Mason stopped in the middle of the path and searched her face. “So . . . you’re saying she’s okay if we . . .”
Vivi nodded and his smile stretched wide enough to show off the dimple that always undid her. But then he caught himself and his expression grew serious. “What about you, Vivi? What do you want?”
She considered this. She wanted a lot of things. She wanted to learn everything she could about magic. She wanted to find her academic passion and settle into life at Westerly. She wanted the type of romance she’d always fantasized about—dates in cozy cafés, browsing through bookstores, walking hand in hand across the quad at twilight when the gas lamps in front of the brick buildings glowed yellow as the moon. But she didn’t want it with just anyone; she wanted it with Mason. She wanted to joke over his badly prepared waffles, and learn about the history classes he was taking, and hear about all the wild European adventures he’d gone on last summer. She wanted to be with him.
But she wanted her sisters, too. She wanted them happy, healthy, safe. She wanted them united, no matter what.
So she placed a hand on his arm and said, “One rule: my sisters come first. If Scarlett changes her mind and decides she’s not okay with this after all, then it’s over. Agreed?”
Mason nodded quickly. “Of course.”
She smiled, unable to hold it back any longer. “In that case, you ask me what I want, Mason Gregory?” She reached up, slid one hand around the back of his neck, and drew his face down toward her own. “I want you.”
This time when his lips touched hers, nothing held them back. His hands slid around her waist, pulled her up and against him so tightly, her feet lifted off the ground. Vivi knew a spell that would allow her to levitate, but at the moment, this felt like the best magic of all.
Chapter Forty
Scarlett
Scarlett stood on the roof of Kappa House, stars like pinpricks scattered above her. The night air was cool and quiet. The moon shone brightly, the buttery orange of the harvest. And beside her stood Tiffany, wearing a loose white dress Scarlett had never seen before. Scarlett knew it was a dream, but it felt good to see Tiffany all the same. Tiffany turned and looked at the aviary, where the birds cooed and rustled softly.
“I think I was always like the ravens in the keep. Tied down,” she said softly.
“I wish you had come to me,” Scarlett said. “I wish you had talked to me. Maybe it would have all been different.”
Tiffany shook her head. “I would always have chosen her. Be honest with yourself—wouldn’t you have done the same for your mom? For Minnie?”
Scarlett went still, thinking. “Maybe part of me would have wanted to, but Minnie would have killed me before she let me kill another witch for her. So would my mom.” A flicker of anger entered her words as the memory of Tiffany’s actions washed over her once more. “You betrayed the fabric of what we are. Your mother wouldn’t have wanted this; the cost was too high. It wasn’t worth those other witches’ lives. It wasn’t worth yours.”
Tiffany gazed at her as if carefully considering her next words. For a moment she looked unbearably sad and then she smiled.
“You were my best friend, Scar. But we never were the same witch.” Tiffany walked over to the keep and tapped it. The ravens flew out, scattering across the night.
“Promise me something.” Tiffany looked back at her suddenly.
“Anything,” Scarlett said, but a part of her hesitated, hoping it wasn’t something she couldn’t do.
“Promise me you’ll check in on her.”
Scarlett’s heart squeezed painfully. “You didn’t have to ask. I will make sure we take care of your mom,” she vowed.
Tiffany’s eyes shone. “And something else.”
“What?”
“Promise me that you won’t let what I did stop you from being who you’re supposed to be.”
Before Scarlett could respond, a caw sounded overhead. Scarlett looked up to see a raven with yellow eyes circling. Her favorite one, Harlow. When she looked back to answer Tiffany, her friend was gone. Instead, a jet-black raven with blue eyes sat on the ledge. It blinked once at Scarlett and then, with a great flap of its wings, took off into the night sky, following Harlow into the darkness.
Scarlett awoke with Tiffany’s name on her lips, the sun streaming through her windows. She was in her bed at Kappa House, and although she knew she’d been sleeping, she wasn’t entirely certain that her conversation with Tiffany had been purely a dream. Scarlett hoped that her friend had found peace. That she was somehow soaring through the night like the ravens.
“Goodbye, friend,” she whispered, hoping somewhere Tiffany’s spirit could still hear her. And through her open window, she could have sworn she heard a single plaintive caw.
* * *
After dinner that night, there was a knock on Scarlett’s door.
Vivi poked her head in. “It’s almost time. I thought it might be fun if I helped you get ready for a change.”
“I’d love that,” Scarlett said. The younger girl approached and laid her tarot cards down on the table in front of them.
“I think you’ve proven you don’t need those for every spell anymore,” Scarlett said. Vivi smiled. Despite herself, and despite all they had been through, Scarlett could see that Vivi looked lighter. Happier than she had looked in the days before. She wondered if she had seen Mason. She wondered if they’d kissed already. If they were officially together . . . and then she pushed that train of thought aside. She’d begun to put Mason behind her, but moving on was never a linear process, and it didn’t help anyone to dwell on the details.
“Close your eyes,” Vivi commanded, and Scarlett could feel the tingle of magic as Vivi decorated her eyelids.
Scarlett cracked an eye open to peer out the windows. The full moon had just crested the trees in the distance, shedding a warm, yellowish light across Westerly’s campus.
“Stop blinking so much,” Vivi ordered.
She closed her eyes again, suppressing a smile. “My apologies.”
“How am I supposed to glamour you properly for your first night as president if you keep moving around?” Scarlett could hear the teasing in Vivi’s tone.
She grimaced. “Doubtful.”
Her Little scoffed. They’d had this discussion about a dozen times already. “Please. Like there’s anyone else we’d vote in after all of this.”
With Dahlia gone, Kappa couldn’t wait until next year to choose her successor. They needed someone to step up and fill her shoes now. Preferably before the full-moon ritual tonight, where they’d need an experienced witch to guide them, to lead the rite and channel the sisters’ magic properly.
Once, Scarlett would’ve leaped at the chance. Now . . .
“I wasn’t even president and I already messed things up horribly. I failed to notice my best friend going bad; I ignored you over petty crap with my ex when I should’ve been focused on Kappa problems.” Scarlett had already gone down the “What if I’d picked up the phone when Vivi called me that night” path about a hundred times. “Not to mention I told an outsider about us,” she added.