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Only the thought of Gabi and her coven convinced Joy to drag herself from beneath the water. Numb, she stepped out of the shower.
She flinched, crying out when an orange blur threw itself at her and wound around her ankles. She reached automatically for her missing wand but let out a rough sigh when Maisie let out a familiar high keen.
Joy couldn’t tell if her fox-bound friend was chastising Joy or apologising for scaring her. Joy grabbed a well-worn soft blue towel from the rack on the wall and wound it around her body before she fell to her knees on the rug.
Maisie burrowed close, the cold point of her nose leaving a wet streak on Joy’s neck, and Joy held on tight to her friend. Only then did the grip on her chest start to ease.
“Sorry,” Joy said but wasn’t sure why.
Maisie made a noise in the back of her throat and nudged Joy’s shoulder hard enough to bruise.
“Right,” Joy murmured, laughing. “Don’t apologise. Sorry.” She thumped her head. “That came out by accident, I didn’t mean to.”
“Joy,” Salma called from outside the bathroom door. “I’ve got your wand and your bag from the town hall. Do you want it in there with you?”
“Can I—” Maisie nudged Joy when she stopped, her face hot and eyes burning, close to crying again. “Can I have some clothes? I don’t want to put these back on.”
Every moment of wearing them would remind her of the cell and reinforce that it hadn’t just been a bad dream. She’d really been locked up for witchicide.
“Of course,” Salma replied, her velvety voice comforting even through the door. “I’ll go find you some.”
Joy felt closer to falling apart with every second she sat there, staring at the multicoloured tiles of the bathroom floor, but then Salma was back, nudging the door open just wide enough to slide Joy a bundle of fabric. Maisie kept close to Joy as she stood, shaking again, and struggled to get her legs into the soft jogging bottoms, fumbling her unsteady arms into the long sleeved T-shirt and hoodie. It was only when Joy was dressed, the top clinging to her generous curves, that she realised they wereGabi’sclothes. They smelled exactly like her—peppermint and freshly printed pages. Joy’s bottom lip wobbled, foretelling more sobs.
Maisie nudged Joy’s leg, making a quiet sound—a question.
“I’m alright,” Joy replied in a thick voice. She didn’t want Maisie to worry; she didn’t wantanyof them to worry.
Joy wished she could convince her face to pretend everything was normal, but that was too much to ask. At the very least, she could stop hiding in this bathroom.
Her fingers on the handle, Joy took a deep breath and held it in her lungs long enough to steady herself. It was a trick she’d learned from Gabi when they were much younger.
The minute Joy stepped foot in the kitchen downstairs, she found her fingers locked around the bulbous end of her amethyst wand. Her coven launched forward and bundled her into a hug, a mess of limbs and worry and love. They were all talking at once, and it threatened to overwhelm Joy’s eardrums, but a tiny smile tugged at her lips.
Gabi hung back but Joy could feel her eyes on her.
“I’m going tomurderthat bitch Paulina,” Victoriya snarled, holding her silver lighter in white-knuckled fingers as if she’d call up witch-fire right this moment. But she didn’t let go of Joy for a second.
“Thanks,” Joy rasped, crying again but for a good reason.
“I might even condone it,” Salma said, rubbing Joy’s back, her earthy scent overwhelming Joy's senses.
Gus and Eilidh held her tight enough to bruise, close enough that the turquoise ends of Eilidh’s hair ended up in Joy’s mouth, and even that was absurdly comforting.
Joy pulled back enough to wipe her eyes. “Thank you.”
She might recover. From being locked away, from being wandless, from seeing a dead girl. As long as she had her coven, she thought she might recover. But there was a new fear there, telling her Paulina would find another reason to make Gabi arrest her, another reason to lock Joy in that cell again andfor goodthis time.
She shuddered and looked at Gabi. “I want to … I want to help you find the person who killed that girl.”
“No,” Gabi shot down without even considering it. Her oval face had shuttered, her brown eyes blank, but Joy knew there was emotion underneath it, just well hidden.
“If she—” Joy swallowed the lump in her throat, extricated herself from the group hug, and tried to pull herself back together. “Paulina will find a way to send me back there—”
“She willnot,” Gabi cut her off, and there was sudden fire in her eyes, strangling her voice.
Joy blinked, and this time she wasn’t sure why she was going to cry. “Please. I can’t—I can’t donothing.”
Gabi gave Joy a long, searching look. After a prolonged moment, she sighed and crossed her arms across her tight white shirt. “Alright,” she agreed. “You can help.”
