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patter.
    Shay Baxter stared in their direction before joining a group of children in the adjoining room. Shay had been recruited as a peer leader to coach the coven’s youngest students. Graylee would have loved working with kids, sharing her joy of magic and discovery. But she had nothing to teach.
    “Today we’ll work on basics then discuss how they can be used for advanced purposes,” their peer leader announced. “You and your partner should start by practicing what you consider elementary magic.”
    Elementary magic . Was this for Graylee’s benefit?
    She turned to Nolan and pasted a smile over her face. As far as he knew, Graylee was merely related to witches.
    “Elementary,” Nolan mused. His brows lifted. “Moving small objects. Opening and closing doors. Floating.”
    He was probably being nice by listing these abilities rather than performing them. Beside them, Ryan was already floating two feet off the floor. Not all witches and warlocks were capable of performing the same spells, but certain basics, like the aforementioned, should have come naturally to any offspring of a witch and warlock.
    Graylee looked from Ryan to Nolan. “I wish I could float.”
    Nolan’s forehead wrinkled. “Why can’t you?”
    “I was able to. Once.”
    “If you could do it once, you can do it again.”
    Graylee frowned. “It’s not that easy.”
    “You need to have faith in yourself. I have faith in you.”
    Graylee rolled her eyes. “That’s corny.” Not to mention Nolan barely knew her.
    “Give it a try.”
    Graylee sighed. “Okay. I have faith in myself.”
    Nolan nodded. “Now try floating.”
    “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
    Nolan just stared back at her with his liquid blue eyes.
    Graylee studied him a beat longer before closing her eyes. “All right. I’m going to float. All I have to do is imagine my body getting lighter. Lighter and lighter. Lighter than air. I don’t weigh a thing.” Graylee chuckled at the last bit. She kept her eyes squeezed tight because it was easier than watching herself fail yet again.
    Lighter and lighter. Lighter than air.
    Graylee wasn’t big on words. She was more of a visualizer. She stopped chanting in her head, breathed in and out, and imagined herself hovering above the floorboards. In her mind she was suspended in air. She stopped trying. She let go. The ground gave way beneath her.
    “Open your eyes,” Nolan said softly.
    Graylee didn’t need to. She smiled, eyes still closed. “And ruin the moment?” She had no sight, no hearing, only feeling and the sensation of soaring beyond reach.
    The room became quiet and then Graylee heard the applause. She opened her eyes and saw their peer leader clapping, along with her peers. Their hands smacked together in metered tempo. Nolan simply grinned at her.
    Graylee smiled and bowed, still hovering in the air.
    Everyone laughed in the good sense of the word, making her feel more buoyant. It was like no other feeling. Graylee had forgotten it. It was sensational.
    “So, um, are you able to come down?” Nolan asked when Graylee remained floating.
    His cheeks dimpled when he smiled.
    “I like it up here.”
    She could see Nolan wasn’t sure if that meant she was stuck like a helium balloon at the top of a ceiling—one he might have to jump up and catch and drag down. She imagined her feet as weights and hit the ground harder than she’d intended.
    It didn’t matter.
    Graylee could float. After a five-year hiatus, her full abilities had returned. She straightened out and studied Nolan’s face.
    “What?” he asked.
    “You should help with the kids. You’d make a fantastic peer leader.”
    Nolan looked at his sneakers and grinned. “Thanks.” He made a semicircle on the floor with his toe.
    The gesture reminded Graylee of a girl. But Nolan was no girl. He was tall and compact. Fit. Casual. His smile was endearing. And he smelled good. Graylee felt herself leaning into him almost as though not of her own free