Page 37 of Practically Magic

I try to push past her, my elbow poking her rib cage; her right arm coming dangerously close to jabbing me in the throat. Then both our phones start ringing at the same time. The ringtone is the same too. “Witchy Woman” by the Eagles. We look at each other.

“Mom and Dad,” we say in unison, and break out of the bathroom, racing for our phones. We’ve always had the same ringtone for our parents. I had no idea Harry still used it. My call is from Dad. I bring my phone out to the hall; Harry lingers in the threshold to her bedroom, Mom’s face splashed across her phone screen.

“It is a witch’s job to answer their calling,” Eleanor says smugly as she floats up the stairs. I flinch. Okay, so whatever is going on with the wards didn’t magically fix itself overnight. “Also, it’s rude to ignore one’s family.”

Without meaning to, I share a glare with Harry: Can you believe this girl? We both seem to remember that we’re mad at each other at the same time and turn back to our phones. I put Dad on speaker as Harry does the same with Mom. “Hi!” we say in unison in our fakest cheerful voices.

“Why are you both ignoring your aunts?” Mom demands by way of greeting. “Don’t you realize how expensive it is to call from the ship?”

“Hi, Mom! Nice to hear from you too,” I say pleasantly. “How are Grams and Grampa?”

“Katherine Eleanor Hadley, do not start with me,” she says.

Eleanor floats closer. “That’s my name!” she says excitedly. Harry freezes and I hold my breath, wondering if Mom can hear her.

But Mom doesn’t say anything about the phantom voice. “I have had a migraine since yesterday afternoon. I know something is going on at the house. I want both of you to tell me what is going on right now.”

I can’t help but flick my eyes to Harry’s, but once again she bites her lip and looks away, as Eleanor watches us both like this is the best entertainment she’s had in centuries.

“What your mother means is that as Hadleys, your responsibility isn’t just to cast the wards every year,” Dad says like he’s in lecture, and I feel the beginning of a chill up the back of my neck. “Our family is the conduit for magic. And family isn’t just one person.”

“For centuries, the Hadley bond is what has made Mystic Hollow so powerful. A powerful force for good,” Mom interrupts. “And if you’re lying to us about—”

“We just want to make sure you two don’t have a problem you can’t handle on your own,” Dad cuts in gently, ever the diplomat. “Remember, Mystic Hollow isn’t just our town. It’s our home. And we must protect our home.”

Harry and I both shift uncomfortably. Neither one of us wants to tell them that the house seems to be splitting in two and Mom’s beloved wallpaper looks like it went through a shredder.

“Everything is fine, Mom,” Harry says. “I’m performing the rituals on Samhain. I reached out to Jack to get coffee. We’re meeting later this morning.”

I bristle. So Harry is taking over? She thinks her ex is more likely to be her true love than Colton is to be mine? “That’s too kind of her,” I say, as fake as I can. “But the spell requires true love. And thankfully, what Peter and I have . . . is real.”

Harry mutters under her breath, “Just about as real as he is.”

I whirl to her, ready to snap, when there’s a tinkling about. That’s our only warning before the hallway chandelier comes crashing down between us. A cloud of dust—and thankfully nothing else—billows out.

We stand there in shock, grateful to be unscathed, until we hear, “What was that!”

“Mom, calm down,” Harry says.

“Nothing!” I say quickly.

“You’d tell us if something was going wrong, wouldn’t you? Harry?” I can hear the worry in Mom’s voice, but it does piss me off that she’s relying on my sister and not me.

“We’re fine,” Harry says, her voice steely.

“Good,” Mom allows, and from her tone I can tell she’s trying to massage away another headache building in her temples. “Because Grams and I both have the strangest feeling something is happening with the magic in Mystic Hollow.”

If what Dad said is right and our house channels all of the magic, maybe Harry and I didn’t just break the house. Maybe we broke the magic itself.

Which can’t be the case. That isn’t even possible.

Right?

“Everything is fine,” Harry says curtly, kicking a bit of the chandelier into my shin. It leaves a long, dusty stripe on my pajama pants and I grit my teeth, holding back a scream. “You just enjoy spending time with Grams and Grampa.”

Mom is quiet for a moment. “All right. Just remember: You can lie to me, but your intentions always come through in your magic.” I feel a pit in my stomach. “Call if you hear anything odd.”

“Will do! Love you!” Harry and I chorus. Then we hang up at the same time.