I stood under an oak tree canopy with strings of white lights on every branch. It was breathtakingly beautiful and very romantic.
And eerily familiar.
I frowned and slowly turned around – and my breath left me in a rush. It was my school. In Salem. The one I attended with Savannah and Gigi, from when my memory was gone. I’m back! We did it! I’m BACK! I squealed and spun around in circles looking for Tegan…but she wasn’t there. No one was. That didn’t make sense. Tegan had been the one who got me out of that wheat field, the reason I was here. She should’ve been here already. She’d said she was tracking me—
“Saffie?”
I gasped. “Tegan! I’m here. I’m in Salem. I’m back—”
“No, you’re not back,” she said into my mind. A faint rainbow mist wrapped around my body, taking the chill out of the air. “If you were we’d be having this conversation face to face.”
“I don’t understand. This is the school I’ve been at all month. I recognize it—"
“I know. Cooper’s here with me and said the same. But you’re not in our time. You have to get back in that tunnel, Saffie. I can’t travel through time. You know this.”
The mention of Cooper filled me with mixed emotions, but I pushed those aside for now. I shook my head and rubbed my arms. “I can’t use my magic, Tegan. I’ve used too much too quick. Can you see me? Look.”
I flicked my hands and tried to summon any kind of magic but it just flashed and popped.
Tegan cursed. “Don’t you dare give yourself Witch’s Shock, Saraphina Proctor,” she practically yelled at me.
“I’m trying but I have to use my magic to get in and out of the tunnel and…” I pushed my hair back. “How am I supposed to get to you?”
“I’m working on it. I promise, okay? Just hang in there for me.” And then she whispered, “I’m gonna have to use some risky magic so I need to be very careful.”
My stomach turned. “Tegan…”
“I know. Listen, I’m trying to pinpoint the tunnel for you here but Salem is a shitstorm of fae energy so give me a second. I’m going to drop our connection and focus on it. Stay RIGHT HERE. When I find the tunnel, I’ll reconnect with you, okay?”
I licked my lips and nodded. Fear coiled inside of me. “Okay.”
“I promise I will you get you home, Saffie. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay…”
And then her rainbow magic vanished and the bitter cold crashed down around me again. Tears threatened to spill but I refused to let myself give in to those emotions. Tegan didn’t make promises lightly. And she’d never let me down yet. I trusted her. If she said she’d get me home, then I just had to do my part to help.
Metal shrieked from behind me. I spun toward the sound and frowned. The back door of the school opened and a tall figure rushed out into the snow. Someone with wide shoulders, long legs, and long pale blond hair. Someone whose gold eyes shined brighter than the North Star against a black sky.
Oh no.
Riah.
And not the current Riah, the one who I knew was a liar and a monster, but the one who played me. The one who lured me in with smiles and tender touches. Yet even still, as he stormed through the snow toward me, the sight of him still took my breath away. Tears burned the backs of my eyes. Tears of rage. I wanted to punch him in his stupid pretty face.
Wait a damn minute.
I know that outfit.
His pale blond hair was half tied up with the rest hanging down his back. My chest burned and I reminded myself to breathe, that I couldn’t feel like that for him anymore. I remembered thinking he cleaned up nice and the memory sent sharp pain through my chest. That black cashmere sweater still hugged the muscles in his shoulders and arms as deliciously as I remembered from that night. I’d forgotten he’d swapped out his boots for shiny dress shoes and I hated the way that sight made my heart flutter.
Rage and dread filled my veins.
OH GOD NO.
No, please no. Not this. Not now.
I was back at the Yule Ball, the one that had just passed. The one I was at. Riah had stormed off, leaving me by the drink station and standing under a drone-driven mistletoe. Which meant…I peeled my eyes off of past-Riah just in time to