Page 25 of Enchanted to Meet You

Any spells cast by a Witch must be to seek harmony with—not harm—humans and the earth.

Rule Number Two of the Nine Rules

*World Council of Witches*

Derrick gulped down the remainder of the coffee in his compostable cup from Wake Up West Harbor. He had to admit it wasn’t the worst coffee he’d ever had. It was actually pretty good.

He also felt much more awake, which was a relief after the miserable night he’d spent in the cramped seat of his rental car outside Jess’s cottage. At least now he was better able to focus his gaze on the front doors of West Harbor High, through which he’d watched her disappear an hour earlier.

For such a relatively small town, West Harbor seemed to have a decent high school. This one boasted an eleven-hundred-seat auditorium, a newly resodded football field, and a four-bay auto shop garage with two lifts.

He only knew this last part because he could see the lifts from where he was parked, since the bay doors had been open to let in the sea breeze. Some of the kids had even come out of the shop to vape and enjoy the warm midday sun on their faces.

At least until that sun suddenly disappeared behind a dark bank of clouds. The wind picked up, too, right around the time he received a text from Jessica saying that she thought the girl was the Bringer of Light. The wind sent autumn leaves streaming past his car, and caused the kids to duck hastily inside. The American and Connecticut state flags, which had been hanging limply from a pole just outside the school’s front doors, swelled and snapped in the gale, and thunder rumbled—not in the distance, but seemingly directly above him.

Derrick decided to recheck the weather app he could have sworn had told him only a few hours earlier that the day would be clear. Yes. Itstillsaid conditions in West Harbor were sunny, with zero percent chance of precipitation. What was going on? He was used to the changeable weather conditions of the plains out west. No one had warned him it could be like this on the East Coast, as well. Was this because they were near the sea? Or were more insidious forces already at work?

Then he heard a bang. He swiveled in his seat—as much as he could in the confined space—to make sure the kids in the auto shop were all right, but it turned out the sound hadn’t come from there. It came from a side door in the opposite direction.

Through that side door burst Jessica, a panicked look on her face. She ran across the courtyard toward the parking lot as if she was being chased, though as far as Derrick could see, there was no one behind her.

Then there was a blinding flash of lightning—so bright that it illuminated the entire schoolyard—and thunder boomed again, this time sounding as if it was directly over the school.

And the first hailstone hit.

Derrick had been in hailstorms before. They happened frequently out west—though not as often as snowstorms.

He’d rarely seen hailstones this big, however. The first one landed with a thud on the hood of his rental car. He stared at it in confusion, thinking that maybe some kids were playing baseball out over on the field he’d seen behind the school, and someone had just hit a really long homer.

That’s how big this hailstone was. Baseball-sized.

Then, when he saw the dent in his hood and realized what was actually falling out of the dark gray clouds overhead, he glanced at Jessica. She had frozen in the middle of the courtyard, halfway between the door she’d just burst through and the parking lot. He could practically hear the wheels of her mind spinning as she tried to decide which was faster—a dash back into the school, or to her own car?

“The school. Get back inside,” he growled, switching on the ignition to his own vehicle as hailstones continued to smash all around it—and some on top of it, judging by the thumps he was hearing on the roof.

But for some reason, Jessica decided it was safer to make a run for her car. She began sprinting across the school courtyard as hail crashed down around her like rocks hurled from some unseen catapult.

“What are you doing, Jessica?” Derrick smashed his foot down on the gas pedal. For such a small car, the Fiat had a surprising amount of pickup. “What the hell are you doing?”

She’d clearly made the wrong choice. She only got as far as the sidewalk when the largest of the hailstones began to fall, smashing to the ground all around her as if targeted directly at her. Fortunately there seemed to be something hard in the tote bag she’d lifted over her head. It was acting as a protective shield against the projectiles, saving her from concussion.

But it couldn’t protect the rest of her body, which was taking abeating . . . at least until Derrick steered the car up over the curb and onto the sidewalk, slammed on the brakes, then leaned over to throw open the passenger side door.

“Get in!”

Jessica hurled herself into the little car, slamming the passenger door closed behind her. He wasn’t sure she even knew who was behind the wheel.

“Drive,” was all she said, panting hard as the hail pelted the tiny vehicle. “Get out of here. Drive, drive!”

Derrick didn’t ask questions—then. He jammed on the gas, sending them skidding across the hail-slick sidewalk and bumping down the curb back onto the circular driveway. Then he headed straight for the school’s exit. All the time, thunder crashed above, and hail pelted the car.

“Are you all right?” he asked, sending her what worried glances he could spare from the road as he tried to maneuver through the storm. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.” She wasn’t moving like someone with significant injuries. She’d lowered the tote bag to the floor of the car and slipped on her seat belt. Pushing her damp dark curls from her face, she looked over at him in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

“‘Thank you for saving my life, Derrick,’” he said as he drove, sarcastically. He had no idea where he was going. Every street in this town looked the same to him, each dotted with picturesque Colonial-style houses and shops, except where the land met the sea. There it was dotted with touristy lobster shacks or docks.

But it didn’t really matter, because right now everywhere he looked, all he saw was hail. They were driving at a crawl while the wipers worked frantically to clear the stones away so he could see. A spidery crack had begun to form across the windshieldwhere a larger stone had pelted a hole into it. He’d have quite a story to tell the rental car people.