Casey veered off to the left. “Let me show you something.”
We strolled down to a reed-lined pond and stopped by a cluster of large
stones surrounded by little flowers. The central stone was longer than the rest
and stood on end. Someone had carved hundreds of strange symbols and
diagrams into its surface long ago. Casey ran his palm over the lines. “This is
the founder’s stone—the seed that created this part of Magic Side.”
“What do you mean?”
“To make this part of the island, the LaSalles enchanted this stone with a
powerful spell and floated it out into the lake on a raft. The magic spread
through Lake Michigan and drew sediment and rubble up from the bottom to
form an island. A small one, granted, but there weren’t Magica living here at
the time.”
I ran my fingers over the weathered rock, tracing the symbols, which had
grown shallow and worn from the rain.
“Those inscriptions on the stone were part of the spell. The ancient magic
is spent, so technically, this is just an old rock. But our forebearers were
sorcerers, and we work magic with our souls. That means the souls of our
ancestors are in this rock. Remember that fact if you ever question whether
you really belong in Magic Side. I know this city must seem crazy, but it’s
part of you.”
My heart ached at that thought. Of truly belonging somewhere.
Casey slung his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his chest.
“You have us, your family. We’ll always have your back. Tomorrow, we’ll
sit down with Mom and bang our heads together until we figure out what to
do about that prick, but now, it’s time to forget all that shit and drink, got it?”
I nodded, pursing my lips to hold in the emotions that wanted to crawl
out. I’d only known my cousin for a couple of weeks, and even though he
was insane like the rest of the family, he seemed to genuinely care about me
in his own twisted way.
Up ahead, the noise from the party filled the air. Dozens of people