Page 27 of Rituals & Rivalry

She smiles calmly. “I knew your father, you know. It was a long time ago as well. I believe he would have considered me his original mentor.”

“Really?” I cock my head. “He didn’t tell me about you.”

“Well, he was quite young. So was I. He left Starbrook behind after his parents passed. I imagine he didn’t speak of this town much at all.”

She’d be right. My mother spoke more about the town, having a fondness for the place where Father grew up. She even brought us here a few times, but never with him, and I had to have been less than ten years old. I know the person he considers a mentor—an older man he met while working at a local university—but it would make sense that he had someone before.

Now she’s my mentor, and she’s expecting me to be as brilliant as my father was. Another person I’ll disappoint. I would say she should get in line, but my father dipped from the line years ago, so she doesn’t have much competition.

I stare into my tea, where the daylight swirls in a tiny whirlpool of tinted liquid and honey.

“I don’t want to be like that,” I say steadily, admitting it to myself for the first time. I want things to be different, but the change isn’t just me. It’s my entire family. We’re all avoiding Dad, and in doing so, we’re avoiding each other. “I don’t want to go years without talking about him. I don’t want to be afraid of him. His… his ghost.”

There’s no other word for it. A ghost. Literally. Figuratively. The fear of disappointing him still haunts me. All the things I didn’t focus on and learn from him follow me everywhere. I could have done more as a daughter and as a witch.

At this rate, I’ll never be able to make him happy. Not even his memory.

“Then it’s a good thing you’re here.” She leans across the table. “Your family has always been legendary in Starbrook. That’s a lot to live up to, but it means you always have a home here.”

I smile halfheartedly. “Thanks.”

But I’ve never felt less at home. This so-called ‘legendary’ status of my family wasn’t something I believed in or cared about. Dad told us, of course, but we thought he was just being self-important. Now that I’m in Starbrook, everyone is asking questions I don’t have the answers to.

Moving to a new town is already a lot, but this is over the top.

I leave her office. Another day without working any magic.

Maybe she could help me with my magic if I just told her how broken it is, but I can’t bring myself to admit the words.

I don’t want to be broken.

Magic used to make me feel lighter. It was the thing that, at the end of the day, I could lose myself in. The stars comforted me. The sun energized me. The clouds protected me. Now, after meeting with my so-called witch mentor, I feel heavier than ever.

Gods, I need a drink.

It’s Sunday morning—a totally appropriate time for bottomless mimosas, and the Moonlit Tavern can offer just that. I step inside and inhale the scent of pumpkin scones and smoky incense.

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite places in Starbrook.

The green-haired witch who works behind the bar offers me a big smile as I settle onto a stool. “I thought I’d be seeing you today. You had a meeting, right?”

She remembered. How sweet. I’ve probably gotten a little too tipsy and rambled to this very bartender about everything going on with Jewel. No matter where I go, no matter how things change, there’s one certainty: there will always be a bartender who knows too much about me.

“Right.” I run my fingers through my hair, even though they quickly get stuck in the waves. “It went about as well as you can expect, so⁠—”

“Plate of waffles and a mimosa?”

“Exactly.”

She winks and steps away to put my order in. “Coming right up.”

I turn around to let my gaze wander. I’m already getting to know many of the locals—there’s Farrah, who works at the coffee shop and the witch-owned boutique. Seth, an attractive but very taken man, works at the café with her. Donnie, a purple demon, works at the flower shop attached to the café.

And a ton of Hawthorne witches, another important family to the town, own and work at the tavern.

Then there’s Sterling and his family, all seated around the biggest table in the tavern. I bite my lower lip. I have zero dads now, and he’s lucky enough to have two. One of them, the one with curly hair, tells an animated story, while the other laughs. Auggie smiles timidly, and Val looks exactly like their dad when he grins.

Farrah rolls her eyes at something Sterling says. That look, the annoyance at her brothers, it’s something I can relate to, considering how many I have—only girl in the family and all.