June’s hands trembled ever so slightly as she poured another steaming cup of coffee for the lunchtime crowd at The Corner. The clink of ceramic against wood resonated too loudly in her ears, making her grimace. She could feel the incantations and sigils she’d been studying etching themselves into her mind, the arcane symbols blurring into the patterns in the wooden countertop.
Lessons with Elaine, work at The Corner, homework in her grimoire, maintaining her cover as an ordinary twenty-something, and now an extra credit assignment loomed. The Yule rituals.
“Everything all right, June?” A regular customer peered at her with concern.
“Absolutely.” She flashed him a smile, tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. “Would you like your usual biscotti with your coffee today?”
“Yes, please,” the man replied.
Lucas emerged from the kitchen as she plated up the biscotti, the door swinging shut behind him with a bang. He was wearing his usual frown, his brown hair tousled as though he’d driven his fingers through it one too many times. His gaze sought hers, or at least she thought it did.
“June.” He nodded.
“Hey.” She kept her tone even, not wanting him to know how thin she was spread. As she moved closer to him to get to the register, a pulse of magic coursed through her veins, reacting to his closeness, and she darted past, her cheeks heating.
“You look like you forgot to brush your hair this morning,” he declared, his eyes narrowing.
“I did so.” June feigned nonchalance, ringing up the customer’s coffee and biscotti, then handed back the change. “Have a good day, Mr. Peterson.”
The customer smiled at her, then shot Lucas a stern glare. “Thanks, June. And your hair looks nice today.”
Lucas snorted as the customer left, and June curled her lip. There was grumpy, then there was Lucas. Maybe he was the one who’d forgotten to comb his hair.
“Don’t be so mean,” she muttered.
“Can’t quite put my finger on it,” he mused, leaning against the counter. “If it isn’t your hair, then what is it?”
June felt a pang of guilt as she watched him, knowing that she had woven a veil over his memories, protecting him from the shadows that lurked in the corners of Stonebridge. Her magic, a birthright that demanded sacrifices she never wished to make, slammed an invisible wall between them.
She sighed. “You’re being weird.” She turned away to serve another customer. But each step felt heavier, burdened with the weight of what she’d done. And as much as she wanted to bridge the distance between them, she knew it was her own magic, her own secrets, that forced her to retreat.
It was probably for the best. Lucas was her boss, a human, and couldn’t ever know the truth about magic.
Look at what happened with the shadow, she thought morosely. How could feeling about him any differently make his life better?
She hesitated, her cheeks flushing, and she was glad he couldn’t see her face. Oh my God, I’ve got a crush on Lucas Burger. Oh. My. GOD.
“June,” Lucas called after her, his voice full of concern that made her heart clench.
“Busy day,” she replied without looking back.
“Let me know if you need a hand.”
“I will,” she managed to say, though her voice was drowned out by the clatter of dishes and the hum of conversations around them. She felt his gaze on her back as she busied herself with wiping down tables, her movements robotic.
June’s senses tingled, and it took all her willpower not to react as Lucas passed by, carrying a tray laden with steaming plates that he set onto the counter. Her magic had been behaving for months now, barely sparking out of turn, but now it surged upward. She felt it churn, like a living thing, reaching out toward him—
“Careful,” Lucas said, nodding at a fork that had slipped from her grasp and clattered onto the floor. He bent to pick it up at the same time she did, and she snatched her hand back before she could give herself away.
“Sorry,” she muttered, avoiding his eyes.
Sudden guilt churned in her heart, telling her she had no right to feel this way about someone whose memories she’d altered, someone who trusted her without knowing the whole truth.
“June,” Lucas began, but she cut him off with a sharp shake of her head.
“I can’t,” she said, the words escaping before she could stop them.
“Can’t what?” he asked, confusion etched across his face.
“Nothing. I’m fine.” She forced a smile, hating how fake it felt.
“Okay…” He trailed off, clearly unconvinced. But just as she thought he was going to drop it, he grasped her forearm and tugged her across the café.
“Lucas,” she hissed, her magic thrashing against her tenuous hold.
“Be quiet, Morgan,” he chided, guiding her through a door at the back of the building.
Beyond lay a small courtyard with a few mismatched chairs and a table covered in a layer of snow. He led her to the farthest corner, where a brick wall covered in ivy offered some semblance of privacy and warmth.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” he said, searching her face with eyes that she couldn’t meet.
She wrenched her arm free, pulling away from him. “I told you, Lucas, I’m fine.”
“Could’ve fooled me. You’re being weird.”
The air was sharp and biting, the kind that made each breath feel like inhaling slivers of ice. Lucas’s gaze was just as piercing, and June felt it cut through her defences.
“June,” Lucas said softly, encroaching on the space she had put between them. “I know you’re not fine. Are you spreading yourself too thin?”
“What?”
“I know you work at the apothecary, and you’ve been doing a lot of hours here…” His words were warm against the chill of the courtyard, but they only tightened the knot in June’s stomach.
She wanted to tell him everything, but even if she could, what would he say when she told him that not only had he been possessed by an evil entity, but she’d erased his memory?
“Lucas, I…” She swallowed hard, grappling for words that wouldn’t betray her secret. “I know I’m doing a lot, but I’m fine. Really.”
He frowned, stepping closer. “June, I… I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while now, but you’re always so busy. It’s hard to catch you.”
Her heart lurched as if it knew what was coming. “Lucas, I—”
“June,” he said, his voice a whisper now. Reaching out again, his fingers brushed against hers.
This time, she didn’t pull back, but she didn’t lean into the touch either. Instead, she stood frozen, trapped between two very different worlds.
“Is there something else? Something you’re not saying?”
She met his gaze, forcing herself to smile. “No. I promise, I’m fine. I know I’m busy, but I’m still adjusting. It’s weird being back after everything, you know? I’ve avoided a lot of memories.”
“Okay,” he said simply, his expression closing off. “If you want to talk about your schedule, you know where to find me.”
“Thanks.” She felt both relieved and hollow.
For a moment, they stood in silence, the distance between them filled with a thousand unsaid words. Then, with a heaviness in his steps, Lucas turned and walked back inside, leaving her standing alone beside the ivy-coated wall.
She let out a frustrated groan and shivered, rubbing her palms up and down her chilled arms. How much longer could she maintain this facade? Forever, she thought. It has to be forever.
The silence of the empty courtyard wrapped around her like a suffocating shroud.
“June Morgan, what are you going to do?” she whispered to herself.
She had to make it all work, for The Corner, for the coven, for Lucas, and for everyone else in Stonebridge.
With a final glance at the gloomy sky, June went back inside, determined to finish her shift and pull up her big girl britches and get on with her double-life.
The beige Jeep creaked and groaned as it pulled up to the corner, a stark contrast to the muted bustle of The Corner’s afternoon lull. Elaine Parker waved at June, who was bundling herself against the chill. The vehicle’s door swung open with a protesting squeak that echoed down the road.
June slid into the passenger seat, and as they set off, the Jeep rattled with every bump in the worn road.
As if sensing her unease, Elaine began to tell stories from her early days in the coven. “Stonebridge is a beacon, June,” she said, navigating a particularly deep pothole. “It’s steeped in magic so old, it’s woven into the very earth. That’s why dark things are drawn here, like moths to a flame.”
June nodded, absorbing Elaine’s words. She felt the pull of Stonebridge’s magic in her bones, a call that both thrilled and terrified her.
“Once,” Elaine continued, “I encountered an entity that’d turned the river as black as ink. No one could figure out what was poisoning the water, of course, but magic fixed it right up. But remember, for all the darkness this land attracts, it births equal light and strength.”
“The balance,” June said, her thoughts drifting to the shadow entity that’d escaped from the hidden room in Fortune’s Books.
“Exactly.” Elaine flicked her gaze toward her. “But that also means that we take on some tasks that aren’t all that desirable. Like keeping secrets from our human friends.”
June’s gaze shifted to her hands clenched in her lap. “I haven’t broken my promise.”
“I know you haven’t, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t difficult.” Elaine let out a sigh, her fingers tightening for a moment around the steering wheel. “Just remember, June. Everything we do, we do to keep Stonebridge safe.”
“I know,” June told her. “Painfully, so.”
“It’ll get easier with time.”
She looked up. “How do you do it?”
Elaine didn’t answer at first, her focus drifting toward the road. “One day at a time until it becomes normal.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Of course, the odd mishap is inevitable. It’s how we learn. Magic is second nature to us witches. It’s inevitable that the odd spark slips out at the most inopportune time.”
“Then what do you do?”
“Learn how to spin a good story,” Elaine replied. “But mostly, people think they’re simply seeing things, or are oblivious. It’s the willing blindness of humanity, I suppose. Makes our life a whole lot easier.”
June glanced out of the passenger side window, watching the woods flash past. “And what about the things that lurk out there? The dark rituals, the vandalism… How does the coven explain them?”
“Well, we try to not let it get that far. It’s our job to patch things like that up before it gets too out of hand.”
“A witch’s duty is to maintain the balance.” June felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought.
“Yes.” Elaine was silent for a moment, before continuing, “This is the greatest personal dilemma a witch will face in their lifetime. Keeping secret a world that is both beautiful and poisonous from those that we love the most.”
“Did you ever get married?” June blurted.
“Ah…” Elaine smiled as she navigated the Jeep around a sweeping bend. “I tried, but it never happened for me, and not because of my magic or responsibility to the coven. I just never found someone.”
June hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip. “Do you ever get lonely?”
“Sometimes,” the older witch admitted, her eyes still on the road ahead. “But I’ve been fortunate to find companionship in many places—the coven, my cat, and the elements.”
The Jeep’s tyres crunched over a gravelly patch, and June’s senses prickled. “Do you think… The darkness that took my parents was defeated, right?”
“The circle was closed,” Elaine told her. “The coven made sure.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I was there.”
June sank back against the seat, her brow creasing.
“Darkness is like water,” Elaine mused, turning the steering wheel as they took another curve. “It finds its way through the smallest cracks and crevices. We may think we’ve dried it all up, but there’s always a drop or two lurking, waiting.” Her fingers tightened briefly on the wheel. “The circle may be closed, but the memory remains. Do you understand?”
June’s heart lurched. The very notion clawed at her insides, reigniting the embers of an old dread. She remembered the chilling rasp of Lucas’ voice, twisted by the shadow entity’s influence—a memory she fought to forget, but somehow it always crept back into her mind…and her dreams.
“June?”
“I understand. Magic that powerful leaves a mark, even when it’s gone.”
“And not just on the place, but on the people, too,” Elaine added, guiding the Jeep onto a narrow bridge. “It’s not just about physical magic. It’s about emotions and experiences.”
June pressed her hand against the cold window, feeling the raw winter wind rush by outside.
“Time,” Elaine went on. “Time heals, June.”
Perhaps that’s why she was so exhausted. It wasn’t just all her duties, but the memory of her parents, the magic that took them, and the lingering power that tainted the woods.
Her pulse quickened as her senses stretched out into the night, probing the shadows for signs of malice. The forest seemed to press in closer with each passing moment, its whispers melding with the rattle of the old Jeep’s engine.
She could feel it—the undercurrent of magic in the air, a thrumming energy that resonated with the very core of her being. It was as if the woods themselves were alive, breathing in time with her own breath, and with every exhale, she sensed the danger lurking just beyond what her eyes could see.
“Elaine,” June’s voice barely rose above the hum of the tires on the uneven road, “do you feel that?”
Elaine’s knuckles whitened against the steering wheel, a silent acknowledgment.
June turned her gaze toward the window once more, watching as they approached the turnout where the path to the glade began. The magic within her stirred, restless and eager. The darkness was no longer a distant threat—it was here. And hopefully a simple memory.
“Well, this got a little depressing,” Elaine said, pulling off the road. “Let’s head out into the forest and have some fun. What do you say?”
June tilted her head and shot her teacher an inquiring glance. “Fun? In the dark, brooding forest smeared with dark magic?”
Elaine flashed a grin, her eyes glimmering with mischief. “Why not? After all, no one ever conquered their fear until they danced with it.”