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Ella stood across the street from Addison's shop. A light drizzle, rare weather for this part of Arizona, misted down over her. Every time she thought of going inside to talk to her charge or ex-girlfriend, or whatever she was, Ella froze to the spot. Customers came and went, but Ella remained in the same place.
"She's never going to see you if you keep that up."
Ella clenched her fists and willed herself not to turn toward the unwelcome voice. It was one of the reasons she was dealing with this dilemma in the first place.
"I didn't mean to point out that you’re unintentionally glamoring or to upset you." Anthea stepped up beside her, also squinting at the shop. "Or, well, I actually did mean to upset you all this time. But why don't you want to be seen, my sad little bunny?"
Of course it would be Anthea who showed up at the worst possible time in Ella’s existence. The witch seemed to have an uncanny ability to suss out weakness, so she could poke, prod, pry, and mock to her heart’s content. Ella pressed her lips together. If she didn’t, she knew cruel words would slip out and undo the calm she’d strived to cultivate.
“She broke up with you, didn’t she? I mean, once she found out you were using her.”
Ella closed her eyes as tightly as she could, the only other way she knew of to shut out Anthea’s presence.
“Too bad Addison was never the intended target.”
“What?” Ella’s eyes flew open and she spun to face Anthea.
“I thought that might get your attention.” The witch smiled at her, but there was nothing mocking in the expression. There even seemed to be the shimmer of tears in her eyes. “You visited my aunt and now you know at least half the truth, that Addison is my cousin. She hasn’t reached out to me, by the way, not that I blame her. But, like I said, she’s not the one I was after.”
Anthea shrugged and returned Ella’s gaze steadily, as if waiting for her to say something.
“Why would you come for me?” Ella knew the question betrayed her innocence, but she couldn’t help herself.
Anthea reached out as if to stroke her face, but her fingers stopped inches away and stayed there. “Because I was asked to. It was your test, bunny, to see if you would falter in your resolve as a faerie godmother. To see if you would always adhere to the rules or bend them.”
Ella wrapped her arms around herself, her mind whirling with questions. “I don’t understand. Who sent you? How badly did I fail?”
“It doesn’t matter, and I don’t get any say in the matter. It’s done.” Again, Anthea’s eyes shimmered wetly, and she dropped her hand back to her side. “It’s too bad, you know. I liked you. I wish things could have been different. Good luck with everything, Bunny.”
The witch turned and walked away, but then turned back and said, “Oh, don’t be sad,” before winking out of sight.
Ella stood there on the sidewalk long after the dark, sorting through more questions than she thought she would ever be able to answer.
“Did you know that was going to happen?” Ella wondered how she looked to both Raven and Morgan as she stood there, legs braced apart and arms crossed. Normally, Morgan mothered her and Raven mocked her but, at this moment, they both leaned away from her. Ella knew she was scowling, a foreign feeling for her facial muscles. She couldn’t help it, though, after what she’d learned from Anthea.
“I knew something like that might happen,” Morgan confessed, her voice low and steady. “It’s part of your apprenticeship, to ensure you’re ready for the second year of it.”
“And, am I?”
Morgan shrugged. “That, I don’t know. It wasn’t my test to administer. All I did was recommend you for it, because I happen to think you’re ready.”
“I see.” Ella turned her glare on Raven, who quickly raised her hands in surrender.
“Don’t look at me. I’m just finishing my apprenticeship this year. I’m in no position to test others.”
It was true. Ella had to grudgingly accept that neither of her mentors were involved in this particular test. They also probably couldn’t give her advice on how to manage it, which left her to solve the problem on her own.
She dropped her arms and nodded. “Anthea told me she was supposed to see if I would falter in my resolve, if I would always follow the rules, or if I would bend them.”
Neither Raven nor Morgan gave any sign of understanding what she meant. Not a blink, not a twitch, and Ella’s body went warm with another emotion she rarely experienced.
She glared at them, the anger rising to tighten her chest. “Look, you’re supposed to be mentoring me. Help me with this!”
“There are some tests without clear answers, without study materials,” Morgan said. “This isn’t the academy, Ella. This is real life and you need to be able to think things through on your own sometimes.”
“That is such a bullshit response!” Ella couldn’t remember the last time her temper had flared to the point that she yelled at someone, but here she was, entire body tense with frustration. “You’re supposed to be guiding me, not leaving me to my own devices!”
“And what happens when you’re out there on your own?” Raven asked. “When you’re in the middle of a situation and you can’t call on us, because we’re dealing with our own problems? What then? I know I’ve given you a hard time, maybe a bit of a hazing, but I kind of had to. You’re too much of an overachiever for your own good, not to mention naive. The sooner you get a dose of reality, the better.”
Ella took a step back and turned her glare on Raven. “Who are you to tell me anything? You throw the rulebook out all the time, dealing with your cases, and to what end?”
Raven folded her arms and a ghost of a smirk tugged at her mouth before she seemed to master her expression once more.
That was it. The person Ella had least expected to help had given her the clue she needed the most.
She turned back to Morgan. “You said you had a contact in one of the local covens.”
Morgan lifted one eyebrow. “I do.”
“Good. Then tell me where I can find these witches of yours.”
Witches, it turned out, weren’t all cut from the same cloth. Ella drew in a deep breath as this one approached her after exiting Addison’s shop. The middle-aged woman sat on the bench and tilted her head. The sun glinted off her red-blonde hair, streaked here and there with white.
She patted the space next to her and said, “I had that talk with her, just like you asked.”
Ella sat, still careful to keep some distance between herself and the witch. It was difficult to ignore years of being taught that other supernatural beings were all her enemies. Strange, also, to see that those teachings were, if not wrong, deeply flawed. She hadn’t thought to question them at the time, but she made a mental note to bring it up next time she checked in with the academy.
“Addison has been through a lot over the past several weeks, finding out about her powers and then this clear tug of war for her between you and the other coven.”
“She opened up to you, though?” Ella leaned forward, more eager for answers than she wanted to admit.
“She did after I told her that I’d heard the story about the witch without a coven, and that the Winslow Witches were trying to recruit her. I was completely honest about who and what I am, and I think that surprised her.” The woman turned to face Ella fully. “You don’t remember my name, do you? I’m still just a witch to you.”
“I...” Ella bowed her head and looked at her lap, where her hands were clasped.
A pale hand with lavender-painted fingernails slid over hers. “It’s Lily, first of all and, second, if you hold onto these judgments about the supernaturals around you, you’ll never get her back.”
“Oh.” Ella blinked rapidly, fighting the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. She hadn't expected this witch, Lily, to get so personal with her.
Lily patted her hands before drawing away and saying, “All Addison needs from you and everyone around her is honesty. She’s been lied to by the people she loved the most—her own mother and her girlfriend, as she referred to you—and that has her questioning everything and everyone around her. Questioning is a good thing, you know. I have to wonder why you don’t do the same.”
Ella squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “I was taught so much at the Academy—”
“From one perspective. But a faerie godmother can’t work from a limited point of view. You’re dealing with humans most of the time, and they’re a fickle species. They can’t even agree about the most basic concepts as far as what they call ‘humanity.’ When it comes to helping, you can’t treat each case the same, let alone expect that they’ll all be humans.”
The breath Ella released did little to alleviate her tension. “Yeah. I’m beginning to see that.”
“Well, that’s all anyone can ask for, is a beginning.” Lily rose from the bench and offered her a handshake. When Ella accepted it, the witch said, “The ending is up to you, though.”
Ella nodded and watched as Lily walked away from her, tall and confident in her stride. It was something Ella had been back at the Academy. Or maybe she'd been full of herself, smug in her knowledge of the rules and ability to use magic perfectly. Now she knew there was a key component missing from her as a faerie godmother, the ability to look past the books and lessons, and trust herself.
It was the most difficult thing she had done in her entire existence, putting one foot in front of the other, to walk toward the most precious person she had ever known.
The scent of the shop was as inviting as ever, a mixture of incense and herbs and candles. Ella glanced around it, looking for the familiar face she sought. Fortunately, there were no customers within, but there was also no sign of Addison.
Goosebumps prickled at Ella’s skin and she turned a full circle. Addison was at the door, turning the sign from Open to Closed. “I know we need to talk,” she told Ella, “and I don’t think we want any interruptions.”
“No, I suppose not.” Ella could barely speak as she faced the woman—the witch—she had fallen in love with from the moment they met.
“I’ll start.” Addison approached her, but stopped slightly more than arm’s length in front of Ella. “Everything I thought I knew was turned upside down when you came into my life, from gaining powers I never had before to finding out this witch thing was more than a spiritual upbringing, to my mother’s lies to... Well, you.”
Ella winced, her stomach churning. “I really wish I knew where this was going.”
“Yeah, so do I.” Addison clapped her hands, a sign to Ella that she was also nervous. It did little to calm her insides. “Where was I? Right, I’m not going to blame you at all. You obviously came into my life for a reason and I don’t hold that against you.”
That statement was enough to unravel the knot and Ella let out a breath, hands clasped to her belly. “Okay, thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome, but I’m not done. It all started with my mom. If she could have just been honest with me about witchcraft, my aunt, and my cousin, then maybe I would have seen this coming.”
“That makes sense.” Hope kindled inside Ella and she took a step toward Addison. “So, maybe we can work things out together.”
Addison held her hand up and shook her head. “Hold your horses. I haven’t gotten to that part yet. You lied to me, too. Maybe not as big a lie as telling me family members are dead when they aren’t, but you still lied.”
“You have me there.” Ella bit her lower lip, not sure what more she could possibly say. It seemed like there was nothing she could do to make things better between her and Addison.
“I know you came to help me or whatever you were supposed to do as part of your job, but when we started a relationship, you should have told me the truth. That’s what relationships need to be based on, honesty.” Addison folded her arms across her chest and Ella saw a shudder wrack her body. “I don’t know if I can trust you.”
Words sprung to Ella’s lips, all of which seemed like they would be the wrong ones. The old Ella would have declared that, of course, Addison could trust her. She was a faerie godmother, after all, not to mention the best student in her class. But was it useless. She knew that before she opened her mouth. Addison was right about honesty.
“I don’t know if I can trust me, either.” Ella shrugged and spread her hands out in front of her. “Like you, I grew up believing certain things, being told things that turned out to be wrong. I don’t know where the line is between what I’ve been taught and what I’ve actually learned.”
These were the words Ella needed to say. She didn’t know if they were the ones Addison needed to hear, but she was certain they were the most subversive remarks to pass her lips in her entire life. They would probably result in her failing the test the Academy set for her, and either adding a year to her apprenticeship, or taking her out of it entirely.
Yet, there was something liberating in those words. Something truer than anything Ella had ever said.
Addison must have sensed that, as well. Before Ella knew what was happening, she and Addison were walking toward one another, reaching for each other, lips meeting. The thrill of the past several weeks came rushing back to her, the strange excitement of being in the arms of a person who seemed so right for her.
“I love you,” Addison finally said as they parted. “I know we still have a lot to learn about each other, but I love you and I want to learn all of those things together.”
Ella’s heart swelled with relief. “I love you, too, and there isn’t anyone else I would rather do all of that learning with.”
The way Addison smiled at her, Ella knew they had a long future together ahead of them, the witch and the faerie godmother.
And if falling in love meant breaking the rules, then Ella decided it was well worth it.