“Bye, Dad. I’ll see you later.”
He squeezed me back. “Bye.”
Before I stood, I caught one more glance at his closed eyes and decided to make my move then. I slid my hand beneath the couch until it fell around the corners of the book, and I snatched it up. I held it tightly to my chest while following behind Camden to his car, grabbing my purse by the door on my way.
As I slid into the passenger seat, my pulse finally returned to normal. I let out a breath of relief. “So, Camden, are you going to let me help you or not?”
Chapter Nine
Camden started down the street before answering. His words came through clenched teeth. “I told you. You can’t help me.”
“And I told you, that’s what it wants you to think.”
Camden shook his head. His frustration was palpable. “This is crazy. I can’t have demon attached to me. Demons aren’t real.”
“Another thing it wants you to think.”
Camden’s voice rose, surprising me. “Why do you care anyway?” He sucked in a long breath and stared out the window.
It took me a few seconds to answer. When I did, my voice came out small. “Because I don’t want one of my friends to get hurt.”
Camden looked at me so long that I had the urge to tell him to keep his eyes on the road.
Worry knotted in my chest. What could I possibly say to him? I needed him to go into this willingly or I’d never be able to help him. Could I mention how he was only mad because I’d upset the demon attached to him? Could I tell him how that tension in the air wasn’t just between us, that it was his soul energy being sucked away by the dark haze he couldn’t see in the back seat? I cursed myself again for not noticing that the darkness I’d seen surrounding him earlier wasn’t his aura.
Silence stretched between us. There was no way I could prove any of this to him.
“Camden.” My voice broke the stillness in the car, sounding strange even to me. “Didn’t you say I was the first girl you noticed at Aurora High?”
“Yeah. So?”
“Maybe there’s a reason for that. Maybe it’s because I can help you.”
He sighed but didn’t speak.
“Don’t you want help?” The words didn’t come out accusatory, but I could tell the moment I said them that I’d hit a nerve.
Camden flinched. “You think I want to feel like this? I moved here to get a fresh start. I made an effort. I tried making friends and having fun, and—” He choked up before he could finish, but I could still sense the meaning behind his words. And it didn’t help.
My heart dropped. He’d tried so hard to push the pain away and hide it from the rest of us. It was one of the reasons I hadn’t noticed. Even now that I knew he was struggling, I couldn’t understand the extent of what he’d been through.
“If there was a chance that someone could help you, wouldn’t you want to take that chance?” I stared at him, willing him to accept my help. When he didn’t speak, I had no choice but to try harder. “Look, you may not believe me, but if I’m wrong, I’ll do whatever I can to find a solution that will help you. So please, just let me try this. What could it hurt?”
Camden’s expression softened. He glanced at me, and I knew he couldn’t miss the desperation and urgency written all over my face. I couldn’t lose another person I had a chance to help. I just couldn’t.
He let out a wavering breath but nodded. Without saying anything, he flipped on his blinker and turned down the next street. I didn’t bother asking why we were no longer headed to Briana’s. I didn’t want him to change his mind.
A few minutes later, we pulled up to his house. The small one-story white building was familiar since I’d visited Austin’s next door several times throughout the years, but it was strange walking through the lawn for the first time. Instead of leading me to the front door, however, Camden rounded the side of the house. I held my spell book close to my chest as I followed behind him.
“Are your grandparents home?” I asked, feeling strangely like I was intruding.
“No. They keep busy. Will this work?” Camden stopped at the base of a tree and pointed to the treehouse just feet above our heads.
I nodded. It was small and private. “It’s perfect.”
I climbed into the treehouse and crossed my legs on the aged wooden floor. Aside from a broken stool in the corner and the occasional leaf, the place was empty. Camden sat across from me, our knees nearly touching in the small space.
“So, uh,” he spoke slowly. “How is this going to work?”
I opened the book and flipped to the page I needed. I scanned the top of the page. First, we were supposed to cleanse the space. I didn’t have any herbs with me, so I hoped we could skip that step and it would still work. The thing was, I didn’t want to stop now and gather the supplies. I worried Camden wouldn’t be up for it the longer he had to consider my offer. Since he brought me to the treehouse, I imagined it was already a fairly cleansed space, somewhere he felt safe and happy. If this place was filled with happy memories, and I suspected it was, this may just work.
“This is more about you than me,” I admitted. “It starts by cleansing your aura, and that works by focusing on happy thoughts and memories. I know it’s hard, but you have to be willing to let go of your anger and frustration.”
Camden let out a breath of disbelief. He hardly seemed like the confident guy I’d thought he was. I realized now that had been an act. He’d been trying to be the person he wanted to be, and unless we could cleanse him of this demon, he’d never become that person. Camden didn’t mention again how strange and silly this all seemed to him, but I could tell by the look on his face he still wasn’t buying it.
I closed the book, marking the spot with my pointer finger. “Let’s try something else. Forget about the book. Forget about everything I told you. Tell me about this treehouse.”
“What?” Camden asked with a forced laugh.
“Why’d you bring me here?” I attempted a friendly tone.
He shrugged.
“You like this place, don’t you?”
He shrugged again. “I guess.”
“What do you like about it?”
Camden’s shoulders relaxed. “Nostalgia.”
“What’s one of your favorite memories here?” I gestured around me.
Getting off the topic of demons and depression seemed to help Camden relax. He now spoke as he had earlier when we’d been getting to know each other. It was like we were actually friends now.
“I remember building it with my grandpa and my brother,” he said, a smile creeping onto his face. “I was seven, and Brandon was nine. We spent two weeks here over the summer. It was one of the best summers of my life.”
I smiled back at him. “That’s cool. What’d you use the treehouse for?”
As Camden recounted stories from his childhood, I pulled in deep, long breaths and let the tension in my shoulders release with every exhale. The more I did it, the more relaxed I noticed he became. He mimicked my deep breathing without noticing. It was a trick I’d learned from my mom. She’d do the same thing to me when I was angry or upset. I never noticed until my dad pointed it out.
“I’m going to read from my book now,” I told Camden once he seemed relaxed enough. “But don’t stop telling me stories, okay? I’m still listening.”
Camden shot me a questioning look, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he continued his story about the summer he’d gone to the county fair with his grandpa and brother. The more he talked about them, the more I realized how much they both meant to him. It made his loss only that much more difficult to swallow.
I opened the book to the page I’d marked with my finger and began chanting the incantation under my breath. A chill breeze passed through the treehouse when I read the second line, rustling the pages of my spell book.
Camden’s voice ceased mid-sentence, and his eyes grew wide.
“It’s okay,” I told him, but the breeze freake
d even me out. I eyed the dark haze beside him. It was so close to him now, and I knew it had to be influencing him in ways I couldn’t sense, placing doubt and fear in his mind. “So, what happened after you got cotton candy?”
Camden relaxed once again and continued his story.
I restarted the incantation, glancing up every now and then to monitor the haze beside him. The further into the spell I got, the darker, more prominent the demon’s aura became. I had pissed it off big time. There was no turning back now.
By the time I reached the end of the incantation, nothing had happened. It didn’t surprise me that it would take a few tries as I’d never performed this spell before. Plus, I wasn’t entirely sure Camden was at a point himself to help in warding off the demon. I returned my eyes to the top of the page and restarted. Camden didn’t seem to notice.
By the third time through the incantation, I glanced up and noticed a barely visible blue hue around Camden. Excitement sizzled through me. Camden’s stories were helping strengthen his aura while my incantation was weakening the demon’s bond on him. The brighter his aura grew, the dimmer the haze beside him became.
I couldn’t help it when my voice rose during the fifth time through the incantation. Confidence flowed through me as I reached the last few lines. The haze shrank into a small ball. This is it, I thought.
But just as I reached the last line, Camden paused. His blue aura dimmed slightly as the dark one beside him began to expand again.
“Tell me more,” I insisted. “What’s your happiest memory? Tell me about your first kiss.” I returned the incantation, repeating it for the sixth time as Camden spoke.
He gazed down at his hands. I continued to watch the dark haze, but I didn’t miss the blush that rose to his cheeks.
“Well, it wasn’t my first one, but it was the best.”
I nodded, encouraging him to continue all without stopping or taking my eyes off the haze.
“I’d just met this incredible girl. Dark hair, pretty eyes. There was just something about her. I wanted to get to know her. So I took her on a hike, and when we got back to the car, she let me kiss her. Something about the kiss…it just…made me feel something real for the first time in forever. I—I want to feel that again.”
It was only a split second after finishing the last word in the incantation that I realized what he was saying. He was talking about our kiss. I didn’t get a chance to pull in another breath before he swiftly closed the distance between us, completely taking me off guard.
Camden’s lips locked on mine. One arm came around to rest on my hip and the other on the back of my neck. In that moment, the kiss was all that seemed to matter. I forgot about the spell book. I forgot about the demon. That kiss was all there was.
Eventually, the rational part of my mind took hold again. I drew away from his chest and attempted to catch my breath. This wasn’t the answer. This feeling, this passion, it was only temporary. Before I could find the words to tell him so, he pulled me back into him. Camden rose to his knees, pulling me up with him until our bodies collided. Warmth flowed through me like an electric current. I closed my eyes, melting into his embrace, and my heart hammered against my chest so hard I was sure he could feel it.
The spell book fell from my lap onto the floor beside me with a thud, snapping me back to reality. Camden’s lips remained on mine, but my eyes shot open to fall on the dark haze beside him. The outline of the demon’s aura seemed to grow more defined and dense. I hugged Camden tighter.
He’s mine, I shouted in my mind.
The demon’s aura seemed to shrink into a small black ball until it appeared as if I could reach out and touch it. It was like it wasn’t just a ball of energy anymore but was a physical object.
You can’t have him. Not this time.
My lips pressed more forcefully against Camden’s. A split second later, the ball of energy exploded, sending a strong gust of wind throughout the treehouse. My hair flew out of my face, and I had to close my eyes to keep dust particles from landing in them.
I jumped away from Camden in surprise. My pulse raced, but it quickly slowed. Camden didn’t seem to notice the gust of wind wasn’t an ordinary breeze. I relaxed back into his embrace. I kept my eyes locked on where the dark haze had just vanished from, but it was finally gone.
Camden had been right about our kiss making him feel something. That calm, blue aura I’d seen before had been replaced by a bright, vibrant red. The newfound strength in his aura coupled with my incantation had worked. I beamed. Maybe intimacy wasn’t the answer, but I knew it had been more than that. I’d showed him I was willing to help him, and maybe it shifted his perspective just enough to give him a sliver of hope.
“What?” he asked softly.
I stared into his icy blue eyes. The words eluded me as I once again brought my lips to meet his.
Epilogue
Camden still didn’t believe my spell book had saved him, even weeks later. He didn’t notice the change right away, but I could see his aura growing brighter and brighter by the day. He claimed it was our friendship that brought about the change, but I knew better. Camden still had a lot of emotional baggage to work through, but he was slowly making progress. The first step had been getting rid of the demon feeding off his energy. The next step was facing his past.
Camden and I stepped out of the car. Small snowflakes fluttered through the air. It felt great to stretch my legs after the long car ride. I had the urge to wrap my arms around myself tighter for warmth in the chilly breeze, but I much preferred to hold onto Camden’s hand. He transferred the bouquet of flowers to his left hand and squeezed mine with his right. The more grave markers we passed, the tighter his hold became.
“Hey,” I said softly, stopping him. I could already see the tears rising to his eyes. “I’m here for you.”
Camden nodded. “I know.”
“Take as much time as you need.”
He cracked a shy smile. “Thanks, but I’m okay. Let me go introduce you to my brother.”
Camden led me down the next row of grave stones. He stopped in front of a granite one etched with Brandon Cooper’s name on it.
“Hey, Brandon.” Camden’s words caught in his throat.
He released my hand and instead wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close. Together, we knelt, and he placed his flowers on the headstone. After a few moments, Camden choked out another word I couldn’t quite make out then pressed his free hand to his eyes.
“I miss you so much.” His voice cracked.
I couldn’t do anything but draw even closer to him to let him know I was there. He wasn’t alone in this.
Camden swallowed deeply. “There’s not a day I don’t think about you, Brandon. You were my best friend. Nothing will ever be the same without you.”
I entwined my fingers in his and squeezed tight.
“This is Katie, by the way,” Camden told his brother. “She, um, she’s helping me… She’s helping me see the good about your life instead of the bad about your death. And I’m doing better. I hope you are, too. Because one day we’re going to meet again, and I want to see that smile on your face when we do.”
I pulled away from Camden to shoot him a smile of encouragement. I noticed that his aura had grown brighter than when we’d stepped out of the car, as if he finally felt at peace. Relaxing back into his embrace, I glanced around the cemetery. I wondered if maybe since I’d seen the demon’s aura if I had the power to see his brother’s too. I didn’t, but there was no doubt in my mind that Brandon heard every word Camden said to him.
On the drive home, Camden recounted stories about him and Brandon. Some of them I’d heard before, but I sat patiently and listened to them again. I didn’t know if it happened at the cemetery or somewhere along the car ride home, but when Camden dropped me off at home that night, I had this strange feeling that his pain had finally melted away.
More by Alicia Rades
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A Spark in Shadow by Jessica Hawke
Chapter One
-one hour and eighteen minutes until sunset-
We leave at sunrise, with or without you.
The words of the caravan leader echoed in Claire’s mind, filling the empty quiet between her pounding footsteps. Her chest tightened as she pushed herself through the lap—was this ten or eleven?—and focused on the words like a mantra to keep her going.
If all went well, Claire Park would be living a whole new life twelve hours from now. One sunset, one sunrise, and everything would be different. No endless laps under the brutal sun. No more droning speeches at daily chapel. No more bland food and itchy school uniforms that smelled vaguely of stale sweat no matter how many times they were laundered. Beyond the walls of the Golden Rose Home for Girls was a world she longed to be a part of, even if it was frightening and unknown. She didn’t know where she’d go, but elsewhere was a good start.
Her lungs burned with the effort of running the endless loop of red rubber track, but Claire didn’t slow. We leave at sunrise, with or without you. She pushed herself faster, as if she could catapult herself into morning that much sooner through sheer force of will.
The running track enclosed a grass field in a gently sloping basin. Silver bleachers rose in a steep slope on both of the straight sides. Interspersed among the long metal benches were students studying, or at least making a show of studying while they daydreamed.
Moonlight Rising Page 9