The Secret Life of a Witch (Mystic Willow Bay, Witches 1)

Hunter and Ryleigh hung out together without me? Why didn’t I know?

Wait a minute …

My eyes widen. “Like, on a date?”

“What? No,” he sputters. “We just went as friends, I swear to the witches in the sky. And it was only the one time.”

I relax, but only a smidgeon. “Then, why didn’t you guys tell me? I mean, I wouldn’t have cared if you guys went out on a date.” Liar, liar, liar. “The idea that you didn’t tell me you went out on a—”

“It wasn’t a date.” He pauses, his eyes searching mine. “Really? You wouldn’t have cared if I dated your sister?”

I shrug, pretending to be all chillax despite my internal meltdown. “It might have been a little weird to see you two together, but I wouldn’t have been mad or anything.”

He eyes me over, and I can see that he’s totally not buying my bullshit.

“Well, whether you’d be mad or not, we weren’t on a date.” He pushes to his feet, stretching his arms above his head. “We went there as friends, and I know for a fact that Ry got a card. So did I. It said our names on the back and everything.”

I flip the card over and … sure enough … “Ryleigh.” I glance up at Hunter. “You think she left this purposefully as a clue?”

“I’m guessing she did.” He taps his magic wand against the railing and an array of dark blue sparks shower from the end. “Stuff doesn’t just accidentally fall out of a secrets box.”

“True.” I look down at the card again, puzzlement tumbling through my mind.

While my sister and I weren’t BFFs, I thought we were close enough that I’d know if she had a secrets box. At least close enough that I’d know if she was hanging out with the guy I am secretly in love with. Guess I was wrong, which makes me wonder what else she was hiding.

“You never said what this place is.” I read the title on the front of the card again, “The Illuminating Horror House of Truth.”

He frowns as he elevates his wand. “That’s because I’ve been purposefully dodging around telling you.”

“Well, at least you’re honest.” I pat his arm. “But time to fess up.”

The corners of his lips sink. “Maybe it’s better if you don’t know.”

“Why? I’m going to find out when I go there. At least if you tell me now, I can prepare myself.”

He twists to face me with a stern expression. “I still don’t think it’s such a good idea.”

“Hunter, if it’s a clue Ry left behind, then I have to check out this place and find out why she wanted me to go there.”

“Maybe the clue wasn’t left behind for you.”

A foul taste burns in my mouth, but I swallow it down. “Then it was left behind for you since you’re the only other person who knew her body was down here.”

“I doubt that.” He grimaces. “Look, even if she did leave the card, hoping you’d find it and track that place down, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go. This place …” He crinkles his nose. “It’s pretty hardcore and draws in a pretty rough crowd.”

I fold my arms and raise my brows. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m pretty hardcore, then.”

He sighs. “Ev, you’re my best friend, and I think you’re great, but you are far from hardcore.”

I don’t know what pushes me over the edge. His, “I think you’re great” remark, or him reminding me that I’m not badass.

“I may not have been badass in the past, but I think it might be time to change that.” I put on my best interrogation face. “Now, come on; tell me what this place is.”

A surrendering sigh escapes him. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But please don’t judge me … or your sister.” He waits for me nod before continuing, “It’s a place where all your wishes are brought to life.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“It might not sound bad, but imagine seeing all your fears, worries, dreams, and desires brought to life in front of you for you to live out.”

“Okay, I might see how some of that could be bad, especially the fear part.” I pick at my fingernails, feeling lost. “Why would you guys choose to do that?”

“Because part of it is fun, like the dreams and desires …” Wariness briefly flickers across his face before he hastily clears his throat. “Anyway, the worries and fears part sucks ass. But it’s a package deal. If you want to see your dreams and desires, you have to face your fears and worries first.”

I trace my finger along the edge of the card. “And you guys wanted to do that?”

He shrugs, staring down at the ground. “I was curious about some stuff.”

“And what about my sister? Was she curious also?”

He shrugs again. “I’m not really sure what she was searching for, or if she was searching for anything. From what I understand, she regularly hung out at the place.” He tears his face off the floor and meets my gaze. “I was honestly kind of surprised she hung out there, considering the rough crowd it draws in.”

“Just how rough, exactly?”

“Werewolves, vampire … demons.”

“Demons?” My eyes nearly bulge out of my head. “Why would my sister hang out at a place like that?”

Sure, some werewolves and vampires are sketchy as fuck, but most aren’t bad. Like Peyton, who can be a tad annoying but is decent at heart. But demons … Never have I heard of a good demon.

“Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out,” I answer my own question.

Hunter shakes his head. “No, I already said you shouldn’t go—”

I place my finger over his lips. “This is my sister, Hunter. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to find her. So, either you’re with me or you’re not, but I am going.”

His chest puffs out as he heaves a sigh. “Fine. I’ll go with you. But only after we take the magic residue sample to the expert and talk to the newspaper. I want going to The Illuminating Horror House of Truth to be the last resort.”

I nod, standing. “Deal.”

I leave the conversation at that and head upstairs to change, a thousand unanswered questions haunting my mind. What was my sister doing at a place with demons? Better yet, what she was doing at a place that revealed what she kept hidden in her mind? What was she looking for? What was Hunter looking for?

Most of all, how did I not know about this part of their lives?

How much more do I not know?

Chapter Four

I hurry up the stairs to my bedroom and peel my pajamas off. Then I throw on a pair of cut-off shorts and a black tank top, before tying a plaid jacket around my wais

t since the fall weather in Mystic Willow Bay can be sort of iffy. To top off the look, I trace my eyes with kohl liner, comb my hair, and slip on a pair of clunky velvet boots.

I don’t bother glancing in the mirror before I head out of my room, but I do grab the emergency wad of cash I keep stashed in my sock drawer. I have an unsettling feeling that today is going to turn into an emergency cash sort of day. I’ve had these unsettling feelings previously, and usually I’m not wrong.

As I’m rushing down the cluttered hall toward the stairway, Opal bounces out of her room right in front of me. Thankfully, I manage to slam on the brakes before I topple into the diamond encrusted, paper thin wings spanning out of her back. Otherwise, I might have ended up taking a trip to faerie land (FYI, because fey wings carry the power of realm teleportation).

“Hey!” she chirps, her eyes bright and shiny, her wings flapping behind her. “I was just about to go look for you.”

“Really?” I question. “With your wings out?”

A crease forms between her brows as she cranes her neck to look behind her. “Whoopsie. I thought I put those bad boys away.” With a snap of her fingers, her wings fold and shrink until they vanish completely. “There you go.” She dusts off her hands. “You’re officially safe from any accidental teleportation.”

“Thanks. Although, it is a shame you can’t keep them out more. They’re so pretty.”

“And it feels great to stretch them out, too” She twists her wavy brown hair into a messy bun and secures it with an elastic. “But you know the rules. Faeries can only keep their wings out while they’re around other fey or in the fey realm, which makes sense. I mean, can you imagine if we walked around all the time with them out?” She visibly shudders. “We’d have a real traffic problem going on in the path to the fey realm.”

“Has any fey ever accidentally sent someone there?” My phone goes off in my pocket, and I realize I never did check the message from early. You know, back when Hunter wanted to get all intimate on me and tried to share his magic. Although, to him, he probably looked at his sharing time as a friend helping out a friend in need, because that’s the kind of person he is. A guy who would do anything to help the people he cared about.