You’ve Got Magic

Excerpt

Pain sears my heart, steals my breath. This is the moment I’ve been dreading. I can’t inhale, can’t exhale, can’t move. Could die right here on the spot.

Doug nudges me. “Hurry up.”

I resist the urge to stomp on my husband’s foot with the sharp heel of my stilettos. Instead, I ignore him and focus on my grandmother’s beautiful face.

This will be the last time I see it, and I want to take in every one of her features and hold onto them forever.

“Brenna, the line’s getting longer.” Doug probably thinks he’s whispering. He definitely isn’t.

“I’m her granddaughter. Pretty sure people understand that I want a moment.”

He grunts and mutters something that rhymes with witch. Nudges me again.

Grandma Blanche would’ve approved of me slapping him. Though tempting, I don’t want to cause a scene. I take a deep breath and turn my attention back to her. She would’ve hated how much makeup the cosmetologist caked on her face, but her classic beauty shines through the foundation and blush—even in death.

Tears prick my eyes, and I blink them back. This is my final opportunity to tell her anything. She always believed the soul hung around the body for a week, so she might still hear whatever I have to say.

Words escape me, so I lean forward and press my lips on her forehead.

“Brenna!” Doug gives me a horrified look. He’s always had a weird aversion to dead bodies, and he likely thinks I’m going to spread death to everything I touch for the rest of the day. Good. Maybe he’ll quit nudging me.

My frosty glare shuts him up. I reach behind my neck—nearly throwing out my frozen shoulder in the process—to unhook the birthstone necklace Grandma Blanche gave me. Once I’ve removed it, I slide it between her hands.

Her skin glows. A flash of rainbow light shoots up, swirls into a glimmering mist, then disappears.

I stumble back, gasping.

Nobody else seems shocked. They’re all whispering, just as they were before the rainbow light.

Doug still looks annoyed with me. “Are you done?”

“Did you see that?”

“You taking off the necklace you’ve worn since we met? I thought it was permanently attached to you.”

He didn’t see it. No one did.

I turn back to Grandma Blanche.

Her eyes are open. Open.

I try to speak, but words fail me.

She, however, doesn’t have that problem. My dead grandmother looks directly into my eyes and speaks. “Your powers have been unbound. Use them with caution.”

My mouth drops. I cover it. Stare in disbelief.

Doug puts his arms around me and forcibly guides me away from the casket.

Grandma Blanche’s eyes are now closed. No mist, no rainbow, no words.

“Did you hear that?” I finally manage. Out of habit, I reach for my shoulder to twirl one of my wavy locks, but my fingers find nothing but fabric. I keep forgetting I got a short pixie cut after Doug grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me into another room with it. Now he can’t do that again.

“Everyone talking about how much time you were taking?” His brows draw down. “Yeah, I did.”

I pull away from him. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Me? I’m not the one touching a corpse.” A shudder rips through him.

“Leave me alone.”

“Excuse me?” His brows arch as he stares at me.

“You heard me.” I stalk off. Soon I find Harper and Kinsley talking with some cousins.

My twin daughters notice me at the same time. They’re identical yet uniquely individual. Harper’s wearing a clingy green dress that’s so dark, it’s almost black. Her raven hair, cut in an adorable chin-length bob, nearly matches the color of the fabric. On the other hand, Kinsley’s hair flows nearly to her waist. She’s dressed in a flowing, strapless floor-length in a rich navy blue.

They excuse themselves from the conversation then hurry to me.

“Are you okay, Mom?” Kinsley asks, her chestnut eyes wide.

Harper’s narrow. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Kinsley nudges her. “She just went through the line.”

They exchange a creeped-out glance. Their dad has fully convinced them dead bodies should be feared. No matter how often I tell them death is a natural part of life, they won’t change their minds.

“Mom?” Harper rests a hand on my arm.

“I just miss Grandma Blanche. I’ll be fine.” I turn toward the casket on the off chance I see another rainbow light or her eyes open.

Nothing.

The twins exchange another look. Those two have been able to communicate silently since the moment they were born—maybe before, in the womb. I’m not privy to their silent conversation, but I can tell whatever they’re discussing isn’t good news.

“What?” I ask, weary.

Kinsley chews on her lower lip. That’s always a bad sign.

“Just tell me.” I give them the fiercest mom look I can muster.

Harper clears her throat. “We’re not going to be able to spend the night at the house like we originally planned.”

I blink rapidly, taking in the news. “Why not?”

They share another glance. The habit has been plenty annoying for the last eighteen years, but never so much as right now.

Kinsley turns to me. “Rush week activities start tonight.”

Of course it has to do with the sorority.

“You said it wasn’t until Monday.”

Harper takes my hand and squeezes it. “It wasn’t, but then the fraternity brothers threw together a last-minute party for tonight, so Ella and the other sisters decided to move up the start of rush.”

“It’s in two hours,” Kinsley adds. “If we aren’t on time, we risk our spots.”

I swallow, processing the news. The last thing I want is to ruin their college experience. Their first semester just began, and I don’t want to be the reason anything goes wrong.

That’s exactly why I haven’t told them how many tears I’ve shed since they moved to campus. It’s also why I won’t guilt them for returning tonight, when the last thing I want is to be at home alone with Doug. The last couple of weeks have been a nightmare. I hadn’t realized how much of a buffer the girls put between my husband’s foul moods and me.

Kinsley takes my other hand. “We’ll come home on the first day we can. Pinky promise!”

Both girls loop their pinkies around mine and give me their sweetest smiles.

I definitely can’t say no to that, so I force a grin. “I look forward to it. Until then, I hope you both have the best rush week ever.”

They wrap me in hugs before dropping the news on Doug. His expression clouds over, and I know I’m going to pay the price for his disappointment when we get home.

My solution—avoid going home until it’s late. If we stay at the wake long enough, then we can go straight to bed and I won’t have to deal with him.

Doug marches over as soon as the twins leave. “It’s time to go. I have work to do.”

I stare at him, once again unable to find adequate words.

“Was I speaking Greek?” he asks. “We’re leaving now.”

“I’m not ready. People usually get three days for bereavement leave. You can skip one day while I mourn my grandma.”

“You can mourn her at home. You don’t need your idiot relatives for that. My job can’t wait.”

Anger rages through me like I’ve never before felt. It would be too easy to give into it, so I take a deep breath. I need to calm down before saying something I’ll later regret.

“Apparently I am speaking Greek.” His face contorts into a scowl. “I said we’re going home. Say goodbye to anyone you haven’t talked to yet.”

I square my shoulders. “This is Grandma Blanche’s funeral, and we haven’t even gotten to the wake yet. I’d think you’d at least want some food.”

“We have plenty at home.”

“Then take your precious work up to my old bedroom when we get to my mom’s house. It’ll be quiet there. Like I said, I’m staying.”

My husband’s eyes narrow. “I’m going home to do my job, with or without you. Apparently without you. How are you going to get home?” His nostrils flare. “I drove, remember?”

New anger surges through me in a way I’ve never felt before. Sure, he’s pissed me off plenty of times. With his personality, it’s nearly a daily occurrence. But this hot fury coursing between my stomach and chest seems… almost alive. Dangerous.

“I asked you a question.”

It’s going to take all of my self-control to keep from smacking him. I take a deep breath. “I’m sure one of my sisters will drive me home.”

“And if they don’t?” Doug cocks a brow.

“Then I’ll order a ride from an app. Don’t worry about me.”

“I’m ready to leave. You need to come with me.”

My rage presses against my ribs, ready to explode out of me. I cross my arms and take a step closer to him. “No!”

He stumbles back as if pushed. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“How did you do that? You pushed me.”

“I didn’t touch you.”

Doug balls his hands into fists. “You did something.”

“I haven’t moved from this spot.”

He starts to say something, but someone wraps their arms around me, and he glares at her.

Mona pulls me away from Doug. “I need to borrow my sister.”

My husband’s expression says it all, but he keeps quiet because he won’t make a scene in front of all these people.

Mona leads me into the hallway. “Everything okay?”

I take a deep breath. “Pretty sure you know the answer to that.”

“Now that the girls are out of the house, you can leave him. Do it, Brenna.”

“I beg your pardon?”

She rolls her eyes and brushes black bangs from her eyes. “You can’t hide anything from me, little sis.”

“I can’t leave.”

“Sure you can. Move in with Norma and me. The house is big enough for an army.”

Our mom has insisted we call her by her given name since we were small. It’s second nature to us, but most people are usually surprised when we call her Norma.

Across the street looms the purple Victorian house. When I was growing up, my two sisters and I each had our own bedrooms. Those plus my parents’ room left several more unclaimed. Norma used one for hobbies. Dad—who didn’t want us calling him by his first name—chose another for his study, but was turned into a storage room sometime after his passing. A larger room started as a playroom, but it became an art studio when we outgrew toys. And that’s just on the second level. The ground floor is divided into enormous spaces, each of which could house a family. A giant kitchen, a spacious living room, and even a ballroom that’s seen more parties over the decades than my twins’ sorority house. Then there’s the attic, which is at least twice the size of my first studio apartment.

“It’ll be fun.” Mona’s voice brings me back to the present. “Like old times. Maybe we could talk Ginger into moving back too. If you divorce Mr. Sunshine, then we’ll all be single. Imagine how much fun we could have together now that we’re older and wiser.”

I glance back into the main room. Doug is alone, leaning against a wall. When he catches me looking at him, he glowers. I turn back to Mona. “I need to powder my nose.”

“Nobody says that anymore.”

“I just did.”

She drags me into the bathroom anyway. “Think about it. You only married him because he knocked you up.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Isn’t it?” Mona gives me a knowing look. Of course my sister knows the truth. “You only stayed with him because of the girls. Now they’re grown, and you’re miserable because he’s a turd on steroids.”

I lean against the counter and release a long sigh.

“You don’t want to go home with him, do you?”

“The jack wad wants me to skip the wake because he’s bored.”

A fire flames in my sister’s eyes that I haven’t seen since Tristan went missing. “Grandma Blanche treated him like family, and he won’t even go to her wake?”

My rage returns, swirling in my chest. “I hate him. I really do.”

A crack snakes down the mirror.

Mona and I exchange wide-eyed looks. She reaches for my arm. The moment we touch, everything around us grows faint. The air ripples like a lake after a storm. A tugging sensation pulls on every inch of my body.

I blink, and we’re in my childhood room.

Across the street from the cemetery’s reception hall.

My sister’s confused expression mirrors my own.

What the heck just happened?