by Sierra Dean
“Not you specifically, dear,” Ariel interrupted. “But I think you summarized the points very nicely.”
“What happens if I find a way to end the curse?” Lou asked. “I mean, if it’s attached to me the same way it’s attached to Cooper, what happens if I can figure out how to stop it?” She didn’t want to be so dependent on them for answers, but so far the Wyatts were the only ones willing to give her any insight.
Ariel sat down across from her again and made to reach for her, but Lou didn’t miss the way she paled slightly and withdrew her hand. Ariel was afraid to touch her.
“Like Archer said, the depth and breadth of this curse is beyond the scope of the normal, everyday negative oath or bad thought. It’s rewritten the energy of the whole town. Our family came here a hundred years ago to keep it in check, and we haven’t been able to leave since.”
“So you’re what…hall monitors for the curse?”
“We’re Watchers. We keep order.”
“And now you’re trying to keep order by keeping me away from Cooper.” The tingling sensation in her hands built to a new intensity as a renewed anger overcame her. She understood they were just doing what they thought was right, but how could anyone believe keeping her away from Cooper was the only way to save the town?
“You don’t understand the power you’re messing with here.” Ariel wasn’t playing around anymore. Her face was cruel and serious. “You are going to stay away from that boy.”
“No. I’m not.” Lou got to her feet, rubbing her anxious palms on the back of her jeans and looking at the door. “I’ve listened to what you have to say. I watched your little light show. Now I’m going to go.” When she moved in the direction of the exit, Ariel got to her feet and blocked the path.
“Do you think you have an option here?” Ariel snarled, no longer a sweet Southern mother. Now she was as vicious as the animal Cooper’s brother had become. “I don’t want to make this ugly, but I will. You are going to stay away from Cooper. If I have to threaten you and him, I will. This isn’t a game. This isn’t puppy love. You have to stay away from him. It’s not a request.”
“I don’t care.” Lou side-stepped, the light coming from the door mocking her. The longer she was kept from escaping, the angrier she got. The fire ants under her skin had become bees and were well on their way to becoming a full-fledged lightning storm.
“You don’t understand.”
“I don’t care,” Lou repeated.
“Your father tried to ignore the curse. He ran away, and it killed him.”
The words were like a slap in the face. “What?”
“I told you,” Archer interrupted. “It becomes a part of the family. Part of the town. He left the town.”
“My dad died of cancer.”
“No.” Ariel shook her head. “He died because the energy of the curse was a part of him. He died because he ignored the nature of magic, and it destroyed him from the inside out. If you ignore it, it will consume you and everything you love.”
Lou felt cold. Her pulse throbbed in her ears, and she stared at Ariel, no longer processing the words the woman was saying. She had to be lying. Her father had died of cancer. She’d seen him waste away. She’d been in the oncology wing when the doctors told her mother there was nothing they could do to fight the tumors. Cancer wasn’t magic.
“Get out of my way.”
“You need to listen to me.” Ariel ignored the tremor in Lou’s voice. “I can make this easier for you.”
“Get out of my way.” Lou moved to get past Ariel, but the older woman grabbed for her. Ariel’s hand was glowing silvery white, and when she touched Lou’s arm, the world froze in place as if time itself had stopped.
The buzzing sensation in her hands grew to a fever pitch, and Lou heard nothing but a static wail when Ariel touched her. Lou’s efforts to wrench herself free of Ariel were useless because the older woman clung to her, fingernails digging into her skin.
“Let me help you.”
But this wasn’t help. Pain shot through Lou’s body, and she desperately tried to shake Ariel off.
She was reminded, briefly, of being in detention with Archer, when his touch had felt like creeping hands and with each passing second of contact he’d robbed her of something precious.
At the time she’d passed it off as imagination, but too much had happened in the days since for her to be so foolish anymore. It wasn’t a coincidence that Cooper’s memories had been leached from her. That had been the goal all along.
As Ariel held her, she forgot his smell. She forgot the taste of his kisses. The softness of his hair and the rough skin of his palms. Now that she knew these memories were being stolen, she could feel each one being snatched from her like it was a physical thing.
“Don’t do this,” she pleaded.
“You left us no choice.”
The tingling grew stronger within her, like her body was trying to reject what Ariel was doing. Lou focused on the buzzing, not sure what she was expecting, but if any part of her might be able to reverse Ariel’s magic, she was willing to try.
She closed her eyes and pictured the place where her hand met Ariel’s like it was the conduit between a plug and a socket, and she imagined all the hot, uncomfortable energy zinging through her was instead focused at that point.
The pressure built, and Lou winced, shutting her eyes tighter as Ariel clawed to hold on.
Then the energy spilled over.
And that’s when all hell broke loose.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cooper was parked in front of the basketball court when the library exploded.
It rattled the road, and a huge rift cut a line through the sidewalk, dividing the street into two jagged halves. The top windows bordering the entire library shattered, spewing glass fragments like shrapnel. Small chunks of glass and bits of brick rained down on the windshield, pinging like hail.
Cooper was too shocked to move. He watched one of the exterior walls of the library crumble as if it had been built of sand. Loose book pages caught in the breeze, skittering into the road.
After a moment, Nigel the librarian stumbled out through the frame of the front door which no longer contained any glass. He made an awkward attempt to run across the street but caught his dragging feet on the ravaged concrete and fell face-first to the ground.
He didn’t get up.
Smoke billowed from the building, but it was a purple-red color, unlike any smoke Cooper had ever seen.
Seeing that dark, ashy cloud was what told Cooper this was no normal explosion. Not that any explosion was normal, but this was no gas leak.
He opened the door of his truck and got out, the ground still vibrating under his feet. A few people had emerged onto their porches or crowded at the end of the block to see what was happening. The police station only a few doors down had emptied, and all the officers were running down the street.
The wail of sirens sounded from the fire station as volunteer firefighters rallied to get to the scene.
Cooper reached the edge of the chasm that now bisected the whole street. It wasn’t so large a person could fall in, but it would still make driving on the street impossible. He hopped over it and moved towards the library as another wall collapsed. Without two support walls, the roof on one side caved in, sending a new wave of dust and debris into the air.
He shielded his eyes and looked into the exposed skeleton of the library.
Archer Wyatt was standing next to his mother, Ariel, who had a large gash on her forehead. Archer held her upright and guided her towards the front lawn, where they both sat down, seemingly too stunned to make it any farther.
“Cooper Reynolds, you get the hell away from there.” His own mother’s voice was crisp and commanding, even through the din of chaos surrounding the building.
Several officers had crossed the gap and were crowding around Ariel and Archer, applying basic first aid. The fire truck had come to a stop at the edge of the crevice. Ther
e was no fire, in spite of the smoke, so the volunteer firefighters were looking confused as to their next course of action. Several were helping the officers with Nigel and the Wyatts, but they didn’t seem to know what to do with the building.
“Everyone stay clear, it’s not safe,” his mother boomed, her voice forceful and serious.
Cooper kept walking forward, the purple smoke furling around his ankles.
His mother caught up, grabbing him by the arm. He tried to jerk free but was surprised by her strength.
“I said stay back.” She had the mixed authority of a mother and a sheriff, yet Cooper still wanted to ignore her and climb through the hole in the wall.
He wrenched himself loose in the same moment Lou staggered out of the rubble, her hair tangled and her face streaked with ash.
She looked bleary and lost when she got to the grass, taking one step on solid ground before she collapsed. Cooper ran for her, practically tripping over her when he crouched down, his fingers flying over her face and arms, trying to assess the damage. Her wrist was burned, and there was a knot on the back of her head, sticky with fresh blood. She winced when he touched it.
“Stop.” She batted his hand away.
He listened to her but continued to scan her, attempting to see if there was anything seriously wrong with her aside from the burn.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“The library exploded, Lou.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she gave him a serious, cold expression. “Why are you calling me that?”
“Lou? That’s your name.”
She searched his face, the anger fading into confusion. “That’s a name friends call me. I have no idea who you are, so why are you calling me that?”
Cooper sat back on his heels, not sure how to reply. He looked up at his mother, but the moment he did, she glanced away. He followed her gaze across the lawn to Ariel Wyatt.
He didn’t miss the nod Ariel gave his mother.
Nor did he miss the sly, knowing smile on Archer’s face.
“Did you plan this?” he asked his mother.
Her gaze flicked up to the library, incredulous. “I would never plan something like this.”
Lou rubbed her temples, then attempted to get to her feet. Whether or not she trusted Cooper—which she obviously no longer did—she still accepted his help to stand.
“You really don’t know who I am, do you?” He stared at her, unable to keep himself from smoothing her hair back off her forehead and letting his hand rest on her cheek briefly. His heart shrank like a deflated balloon to see the lack of recognition in her eyes.
She was struggling, reaching for some memory but coming up blank. Her confusion and frustration was evident in her expression.
“Should I?” she asked, when it became obvious she couldn’t put a name to his face.
Finally he dropped his hand.
“No. No, you shouldn’t.”
About the Author
Sierra Dean is the kind of adult who forgot she was supposed to grow up. She spends most of her days making up stories, and most of her evenings watching baseball or playing video games. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada with two temperamental cats and one sweet tempered dog.
When not building new worlds, she can be found making cupcakes and checking Twitter.
Sierra can be found online at www.sierradean.com
On Twitter at @sierradean
And via email at [email protected]
Coming Soon:
Winter (Dog Days #2)
Coming November 2013
Table of Contents
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
About the Author
Coming Soon: Winter (Dog Days #2)