We were cleaning up when there was a knock on the door.
I looked at Axel. “You expecting anyone?”
“No.”
No one had called or texted to tell me they were stopping by, but that didn’t mean it was a threat. No one except our friends and Tessa’s parents knew this house existed.
I strode to the door and opened it.
Claudia and Lucas were on my porch? Claudia’s hair was in its usual braid. She was tucked against Lucas’s side as she stared at me, searching—like always—to see if I was okay.
“I’m fine,” I said before she could ask.
She gave me a nod, but I could see in her eyes that she didn’t believe me. And she shouldn’t. It was a lie.
I wasn’t fine, but I was alive. That would have to be good enough for her.
Once I returned, Claudia and Lucas stayed close by for the rest of the first year Tessa was gone. They checked on me a couple times a week, and the rest of the time, Claudia consulted with other witches on how to break fey magic. Every once in awhile, she’d ask to do a spell. Each time I tried not to get my hopes up, and then feel crushed when it didn’t work. I would’ve kept trying whatever she wanted to try, but one day Claudia told me she was leaving. She was tired of the rollercoaster, too. She’d quickly found someone to take care of the compound temporarily and she left and never came back.
Until today.
She looked good. Rested. Right before she left, she looked sick, and now, I know why she left. She’d been making herself sick trying to fix what no one could fix.
“I didn’t know you were back from Peru.” I opened the door wider. “Come in.”
Claudia stepped into the house. “Wow. This is amazing.”
Axel came out of the kitchen. “Hey, prima. You’re back?”
“For now.” Claudia went to hug her cousin. “You look good. The werewolf really puts muscle on you.”
Axel laughed, not able to deny that at all. He’d gained a ton of solid muscle, and he was happier than he had been in a while. He liked being a werewolf.
I let them chat and went back to cleaning up the kitchen. There just wasn’t a lot for me to say or talk about. I was terrible company, especially around happy people.
After a few minutes, I heard Claudia’s sneakers softly squeak along the floor.
I stopped scraping off the dishes and closed my eyes for a second. Claudia was going to ask me how I was doing, and I was going to have to answer her.
“How are you doing?” she asked, as expected.
She sounded worried, and I hated that.
Axel and Lucas were quietly whispering, and I did my best not to overhear. I put the last dish in the dishwasher and closed it, giving myself enough time to school my features.
I grabbed a towel to wipe my hands. “I’m getting by.” I didn’t want to tell her that I was going to start going crazy again. I’d built the house, but now what was I supposed to do?
“The furniture looks good.” Claudia turned back toward the living room. “God. Everything looks like a magazine.”
I looked around. Did it? I just got whatever Chris and Cosette said would look good and that matched the magazine pages that Tessa saved.
I took in the living room. The large u-shaped couch. The pillows and a blanket draped on one end. The painting Chris made of the woods behind St. Ailbe’s. The richly colored Persian carpet and the large leather pouf.
I’d hung Tessa’s print from her dorm room in the kitchen. The bright purple poster with the grinning Cheshire Cat used to make me sad, but now it made me hopeful that Tessa would smile when she came here and saw it.
Claudia was right. It did look nice.
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