prologue
Mary
Falling in love is a process that is experienced by millions, desired by millions, and detested by millions. The “falling” part can occur in two ways. You can either feel it come at you suddenly. Flying towards you, hitting you like a ton of bricks. The gripping sensations soar through your chest, burning into the area that is occupied by your heart. Or, it can develop slowly. Like a seed growing into a plant. At first it’s starts little, but over time, the feelings expand and stretch until they’ve inhabited every cell in your body. Love is everywhere it can possibly be, and you know it. Mary MacDonald encountered love in a way quite similar to the latter. She became aware of the warmth that flowed from within her, in the form of a tidal wave. The infatuation gradually rose up, mixing with different shades of affection, producing beautiful streams of blue. Except, where the massive ripple usually meets the shore, love sinking into the sand, her feelings never went away.
Instead, they remained attached to her bones. The chemical reactions between all of the emotions running through her veins created flowers flourishing, surging up. They’d attract fluttering butterflies in her stomach. Tattooed on the imprints of Mary’s DNA were roses of adoration, daises of devotion, sunflowers of intimacy, poppies of passion, and lilies of love. Eventually, the flowers began to wilt. The butterflies went away. But the flowers remained there. The kind of love Mary experienced is incredibly rare. It can’t be connected to other people that enter your life. You face the pain with years of memories, tears of longing. Oh how she longed for the suffering to go away. But it never did, because the love stuck with her forever. And she doesn’t know if it was a blessing or a curse.
However, when it came to Lily, Mary considered everything to be a blessing. She was that alluring, that captivating. Whenever they were around each other, Mary felt more than safe. She felt at home. Every part of her, from the roots of her hair to her tingling fingertips, felt like magic. That was Lily; pure magic.