the changes I’ve made since that night she first showed up at the art shop.

She’s been the one encouraging me when everyone else has been reminding me over and over of the risks.

The consequences. The ways it could all go wrong. She’s always pushed me toward the good.

I ask Kyle more questions about his Lego collection, learning he and his little brother, Karl—the Holtzenbergs are very committed to the K -name theme—have built up quite the dynasty.

As he tells me about all the sets they’ve built together over the years, and the reasons they picked each one, I realize this is probably the most earnest conversation Kyle and I have ever had.

He says random things a lot, but he’s a good guy.

There’s surely a girl out there for him who can appreciate his muscles and his mind.

He can be someone else’s charming prince.

It’s nice to have him finally recognize that girl will never beme.

“Anya and I aren’t really talking right now,” I say.

For whatever reason, it’s easier to confide in Kyle than it is my parents.

He knows me in such a different light. Even though his parents want my family’s empire, Kyle just wants to be Kyle.

He has never seemed to care that dating me could grant him access to the keys to our Halloween kingdom.

He is so exquisite in his simplicity sometimes that I find myself actually wanting to know his take on this situation.

“What did she do?” he asks.

“It’s my fault too,” I say quickly. “I didn’t listen to her when she told me something about herself. And when that turned out to be true, I realized that she had this whole plan for me that she hadn’t asked about.”

“Is it about her being a witch?” he asks. I turn my head to him, trying to see if he’s kidding. “I mean, isn’t her whole family?” he follows up, another lifting of his hands from the wheel, forever playing defense.

Ignoring this is my only solution. It’s not the point anyway. What matters is that we didn’t talk about her plans for me in her initiation.

“Okay, sorry, yeah,” Kyle says, reading my silence as anger. “I know we’re, like, not supposed to bring up the actual magic here. Right?”

“I guess,” I say weakly.

After another bout of silence, he says, “Maybe that’s why she did it.

Made a plan without asking. Because she knew it’s all this big secret thing already, and she was stressed about whatever plan she’d made for you.

Don’t we all kind of do that when we’re stressed?

Tell ourselves lies to get through it or sometimes lies that make it worse, you know? ”

Never in my life would I have expected this conversation to be so revelatory. I’ve been heading to the carnival for a lot of reasons—tradition, enjoyment. And, yeah, maybe to see Anya and figure this whole thing out between us.

Now I feel this need to apologize too. Like when she had the cut on her hand, I want to be the one who makes sure she’s okay.

“Kyle, it’s time to floor it.”