Page 99 of Starrily

Raleigh also stood up. “And yet I am the way I am, and you brought me here.”

“There is no such thing as magic.”

He gently grabbed her shoulder. “Maybe there is. And maybe each of us needs a bit of magic in our lives. It doesn’t negate the reality. It doesn’t disprove everything else you know. It only adds to it.”

Callie clenched her fists. She’d promised him and herself that she’d be brave. A rational part of her knew that somewhere beyond all the hurt she was unlocking anew lay freedom—but she’d have to walk through the hurt first, and she didn’t know if she dared to. It came down to more than just talking about that day on the river. Everything here was intertwined with her old life. The pathways in the bayou, the streets of Athame, every child’s laughter and every buzzing of cicadas and every joke Nana told. All of it would drag her back into the past. Negate any progress she’d made.

Raleigh carefully approached and leaned his forehead on hers. Slowly, she relaxed. Maybe she’d had it wrong all along. Raleigh said she helped him remember his life, and he was better for it. What if that was the key? Her progress wasn’t in denial. She’d have to be an adventurer again and face her problems head-on.

But she wouldn’t be alone. Raleigh was here—her new kindred spirit. Her lost adventurer. If he still cared about her, even after all her outbursts, she could use him for support. He could be her guiding star.

She only had to make sure he didn’t blink out of existence.

***

Callie didn’t want to visit her family the next day, and Raleigh saw no reason to push her—she needed time to think things through, and the Guidrys needed to analyze his condition, not hers. He did take Theia with him; both so Callie could take a walk and wouldn’t have to worry about Theia being shut inside and because he was curious how the Guidrys would react to the cat. Or rather, the other way around.

Phoebe opened the door. “Come, come, step into our lair.” She led him to the living room. “Momma’s getting everything ready.”

A herbal smell filled the house, overwhelming his senses. Iris was in the living room, lighting candles and incense sticks, scattered all around the space. The round table had been dragged to the center of the room, and dried flowers and small, shiny black pebbles had been arranged in circles in the middle.

“And who’s this?” Phoebe kneeled to look into Theia’s carrier.

“Theia. She’s Callie’s cat. May I?”

As Phoebe nodded, Raleigh opened the carrier and let Theia hop on the floor.

“Of course, she’d have a cat. I told you!” Phoebe yelled toward an open door.

“I didn’t say she wouldn’t,” Penny’s voice came from behind it.

“She got a good one, too.” Iris approached the cat.

“Be careful. She doesn’t like people,” Raleigh warned.

“Of course, she doesn’t. She’s a protector, aren’t you?” Iris said to Theia.

Penny came into the living room. “Oh, she’s beautiful.”

The three Guidry women stood in a half-circle around the cat. Raleigh expected Theia to start hissing or even attempt to scratch one, but instead, Theia stood there calmly, slowly swishing her tail, and looked from one woman to another with her big, blue eyes.

Raleigh raised an eyebrow. “She’s not normally like this.”

“Hmmph. She knows who to not mess with,” Iris said.

“There’s another thing about her. When I phased, she could still see me. Or sense me, at least.”

“She would. She’s a Seer,” Iris said casually.

“A Seer?”

“All cats are.”

“And some dogs,” Phoebe added.

Penny started coughing and waved her hand in front of her face. “Did you have to go so hard on the incense, Momma? You’re gonna get white sage into my jambalaya.”

“Then why’d you let the door to the kitchen open, hmm?”