“So, what are we going to do?” Holden asks, glancing apprehensively at Gabe.

After Emaline found out a hunter had been in contact with me, all the Everettsons and I piled into the living room so we could discuss what happened. By the time Max, Easton, Foster, and I finished explaining the card and how a hunter approached me, fear had swept across everyone’s faces. I felt afraid, too, but mostly over what they’re going to do with me.

I’m nervous. I’m not going to lie. I wish I’d taken a seat closer to the exit. You know so I can take off if I need to. Instead, I’m sitting on the sofa in the center of the room. Max and Porter are beside me, Foster, Easton, and Hunter are seated on the sofa across from me, Holden is perched on the coffee table close to the doorway, and Emaline and Gabe are seated in chairs beside the fireplace where a fire is crackling, remnants of the portal no longer evident.

“We’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing,” Gabe answers Holden after a quietness haunts the room for an unnerving amount of time. “We’ll keep our walls up around us and the protection spells around the house and yard. We can also retouch the protection spells on everyone, and make sure our powers are at full strength, which means extra practice sessions.”

Another drop of silence skips by, and it’s hard not to be aware of how shifty everyone has gotten. No one is directly making eye contact with me, either staring at the fire, the doorway, or each other. Honestly, hardly anyone has said anything to me at this point, but I guess that’s typical. Well, it was up until yesterday when I moved in with them. They’ve paid more attention to me than anyone has in a long time. I’m not sure how I feel about that, just like I’m unsure how I feel about their lack of attention now.

“What about Sky?” Holden breaks the silence, avoiding my questioning gaze and looking directly at Gabe. “She’s … Well, she’s weak controlling her powers, and it’ll take her years to be able to get them to full strength.”

Shock courses through me, and I cringe as the lights flicker on and off, announcing my hurt. But, out of all of them, Holden seemed like the nicest. Then again, he’s only saying the truth. The truth sort of hurts like a bitch, though.

“I can go back to live in Honeyton,” I offer quietly, folding my arms around myself. “I’m sure I can crash with Nina or Gage, just as long as you guys don’t report me as a runaway or anything.”

Emaline shakes her head but doesn’t utter a word, looking at Gabe. Their silent exchange goes on for an unsettling amount of time, and everyone begins to grow fidgety.

I’m not going to lie. It hurts when no one protests for me to stay. But it’s fine. I’m fine. I’m always fine.

You’re such a liar.

When my heart starts to do weird things, I decide it’s time to say peace out and go pack my shit.

Sucking in a breath, I push to my feet and step toward the doorway.

“Where are you going?” Max jumps up in front of me and snags ahold of my arm.

In the blink of an eye, all of them are standing up.

Panic rushes through me, making my heart pound and the house rattle as spurts of lightning vibrate from outside.

Emaline glances at the chandelier clinking above our heads, then her gaze lands on me. “Sky, sweetie, I know this situation is scary, but you need to calm down.”

“I’m trying.” But, as they all take a step toward me, my adrenaline soars and lightning streaks across the ceiling and thunder booms from inside, shaking everything.

“Holy shit,” Porter murmurs, looking from the ceiling to me. “Oh honey, you’ve got some wicked power in you.” The lightning lights up the delight in his eyes.

Delight that I don’t understand.

I gulp, looking around at the eight of them. All of them have their eyes fixed on me. But it’s not comforting. In fact, I think it might be worse than when they wouldn’t look at me.

“Look, I promise I won’t tell anyone any of your secrets. Honestly, I don’t really know a lot of your secrets, other than what everyone is, but I swear I won’t say a word,” I ramble, loathing the trembling in my tone. “Just please don’t hurt me.”

Max’s brows pull together. “Hurt you?” He glances at Emaline, whose eyes are wide with horror.

“Sweetie, we’re not going to hurt you.” She steps toward me and takes my hands in hers. “We’re just trying to decide something.”

“Something that might need to be done, not only to protect our family and our secrets,” Gabe adds, “but to protect you as well.”

“Oh.” Okay, now I just feel stupid, but the feeling isn’t new to me. “You just all seemed so nervous, and I thought you guys might …” I stop myself, feeling awful for having the thoughts I was having.

“You thought what?” Easton asks, his lips quirking. “Come on; finish that sentence, because I’m dying to know what you think about us.”

“I think she thought we were going to kill her.” Hunter appears way too amused by the fact.

“No,” I lie. “I just thought you might … I don’t know.” I sit back down, feeling like an idiot. “I’m just a little freaked out. I’m sorry.” It probably doesn’t help that not all the alcohol and weed has worn out of my system and my head feels a bit foggy.

Easton snickers. “Well, at least she’s entertaining.”

That gets everyone to crack a smile. Even Foster. Although, he’s been smiling more by the hour. But I’m trying not to focus on the reason for that.

I clear my throat as my cheeks start to warm. “So, what’s this thing you guys think might need to be done? Because it seems like you’re a bit hesitant about it.”

“We are,” Emaline says. “Not because it’s dangerous. It’s just very … permanent.”

They sink into silence again as they sit back down.

“I think we should do it,” Hunter utters, staring down at the backs of his hands. “If she’s going to be living with us for the next six months, and a hunter has been in contact with her, it’s the best way not only to keep her from being on their radar, but it’ll also give us peace of mind that our secrets won’t get out.”

“But it can’t be undone,” Holden reminds him. “You can’t unmerge a merging enchantment.”

“Merging enchantment?” I scrunch my nose. “That sounds very … merge-y.”

Foster snorts a laugh.

“Stop laughing at my words,” I protest, though I can’t help smiling.

“I will when your words stop being amusing,” Foster quips with a grin.

“Well, aren’t you two just utterly adorable,” Hunter remarks with a devious smirk.

Easton snickers, and then they fist bump.

Talk about two peas in a pod, or I guess two element protectors in an overly crowded living room.

Shaking his head, Foster lightly punches Hunter’s arm. “Shut the hell up, man.”

Hunter shakes his head, his eyes glinting wickedly. “Payback’s a bitch, little bro.”

“All right, that’s enough.” Gabe claps his hands and rises to his feet again. “Everettsons, we need to make a choice. Either you can do a merging enchantment with Sky, or we can take the risk and simply keep an extra eye on her. If we choose the latter, we can do shifts so she’s never alone, and we’ll have to try to go to Spellbinding world so we can get a few protection spells cast on her. But with what she is, we’ll have to be careful taking her to other worlds without her being merged to us due to the danger.” Tension pours off him as he shifts his weight and rubs the back of his neck. “Or you can choose the first one and … Well, you guys know how that works.”

“But Sky doesn’t,” Hunter points out. “She should probably be told first before we even consider going there, because it’s a big decision for everyone.”

Okay, seriously, what’s the big deal with this merging enchantment?

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Gabe says with a sigh. “How about this? All of you go discuss this in the kitchen while me and your mother explain things to Sky. Then we’ll regroup and make a decision.”

They all nod in agreement then get to their feet, filing out of the room.

The second they’re all gone, Gabe lets out a deafening breath and slumps onto his chair. “I love our kids to death, but sometimes dealing with the six of them can be overwhelming,” he murmurs, causing Emaline to smile, but her smile falters when she looks at me, worry taking over her face.

“I’m so sorry about this.” She gets up and sits down beside me. “I’m sure you’re probably beyond confused at this point.”

I give a nod. “A little bit, but that’s okay.”

She smiles at me. “You’re a very understanding girl.”

“You think that, even though I took off tonight?” I wonder skeptically.

“If I overheard what you did, I would’ve done the exact same thing when I was your age,” she tells me. “But I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to text my mom and tell her I took off. Thank you for doing that, by the way. I just hope that, the next time you get scared like that, you’ll stay and talk to me instead of running off.”

I nod, even though nervousness pulsates through me. Next time? Just how many times am I going to get scared?

As if reading the worry on my face, she says, “We need to explain this merging enchantment to you, and I need you to try not to panic, okay? Because it might be the best choice in this situation, even if it seems a bit extreme.”

I nod again, but holy hell am I freaking out. “Okay, I can do that.”

“Good.” She looks at Gabe then returns her attention back to me. “Our family has a lot of secrets—important secrets—which I’m sure you’ve figured out by now. And it’s important that the hunters don’t find out. And not just about our secrets, but about Foster. Because, if they do find out about him—find out he’s an elemental enchanter—they will try to use his power for terrible things.”

“Which is why, a long time ago, we put a merging enchantment on all our boys.” Gabe slides forward in his chair and rests his arms on his knees. “So we can protect, not only Foster, but all of them from the harshness of this world and of other worlds.”

“Okay.” I anxiously bite my lip. “So, what exactly is a merging enchantment?”

Emaline glances at Gabe again before looking back at me. “It’s a spell that links them with each other, so they’re all very in tune with one another.” Emaline explains. “It bonds them so they can feel when one of them is in trouble, when they need help—stuff like that, And it swears them to secrecy so they all have to keep each other’s secrets.”

“The enchantment is permanent, though,” Gabe stresses. “You need to understand that. If all of you choose to do it, you’ll forever be linked to each other.”

I gulp. “That’s …” Well, there are no words.

“It’s a lot to take in,” Emaline agrees, making me wonder if I said my thoughts aloud. “And there are other ways to protect you …” She trails off, and I sense a but.

“But,” Gabe finishes for her, “a merging enchantment would be the most discreet and best way to not only protect you but protect our boys.”

“I don’t want to scare you,” Emaline says warily, “but being an elemental enchanter can be very dangerous. And if a hunter has already contacted you …” She shakes her head, sadness masking her expression.

I’m still not fully sure I understand what a merging enchantment is in the literal sense, but I understand enough to get the basic gist of it—that it’ll protect me and protect the Everettsons, and that it’ll also make me connected to them forever.

“It’s not like I have to be around them all the time, is it?” I double-check. “I mean, I can go places by myself …? And eventually, when I get older, I can go on and live my life? I’ll just sense them sometimes if there’s a problem.”

Emaline hesitantly nods. “But you’ll always feel that connection to them.”

“How strong of a connection?” I wonder.

“It’s not extremely intense.” Max appears in the doorway with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “But it’s noticeable and can get kind of obnoxious when Easton is being a drama queen and thinks he needs help with everything.”

“Bro, that’s so not me.” Easton steps up beside him and rolls his eyes. “I’m as chill as a vampire.”

Vampire? My eyes widen, but no one seems to notice, as if this is all normal. But it probably is to them.

Max shakes his head. “You’re about as chill as a goddamn pixie jacked up on faerie dust.”

Easton’s lips part with a comeback, but he trails off when Holden pushes past him, Hunter, Foster, and Porter following. All of them glance at me, yet their expressions are unreadable. Instead of sitting on the sofas, they form a small circle around the room then trade an undecipherable look with each other. No one says anything, though, and finally Easton rolls his eyes.

“Fine, I guess I’ll be the spokesperson.” He steps forward and dramatically clears his throat. “We discussed things and decided that, while it’s going to be a little weird having a girl in our inner circle, it’s probably best if we do the merging enchantment.” His lips spread into a smirk as he looks directly at me. “Just as long as she doesn’t send an emergency signal through the link every time she sees a mouse or gets a pimple or stupid girlie shit like that.”

My lips twitch. “Oh, fuck off. I’m sure you’re probably just saying that because you do that crap all the time.”

His eyes sparkle in delight. “Only when I’m having a really bad hair day. Sometimes it can get complicated looking this fantastic.”

“He’s not kidding,” Foster says with a hint of a smile. “He spends, like, two hours in the bathroom every morning.”

Easton glares at him, but the corners of his lips tug upward. “Good to know you become a traitor when you’re trying to impress her.”

Foster grits his teeth. “I do not.”

“All right,” Gabe intervenes. “Let’s stop overwhelming Sky.”

“Yeah right. Look at her.” Easton smirks at me. “She’s totally getting off on this.”

I narrow my eyes and flip him the middle finger, but he only laughs.

Emaline sighs. “Good gods, sometimes I question how I’ve managed to stay sane all these years.”

“Who says you still are?” Gabe mumbles then pulls a whoopsie face when she glares at him.

But then she smiles and kisses his cheek. “It’s a good thing you love crazy.”

I have to admit, as strange as they are, watching them interact helps me feel a bit more at ease. Of course, when they all look at me expectantly, waiting for me to agree to do the merging enchantment, all that ease fizzles.

“So, what do you say, Sky?” Easton asks with a smirk. “You think you have the guts to do the spell or what?”

Maybe it’s the smirk or the challenge in his tone. Or perhaps I’m still high and drunk and not thinking clearly. Or maybe, deep down, all the years of having to deal with my powers alone has finally gotten to me. Maybe I secretly crave having some sort of connection.

Or maybe I’ve just lost my damn mind.

Who the hell knows?

Whatever the reason, I find myself nodding.

“All right, yeah, let’s do it,” I say, hoping I’m not making a big mistake.

They all nod, but some of them appear a bit tense.

“We should probably warn you that you might pass out,” Foster says. “I know you don’t like that.”

“No, I don’t.” I internally shudder as I remember passing out earlier and darkness crawling into the crevasses of my mind. “Can you, like, try to wake me up as soon as possible?”

He nods. “I’ll do my best.”

“Okay.” I release an unsteady breath. “So, what do I have to do?”

“We stand in a circle and place our hands in each other’s,” Holden explains, sticking his hands out to his sides.

The others follow while Emaline and Gabe back up at bit. That makes my nerves go up a notch. My anxiety only doubles as I place my hand in Max’s, who’s standing on my right, and then in Foster’s, who moved to my left.

“Now what?” I ask, glancing at the six of them.

“Now close your eyes,” Foster instructs, threading his fingers through mine.

As I lower my eyelids, I have the strangest thought that maybe this is all a prank. After all, Emaline said her boys like to do that sort of stuff. Then again, I doubt her and Gabe would play along.

Then, all my doubts go bye-bye, see ya later when a sudden wave of power blazes through me.

I gasp as I feel all their powers connect and merge with mine. Suddenly, I can feel everything they’re feeling. It’s brief and happens so quickly, but I have to say, some of the shit that’s going on with them is a bit … complicated to deal with.

I don’t get too stressed out over it, though, because a split-second later, I hear a loud zap, and then I pass out.

“Skylin, can you hear me?” darkness purrs in my ears.

“Go away!” I scream. “Leave me alone!”

“Now, why would we do that?” darkness whispers. “Why would we ignore our queen?”

“I’m not your queen,” I whisper. “Just go away.”

“We’re never going away. We’ve waited a long time for you, and we’re not going to stop until you’re ours.”

The voice is deep and familiar, but I can’t place from where.

“Who are you?” I whisper.

“I think you should be asking: who are you …?”

“Sky, open your eyes.” Foster’s voice cuts through the darkness like a zap of lightning. “Come on; wake up.”

“This isn’t over yet,” darkness warns. “I’ll be back for you, our queen of darkness.”

I force my eyelids open, sucking in a sharp breath.

“Easy,” Foster whispers as he strokes his fingers up and down my back.

I blink profusely as I peer around, noting I’m in my bedroom, the lights are on, and I’m lying in bed, on my side. Foster is sitting beside me on the edge of the bed with his hand on my back, and he’s wearing a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a black T-shirt.

“How long have I been out?” I sit up, rubbing my eyes.

“A couple of hours.” He watches me guardedly. “I came to check on you a couple of times, but you were pretty out of it.”

“Oh.” I’m touched he kept his word and tried to wake me up, but what happened while I was asleep has me distracted. “I dreamt of darkness again. It was really pushy, saying… I’m its queen.” I shudder at the memory of how delighted darkness sounded about it.

He considers something while cracking his knuckles against the sides of his legs. “When I was about ten, darkness started really trying to take over my dreams. I think because my powers were developing faster and I was having a hard time controlling them.”

“Did it ever call you its queen?” I ask then shake my head at myself. “Never mind. Please forget I asked that.”

He smiles then scoots closer to me, bringing his legs up onto my bed. “Remember what I said in the bushes? It’ll get easier with time, and the dreams will eventually go away when you learn to block the darkness out.”

“I’ll try to hold on to that, but I’m not going to lie, it makes me not want to go to sleep.”

“You should probably try, though.” He glances at the alarm clock on the nightstand. “We have to get up for school in only a couple hours.”

“Shit,” I murmur, flopping back on the pillow. I stare up at the ceiling, trying to process everything that’s happened and everything to come. “I’m nervous about school,” I admit. “I’ve never been good at making friends, and now I have to try to make them in a school full of people with powers.”

“You won’t be totally alone,” he promises. “East and I will be there.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure you guys have your own lives and your own friends.”

“We have a few, but not a ton. And we’ll take care of you.” He lies down beside me and turns his head toward me, a teasing smile playing at his lips. “If we don’t, then we’ll be stuck feeling your social awkwardness all day, and we definitely don’t want to have to deal with that.”

I playful scowl at him. “Like you guys are any better? I may have only felt what you were feeling for, like, two seconds, but there was some weird shit going on. Honestly, I may not have agreed to do the how merging thing if I knew I was going to feel everyone’s internal drama.”

“It won’t always be as intense as when we did the merging spell. It just took a lot of strain on our power, so we couldn’t control what we sent out to each other very well. But it’s not always like that.” He muses over something. “My bet, though, is that weird shit you felt came from Porter. I love him and everything, but he’s into some weird stuff.”

A smile quirks at my lips. “I think it totally was him.” I roll to my side, tucking my hands underneath my cheek. My gaze skims his profile, his full lips, his lightning-blue eyes that are lined with dark, thick eyelashes.

God, he’s so pretty. No wonder I had a crush on him without even seeing him close up.

He glances at me, amusement dancing in his eyes. “What?”

“Nothing.” Shit, did I send my feelings to him?

Either I didn’t or he lets me off the hook as he silently stares up at the ceiling again.

“Are you going to sleep in here?” I wonder when he makes no move to leave.

He casts a glance at me. “I was going to until you fell asleep, unless you want me to leave.”

Part of me does. Part of me doesn’t.

All of me is confused.

Maybe that’s why I say, “Yeah, sure. Stay. But if you hear me murmuring in my sleep about darkness, promise you’ll wake me up.”

He nods, then tentatively, he reaches out and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I promise I will.”

My stomach flutters. Actually fucking flutters like I ate a bunch of butterflies or something, which is really gross when I think about it. Eating butterflies, I mean. And makes me very stupid for reacting to his touch this way.

What is wrong with me? Since when do I get fluttery over guys?

“Okay.” I swallow, and in the silence of the room, it’s noticeable.

But Foster says nothing, simply staring at me, his eyes searching mine.

“We should probably turn off the lights,” I finally suggest when his gaze starts making my skin warm.

I start to sit up to do just that, but he captures my hand and pulls me back down to the bed.

“You want to know something awesome about our powers? We don’t have to do mundane things like turn off lights or take forever to move stuff out of a house.”

“I knew you guys didn’t do that on your own.” I lightly swat his arm, and he chuckles.

“Yeah, but it was so much faster, wasn’t it?” he says with a smile.

“Yeah, but it still doesn’t explain how you did it.”

He grins. “A portal that led from your house to the storage unit. My dad created it after you left.”

I shake my head in astonishment. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“How about lights out?” he suggests, giving my hand a squeeze.

I’m not sure what he’s about to do, but I play along anyway. “Lights out—”

Sparks hiss between our palms, and then the light suddenly burns out.

“Okay, that was kind of cool,” I admit. “Although, the pitch black is a bit unnerv—”

Before I can finish, an orb of blue, miniature lightning bolts forms in his hand.

“Okay, now you’re just showing off,” I say with a smile.

“Maybe just a little bit.” He pivots on his side, keeping his hand glowing. “Go to sleep, Sky. You’re safe from the darkness. I promise.”

I wish he was right, but the second I start to close my eyes, darkness whispers to me.

All I can do, though, is hope that, in time, I’ll be able to block them out.