Tegan rolled her pale green eyes and leaned into his arm. “Michael’s power. He grew. That’s the short answer.”
“For a tall person,” I said for some strange reason.
“Dammit.” Royce tugged on my hair playfully. “I missed you, Saff.”
That made me smile. It eased a bit of the pain in my heart. “I missed you guys too. Even those of you who pretended not to know me.”
“OHHHHHH,” they all shouted and shoved Cooper around.
His face turned bright red. He looked to me and tried not to smile…failed. “I’m sorry! I was under strict orders not to tell you.”
“Yeah, that was on me,” Bentley said from behind him in his little voice. “Necessary evil and all that jazz.”
I chuckled and skipped over to Cooper, then gave him a hug. “Well I’m still glad you were there.”
“Thank you, Saffie,” he said pointedly and stuck his tongue out at the others. “And I’m glad I was there too.”
“Although a day sooner would have been better, if I’m being honest.” I shrugged. “Could’ve gone without raising all of the dead of Salem at one time.”
Someone snorted and I gasped. I know that sound.
Savannah!
I looked left and right, then spun around — and there she was, standing behind everyone with Gigi by her side. They both had on white clothes that didn’t quite fit them but they still looked exactly the same. Gigi’s hair was still curlier than mine. Savannah’s turquoise hair was still a bold pop with the black on top.
And then I remembered, it was Savannah we’d crashed into in the tunnel before Tegan yanked us out. “Savannah! Gigi! You’re here!”
I skipped toward them and they met me in the middle for a group hug. We held each other tight. Tears stung my eyes. My friends. They’d done so much for me and now they were here.
“Wait.” I pulled back and looked to Savannah. “You were in the Seelie tunnel.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She grinned and nodded. “There’s a whole dramatic story involved, complete with me getting us into all kinds of trouble with T-squared over there, but in summary…someone had to go in so we could pull y’all out. I was like ME. Imma be the bait for my Safferella.”
“Did she just refer to us as T-squared?” Tennessee asked from behind me.
Tegan chuckled. “Yeah, kinda makes up for all that black magic, law breaking fun times, right?”
I gasped. “Savannah!”
But she just shrugged. “In the words of Kevin Hart, somebody had to go.”
Gigi rolled her eyes. “Everything doesn’t have to be a joke to you, Savannah.”
Savannah’s eyes widened. “Say it with your chest, ma’am.”
“All right, all right,” Kessler’s deep voice cut through everyone else’s. “Saffie is back now. That’s all that matters.”
A pretty woman I didn’t recognize in a white cloak stepped up beside Kessler and took his hand. Her hair was the color of snow and fell in a straight, sharp line to her shoulders. “Here I was ready to watch you pull them apart like pit bulls.”
I frowned. “Are you two fighting?”
They both sighed and shook their heads.
“Tension has been high,” Hunter said softly.
A boy with beautiful light brown skin covered in intricately colored tattoos grinned and ran his hand through his short shaggy dark hair. “Still, I’d like to see Kess rip two fighting girls apart. And I think Tatts here can swing.”
“Or maybe you’re bias because you think your tattoos make you tough?” A pretty boy with a beautiful accent smirked. His eyes reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t place it.
“Um, excuse me.” I raised my hand. “I just realized I don’t know a few of the people here? Are you all in The Coven too? No, wait, that’s too many—”
“Some of us are, some are not,” the girl who looked identical to Tennessee said with a smile. She held her left hand out to me and I saw her XX Mark. “I’m Bettina Blair. Judgement. And this is my soulmate—"
“Jackson Lancaster,” the boy with the accent finished for her. He held his left hand out, revealing a XXI Mark. “World.”
Lancaster. That’s why he looks familiar. He looks like Henry!
“And this is my soulmate…” Kessler stepped aside to let the white-haired woman in front of him.
She chuckled and gave me her right hand. “Mona White. Not a Card. But I’m a professor here at Edenburg.”
The girl with the indigo hair and yellow-green eyes stepped up beside her and gave me a high-five. “I’m Lennox. Also not a Card, but I like being their pet.”