“Oooh,” Phil said. “A secret midnight interlude with a handsome stranger. I didn’t expect our grand adventure to begin quite thisquickly.”
“It’s not midnight,” I told her, silently and obtusely. “And he’s not astranger.”
The handsome part,well…
Kyler Lennox had grown up a lot from the 14-year-old boy he’d been when we’d last roamed the estate grounds together. In both inches and presence. Now that he was standing straight, he had at least half a foot in height on me, and I wasn’t exactly petite at five foot seven. His eyes shone with the cheerful energy I remembered, but there was a little more gravity to his gaze than there’d oncebeen.
He ran a hand through his tawny hair, looking sheepish and excited at the same time. My gaze couldn’t help following the way his arm flexed against his fitted button-down. He might have been slim, but he was clearly not aweakling.
And now that he was here, as if he’d stepped straight out of the past into my bedroom, I had no idea what to say. I crossed my arms over the chest of my kiddy pajamas. My pulse wasracing.
This was what I’d wanted, wasn’t it? To bring my old friends, the boys I’d spent so many hours with all those years ago, back to me somehow? But I hadn’t expected them to come quite sofast.
“You saw the ribbon,” I said, for something tosay.
“Yeah. I go for a cycle around town most evenings, usually swing by the estate,” Ky said. “Out of habit, I guess. It’s been so long I wasn’t really expectinganything.”
My throat tightened. “Yeah,” I said. “I… I wish I could have come back sooner. Or at least gotten in touch somehow. The way things were in thecity…”
He nodded, no sign of anger or resentment in his expression. Only sympathy. “Your dad and your stepmother kept things prettystrict.”
“Mostly mystepmom.”
“If you want to talk about witches,” Philomena inserted with a mutter. I ignoredher.
“We should be back pretty much for good now,” I added. “I’ll probably end up traveling around some, when work calls for it or just for a break, but—I’m my dad’s only direct heir. The estate will be mine as much as hissoon.”
But I couldn’t completely explain the reasons for that. The one thing I’d never talked about with my boys was my magic. I groped for a change of subject. “What are you doing these days? As far as work goes orwhatever?”
“Putting my internet obsession to good use.” Ky wiggled his fingers as if typing. “I took computer science at the state college, and now I do IT work for pretty much every company that needs it in town. Which still isn’t a whole lot of them, but it keeps me busyenough.”
That news didn’t surprise me at all. Ky had loved his computer as much as I’d loved my books, always turning up to our gatherings with some new fact he’d stumbled on while researching every topic that caught his interest. Some things hadn’tchanged.
“Are the other guys still around?” I asked. “Do you see them muchanymore?”
I hadn’t seen any of their parents yet to know for sure their families were still in town. The group of us had fallen in together because all five of the boys had at least one parent who worked on the estate. Ky and the rest had gotten in the habit of rambling around here in their free time, and then I’d gotten into the habit of rambling withthem.
“Most of us,” Ky said. “But we don’t really hang out anymore. Except me and Seth, because, you know, family. But everyone’s moved in different directions.” He paused. “And Gabriel left, a few years ago. I’m not sure exactly where he headed off to. He hasn’t been backsince.”
“Oh.” That news sent a jab through my chest. Gabriel had been the one who’d pulled me into the group, who’d bound us together in his easy way. It didn’t surprise me that the other guys would have drifted apart without himhere.
“With a reaction like that, I definitely need to hear more about this Gabriel fellow,” Philomenasaid.
Kyler peered at me a little more intently. “But you’ve been okay? Things went all right in thecity?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was boring a lot of the time. I may be even more of a book addict than I was before.” I restrained the urge to glance Phil’s way. “Mostly just studies and meeting people my father thought it’d be good for me toknow.”
Magical studies. Witching people. I wondered how much Ky could fill in those blanks. We might not have talked about magic between the six of us, but the Hallowells had always taken on plenty of unsparked employees for the everyday running of the estate. People whispered. Rumors passed around town. That was how itwent.
And the second-to-last time Ky had seen me, my stepmother had used her magic on him and the other boys, if onlybriefly.
“I’m glad to be back,” I went on. “It’s really good to see you. I’d love to see the other guys again too, if there’s some way I can get in touch withthem…”
“I have all their numbers,” Ky said, motioning to the outline of his phone in his pocket. “You can call or text me any time.” He shot me that bright grinagain.
I opened my mouth and then closed it, hesitating. My phone was in my purse, over there by the armchair. But— “I don’t know if that’s the best idea. It’s probably better if my stepmother doesn’t know I’m talking to you at all, considering. And I wouldn’t put it past her to be monitoring my phone records. We’ve got this whole family planthing…”
Ky shrugged, as if that was barely a setback. His expression turned mischievous. “I can pick you up a prepaid if you want. Something she doesn’t even knowabout.”