“I know I do,” I said uncomfortably. “I, uh, can’t help it.”
“Well, you might not be able to help your pretty new face but you can certainly help those clothes.” He frowned at my baggy old T-shirt. “Did you go diving in the rag bag for that outfit or what?”
“None of my old clothes fit me anymore since I, uh, changed,”
I told him desperately. “Avery, I really need your help.”
“Yes, you do,” he agreed briskly. “Come on, let’s go into your wardrobe and make some alterations.
“Thank you!” I smiled in relief. Avery was a whiz at sewing and domestic magic, though he also had formidable powers. But I was certain he could help me with my problem by using what he called his “magic needle” which was the first spell he’d ever done as a kid when his powers manifested.
Sure enough, the minute Kaitlyn and Megan and Avery and I all got into the room where we girls slept, Avery opened my wardrobe and got to work. He called his magic needle into existence and it began to alter my clothes at once to fit me.
But doing what was really elementary magic for him, didn’t take much of Avery’s concentration. He had more than enough attention left over to grill me about my “new look.”
“Okay, spill it, Emmers,” he demanded as his magic needle moved on its own, hovering in mid-air behind him as it altered one of my uniform blouses. “What exactly happened to you and how did Bran O’Connor turn into such a hottie?”
“It’s a long story,” I began.
“We’ve got time,” Megan came to sit on the bed beside me and Kaitlyn sat on the other side.
“Well,” I began. “It all started when I was at work last night and Bran and his family came in for supper…”
“And now here I am.” I spread my arms to indicate my new appearance as I finished my long, strange tale. “It turns out I’m adopted and my mom doesn’t know who my real parents are—or were—and I don’t feel like myself at all and none of my clothes fit!”
“Not true,” Avery said briskly, as his magic needle finished work on my last skirt. “At least not about the clothes. They should work now—try them on.”
“Thanks, Avery!” I went into the bathroom and slipped into a uniform, relieved to see that everything fit me to a T now—although the blouse still seemed tighter across the front. But I guessed that any blouse I wore was going to seem tight now. Ugh.
I came out and all three of them embarrassed me by clapping and cheering. Avery even gave me a wolf whistle.
“I just can’t get over it, Emma,” Megan said. “You’re so different.”
“I feel different,” I said with a sigh.
“You don’t sound happy about it,” Avery said, frowning. “Even though you’re absolutely gorgeous.”
“I’m not really happy,” I admitted. “I’m so used to fading into the background and now I feel like everyone is staring at me all the time.”
“They’ll get used to it and so will you,” Kaitlyn said, smiling as she gave my hand a squeeze. “Transformations take getting used to.”
“Well you would know, little Miss ‘I’m-a-Drake now,’” Avery remarked, raising a sardonic eyebrow at her.
Kaitlyn made a face at him and they both laughed. I couldn’t help thinking of how shy and introverted she’d been back when she’d been scarred by the fire—before her own transformation—and contrasting it with how self-assured and confident she was now.
I wished my own transformation had made me feel more confident too, but I still just felt weird.
“You’ll be okay, Emmers,” Avery said, clearly seeing the unhappy look on my face. “And in time, you’ll realize that those of us who are extra beautiful get special treatment.” He mimed tossing long, invisible hair and we all laughed at him.
Trust Avery to crack me up even when I was feeling down.
I smiled at all of them gratefully.
“Thanks for being so understanding and not being shocked, you guys,” I said to my coven-mates. “And thanks for fixing my clothes, Avery.”
“Any time.” He made a shooing gesture. “Would you like me to fix all your other clothes too? I don’t mind.”
“Well, I do have some uniforms for work at home and some casual clothes that don’t fit anymore,” I said. “Maybe I could go back and get them sometime tomorrow and you could fix them then?”
“Sure.” Avery nodded. “Now tell us more about your new friend, Lachlan.” He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Any chance he walks on the other side of the fence?”
“I don’t think so,” I said awkwardly. “I, uh, kind of heard him and Bran talking about me right after I had a run-in with our landlord and he seems to be into, um, girls not guys.”
“You mean he’s into you,” Megan said shrewdly. “And if I’m not mistaken, so is Bran.”
“Of course he is! Why else would he offer to take that awful skink you had in your ear?” Kaitlyn remarked with a shudder. “But what do you mean you had a run-in with your landlord?”
So then I had to tell them all about Mr. Groperson demanding the rent a week early. And, because they were my coven and we were all so close, I also told them about the disappearing cigarette butts and the gold coin I had somehow found in my pocket, too.
When I finished, they were all gaping at me.
“But don’t tell Bran or Lachlan about it,” I said quickly. “Because they already have some kind of crazy idea that I have magic and I really don’t think I do.”
“Let me get this straight,” Avery said. “First of all, you get transformed into a gorgeous Fae, but iron nails don’t hurt you, and also you tamed a kelpie, and then you made a handful of cigarette butts disappear and a gold coin appear in their place but you still don’t think you have any kind of magic?”
“I don’t!” I protested. “Nothing I did felt magical. I mean, I didn’t have any kind of pain or tingling sensation and I didn’t have to work any spells or prick my finger to draw blood or any of that. Those things all just…happened.”
“Maybe you’re so magical you don’t even have to think about it—your magic just comes out,” Megan suggested.
“Can that happen?” Kaitlyn asked, frowning.
“I don’t know.” Avery looked thoughtful. “I wish I knew more about how Fae magic operates. But most everybody from the Realm keeps their power a big secret—they don’t practice it out in the open like the Sisters do.”
“I wonder how powerful it can actually be,” Megan murmured.
“Powerful enough to conjure a gold coin when her creep of a landlord was asking for the rent, anyway,” Kaitlyn pointed out. “It’s a good thing, too—he sounds awful!”
“He is.” I grimaced. “He’s raised our rent four times because he knows we can’t go anywhere else.”
“Why not?” Avery asked. “Why not move to Shady Pines?” Which was the other apartment complex in Frostproof.
“Or my Aunt Deli has been looking for someone to rent out one of the rooms in her house,” Megan offered. “You know how huge her house is and since I’m at school almost all the time, she wants someone to share the place. I bet your mom would get along great with her.”