I had a job to do, and my duty was my pride.
Prince Thorne and Princess Sage had plans, plans I wished to aide to come to life.
So I would push aside my heart and live by my mission.
All I could do was pray that one day, when this was all over – when whatever her purpose was was finished – maybe then I would be free to feel what I felt. But those were dangerous thoughts, ones I did not allow myself to have when near her.
Olli, Saraphina’s adorable little hound, leapt forward and howled.
I froze and pushed out with my sense. Damn. We were not alone. I let myself get so carried away by her that I stopped paying attention to anything else. But I was now and I instantly knew trouble was headed our way. I smelled the stench of their alcohol and body odor before they stepped out into the clearing where Saraphina was.
Five men marched toward her and it took everything inside of me not to pull my sword.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here, James?” The taller man in the front said.
James scratched his bulbous stomach and shook his head. “A young girl out by herself at dusk? Suspicious activity, Samuel.”
Saraphina stood tall with her head held high and her shoulders back.
I cursed and yanked my cloaking ring off of my finger, then leapt into the clearing. Rage boiled inside me. I may not have been able to stop the humans from hanging the humans, but over my dead body would they touch my girl. “I found that hummingbird over— oh, good evening, gentlemen.” I smiled my fakest, most human smile and tipped my hat.
Samuel paled. “Zachariah, I did not – are you out here with her?”
I smiled wider. “I am, we were searching for hummingbird nests. Is there a problem I may assist you with?”
James frowned. “Not at all, we were just out for a stroll.”
The three other men exchanged glances with each other.I held my stare steady.
After a long moment, Samuel sighed. “We will leave you be. Come along, gentlemen.”
I smiled and waved as they left the area – but not without passing glares at Saraphina. Olli hopped over to me and jumped up on my leg, so I crouched down and ruffled his long ears.
“I did not know you were out here either,” Saraphina whispered once the men were out of earshot.
I stood up straight and smiled down at her. “Forgive me, I saw Olli running through the forest and thought he’d run from you yet again. By the time I caught up, I saw you were with him.”
“Oh, thank you, that was kind of you.” She smiled and her cheeks flushed. “But why did you lie to them?”
I stepped up close to her then tucked her fiery hair behind her ears “Those men just hanged poor Bridget Bishop yesterday. They are mad. Unstable. More likely to be witches than the women they accuse. I would not dare give them a reason to accuse you.”
She frowned. “Walking my dog hardly makes me a witch.”
I grinned and brushed my fingers over her cheek. “What have the others done to deserve it?”
Her face fell, then she nodded. “I suppose you are right. I must be careful in times like this…with those…monsters.”
I reached down and took her hand in mine. “Come, let me escort you home so I may know you arrived safely.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Saffie
December 13h 2018 – present day
“Saffie?”
I jumped and looked up – and found Ms. Kelly standing a few feet away. “Oh, hi, Ms. Kelly.”
She smiled and tucked a stray red hair behind her ear as she walked toward me. Of all my teachers she seemed the most casual, but she was also clearly the youngest. She couldn’t have been older than her mid-twenties. Today she wore an oversized ivory sweater, pale jeans with holes in the knees, and bright white sneakers. I like that. I should try that.
She sat down in the wooden chair next to mine and turned to face me. “Are you in trouble?”
“Metaphorically, perhaps, but no.” I sighed and leaned back. “All my classes have midterms but none of my teachers want to test me so they send me to sit here. Well, all of them except you, of course.”
Ms. Kelly’s face scrunched up. “Oh, God. That’s awful. Here? I mean, I understand why they won’t test you but at least send you to the library.”
I frowned. “What’s a library?”
She gave me a small smile. “It’s a place you go to borrow books for free. When you finish, you return it and get another.”
My jaw dropped. “Why didn’t they send me there?” I threw my hands up and groaned.
Ms. Kelly chuckled. “But other than this travesty, you’re doing all right? I can’t imagine this is easy.”
I gnawed on my bottom lip. My gut reaction was to shrug it off but there was something about Ms. Kelly that was comforting. Maybe it was because she was closer to my age than any of the other adults. Or maybe it was because she’d asked.
“It’s…okay. Sometimes I even forget that I have amnesia, if only for a little while.” I twirled my hair around my finger. “But I do, and it’s more frustrating than I have words to describe.”
She looked at me with sad eyes. “I am so sorry, Saffie. I wish I could just snap my fingers and make this all go away for you.”
I smiled. “Thank you. Even if you can’t fix it.”
“You know what?” She stood and fidgeted with the hem of her sweater. “I can’t fix your amnesia, but I can fix your being stuck here. Come with me.”
I jumped up and grabbed my backpack off the floor, then hurried to catch up to her in the hallway. “Where we going?”
“Busting you out of here.” Ms. Kelly grinned then waved for me to follow her.
I let her lead me down the hall and out the front doors of the school. It was the afternoon in December in Massachusetts, so the sun had already begun its descent.
“Ms. Kelly? Where are we going?”
She stopped and glanced around us. “I didn’t want to stress you out by making you do the midterm project, but I see now that you can handle it. So…the assignment was to capture happiness.”
“But…I don’t have a camera—”
“Use your cellphone. The project is due tomorrow so you don’t have time to develop new film. I want you to use any of the pictures you developed this week in class in the darkroom and any pictures you take today on your phone.” She smiled. “I think that’s fair, don’t you?”
I grinned. Finally, someone wasn’t treating me like I was dispensable. She was making me do the same assignment as everyone else, like I was the same. Like I mattered. Like she wasn’t assuming I’d be gone before Christmas. I cleared my throat. “Thank you.”
“Now shoo.” She flicked her hands at me. “Be gone.”
I chuckled and pulled my phone out.
“Oh, one other thing…” She waited until I looked up then pointed to my outfit. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t you wearing sneakers and a track suit yesterday?”
“Glad you noticed because I won’t be wearing it again.”
She pursed her lips. “And today…this? A tulle skirt?”
I shrugged. “I’m trying to figure out what my style is, so I’m trying all of them.”
“I like that. Good luck on both projects.” She winked, then spun and walked away.
I sighed and glanced around me. Capture happiness. I figured that should be easy enough.
I was wrong.
Twenty minutes later, I’d only taken a few pictures and I was already fairly certain they weren’t going to qualify for the assignment. I stopped at an intersection and glanced around – then noticed I was across the street from that little park with the benches. The one where I’d seen Riah through the camera.
I hurried over to the park then pushed my way through the black gate. The park was empty, but that was expected for the middle of a work day. I held my phone up and looked through the camera at the bench in the back…but it sat empty. Hallucinating was not fun, but somehow I felt de
flated that he wasn’t there.
I walked over and sat down, then just looked around waiting for something to inspire happiness. Happiness. What even IS happiness? What makes me happy?
I couldn’t have said how long I sat there wondering what made me feel happy but all of a sudden I saw a familiar face walking down the sidewalk. I gasped and yelled, “Dr. Troy?”
She froze and turned toward the sound of my voice, and a wide smile spread across her face. “Saffie!” She waved then hurried into the park.
I waited until she was halfway across the park then waved. “Hello! Fancy running into you here.”
Dr. Troy chuckled and sat down on the bench beside me. “I was just thinking the same thing. Skipping school?”
“Well…” I took a deep breath then told her the whole story of my current situation and why I was out here. “That’s where I’ve been stuck for a while.”
She pursed her lips. “What makes you happy, that is a deep question...but I sense that something is bothering you,.I’ve been waiting all week for you to be ready to talk about it.” She leaned back like she was trying to get comfortable. “Though if you’re not ready now—”
“It’s Riah,” I half shouted before I could talk myself out of it.
Her eyebrows rose. “Riah? I don’t recognize that name. Who is this?”
“Riah. Zachariah Martin. He’s a boy at school…” I bit my lip and peeked up at her. “He’s the guy I saw following me last week when I woke on the wharf.”
Her eyes widened. “Wait. You know who the person was?”
I groaned and scrubbed my face with my hands. After a deep breath or two, I unloaded the whole truth on her. All of it. Every single detail, just like I should have done from the beginning. I didn’t leave anything out, not even the moments when I thought I saw him but didn’t. Not even that moment in the darkroom Monday. If I was going to figure this all out, I had to start with telling someone the truth.
She listened carefully and quietly without interrupting. When I was finished, she pursed her lips and nodded. “I can see why you’re confused.”
“You can?” I hated the desperation in my voice.
“Of course. What you experienced was traumatic even without the idea of someone following you. And then to have him show up completely unexpectedly at your school and as your fellow student?” She leaned toward me and lowered her voice, “especially when you’ve developed a bit of a crush on him since.”
Heat filled my face. I looked away and groaned. “Is that bad? Does that make me weak? Stupid?”
“It makes you human, Saffie.” She chuckled but something in my expression made her sober. “Listen, if you had told me right after you’d seen him following you that you had feelings for him then I might have been more concerned. But judging by what you said, you did not experience these feelings right away. And thinking someone is beautiful does not count, that’s just being observant.”
“So you don’t think there’s something wrong with me?”
She smiled and shook her head. “It’s expected to be confused. What I told you the other day about seeing his face when he’s not there? That still stands. And you having a crush on him would only heighten this experience, it’s quite natural. Having a crush is torture on a normal person. For an amnesiac it would be downright daunting. I think you’re handling it well.”
I bit my lip. “So that night? What do you think happened? Was he following me?”
She took a deep breath. “Well, I wasn’t there. I can’t tell you for certain. But he’s helped you a few times now, even showed a great deal of care by checking on you at home. Chances are good it was simply a coincidence that night. Or, he saw a young, pretty girl alone after midnight and was trying to help you.”
“Or he’s pretending to be a good guy now so he can murder me later.”
She leaned forward and met my gaze. “Why don’t you ask him? Go up to him at school and ask what his deal was that night. Gauge his reaction. Stop the guessing and ask.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Saffie
Just go up to him and ask.
No big deal.
You’ve talked to him now. He’s been in your room. It’s totally cool.
I had the right to know. I just needed to find him.
It wasn’t until I was halfway to the class I should have been in that I realized Riah wasn’t in that class. In fact, I had no idea what his schedule was. The only times I saw him at school were during lunch and photography – and in between classes. My obsession with him was actually going to be useful…because I knew we passed him in the hallway between fourth and sixth period classes – and fourth was about to get—
The bell rang above my head like I’d willed it to do so.
I hurried down the hall to the spot where I always saw him, then waited in line for the water fountain. Just as it was about to be my turn, I spotted his blond head towering over the rest of the students. My pulse quickened.
Okay, Saffie. There he is. You can do this. It’s a simple question and you need to know.
I dodged oncoming traffic of students and crossed the hall just as he slipped out the side door and walked outside. This is good. No audience. I pushed through the same door he’d used then sprinted toward him. But the chunky block heel of my boots sank in the dirt and I wobbled. I tried to catch myself only to step onto patches of ice. WHOA. Once I caught my balance, I gripped the straps of my backpack tight and hurried across the lawn as quickly as I could without slipping.
Okay, I definitely am not the kind of girl who wears heels.
This is ridiculous.
How am I supposed to run in these?
“Those are hardly winter boots.”
I gasped and slid to a stop. I knew that voice. Then I saw him.
Riah stood a few feet in front of me with his hands in his pockets. He smirked and shook his head. “Thought I felt something chasing me.” Then he turned and marched through the grass-less, icy lawn.
I groaned and hurried after him. “Wait, I wanted to talk to you—”
“For fashion advice, right? Well, personally I’d stick to flat footwear during the winter months.” He stopped and spun around, then leaned back against the three-foot-tall stone ledge that ran along the backside of campus. “Something with rubber soles, perhaps.”
I stomped up to him and put my hands on my hips. Then frowned and looked down at my feet. “Wait? You don’t like my shoes?”
His deep chuckle brought my gaze back up to his. “Oh, I like them. And now today you actually do look tall. Are those supposed to go that far up your thighs or are you that tiny?”
“I…what?” I reached down and tugged on the tops of my suede thigh-high boots. The tan material was a few shades darker than my actual skin, though you could only see an inch or two of it between my boots and skirt. I stuck one leg out to inspect the height then glanced up to find his gaze lingering over my now exposed thigh. Heat rushed to my face. “Well…they’re my size, so…both?”
He licked his lips as his gaze crept back up to my face very slowly. “I like the look today. Your skirt is…cute.”
I frowned. “Yesterday my skirt was dangerous.”
He grinned. “I’m afraid this outfit is far less dangerous for my health and yet I’m disappointed by that.”
“So…I look…cute?” I couldn’t decide why, but I didn’t like that.
He cocked his head to the side and his golden eyes flashed. “Like a fairy from another realm.”
“Shouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“Perhaps, though quite different.” He pursed his lips and eyed my skirt like it was a meal. “Yesterday’s garments of choice would make even the strongest of men crumble and do your bidding willingly. But this…this is charming and delicate, and would lure men to their deaths without even knowing they were going.”
I narrowed my eyes and tried not to smile. “That sounds more dangerous.”
He shrugged and gave me the sexiest smirk
I’d ever seen. “I’d rather not know when my death was coming, should I have the choice.”
I opened my mouth then closed it. I had no idea what to say to that. Or what it meant. I had no idea what he meant by all this. But it was distracting as hell. The lines I’d rehearsed the whole way over here were gone. Vanished.
“I’m sorry.” He chuckled and rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip. “You looked like you had something important to say to me and I derailed you, though I place the blame entirely on those boots.”
“Um. Yes. I…uh…right.” I licked my lips then took a deep breath. I balled my hands into fists to give me the courage to do what I was about to do. “A week ago I woke up on the Derby Wharf in the middle of the night. Alone. Then I saw you…and I just…I just needed…were you following me?”
I expected him to be surprised or confused, yet he was the picture of calm. Without even a beat of hesitation, he said, “yes but no—”
“What—”
“Please,” he said softly and pressed his finger to my lips, silencing me. Then he pulled his finger back. “I’m a bit of an insomniac so I take the casual evening stroll once the town has gone to sleep. I was sitting on those steps for the view of the water and the boats. It’s a peaceful spot. Then I saw you come running toward me wearing far too little clothing and I knew something was off.”
“You followed me.”
He nodded and shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “You were barefoot, Saraphina. Visibly confused and scared. I watched as you changed directions and ran toward town but something in your eyes told me you needed help, so I followed you. To try and help you. But I didn’t want to spook you by approaching too quickly, so I hung back. It wasn’t until you turned to look at me outside the liquor store that I realized you were running from me. So I went inside to give you space.”
My breath left me in a rush. He hadn’t been following me. My mind replayed those moments, the way I’d turned and looked at him outside the store. I’d known he’d seen me and I’d known he’d gone in that store. But now I was seeing it in a whole new light.
The Cursed Witch Page 15