Lightning in Her Hands (Witch Magic #2)

Chapter 8

8

Group Chat: Las Brujas Flores

Sage : Engaged??! To Carter???!! Teal, when tf were you going to tell us?!

Sky : Can I be your flower girl?

Amá Sonya : Money comes before marriage, Teal Alegría. NOT after.

Nadia : I knew it.

My phone’s blowing up nonstop. When I park in Nadia’s driveway, I pull it out of my purse—a vintage Coach in camel—just to get this over with.

First I assure Amá that Carter has money. I don’t go as far as to say that is the whole reason we’re doing this, but she is mollified by the time I get off the phone with her. Which for her means she’s only mildly condescending and irritated at me.

That’s your thing , I text back Nadia as a response to her I knew it . I swear, that and I told you so are her favorite phrases of all time.

Then I get my sisters on a single phone call.

“When? Seriously, when were you going to tell us? I had to hear it from Johanna Ortiz, and act like I knew what she was talking about.” Sage sounds equal parts ecstatic and annoyed.

I groan. “We didn’t make any decisions until—” I check the clock. “Forty-five minutes ago. I swear. Nora Jacoby happened to see us.”

“See you do what?” Sky asks. “Were you two going at it?”

I can’t believe that question makes my cheeks heat. Thank the old gods my sisters can’t see me right now. “If by going at it, you mean that Carter put a ring on my finger, then yes.”

Sage huffs. “I can’t believe he didn’t come to me for your ring. I could’ve had it made over the weekend.”

“He wanted it to be a surprise.”

“I wouldn’t have told!”

Sky adds, “I knew he was in love with you, but I didn’t know you loved him back.”

“Nadia knew, apparently,” Sage says dryly.

“Hold on, hold on,” I yelp. All this talk about love is bananas. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves here.”

“ You got engaged to Carter without anyone knowing you were even together, and we’re getting ahead of ourselves?” Sage demands.

“Yes. God.” I swallow. “He wanted it to be a surprise or whatever, because—” I hesitate. The sham of our marriage has to be a secret, otherwise I’m sure his crochety old grandmother won’t give him his money. But I can’t lie to my sisters. “It’s not a real marriage. We’re doing it so he can get an inheritance.”

Each of them has about two hundred more questions, one right after the other, and I want to scream by the time I’m done answering them all.

“Doesn’t his grandma Erika hate you, though?” That one’s from Sage.

“She sure does. Or did. Maybe she doesn’t anymore.”

“No offense, but when’s the last time you ever heard of an old Latina abuela letting go of a grudge?”

I know two old Latina mother figures very well, Nadia and Sonya, and they can’t let go of things like a stranger taking the last mango at the store, much less the crap they’ve done to each other over the years.

“Fine. I’m sure she still hates me. It doesn’t matter, though.” At least, I hope it doesn’t matter.

“So you’re moving out?” Sky’s voice sounds small. My heart lurches a little. She’s only been back for a little while, and then Sky moved in with Tennessee, and now me.

“Temporarily. Yes. But I can come back anytime. I’ll spend weekends or even whole weeks at Nadia’s. Whenever possible. Or maybe I can get Carter to move in with us.”

Sky snorts. “I wouldn’t. His house is gorgeous. And right on the water, too?”

I frown, even though neither of them can see me. “Carter doesn’t have a house. Carter’s never had a house.”

Now Sky’s laughing hard. “Wow. You guys really need to catch up if you’re going to fool Abuela Erika into thinking you fell in love.”

“Whatever.” This day has been too emotional, and the fact that I didn’t know something as basic as the fact that Carter apparently has a house now makes me feel queasy. “I gotta go.”

After saying all the goodbyes, I check my messages one last time. And my stomach flips even more.

Nadia: I’ve known you’d marry him since you were eleven years old.

The way she puts it, like…like it’s a love match . She and HeroLemon701 need to get together and talk about IRL romance tropes, apparently. I make a face of disgust.

It’s just convenience , I type back. That’s all.

Even without seeing her, I can feel that she is making her very annoying I Know Things You Don’t Face, so I turn my phone off before she, or anyone else, can piss me off further.

I don’t know where Nadia and Sky are. I didn’t ask on the phone when I saw that neither of their cars was here. But I’m glad the house is empty. Because there’s something shaking inside me, something I can’t let anyone see.

I walk up the stairs, practically limping like after a particularly grueling run. Only I haven’t run at all. My bones are tired. They ache. And there’s an imperceptible trembling in my limbs. If I ran now, I would collapse. I’m sure of it.

Instead, I climb into bed and pull the covers as high, basically up to my eyes.

And then I let those eyes water. I let them sting and glisten till the salt water spills.

It’s stupid. It’s so stupid but sometimes, I have too bad a day and I can’t run it off. I have to cry.

Even as the clouds outside bleed with dark colors right before my eyes, as though someone tapped the sky with deep, dark, dripping watercolors. Indigo. Midnight blue. The deepest moonlight gray.

The wind picks up and it sounds like the howls of wolves. Some of those howls end in a whine, a sound of raw despair, and it makes me cry harder.

I can’t believe what happened today. I can’t believe Leilani dumped me, just like that.

I know this is the only time I’m going to give myself to cry over her. I’m too bone-tired to try to stuff the feelings inside some interior compartment. So I let my shoulders shake. I wipe my snotty nose on my T-shirt. I gasp and hiccup and just weep and weep.

I told Lani almost ten years ago about my gift. About our gifts.

And all this time, she thought I was a delusional narcissist.

I trusted her. I loved her.

And she threw me away like garbage.

I cry for what feels like hours, and the weather cries with me. I almost feel it like a mother. The clouds seeping in through the crack of my window. The fog filling the air of my bedroom, a humid, cool hand upon my shoulder.

I think about what Carter had me do. Listen to the water in the tree, Teal. Why did he have me do that? Why did it help?

With these questions in my mind, I fall into a deep, rain-dripped sleep.