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Wrapping the towel around my head, I released the energy holding me in and stepped out into the hall, preparing to be yelled at again. I journeyed through the house, listening for voices, but heard none.
“Santos?” I called.
Nothing.
In the kitchen, I grabbed a water from the fridge and went to the sliding doors that opened to the back yard. There, Santos was talking to Scott and Liv excitedly.
Scott looked older. His jawline was more pronounced, his muscles more visible in his chest and arms. He must have been working out. Olivia no longer had the baby face she did, but instead looked like a woman. Her hair was shorter, falling just below her shoulders, but her smile still lit up the place. She and Scott held hands, their bodies naturally attuned and leaning into each other.
I wondered what it would feel like to have that, but it also scared the hell out of me.
Sliding the door, I walked into the fresh air. They all turned at the sound, Scott and Liv smiling like it was Christmas morning.
“Sadie!” Olivia screamed, running at me and throwing herself into my arms. She knocked the towel off my head with the force, almost sending me to the ground.
“Hey, Liv.”
Her face was huge with the grin she held, her eyes dancing in the fading sunlight. “I’m so glad you’re back!” she squealed. Olivia was much more of a girly girl than I was, and her squeaky, excited voice reminded me of that.
“I missed you, too,” I chuckled. I hugged her back fiercely. I’d forgotten how much I really did miss her.
She finally released me, her grin still spread wide, and stepped back. Scott was in my space in an instant, taking me in his large arms. “Sadie,” he said.
“Scottie,” I said back.
He held me close, engulfing me in his presence. “I’m not mad,” he whispered in my ear. “But you know I’m always here for you, Sadie. No matter what.”
His words touched my heart, stirring emotions once again. When did I become such an emotional disaster?
He pulled away and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Now, Juniper and Mark will be here soon, and you can tell us all about this vigilante sorceress we’ve heard so much about.”
Lowering my head, I grinned in pride. My accomplishments were great, and I heard the happiness when he spoke of them. How they’d all known it was me, I wasn’t sure, but it made me feel good.
We headed inside, where Santos and Liv worked to get dinner ready. It was weird, seeing them working so closely and easily together. Santos barely knew her when I left, and now she was a part of the family.
Soon to be a legal part of the family.
“So, graduating and a wedding, huh?” I asked while we waited for our friends.
Liv turned and wiggled her brows. “You know it!”
“What did you major in?”
“Art History,” she replied. “I want to teach and I figured it would go well with Scott’s paintings.”
I glanced between them questioningly.
“I’ve been featured in a few galleries,” he said like it was no big deal.
“What?!”
Liv turned, looking at him with such a proud, loving look that my own heart swelled for them. “He’s been featured in ten galleries and has been selling paintings online,” she explained. “Definitely more than a few.”
“Scottie,” I beamed. “I’m so proud of you. I always knew your painting would go somewhere.”
He shrugged sheepishly.
“What else? How’s the dress shop?”
Santos and Scott exchanged uncomfortable looks. Scott nodded his head at me, as if telling Santos to go ahead, but he shook his head quickly.
“What is it?”
“We closed it,” Liv answered, rolling her eyes at the guys. “No one was here to run it, because we all got so busy with school. So, Anna sold off all the supplies and it’s a studio for Scott now.”
“Oh,” I answered. I was happy Scott had a place to paint, but no dress shop? Grandma had run it since I was a little girl. Knowing it was gone felt odd. “At least Mom won’t be yelling at you to not make a mess with the paint now.”
He chuckled. “You’d think she’d stop since I’m going on twenty-six years old.”
I stared at him. He’d passed the twenty-five mark. Sorcerers stopped aging at twenty-five for a very long time; thousands of years for most. He would look exactly like he did now for a lengthy amount of time to come. “It’s weird, to know we’ve all grown up,” I whispered, more to myself than them.
Liv sat beside me, placing her hand on mine. “We did all grow up. Sadie, we’ve missed you so much. We wanna know about you.”
Santos brought plates of food over and nodded. “Yeah, we’ve heard some stories about this badass chick who executes bad guys like it’s nothing. There was one story that got back to us from this fae who saw you in Florida. They said this vampire came at you, fangs bared and faster than lightning, and you just flicked your wrist like it was nothing and staked him before he could realize what was happening.”
I giggled. “Yeah, that was James Zion. He was murdering people all over Orlando and neighboring towns.”
“You knew his name?” Santos squeaked.
Laughing loudly, I nodded. “I know all of their names. I have to hunt them, know their patterns.”
Scott joined us, sitting a pitcher of tea in the middle of the table. “I always knew you were good with potions, but combat, too? I mean, look at you! You’re ready to kick anybody’s ass that looks at you wrong.”
I shrugged. “I go to the gym and run. I can’t go after bad guys if I can’t chase them or keep up with their speed.”
“Remember that guy when we fought Devlin? The one you stabbed after asking questions?” Liv asked.
“Jacob,” I recalled.
“Was that the beginning?”
I nodded again. “It was. I knew after that moment I could do what I needed.”
Scott was next, looking at me thoughtfully. “Sadie…what made you start this? Why did you leave?”
I knew it was coming, but still I wasn’t fully prepared. Sighing heavily, I cracked my neck and shook my leg up and down. “Harlow shouldn’t have gotten away with everything she did. Someone, somewhere, should have fought her. They should have recognized what she was, what she was doing, and done something about it. So, I vowed to do that for others.”
Liv spoke next. “We found him, you know. He’s in California.”
“He doesn’t remember us,” I said bluntly.
“But he might when we’re finished with him,” Scott grinned.
Refusing to get my hopes up, I stared at him. “What’s the plan?”
“She couldn’t have completely wiped his memories. Grandma did a lot of research and asking around. It’s not entirely possible.”
“Yes, it is,” I countered. “I do it with innocents I rescue.”
“Humans,” Liv pointed out. “Aiden is a descendant as much as I am. He just didn’t come into his power.”
I sat up straighter. “What are you all thinking?”
“We’ve invited him to the graduation and wedding under the guise that Livvie is a long distant cousin,” Scott explained. “Once he’s here, we’ll magically provoke his memories. Display an act here, do something or say something we did in the past. It should stir his memories enough for him to start to remember, then we can pull them out.”
“Why can’t we pull them out to begin with?” I questioned. Seemed like a much simpler solution.
“It could wipe his complete memory for good,” Santos said.
“Like amnesia?”
He nodded.
“Then I guess we’ll provoke him…if he comes.”
“He RSVP’d,” Olivia said. “He said yes.”
Ignoring the gnawing in my gut and the fluttering in my heart, I allowed myself to enjoy spending time with them the rest of the evening.
<
br /> In two days’ time, Aiden would be in Tennessee.