by Wendi Wilson
“I wish I were this glass of water,” Bryce says.
“What?” I ask, confused.
He chuckles as he walks over and hands me the glass. “You were projecting your feelings again.”
“No, I wasn’t,” I say once I drain the glass.
“Uh, huh,” Bryce says, walking back to the stove to flip the bacon. “Your desire for that water was stronger than anything I’ve ever felt from you.”
“Hmm,” I say, trying to coax the last drop out onto my tongue. “Can I have some more?”
Bryce nods and points his spatula at the fridge, inviting me to help myself. Finally, after finishing my third glass I feel satiated. I take the glass to the sink, looking for a sponge to wash it. Bryce taps the cabinet beneath the sink with his foot before heading to the fridge for the eggs. I find a sponge and the dish soap, then make short work of cleaning the glass before putting everything away.
“Thanks,” he says. “My parents are sticklers for keeping everything neat and orderly so I do my best to clean up after myself.”
“Where are they, anyway?” I ask, resuming my seat at the table.
“They went to Sacramento. There’s a…family reunion, of sorts.”
“Why didn’t you go?”
He turns and leans a hip against the counter before pointing at me with the spatula. My face heats up but the feeling is pleasant. He stayed home for me. I can’t stop the smile that lifts the corners of my mouth. He smiles back before turning to the stove.
“I told them I didn’t want to miss that much school but they didn’t buy it. I could feel their disbelief but they accepted my choice and let me stay.”
“Won’t your family miss you?”
Bryce walks over, setting a plate of bacon and eggs in front of me before sitting down with his own plate. He takes a bite of bacon before answering, his eyes closing with pleasure. I shovel some eggs into my mouth. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.
“It’s not really family. It’s sort of a meeting of our community. Several families of witches get together every November to socialize and perform rituals to bless the upcoming year.”
“So, like a coven meeting?”
He points his fork at me. “Exactly. But Kai, when you meet my parents you have to pretend you think they’ve been at a family reunion. I’m not supposed to talk about this.”
My fork stops midway between my plate and my mouth. “When I meet them?”
“Mmm hmm,” he says around a mouthful of eggs.
I set my fork on my plate and clench my hands in my lap. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, aren’t you supposed to keep everyone at arm’s length? Not let anyone get too close?”
The look he gives me is firm and sincere. “Yes. That’s true but I’m tired of keeping you a secret.” He pauses to smile as a blush sears across my face. Again. “Besides, I’m going to have to explain your presence here.”
“Do you think they’ll kick me out?”
“No.” He reaches across the table to take my hand. “Kai, they’re good people. They may be a little pissed at me for breaking the rules but they would never turn you out with nowhere to go. They can help us. I know they will.”
“Can they sense emotions like you?”
He releases my hand and picks his fork back up. “No. Not all witches have extra-sensory abilities. I’m kind of an anomaly. We’ve met witches who can read auras but none that feel everything the way I do.”
“Do you think they’ll be able to help us find my mom?”
“I don’t know. We have two weeks until they get home. If we don’t find her before then, we’ll ask. In the meantime, we can search through their spell books and try to find anything that may help us.”
I nod and resume eating, lost in my thoughts. I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know where my mom ran off to or why she left me. I don’t know what Ms. Coraline was protecting me from or what’s going to happen now that I’m no longer under that protection. I look down at myself. I don’t know what I’m going to wear. All my stuff is at the house, and I’m not supposed to go back there.
“Hey,” Bryce says, pulling me from my thoughts, “don’t let this consume you. We will figure it out. I promise.”
“I believe you,” I say, though I’m not really sure if it’s true. “I was just thinking about my homeless situation.”
“This is your home now.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Let’s wait and see what your parents have to say about that. Anyway, I was talking specifically about my stuff. You know, clothes, personal essentials, my backpack. How am I supposed to go to school without my books and notes?”
“You’re really worried about school? With everything that’s happened?”
“I know it sounds silly but I’d miss it. Seeing…Ana! I need to talk to her. Do you have a phone I can borrow?”
He pulls a cell phone from his pocket and hands it to me. “Do you even know her number?”
I nod while tapping out the numbers on the screen. “I memorized it. I don’t have a cell phone, and I’m not allowed to use the house phone, but Ana made me memorize her number. You know, just in case.”
“Well, I’d say this is a just in case situation. I’ll take care of the dishes. You can go out on the deck if you want some privacy.”
I look from the screen to his face and smile. “Thanks, Bryce. You’re the best.”
As I stand up, he jumps from his chair and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me close. The phone almost slips from my hand as his lips meet mine. He pulls back a fraction and says, “You’re the best.” He brushes his lips across mine once more before releasing me. “Tell Ana I said hi.”
I walk out on the deck and close the sliding door behind me. Tapping the call button on the screen, I hold the phone to my ear and listen to the ringing tone. My weight shifts from one foot to the other while I mumble, “please, please, please,” under my breath.
“Hello?”
“Ana? It’s me. Kai.”
“Kai?” She sounds a little bewildered. This is the first time I’ve ever talked to her on a phone. “Hey. Where were you yesterday? Whose phone are you calling from?”
“It’s Bryce’s.”
“Oh. Okay. Did you guys meet at the library? Do you need me to cover for you?”
I experience a moment of panic when I realize I don’t know what to tell her. I can’t tell her Bryce is a witch. If I tell her Ms. Coraline is one, she’ll never believe me. My mouth opens and closes several times.
“Kai? You there?”
“Yeah, sorry. I’m at Bryce’s house.”
All I hear is silence for a moment before she says, “What happened?” in a low voice.
“Ms. Coraline caught him in my room. He snuck over to make sure I was okay since I wasn’t at school yesterday. She… She kicked me out.”
“What?! What did your mom do?”
“She left. I’m not really sure where she went but she said she would be back and that I could stay with Bryce while she’s gone.” The lie sticks to the roof of my mouth.
“That doesn’t sound like her.”
“Ana, I have to go. I promise, I’ll explain everything later. I just wanted you to know where I was and that I’m okay.”
“But-”
“Please, Ana.”
“Okay,” she says in a hurt voice. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay. And Ana?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Bye.”
“Bye, Kai.”
I end the call and wrap my arms around myself, unshed tears burning against the backs of my eyelids. I hate this. I hate lying to my best friend. I hate that my mother is missing. I hate not knowing what is happening to me. I press my eyelids together tighter as the hot tears start to escape.
Then, Bryce’s strong arms are around me, pulling me back into his chest. I surrender to my tears and let them flow freely down my face. I
look out at the wide ocean before me, wishing I could go for a swim. I know that would make me feel better. It would bring me peace and clarity. It would-
“Did you see that?” flies from my lips as something in the water catches my eye and cuts off my rambling thoughts.
“No. What was it?” Bryce asks, tightening his grip on me.
“Out there. In the water. I thought I saw something…”
“Maybe it was a dolphin,” Bryce says when my words trail off.
“Maybe.”
I say it but I don’t mean it. It looked like a person. I scan the water over and over but the morning sun is glinting off the waves, and I can’t tell what is real and what is an illusion cast by the reflecting light.
The sound of a car breaks through my whirring mind, and I squirm out of Bryce’s embrace. Rushing to the edge of the deck, I lean over and look toward the road. The sound is coming from the direction of Ms. Coraline’s house. I listen carefully, unable to see anything through the trees. The roar of the engine grows fainter but I can tell it’s headed down the road into town.
I turn back to Bryce, who’s looking at me with a strange expression, like maybe he thinks I’m not playing with a full deck. I shoot him a grin as I trot over and grab his hand.
“She’s gone,” I say pulling him toward the stairs that lead down to the beach. “Let’s go get my stuff.”
Chapter Seventeen
“That’s so cool, how you opened the door,” I say, shoving clothes into a duffel bag.
“She only locked it with the key when she left. I would have thought she’d put a ward on it too, knowing that I’m a witch, and I could get you in here.”
I shrug, not really caring how she locked it. We are inside and that’s all that matters. I walk over to my dresser and pull open the top drawer with a glance over my shoulder. Bryce is bent over, pulling shoes from the bottom of the closet, so I grab a handful of underwear from the drawer and shove them into the bag as fast as I can.
“Why are you embarrassed?” he asks. “They’re just shoes.”
“I’m not embarrassed.” The words leave my mouth in a rush.
He takes a step toward me. “I felt it, Kai. And you’re blushing again.”
“Oh God.”
I turn back to the dresser and shove the top drawer closed. I open the second one and pull out a few pairs of socks. Bryce seems to get the hint because he mumbles something about checking the driveway and leaves the room. I glance around. I think I have everything. We’ve packed two large bags full of clothes, accessories, and personal effects. I lift the other bag and carry them out into the hallway, closing the door behind me.
I grab my hair dryer, straightening iron and toiletries from the bathroom and head toward the staircase. I head down one flight and stop on the second floor, though, when I see the closed door to my mom’s bedroom. The bags fall to the floor with a thud. I leave them where they land and walk over to the door, running my hand over the smooth wood before grasping the knob and turning. It won’t budge.
“Bryce?” I call out.
“Yeah?” His voice echoes up from the bottom floor just before the sound of his footsteps.
“Can you open this?” I ask when he reaches me.
“Yeah.”
He closes his eyes and mumbles a few words. The hair on my arms raises as the words fill the silence. I hear a click, and Bryce looks up at me with a smile. He turns the knob and pushes the door open before taking a step back.
“Thanks,” I whisper.
Emotion rages through me as I step into my mother’s room. It looks exactly as it did the last time I was in here. Nothing has changed. Yet everything has changed. She’s gone, and I feel her absence in the pit of my stomach.
I look around, unable to figure out why I came in here. I walk to her bed and sit down. Grabbing a pillow, I press it against my face and inhale deeply. It smells like her. My eyes sting as I suck in a breath in an attempt to keep the tears at bay.
Dropping the pillow, I lean over and snatch open the drawer to her nightstand with more force than is actually necessarily. The light from the window glints off something inside. I reach in and gently pull out a silver locket attached to a chain.
I look over at Bryce, who’s standing just inside the door. He gives me an encouraging smile. I look back at the necklace and turn it over in my hand. Swirling letters are engraved on the back but I can’t make them out. I stand up and walk to the window and pull aside the curtain.
“What is it?” Bryce asks, coming up behind me and peering over my shoulder.
“It’s a locket. There’s something written on the back.” I hold the locket up to the light, squinting to read the tiny writing. “It says, My love is as boundless as the sea and stronger than any monsters that lie within.”
I glance over my shoulder at Bryce before looking back at the locket. Slipping a fingernail into the crease, I pry it open. On the left, there’s a picture of a small girl, maybe three years old. Bright red curls spring out from her head in all different directions as she laughs with closed eyes.
“That’s me,” I whisper, before letting my eyes trail over to the right side.
My breath catches in my throat, and the tears that were burning the backs of my eyelids earlier burst free. A smiling, handsome face stares back at me. Dark hair, square jaw, white teeth. Blue eyes. My eyes. My father.
“Kai? What is it? What’s wrong?”
“She told me she didn’t have a picture of him. She said she had nothing. Nothing but this watch.” I run my fingers over the face. “She lied. I asked her…I just wanted to see what he looked like and she lied. She had this all along.”
“I’m sure she had a reason.”
His voice trails off. He knows his words are empty. His hand wraps over my shoulder and squeezes, attempting to knead the tension away. His touch jerks me from the dark place my mind had gone. I shake the anger away. I’m too tired to deal with it right now.
“We should go.”
Bryce nods and slips his hand from my shoulder, trailing down my arm until it reaches my hand. He interlaces our fingers and pulls me away from the window. I shove the locket into my pocket and we leave the room, closing the door behind us. Bryce mumbles again, and I hear the lock click. He releases my hand and grabs my bags from the floor.
As we descend the stairs for what I know is the last time, I look around and try to dredge up some remorse…some nostalgic memory that will make me miss this place. Nothing comes to mind. We walk out the door, and I feel lighter. The unbearable weight that defined my life has been lifted.
“How was your nap?”
I smile and ruffle his hair as I pass the table where he’s sitting and head straight for the refrigerator. Pulling open the door, I reach in and grab a sports drink from the top shelf. My fingers fumble as I try to twist the top off. I’m so thirsty, I feel like I may pass out before I can get the darn thing open. The lid pops free, and I press the bottle to my lips, tilting my head back and gulping half of it down in one shot.
Bryce chuckles, and I look at him, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “Sorry,” I say, a little breathless. “I’m thirsty.”
“Obviously,” he says, smiling.
I shoot him a dirty look before taking another long swig of my drink. He laughs again. Barely repressing a smile, I shuffle closer and look at the book lying open in front of him on the table. There is writing on the pages but I can’t read any of it.
“What’s this?”
Bryce wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me down into his lap. I stiffen for a moment but as the heat of his body seeps into me, I start to relax into him. He presses a soft kiss to my temple before directing my attention back to the book.
“This is one of my parents’ spell books. I was just looking for…anything that may help us.”
“Find anything?”
“Not yet. I was hoping to come across some kind of locater spell. We could use your mom’s locket to find her.”
>
I mentally brush off the melancholy that tries to take over at the mention of that locket. I clear my throat. “You don’t already know how to do that?”
The arm locked around my waist tightens briefly. “I’m here, Kai. Always.” His whispered words reverberate through my body. “No,” he says, the volume of his voice going back to a normal level, “I don’t. I know a few basic spells to manipulate things around me but a locator spell is complex. Every step needs to be completed with perfection and in the right order.”
“So, you need to read the instructions,” I say, the corner of my mouth lifting. “Never thought I’d hear a guy admit that.”
“Ha. Ha.”
I yelp and jump from his lap as his fingers squeeze my sides. Grabbing my drink from the table, I chug the rest down and head to the sink to refill it. I don’t know why I’m so thirsty. My throat is parched, and I feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.
“Do you have any aspirin?”
“What’s wrong? Headache?” he asks, rising from his seat.
“Yeah. A little.”
“There’s a bottle in the bathroom. I’ll get it for you.”
He leaves the room, and I walk over to the table and sit in his chair. I slowly flip through the pages of the old tome he was reading. I don’t understand most of the writing. It seems to be in Latin or some other ancient language. There are diagrams on each page that don’t make any sense to me either.
Giving up, I push the book away and lay my temple against the cool marble of the table top. The pounding in my head is growing stronger. I squeeze my eyelids together and try to stifle a groan. Footsteps sound behind me, so I lift my head and crack one eye open to watch Bryce walk across the room.
“Hold out your hand,” he says, twisting the top from the bottle.
I do as he says, and he shakes two pills into my hand. Popping them into my mouth, I take another long drag on my water and flush the pills down my throat. I set the bottle down and place my fingertips on my temples, rubbing them in a circular motion.