“Do you believe in magic?” the mustached dark-haired man onstage asked me. Wearing a tuxedo shirt, wrinkled dark slacks, a black cape lined with crushed red velvet, and shiny black shoes, he was holding a top hat in one hand and a glittery-tipped wand in the other. Standing beneath the glare of a harsh spotlight, he was sweating and waiting for my answer from where I was sitting in the dark theater on a wooden folding chair.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how hilarious his crooked toupée looked.
And the fact I was related to him.
I glanced around at my new surroundings and decided the best answer to give was simply “Yes.”
He squinted and shielded his eyes with the edge of his hand from the light, and searched for me in the back row. “Are you comfortable working with animals?”
I thought of my younger brother and answered, “I have some experience in that area.”
The theater was tiny and old. The walls were painted sea blue. The thick, red stage curtains were covered with gold and silver metallic stars. The temperature was cool and comfortable. I felt safe there, calm.
Like I was in another world where something really fun and exciting was about to happen.
“One last question,” he said, “and it’s the most important one.”
I sat up. My chair creaked. “Ask me anything.”
Uncle Fred curled his hands into fists and placed them on his hips. He looked like a superhero, waiting for a reason to fly off somewhere to fight crime. “Can you keep a secret?” he asked.
Not according to my best friend Samantha, I thought. She’d said I had the biggest mouth in Chicago. Since I now lived more than a thousand miles away from her and everything I’d ever known in a place called Avalon Cove, I wondered if I’d ever see her again. “Of course I can,” I said, knowing it was a lie.
“Great,” he said. “You start tomorrow, Destiny.”
“Thanks, Uncle Fred.”
He waved a finger at me. “You can call me Uncle Fred at home. Here, I’m Sir Frederic the Great,” he informed me.
I heard a man’s voice from behind me. “Will Sir Frederic the Great like peas or green beans with his meatloaf tonight?” shouted my other uncle from the closet-sized light and sound booth in the back of the theater. His name was Clark. He’d been a part of our family for as long as I could remember. He was younger than Uncle Fred by at least a decade. Clark wasn’t really my uncle—at least not biologically. He was fortunate enough to be born into a more normal family than mine. I couldn’t figure out how he ended up falling in love with my crazy Uncle Fred. But one thing for sure was they were perfect for each other.
It was only my first day in Avalon Cove. Already I knew my mother had made the right choice. Uncle Fred and Clark were now my legal guardians. I’d be living with them for the next two and a half years until I turned eighteen.
“Peas or green beans?” Uncle Fred repeated. “Do you have to ask? My answer is always carrots.” With that, he made an adorable white rabbit pop out of his top hat.
“Awwwww,” I heard myself say.
Clark was now standing next to my chair. He always smelled good, like sweet soap. He was skinny, sexy, and had great hair. “I need to finish up some paperwork and feed Carrots her dinner,” he said. “If I show you how, would you mind watching the gift shop for me?”
“Sure.” I stood. “No prob.”
We left Uncle Fred and Carrots onstage. I followed Clark through the double doors leading out to the sunlit lobby. I blinked as my eyes adjusted. Standing there, I felt like a fish in a bowl. We were facing a curved wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. I could see the sidewalk in front of the theater through them, and an adorable café across the street. In the not-so-far distance to my left was the Atlantic shore.
When I’d arrived by cab less than an hour ago, I’d stood in front of the Magic Mansion, clutching the handles of my suitcases and staring at the odd-shaped circular building. From the outside it looked like a spaceship that had crash-landed a few blocks away from the beach. That’s exactly how I felt: I was an alien just arrived from another planet called Chicago. There, my life had been “L” trains and selling corndogs and cotton candy part-time at Navy Pier. In Avalon Cove, it would be working at the Magic Mansion and living with my gay uncles. I was secretly hoping for beach parties and seaside make-out sessions with a hot boy—or maybe two. I’d been seriously deprived in the love department since last February, when a loser named Steve broke up with me on Valentine’s Day by way of a candygram he sent to my Life Science class.
I mean, who does that?
“This,” Clark said with a dramatic wave of his hand, “is our gift shop.”
In the far corner of the lobby was a makeshift magic gift shop, consisting of a cluttered display case, a cash register that had to be a hundred years old at least, and five wooden shelves and two spinning racks crammed with every magic show souvenir imaginable.
Including some tacky do-it-yourself magic tricks.
“Glamorous, isn’t it?” he asked.
I smiled and tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear. “Chicago’s got nothing on this place.”
“We rarely get a customer unless we have a show scheduled,” he explained. “So I doubt anyone will come in, especially on a Wednesday afternoon. Have you worked a cash register before?”
“Once. I helped my best friend Samantha out. Her mom owns a natural food store.” I stared at the archaic beast of a register. It was an antique. “How old is that thing?”
“It belonged to your grandfather,” Clark said with a dimpled smile. “He was also a magician.”
“Yeah,” I said. “My mom used to tell me stories about him. And growing up in this place. She worked here, too.”
“Your uncle insisted that everything stay the same,” Clark explained. “Just as your grandfather left it when he died.”
“If he was also a magician, couldn’t he have made a new cash register appear?” I joked. “One that would be easier for his future granddaughter to use?”
“It’s pretty simple,” Clark said. “I can show you, if you want.”
“Please do,” I said. “Otherwise I might have to give everything away for free.”
Clark gestured for me to join him behind the counter.
“I don’t know much about this side of my family,” I explained. “I remember meeting you once…when you and Uncle Fred came to Chicago when I was seven…and then last week…at the funeral. You were so sweet to me that day. Thank you.”
Clark locked eyes with me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “We’re very happy you’re here, Destiny,” he said. “I know we don’t know each other very well, but we are family.”
I swallowed and hoped I wouldn’t cry. “There’s just so much I never knew…about my grandfather and Uncle Fred…and the magic. What it was like for my mom when she was younger…living on this island.”
Clark smiled. “You’ll fall in love with Avalon Cove just like I have.”
The black phone next to the register rang. The sound was loud and shrill and it made me jump. Clark grinned at me and picked up the heavy-looking receiver. “The Magic Mansion,” he said. He looked at me and held the receiver up. “I think it’s for you.”
I gave him a look of surprise. “Me?” I said. “Who would call me?”
“I don’t know,” he said with a wink, “but it’s a boy.”
I took the phone from him and muttered, “It’s probably my ridiculous brother telling me how much he loves life in California with Aunt Barbara.”
“I have one of those, too,” he said. “A ridiculous brother. Not an Aunt Barbara.”
“Hello?” I said into the phone.
There was static and a crackling sound on the other end. “Hello?” I repeated.
“Destiny?” It was indeed a boy’s voice. Soft and warm. Like an embrace through the phone. It was definitely not my brother.
“Yes?”
More static. More crackle. “I’m waiting for you,” he said. “Come find me.”
There was a click and the dial tone hummed in my ear. I hung up the phone. I tried to shake off the tiny tingle of adrenaline tiptoeing through my veins. There was something about the guy’s voice on the phone…
“Who was it?” Clark asked.
“He didn’t say. I’m sure it was just Ian being dumb and bored.”
“You gotta love little brothers.”
I then tried to focus on the complicated instructions Clark was sharing with me about the vintage cash register.
“It’s solid brass, so it’s worth a fortune,” he said. “Or so I’m told.”
I nodded. I smiled.
“Do you think you’ll be okay on your own?” he asked, only a few moments later.
“Um…yeah…sure,” I said, trying to convince us both. “Go do what you need to do. I’ll be fine here.”
“Great. Maybe I can convince Sir Frederic the Great to actually go home. He works too much.” Clark opened one of the double doors of the theater entrance. He looked back. “I think you’ll be really happy here,” he said with a smile.
And even though I’d only been in the state of South Carolina for less than two hours, I believed him.
“I think so, too,” I answered. “My mom knew this would be the best place for me.”
Clark and I locked eyes. “She was a beautiful woman,” he said.
I nodded and blinked back tears. “Yes, she was.”
“You remind me of her,” he said. “You’re graceful, like she was.”
Considering my mother had been a dance teacher, I took Clark’s words as a compliment. He disappeared inside the theater. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, hoping the cheap mascara I was wearing hadn’t turned into black puddles.
I stared at the monstrous buttons on the cash register and thought about my relatives who had lived and died before me. Some had worked exactly where I stood. The Magic Mansion had been in our family for generations. Yet until that afternoon, I’d never been there.
I knew Avalon Cove was a special place to my mother. After all, it’s where she’d met my father the summer she was fifteen. They’d fallen in love, drifted apart, reconnected, got engaged, broke it off, reunited, eloped, had me and my ridiculous brother. Shortly after that, my father decided he’d be happier with someone else. My mother opened a dance studio in Chicago and never remarried. My father hooked up with a slutty flight attendant named Sandy. Their relationship—if you can call it that—lasted less than a year. I suspected my mom and dad were still in love right up until the end, in her hospital room when my father had to decide to turn off the machines keeping my mother alive.
For a moment, I tried to imagine what my mom had looked like standing behind the counter of the gift shop, leaning over the insane cash register. She was probably bored, flipping through a magazine, chewing gum and blowing bubbles. I pictured her practicing ballet positions with her feet, hoping to meet some cute guy she could flirt with for the last few weeks of summer. I wondered if she thought about leaving Avalon Cove while she spent summer after summer working in the Magic Mansion and day after day living in my grandfather’s bizarre world of white rabbits and top hats. Did she want out? Or was this place truly home to her?
Maybe that’s why you sent me here, Mom? So I could come back here for you?
I could feel someone watching me. I turned to the wall of windows. I was right. Friendly brown eyes were staring at me through the glass.
She was tall, beanpole-thin, and looked to be around the same age as me. I wondered if she was a ballerina. She certainly looked like one. Probably on her way to a class or a recital. I felt dumb for staring at her, but it was hard not to. She was so pretty, it was difficult to look away. Her dark hair was short and pushed out of her face with a thick yellow headband. Her catlike eyes locked with mine. And then she smiled at me. In that second, I felt like we’d been best friends for years even though she was a complete stranger.
She motioned for me to come outside and join her. I noticed her short fingernails were painted pastel purple. I shook my head, pointed to the register, and gestured for her to come in.
I could smell the salty sea breeze floating inside when she walked in, like a cloud of ocean air perfume. She moved to the counter, folded her arms across her chest, and said with a quick nod of her head, “You’re new.” Her voice had a tinge of toughness to it.
“I’m Destiny.”
She repeated my name, making it sound exotic. “I already know who you are.”
I gave her a look. “You do?”
“Yeah, I heard you were coming.”
“Do you know my uncles?” I asked.
“Everybody does,” she told me. “It’s a small island.”
“I just landed a couple of hours ago.”
“From outer space?” She grinned.
I smiled. I liked her already. “No. From Chicago.”
“Wow. Do you hate it here?”
“No…I like it. I mean, so far. I’ve never lived on an island before,” I said.
“I was born here,” she explained. “It used to be boring.”
“It’s not anymore?”
“No…now that you’re finally here. I really hope you wanna be friends, Destiny. I don’t have any.”
“You don’t have any friends?” I asked. I hope that didn’t sound bitchy.
“No…that’s not true,” she said. “I have one friend. His name’s Topher McGentry. I’m sure you’ll meet him soon. Everyone else treats me like I’m toxic.”
“You don’t seem poisonous to me,” I told her.
“Consider yourself warned. I’m a dork and not ashamed to admit it.”
“Care to elaborate?” I asked.
“I’m one of three black girls in my high school,” she said. “I like comic books and I love anime. I’m not into hip-hop. Or rap. Or Beyoncé. I’m a diehard vegan and I hate people who refuse to recycle. I don’t hang out at parties and I refuse to go to school dances. Guys avoid me like the plague, which is perfectly fine with me, since I’m bi and I think girls are way hotter than boys. When I graduate in two years, I’m considering joining the Peace Corps. Or maybe starting an all-girl punk band. I can’t decide. Maybe you can help me make up my mind.”
I stared at her in awe, unsure of what to say.
She suddenly seemed really uncomfortable. “Should I go?” she asked. “I can leave. If you don’t wanna be friends, I totally understand.”
She turned toward the door. I reached out and tried to touch her arm but grabbed the short sleeve of her dark blue top instead. “No…I do. I definitely wanna be friends.”
“Great,” she said. “Then it’s your turn to spill your guts.”
“Okay…”
“Go,” she instructed.
I took a quick breath before I spoke. “I’ve been here for a total of two hours. I’m from Chicago. My mom died almost two weeks ago. My uncles are now my legal guardians. I’m completely cool with them being gay. To me, people are people. I’m not bi, but my last boyfriend was a total jerk and broke up with me in a candygram on Valentine’s Day. I wish my dad and I were closer, but he’s too busy trying to hook up with girls who are half his age. My little brother Ian makes me crazy. I tried being a vegetarian for a week. I hated it and passed out. I’ve never read comic books. And I don’t know what the Peace Corps is. But I used to dream about being in a band. Or having a beagle.”
“Are you a swimmer?”
I shook my head “No. Why? Do I look I like one?”
She nodded. “Yeah, you do. Maybe it’s the blond hair. And because you’re tall…like me.”
“You hate my hair?”
“Is it natural?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, I can tell.”
“I usually don’t wear it up in a ponytail,” I explained. “It was hot on the plane.”
“It’s hot outside,” she said. “The humidity here is a killer.”
“Do people tell you that you look like Rihanna?” I asked.
“They do, and I usually forgive them for it,” she said. “I’m not a fan.”
“Me either,” I lied.
She looked me in the eye. “Yes, you are,” she decided. “Girls like you always like her music. And girls like you always think I look like her, even though my style is completely different.”
“What do you mean girls like me?” I asked.
“You know…the pretty but shy type. I bet you were really popular at your old school. In Chicago.”
“Hardly,” I said. Samantha and I usually kept to ourselves. There were a few kids we hung out with once in a while, but it was usually just the two of us.
“You will be here,” she said. “Without even trying.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
We both turned toward the theater’s double doors as my uncles appeared, ready to lock up and go home. Uncle Fred had taken off his cape and unbuttoned the top button of his tuxedo shirt. Clark had keys in his hand and a burgundy windbreaker tossed over one shoulder. They looked like an odd couple: young, sexy Clark with his amazing cheekbones standing next to my toupée-wearing fortysomething strange uncle. I wondered what they saw in each other. What was the appeal?
It has to be true love.
“Hello, Tasha,” my Uncle Fred said to my new friend. “It’s good to see you again.”
Her eyes lit up at the sight of Uncle Fred like he was a rock star. “Hello, Sir Frederic.” I thought she was going to break into a full-blown curtsy or fall at his feet. “Do you mind if I show Destiny around the island for a while?”
He didn’t give it much thought. He answered right away. “That would be all right. Just have her home by nine.”
“She’ll be in safe hands,” Tasha promised.
“I’ll save you a plate,” Clark assured me. “You’re welcome to join us, Tasha. I’m making meatloaf.”
“Thanks for the invite, but I’m still a vegan,” she explained.
“If you change your mind…” Clark said.
“Yeah,” she said. “I probably will.”
*
“Don’t be fooled by this place,” Tasha cautioned. “It’s pretty because of the ocean and the white sand, but there’s nothing to do here, especially once the vacationers are gone.”
So far, Avalon Cove seemed quiet, almost deserted. “Are they here now?” I asked, glancing around but seeing no one.
We were walking through a series of narrow, cobblestoned streets lined with ivy-covered boutiques, antique shops, French bistros, pubs, and a bakery. Between them, or stacked above, were shuttered apartments, complete with wrought-iron terraces and brightly colored flowerboxes.
This is what Europe must be like. Maybe I can pretend I don’t live in Avalon Cove, South Carolina. I live in a little village, just outside of Paris. In fact, I can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance where my hot French lover is waiting for me. No. Wait. That’s not the Eiffel Tower, it’s a palm tree. They don’t have palm trees in Paris. Damn…
I had no idea where we were—or how to get back to my uncles’ house, for that matter—so I was thankful Tasha knew exactly what was waiting for us around each corner. I had to walk fast to keep up with her. She didn’t walk, she strutted. She moved like she owned the place.
“It’s almost September,” she said. “There’s only a few tourists left.” For a second, I thought she’d said terrorists. I forced myself to stop fantasizing about life in Europe and to focus on Tasha’s every word. Pay attention, Destiny. Your new BFF is talking to you. “They’ll be gone by the time school starts in two weeks. Then you won’t see them again until May.”
“What’s school like?” I asked.
She gave me a look. “You’ll learn to hate it.”
“That bad?”
“I’ve been stuck in a classroom with the same idiots for over ten years now,” she said. “That’s why I’m glad you’re here. I’m sick of knowing everyone.”
“How do you know my uncles?”
“I used to work at the Magic Mansion,” she said, as if I knew. “Last summer.”
“Did you quit?”
“No. I’d never do that. I love that place,” she said. “They had to let me go. Business isn’t what it used to be. I feel really bad for your uncles. They work really hard. I think they might have to shut the place down soon.”
“Really?” I said. “But it seems like such a cool place.”
Tasha shrugged. “I guess people don’t want magic anymore.”
“That’s sad.”
She stopped in her tracks and touched the sleeve of my sweatshirt. I imagined her fingertips were soft, but I couldn’t feel them through the fabric. A thin line of sweat swam down the back of my leg and tickled the inside of my ankle. “So you believe in it, then?” she asked. “You believe in magic?”
“That’s strange,” I said. “You’re the second person to ask me that question today.”
“Around here,” she said, “that doesn’t surprise me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll explain it on the way.”
Tasha was on the move again. I struggled to catch up. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
“Okay.”
“So,” she said, “what’s your answer?”
“About believing in magic?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah.”
I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. Tasha was right. The humidity in Avalon Cove was awful—even worse than Chicago. I was turning into a human puddle. A sweatshirt? In August? What was I thinking? “I don’t know if I do,” I answered.
“Give it a week or two. Maybe less,” she said. “You’ll believe.”
I thought about asking if we could stop somewhere, maybe dart inside a candle shop or an art gallery to suck up some free air-conditioning. Instead, I smiled and sweated and said, “Well, you know what they say: seeing is believing.”
She stopped again. I was grateful for the moment to catch my breath. Clearly I needed to work some cardio into my daily routine if I was going to be friends with Tasha. The girl moved like a train. “So, if I show you some magic, then you’ll believe?” she asked.
I exhaled and said, “Um, yeah. I guess so.”
“Then as soon as we get to where we’re going, I’ll prove it to you. Deal?”
I nodded. “Deal.”
We were on the move again.
“We’re cutting through the park by the harbor,” she explained. “It’s a shortcut.”
“Sure,” I said. “Sounds great.”
We turned a corner. The park was nothing more than a circle of towering trees, a few redwood picnic tables, and an empty playground. Beyond it—as Tasha had promised—was a beautiful harbor swirling with sailboats, late afternoon Jet Skiers, and skinny girls in barely existing bikinis. I glanced down at the baggy sweatshirt, two-year-old khaki skirt, and scuffed white sandals I was wearing and admitted to myself I was out of place. This wasn’t Lake Michigan. And I would have to do five hundred crunches a night to have a bikini body—by next summer.
No more Cheetos. Or double stuffed Oreos. Good-bye Ben & Jerry’s. Hello cute boy running toward us.
“Who’s that?” I asked not ready to stop staring at him. Even from yards away, I could tell he was adorable.
“That’s Topher,” Tasha said.
“He’s cute,” I admitted.
“He’s gay,” she responded.
“Damn…”
“Get ready,” she warned me. “He’s in trouble. I can tell.”
He reached us within seconds. He grabbed Tasha’s arm. She steadied him. “They’re after me,” he panted. Apparently, Tasha was right. He was scared. He doubled over, and I worried he might throw up.
“All three of them?” Tasha asked him.
“Yes,” he said, gasping for air. His cheeks were flushed and his blue-gray eyes were round with fear. “They’re right behind me.”
Tasha looked in the distance. “I see ’em,” she said. “Topher, take Destiny with you. Go to the tunnel and wait for me there. I’ll deal with these idiots.”
“By yourself?” he asked.
“I can handle it,” she assured him. “I always do. Now…go.”
Topher looked at me. “Come on,” he said. He broke into a run. I had no choice but to do the same. I followed him, struggling to keep up in my flimsy sandals. I was tempted to rip the things off my feet and dash toward the park barefoot. “Hurry!”
He headed back toward the playground, which was surrounded by sand. I rushed past a swing set and a metal slide in time to see Topher scramble into a cement tunnel. It couldn’t have been more than six feet in length and was open at both ends. This was our hideout? Maybe if we were seven and we were trying to win a game of hide-and-seek, it would be the perfect spot. But this was different. Fearing for our safety, I crawled inside beside him.
“What do we do now?” I asked, breathless.
“We wait,” he instructed. “Tasha will let us know when we’re safe.”
“I take it you’ve done this before?”
He nodded. “They chase me every day.”
I looked at him. “Seriously?”
“Well, maybe not every day,” he said. “Sometimes I outsmart them. Or I wait until they get bored and go away.”
“That’s crazy,” I said. “Why do they wanna hurt you?”
“Why else?” he said. “Because I’m gay.”
I decided I hated my sandals. I slipped them off. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of.”
“Tasha says the same thing,” he said. “She calls them Neanderthals.”
“I can think of a few worse names.”
“You’re new here,” he said, “but we knew you were coming.”
“Do you know my uncles?” I asked.
“Know them? They’ve practically adopted me.”
“Yeah,” I said, “they seem cool like that. To tell you the truth, I don’t really know them very well. I didn’t even find out I was moving here until two days ago. A lawyer told me.”
“You’re really lucky you get to live with them,” he said. “My mom works all the time since it’s just the two of us, so they feed me and take me places with them a lot. Let me hang out. Talk to me about…stuff.”
“Do they know?”
“About me being gay?”
“No, that you get chased every day by a bunch of jerks?”
He shook his head and lowered his eyes. “I haven’t told them yet.”
“Maybe you should,” I said. “Or go to the police.”
“What are they going to do about it?”
“Arrest them,” I said. “Put them on probation or something like that.”
“That won’t happen,” he said. “Nathan’s dad is the captain of the police department.”
“So they get away with it? That’s insane.”
“Tasha says we should just ignore ’em and eventually they’ll stop,” he told me. “I thought I was gonna be free of ’em until September. I thought summer school would be safe. But no such luck. Nathan flunked algebra, and Skeeter and Boyd will be forty by the time they graduate.”
I struggled with the impulse to hug him. Topher and I had known each for exactly five minutes, so I decided not to. I folded my arms across my chest. The cement felt cool against the back of my legs. “Topher, I don’t know you very well, but this isn’t fair,” I said. “You shouldn’t have to live in fear.”
“Have you seen them?” he asked. “They’re twice my size.”
Topher was a small guy. He was shorter than me, and thin. He was definitely not a jock. He was more emo, complete with smudges of black guyliner around his beautiful silvery blue eyes. He had long fingers. I stared at them, wondering if he played piano. His hair was jet black and cut into a jagged mess. He was wearing a ripped pair of black jeans, a striped blue and white T-shirt, and a pair of red Converse.
“What are you?” I asked. “A skater? Punk? Emo? Goth?”
“I’m just me,” he answered. “Maybe a little bit of everything.”
I smiled. “I like that.”
“Destiny?” he said. “No offense, but…you seem way too pretty to hang out with us.”
I almost laughed. “Are you kidding me?”
“You look like you play volleyball,” he said. “Are you a model? You know, runway?”
Topher’s assessment of me sounded genuine, which made him more endearing.
“Topher, I think that’s the sweetest thing a guy’s ever said to me,” I said.
“Adrianna was right,” he said. “You’re perfect.”
“For what?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” he answered.
What’s up with the people on this island? Everyone is so secretive and cryptic.
“And Adrianna?” I asked. “Is she a friend of yours, too?”
He grinned. “You could say that. She’s the one who told us you were coming. She knew before your uncles did,” he said. “Even before your mom died.”
A hand reached inside the tunnel. I almost screamed and clutched Topher’s arm, nearly crawling into his lap. Tasha knelt down in the sand and poked her head inside.
“The coast is clear,” she said. She straightened her yellow headband and motioned for us to get out of the tunnel. I slid out first. Tasha offered a hand and helped me up. I wiped the back of my skirt, hoping I didn’t have sand stuck to the back of my thighs.
I’ll never wear a skirt again. At least not when I’m hanging out with these two.
“How’d you get rid of ’em this time?” Topher asked.
“How do you think?” Tasha said. “I threatened to put a curse on them.”
“Again?”
She nodded. “Of course. They still think I’m a witch.”
Topher turned to me. “That reminds me,” he said. “Destiny, do you believe in magic?”
I gave them both a look. “Okay,” I said, a hand on my hip. “What’s the deal? Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
Tasha reached out and brushed a few strands of hair away from my eyes. “Because here,” she said, “you either believe in magic…or you don’t. Topher and I…we believe.”
“We need to know where you stand,” Topher echoed.
“Where I stand?” I repeated. “I’m standing on an island in South Carolina a thousand miles from home.”
Topher slid his arm around my waist. He whispered into my ear, “That life is behind you now.”
I started to cry, and felt like a complete idiot. “I know,” I said, with a small nod. “I can never go back.”
“We know what you’ve been through,” Tasha said. She took my hand and placed it in hers. Her skin was as soft and velvety as it looked. “We know about pain.”
I looked around, worried people might be staring at the three of us. The playground was empty. Except for the seagulls gliding in the air above.
My voice cracked when I spoke. “I miss my mom,” I admitted. It was the first time I’d said the words. Just saying them made me cry even harder.
Damn it. Stop crying. You’re such an idiot.
“She misses you, too,” Tasha said, tightening her grip on my hand.
“Soon everything will make sense,” Topher promised.
I shook my head. “No…it won’t,” I said. “I don’t understand why she had to die.”
“Because,” he said, “it brought you here to Avalon Cove.”
“To us,” Tasha added. “Everything happens for a reason.”
“You guys are being super sweet and I really appreciate that,” I said, “especially since you don’t even know me. I swear I’m not usually an emotional mess like this.”
“We want to take you somewhere,” Topher said.
“Okay,” I said. “But should I call my uncles first? Do either one of you have a cell phone I can borrow? I left mine in Chicago. I figured it was time for a fresh start. And a new phone.”
“I promised Sir Frederic the Great I’d have you home by nine,” Tasha reminded me. “And you will be.”
Tasha and Topher pulled away from me, stepping aside. They gave each other a strange look and started walking away, leaving the playground—and me—behind.
I followed.
“I only have one question,” I said, once I caught up with them.
“You can ask us anything,” Topher said. “We have nothing to hide.”
“Where exactly are we going?” I asked.
Tasha smiled at me and said, “We’re taking you to Wonderland.”