Chapter 3

The next morning,Eli woke to the smell of coffee brewing in the kitchen. He rolled out of bed and wandered down the hall to find James setting two mugs on the counter.

"Morning." His brother gave him a rare smile.

Eli rubbed his eyes. "Thanks for making coffee."

"No problem." James filled his cup. He was taller than Eli, who'd begrudgingly given up hope of outgrowing him.

The two brothers contrasted in almost every way. Eli was slim and had shaggy brown hair, while James was broad and liked his hair cropped short. James was athletic, a swimmer, and despite Eli living in perpetual sunshine, his brother was the tanned one.

James took a few satisfied sips from his mug. "I was going to make eggs if you want some?"

"Sure." Eli fixed his coffee with cream and sugar. His first sip pushed away the last of his grogginess.

"It's so much nicer cooking with you here." James cracked eggs in a bowl. "I was thinking lasagna for tonight. Haven't bothered making one in ages, but I know you'll be up for it."

"Yeah, obviously." Eli pushed away a twinge of guilt, thinking about James living here by himself. James loved lasagna, and Eli didn't like knowing James didn't feel it was worth making for himself alone.

James poured the eggs into a waiting pan. "How was the diner?"

Eli shrugged. "Fine. Quiet." He wasn't mentioning the shade. Admitting he'd been knocked on his ass was embarrassing, not to mention needing Parker's rescue wasn't something he wanted to dwell on.

James paused his egg stirring, eyeing Eli. "You didn't have a good night?"

Eli's back stiffened. "It was fine. It's not like I was going to love catching up with everyone in Moonlight Falls, whether I was getting paid or not."

James frowned. "I don't see why people being friendly bothers you."

Well, that made Eli feel like a jerk. "I don't mind friendly. I just don't need random people invested in my time here. Everything in this town always has to be so intense. It's too much."

James turned back to the eggs. "I'd rather be surrounded by people who care than lost in a city where no one knows me."

Eli had no doubt James would feel lost in LA or any other city. The guy had only moved as far as Apple Valley to do some community college classes and a magical electrician's apprenticeship after high school. Then he'd moved home when their grandma died so he could take care of Eli while he finished his last year of high school.

Sometimes Eli wondered what James would have done if he hadn't had to take care of him. Would he have moved somewhere else? Come to a different, more open-minded view on city living? Or would he have come back to Moonlight Falls anyway?

"There are people who care about me in LA, you know." Eli resented how defensive he sounded, especially now that he was starting to wonder how deep those friendships actually went.

"Of course there are." James popped some bread in the toaster. "Just—you don't have to work so hard at hating it here."

"I'm not." Disliking Moonlight Falls came naturally. Eli didn't understand how James could look past it all. He'd lost just as much here as Eli had.

"Okay," James relented, not entirely convincingly.

They ate their eggs in relative silence.

Eli pushed his empty plate away. He wanted to enjoy this time with his brother, not bicker. He hated the town, not James. "That was good." Eli nudged James with his elbow. "You're way better at cooking than me."

James rolled his eyes. "I'm not that talented, trust me. I hate to think what you've been eating if my eggs impressed you."

Eli snorted. "I'll spare you the details."

James shook his head, heading to the sink with his plate.

Eli grabbed it from him. "I got it."

"Thanks." James finished off the last of his coffee as Eli washed up. "I'll see you tonight then."

"Yeah, maybe we can watch a movie or something."

James's face lit up. "Sounds good." Then he was off down the hall and out the front door, heading to work at Gray Electrical, where he and Hazel Delgado looked after everything from mundane wiring to magical batteries.

Eli found magic as an energy source fascinating but not as interesting as the way magic moved naturally through the earth. Sure, it would have led to a more lucrative career if he'd gone into studying the energy production side of things, but he'd rather spend his time doing something he truly loved.

Later that morning, Eli drove into town and parked in front of the town hall. He'd officially start his project today if everything went smoothly.

The first leaves were starting to fall, fluttering in the wind as Eli climbed the steps of the whitewashed building. The town center was quaint, well-kept, and had a timelessness that made for good tourist photos. Every building had simple, classic signage, and this side of the street—with the library and the post office—looked like a small town postcard, especially when the trees were in full fall colors.

Eli approached the reception desk inside the town hall. "Hi. I'm here for a permit."

The man glanced up from his computer. "You've filled out the forms?"

Eli nodded.

"Third door on the right." He pointed down the hall.

Before leaving LA, Eli had gotten all his paperwork out of the way. His supervisor had helped secure research permissions with the state, ensuring any activity at the magical site was observational and wouldn't leave lasting effects. That left Eli to get the local permits that would allow him to set up his instruments on city council land.

"Eli!" The woman behind the desk in the small, crowded room jumped up at the sight of him. "I was thrilled to see your name when your request came through."

Eli smiled, but it felt forced. "Hi, Mrs. Gibbs."

"Please, you can call me Melinda." She came around the desk and gave him a hug. Melinda looked older than Eli remembered, but then again, he'd had no reason to see his mom's old friend when he visited. He couldn't remember the last time he'd spoken to her.

"Your project sounds fascinating." Melinda beamed at him proudly. "The best part of looking after permits is always being the first to know what's happening. I don't think we've ever had official researchers interested in Moonlight Falls. Who would have thought we'd be worth the trouble?"

"Fixed veins of power are relatively rare." Eli forgot that most people didn't think much of the vein itself. Magic was just another part of the town, like the redwoods or the shades. "The one here is especially worth looking at. From what little has been recorded, it doesn't seem to act like other fixed veins."

"Hm. Is that right?" Melinda gave him an impressed look and returned to her desk. "I'm sure you'll be able to tell us exactly why that is. Hey,"—she stopped abruptly—"do you think that's why the magic here calls to us? Because of the vein being different from others?"

"Um." Eli tried to keep his face neutral. He wasn't convinced the town "calling to people" wasn't just something people had created in their own minds. "Maybe. But I don't see how. I'm looking at anomalies in magical strength and flow. There's no evidence that strong magic draws people. Around the world, there's plenty of strong, unique magic in completely unpopulated areas."

If anything, magic repelled people. You only had to see the lack of natural magic in every major city to realize people tended to settle away from it.

"I suppose that makes sense." Melinda didn't sound entirely convinced. She turned to a pile of papers on her desk. "All I know is, something about this place feels right. My magic has never felt as soothing as is does here."

Eli collected his permits and made his way back outside, but not before Melinda promised to see him at the diner sometime soon.

He shoved the papers in his car and popped the trunk to get his instruments out. The town center happened to be the best place to begin gathering data. He knew the vein cut directly through the circular street that made up the downtown block. The diner was on the other side of the circle from the town hall, with pretty much everything else Moonlight Falls had to offer within sight of both.

Eli walked to a small, landscaped patch of grass in the center of the circular road. Flowers lined the edge in spring and summer. At this time of year, the only thing of note was the large gray stone marking the founding of Moonlight Falls that stuck out of the center of the grass. Eli placed his case next to the eight-foot stone and opened it, taking out a magical flow meter. He switched it on and walked around the area, eyes on the screen.

The vein was about as wide as the patch of grass, in this spot at least. Eli put the meter away and pulled out his recording box. He needed to study the magical energy at different points along the vein to get a complete picture of how the magic behaved. He'd start here, measuring either end of the grass patch. Then he'd move on and track how far in either direction the vein stayed fixed.

Most veins flowing through the earth moved. They didn't stay in one spot for decades like the one in Moonlight Falls had. Shifting veins had different properties than fixed ones. The changing magical flow of a shifting vein allowed this world to connect with Beyond.

Eli didn't study interactions with Beyond. He liked grounded magic and understanding how it was part of his world, so fixed veins were more his thing.

The recording box was mounted on top of a metal probe, kind of like a stake. Eli shoved it into the grass on the south end of the patch and turned the box on. He placed a cone next to it so no one would trip over it, along with a small permit sign Melinda had given him.

There wasn't much more to do before he had some data, but Eli went to his car to get his laptop. Back on the grass, he sat crossed-legged and connected the computer to the box to ensure it was all working.

A shadow passed over his laptop screen. Eli looked up to see Parker peering down at him.

"Hi." Eli experienced a pleasant jolt at the man's unexpected presence.

Parker had his hands on his hips, a sly grin stretching his lips. "Look at that stunning smile. You must be having a good morning."

Eli looked back at his computer. "It's always a good morning when I'm learning about magic."

"With you, I'd definitely believe that." Parker squatted next to Eli. "What are you looking at?"

"Magical flow." Eli pointed to a line of numbers streaming across the screen. "Here's the amount of magical energy, and this is the rate it's moving. It's going north pretty steadily."

"Weird seeing magic in numbers." Parker scratched his chin, stubble scraping. "If you hooked this thing up to me, would you be able to measure my magic?"

"No, you need a different kind of detector for people. And not just because impaling you with the metal sensor would probably kill you."

Parker laughed. "I'll steer clear then."

Eli shut his laptop. Parker was still watching him, but Eli couldn't think of anything to say.

"I'd never have thought studying this stuff would be interesting before you." Parker tapped the box in the grass.

Eli's brows flew up in surprise. "Really?"

Parker shrugged. "Learning how to use my magic was one thing, but understanding how magic moves under the earth's surface is so abstract. It's like other galaxies and dying stars—interesting but out there."

"It's not out there. It's right under our feet."

"True." Parker stood. "So is gravity, but that doesn't mean I ever wanted to study physics. What I was saying was, that's how I saw it until you started coming home and sharing everything you learned with me and James. You're always so excited about this stuff. It's hard not to be sucked in."

"Oh." Eli busied himself with putting his laptop back in its case. Was he blushing?

"You'd be a good teacher. I could listen to you talk about veins and shifting magical patterns all day."

Eli's face was definitely hot now. "I didn't realize I rambled so much."

"You're passionate. It's not a bad thing."

Eli stood and brushed the grass off his jeans. "I guess." He wasn't used to Parker complimenting him. It had him almost as flustered as he'd been last night.

Parker gave him an expectant, almost eager look. "Are you coming to dinner this Sunday?"

"Yeah." Eli hadn't been planning on it. He was going to let James go over without him like he'd done the week before, but standing there, he found he couldn't say no to Parker.

"Great." Parker clapped him on the shoulder. "I've got to head in for the lunch shift, so I'll see you later."

Eli clutched the laptop to his chest. "Okay, see you later." He watched Parker walk away, cross the street, and disappear into Moonlight Diner.

He smiled uncontrollably the whole time.