Chapter Twenty One

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A/N: Small edits 

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A/N: Small edits 

A/N: So I don't usually put songs in this book but guys. GUYS. You literally have to listen to this song, it is PERFECT for this book and for August. 


I want to text Casey. I want to call her. I want to figure this out, I want to make it all right.

My life is falling apart - I'm falling apart. I slouch farther back in the chair in my father's study, knowing how much it will annoy him. I came here right after leaving Leah, still shaking from the aftermath of the nightmare.

Still shaking from the loss of control.

"You can't keep me from her," I say, teeth gritted. "She's the one thing - I won't compromise. Not on her."

My father smiles, thin-lipped, a thing with no real joy in it. "I've already dealt with Miss Anderson," he says, and my blood runs cold. "I've found her most cooperative. Unlike you, I might add."

My father waits for my reaction, brows raised, but I hold my tongue. If I react now, he'll never tell me what he means. He'll never tell me what he did.

What did he do?

I sit down, rub my head. I'm not thinking properly. I'm not awake enough for this.

The nightmare is running through my head, stamped on the back of my eyelids whenever I blink. I can't unsee it. I don't know what it means.

Today was just the last in a string of increasingly bad days. Before this week, I'd been having the dreams maybe once a week, and they wouldn't be half as vivid. But today was the third this week, and the worst one I've ever had.

I can't go on ignoring them and hoping they'll go away, like I was before. Clearly, it isn't working.

The magic is getting worse, and I don't know what to do. I don't know what it means.

I haven't told anyone else apart from Leah, and I've tried to hide how bad it is from her. I don't think I'm fooling her, though - Leah's always been too perceptive.

I want to ask her more about the magic. I want to figure out why it's affecting me in this way. But I'm scared to talk about it.

I'm scared to find out something I don't want to know.

The sound of my father clearing his throat pulls me out of my thoughts.

"You seem preoccupied," he says, and there's a sharpness in his eyes that lets me know I'm not going to like whatever he has to say next. "Maybe you're thinking of that... hooligan I found in your room this morning? Straying from Miss Anderson already?" He raises an eyebrow. "Ah, how fickle the heart."

"Kinsey and I are just friends," I growl. "There's nothing between us. Casey is the one - " I break off. Swallow. "What do you want, father," I ask. "What plan have you come up with."

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