The screech of glass pulling apart leaves a deep web of cracks branching out from the center of my reflection to the edge of the mirror. Thoughts and memories I can’t grasp onto fade into darkness, while distant voices that sound like me, but not like me, mingle in the back of my mind. One screams there’s something seriously wrong with me as the other drowns it out, telling me this is what I’d asked for.
A burst of electric current races through my skin and into my veins from beneath the pendant, bringing with it oblivion as it erases any lingering doubts of there being something wrong from my mind. I stare at my fractured reflection, wondering what I’d come in here for. With a shrug, I straighten my shirt and leave the bathroom.
I slide back onto the stool beside Paige. The hopeful look in her eyes dies the moment her gaze meets mine.
Outside the bakery, Paige takes my hand and leads me into the alley. A twinge of guilt and apprehension flashes through her eyes, but before I can take a deeper look, she drowns it out with an overly excited face. Maybe I never saw it there at all. What would she have to be guilty or apprehensive about anyhow?
“I found this place the other day when I was taking the garbage out for my mom. I had no idea someone had opened a shop up back here. And an occult one at that, if you can believe it. I thought it would be cool if we checked it out together. I was going to invite Taylor too, but she would just make fun of it endlessly. She’s not as open-minded about this kind of stuff existing as we are.”
Trepidation crawls over my skin. Paige doesn’t know I’m a witch, and I don’t want her finding out and somehow inadvertently getting mixed up in my supernatural life. I’d rather she stayed safe and ignorant to what’s really out there.
“I wonder if they’ll have any love spells,” Paige muses. “Or anything to make the teachers at school never hand out another test or homework assignment ever again. How awesome would that be? Maybe they’ll even have something to make Mr. Jackson likable.” She laughs out loud, and I join her for the simple fact that there is no spell strong enough to ever make Mr. Jackson likable. That dude is a grouch for life.
I plant my feet and pull her to a stop before we reach the halfway point. “Actually, I should probably get back before my aunt and uncle discover I’m not cleaning my room like I’m supposed to be. Maybe we can do this another time?”
She nods without the slightest bit of an argument. Hooking her arm around mine, she pivots us around and leads me down the alley. For every step we take toward the sidewalk, her shoulders appear to relax more and more.
Well, that was easy… and a little strange.
I raise an eyebrow.
She gives me a shrug.
“What? I don’t want you to get into any more trouble. If you snuck out instead of asking for permission, you’re risking more grounding time for every minute you’re here.”
“Is that the only reason?” For as open-minded and excited as she claimed to be, perhaps going into an actual occult store is more than she’s ready for, which would be good. The more she stays away from supernatural things, the safer she’ll be and the better I’ll feel.
“Does there have to be any other? You’re my best friend. I don’t want to see you get additional grounding time.”
“You’ve been really weird today.”
“What can I say? I like to keep things interesting.”
She untangles her arm from mine once we reach the front of the bakery to answer an incoming text message. Her face goes stone still as she reads over it, almost as if she’s trying to keep her emotions in check.
“Everything okay?”
“Yep.” Without elaborating any further, she shoves her phone back into her pocket without replying to whoever messaged. “Want to walk me home on the way to yours?”
“Sure.”
“Cool. I’ve got to run back inside to grab my bag from behind the counter. Give me two minutes.”
I lean my back against the wall of the bakery and pull out my phone to check my messages. Sebastian has left three more since school ended. I wait for butterflies to take flight, or for sadness to grip my heart, but there’s nothing but the cold void of numbness filling my insides. I tap my thumb to open the messages, intending to delete them when heated, hushed words drift out from the alley. They’re too clipped with the passing traffic to make out, except for one word. My name.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and I edge a little closer to the corner of the bakery.
“… tried… she…”
“… you…”
“I…”
“… chance…”
“… get it…”
“… the deal…”
“I get…”
“… consequences…”
Sticking close to the wall, I tiptoe a little further into the alley, straining my ears to pick up more than a few words at a time.
“I said I get it.”
“You better.”
Is that… Paige? And…
I focus on the other voice, a sense of familiarity tingling in the back of my mind, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t put a face to it. He’s talking too low, and there’s too much angry growl infused in it.
Who is she talking to?
I slip down the alley a few more steps, the palms of my hands rubbing across the bricks of the wall at my back. I pause, my heartbeats the only sound reaching my ears. I take another step when I hear the chime of the bell above the bakery door. I rush to the mouth of the alley, whipping myself around the front of the building just as Paige steps out onto the sidewalk.
“Sorry, got held up there for a minute,” she huffs out a bit breathless. “Mom needed my help moving some stuff in the storage room.”
“It’s cool. Not like I’ve been out here stressing over getting busted for sneaking out or anything,” I tease with a little too much gusto.
She gives me a playful shove to the shoulder and lets out a small laugh.
I watch her from the side of my eye. “You weren’t in the alley just now by chance, were you? I couldn’t make out what was being said, but I thought I heard you talking to someone.”
She pinches her lips between her teeth and glances down. “Um, yeah. Mom had me take out the garbage since she couldn’t find Hector. Turns out he was out back, stuffing his face full of donuts I’m sure he swiped. I called him out on it, but as usual he denied stealing them, and claimed he couldn’t be bothered by me when he’s on break. Unless it’s about me finally convincing you to go out with him.”
“Ew. Never.”
“That’s what I said.”
I guess that could explain why I heard my name, but still I can’t shake this uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that something is… off. I’m just not sure what.
“Your mom really should fire him.”
“I know, right? But he’s her best friend’s nephew, so I doubt she ever will.” Adjusting the straps of her backpack, her shoulders seem to relax. “Hey, so I was thinking we should do a girls’ night. Taylor is always with Jacob now that they’re… you know… and I feel like I’ve barely seen you since you told us about your dad and the family stuff you’re dealing with. I miss you guys.”
“I miss you guys too.”
The tingling sensation of guilt blooms in my chest. She’s not wrong about me keeping my distance. But it’s only because I don’t want anything bad to happen to them now that danger follows me around like a shadow. I wish I could tell them what’s going on, but I can’t. But I also don’t want to lose them on the way to reclaiming my life either. The whole point of taking the initiative and confronting the Big Bads threatening me is to get back to the way things were before. I’m not there yet, and I have no idea how long it will take to reach that point, but I know I don’t want it to take so long all my friends move on without me. There’s got to be some way to find a balance between the two lives I’m leading. Some kind of middle ground.
At the moment things are quiet on the vampire front, Ev
an’s back to normal, and as far as I know the Dark Heart Coven hasn’t even tried to make a move on me… unless they’re the ones who blew up the vending machines at school to mess with me that one time. I also haven’t seen another glowing angel of death watching me since I brought Jack back. Maybe if I can get my cousins to help me cast a protection spell around Paige, Taylor, and me, a girl’s night out would be okay.
“What did you have in mind?”
She squeals with excitement. “Makeovers, dancing, and a sleepover like old times. My parents will be going away next weekend for their anniversary, so we’ll have the whole house to ourselves.”
Her giddiness rubs off on me and I find myself smiling ear-to-ear with her. A girl’s night out might be exactly what I need. My best friends, some fun, and a little bit of normalcy—it’ll do me good. “I’ll talk to my aunt and uncle and see what I can do.”
26
Sebastian is squatting outside my window when I whoosh back into my room. A fresh scab covers a new wound at the side of his eye, and I wonder if I gave it to him when I flung him into the desks at school, or if he got it some other way. A small ache chips into the icy armor encasing my heart at the thought of it being me. It was never my goal to hurt him. I don’t even know why I did what I did.
I don’t know why I’ve been doing a lot of things.
He raps a knuckle against the pane, the pleading look in his eyes cracking the ice a little more. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to hear what he has to say.
My door bangs off the stopper, and I spin around to find Liv standing in the threshold. I clutch my chest, the pendant hidden beneath my sweater pressing into my skin as I glare at her. She glares right back, her eyes narrowed and her mouth held somewhere between a pinch and a snarl.
My defenses go up, refreezing what little ice Sebastian had melted. “Geez, Olivia! What is your problem?”
She shuts the door behind her, then stomps to the window with purpose. “Me first, lover boy,” she tells Sebastian, then yanks the curtains closed with fisted hands. Something’s obviously got her undies in a twist. I cross my arms over my chest as she whips around so fast her ponytail smacks against the side of her face. “Where have you been? I can’t believe you spelled Mom and Dad so you could sneak out. That’s so not cool, Indi. You don’t use magic against people you care about like that.”
I throw my hands up in defense. “Calm down. I met Paige for shakes and a donut, sheesh. It’s not like it’s the end of the world. I used a teeny, tiny spell… and maybe a little compulsion.” I shrug a shoulder. “I don’t know.” Truth be told, I’m still not entirely sure how the compulsion part works, or how to differentiate it from a spell I’m casting since I haven’t used it since I compelled my aunt and uncle to forget they know I know about the supernatural world, for fear it was a vampire-related ability. At least I don’t think I have, unless maybe it slipped into the spell I cast on Evan when I commanded he find happiness.
I shrug again and meet her gaze. “So what? I wasn’t hurting anyone. You can’t tell me you’ve never used magic like that to sneak off somewhere.”
Her mouth opens, the expression on her face screaming to protest when she snaps her jaw shut. “Okay, fine. In all fairness, I have used magic like that before to get out of detention. Once. But never against Mom and Dad. If they find out what you did—”
“They won’t find out, because one, they don’t know I know about magic. Two, I’m not going to tell. And three, neither are you. We’re practically sisters, Liv, and sisters have each other’s backs. You know what they’ll do if they find out I’m privy to the supernatural world.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So, I can count on you to have my back then, right? ‘Cause you know I’ve always had yours. For instance, the night you snuck out over the summer to meet Michael James at a party, and you didn’t come back until dawn. I covered for you when I could have easily not.”
A streak of righteous anger still lingers in the vibrant green of her eyes, but I can see it waning. “True, you did cover for me, and you know I’m always willing to return the favor, but there’s a key difference between what I did and what you did in that I didn’t use magic against Mom and Dad. I snuck out magic free, thank you very much.” She rolls her eyes at my yeah, right stare. “Okay, so maybe I used a little bit of magic to slip out undetected, but it wasn’t direct magic at them. There’s a difference.”
I nod. “You’re right. I see that now. What I did was wrong.” I grip her by the shoulders and walk her backward toward the door. “I won’t do it again. I promise.”
“I’m being serious, Indi. I know you’re still new to the whole magic thing, but there are rules we don’t break for good reason. Casting spells on people to manipulate them is one of them.”
Did she seriously just say that to me with a straight face?
“You mean like how Uncle Caleb and Aunt Claudia erased my memories, suppressed my powers, roped you and Jack into helping them, and then you all lied to me for eleven years? That kind of manipulation?”
She digs her feet into the carpet, forcing us to a stop. “That was different, Indi, and you know it. They weren’t trying to manipulate you, and neither were Jack and I. We were trying to protect you. Manipulation is what you did to Evan.”
The mention of Evan’s name dredges up what happened between him and I in the garage. The cold excitement in the way he looked at me. The terrifying demand of his voice asking for things I didn’t want to give. The hard press of his fingers locked around my wrists. Evan would never have done any of that if I hadn’t manipulated his emotions. Granted, I didn’t know what I was doing when I cast the happiness spell, but I did know what I was doing when I messed with my aunt and uncle’s perceptions. And I did it anyway for my own selfish needs. I abused my magic.
And I’ve been doing it all day.
My hands slip from her shoulders, no longer sure in their conviction to push her away. I hold them out in front of me, looking for answers for why I’ve been acting the way I have and can only find one. Bad magic. I scared the dog for growling at me, messed with my aunt and uncle’s head, used magic against Kayla and broke two of her fingers, made Hector fall on his face at the bakery, and blasted Sebastian into a section of desks when he tried to tell me there was something wrong. I should have listened because this isn’t me. I’m not this person. I’m not cavalier with my magic—not when I know the harm it can cause when misused.
A sharp flare of stabbing heat punches me in the chest beneath the pendant. I wince, my shoulders pushing forward. I rub my hand over the spot, while beneath it numbness spreads throughout my veins. Its coolness erases the conflicting thoughts swirling in my head over misusing my magic and sharpens it into resolve. I may be new at magic, but I haven’t done anything terrible terrible—except for maybe Kayla’s fingers. But it’s not like I knew she’d land on them wrong, so really it’s not my fault.
As for the spell I cast on Aunt Claudia and Uncle Caleb, it was harmless. A simple misdirection. Liv is just being overly sensitive. But if she needs an apology to drop the subject and leave my room, then fine, I’ll give her an apology.
I grab hold of her upper arms and resume walking her backward toward the door. “You’re right. I’m sorry I manipulated Aunt Claudia and Uncle Caleb so I could meet Paige. I didn’t think a little misdirection spell would be that bad.”
“Misdirection on its own isn’t bad. Making someone literally see and believe you’re there when you’re not is.”
Sheesh, she’s like a dog with a bone. “I know. I get it now, and I won’t do it again.” I hold up my little finger. “I pinky swear.”
She studies my face, then hooks her pinky around mine. “Okay. We’ll call this your one time pass. We all get one, but only one.”
“One time pass. Got it.” It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes.
“I mean it, Indi. Only one.” She stares me in the eyes, her gaze shifting back and forth between each one in search of any
thing not in line with her command.
“I said I got it. Sheesh. I’ve already pinky swore it, and if I break my promise you get to break my finger. What more do you want? An oath? Fine. How’s this? I solemnly swear on my love of Sam and Dean Winchester, may I never again be allowed to watch another episode of Supernatural from this day forward should I break it, I will never use magic against Aunt Claudia and Uncle Caleb again.” I open the door behind her. “Are we good now? Because if we’re good, I’ve got some tidying up to do, and some homework to get started once I kick a certain someone else out.”
“We’re good.” She looks over my shoulder at the closed window. “But maybe don’t kick him out. I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but you and he are endgame.”
I raise a brow. “Endgame? We’re still in high school, Liv. We have our whole lives in front of us. It’s a little early to call endgame, isn’t it?”
She steps out into the hall. “Nope. And I’m calling it.”
“Goodbye, Olivia.”
I shut the door in her face and lean against it. A faint flutter of pain and hope fills my insides. Despite my protest it wasn’t that long ago I looked at Sebastian like he could be endgame someday, too. But a lot has changed since last night. I’m not the same person I was before I found out the things my family is responsible for. And neither is he. My blood descends from darkness, and he is the hunter. Why should we cause each other any more pain when we both know how it might end?
Of Darkness & Light: Blood Descent Book 2 Page 26