I still could hardly believe what I’d seen and what Jane had told me. Despite wanting to think this was some big hoax or trick, I knew it wasn’t. Jane was far too serious. Minnie was sweating buckets so much after that spell that she’d had to use our shower and borrow clothes from us while hers got washed and dried.
There wasn’t much talking after all of that, all of us caught up in our own thoughts. Jane was staring out the kitchen window with a blank face while she let some kind of pasta boil on the stove. I wasn’t sure which one because I honestly hadn’t been paying much attention. I wasn’t exactly hungry.
Then again, Minnie was.
So, as it turned out, it was mostly food for her.
That was fine. I didn’t want any.
Minnie was staring at her phone, cradling it carefully in both hands, almost as if she were just staring at a picture or rereading some message on there. But I knew the screen wasn’t on.
But hey, if Noah had a phone I’d be clutching at my phone, sending a message, hoping for a response.
And if that voice in my head ever decided to come back, I’d welcome it wholeheartedly.
Ding.
Jane and I both looked over as the screen of Minnie’s phone lit up. She carefully swiped at the screen and put in her code before reading whatever notification it was. Her expression didn’t change from mild interest as her eyes darted back and forth.
She sighed and put the phone down, clicking the side button to shut off the screen.
“Mom says she hadn’t seen anything about this. I’m not sure I believe it, but…” she spoke softly, quiet as to not disturb the dust or something. “After my clothes are done and I eat, I have to go home.”
She pursed her lips, clearly not happy with what she’d read or had to tell us.
“Is she upset?” I asked gently.
Minnie shrugged. “If she is, it won’t last more than a day, so… it’ll be fine.”
That meant her mom was at least a little upset.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I came here because I wanted to. I used the spell because I wanted to. There’s nothing to apologize for, alright?”
Jane worked to drain the water from the pasta, making up a bowl of spaghetti and sauce for Minnie, who took it gratefully, with a small smile.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. It’s the least I could do for your help.”
“Right,” was all she said before she started shoveling it in.
Jane went to the washer and dryer in the house, leaving Minnie and I to ourselves for a minute.
She paused in her eating and turned to look at me.
“I might not be coming to the reunion in the next couple years. I’m being sent to random places. None of them in North America.” She rolled her eyes, jokingly, but not nearly with as much flair as she normally had. Her eyes looked deeply tired. “Like some kind of punishment,” she added on.
I found myself chuckling a bit, knowing that she loved to travel. Getting sent around the world wasn’t a punishment to Minnie, as she loved to see all the different cultures and people.
“What a punishment,” I joked right back.
She inclined her head and continued to eat. Still, I couldn’t help but feel she was holding something back, something big. Something that was affecting her more than she’d ever tell.
But I couldn’t find the words in me to ask that sort of question. She ate and changed back into her clothes again, and then we were at the door.
“Be safe. Take care of each other. Trust each other,” she told the two of us. And then she was off, toward a woman with her arms crossed and a stern expression. They talked for a minute and then she followed into the back of a nearby store, likely to use teleportation magic to send her home, I thought. Despite witches living mainly in Europe, they were everywhere. They blended in with humans pretty well.
When we closed the door, Jane walked back over to the kitchen, phone in hand. She started dialing a number from her contacts and started speaking. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. I wasn’t in the mood to eavesdrop, so I just sat down on the third stair leading up to the rooms and moped a bit, all by my lonesome.
With everything going on, was I even allowed to leave the house anymore? Could I even…
I sat up straighter.
Noah.
I was supposed to look for Noah tonight.
I glanced over at Jane, a phone to her ear and deeply involved in the conversation she was having. I made a split-second decision, grabbing my phone and bag with my wallet and snuck out the front door before she could realize.
Maybe I wasn’t thinking rationally, and maybe it was a terrible choice considering everything that Minnie was able to show us, but I needed this.
I had this burning desire to see Noah again, like he could calm me down and get me to relax a bit or something.
I want to see Noah, I thought in my head rather forcefully.
Trotting down the steps, I started walking briskly. I was going to go find him, even if it took hours. Even if it wasn’t allowed.
...
And there he was.
I didn’t even have the chance to search the beach, the pier, or the surrounding area if those came up empty. He just popped up on my radar maybe a hundred feet from the house.
When I got close enough, I called his name. “Noah?”
His head whipped around at his name. His eyes found mine immediately and some kind of weight that had been pulling me down was lighter. With his eyes wide and features happier than they’d been just a moment before, he waved awkwardly at me and started my way.
Noah.
I walked closer to him too, slowly, and then I was jogging. If we’d been any farther apart, sprinting might’ve been on the movement menu, but in no time, we reached each other. I immediately grabbed his hand in mine, just to make sure I wasn’t imagining this all.
And I wasn’t.
I closed my eyes and let out the breath I’d held.
He was really here.
His hand was in mine.
I found you again.
Thank god.
Then, before I could truly revel in the relief pouring through me, I heard a slam and turned around to the source, only to see Jane standing in the doorway to the house.
Oh.
She was definitely pissed.
Those were the brows of fury on her face, as she pointed down to the floorboards beneath her. But I wasn’t compromising on this.
I wanted Noah.
I was staying.
Right.
Here.
I pointed to myself and then down to where I was standing, with Noah.
I am staying here.
I watched more than heard her sigh, her eyes rolling and her teeth clenched. She shook her head a bit and then settled in on the steps after closing the door. She pulled out her phone again and soon enough it was held to her ear again. She was talking, and I heard enough that I knew the conversation wasn’t really about me, but more of the situation we were in, but her eyes never strayed far from where I was. The only time they left me completely was when she was scanning up and down the beach.
Goodness.
I sighed.
Great. Now she really was my babysitter, me being the baby.
Trying to ignore her and the potentially dangerous situation of standing out in the open that I knew was throwing Jane on edge more than me stepping outside, I turned back to Noah.
He was watching Jane and me with wide eyes.
I squeezed his hand a bit to grab his attention, and when it was on me, I signed out the letters to spell ‘hey’, and then I said it aloud.
“Hey.”
His eyes crinkled happily in the corners as he nodded and smiled. Ah, the contagious smiles again. I was smiling too now.
He gave me a thumbs up on my good job and then his smile faltered a little. It brought me back to the many problems there were going forward.
Should I ask him if he lives around here? Is that too forward… to personal? I’d ask his address, but…
What happens when Jane and I leave tomorrow? I don’t want to go if he can’t come with, or if it means we lose touch completely.
I bit my lip as I thought my options over.
Maybe it would be fine to ask, if I explained why.
Noah put his hands on my cheeks, his brows half furrowed, his smile worried and small.
Hm?
What was it?
Was he going to…?
‘I can hear you.’
And it was the voice again. It was back. And it was…?!
“Eh?” I said aloud, accidentally. “What does that mean?”
He sighed, staring right at me, his thumb brushing my cheekbone lightly.
‘We can talk like this.’
The voice. Loud and clear. Words answering my thoughts and words said aloud. Both. But his mouth wasn’t moving. It was all in my head. And he wasn’t wearing an expression of confusion at my outburst. He looked calm.
Was Noah… the voice?
But something like this wasn’t possible-
Not really…
Right?
And yet, here I stood, his warm hands on my cheeks, his eyes staring deeply into my own, a small smile on his face that held another element to it. His brows furrowed a bit in the middle of his face, and I realized two things.
Uncertainty.
And Noah.
He was making that face because he could hear my voice in his head too, wasn’t he? He was worried how I’d take the news… that it was him I’d been hearing in my head since the night we met. That he could likely hear some of my thoughts as well.
It was Noah all along.
Somehow, that clear stunning realization wasn’t so much of a shock as I thought. Sure, my heart was doing double time in my chest, running over what thoughts he might’ve heard this whole time, anything and everything embarrassing in my thoughts the past day came to the forefront of my mind.
But it didn’t stay. It was whisked away like the breeze attempting to steal strands of my hair. It was gone, just by staring into his eyes.
“We can talk in our heads?” I whispered, still not quite believing it was truly Noah’s voice, that I could hear him, as he might’ve been once, had he not lost his ability to speak aloud.
No way… This has to be some kind of dream or something…
But he was warm. The breeze was cool.
Everything around me was bright and all too real.
It couldn’t be a dream.
His smile grew a little sheepish.
‘I can still hear you. Yes way.’ And then he nodded.
But…
But if we could speak through our minds, did that mean–
I grabbed his shoulders, with just a fair amount of firmness. I wasn’t trying to hurt him, I just needed to be certain he truly existed in his moment. His hands on my face weren’t enough anymore. That touch, just the simple grip on his shoulder, feeling the muscle and bone beneath, allowed me to take a breath before I asked with as much seriousness as I could muster, the most important thing that had come to my mind.
“You’re still going to teach me sign language, right?!”
I watched his eyes close as he laughed silently, air coming out of him in bursts. He grinned wide and nodded again.
‘Yes. If that’s what you want.’
I sighed.
Oh good.
So…
I bit my lip.
Ugh, how do I put this… without sounding terrible for asking? Was there really no good way to put this?
‘So?’
“Your voice in my head?” He gave me a short nod. I hesitated. “Is that what you would’ve sounded like if you hadn’t lost yours?”
He turned thoughtful and then shrugged a bit.
‘I assume so. Yours sounds like your real voice.’
I couldn’t contain my smile as I threw my arms tightly around him, pulling us into a hug.
“I like being able to hear you in my head, Noah.”
His arms wrapped tightly around me as his voice was clear in my head.
‘Just like I like hearing you speak.’
And just like that, I nearly forgot about everything I’d just heard and lost myself a little within his warmth. Because he was safe. And that made me… safe.
But I shouldn’t have been so complacent, even as I strolled out and away from Jane’s line of sight while she glanced away for a moment, eyes on the trees in the distance.
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