Page 45 of Practically Magic

“Kat,” Laney says gently, “I saw Reese walking out of his house with boxes. I saw him. They’re leaving. Today. For North Carolina.”

“Moving? Today?” How could Reese be so cruel? Why would he make plans if he knew he was moving? Why has no one mentioned this before? Why hasn’t Reese? My hands tremble as I reach for my suddenly running nose. “Why wouldn’t he tell me? We made plans. We talked about it this morning. He promised he’d be here!” I sound shrill, my throat sharp and tight.

“I know,” Laney says, and her eyes are shiny with unshed tears. “I’m sorry, Kat.”

“Me too,” I say, and that’s when I realize that I’m also crying, that there are hot tears streaming down my cheeks. I sniffle pathetically.

And then Harry is there, looking solemn as she wipes my cheeks and nose with a tissue. “He didn’t deserve you, Kat,” she whispers as she pulls me in tight.

I would have held her tighter, because that’s the last time she hugs me. The next week, she breaks up with Jack. She throws herself into her studies. And then she leaves for BC one August morning without even saying goodbye.

17

Mystic Hollow Community Page

New post from Mystic Hollow HOA Association: Former Congress Lane resident 16-year-old Reese Whitaker, who moved to North Carolina last fall, has been reported missing by his mother. She says two days ago he started talking about going to Mystic Hollow to be reunited with his lost love. She has no clue who this is. If anyone has any information, please call the local police immediately.

I slam the door in his face.

“Who was that?”

“Reese.”

“Reese?” Laney shrieks. “Reese, as in the guy who moved away on Halloween and broke your heart? Reese, who completely cut off contact and ignored all your text messages? Reese, whose name you wouldn’t even—” Laney cuts herself off. “Sorry. That’s just super-weird, right. I mean, tell me you don’t think it’s super-weird.”

“My sister cast a love curse to keep boys away from me, and I got into an argument with her and we accidentally broke magic, so now our town is a magnet for every evil creature who wants to eat us and all my ex-crushes are showing up, suddenly in love with me. I’d say we’re well past ‘weird.’ ”

“I said super-weird.”

I blink at her.

“So what do we do?” she prompts.

“We . . .” What would Harry do? I hate that I think it, but it’s all I’ve ever thought. For my entire life. When she started playing soccer, I waited two years and then I started playing soccer. When she did oboe in band, I waited two years and then told my parents I wanted to play oboe in band. And then Harry started going out with boy after boy, and I . . . did nothing.

But Harry has never broken magic before, and now she’s MIA.

“We go to Colton’s Halloween party tomorrow night,” I say. “He’s our only chance at fixing the wards around town.”

“But will they even work?” Laney asks, her eyes huge. “I mean, if the town’s magic is broken—”

“It’ll work,” I say. “Because it has to.”

I glance over at Eleanor, waiting for her to say some convoluted metaphor about houses or sisterhood. Instead, she’s silent.

“Tomorrow night,” I tell Laney. “I’ll meet you by the green and we’ll walk over.”

“Do you think there will be a green by tomorrow night?”

It turns out, there definitely is a green still. Sure, it’s hard to tell who’s walking over to Colton’s party in a really cool costume and who is actually a ghost, but it’s okay. It’ll all be fine, once I get Colton to realize he’s my soulmate.

“Have you seen Harry?” Laney asks nervously.

“Nope.”

“Cool.” She nods, making her orange wig bounce. She’s going as Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie’s alter ego. Laney loves his music. “And have you cast any spells that didn’t immediately reverse?”

I bite my lip. The spell I tried to cast to make Aunt Diane’s old jeans a little roomier have made them skintight. It’s fine. I had planned to go as an eighties kid. Now I’m just an aughts kid. Right? “Not exactly—”