Chapter 1

James Gray held trouble in his hand. He felt it down to his bones. Even at first glance, he hadn't liked the look of the letter, but upon closer inspection, the return address on the dark-green envelope didn't bode well.

"Are you going to open it or just stare at it all day?" Hazel Delgado asked as she peered at him from across the workroom, amusement making her lips twitch. She was almost smiling.

"I'm opening it, hold on. Just can't remember the last time I got mail that wasn't a bill." James eyed the wax seal and curly script displaying the sender's name.

Sebastian Storm. Why the hell was that man writing to him?

James tore open the envelope. Inside was a single sheet of good quality paper, thick and a soft cream color rather than white. He unfolded it to find the stationary was personalized with S. Storm and a small depiction of the infamous Storm House centered at the top. James frowned in distaste but couldn't say he was surprised. It fit what he remembered of Sebastian's personality.

His eyes trailed down to the message, written in the same frilly cursive as the address. Had Sebastian used some sort of fancy pen? It certainly didn't look like it'd been written with a ballpoint.

"What century is this guy living in?" James muttered. Hazel ignored him. She knew him well enough to judge which grumbles weren't worth responding to.

For all its flair, the letter wasn't very long. At first, James had feared it might be an invitation of some kind—that would explain the pretty packaging—but it didn't seem to be that kind of trouble after all.

James,

I was so pleased to hear about the reopening of Gray Electrical and was hoping to engage your services. I'd be grateful if you came out to Storm Manor at your earliest convenience.

Regards,

Sebastian

James flipped the note over. The back was blank.

"So?" Hazel, who co-owned Gray Electrical with him, crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, obviously waiting to hear why a mysterious letter had arrived at their business.

James tossed the note onto his desk. It was much tidier than Hazel's, though she always kept the shared work area pristine. "He needs an electrician."

Hazel raised her brows, clearly finding Sebastian's methods of hiring them as unusual as James did. "Couldn't he have just called?"

"You'd think." James was annoyed by the whole thing. "He didn't say what the problem is, and it's like he's only just heard we've opened."

James had reopened his grandparents' magical electrical business two years ago. You could hardly call that a recent event.

Hazel shrugged. "I hadn't even realized Sebastian had moved back to Moonlight Falls."

James hadn't either, and James had been back for six years. The town was small, and he knew almost all the residents by sight and most by name. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Sebastian. James knew the guy from when they were kids. Sebastian was a couple of years younger than James, so they hadn't crossed paths much, yet he stood out in James's memories. Sebastian had always seemed unique—even by Moonlight Falls standards—and had never done things quite like anyone else.

Case in point: this silly letter.

"Wonder what he's been up to." James peered out the window beside him as a car drove past, heading into town.

"Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that he inherited the house from his uncle." Hazel stood and stretched, throwing away the paper that had wrapped her lunch.

That tidbit of town gossip didn't exactly answer the question of why Sebastian had only now come back to Moonlight Falls. James couldn't quite remember how long ago the older Storm—whose name James had forgotten—had passed away, but again, it wasn't a recent event. Maybe Sebastian hadn't spent much time in Moonlight Falls since inheriting the house and had put off returning to deal with it until now. That would explain why he was commending James for reopening his business years after the fact.

If James had inherited a place like Storm House, he certainly wouldn't have moved in. Even with Sebastian's pension for going against the grain, it was hard to imagine him embracing the creepiest house in a town known for what lurked in the shadows.

"So, what, the haunted house has faulty wiring?" Hazel walked out from behind the counter that separated the workroom from the Gray Electrical storefront.

James picked up the note. "He didn't say. Just requested I come over."

Hazel hmphed. "I'm glad the letter isn't addressed to me."

James narrowed his eyes. "Doesn't mean I have to go. I'm due to look after the pumps this afternoon. So, really, you should go see what he wants."

"Hard pass." Hazel redid her ponytail, gathering all the loose strands of dark-brown hair that had escaped since that morning. She grabbed a box cutter and sliced open the package that had been delivered along with the damned letter.

James got up and joined Hazel in the shop, where they sold everything from tools to small circuit boards and wires. Hazel began stocking a display with the new batteries that had been in the package. They were the latest Nelson model, smaller than any other magical energy sources created to date. The things weren't cheap.

"You looked after the pumps this morning." James picked up a battery. He could feel the energy trapped within. It glowed faintly green. "It's against regulation to have one person working the pumps for a full day."

Hazel rolled her eyes. "Only one customer came by before lunch, and you know it. Regulation says I can perform ten full refilling spells in a shift. I'd be surprised if we get that many today."

A service station was attached to Gray Electrical. It was the main reason a business like theirs could stay open in such a small town.

Magic was the energy source the world ran on, from electrical power plants to the batteries installed in cars and the small ones they sold in the shop. James had never been interested in working with the sources of magical power. He liked the order of mundane energy flow, electrons, and wires, the kind of work someone without any magical ability could do. He had little interest in performing the powerful spells that harnessed and stored energy. Besides, all that technology was guarded by companies like Nelson Power. It was intellectual property the world at large wasn't allowed access to, and no one had figured out how to make magical power work like Nelson had.

Gray Electrical was all James had ever wanted, keeping the community ticking along just as his grandparents had.

"I'll go see what Sebastian wants tomorrow." James put the battery on the shelf.

"Do you not like him or something?" Hazel looked at James more shrewdly than before. "I can go if you two have history."

"It's nothing like that," James said quickly. "You've known me my whole life. You know he and I were never friends. Never anything." As he denied it, a memory returned to him: seeing Sebastian sitting in the park when they were teens and getting a fluttery feeling in his chest. Not that it had ever developed into a full-on crush. He remembered thinking Sebastian was cute, that was all.

Hazel narrowed her eyes. "I don't know everything about you."

James walked away and grabbed his jacket from the workroom. "It's just the creepy house I don't feel like dealing with," he lied.

"Fair, but you have to admit it's kind of intriguing." Hazel put the last battery on the display as James returned to the shop side of the room. "I haven't been that far up North Road in ages. Actually, I'm surprised we haven't been asked to install more lights up that way."

"Scaring the shades away would ruin the ambiance."

Hazel laughed. "Speaking of shade-lights, we've got more to do on Cedar Street in the morning, so you can't see Sebastian then."

"I know. I'm going now. Text me if you need anything." James checked his jeans pocket for his keys. Putting off Sebastian wouldn't help anything. Better to get it over with.