Jules stays the night again that night, and the next night too. The weekend passes slowly. Dev and Brody find me when they need me and it’s so strange. My habit up until now has been to avoid them. Popular jocks don’t mess with outcasts like me.

Mama puts the hunting on hold for her normal Saturday festivities at the bookstore but other than that she and Maddox and Andre spend their free time trying to find the elusive djinn. They aren’t successful.

The week passes by with the guys and I settling into a routine. We’re subtle at school, because I insist that we shouldn’t make any big life changes - like Dev breaking up with his girlfriend - until the djinn is dead and we know what kind of relationship the guardian bond is going to force us into. Brody even goes back to sitting at the football table.

The weather gets a little colder.

Mama pulls me out of school on Thursday to help her prepare Moonhollow for the onslaught of visitors it will receive friday night for the wake. This means lots and lots of cleaning. I’ll be doing the same tomorrow too, because school is out for a teacher work day. Jules will even be able to help. The boys, however, will have a football game in the early evening. Luckily, the wake isn’t starting until nine.

Going back to Moonhollow again after our run-in with the Djinn is unsettling, but it seems as though Edward has repaired the front window already and puttied over the cracks in the sitting room walls. He is nowhere to be found as Mama and I set our bags down on the entryway table. This is the first time that it’s been just the two of us in more than a week and it feels … strange. Like I’m forgetting something important.

“You’ll get used to it,” Mama says with a smile when she notices my uneasiness. “You’re missing the boys, yeah?”

I swallow and nod, not really proud of it. Aside from Jules, I’ve been fairly independent my whole life. This is like having to relearn who I am.

“I miss mine too. But this is good for us. And them. Time apart to clear our heads. I’ve been spending more time with Maddox and Andre than I normally do and it’s getting a little stifling,” she says.

I follow her through the hall and into the kitchen and watch as she puts Grandmother’s old cast iron kettle on to boil.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do in a short amount of time,” she says. “You got the list, baby?”

I nod and pull a folded up piece of notebook paper from my pocket. Our to-do list to prepare for the wake covers the front and back of the page.

It takes us all day to get the cleaning done. By the time I look up from the floors I’ve been scrubbing the sun has just finished sinking below the horizon. I shiver and look around. Mama must be in another part of the house. The overhead light flickers a little with my nervousness. I feel achy without the guys near me, hungry for their touch.

Or maybe I’m just hungry in general.

“Mama?” I call, standing and wiping my pruny hands on my jeans. The bandana I wrapped around my head to keep my hair back is failing under the pressure of my mahogany tresses and strands keep sleeping free and falling around my face.

She doesn’t answer, probably too far away to hear me or listening to music or something.

I take a deep breath and try to shake my unease. I think about Jules and Dev and Brody, curious to see if I can tell what they’re feeling from a distance like this. I can, but it’s vague. Like an echo of their emotions. They all seem to be feeling the same as me; anxious.

I close my eyes and focus on Jules, seeing if I can get anything more specific. He also seems somewhat irritated. I open my eyes and am caught off guard when Brody and Devereaux are sitting across from me. It’s then I realize that I’m in the LaTour basement. I must be seeing through Jules’ eyes again. I try turning my head to get a better view, because for some reason I’m glaring hard at the space between them on the dumpy couch, but I can’t control it.

“Just chill the fuck out, Julius,” Dev says, annoyance distorting his beautiful face.

The view shifts a little and I think Jules sat back and crossed his arms, even though I didn’t feel it.

“She’ll be back when she’s back. Girl’s got your balls and you’re not even screwing her.” Brody is deftly rolling a joint on the low coffee table before him.

“Christ,” Jules spits out. “You’re a fucking hypocrite Brody. You’re going to jump all over her like an excited puppy when she gets back.”

Dev exhales roughly. “Stop it. Both of you. This isn’t our faults, and we can’t be held responsible for wanting to touch her. This is magic, okay? We have to just accept it. So yeah, Jules, he’s going to need to be near her when she’s back. So am I. So are you. So shut the fuck up.”

Jules mumbles something under his breath that even I can’t understand.

Brody brings the joint to his lips and lights it, inhaling. “The worst part is that I’m so fuckin horny though.”

I blink again and am back in my own head, and blushing fiercely.

“You alright?” Mama asks, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

“F-Fine. Do you, um, do you ever get to see through Maddox or Andre’s eyes for a moment?” I had meant to ask her this earlier in the week but it didn’t seem all that important in the face of tracking the djinn and preparing for the wake.

Her eyes widen and then sparkle. “No. But I’ve heard of it happening. When the bond is particularly close. Whose eyes do you see through?”

“Jules’s.”

“Ah.” She looks delighted. “It’s probably because you were best friends first. But still. You’re going to be such a powerful witch, Artemis.”

I rock on my heels and wipe the back of my hand across my forehead. “It’s happened twice now.”

“Does Jules know?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I forgot to mention it. Brody was there the first time it happened. With me, I mean. Not with Jules. So he knows. So do you think it’s only going to happen with Jules?”

She looks thoughtful. “Maybe. But it could happen with the other boys in time too, if y’all end up as close as you and Jules currently are.”

“Mama, is it true that they won’t… can’t be with other girls because of me?”

She sighs and picks up her bag, flipping off the light behind her. “The only thing stronger than the bond is the love of a soulmate. If they find their soulmates then all bets are off. But that is rare, Emmy. A lot of the time bonded witches and guardians are each others soulmates.”

“You can have more than one?”

“Witches can. So really, only in this specific instance.”

I follow her out to the car that she borrowed from Maddox after locking Moonhollow’s massive front door.

“So what did you see?” she asks once we’re on the road.

“Hm?”

“Through Jules’ eyes.”

“Oh,” I blush again. “They were all hanging out in their basement. Complaining about being leashed to me.”

So fuckin horny. Brody had said. And for some reason those words send a spark of electricity through me.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Mama shoots me a sympathetic look. “It’s a hard adjustment, baby.”

Her phone dings and she hands it to me, keeping one hand on the steering wheel and eyes on the road. “Check that, will you?”

I wrinkle my nose. “What if it’s a sexy text from one of your men?”

She laughs. Her dark hair is blowing in the breeze from the open window and I am suddenly very envious of how beautiful my mother is. “They know better than that. Remember baby, I’ve managed to hide my relationship with them for the better part of your life.”

“You didn’t have to, you know,” I say, swiping my finger across the surface of her phone.

“I know. And I regret it now, even though it’s the way of things in our family and has been for centuries.”

I grimace. “Family tradition sucks.”

“Most of them do, some are okay. What’s the text say?”

“Andre is making gumbo for dinner and wants us to invite everyone over. Mama, we’re gonna need a bigger house.”

She laughs again. “Maybe we should move to Moonhollow.”

I shiver a little at the thought. Even though I just spent the day there without any incident the place still feels a little cursed to me. “But I love our little house.”

“Me too, baby. But all seven of us could fit at Moonhollow with our own room each and still have room for guests.”

“I think Brody’s parents would notice if he moved across the county. And Dev and Jules’ dad does come back sometimes. Once or twice a year.”

Mama chuckles. “Well it’s not a perfect plan. I almost forgot about Jessup. When was the last time he showed up?”

Jessup LaTour is the absentee father that somehow both Jules and Devereaux are the spitting image of. They both adore him too, even though he pretty much doesn’t live there. He does support them financially, though. And when he’s home he always throws a fantastic barbecue for the neighborhood.

“Fourth of July, I think.” Absently I pick at a hole in my jeans.

“So can you control the seeing through Jules’ eyes thing? Or is it random?” She sounds giddy, excited that I have an ability she doesn’t.

“Uh, I haven’t really tested it.”

“Try it right now! Close your eyes and focus on Julius.”

I do so, taking a deep breath and willing my fingers to still in my lap. I find the thread that ties me to my best friend and follow it, picturing his smiling face.

Once again I can feel Jules’ irritation, but it’s more muted now. I open my eyes and realize why as Jules’ tanned fingers pass the joint to Dev. I get the flash of the crescent moon brand on the inside of his wrist.

“Emmy’s birthday is coming up,” he announces.

Brody is lounging back, his head propped on the back of the couch and legs spread wide. “So?”

Dev exhales a cloud of white smoke and passes to Brody.

“So we should get her something,” Jules says.

“She’s not our fucking girlfriend, kid,” Brody grumbles.

“She’s probably the closest thing you’re ever gonna get,” Jules says with some satisfaction.

Brody coughs and glares at him. “Hey, I’ve had gi-”

“You haven’t,” Dev interrupts him. “You’ve never had more than a fling. Have you ever bought a gift for a woman?”

“No. And I’m not starting now. She’s not our girlfriend, she’s just a girl we’re stuck with --”

Dev cuts him off again. “She’s as much a victim of this as we are, James.”

Brody sighs. “I know. Okay? I know. I don’t blame her.”

Dev glances back down at the pages he’s filling out on the coffee table and I realize that he’s doing homework. For some reason the thought of him doing homework while getting high is amusing to me.

I blink for a moment and then find myself back in the car with Mama, laughing.

“What did you see?” she asks, smiling.

“I hope Andre made a lot of gumbo, because they’re all stoned.”

“They are? Trying to numb the connection, no doubt. Makes it more bearable.”

“So drugs help?” I ask.

“I wouldn’t say ‘help’. They mask it, like they do other things. It’s a temporary fix.” She hums quietly as she turns onto the main street that runs through Crescent Creek.

“They were still complaining, but they don’t blame me, at least,” I say. I pull down the sun shade mirror and checking my reflection. Most of my bangs have escaped the purple bandana and there’s a smudge of dirt across my forehead as well as on one cheek. My black eye has faded significantly, just a vague shadow now.

“Text them, baby. Tell them to come to dinner. We’ll be home in a few minutes,” Mama murmurs.

I pull my own phone from my bag and send off a quick text to Jules, then close my eyes and focus in on him again, taking advantage of my newfound control.

The phone screen is almost blinding in the dim light of the LaTour basement.

“She’s almost home,” Jules says, relief coursing through him. So much that it’s almost heady. “And Mr. Monroe is making gumbo.”

“Shit, that sounds amazing,” Brody says, peeling himself off of the couch with a groan.

Dev sets down his pencil and flexes his fingers before standing. “Let’s try not to trample her, okay?”

“She misses us too, Dev. I can feel it. I know you can too,” Jules says, almost defensively.

“Yeah. But we’re not animals, Julius. We can control ourselves, right?” He gives a pointed look to his brother and Brody.

Jules sighs heavily. “Yeah.”

Brody nods, swallowing.

I come back to myself just as Mama pulls into our driveway.

She glances sideways at me. “You do it again?”

I nod, giving her a sly grin. “Just wanted to make sure he got the message.”

She chuckles. “Be careful with that, baby. I can see how it would get addicting fast.”

“You’re just jealous,” I tease, unbuckling.

“Little bit,” she admits. Her eyes twinkle as we get out of the car.

The boys pile out of their front door and cross the yard to us, all of them looking a little glazed.

Jules has a headband pushing back his wayward curls, similar to the bandana in my hair. He offers me a large smile and I fold myself into his arms. He smells good, like weed and sage. I’m not sure if this is what Dev meant when he said not to act like an animal, but I don’t care. I think the hug is perfectly appropriate. Instantly the tension inside me starts to abait.

I hear our screen door open and close and instinctively know that Mama has gone inside to find her men too, even though my back is to the house. Over Jules’ shoulder I watch Dev, whose eyes are fixed on me intently.

His hands are fisted at his sides, exhibiting that famous Devereaux self control. I wonder what he would be like if it broke. A different kind of ache opens up inside me at the memory of the kiss we shared before this all began. He was borderline animalistic then, but not fully, I don’t think.

Of course the boys feel the heat that courses through me. My face flushes and I pull away from Jules, offering a nervous smile. “Missed you.”

“Missed you too.” He clears his throat and threads his fingers with mine.

Brody makes a noise deep in his throat and strides forward. He leans in and surprises everyone by planting a kiss on my cheek. His lips are warm and rough and I feel the sensation all the way to my toes.

Then he wraps me in a quick embrace before stepping back and moving to walk toward the house. I can smell the gumbo all the way out here and it’s making my stomach rumble.

Devereaux’s eyes drop to Jules hand in mine and even though I can feel a spike of annoyance from him, his face gives nothing away. He’s perfectly neutral.

“Welcome back,” he says gruffly.

I wonder if it’ll always be like this. Aching distances followed by awkward reunions.

I unwind my hand from Jules and turn to him. “Go on inside, I’ll be there in a moment.”

Jules’ eyes flash between his brother and I before he nods and leaves.

I turn back to Dev and tilt my head, studying him. He’s got on jeans and a dark red flannel over a plain black t-shirt. He looks so good that it makes my chest hurt. Him being able to finally feel all of these emotions that I’ve harbored for him isn’t ideal, but at least I can blame it on the bond.

He steps close to me and I am forced to look up because he’s taller than me. He smells like he always does; spearmint and cedar.

“How’d it go down at Moonhollow?” he asks.

“It was exhausting, but we got a lot done. More to do tomorrow, and then tomorrow night…” I trail off, realizing that I never asked him, or any of them, if they would come to Grandmother’s wake.

Dev raises an eyebrow at me, like he was wondering when I was going to get around to inviting him.

“Do you own a suit?” I ask instead.

We haven’t touched yet and the distance between us is like a vacuum. There’s less than a foot there but I’m almost shaking with the effort of keeping it there.

He laughs, surprised. “I do. So does Jules and I got one I can lend James.” It takes me a moment to realize he’s talking about Brody. My head is a little foggy, clouded by him.

“Great. So, uh. It starts at eight.”

He finally, blessedly, closes the distance between us and pulls me into a tight hug. My arms go around his neck of their own accord and squeeze. I press my face into his shoulder and bask in the exhilarating feeling.

“We’ll be there. Got warmups and then the game tomorrow or I’d help you prepare too.” His voice is a little muffled in my hair.

“Maddox and Andre will help. We got most of it done today anyway. Tomorrow’s just hanging up pictures and directing the caterers and whatnot. The whole clan is coming into town. It’s going to be crazy. My mom has two sisters and my grandmother had a couple younger sisters and I’ve got cousins and second cousins and -”

I realize that I’m rambling, my words speeding up with my breathing. I can’t help it. He makes me want to climb him like a tree and never, ever come down.

His hands on my back quiet me a little and I trail off. I force myself to pull away from him and indulge in that hated distance again.

“So, you’ll get to meet my cousins,” I finish lamely.

“Can’t wait.” He offers me his trademark half smile that makes me weak in the knees and inclines his head toward the house. “Shall we?”

I nod and follow him inside.