Chapter 1

Rayne found herself unable to listen to the teacher during the last period of the day. Instead, her attention was fixed on Nikolas Jasper. He sat on the other side of the class, but he seemed an entire world away.

Lyra gently tapped her shoulder, having taken the seat next to her. "Ray, are you going to say something or just stare at him like he's a work of art every day?"

Rayne brushed her hand aside and softly sighed. She wanted to say something—or anything really—but she couldn't find it in herself to ask. Her fingers came up to the ring around her neck and played with it absentmindedly as she continued to stare.

Lyra looked back-and-forth between the two of them and then sighed. "This is just sad."

"It's not like I want to be this way," Rayne said. "I want to say something, but when I try to gather up the courage to talk to him myself… I just can't, for some reason."

"You'll never know until you give it a try," Lyra said, before turning her attention elsewhere.

Time passed uneventfully until the final bell rang and the students stirred out of their chairs.

Rayne went to her locker to get her backpack and then headed towards where Lyra had parked her car, only to be suddenly pulled into it and made to bend down. After struggling for about a minute hopelessly, Lyra moved her hand and Rayne sat up. "What gives?"

Lyra started her car. "We're following your ex-boyfriend."

Rayne stared at her in stunned silence for a few moments before registering that they were following a Jeep with Nikolas inside of it. "This is stalking."

"No, this is getting you to do something before you go crazy. I swear you get worse every day with this and I can't stand watching it anymore. So, you're going to sit down and have a long talk with him and clear the air."

Rayne gave a dozen reasons why this was a bad idea. They didn't know where they were going. She didn't know what to say. There had to be some other way to do this.

Lyra ignored them all until they came to a stoplight. "Listen, you need to do this or you'll end up even more miserable than you are now. How many friends do you have besides me?"

Rayne didn't say anything.

"None," Lyra continued. "It's because you don't talk to anyone unless you have to and you keep yourself in your own little shell. At this rate, you'll die alone and miserable. I don't want to see that happen to you, so I'm doing what you should have and dealing with the issue."

Rayne's head dropped at that, leaving her staring into her lap. "It's not like I don't want to talk to him, or get along with anyone else. It's that every time I do, a little voice in my head tells me that I shouldn't, that I'm not good enough to be with this person or I drag them down."

Lyra placed a hand under Rayne's chin and brought her head back up, meeting her eyes with a gentle gaze. "So you've got some self-esteem issues, big deal. Everyone has their doubts, but you're the only one who lets those doubts control you. You need to remember that you're the one in charge, not some miserable voice that tells you otherwise. Understand?"

Rayne pursed her lips but nodded. "I… guess I do…"

"That's my girl," Lyra said. She leaned in and, without a moment's hesitation, planted a kiss on Rayne's cheek.

Rayne flinched at the feeling of how soft Lyra's lips felt. Part of her wanted to think something was off about it, but the doubt lingering in the back of her mind was washed away by a sudden spark of euphoria. They were close enough to sleep in the same bed, so that really shouldn't bother her.

Lyra pulled back and revealed the amusement in her eyes at seeing her reaction. "Geez, it was just for good luck. Tell me you weren't this jittery when you were with him?"

Rayne shook her head. She and Nikolas were close enough that kissing alone barely scratched the surface of expressing their feelings. "It just felt weird, but the moment passed."

Lyra just laughed to herself and then pressed on the accelerator to keep following the Jeep with Nikolas in it.

As they rode, Rayne noticed there was a change in how she felt now. The doubts and fears that normally hindered her, the cruel voice whispering in her ears, was absent. If anything, it was replaced with the need to get answers once and for all so she could move on with her life. She'd give credit where it was due; Lyra knew how to motivate someone.

The Jeep eventually came to a stop in a small parking lot leading into a building. The sign above it read: Amaranth's Green Café and Herbalism Shop.

Lyra circled around the block and came to a stop further down, letting Rayne out on the sidewalk where they wouldn't be spotted.

"Okay," she said. "Go and talk to him. Take as long as you need to do it, and I'll come back and pick you up when you're done. Just give me a call."

Rayne nodded and got out of the car. Once Lyra had driven off, she took a deep breath and steeled herself. She felt like she could really do this for once and walked into the café before the confidence boost wore off.

As its name stated, the café had a very green theme. Decorative lamps made from recycled and reshaped glass bottles hung above, and beneath them were a series of circular tables made of wood and steel. The walls were lined with comfortable chairs next to stands that had individual lamps, allowing for customers with books and tablets to read at their leisure, while the central area was occupied by five rectangular tables that housed four seats each.

Rayne navigated the crowd for any sign of Nikolas. He wasn't there. She wondered if she missed him somehow. That was when she noticed the long glass pane next to the matching door that separated the Herbalism Store from the café.

Nikolas was there, wiping off the counter that stood in front of the wall lined with shelves. He was diligent in his work, until he looked up and saw her staring at him. Then he ducked down behind the counter and actually tried to hide from her.

She frowned. That wasn't what she expected. But at least she had him now. She moved towards the door, only to be stopped when a woman stepped in front of her.

The woman looked to be maybe a few years older and was statuesque, with hair as black as obsidian descending down to her back like a sheet of silk. Her eyes were like amethyst gemstones as they bore down at Rayne, irritation and displeasure pronounced. There was no short amount of hostility in her voice as she spoke. "Are you going to buy something or just stare at him until closing?"

Whatever boost of confidence Rayne had beforehand shriveled up in front of her. But she wouldn't run away when Nikolas was right there in front of her. She decided to bide her time and walked over to the counter manned by a blonde hair woman with a pixie-cut, wearing a knowing smirk on her face after witnessing the scene with half-opened eyes.

"You'll want to avoid eyeing her brother like that," she told Rayne. "Lorene's very protective of him and owns both the café and the shop. She'll kick you out if you try that again."

Rayne nodded in understanding. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Mm-hmm…" The counter-girl humored her with a nod, before doing her job. "Anyway, my name is Tiffany. Since you're new, might I suggest a Hot Tea Infusion and a Salad for $4.95?"

"Yeah, thanks." Rayne slipped her a five dollar bill and took a seat at a table to await her order.



Nikolas peeked over the edge of the window to see that Rayne was still there, sitting at a table. The hue of her hair, the lithe figure that graced her—he recognized them at a glance. It was definitely her.

Rayne's hazel-brown eyes peered through the lenses of her glasses towards the window and fell upon his own emerald-green ones at that moment.

He ducked down again, feeling like an idiot. He was acting like an eight-year old rather than someone just past eighteen. But it was a knee-jerk reaction given how she wasn't supposed to have spoken with him since he gave her the ensorcelled ring.

His gaze fell upon the silver ring laid around her neck, a plain ring that he made out of the purest silver with his Talent. Lorene had cast a spell and bound a spirit to it to drive her away from him. It was supposed to keep her safe by coercing her not to speak or approach him, thus removing her from the list of potential targets and ways to hurt him.

The fact that it wasn't working meant that something was wrong.

He didn't have time to think on it since a regular of his entered the door, Miss Winifred. She was a woman who was within her mid-fifties and often came by at least once a week to purchase something. The inquisitive look on her face asked the unspoken question of what he was doing there.

"I tripped," Nikolas lied. He rose to his feet and dusted himself off. "What interests you this visit, Miss Winifred?"

"Well, I'm hosting a function in a few days and I was wondering if there was something here capable of tightening my face to give it a more vibrant look." Her eyes ran over what he had in stock. "Some of the retail products I've tried reacted poorly to my sensitive skin, so I'm hoping something natural will suffice?"

Nikolas nodded and turned his attention towards that section. He kept things meticulously organized in his shop, putting herbal products that were meant to be used externally on the left of the counter, while things that could be ingested were on the right. They were further divided into homemade and commercial, which moved at different rates depending on circumstances and the customers.

He picked up a container from the left side and handed it to her. "I believe this will do the trick. It's made for sensitive skin and contains powdered goat milk, rosemary, and green tea amongst other things. It doesn't run, so you can apply it while you sleep and wake up feeling the effects. Two days should be more than enough time for it to take effect, so by the time your event comes around, you will be set."

Miss Winifred turned the container in place once he set in into her hand. The back had a list of the components that made it up, as a safety precaution should someone be allergic to anything, and instructions on how to use it. "You've never let me down yet, so I'll take it."

With that done, he turned his attention back to Rayne. He couldn't just keep ignoring her. Not when she obviously came looking for him. If he were cold-hearted enough to do that, then he wouldn't have gone through the effort of having Lorene cast the spell and would have told her never to talk to him again.

He left his shop and walked up to Tiffany, his sister's best friend. "Tiffany, about that customer…"

A teasing smile crossed the young woman's face as she crossed her arms. "She was looking at you…in fact, she was about to go into your store until the Boss scared her off. She wouldn't be someone you know, would she?"

Nikolas realized what the teasing smile on her face meant and sighed. "You saw?"

"Oh yeah." She chuckled for a bit and then looked over her shoulder to Rayne, who was fiddling with her phone. "Well, I can't say I know what's going on exactly, but you should go talk to her."

"Things between us are awkward," Nikolas said in a conflicted tone. "We haven't spoken in a long time so I'm not sure how to approach her, especially not after…."

"You hid like a groundhog afraid of his own shadow?" she finished for him.

"Not the exact words I would have used, but sure."

Tiffany grabbed a serving tray that had been set down, containing a salad and hot tea infusion. "Here's her order. Take it to her, apologize for being a flake, and try not to screw it up."

"Right…" Nikolas took the plate and headed towards where she was. He flinched when her eyes met his again midway, but he pushed through it and sat the tray down on her table. Then he swallowed the lump in his throat and took a seat across from her. "Hello, Rayne."