The Witching Hour

Chapter 32 - Shock

Sleep evaded Ivy throughout the night. Whenever she thought she had succumbed to her dreams, her body jerked her awake. The feeling of falling plagued her repeatedly and did nothing to ease the anxiety following the day's events.

Flopping onto her side, she faced the slumbering Hunter. His chest fell in easy rhythms, his hands tucked under his head. Despite it being November, he insisted on sleeping shirtless. The sheet rested on the curve his shoulder, threatening to slip off with one wrong tug.

This was the man she fell in love with and put all her faith and trust into when everything had fallen apart. She needed to ingrain this image into her head so nothing could take it away. After meeting in college, their love blossomed from friendship to what it was today. When Cassie went missing, he took time off work to help Ivy grieve. She wasn't even sure where she would be without his love and support. Somewhere in the midst of cementing this image of Hunter into her mind, Ivy's eyes fluttered shut, and she got the rest she so desperately desired.

Morning light greeted her upon her awakening. Ivy rolled onto her back and just lay there. The blinds' shadows with the fairy lights that hung around the windows cast intricate shapes on her ceiling. She traced their outlines with her eyes until they got too close to the sun, the brightness agitating her vision.

Ivy would rather stay there all day and let all her worries fall to the wayside. She had nothing to do and no one to see. Hunter had left for work, his spot empty on the bed. With no rumbling in the kitchen, Ivy knew he was certainly gone for the day.

The Pentacle had decided not to meet. Ivy breathed a sigh of relief. Ella had mentioned that she would report Calliope's passing to the coven and the Council. From their tear-stained faces, Aura and Marina didn't need to explain why they needed a few days. A couple days would do them all some good.

Glancing over at her clock, the gray numbers told Ivy she had an hour before she needed to open the shop. She wasn't even sure her powers worked, but surrounding herself with plants help reinvigorate them. She peeled the covers off and went for her dresser, grabbing of pair of ankle-length jeans and a flowery blouse.

After brushing her teeth and attempting to run a brush through the rat's nest her hair had turned into, Ivy settled on a high bun and pulled a few curls to frame her face. She slung on a jacket and bolted out the door, locking it with a spell. The bright sun hit her face as soon as she stepped out of her building, providing a much needed warmth on the brisk autumn day.

As Ivy approached the shop, the heat in the pit of her stomach intensified with each step. This wasn't the sun's doing. When she turned the corner to the main square, she found the source.

Griffin lay sprawled on the bench outside her shop's door, teetering on the edge and falling splat onto the concrete. A baseball cap covered his face while his arms were crossed across his expansive chest. Ivy swore the flexed biceps would split his gray shirt. The slumbering giant's foot twitched, the boot hitting the back of the bench.

"I know you're there." His voice almost knocked Ivy over. A blush crawled up her cheeks, and she snapped her mouth shut; it must have fallen during the ogling session.

"Like what you see?" Winking, Griffin pulled himself up, adjusting his baseball cap. A lopsided smile settled on his face, yet it didn't hit his eyes. "Mind if we talk?"

Nodding, Ivy crossed in front of him, her thigh brushing up against his knee. She tensed at the contact, acutely aware of how her body's temperature shot up. Her breathing hitched, earning a laugh from Griffin. Ivy shot him a look, and he quickly busied himself.

When Ivy walked into her story, the feeling of her vines came back to her. She willed them to droop farther from the ceiling, and they listened. When she set her purse down in the back, she grabbed one of the freshly potted plants. With a wave of her hand, a little green nub burst through the soil.