Enchanted Summer Read online

  A dying plant on the windowsill called to her attention once again. Ariadne touched one of its withering leaves. The soil was wet but it lacked nutrients. Also, some pesky insects were sucking the life out of the poor thing. Ariadne took a deep breath and reached for the energy locked up inside of her. She willed it to flow through her fingers into the dying plant. Fill it with life once again.

  Every time she did that, she felt like a bottle being tipped upside down, a little bit of liquid pouring out. She could feel the empty space left by the leaked energy, and it didn’t fill up again as it had back at home. Probably that was because she was so far away from home—outside of the source of magic. Outside of her natural environment. Not where she was supposed to be.

  That’s what they’re trying to convince me of, Ariadne quickly reminded herself. That I can’t control my own life. That I don’t have a choice. That I have to do what they say.

  No; she wouldn’t fall for that anymore.

  Her magic would restore. Somehow; she didn’t know how yet. But it would.

  It had to.

  Seeking a distraction from her disturbing thoughts, Ariadne whirled around and spotted a giant black piano in the middle of the adjacent room. A chill ran down her body.

  Careful not to damage her wings on the furniture, Ariadne walked across the floor to it. She circled around the piano, brushing her fingers along the glossy surface. Remembered the sounds it made.

  No, not it—Nate. He played the piano a few nights she was here.

  He was playing it the night she wandered into his garden.

  She remembered how she flew through this alien town, fueled by fear and despair, her heart fluttering as fast as her wings. She was sure she was being chased. She’d convinced herself that if she stopped, they would grab her, tie her up, and haul her back to the Forest. She would be punished for her stupidity and disloyalty, thrown in some dungeon, and forced to fulfill their demands. Tears stung her eyes, and her whole body was trembling.

  Then a beautiful melody reached out to her. It enveloped her fully, drowning out the fear in her head. It made her tranquil; made her think of all the beautiful things she had seen and experienced. It made her think of home—not the one she despised and dreaded—her real home, the one that she loved. Clearings filled with glittering crystals. Trees overgrown with moss. Fairy lights gliding above the surface of the Crystal Lake, alongside the water lilies glowing under the stars.

  But there was also something else to this melody. It called to her heart, soothed it. Enchanted, Ariadne followed the sound of it until she’d found where it came from.

  An open window of the house surrounded by a messy garden. A young man sat on a bench by the piano and played it in the darkness.

  Moonlight penetrated the window pane, glinting off the keyboard as his fingers brushed them softly. His hazel hair fell onto his brow, but he was too concentrated to notice.

  Mesmerized—by the music and the man who played it—Ariadne quietly settled on a windowsill. He didn’t notice her then. He kept playing. And she listened—through the whole night; all of her fears brushed aside and forgotten.

  He didn’t even realize that it was his own music that had lured the otherworldly fairy into his garden.

  ∞∞∞

  When Nate returned home that night, the house was dark and seemingly empty.

  The rain had stopped hours ago, and the sky had cleared up, revealing the stars and the bright crescent of the moon. No lights were on inside the house. A pinch of regret prickled inside Nate’s chest—he had to show Ariadne how to turn on the electric lights. Or maybe she preferred the darkness; found comfort in it, just like he did?

  Carefully easing the door closed, Nate walked over to the kitchen counter and placed a bag of groceries on top of it. A couple of plates and a spoon were drying on a dish rack, and the last package of berries was missing from the fridge. That meant Ariadne had eaten at least once. Good.

  Nate ascended the stairs and knocked on the door of the guest bedroom. No sounds came from the inside, and when he twisted the doorknob, the lock clicked, allowing him to come in. Nate peered through the crack to make sure he was not intruding, then made a step into the bedroom.

  Ariadne lay on the bed, on her stomach, sound asleep. She was fully clothed, wearing the same dress that she had been in before, her strap sandals thrown on a carpet nearby. The soft white locks of her hair parted to reveal a slightly pointed ear. Her dragonfly-shaped wings draped her back like a blanket. They looked absolutely clear in the darkness, but wherever moonlight struck them, they tinted with colors of the rainbow.

  She was breathing steadily, her eyelashes casting a shadow on her cheeks. The inexplicable desire to come closer and brush his fingers through her soft hair, along the shimmery skin of her shoulder, overcame Nate. He did everything in his power to ignore it, push it to the back of his mind. Casting his eyes on the floor, he stepped back and silently closed the door.

  This was all too much. A fairy in his garden and now inside his own house. What was she doing here? Was she planning to stay or would she just disappear from his life one day, as suddenly and unexpectedly as she had entered it?

  Nate exhaled, closing his eyes. He needed fresh air. He needed some movement.

  Having dealt with the groceries, he wrote another note for Ariadne and left it on the kitchen counter. Then he grabbed the keys and pushed the front door open.

  Nine

  Mimi stepped onto the porch and blew out a long breath. Ollie, an overexcited golden retriever, wagged his tail and urged her to go. She followed him down the stairs.

  She loved her family; she really did. It’s just that sometimes it all became too much for her. Her father coming home from work and turning on the TV to watch the sports channel on the loudest setting. Her mother and Hanna in the kitchen preparing dinner while chatting cheerfully. Hanna putting on some music and doing impromptu dance moves as she chopped up the vegetables. Everyone loved Hanna—Mimi did too, adored her for as long as she could remember; Hanna was like a sister to her. She couldn’t wait for her and Ray to get married so that the two of them could be officially related. But despite all that, sometimes she felt like they were on the opposite ends of a spectrum. While Hanna wanted to go-go-go, Mimi needed some peace and quiet.

  Hanna’s mom came for dinner that day and brought her son with her—an eleven-year-old boy named Chase. He was heavily into model building now and had brought his recent project with him. In the present moment, he, Ryan and Ray were hunched over it in the living room, immersed in a lively discussion.

  And when Ollie started jumping around the place and barking, contributing to the overall noise in the house, Mimi resolved she needed to do something about it. So she put the dog on the leash and headed to the nearby forest.

  Her thoughts were a jumble as she walked through the neighborhood, Ollie trotting ahead of her, sniffing at the grass. The moon was so bright tonight, as if the passing rain had swept the last tendrils of the clouds away from the night sky, then polished it to a shine. Crickets came out and resumed their chirping. An owl hooted somewhere close.

  Hanna was afraid to walk outside after dark, and she only walked Ollie if Ray was accompanying her. Not that she had to—Ollie wasn’t her dog—but she refused to join Mimi on their evening walks, claiming there were ghosts and monsters out to get them.

  Mimi, on the other hand, found the darkness soothing. Nobody could see her, so nobody judged her. Less distraction for the mind. She thought of how she would survive college if even her own family, whom she loved dearly, sometimes overwhelmed her so much.

  Crossing the road, Mimi neared the edge of the forest. Ollie picked up the pace, already knowing where they were headed and eagerly anticipating it. There was a person walking along the street in their direction. Mimi couldn’t see his face—only the outline of his messy hair and his silhouette against the dark blue sky. Hanna’s nonsensical stories suddenly flashed through her mind—ghosts, and psychos, and vam
pires, and other stuff—Mimi squeezed her eyes and shook her head.

  This was not a psycho—this was just a normal person who, like Mimi, enjoyed a walk in the forest underneath the moonlight. A normal person who had slightly messy brown hair and—

  Mimi stopped dead, her heart stammering inside her chest. Ollie lifted his head from the bush he examined and sniffed at the air, his tail pausing mid-air.

  The person walking toward them looked up and halted, staring ahead. And then he smiled, coming up closer.

  Mimi gasped, feeling her cheeks instantly heat up. “Nate?” she breathed, not quite believing her eyes.

  Mimi’s heart never slowed down as the two of them entered the forest. Now more than ever she was grateful for the darkness that concealed her flushed face, her trembling fingers.

  After thoroughly inspecting Nate, Ollie declared him safe, wagged his tail, licked Nate’s hand, made sure he didn’t bring any treats with him, and rushed ahead, taking Mimi with him.

  “I didn’t know you lived so close to me.” Nate was a little surprised by that discovery. “Do you walk him here every night?”

  “Almost every night,” Mimi squeaked. “Do you come here often?”

  “No; I’ve never been here before.” He looked around, at the lush canopy of leaves whispering above their heads. “I just … needed to clear my head.”

  Mimi nodded, her eyes on the winding path ahead of them. “Me too.”

  Nate cast a quick glance at her—or maybe she’d just imagined that.

  “When Hanna’s family comes to visit …” Mimi continued, “it becomes too much. Sometimes.”

  He chuckled softly. “I know what you mean. When I was little, I used to hide in my parents’ bedroom closet whenever people came to visit. Then they would all come searching for me. Sometimes I’d manage to convince my mom to leave me alone, other times I would not be so lucky and she would force me to come out. Otherwise, I would hide there for hours. Always had a stack of books waiting for me in the corner.”

  Mimi’s lips stretched into a little smile. “I did the same thing. But I hid in the garden instead. Or ran to my friend’s house—she lived next door. One time, my mother got so angry! She thought I was doing it to get on her nerves or humiliate her, but I was just … uncomfortable. Some of the guests, our distant relatives, always asked me those intimidating questions. And the kids—my cousins—made fun of me. I didn’t want to explain to my parents the reason I wanted to hide—they wouldn’t believe me, anyway, thinking that my cousins and I were just fooling around. And then that friend of mine had moved away, so …” She trailed off. She couldn’t believe she’d just told him so much.

  Nate nodded. “I understand. I never had a good relationship with any of my cousins, either. No matter how hard my parents tried to get me to like them. But we were always so different. Just like my brother and me.”

  Mimi’s eyebrows shot up as she looked at him. “You have a brother? A full brother?”

  “Yes!” Nate laughed. “Is it so shocking? He’s close to your age; a little younger. But he’s my complete opposite. We don’t even look like we’re related.”

  Mimi dropped her eyes, a little embarrassed by her earlier exclamation. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect that for some reason.”

  “It’s okay. People are often surprised to find out I have a brother. I guess I give the impression of being an only child. More than that—when people see us together, they think we’re distant cousins at best.”

  Mimi mused over what he’d said. “People are often surprised when they find out Ray and Ryan are my brothers. When they were little, they, too, had blond hair. But then their hair had darkened as they grew up while mine had stayed the same. Also”—she cut a glance at him—“we have quite different characters.”

  “That’s true,” Nate laughed. “I didn’t even realize you were Ray’s sister when I first saw you.”

  Mimi’s blush deepened.

  When I first saw you …

  When she first saw him, that night, when she came to the diner looking for her brother …

  She walked in, saw someone new. He had slightly messy hazel hair and the most striking, radiant blue eyes she’d ever seen. But still nothing insanely special. Just a cute guy.

  So used to being invisible to boys, Mimi had never had a boyfriend in her entire school life. Her friends were always dating someone; always telling Mimi she had to find someone for herself.

  You just take it so seriously, they all told her.

  She knew she did. But still, she couldn’t imagine dating someone she didn’t like. And boys she was interested in never looked in her direction. And so she grew up to be eighteen and never had the experience of holding hands with someone special, hugging and kissing.

  Mimi knew it was probably weird. Her friends thought it was strange. The only people who didn’t think it was weird were her brothers—who were too protective of her—and Hanna. Mimi was grateful for that. Having someone who accepted her fully the way she was and believed she would find happiness no matter what was a great relief in a world that constantly tried to convince her otherwise.

  But she still yearned to find that special someone.

  And now this new guy. Nate.

  A memory flashed through her mind. She was peacefully lying on the bed in her room, reading a book, when Hanna sent her a message. A recording of him playing the piano.

  This is Nate’s music! Isn’t it cool?

  Mimi remembered putting her headphones on and pushing the play button. Then her eyes growing wide, her lips parting but not emitting a sound.

  The melody was simple, just the piano and nothing else, but there was something … magical to it. Enchanting. It carried her away to another realm.

  She listened to the melody on repeat, pushing the play button again and again, as if she were in some sort of a trance. She fell back on the pillows and looked outside, at the clouds lazily floating in the afternoon sky. It felt like being up there with them, soaring through the endless blue.

  And when she saw him again that day, this guy who had created this magical music, she looked at him from a completely different angle.

  She wanted to know more about him. She pestered Ray with questions, but that wasn’t enough. Besides, Ray barely knew anything about Nate—did they even talk at all during their workdays?

  But Mimi wanted to talk to Nate herself. Know what he’s thinking. Find out where those beautiful melodies were born.

  “Hey,” Nate’s voice suddenly broke into her memories, making her shiver. “This might be a peculiar question, but … do you believe in magic?”

  “Huh?” Mimi whipped her head at him, her eyebrows shooting upward. Strangely, she noticed seriousness in his eyes. Cheeks red, she hastily looked away. “Yes,” she answered, “I do. Though when I say that, I don’t mean that I believe in fairies, or mermaids, or things like that.” A strange look crossed Nate’s face, but she didn’t give it much thought. “But I do believe there are little miracles hidden all around us.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, feeling like her face might catch fire any minute now. “Take your music, for instance.”

  “What?”

  If there had been any other emotion shown on his face up until that moment, now they all faded, leaving nothing but pure astonishment. Nate blinked at her.

  Mimi could feel every vein in her body pulsating uncomfortably due to her wildly racing heart. She swallowed. “I just— I just can’t imagine how you do that. How do you come up with those melodies?”

  For a moment, the only sound was Ollie rustling through the nearby shrub. And then Nate smiled.

  “How could I not? I hear music everywhere I go.”

  Casting her abashment aside, Mimi side-glanced at him. “What do you mean by that?”

  Nate shrugged. “Just try it. Close your eyes and listen. It’s like you’ve said—there are tiny miracles all around us. You just have to let them find you.”

  Mimi blinked up at him
, her eyebrows rising slightly.

  “Here,” Nate said with a soft laugh. “Stop there.”

  He touched her hand gently and turned so that they stood face to face. Mimi dropped her eyes, hoping he couldn’t sense how nervous she was.

  “Close your eyes,” he said, then let go of her hands.

  She did.

  “What do you hear?”

  The only thing Mimi could hear were thoughts swarming in her head. Visions she was grateful he couldn’t see. Her thundering heart. But she willed herself to do what he’d said and shifted her attention to the outside world.

  She swallowed one more time. “I hear … Ollie running around. Crickets … in the distance. Wind rustling the leaves. Some nightly bird singing. Footsteps … Are you stepping back?”

  “Yes.” She sensed a smile in his voice. “What else?”

  I hear your voice, she wanted to say. So beautiful and soft. It felt like a silky fabric brushing along her skin.

  Her breath got caught in her throat. There was no way she would tell him that; ever.

  Focus.

  “I understand that this is probably something like a meditation.” She heard him shuffling through the grass. “Funny thing is, I’m horrible at meditation. I’ve attempted to do it a couple of times, but I just couldn’t get my mind to shut off.”

  “They say it takes … practice.”

  “Yes. And I feel like it is similar to that. But this came naturally to me. When I was little, we lived near the forest, and I loved walking there for hours. Just listening to the sounds of nature. I never got bored. At one moment, it feels like something in your brain switches and you start hearing a melody. Or maybe it’s just a sign of going mad, I’m not sure.” He chuckled. “You know what? Try to record it.”

  “What?” Mimi’s eyes fluttered open.

  Nate stood a few paces away from her, leaning against a giant tree. His hands were folded across his chest. He looked even more magical in the moonlight.