Page 33 of Everything She Does Is Magic (Fableview #1)

Darcy

The ride operator is about to bring the bar down over Grace and me when Anya runs up covered in fake blood, wearing a frilly Victorian dress I recognize as one of Grace’s Halloween costumes from two years ago.

Seeing her here, I know Kyle’s plan has worked as he said it would, and I might just owe him five hundred dollars for it. That’s a problem for later.

For now, Anya is here. She’s okay. And she’s wearing yellow. Which is worth quite a lot.

“Hold on,” Anya says to the ride operator. “I need to get on.”

“Doyle,” Grace says, raising her fists to cheer.

“ You are a real one!” This gets a bashful half smile out of Anya, and it fuels Grace to embellish as only she can, telling the story again as if she hasn’t already breathlessly relayed it to me three previous times.

“She completely saved me. Literally sealed me from getting back into the tent.”

The ride operator lets out a grunt of frustration.

Grace says, “Sorry, sorry. I’ll excuse myself.” Climbing out of the seat, she pats Anya on the head. “Seriously, Doyle, you’re a legend. That was definitely the best haunted house this carnival has ever seen. The Holtzenbergs don’t understand horror like we do. Twin dark souls.”

Grace winks, and Anya slides into her seat.

We jolt forward and then jerk back, settling into our spots as the Ferris wheel begins to move again.

“Hi,” I say, my voice small.

“ Hi ,” Anya says back.

The Ferris wheel juts us out over the carnival. Every piece of this place that’s so familiar to me shrinks smaller as we rise, like it can fit into my hand.

“Nice costume,” I tell her.

“I figured it was finally time to show some of that Fableview enthusiasm I’m always hearing about.”

“Not enough of our looks involve fake blood. As usual, you’ve found a way to push our boundaries.”

Closer to the top, it’s so black around the edge of the carnival that it looks limitless, an infinite stretch of nothing. It doesn’t matter that I can’t really see what’s out there. I know it like the back of my hand.

“The creek is over there,” I whisper. I take this as an excuse to lean in to Anya. My finger points west, and I rest my other hand on her leg.

“I hear that’s where all the kids go to be alone,” she replies.

“We’re pretty alone up here too,” I remind her.

We can see the feet swinging from the cart above us. If we looked behind our seat, we could probably see the cart beneath us. But it doesn’t matter. No one can reach us here. That’s whatcounts.

“I’m sorry,” she tells me. “I never should have told my parents you would be my protector. Or I should’ve told you about it much earlier, especially since I never meant for it to be true.”

“ I’m sorry,” I insist right back. “I had all this adrenaline from telling my parents about college. I was too in my own head to hear you. I know it’s not easy for you, after the way Julia abandoned you.”

We’re above Fableview now, at the peak of the Ferris wheel. The ride jerks to a stop. Maybe there is someone on the ground, desperate to get on the ride like Anya was with me. Maybe there are other people here with us. But none of them matter.

Not when the two of us are on top of the world together.

“Everything she told you about yourself was a lie,” I say.

“You are the most thoughtful person I know. You’re the only reason I’ve been able to do half the things I’ve done this month.

I think if I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t really know myself the way I do now.

I’d still be in this fog, waiting to figure it all out sometime down the road.

But thanks to you, I get to know myself more here . Now.”

I reach for her hand. It’s a question. A risk. Will she accept this? Will it be enough?

She grabs on without hesitation, weaving her fingers between mine.

“You don’t understand how much you mean to me,” she says.

“Yes, I do,” I tell her. “Because it’s the same way I feel about you too.”

When we look out again into the yawning darkness, all my aches float away, off to the clouds, replaced with joy.

“We’re dating,” I say. It’s no longer a teasing question. It’s a statement. A fact.

“Hold on.” Anya jerks enough that our seat rocks. We both let out tiny yips of surprise. “Sorry.” She angles herself inward, knees pressing against my side. “Darcy Keller, will you be my girlfriend?”

“Obviously,” I say back. “Will you be mine?”

“Always.” She brings our hands to her mouth and kisses mine, sealing us to this.

The ride starts moving again, bringing us backward. Our view is no longer of the carnival but of the ride itself, the rainbow of lights decorating the wheel, and all the carts around us, legs swinging in delight.

“Did you know Piper’s a witch too?” I ask.

“What?”

“See!” I say, delighted by her surprise. “That’s what I said too! It’s not always that obvious, is it?”

“My aunt has dead animals on her mantel,” she says.

“I thought she was sentimental.”

“Speaking of Piper and my aunt, Cal used to date Piper’s dad.”

“What?”

“That’s what I said too!” Anya teases, mimicking my voice with affection. “He’s actually Cal’s protector. That’s the reason why she doesn’t want mine to be a romantic interest. He broke her heart. Cheated on her with another woman.”

“That sounds like Mr.Blake,” I say. “He did it to Piper’s momtoo.”

“What an asshole.”

“Well, seeing as I’m now officially your girlfriend, who do you think could be your protector instead?” She moves to pull her hand away, but I don’t let her. She needs to know I’m with her, no matter what. Even through the hard stuff.

“My parents came out here to find one for me,” she says. “They knew you were never my real choice. They want to ask Kyle.”

This gets a belly laugh from me, rocking our cart again. “I mean, he did just save you from a night in the slammer.”

“Yeah, if by ‘slammer’ you mean a night with an old guy eating a hot dog in a tent,” she tells me. “That was nice of him, but he asked me for five hundred dollars for it.”

“That little shit,” I mutter. “He asked me for that too. Thank god we told each other. He would’ve made out with a thousand bucks.”

“I’d never have paid him. And I wouldn’t ask him to be my protector either. Though it was nice of him to take the fall for me. He defended me against Julia too.”

“What? She’s here?” I ask, looking out as if maybe I can spot her red hair from this height.

“Yeah,” she says. “She confronted me a little bit ago. And Kyle actually scared her off.”

“Good,” I say. “She sucks.”

This makes Anya laugh. “She did have some good qualities, but I can’t remember them anymore.”

“It’s okay. I don’t need to know her complexities. As your girlfriend, I get to just hate her.”

Anya kisses me on the cheek, sending a fluttering thrill through my whole body. “So what happens if you don’t have a protector by your birthday?” I ask.

“Then I get kicked out of the coven. They remove my powers, and I’m banished.”

“I’m sorry,” I say again. “That’s horrible. I can see why you did what you did. I wish I could help.”

“Yeah, but helping me would mean you aren’t my girlfriend.” She leans in for another kiss, this time on my mouth.

“That would be a terrible thing,” I say, talking with my lips against hers.

“ Terrible ,” she echoes. Then she kisses me. Deep and warm and right. My heart could burst into confetti.

We reach the bottom of the ride. The operator lifts the bar to make us exit, despite my request to let us go for one more round.

Grace is waiting for us, grinning. “I took such a cute picture of you two up there,” she says, showing us her phone. “God. I’m such a good friend, aren’t I?”

I give Anya a look that she doesn’t receive. It’s crystal clear what she should do. Who she should pick.

But it’s not my choice to make. It’s hers.