by Neva Bell
“That seems harsh.”
I laugh. “Grandma would tell me about Polly whenever I used magic in public. She would threaten to shave off my hair and throw my toys into a fire.”
James chuckles, then returns to his book. I hope he will ask me about another witch urban myth, but he doesn’t.
Chapter Thirteen
“You’re overdoing it Chloe. You’re wearing yourself out,” Willa tells me during magic training.
I can’t win.
“I’m fine. This is the best I’ve felt since I got here.”
“You promise?” she asks, her brow furrowed.
I smile. “Yes, I’m good. I promise.”
“Well, I’ve decided you need some fun.”
“Fun?” Does that exist here?
“Yes. Fun. Which is why I’ve arranged a sleepover for you, Jessica and Whitney tonight,” Willa says. I can tell by the look on her face she’s proud of herself. “After dinner, the three of you can retreat to the 11th floor. I have some surprises for you.”
I give her a hug. “You’re so thoughtful. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You deserve a break.”
Jessica, Whitney and I are giggly at dinner, excited about our slumber party. Frank and James exchange glances, but don’t spoil our fun.
As we’re leaving the dinner table, Frank pulls me to the side. “I have a favor to ask you.”
I’m curious. “Okay. What is it?”
“My parents and sister are in town this week. Is it okay if I take the rest of the day off?”
“Of course! You don’t need to ask me for a day off.”
“I’m your personal bodyguard. I absolutely have to ask you before I take a day off.”
I shrug. “Take off whenever you want. There are plenty of Guard members here to cover for you.”
Frank ignores my carte blanche vacation day policy. “If you and the girls are having a slumber party tonight, it might be a good time for me to slip out and meet up with my family.”
I nod. “You should. And let me know if you want some more time off.”
“Will do.”
I start to walk away, but Frank calls out to me again. “Oh…and Chloe...”
I turn around. “Yeah?”
“If you need anything, call Sue.”
“Sue? Who the heck is Sue?”
“Willa’s personal security guard.”
“Bane? Bane’s real name is Sue?”
Frank smiles. “Yes. I think he likes Bane better though.”
I head for the 11th floor, whistling Johnny Cash as I go.
---
Willa went all out for us. We find sleeping bags with matching pillows, a popcorn machine, and a snow cone maker. I love snow cones! We take turns using the flavored syrup to dye our frozen treats bright colors.
When we’re done with our dessert, we slip into our pjs, grab some popcorn and watch Jerry McGuire, one of my favorite movies.
When Tom Cruise delivers his famous lines to Renee Zellweger, Whitney sighs. “That’s how I feel about Brandon.”
Jessica and I look over at her.
“Who’s Brandon?” Jessica asks.
“My boyfriend back home.” Whitney looks at her cellphone. “He hasn’t texted me today and I miss him.”
“I didn’t know you have a boyfriend,” Jessica says. “How come I’ve never heard about him?”
“Because James hates him. I don’t talk about him if James is around.”
“Why does James hate him?”
“When we were kids, Brandon used to talk a lot of crap about our parents. He wasn’t a very nice guy back then. James hasn’t forgiven him for it.”
I turn off the television and tuck my legs underneath me. “So what’s Brandon like?”
Whitney gets dreamy eyed. “He’s gorgeous! Tall with dark hair. Fit. He’s obsessed with motosports, so he’s out riding dirt bikes a lot.”
“He sounds exciting!” Jessica interjects.
Whitney nods enthusiastically. “Oh, he is.” She pauses and then adds, “We’re mates.”
Mates?
Jessica and I exchange glances and then break out into giggles.
“What?” Whitney asks confused.
“Whitney, you slut!” I exclaim. Jessica and I burst into another laughing fit.
“No!” Whitney puts her forehead in her hand. “It’s not what you think!”
“Yeah? What is it then?” Jessica asks, still laughing.
“Mating for werewolves doesn’t mean sex. Well, I guess mates have sex, but ‘mating’ doesn’t mean having sex.”
Jessica and I calm down. Whitney’s face is flush with embarrassment.
I help her out. “We’re sorry Whitney. Please, explain it to us.”
“When you say you’re someone’s mate, it means you are his life partner.”
“Like getting married?” Jessica asks.
“Sorta, but more than that. It’s an acknowledgement that you are spiritually connected, one is a part of the other. You don’t want to exist without each other.”
My turn for a question. “How does it work? How did you let Brandon know you wanted to be his mate?”
Whitney blushes again. “It’s a long held tradition with our pack. You…you bare your neck to him.”
Jessica holds her hand over her throat. “Your neck? Isn’t that a vampire thing?”
Whitney rolls her eyes. “No! If a woman bares her neck to a man, it means she wants to be his mate. If he licks her from her collarbone to her jaw line,” Whitney runs her finger along her neck to show us, “it means he wants to be her mate too.”
“And you and Brandon are mates?” I ask.
Whitney nods her head. “Yes.”
Jessica is as interested in this werewolf tradition as I am. “Do mates stay together forever?”
Whitney frowns. “Most do. There are occasions when mates split up. It’s sad because it’s usually one sided. I’ve seen people devastated because their mate left them.”
I think of the story Whitney told me about her mom’s reaction to Julian leaving. Were they mates?
Jessica interrupts my train of thought. “Any traditional mating rituals for witches Chloe?”
I shake my head. “None that I’m aware of. I’ve been to witch weddings, and there are a few phrases we add in, but nothing like what the werewolves do.”
“What about you Jessica? Do you have a special someone?” Whitney asks.
“Nope,” Jessica responds. “Not at the moment.”
“Anyone you’re interested in?”
Jessica’s face turns pink.
“Oh my God!” I throw a piece of popcorn at her. “Jessica has a crush!”
Jessica tries to play it off, but we see right through her.
“Who is it? Tell us! Tell us!” Whitney begs.
I giggle. “Come on Jess, spill it!”
Jessica sighs. “Okay, okay. But you have to promise you won’t tell a living soul!”
Whitney and I nod our heads vigorously in agreement.
“It’s Frank.”
Whitney and I both exclaim “Frank?!” at the same time.
Jessica shrugs. “He’s a nice guy. And he’s really hot.”
I rub my chin. “I need to put my matchmaking skills to work.”
Jessica shoots me a look. “Don’t you dare! You promised!”
I stick out my pinkie and Jessica does the same. As we entwine our fingers, I say, “I won’t tell Frank. Promise.”
Jessica relaxes.
Whitney changes topics. “Do you guys like Ariana Grande?”
“Yes,” Jessica and I both answer.
“I have her new CD. I bought it today at a store down the street.”
I raise my eyebrow. “They still sell CDs?”
“Yep. I like buying the actual CD better than downloading the album. I have a collection back home.”
Whitney puts in the CD and we continue talking about boyfriends, exes and dating horror stories.
A song comes on with a great dance beat and I can’t help but get up and strut around the room. Soon Jessica and Whitney are up with me and we are dancing to the music.
I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. I feel like my old self again, the girl who loved to laugh and dance. I owe Willa big time.
Three songs in to our dance party, Whitney launches a pillow past my head.
“Hey!” I protest.
Whitney is glaring, but it’s not at me. I turn and see James standing in the doorway. He takes a few steps into the room and Whitney throws another pillow at him. James deflects the pillow easily and it thumps to the floor beside him.
“No boys allowed!” Whitney yells at him.
“Are you ladies aware that there’s a room full of men watching you on television right now?”
Whitney freezes. “What?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “If you’re referring to the Guard, Frank would never let that happen.”
“Frank isn’t here though, is he?” James sneers.
Dang it. I forgot I gave Frank the night off.
“No,” I admit.
James gets a superior look on his face. The one I see in training when he’s got an advantage over me. He turns and walks out of the room without another word.
“Has your brother always been this lame?” I ask Whitney when he’s gone.
She frowns. “Pretty much.”
James’s interruption deflates the energy of our party.
Not wanting to bail completely on the slumber party idea, we all trek up to Whitney’s room and lay our sleeping bags on the floor. There are no cameras in bedrooms, so we’re free to talk about whatever we want without worrying about a bunch of Guard members listening in. We talk late into the night and one by one we fall asleep.
I don’t know if it’s the snow cone, the popcorn, or what, but I am smack dab in the middle of an awful dream. I’m in my pajamas standing in an open field. There’s a full moon in the sky and a chill in the air. As if the darkness isn’t bad enough, fog rolls in all around me. I can’t see past my extended hand as I make my way through the mist. I try using magic, but none of my spells work.
I call out to Frank, but I don’t get a response.
I shout for Willa. Nothing.
I try both Whitney and Jessica, but neither responds.
I yell out desperately for James.
Suddenly, a werewolf jumps through the fog. Its mouth open wide and razor sharp teeth gleaming. It is coming for my throat. I scream as loud as I can.
I wake to the sound of my own screams. Whitney and Jessica are both scrambling out of their sleeping bags, terrified looks on their faces. Whitney’s bedroom door slams open and James rushes into the room. He immediately drops to my side and puts his hands on my shoulders.
“Chloe! Chloe! Are you alright?”
My face is in my hands and I’m sobbing. “The werewolf…”
James flinches and pulls back from me.
I look up at him. “No, not you. A different werewolf. It was…it was trying to kill me.”
“God Chloe!” Jessica says, her hand covering her heart. “You scared the crap out of me!”
“I’m sorry.”
Ivan scrambles into the room as quickly as he can on his cane. “Is everything okay?” he asks, winded from his efforts.
“Yes,” I assure him. “Bad dream. I’m sorry to wake you.”
Ivan lets out a deep breath. “Okay. Good.” He nods at us, then turns around and leaves Whitney’s room.
“You good now?” James asks me.
I nod. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
James searches my eyes for a moment, then stands and heads for the door. Before closing it behind him, he says, “Good night ladies.”
“Good night,” we all respond.
I lay my head on the pillow, afraid to go back to sleep. I play a game in my mind my mom taught me when I was little. You pick a category and name a thing in that category using the letters of the alphabet. Tonight I select fruits and vegetables. Apple, banana, celery… I make it to nectarine before I fall asleep.
---
“How are you doing?” James asks me the next night in the library.
He’s going through yet another book about werewolf history and I’m reading a book called Harnessing the Leader Within. It’s a real page turner.
“Pretty good. Sorry I woke you up last night.”
“No problem. But that’s not what I meant. How are you feeling in general? You seem more content.”
I think about this for a second. Am I content?
“You know, I do feel good. I think branching out and learning more about being the Verhena has helped me find balance. I’m not angry all the time like I used to be.”
James jots something down on his notepad. “Did you and your ex make up?”
“Who? Elliott?” I haven’t thought about Elliott in a long time.
“Yes, Elliott.”
“He’s married James. That pretty much put the kibosh on our relationship.”
“Do you miss him?” James asks without looking up.
Why this line of questioning? Why the interest in me and Elliott?
James glances at me. “You can tell me if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“No, it’s fine. Really. I was just thinking about your question.”
James looks back down at his book. I envy his ability to read and carry on a conversation at the same time. My brain doesn’t work that way.
“I don’t. Miss him I mean. I did for the first day or two, but I realized we were never what I thought we were.”
James flips a page of his book. “Meaning?”
“I got into it so quickly, I never stopped to think about how real it was. He was there for me the second I found out I was the Verhena. He showed interest and I liked him. It snowballed from there. Maybe things would be different if I was a normal girl and he was a normal boy. But we’re not. End of story.”
I realize as I’m saying all of this out loud that I really don’t miss Elliott. He was a great distraction from all of the crap happening in my life. But there wasn’t anything deeper to it than that.
James smiles. “Well, I’m just glad you aren’t trying to burn down the building anymore.”
We’re quiet for a minute, then I ask, “What about you?”
“No, I don’t miss Elliott either,” James says without skipping a beat.
I laugh. “I mean your mate. Do you miss her?”
He raises an eyebrow. “My mate?”
“Whitney told me she has a mate, and you’re older than her, so I assumed…” I trail off. Judging by the look on his face, I’m way wrong.
“I don’t have a mate,” James says, his eyes dull.
Uh-oh. I hope I’m not dredging up some sordid history.
I try to lighten the mood. “Can’t find someone good enough for you, huh?”
“I haven’t looked,” he responds.
“You’ve never had a girlfriend? Anyone you thought stood a chance?”
James smiles a little. “I guess I deserve this after the Elliott questions.” He puts his pen down. “Yes, I’ve had girlfriends. No, none of them were serious. I have no problem getting a girlfriend. The issue is keeping one.”
I crinkle my nose. “Maybe if you weren’t such an asshole all the time.”
He laughs out loud. “You’re probably on to something there.” His face turns serious again. “None of the girls wanted to take on the responsibility of being my mate.”
“The responsibility? You make it sound like a job.”
“In a way it is. I’m never going to be in a ‘normal’ relationship.” He uses his fingers to make air quotes around the word normal. “My mate will have to deal with the reality of being the wife of a pack leader. As you said the other day, it can feel like a prison.”
“No, I get it. I do. It will be the same for my partner.” I frown. “If I ever date again.”
James returns to his book
and we are quiet for a while. My concentration is broken when he stands to stretch.
“What are you reading?” I ask him.
“The life and times of my great-grandfather. It’s funny to think that someday my great-grandson will read about me.” He sits back down. “How about you?”
“One of the books your grandfather recommended. This chapter talks about determining and eliminating your biggest character flaw.”
“What’s your biggest character flaw?”
“That’s easy. I’m self-centered. You?”
“I’m impulsive.”
I laugh. “You? Impulsive?”
“What’s so funny about that?” he asks.
“You don’t have an impulsive bone in your body.”
“Not anymore. I determined my biggest character flaw, and I eliminated it.”
I roll my eyes. “Sorry, I forgot you’re perfect. Just out of curiosity, how did you eliminate this flaw?”
“I learned how to exercise self-control. In all things.”
“Gee, sounds fun.”
He gives me a sly smile. “It can be.”
I blush. I look down at my watch. 10:28 p.m.
“Well, I gotta go.” I stand up and grab my book. “Time for my swim.”
“Ah yes, your nightly swim,” James says, acting like he wasn’t flirting with me a second ago. “It’s the only predictable thing about you.”
I make haste for the exit. I can’t get to the pool quick enough. I need to cool down.
---
An hour later, I step out of the shower just in time to hear my phone ringing. I make a mad dash for it.
“Hello?”
“Chloe, it’s Frank.”
“What’s up?”
“We need to have a meeting. Can you come down to the Guard operations center?”
“I’m on my way.”
I put my wet hair in a bun and throw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie. A group has convened in a conference room by the time I get down to the Guard’s floor.
“What’s going on?” I ask when I walk in.