Southern Charms

Deception

Ash sat with me on the front porch, his wrists resting on his knees as he gazed across the yard. Above us, the sky was ribboned with cirrus clouds back-lit by the moon. The unseasonably cool temperature lingered, but the breeze stirring the pines around the house was warm and humid. 

Summer was not done with us yet.

The night marched towards morning, but we were the only ones home. The others would not return until dawn, perhaps even later. The parties would only grow more elaborate throughout the remaining seven days of Mabon. On the final night, all the witches and warlocks would gather in the town square around the Great Tree and present their offerings of wine, cider, and herbs.

"She'll be okay, right?"

He didn't answer me immediately. His even breathing hitched, and the air around his lips turned silver as he exhaled. "I think so. Harmony seemed to be fine the next day."

I whistled, recalling my sister's stumbling steps and big sunglasses. "Willow is gonna hate her life tomorrow."

"She ought to. She knows better than to take something like that."

"No offense," I said, fixing him with a hard stare, "but how would you know that? You've been gone for four years. You don't really know her."

"I wasn't completely cut off from the outside world. Willow kept in touch with me."

I tried and failed spectacularly to hide my shock. "She never told me."

"I asked her not to tell anyone. My family would've put a stop to it, and she would've been treated with suspicion if people around here knew she was on friendly terms with a banished warlock."

"What if Willow was drugged? Like, she didn't know she was taking something?" It was an important question, something that just occurred to me, but it wasn't the question I really wanted to ask.

He leaned back on his elbows and stretched his legs out. Once more, he paused before speaking, and I was beginning to think there was little Ash did without mulling over it first. But was that because he was cautious or because he was choosing his words carefully? To hide something?

"I did consider it. Did you see her skin?"

The flecks of glitter moving through her veins. "I did. I've never seen anything like that. Did we notice that with Harmony?"

"I didn't, but she was dressed for the party. I wrote it off as some sort of crap girls put on to make themselves shimmer."

I chuckled in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "You sound so disgusted by glitter body lotion."

Ash scrunched his nose, the movement somehow adorable and sexy at the same time. "It makes me think of the lures we used when I went fishing with my abuelo. Shiny. Beautiful. But it was a trap."

"That is the idea," I admitted, unable to find an argument. Harmony certainly lathered on cosmetics in hopes of catching male attention.

"But you don't do that."

"Do what?"

He turned to face me, his head tilted to the side. "Most girls I meet act one way to get attention, but that's not who they are. It's a front. A deception."

This conversation was beginning to make me very nervous, but I thought it might be a good sort of nervous. The kind that boils in the pit of your stomach as the roller coaster creaks to the top of a drop, each jolt making you flinch, forcing you to draw in one final breath before it plunged you over the edge.

"What you see is what you get."

"I like that about you."

"Thanks?"

"It's a compliment."

"I know. I'm just not used to receiving them."

I leaned back, copying his slouching position and drew in a deep breath. Somewhere nearby a bonfire had been lit. Unlike the one at the levee, it was scented with herbs and spices. Comforting smells reminding me of family and home.

"I love the smell of Mabon bonfires. It might be my favorite scent."

"Mine too," I said, smiling at him.

He returned the smile for a split second, but when he replied, it had faded, replaced by a hard, indecipherable line. "I know."

"Ash, what happened?"

He shot to his feet. The sudden movement brought me to a standing position as well, and I looked around the yard and porch for something that might have caused the reaction. But it was only him and me in the dark.

He glimmered as he gathered magic around him. Teleportation. "I should probably get going. Willow will be fine. Ask her if she's willing to give the um sample for the spell. We really should figure out what she took. You can report it to the Council."

"Me? Have you lost your mind?"

The flickering around his edges faltered. "Willow's not going to want to tell since she was the one drugged."

"So you tell them," I insisted, crossing my arms and shoving my fingertips in my armpits. The temperature hadn't changed, but I felt cold looking at Ash. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"They're not going to trust me. Hell, they'll think I had something to do with it."

Did you? It's what I wanted to ask. Needed to ask. I settled for saying, "The Council barely tolerates my existence. They'll think I don't know what I'm talking about."

"Tell your grandmother. She'll listen."

My hand went to the locket at my throat. I would have to report the incident to Clemmy. She'd want full disclosure about tonight.

"Fine, but you may need to be ready. They'll want to talk to everyone involved."

"Of course. Good night, Rose," he said before vanishing. 

On the way to my bedroom, I stopped at the linen closet to retrieve a pillow and blanket. Willow was small, but she took up a lot of room when she slept, and we'd learned long ago sleep overs were more successful if we had our own sleeping space. Not to mention, she wasn't going to be slumbering peacefully, not once she came down off her high. With that in mind, I went to the kitchen and grabbed an empty bucket Mama kept on hand for cleaning days. I'd rather be safe than sorry since I didn't have a magical option for cleaning vomit.

An hour later, I was lying on my bedroom floor, wide awake while the world outside the window turned lavender. Soft snores drifted down from the bed- soft only because they were filtered through the blankets piled on my friend. 

Today would be the last day of break, but it felt as though I'd been gone from school for weeks. Life in Black Brier was like that. Easy to forget a world without the complications of magic existed. Easy to forget what it felt like to be on equal footing with others, to not live with a constant buzz of fear in my veins. I'd long ago stopped trying to explain it to my family. It was like the antelope trying to tell the lion what it was like to graze in the open plains.

Flipping my pillow to the cool side, I rolled over and pressed my cheek to the tops of my folded hands. Usually, I would be feeling thankful school was starting back but knowing someone was selling drugs laced with magic to the humans put me on edge. My safe haven didn't feel so safe anymore, and until we discovered who was responsible, I'd be forced to navigate the human world with the same sense of unease I carried in Black Brier.