Page 11

“It’s my dream because of Nan,” I say. Once Dad got elected to higher office, my parents lived in the capital for parts of each year.

I stayed with my grandmother during those times to remain in the same school, and I loved it.

Nan was the best. She passed a couple of years ago, peacefully sitting in the sun in her back garden, but her spirit lives on.

“Ferndale Falls is not just where I live. Being here feels like all the warmth and love of one of Nan’s hugs.

It’s all the happy memories I have wrapped up in one place. My grandmother loved this town.”

“Super loved it.” Naomi gives a soft smile. “I think her famous oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were half the reason anyone went to the town meetings when we were little.”

A huff of amusement escapes me at the memory. “They sure didn’t hurt. I wish I could make them as well as her. Maybe more people would come to the meetings.”

“Stop.” She wiggles my hand. “You’re already running yourself ragged for Ferndale Falls. And now you’re talking about marrying a shadow fae!”

“ Fake marrying! It’s totally different!”

“You do know I run a bookstore, right?” She narrows her eyes and lets go of my hand to wave hers around. “I’ve got an entire section of marriage-of-convenience romance books, and you know what almost every single one of them has in it? The couple falls in love.”

“You said almost,” I say. “What happens in the other books? They become besties and agree to both shag the pool boy?”

“Hardly.” She starts counting things with her fingers. “She either gets stolen away by an enemy and falls in love with him, or she gets rescued by her childhood sweetheart and falls in love with him, or she falls in love with one of the staff and runs away with him.”

“Ha! I knew there was a pool boy.” I point at her.

“But seriously, those are books, and this is real life. I can fake marry him for a year and a day without falling in love. It’ll be totally worth it!

Ferndale Falls will prosper again and be protected from anyone who can’t handle all the magic and fae. ”

“It sounds too good to be true.” Naomi shakes her head. “You know what they say about Faerie bargains—it’s always the human who gets screwed.”

“He’s getting something out of it, too. Severin doesn’t want to marry a fae. Politics or something.” I wave a hand. “The marriage also means his palace can stay here on Earth. He really likes our forest. Did you see how pretty the town green is now? That was him.”

“He brought his palace to Earth?” My friend’s eyes widen. “Damn. I knew the shadow fae wanted to find a new realm to live in, since theirs is a wasteland right now, but I never thought it would be Earth. The fae always say magic’s too weak here.”

“Severin’s magic sure as hell works. Maybe he’s super powerful or something. Although, I think the magic here is getting stronger every day. We have walking tulips now!” I make a scurrying motion with two fingers. “They run around on little root feet.”

“Severin did that?”

I shake my head. “One of the other women who are witches, but we don’t know who.

That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.

” I fill her in on how only some people can see magic and how we used that to figure out a bunch of us might be witches.

It’s not super surprising for her—she was there when that fae said Ferndale Falls has witches.

“None of us know how to use magic, though. We had a meeting here last night to talk about it. I hoped you’d be able to help us, and I need to start with me. ”

Naomi pulls her crystal necklace from under her top and holds the pendant out to me. “Grab this and see if you feel anything.”

I do as she says, scrunching my eyes closed and straining for long moments. Then I drop my hand, letting out a disappointed breath. “Nothing. I really hoped this would work. I need to know my magic right freaking now.”

“Why?” She narrows her eyes at me. “What haven’t you told me?”

“So about marrying Severin… I only get to do it if I pass one of these magical bride competition thingies the shadow fae do.”

“What?” she shrieks.

I jolt. Thank god I’ve got a travel mug, because otherwise I would have splattered both of us with hot coffee. “It’s not that bad! I just need to win one of the three events, and then he can pick me!”

“Are they dangerous?”

“He says no, they’re just magical.” I pull out the invitation and hand it to her.

Her lips purse as she reads. “Are you sure about this?”

“Totally sure.” Okay, not really, but I’m determined to make it work .

“I’m going with you to these trials. It says you need a representative, so that can be me.” She levels a finger at me. “At the first sign of trouble, I’m teleporting you out.”

I hold up my hands. “Zero arguments here.”

Naomi jumps up, heads into the backroom, and returns with an armful of books. “I started ordering books on magic and witchcraft a while back.”

I pull out my phone and text Skye and Autumn. If you’ve got time, I’m at I Touch My Shelf researching books on magic.

Books!!! Magic! Skye adds five eye-heart emojis. Say less!

On my way! Autumn writes.

I grin and crack open the first book, feeling relieved. With besties like these, how can I fail?