"When?" he asked.
"Now's good. Yep, now."
There was a soft chuckle on his end, but the kind which sounded like he was pushing away worry. "I'm on my way. Give me three minutes."
"Rain?" Aspen asked as I lowered the phone.
"Look," I said, dimming the screen and pushing the phone away, "whatever you're trying to do isn't working. I don't know if it's Torian, trauma, or something else, but you can't do this on your own, Aspen."
Her eyes jumped between mine, focusing first on one side, then the other. "Rain, I'm not supposed to talk about it."
"With Bracken?" I huffed. "If not him, then who?"
"Torian says - "
I cut her off right there. "Torian thinks he's unstoppable, but you know what? He isn't! I could stop him. Keir can stop him. I'm sure the whole school ganging up together probably could as well. And sure, he's all big and badass, right? But he's not, Aspen. He's faking it!"
"No, he's - "
I leaned closer and lifted my brow, waiting for her to finish that. When the silence stretched on too long, I shifted my tone, making it gentle. "Aspen, I know you love your brother. I get it, but his pride means he can't ask for help. Not won't. Not doesn't want to. Torian either doesn't know how or doesn't know he can - otherwise I would've been helping you with this!"
Her teeth found her lower lip and her eyes hit the ground. "Rain, it's just..." She made a face. "Stupid promises!"
"Hey," I breathed. "It's ok. If you need me to leave, I get it. From the sounds of it, Fae words are some fucked-up shit, huh?"
That earned me the flicker of a smile. "Yeah, kinda. I mean, promises are magical, and breaking one? It's not fun. Think of it like pushing through a mountain or bleeding yourself dry."
"And you promised not to tell me about this," I realized.
"Anyone," she clarified. "Wilder and Hawke already knew, so I can talk to them, but we can't tell anyone else."
"Not even your own uncle?"
Her head twitched slightly. "Oh. He knows."
"So talk to him, Aspen. Figure out what you need for help, and let my zez help, ok? I dunno, maybe even get Torian some help too? You know, before he drags you into whatever hole he's sliding into?"
"It's complicated," she tried just as someone tapped at the door.
"Aspen?" Bracken called through the wood.
"Zez!" I replied, scrambling to my feet to let him in.
But he heard me. Something zinged, the latch clicked, and the door opened before I could reach it. Bracken surged in from the hall, pausing long enough to look around. His eyes naturally went to all the plants in the room.
"Aspen?" he asked gently, heading towards her. "You ok?"
"I can't hold it all," she mumbled, sounding ashamed. "There's just too much!"
"I know," he soothed, bending down to feel her forehead like a parent checking for a fever. "Do we need more pots?"
"She gave some magic to me," I said, aware Bracken's attention was locked on Aspen.
The man paused, slowly looking back at me. "What?"
"Ms. Rhodes said I convert fae magic to Wild magic." I shrugged. "So if Aspen's going to explode, I mean..."
"She's not going to explode," he assured me before looking back to her. "But tell me what happened?"
