I staggered backward as Joel fell heavily against me. Ezra hurried to carry some of his weight and, together, we managed to get him into the house.

“I’m through here,” I said, steering us toward my door.

Gretel was walking through the kitchen as we came in, clearly on her way to check on me. As she caught sight of this ridiculous crowd coming through the doorway, she hurried over and into the living room.

“Put him on the couch,” she said.

“I’m okay,” Joel muttered, then hissed in pain as Ezra and I steered him onto the couch.

“What the hell happened?” I demanded as Joel laid back against my last remaining cheery turquoise throw pillow, getting blood and dirt on it.

“I got jumped,” Joel murmured with his eyes closed. “I’m sorry, Dar.”

“He was by Arise and caught me as I was closing up,” Ezra said softly, worrying a hangnail on his thumb as he watched Joel wincing in pain.

“I shouldn’t have said to come here,” Joel said. “I couldn’t think of anywhere else.”

“It’s fine,” I said with a sigh. “Come on, I’ll bring you to the hospital.”

Joel sat up so fast that all the blood drained from his face as he did so. “No!”

“Joel, you’re hurt,” Ezra said with an astonishing amount of patience. “You need to go to the doctor.”

“No, they’ll find me there,” Joel said. “I can’t let them get to the box.”

It must have been the same guys that broke into our apartment. Part of me wanted to hurt Joel myself for coming back here, the other part of me was desperately glad he’d done so. Despite his magic, he didn’t have the same connections in Salem that I did. He could have maybe reached Reg’s place for safety, but most likely he would have just bled out in the middle of Derby Street.

“You’re bleeding all over my couch,” I pointed out. “You’ve probably got broken ribs and who knows what else. We’ll let them know what happened, the non-magical version.”

“Did they do any magic?” Gretel asked from behind me.

Joel shook his head, straining to stay upright. “I don’t think they had any,” he said. “They just kicked the crap out of me.”

He managed to wink at Ezra. “Ezra saved me.”

“I did not,” Ezra said. “All I did was bring you here. You even had to walk.”

“He was very strong…”

For God’s sake, was Joel really flirting right now? I didn’t even bother trying to hide my annoyance as I rolled my eyes at him. “Alright,” I said. “That means hospital security can handle them. Joel, for real, you need a doctor. Come on.”

Trying to be gentle, I reached for his arm. But he pulled away from me, then gasped in pain. “I’m not going,” he said. “I can’t put anyone else in danger.”

“You could die if you don’t go,” Ezra said.

Joel looked at him, his expression pained. But he didn’t say anything for a moment, then turned to me. “I can’t go to the hospital,” he said. “You don’t have to let me stay here though. I should go.”

He tried to stand up, then immediately fell back against the couch. Stubborn fucking jackass. This was serious. But I also knew Joel and knew there was no way I could convince him to go to the hospital if he didn’t want to.

“Fine,” I said. “I don’t know, let’s see if Reg knows any healers. Last time I checked he didn’t, but maybe someone just happens to be in town at the right place at the right time.”

Joel was breathing rapidly, his face deathly pale. I was honestly surprised he was still conscious. He had to be bleeding internally if he was fading this quickly. And if we couldn’t do anything about it, he was going to die. And Joel didn’t deserve to die.

“Do you want me to tell you where it is?” he asked me, his voice barely a whisper.

“Where what is?”

“The box.”

Not even a little. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was get involved in this. But if it was important enough that Joel was willing to sacrifice his life for this, then maybe I owed it to him or whoever to do it. But before I could answer, Gretel stepped up to the side of the couch.

“You do have someone in the right place at the right time,” she said.

I could hear the blood rushing in my ears as she said it, even as my brain struggled to keep up. Gretel gently laid Joel on the couch, whispering something to him as he winced in pain. He was in bad shape and we needed to get him to a hospital. So why was Gretel delaying?

I knew why. Of course I knew why. But I desperately didn’t want to know.

Then Gretel’s hands were over Joel’s stomach. They weren’t glowing exactly, but there was something a little extra in the air around them as she cupped her hands slightly, palms facing down. Like an out-of-tune television, the air wavering in the small space between her hands and his body. Joel groaned, but it didn’t sound as painful as it had moments earlier. Gretel shushed him softly as Ezra and I watched. I had no idea what my face looked like then, but Ezra looked shocked and desperately hopeful as the air crackled around Gretel’s hands.

She was knitting bones back together and sealing up the places where he was bleeding. All without medical equipment. No, it was magic.

Gretel, my Gretel, was doing magic. And judging by how effective it was, this wasn’t something new. Tears pricked my eyes, and I felt the confusion and betrayal churning in the pit of my stomach. But the color was returning to Joel’s face, even as his eyes remained tightly shut.

With a final gasp from Gretel, the crackling left the air. She moved her hands away from him, sweat dripping down her face. Joel’s breathing was steady and after a second, he opened his eyes and looked at her.

“Did you fix it?” he asked.

Gretel nodded, her eyes locked on his. “It’s done,” she said.

“Thank you.” Joel closed his eyes. “I just… need a minute. Then I’ll leave.”

Ezra let out a giddy laugh, then threw his arms around Gretel. “Thank you,” he said.

Gretel squeezed him as I continued to stand there, my body frozen, barely able to even breathe. Then Ezra let go and turned to Joel, who clearly wasn’t going anywhere despite what he’d just said. Gretel turned and looked at me.

“Dar-” she started, but I held up a hand.

“How long?” I asked, my voice choked as I forced the words out.

“Dar, I wanted to tell you.”

“How long?”

Tears were dripping down my face now and I could see them shining in Gretel’s eyes too. “Years,” she said. “I’ve done this since I was a kid.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know how to,” she said. “You were so angry about Joel and magic and I thought I’d wait until we knew each other better, but then-”

“We live together!” I exclaimed, the white-hot anger flaring up so fast that it nearly knocked me over.

“I know!” she said. “But I waited and then it was too late and I just… I’m sorry, Dar.”

I stared up at the ceiling, willing myself to stop crying. Gretel was magical too. And she hid it from me because she thought I’d hate it. Which, I had to admit, was on me. But she just never told me about this enormous part of herself.

“Is there anything else?” I asked. “Are you lying about anything else?”

“Dar-” Joel started, his voice weak.

“I’m sorry,” Gretel said, her voice small and defeated.

“Did you really think I’d hate you?” I asked, the implications of what that meant about me settling in. “You thought that I’d, what, dump you?”

“I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to get hurt again,” Gretel said.

That was true, but it was like a dagger in my heart as I thought about it. Was I really this magic-hating ogre everyone had to walk on eggshells around? All because I got hurt when my boyfriend chose magic over me?

“I need some air.”

That was all I could get out. I darted past everyone, not caring how undignified I looked as I fumbled with the heavy lock on the back door. I raced out to the garden, letting the door slam shut behind me.

The night air was cool, almost to the point of cold. But I barely felt it around the heat pouring off of my body. The floodlight snapped on as I stepped out and I relaxed just a little in the familiar comfort of this space. The seedlings were still on the table, while the peonies were in full blossom, sending their fragrance over the breeze. I walked over to the step stool I had in the corner and sat down, grateful for the solitude so I had time to think.

Gretel was magical. That shouldn’t have been a big deal, right? I knew plenty of magical people. And I was friendly with them. Like Reg. I just didn’t want to involve myself with their magic. I’d been burned before, it was only normal, right? Or was that wrong of me? Was I judging people based on something out of their control?

She hid it from me for two years. Two years of falling in love. Of joining our lives together. We shared a home, and she managed to hide it from me. Was I just that oblivious? Was I so self-centered that it never occurred to me?

I thought back over the past few years for any signs I might have missed and came up with nothing. There wasn’t a single time where a wound mysteriously healed or a virus got better in hours. It all seemed so normal.

I glanced in the corner where Horace was watching me with his wide, judging smile. I considered kicking him to let out some of this anger, then decided against it. As much as I hated the evil little fucker, there was no way Gretel wouldn’t take it as a sign of anger and rejection.

But I was angry at her. She hid this from me, hid the one thing that hurt me to think about, the one thing that made me feel small and worthless and rejected too. Joel hadn’t brought me along with him because I didn’t have magic. I couldn’t be a part of his life in that way. With Gretel, I thought maybe I was an equal. That maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about her leaving me behind. But instead, she’d just hidden it from me for two years.

Why? Was it really because she knew Joel had hurt me and she didn’t want to do it either? Or was it because she thought I’d hate her? How mad could I really be if I’d convinced her I was so prejudiced against people with magic that I’d break up with her for it? Even if I couldn’t actually think of what I would have done if she’d revealed it upfront. Maybe I never would have dated her, especially when the wounds of Joel’s leaving had been so fresh.

Fuck, I was so confused. And having Horace grinning at me in the corner wasn’t helping. I needed to take a walk or something. Just a break to clear my head. But of course there was no exit, so I’d have to walk back past everybody like an asshole.

Before I could make a decision, I heard the back door slide open and braced myself for whatever Gretel was about to say. We were going to have a fight, and I didn’t even know what angle it would come from. But why did I get the feeling things were breaking apart again?

“Daria, are you alright?”

Ezra’s voice was soft and kind as he stepped out the back door. I kept my back to him, gazing at the buds on my hydrangeas as he came down the small walkway toward me.

“This is a beautiful garden,” he said.

I turned finally, to see him looking at me with equally soft, kind eyes. He smiled a little. “I wanted to check on you,” he said.

“Why?” I asked. “You barely know me.”

“No, but I like what I know.”

That got a bitter little laugh out of me. “That makes one of us,” I said. “God, Gretel really thought I was so much of a monster that she couldn’t tell me?”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Ezra said, glancing back toward the door. “I think maybe she was worried she’d lose you.”

“So she lied for two years instead,” I said. “Fuck, Ezra, I’m not even sure who I should be mad at or why. I was so mad at Joel for so long. He was such a dick about magic and when he left, I decided I was done with it. But apparently I was too done with it because now my relationship is at risk.”

I walked over to the table and sat down. Ezra took the seat beside me. “How’s Joel?” I asked.

“Better,” Ezra said. “He’s lying down for a little while. He tried to leave, but Gretel forced him to stay.”

“I’m glad he’s okay,” I said sincerely. “Thank God he found you.”

In the floodlight, I saw Ezra smile sheepishly. “It was just luck,” he said. “I was leaving work right when he was passing by.”

“Even still.”

We sat quietly for a moment. The breeze rustled the bushes around us and carried the scent of the flowers that had bloomed in the moonlight. I was calmer now than I had been even a few minutes earlier. Ezra sat comfortably in the seat beside me, running a finger down the leaf of one of the plants on the table.

“So, do you have any magic?” I asked.

“Me?” Ezra laughed. “If I did, do you think I’d be pouring lattes?”

I laughed too, and Ezra smiled at me. But then the light feeling in my gut faded back into anxiety as I remembered that this conversation with Gretel was inevitable. “I should go back in,” I said.

“It’ll be okay,” Ezra reminded me as he stood up.

Not necessarily, but it had to be done.

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Continue to Chapter 10