The sun sank toward the horizon over the ocean. The day had passed in such a hurry it scared me.
Tonight was the night. Tonight, Alma would be standing out on this very beach, expecting me to give her my powers.
Conflict surged through me. Over the past few days, my feelings surrounding this woman and what she wanted had changed. At first, it'd felt like I wouldn’t have a good life without my powers. As though all of my happiness was due to magic.
It wasn’t, though, was it? The things that made me happy in my life were Daniel, Henry, and my friends. My life was happier because I wasn’t in a terrible marriage any longer. I wasn't desperately lonely because my son was gone, and I wasn't still stuck in a life with nothing else that I loved. Even my business in Springfield hadn't made me feel the way I did when working with Beth. Back then, I'd obsessed over numbers, clients, and our employees. Here, I simply enjoyed my job.
The thing was, I still didn’t want to give that woman my powers. Not because I couldn’t survive without them, because I could, but because I knew in my heart that she didn’t deserve them. I didn’t know why my powers said otherwise, but my gut told me the truth. If I gave her my powers, the world would be a much worse place. My magic was telling me one thing, but for the first time, I didn’t believe it. Instead, I believed what I saw. Every single action this woman took was cruel and selfish. I'd do everything I could to protect my loved ones from the wrath of this spell, but I wouldn’t be intimidated into doing something that would hurt the whole world.
The sun hung on the horizon, taunting me, reminding me that the time was almost here. I turned away from it and headed inside.
Everyone was hanging out. Deva’s kitchen was still not up and running, so she’d made an absolute feast. Tender steaks, mashed potatoes, two different kinds of pies, asparagus, and more. Eating it had calmed us all, which she’d very likely woven into the food. The food was gone, and now we were all sitting around, waiting to be run over a bus, even though they pretended otherwise.
The sounds of their conversation washed over me when I walked into the kitchen. When they realized I'd entered the room, they went silent. It was awkward as heck because I didn’t know what to say. Part of me wanted to comfort them, and part of me wanted to freak the heck out.
“It’s nice outside, huh?” Daniel asked then came over to pull me into his arms.
“Yup,” I said, hugging him back before pulling away. “The perfect night for a showdown.”
As I came closer, Beth straightened her shoulders. “We were talking about that, and I had an idea. Why don’t we take a simpler path and turn her into a toad? I mean, I could keep her in a tank at the office, so she wouldn’t be hurt or anything.”
I smiled. “Probably not.”
Carol jumped out of her chair. “It doesn’t have to be a toad. We could use a spell to turn her into yarn, and I could knit her into something. Like a noose."
I laughed. My friends were seriously the best. “No, no yarn.”
Deva lifted a brow. “Do you like Shakespeare?”
Where was she going with this? “Maybe…”
“We could turn her into a vegetable, and I could cook her—”
“We’re not eating this lady,” I said, and then everyone laughed for a minute before the mood shifted to somber again.
Bryan released a slow breath that came out super loud in the silence. When gazes turned toward him, he spoke awkwardly. “Maybe we could just send her away? Teleport her somewhere far from here.”
“Or shrink her?” Daniel volunteered.
I smiled, even though it was a sad smile. “I can’t do any of those things as long as my powers are telling me she’s a good person. If I ignore that and try to hurt her, I don’t think I even deserve these powers.”
“What are you going to do?” Deva asked softly.
“You can’t give away your powers,” Carol said. Bryan pulled her into a hug, and sadness hung over the room.
It took me a minute to speak, not because I was unsure of what to say, but because I know they wouldn’t like what I had to say. “Yes. As much as I don’t want to give away my powers, I will if I have to, because something inside of me is saying that these powers are bigger than me or her. It isn’t about the chosen person, it’s about what’s best for the world.”
“There’s no way she’s what’s best for the world,” Deva muttered.
I didn’t say it, but I agreed. I just wasn’t sure I had a choice in the matter.