Mom seemed happy that I found friends. I didn’t tell her about my magic’s reaction. We don’t talk about it much. Getting out of the truck, I made sure I had my things and started my walk down the path to the cabin. I couldn’t believe it—I was invited somewhere to hang out with people. Before I could let my nerves get the best of me, I put in one headphone and put on my most recent playlist. It was a long walk to the cabin—about 20 minutes if you weren’t rushing, according to Sam. And trust me, I wasn’t rushing.
My boots crunched the dirt in time with the music, the acoustic guitar playing as birds sang in the background. The music started quiet but grew louder as I walked. Different from the music in my headphones, was that a… fiddle? I took out my AirPod and was sure that was a fiddle. And singing. The hunting cabin finally came into view behind the trees, and sure enough, Sam was standing on the deck of the cabin. Warm wood everywhere. She was smiling as she bowed the music.
Aaden was singing softly, his voice mixing with the strings. He was looking up at Sam, totally unaware of the intruder walking into their perfect moment. As the song came to an end, Sam broke her eye contact with Aadin and saw me.
"Oh hey, you found it! Come on over and join us," Sam’s voice called, her face bright as the warmest summer day.
"Hey, glad you could make it," Aaden said, his face lighting up with a shy smile.
"You guys sounded great. If I’d known it was a jam session, I would’ve brought my guitar." Nervous anxiety rose in my chest at the idea of letting someone other than my mom hear me play, but the idea of something in common was a lifeline.
"Oh, I think there’s one inside somewhere. My dad used to play all the time. Come on, let’s head inside. If I don’t get a snack, I’ll be forced to eat a squirrel. And let’s face it, no one wants to see that."
"Not again," Aaden added, following her into the cabin. The cabin was old but well taken care of. There were four bunks, a kitchen, a sitting area, and a fireplace. I had never seen something so cool—paintings on the walls, breathing bright light into the old cabin.
"And your parents let you use this for whatever you want?" I felt like an idiot as the words tumbled out of my mouth.
"Yeah, my parents still have a strong hippie streak left over from back in the day. As long as we’re safe, no one drives if we consume anything, and we stay on the property, this place is ours to do as we wish. Welcome to your second home." Sam opened her arms, beaming. And for once in my life, someone opened up their friend group to me, their space for me, and I believed her.
"Eh, Bex, you smoke?" Aaden asked from the couch. He pulled out a bong and a bag of weed from under the coffee table. I’m not sure the last time the bong was cleaned, if ever, but hey, I wasn’t picky. "No pressure, but the offer’s open." Aaden’s soft voice disappeared quickly into the many fabrics in the room.
"I was worried I wouldn’t find any out here," I said, moving beside him. His smile was soft and shy. His eyes shifted to my necklace—a protection charm my mom had given me as a child. It was so long ago, I didn’t remember getting it. It had just always been there.
"Is that a protection charm? The Moon’s Mother? May I touch it?" I had never seen Aaden so in the moment. He had always seemed one step away from our world, like he was half in the world and half in another. I nodded, watching him as his slim hands reached out and touched it. His hand was close enough to rest over my heart. As his fingers touched the silver, his hand pulled back quickly, like it had been shocked. "That’s real and blessed. Where did you get that?"
"Oh, um… my mother gave it to me. I’ve had it as long as I can remember." I never asked much about it. I just always had it. Mom told me when I was young that it would keep me safe. She never said anything about having it blessed. And what on earth was the Moon's Mother?
As I tried to remember anything else about the necklace, my vision began to swim. My body felt hot as my vision began to narrow. The ground came up to catch me as black flooded my vision.
"BEX!" From Sam and Aaden was the last thing I heard before everything went quiet.
Everything was black for a moment. Slowly, a black Mustang came into view. Loud, hard music blasted from the radio. On the dash was a tattered notebook. A man was sitting in the front seat, dressed all in black with a side holster strapped to him. He looked about mid-forties, black hair, no facial hair. Deep lines etched into his face, like he frowned way too much. His green eyes pierced into me as his head turned to look me dead in the eyes. "I will get you. I will get you all," he mouthed above the music. My heart raced, and a scream ripped from my throat as everything went black again.
"Bex! Bex? Are you okay? I’m calling 911," Aaden’s voice came through the black fog. My screams still echoed around the room. This had never happened before. This is the end of the new start before it even really began. Mom would pack us up, and Aaden and Sam would be gone, and again I’d be alone.
"No! No, don’t call. I’m okay," the words came out shaky as I began pushing myself off the floor. I was sore from the fall, but maybe I could play it off. No one needs to know. Besides, it was just a weird dream. It had to be. I had never seen that man in my life. It must just be stress from the move.
Sam and Aaden were looking at each other, panic on their faces. "Did you see that too?" Sam’s voice was softer than I had ever heard it. They were both white as a sheet. Aaden just nodded—had I not been looking at him, I might not have noticed.
"See what?" I asked, shocked they hadn’t kicked me out by now. Or called my mom.
"Your necklace," Sam spoke calmly and quietly, like speaking to a wounded animal. "It… it was glowing."
I looked down at my necklace. It was normal silver now, no sign of the glow they had most definitely believed to see. My heart raced at the thought of telling them what I had seen, but if I was going to forge a friendship with these two, I had to be honest. Worst case, they would leave anyway. Best case, they would believe.
"I saw something when I passed out," my voice was faint, like it was coming from someone else. Both of them looked at me, waiting for me to go on. It didn’t take long for me to tell them about what I had seen. I knew right away that they believed me.
"This isn’t good. Sounds like a hunter. I just hope they don’t find us," Aaden said, taking out his phone and texting someone.
"Hunters? I mean, there must be a bunch around. We kind of live in a forest."
Sam chewed on her lip, brows knitting together as she looked at me. Like she was weighing her odds. "We were hoping to get to know you better before we shared this with you, but I guess there’s no time like the present." Sam rose from where she was kneeling beside me and walked over to the coffee table, taking out an ancient-looking book. "The hunter isn’t hunting animals. They hunt witches, and they hunt the monsters that lurk at night. Most only hunt witches doing black magic, but some are a bit more extreme, hunting down any witches they can find."
The leather of the book looked in perfect condition, runes carved into the leather. The pages, on the other hand, showed their age. Electricity seemed to charge the book with the same crackling that happened under my skin. With shaky hands, I reached out for the book. We all jumped as the book fell from Sam’s delicate hands. The book fell to the ground, a few pages flipping, landing on a bonding spell.
Aaden and Sam’s eyes locked before looking back at me. "You’re one of us? You have powers too?" Their words were spoken at the same time. My heart stopped for a moment before thundering in my ears.
"You too? I’m not alone?" I was so confused. How could this happen? All this time, I thought I was alone. I thought I was never meant to find my people. I thought I was cursed. But here they are, more people like me. But how could this be? My head swam. The idea of finding others like me was something I never even let myself think of before.
"This bonding spell… have you looked at it before?" I asked, pulling the book closer to me and reading the worn pages. It was a blood ritual to bring powers together.
"We have, but haven’t had a need for it. It’s also pretty advanced. Mom said no one’s used it in a century."
"Mom?" I asked. My mom knows about my powers but doesn’t know anything about it. We’ve just been trying to subdue them for so long.
"Yeah, this book’s been in my family for generations. I’ve been trained since I first showed signs of magic. Sam here was a late bloomer, but I’ve been helping her. I haven’t felt a power as strong as yours before, but I’d be happy to help you try harnessing it," Aaden explained. It was the most I’d seen him talk at one time.
I nodded. "And we should figure out what on earth is going on here before this hunter finds us."
They both nodded, looking grim.
"But first, we smoke," Sam said definitively, picking up the discarded bong.
"But first, we smoke," Aaden and I echoed.