Spellcaster

Mateo studied her face for a second and seemed to decide they needed to talk about something else. “Okay, apparently I’m your Steadfast. And a Steadfast makes you more powerful, right?”

Changing the subject—definitely a good idea. “Remember that whole scene in chemistry class? Doesn’t normally happen after a spell of liberation. So, yeah. When you’re closer, my magical power should be, um, amped up.”

“Well, come on. Let’s find out what you can really do.”

Nadia heard the challenge in his voice and, despite her worries, had to smile. A spell, any spell—but what?

Once again she thought of the spells she’d managed to decipher in Goodwife Hale’s Book of Shadows. For every one that sounded beyond awesome (a spell for extinguishing or even reversing fire), there was another that wasn’t as useful these days (like the one to remove enchantments on your milk cow). But one in particular had stood out to her, precisely because of how much she would have wanted it that night she dove off the lighthouse: a spell for moving water.

“Okay.” She took a deep breath and brought her hands in front of her chest, a gesture almost like praying, except that the fingers of one hand curled around the pendant on her bracelet that was made of pearl. “Let’s try this.”

In her mind, Nadia put together the ingredients:

The love of a child.

A living thing rising from the earth.

Hope through grief.

Each one had to be thought of, then felt so deeply it almost ached—

—and as she concentrated, her eyes shut, she felt Mateo slip his hand between hers. He didn’t clutch at her, didn’t weave his fingers into hers, just touched her. His skin was warm, his hand slightly rough from hard work.

That should have been the most distracting thing possible. Instead Nadia’s thoughts took on an entirely new clarity. It was like the world had gone from black-and-white to color, from a flat photograph to three dimensions, but more, with every sensation and feeling more vibrant to her than ever before—

Cole standing on his chubby baby legs and taking his first steps, not toward his mother or father but toward his big sister—

Spring crocuses pushing their way up through the snow—

“So what do you say?” Dad sitting at their table back in Chicago, in the apartment that always felt so empty without Mom there. “Do you want to stay here, or are you guys okay with moving and having a fresh start?” Seeing little Cole nod, giving up everything he’d ever known in an instant, and Nadia suddenly realizing she wanted to do the same and find out what was next—

“Oh, my God,” Mateo breathed. Nadia opened her eyes.

The ocean in front of them had begun to ripple upward into shimmering walls of water. They outlined a path stretching into the ocean, until those walls of water were several feet high. There before them lay seaweed glistening green, the iridescent shells of oysters, and wet, dark sand—a road for only the two of them to travel. Water spray turned even the weak afternoon sunlight into radiance, as prisms of multicolored light flickered above it all.

It was gorgeous. It was miraculous. Every fear she’d had seemed to melt away in an instant.

“That—that was not supposed to happen,” Nadia whispered.

“In a bad way or a good way?” Mateo’s hand remained between hers.

“In a very good way. This is amazing.”

“This is biblical.” Mateo started laughing. “Are you going to tell me Moses was a witch?”

She laughed. “What, do you want to get struck by lightning? Hush.” Though she’d occasionally wondered—there were a few spells that would definitely seem miraculous—

No. Better to drop that thought and avoid the whole lightning-strike-from-heaven thing.

Nadia couldn’t take her eyes from the incredible phenomenon in front of her, but she could hear the smile in Mateo’s voice as he spoke. “Do you want to walk out there? Stand in the middle of the ocean and watch the fish swim by?”

“No. I should let it go. The oysters and things—I don’t want them to—to do whatever the opposite of drowning is.” They needed the water, so Nadia let go of the charm and relaxed. Almost instantly, the water rushed back down, splashing their legs and soaking her shoes clear through. Although the ripples spread out across the waves, already the ocean looked exactly as it had before.

Nadia turned to Mateo and saw her own delight reflected back to her in his face. The two of them burst out laughing at the same moment. “So it works?” he said. Salt water flecked his hair. “I’m a good Steadfast?”

“I don’t know how you’re one at all. But yeah, you’re good. You’re incredible. That spell should have moved the water a couple of feet, not—parted it like the Red Sea!” Nadia brushed back her own dampened hair. The wind was colder now that her clothes were wet, but she didn’t care. This beach seemed like the only place she could ever want to be, Mateo the only person she’d want to be with. “We’ll have to be careful how we practice. You give me so much power, even simple spells could be dangerous.”

Mateo’s smile faded, and his gaze hardened again. “Enough power to take on Elizabeth?”

God, she wanted to lie about this. But Mateo had been lied to enough already. “She’s strong. Stronger than any other witch alive, and her ally is the One Beneath. But—but maybe I don’t have to be more powerful than her. Just powerful enough to stop her.”