“It’s not a bad thing at all, except when it’s all there is. A lot of nice people stop being nice when they don’t get exactly what they want.” She got back up and walked a couple of steps ahead of him, so he couldn’t see her expression as she added: “When I’m around people like that, I feel like curling up into a little ball, like a hedgehog. I’ve been taught all my life not to draw attention to myself, not to make people angry, not to let anyone notice how peculiar I am. Sometimes, even now, I have to remind myself that I’m stronger than they think. That I have power.” She turned her head and smiled over her shoulder at him. “You can’t see it, but there’s gold dust curling like smoke all around us. It’s a constant reminder that even when I’m alone and afraid, I always have magic.”

It was such an unexpected confession that Jamie heard himself give her one in return: “I had my father’s journals. After he died, when I was alone and afraid, those pages covered in his handwriting got me to the other side of it.”

Her smile right then was brighter than the fucking sun, and he had to look away, pretending there was nothing on his mind apart from a very pressing need to find honeysuckle.

Back in the car, Mika cast another speed spell, demolished another chocolate bar, and started typing furiously in the Notes app of her phone. She looked up, rubbed her cheek absently, muttered something under her breath, and then went back to typing.

Jamie was fascinated by this opaque process, and had to remind himself to pay attention to the road. Mika looked up at him after a while and gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I got distracted.”

“You don’t have to be sorry for that. What were you doing?”

“I noticed a pink camellia as we left the woods,” she explained, her eyes lighting up with an infectious excitement he’d noticed before, on those late nights when she’d been collecting pieces of stars or brewing a potion. “You know how some people think flowers have meanings? Well, I’ve heard that a pink camellia means you miss someone. And it got me thinking about whether I could use that. Like maybe if I combined the essence of a pink camellia with white lily petals, moonlight, and something else I haven’t yet figured out, I could create a potion or tea that would soften that feeling of missing someone.”

One side of his mouth lifted in a smile. “You know, I’ve never heard the kids talk about magic the way you do.”