hexes for exes

prologue

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL night. Dazzling stars hid among the misty clouds, visible only as tiny dots in the endless nebula. A stray plane, somewhat evident from the lands below, bolted through the clouds, breaking the eerie silence that had descended onto the sleeping land.

Inside the plane, it was another story.

Livia Wong was rather proud of her vocabulary. As an aspiring writer, she had to be. But she found herself strangely tongue-tied as she leaned against the back of her seat on the plane, as her sister Pamela stared at her wide-eyed, awaiting an answer.

The question had been a simple one. One that wasn't that difficult to answer.

"How are you feeling right now?"

Yet, somehow, the words Livia prepared were stuck in her mouth, because they simply weren't true. She wasn't ecstatic, she wasn't joyous, she wasn't anticipating a summer of fun and games.

And while lying had never been of any problem to her, especially not regarding matters as small as this one, that night, she struggled.

Pamela blinked. The younger girl was obviously sleepy. It was clear from the way her eyelids drooped, even though she tried to stay focused.

And yet, Livia still didn't say a word.

Pamela's brows creased. Both sisters were fairly attractive, but no one would hesitate before pointing out Pamela as the more beautiful one. Sometimes Livia thought her sister looked like one of those idols. Flawless skin, wide, innocent eyes, hair as luscious and soft and silk, dyed a light brown at the tips. She was tall and skinny, with the tiniest bit of curves and dips. A walking clothes hanger who looked good in everything.

"Are you okay?" Pamela asked. "You haven't looked happy all day."

Livia offered a comforting smile. "I'm just tired. Go to sleep, Pamela."

Pamela looked like she was about to say something for a moment, but then she shut her opened mouth and turned away. She'd been up since early this morning, since she'd left most of her luggage until those inhuman hours. Procrastination was Pamela's Achilles' heel, and it was never something Livia could quite understand. She'd never had that problem. It seemed second nature to her, to never drag anything on and do it as soon as it was needed.

What she couldn't say to Pamela right now, the things that she thought to herself as she turned away from her sleeping sister, the words that were stuck in her throat, was this:

Every person's life was in chapters. Every person's life was a story. Some people had more chapters, some people less. Livia's life was divided into numerous, and the most recent one ended when she left Briarville last year, the seaside town where they'd spent every summer in. She hadn't left that place with a bright smile on her face. She'd left it heartbroken, feeling betrayed and forgotten, as if someone had stuck a knife into her heart and twisted and twisted until she'd bled out on the pristine porcelain floor—what a ghastly sight to behold!

Livia Wong had a habit of holding the entire sky by herself, a willing Atlas. It was hardwired into her brain, to always put herself second and others first, and so she hadn't told anyone. If her family noticed the way she'd changed, if her friends noticed her radio silence throughout the year, no one mentioned a thing.

And in a way, it only made her feel worse. As if she was invisible, as if she didn't matter at all.

Thing was, these summer months always felt so disconnected to everything else. It wasn't as bad for the other kids, because they all lived and studied in Britain for most of the year, but the Wongs were the one family who were not from England. They were very much from Hong Kong. So there'd always been that feeling that Livia and Pamela didn't quite belong.