Page 39 of Summer L.A.W.

There was a brief, uncomfortable silence. The surf pounded outside like punctuation.

Finally, Crystal exhaled. “Fine. I’ll stay put. For one night.”

“Five,” Joell demanded.

“Three.”

“Until we’re ready to let you go,” Sahara stated calmly.

“And not sneak off,” Victoria added.

“Not even a little bit,” Lioness echoed.

Crystal rolled her eyes. “You all realize you sound like my parole officers, right?”

Joell smiled faintly. “Yup. Is the message getting through?”

Lioness raised her mug of coffee in salute. “To Litha, the solstice, and not dying stupidly before breakfast.”

The others murmured their agreement, chairs scraping as the tension dissolved. Mason lingered, catching Crystal’s hand as the witches began to disperse.

“You gonna listen to them?” he asked quietly.

She smirked. “Technically, I didn’t promise anything. But I will not sneak off. Doesn’t mean I can’t plan a little something.”

“Remind me to never play poker with you,” he said, and kissed her knuckles while the witches' backs were turned.

From across the room, Lioness’s voice rang out, “I saw that!”

The screen door slammed behind Mason, his boots silent on the paved drive. Through the window, Crystal caught one last glimpse of his broad shoulders, duffel slung over one, pausing at the edge of the path as if he could still sense her watching. Then he squared his jaw and kept walking toward Raoul’s pool house.

The silence he left behind was thick as salt air.

Lioness broke it first. “Well. He’s cute, but I’m glad that distraction’s out of the way.”

“Lioness,” Joell warned.

“What? We all thought it.”

Crystal turned from the window. “You could at least wait until he’s out of earshot before calling me distracted.”

Sahara folded her arms. “He’s fine, you’re fine, but we’ve got bigger priorities. If we’re relocating to celebrate Litha, it’s got to be before sundown.”

Joell nodded. “Then let’s not waste time. Everyone to your stations.”

The words sent a ripple through the mansion. Lights flickered in approval, and the faint hum of magic rose underfoot, like the heartbeat of something ancient and alive.

Lioness grabbed a pastry from the counter. “Teleportation snacks are self-care,” she said through a mouthful of croissant.

“Less eating, more anchoring,” Magda muttered, sketching a rune on the wall in glowing blue chalk.

Crystal lingered at the window a heartbeat longer, watching the sun rise higher over Long Island Sound. “Guess this is goodbye, for now.”

“More like ‘see you after the solstice,’” Joell said, voice gentler. “Now brace yourself. The mansion doesn’t like sentimentality.”

The floorboards shuddered in agreement. Wind rushed through the hallways, though the mansion’s doors and windows were closed. The view outside blurred, the horizon bending like heat haze.

“Everyone holding onto something?” Sahara asked.