the scant half inch of regrowth of her hair—a duller brown with definite gray in it. We all stroke her silky hair and recite our spell together.
“Her hair will grow like copper in sun,
Silver strands there will be none.
This is our will. So mote it be.”
Before our eyes, her hair changes, becoming all gleaming auburn.
We stare, then gape at each other.
“Did it work?” Cassie lifts a hand to her hair. “This could save a lot of money.”
I start laughing. Such a frivolous, mundane thing, and yet… “It worked!”
“Holy shit,” Dad says, peering over our shoulders. “It did!”
A feeling of pride suffuses me, swelling in my chest. I did something good!
“This is… astonishing,” Dad says, lowering himself to a stool. “You girls… we’re going to need to have a serious talk about this.”
“Don’t worry, Dad, we won’t go wild.” Felise grins. “Wow!”
Even Magan is beaming.
“I didn’t know if this would happen,” Dad says. “Three sisters have to bond at a high level to have that kind of power.” He studies us, his eyes bright. Cassie grips his hand and squeezes, and they share a look.
“Now I have a really tough question for you.” He turns back to us.
“Shoot.” Felise plants her butt on a stool and props her chin in her hand.
“If you had the ability to help Trace go back in time and relive the day of the accident that killed his family so they could be alive… would you do it?”
My hand flies to my chest, and I can’t stop the gasp that escapes my lips. My heart bumps and then lurches into a rapid cadence.
Cassie lets out a low sound that sounds like anguish, her hands over her mouth, eyes wide.
“I think you could do it with your Triad Energy,” Dad continues. “You know Trace has tried ever since to resurrect his parents. He’s lived with the guilt of that accident for so many years. I didn’t quite realize the impact it’s had on him.”
My eyes burst wide. “He’s tried to resurrect them?”
“Yes. He’s researched and tried everything he can think of—complicated spells, potions, elixirs. Necromancy. But resurrection is exceedingly difficult. He went to the Board of Elders more than once for a special dispensation, and they refused him.”
“Oh my god.”
Cassie eyes me strangely. “Are you okay, Romy?”
I nod, not willing to open my mouth.
“He tried so many times that they got exasperated with him.”
And I added to that. Damn. My heart squeezes.
“And he was frustrated too,” Dad adds. “It turned him off magic. Made him withdraw from the coven. Until you came along.”
Oh Lord. I press my hands to my mouth.
“Do you really think we could do that?” Magan asks, apparently not realizing how distraught I am.
I knew Trace feels responsible for what happened. He’s been carrying that weight around with him ever since. He’s also been trying to reverse that ever since… and failing.
“I believe so. There would be consequences to doing it,” Dad says. “Trace would go back in time, meaning he’d live that part of his life over again. Everything would happen differently for him. He’d have his family, but there are no guarantees that he’d have the same experiences, which means he would be a different person.”
There would be no guarantee that I would meet him or know him. Or love him.
Anguish squeezes my heart and lungs, wringing the breath out of me. I feel light-headed and sick. I could give Trace what he’s always wanted—his real family back. But I’d sacrifice my own love for him in doing that.
The faint flame of hope I had that maybe this isn’t the right time for us, that maybe Trace would come to realize he does deserve love, that he would recognize what we have… flickers and fades.
But I can give him this. What he’s always wanted. I can take away that burden of guilt and grief. I can make him happy.
“Ohhh,” Magan says, lips drooping. “He wouldn’t be in our lives anymore?”
“No.”
“But he’d be happy,” Felise says slowly.
“There are no guarantees of happiness,” Dad says. “In any life. He’d have his family though.”
I nod. I don’t think I can speak. I feel like I’m freezing from the inside out, shivering. I glance at Cassie. Tears are streaming down her face, her eyebrows pulled down in misery at this terrible choice.
“If it’s what he wants… I’ll do it,” I finally manage to say.
Dad’s forehead furrows, his lips tightening into a thin line. “I know that’s asking a lot, Romy.”