“Thanks for letting me crash on your couch.” Cleo was sitting in the backyard of Noah and Olivia’s house, watching as Noah finished throwing down salt on the stairs with his good hand. She’d offered to help and he’d refused, so she wasn’t going to push it. So now she sat on the stone wall […]

Cleo was coming out of Olivia’s bathroom when Olivia walked into the kitchen. She’d clearly just woken up, with the torn UMass Amherst shirt she wore and with her hair tied up messily as she poured a cup of coffee. “Morning,” Cleo said. Olivia looked over and smiled. “Morning,” she said. “How’d you sleep?” “Oh, […]

Cleo wanted to stay at Olivia’s another night, just in case her mom needed anything in the night. When she’d left, her mother had been awake and eating the supper that Mrs. Stevenson had brought. The two of them were going to spend some time together tonight, but Mrs. Stevenson couldn’t stay and her mother […]

Noah hadn’t expected to be fully recovered the next day. He wasn’t that stupid. But he’d hoped that a day on the couch would at least let him function afterward. So he was irritated to realize it had been two days since he’d re-broken his wrist and he couldn’t do much more than get up […]

Iris hated the way her thoughts were consumed by Vivien lately. And the worst part was that she couldn’t even pinpoint her feelings about the other woman. Vivien was frustrating. She was arrogant. And she was so immature with her magic work that she couldn’t even form a proper salt circle without Iris coming in […]

Andrew rapped lightly on Noah’s door before opening it and stepping inside. “Just me,” he called softly as he walked into the kitchen and nudged the door shut behind him. “Noah?” He called softly as he set down the soup on the kitchen table. “Couch,” Noah called softly from the living room. Andrew walked in, […]

About fifteen minutes after waking up the next morning, Cleo and Edie were in the car and pulling out of Olivia’s and Noah’s driveway. Edie was driving as Cleo tried to blink awake. She knew they could stop for coffee at the general store before leaving New Winslow, but the last thing she wanted was […]

Tap…tap…tap… Hours later, Cleo opened her eyes. The sound of pacing had been coming from Noah’s bedroom for a little while now. She’d been dozing on his pullout couch next to Edie, but the noise kept pulling her out of any murky, light sleep she’d been able to catch. Not that she minded though. Every […]

A little while later, Dr. Degas walked back into the exam room. Noah was awake by now, propped up on the bed and slowly sipping a juice box. “How are you feeling?” Dr. Degas asked, still trying to shake that unsettled feeling that really hadn’t faded since she’d left. Noah looked up at her. “Fine,” […]

Cleo was sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the tiny alcove in the emergency room. They had taken her mother in for x-rays and for the first time since everything had started, Cleo was alone. And exhausted and close to tears. How had it gotten this far? What else should she have done? Should she […]