Chapter 3

Harlow

I tried to stay close to the main dance floor through my shift for two reasons; first, it was my job. Duh. The dance floor was where all the action was, and a third lecture from Kedron within a day didn't sound appetizing.

Second, I was a lot less likely to get a repeat of the knife-to-the-back trick if I stayed indoors. No matter how much I enjoyed a good fight—or how lickable that MC psycho's tattoos were—knife play wasn't on my kink list.

A restless energy pulsed through me as I slowly circled the crowds. My eyes darted around the room, unable to concentrate on anything for more than a second, until my gaze settled on the direction of the exit. I forced myself to keep walking, desperately trying to shake the strange feeling. Each step away felt wrong somehow. Like at any moment, I'd be scolded by a teacher for breaking some arbitrary rule I never cared to learn.

Positioning myself against a wall, facing the crowd with the exit behind them, the feeling faded into something more comfortable. I stood there, pretending to watch over the dancing patrons, and the pounding bass faded into the background until the only sound in my mind was the voice from earlier.

Your time is as short as your temper.

Rude. What the hell was I supposed to do with that?

Slipping my cell out of my pocket, I did a quick search on Spells Hollow. The first result was some new age gemstone store in Delaware, followed by some tourist attraction in Dublin.

Please tell me the moon doesn't want me to go overseas.

At the bottom of the page was a Reddit thread on local legends and urban explorer locations. Four hours away near New York was a town rumored to be deserted, and infamous in certain circles for being home to a broken coven.

Shoving the device back in my pocket, I scanned the room for trouble.

This was what I did. No weird ass vision was going to send me on a wild goose chase across the state.

I'd probably just had a seizure, brought on by my increasingly unstable magic… or something.

That moon had been something else, though. I'd probably understand what it meant if I'd had a traditional coven upbringing. Instead, I watched as witches filled the club, freshly energized from their full moon rituals. High on the connection to their magic, rather than fighting daily to stay in control.

Maybe I should encourage Addie to find a youth coven or something. Could they help her unlock her magic?

A tap on my shoulder snapped me out of my thoughts, and music flooded my ears again. I blinked up at Lindsay's glittering face as he motioned for me to follow him to the bar's storeroom.

He hopped around some boxes to the back of the room, calling back to me, "You looked serious back there! Did something happen?"

I leaned against the door with a sigh. "I was just thinking. Do we need some witch friends?"

His head popped up, one sparkling eyebrow raised. "We have witch friends."

"We have work friends who are witches. Huge difference."

"What's brought this on?" he asked as he started loading up my arms with bottles. "Got some full moon FOMO?"

"Something like that." I shrugged, careful of the hoard of alcohol in my arms. "It's probably nothing. Just been a long, weird night."

"I think you could use a day off," he said, picking up his own box of goodies for the bar. "Come on, help me restock, then we'll grab a quick drink before we get back to it. In a few more hours, we'll be back home without a care in the world."

I followed him back to the bar, muttering under my breath, "That last part seems optimistic…"

Benji's voice mumbled through my earpiece that we were now at capacity for the night, and it showed in the crowd surrounding the bar. Lindsay's team were handling them with ease, ever the professionals, as they racked up their tips, and I did my best to stay out of their way while assisting my bestie.

As the music's tempo picked up into the remix of some new supe band—I vaguely recognized it as something Addie had tried to get me into while driving her around—Lindsay pulled me over to the corner out of the view of security cameras. He shoved a shot glass into my hand and clinked it with his matching one.

"Just a quick one to get us through," he yelled over the music, then knocked back his drink in a swift gulp.

I looked down into the shot, twisting the glass back and forth and watching the small ripples on the tequila's surface. Maybe a little alcohol would pull me out of my head. A blinding green laser flashed over my vision, momentarily stunning me as the club's lights morphed from yellow to red. The color seeped through the shot in my hand, and suddenly it wasn't alcohol, but a blood red warning. Flinching hard, the glass dropped from my lax fingers and shattered at my feet, sending glass and tequila across the floorboards.

I cursed, trying half-heartedly to shake the liquid from the toe of my boot.

"Right, that's it. Come with me."

With a far steadier hand than mine, Lindsay steered me back into the storeroom and over to a keg to sit.

"You've been skittish for the last few hours, then the FOMO stuff, and now you're wasting good alcohol? What gives?"

I smirked at him, ready to make a joke about wasted alcohol, but the look on his face made me pause. Genuine concern shone in his eyes as he lowered himself to a crouch.

"Talk to me, Harls. Something's going on with you, and I know it's more than getting jumped by those biker morons earlier."

"How…? Kedron." I should have been pissed about our boss getting into my personal business, but I could admit it was kind of his business, too, when it happened on his property. Plus, I'd been sharing my shit with Lindsay since I was old enough to be getting into it. He deserved an explanation.

"Look. This…whatever it is. Funk, maybe? That I'm in has nothing to do with the leathered stooges from earlier. They just happened to be present for the event." I took a deep breath. "I had a vision tonight."

The room vibrated to the bass of the music thumping through the club, but the storeroom remained silent as I waited for Lindsay to… laugh? Tell me I was losing my mind? I wasn't sure what I expected, but as my opinionated bestie kept his mouth shut and waited for details I didn't think he'd want, I wasn't sure how to elaborate.

Power began to crawl beneath my skin, reacting to my discomfort as though it were a threat. Shit. That was the last thing I needed right now.

"Will you please say something?" I asked, lashing out with words to try to stem the tide of my power.

"I'm waiting to hear what has you so worked up. You had a vision. You're a witch. It can come with the territory. So what about this vision has you looking ready to bolt outta here?"

Best friends are meant to call you on your shit, I reminded myself as I forced another deep breath and ordered my muscles to relax. I even tried for a smile, but if his raised eyebrow was any indication, I might have just looked constipated.

"It was the usual. Go here or you'll die. No biggie. You're right. If I'd grown up in a coven, I'd probably know all about the correct response to visions."

Lindsay's face softened. "We're our own coven, you, me, even Addie. Chosen family, babe. Now, where do we have to go to keep you whole?"

"Nowhere."

"Harlow."

I surged to my feet, restless energy flooding me despite my attempt at keeping zen. Let's face it, it was always a losing fight. I couldn't drag Lindsay into this shit. I didn't even want to be in it.

"No. I don't care what the moon says. We're not going."

"Yes, we are. I'll go to the end of the world to save your cute butt. Now give me a direction."

"No way, bitch. You don't run upstairs when the killer is in the house, and you don't road trip to a creepy ass town in the middle of nowhere because a creepy ass psychic voice tells you to. You'll. End. Up. Dead!"

"You'll be dead, anyway!"

Lindsay's shout interrupted my rant and shocked me into taking a proper look at my best friend. Beneath his makeup, his skin had paled, and his eyes shone a little too much in the dim light as his chest heaved with suppressed emotion.

"I can't lose you. Ride or die, baby. Now, please, tell me where we're going."

"Spells Hollow."

Lindsay and I both jumped, turning guiltily to find our boss leaning in the doorway.

"I'll make this easy on you," he continued, moving into the space and standing close to Lindsay. Like iron to a magnet, my bestie leaned toward Kedron, drawing comfort from his mere presence.

"You're fired."

"You can't do that." The words were out of my mouth before I'd even processed what he said.

He very much could do that, and would be right to, with the trouble that I'd brought to his door in the last couple of nights. The problem was, without the club, I didn't know what I would do. Work, fight, sleep, repeat had been my life for the last few years. I was happy with that.

Kedron shook his head as though he could follow my thoughts. Hell, maybe he could. There was a lot about my boss that was still a mystery to me, and he sure knew a hell of a lot more than he should about—

"How do you know about Spells Hollow?"

"It's what I do. I sell booze, and I know things."

I flipped him off for the reference but couldn't suppress the hurt that lanced through me at being let go.

"This is for your own good, kid. It needs to happen. And you." He cupped Lindsay's jaw and pulled him in until their foreheads pressed together.

"Keep her safe and then come back to me. I know you need to do this, but I need you."

Lindsay closed his eyes and nodded, lifting his lips for a sweet kiss before Kedron broke away from him, leaving us to the silence of the storeroom, broken only by the bass from the dance floor beyond.

"That was intense. I thought you two were just casual," I said, hoping Lindsay would accept the change of subject so I could live in denial about my future for a moment more.

"Yeah. Me, too." His eyes stayed glued to the doorway as though hoping Kedron would reappear with more answers.

The seconds ticked by, and as the tempo of the bass shifted, signaling a new song, Lindsay shook himself. "Well, I guess we're off the clock now."

I snorted. "I don't know if you are. So far as I can tell, I'm the only one who got fired."

The pout he turned on me was ridiculous, and just the thing I needed to lift the funk that was settling on me.

And then he had to open his mouth.

"Suck it up, bitch. We're getting margaritas, then following your fucking destiny."