Lost in Mist and Shadow: A Between the Worlds Novel by Morgan Daimler

so….oh, I get it. You’re going to see him today aren’t you?”
    “He has a name Liz,” Allie said, busying herself choosing a coffee cup and getting the milk out of the fridge.
    “I really thought you were over all of that. You haven’t seen him in weeks,” Liz’s voice was thick with disapproval now.
    “You know it’s not that simple-“Allie protested.
    “Because you have that psychic bond thing? Well why not just undo the spell?” Liz said dismissively.
    “Because I…” because I love him Allie thought but found herself afraid to admit that to her cousin, “because I don’t know how.”
    “Yes, but you read Grandmother’s book – that’s where you learned how to do whatever it is you did to get into this mess in the first place, right?”
    Allie looked down, pretending to be busy adding milk to her coffee. “I wouldn’t call it a mess, exactly, it’s just really complicated.”
    “Do you want to have this, this, magical thing where you’re stuck in his head?” Liz said in disbelief.
    “Well no. I mean, I don’t know. At the time…” Allie stammered.
    “Oh I know, I know. It was an emergency, and honey no one judges you for doing what you had to do to save yourself in the moment. But don’t you owe it to yourself and to,” Liz sniffed slightly, “and to him to fix it now? What happens when you get old and die? Or just get old and he loses interest?”
    Liz’s words hurt and Allie struggled not to let it show, “I don’t know. I guess I hadn’t thought about it.”
    “Exactly. But now you need to think about it. If you can’t fix it I’m sure someone else can, but you read Grandmother’s book – you did this to begin with – you can find a way to undo it,” Liz spoke with certainty as she fixed her breakfast. “You should make it a priority.”
    “I don’t think it’s a good idea to use anything else from that book,” Allie muttered, shivering as she remembered some of what had been in her Grandmother’s grimoire.
    “Don’t be a child. I know some of it was distasteful-“
    “Distasteful!” Allie interjected, offended at her cousin’s casual assessment of the spells that had led to innocent girls being tortured and murdered.
    “I’m trying to be polite. Anyway, my point is some of it may have been bad but it can’t all have been. And even if it was, why can’t you use what you know to reverse engineer what you did and fix it?” Liz sounded so confident that Allie felt her own hesitance wavering. She knew the book had contained some horrific magic, things that could never be shared, which is why she had made the choice to burn the book. But…but maybe Liz had a point. She had no idea what would happen to Jess if she died. Would he die to? The thought made her stomach turn; she did not want to think that in saving herself she had condemned him to an early death.
    Liz walked over carrying her breakfast and gave Allie a one-armed hug. “I’m not trying to upset you honey, you know that. I just don’t want to see you get your heart broken over someone who can’t ever really commit to you.”
    Allie thought of Jess’s obsessive single-minded interest in her and shook her head slightly, “I don’t think that‘s a problem Liz.”
    “With elves it’s always a problem,” Liz said sagely. “And let’s be honest you don’t have very much dating experience.”
    “By which you mean I don’t have any,” Allie said, laughing.
    Liz laughed too, sitting down at the long kitchen table. “You’ve always been so shy with men Allie. There I was going out on dates and going through boyfriends like tissue and you were always home reading or helping Grandmother with the store or with one of her spells. I suppose I just thought after all this time none of that interested you.”
    Allie brought her coffee over and sat down with Liz, looking out the window at the sun through the trees. “For a long time it didn’t. When we were in school, I always felt like, I