The Book of Spells (Private 0.50)

Eliza blushed and looked back out at the quad. Harrison was just getting up and dusting himself off. He grabbed the ball and, head hanging, loped back toward his friends.

“A valiant effort, m’boy!” Jonathan Thackery greeted him with a slap on his back.

“He likes you, you know,” Catherine said.

Eliza’s head snapped up. “What?”

“He does,” Catherine said firmly. “I saw it in the way he held you that day in town. And the way he looked at you at the dance last night. That boy is completely smitten.” She paused and smiled. “You didn’t feed him any of Alice’s potions, did you?”

“I wouldn’t dare.” Eliza took a breath and swallowed hard, her heart pounding. She knew it was wrong, and she knew that she risked everything by admitting it, but suddenly the words itched the tip of her tongue. “I think I’m in love with him.” She hazarded a glance at her friend.

“I thought as much,” Catherine said.

“Yet you haven’t told Theresa?” Eliza asked.

Catherine squinted into the sun. “What good would it do?” She placed her hand over Eliza’s on the handlebar. “Besides, I would never betray your trust, Eliza.”

Eliza gazed out at the Easton Academy campus, watching as Harrison tagged a player out. Harrison’s friends slapped his back, congratulating his effort as they left the field and headed for the plate.

“I feel awful,” she said. “Falling for an engaged man. I fear it makes me a horrid person.”

“You’re not. You can’t control who you fall in love with, Eliza,”

Catherine said, giving her friend’s hand a squeeze before releasing it.

“For what it’s worth, I think you should follow your heart.”

Eliza looked at her, surprised. “But Theresa’s your best friend.”

“She is,” Catherine said with a nod. “But so are you.”

Eliza’s heart warmed inside of her. No one had ever called her a best friend before. “And you’re mine,” Eliza said, meaning it.

Catherine grinned in response. “Then as your best friend, I should tell you that I don’t think Theresa is truly in love with Harrison. I’m not even sure her heart would be broken should anything, or anyone, come between them. It might even be good for her. It might help her realize her true feelings now, before it’s too late.”

“What makes you think she doesn’t love him?” Eliza asked, scarcely willing to let herself believe it—to believe that Harrison might actually one day be free.

Catherine looked down at her hands, kneading her fingers. “I’ve not told you this before, because I didn’t think it was my place, but now . . . there’s something you should know. About Theresa and May.”

Eliza blinked. She felt as if the sun had suddenly shifted on her, throwing off her entire view of the world. “Theresa and May?”

“Yes, well, I know you’ve noticed that May doesn’t exactly hold a fond place in Theresa’s heart,” Catherine said.

“I’ve noticed,” Eliza said.

“Well, there is a reason for that. The thing is . . . Theresa was in love with George Thackery,” Catherine said.

Eliza felt suddenly dizzy. “Theresa and George?”

“Yes. For years,” Catherine said, looking out across the Easton campus. “She was completely heartbroken when he proposed to May. Heartbroken and furious. She went after Harrison soon after, telling herself and everyone who would listen that he was the better catch anyway. Harrison was so stunned and taken in by her that I think he just went along with it. I don’t even know if he realized what was happening until he was so embroiled in that situation, it was too late to veer off course.”

Eliza was at a complete loss for words. May had stolen Theresa’s love out from under her? No wonder Theresa had detested Eliza from the moment she’d learned her last name.

But still—it wasn’t Eliza’s fault that George had fallen for May. The whole thing was so unfair, so petty. And to think Harrison might be tied to this person for life—this person who didn’t even care about him.

Eliza looked up to find Harrison at bat. “How could she play with his heart that way?” she asked, toying with her locket. “I understand that she was heartbroken, but why involve someone else? She altered his whole life just to suit her whim.”

“That’s Theresa,” Catherine said. “But that’s also why I’m telling you.”