Wild is the Witch (64)

“You’re sorry?” Pike says, his words loud and angry. “You’re sorry? Jesus, Iris, you cursed me to turn into a witch!”

“I know!” I shout back, getting to my feet and moving. I have to move. “I know.”

I wonder what it must be like for Pike, so angry and scared, stuck where he is because of his leg. He keeps rubbing his thigh, and I see him shift against the tree, his whole body tense with what he just learned.

“How’s your leg?” I ask, knowing he needs to get to a hospital, get out of these woods, away from the witch who cursed him and the owl who can amplify it.

“It fucking hurts,” Pike says.

“Then let me help you.”

He looks up at me, his eyes red and wet. “Haven’t you done enough?”

The words cut right into my chest, and I push my hand to my sternum but it doesn’t stop the pain. I turn toward the owl and kneel, running my fingers over the feathers on his head. He looks up at me, hissing as he breathes, his lungs so tired from the work.

“I have to try to unbind the curse before we lose him,” I say.

Pike closes his eyes and leans his head against the tree. “Even if he dies, there’s got to be someone who can undo it, right? One of those witches on your council who can fix it?”

I slowly shake my head, my gaze falling to the dirt. It’s so hard to look at him. I wish I could say something that would give him reason to hope, something for him to hold on to, but there’s nothing.

“I don’t think so,” I say, being as honest as I can be. “If a curse finds the person it was meant for, that’s it. It lives and dies with you.”

A tear runs down Pike’s cheek, and he quickly lifts his hand and wipes it away, the image searing itself into my memory. I try to blink it away, erase it somehow, but it’s still there.

He looks up at me then. “You really hated me so much that you did this to me?”

For a moment, I can’t speak. I’ve lost my voice in the hollow of my throat, completely unreachable. I try to remember what it was like working with Pike before this trip, so many days I was sure I disliked him. But I think about what he said about giving me a hard time so that I’d bicker with him, so that my mind could reset from whatever it was spiraling around, and maybe it worked. Maybe I didn’t dislike him at all.

“I was scared of you,” I finally say, settling on the one thing I know is true. “My life imploded after Amy’s trial, and the people around me latched on to the fact that I was a witch in a way they’d never done before. Even my dad couldn’t handle it anymore. Mom and I decided to start over, and we came here. When you started talking about witches, all I could see was having to move again. Having to start over again. Having to give up this place I love more than anything.” I pause and look at him. “You terrified me.”

He watches me as I speak, flinching when I say the last three words. “I’m sorry. I hate that I made you feel that way.” His voice is rough and quiet, and he rubs his thigh, taking a sharp breath. “But I’m not some asshole out on a mission to destroy witches. I just don’t trust magic, and if I had found out about you, I would have left. That’s all. I wouldn’t have tried to ruin your life.”

I would have left.

I don’t expect the words to hurt the way they do, sliding in through my ribs and going straight for my heart. I look away, not wanting him to see. Then I give myself one deep breath, one silent moment to react, before pressing on.

“That doesn’t matter now,” I say, keeping my voice steady. “Once we deal with the curse, you’ll be free to leave. But I need you to listen. As soon as the owl dies, a switch will flip in your brain and you’ll be able to sense all the magic around you. It will be thrilling and exciting, and you will have no control. Your instinct will be to pull an astronomical amount of magic to you solely because you can, but your body isn’t used to it, and it will burn you.” I pause and swallow hard. “If you aren’t careful, it will burn you to death.”

I try to stop the images of Alex on the lake from flooding my mind, but it’s no use. There he is, burning while my best friend watches in horror. While I sprint down the lawn, trying to help in some way.

I blink several times and lock my gaze on Pike. I will not let that happen to him. I won’t.

“That’s what happened to your friend’s boyfriend?” he asks, his voice shaking.

“Yes.”

Pike swallows hard, then clears his throat. “Okay, what do we do?” My heart breaks, hearing the fear in his voice.

“I’m going to help you through it,” I say, holding his eyes with mine. “I swear I will not let that happen to you.”

Pike nods, but it’s impossible to know if he believes me. I want to tell him that I mean it, that I’ve never meant anything more in my life, but that won’t change anything. He doesn’t trust me anymore.

I look over at the owl, and he’s calm. He seems to be listening to our conversation with interest, moving his eyes from me to Pike and back again. I stroke his feathers gently, then keep going.

“That’s not the worst part,” I finally say.

Pike stares at me but doesn’t respond. I’ve never been looked at like this before, like I’m everything that’s wrong in the world, a total letdown of a person. It’s too much to bear, and I look away.