A History of Hexing

by Evie Wilde

  Oliver buried his fork in his cherry pie. “Tell us about it. You know I like to learn new things. I know all the DNA stuff. But what’s it like growing up a shifter?”

  “Okay.” Kyler ate another piece of meat and took a drink of water. I sensed he was excited to finally be able to tell his side of the story. I only wished he’d done it sooner. “Like you already know, my mother was a witch doctor. Most people in my hometown were, so I got to see how powerful a witch doctor’s magic could be. At times it’s more powerful than any wizard or archmage. Witch doctors create their own hexes and spells, most of the time never sharing how they came up with such powerful magic. That’s why it has been so difficult figuring out the poisoning.” He took another drink of water.

  “She teach you the tricks of the trade?” Oliver asked. “How to be a witch doctor?”

  Kyler shrugged. “Some, but I wasn’t real thrilled with learning. It just wasn’t me. And the more powerful she became the more she changed. She and my father began having trouble.”

  Braeden cleared his throat. “You have the same powers as your mother?”

  “I do, and that’s what Sonny keeps harping about. That’s why he wants us to be the friends we once were. Two witch doctors sharing their secrets with one another? Yeah, we could help, but if one of us went rogue with all that knowledge…”

  “You could end up like Edius and Ren,” Oliver said. “It all makes sense now. Or at least a part of it. But I’m glad she taught you how to make pie.”

  “Exactly.” Kyler crossed his arms and looked down at his plate. “You guys know my father was a shapeshifter. Well, witch doctors don’t exactly view shapeshifters as equals, especially when a shapeshifter is in animal form. They see us as filthy, dirty creatures. My father was treated like shit and eventually, even after they had me, began to withdraw. My mother said it didn’t bother her, but it did bother him. The townspeople, most of whom were witch doctors, tried to run him out of town. It was horrible at home.”

  “Man, we think it’s cool as shit that you’re a shapeshifter,” Dash said. “And the combination of the two”—he shook his head—“you should be proud, not embarrassed.”

  “The forest lined our backyard. There were times when I’d watch my dad go out into the backyard and as soon as he hit the trees he would change into a black wolf. Sometimes he’d be gone for hours, other times a few minutes.”

  “He tell you what he was doing out there?” I asked. Hearing about his family was fascinating.

  Kyler shook his head. “Just that he went out there to think, but mostly to be with Mother Earth. He did tell me it was how he met my mother. She was out gathering ingredients for spells, and he snuck up on her. She turned to find him snarling. She tried to hit him with a spell, but he was too fast. He dodged the spell and shifted immediately, becoming a man. They said it was love at first sight.”

  “Very romantic,” I said. “Is that why you go into the forest?”

  “For romance? No.” Kyler moved his food around with his fork. “To get away and clear my head. It’s an amazing feeling to be out there running free. My father took me out a few times. Taught me how to live as a shifter. Where to sleep, what to eat, how to survive. How to be at one with nature.”

  “And how to run around naked.” Dash smiled. “Don’t judge.”

  “Ignore him.” Braeden pointed at the tenderloin with his fork. “This is freaking delicious.”

  Oliver nodded in agreement. “And now that we know cooking is one of your super powers, I think we’re going to need you around a lot more. You do meatloaf?”

  “I appreciate that,” Kyler said. “I've always been afraid people would treat me the way my hometown treated my father. And no, I won’t make you meatloaf.”

  It was my turn to speak up. “Nobody at this table is going to treat you like shit because you are a shifter. We’re still one team. Our DNA doesn’t decide who’s in and who’s out.” Everyone nodded. “I’ve always believed in you, and that will never change. Be you.”

  Dash put his hand on Kyler’s shoulder. “We ain’t leaving you. We all have a history whether we like it or not.” He took a sip of water. “So, your mother taught you how to be a witch doctor? None of us are here to judge things we can’t do or that we don’t understand.”

  “She taught me until I was a teenager. Then something happened between us. I’m not sure what. We grew apart and eventually she quit speaking to me. I've never been able to figure out why. My father was already withdrawn so we didn’t speak much either.” He jabbed his fork into a piece of asparagus and moved it around. “That’s when I decided to leave home and travel. I knew there was more to life, and I needed to understand why the universe put me here.”

  “You never told Oliver and I any of this stuff, man.” Dash crossed his arms, obviously at a loss. “We could’ve helped. You’re our brother.”

  “I wasn’t sure how to deal with any of it, so I just never said anything. And then when I lost my mentor, the man who essentially replaced my father, I withdrew. It was the only thing I knew to do.” He curled his lip. “Man, I didn’t realize what I was doing to everyone. I’m sorry.”

  “I thought you guys grew up in the same town?” I asked. I finished the tenderloin and last piece of asparagus. I wondered where it all left us with Sonny. Kyler seemed to be coming down off his hate for Sonny. At that point I wasn’t sure if not hating Sonny was good or bad.

  Oliver ate the last bite of pie and placed his elbows on the table. “We lived about fifteen-miles away, Dash and I did, but still saw him more often than not, especially during the holidays. That’s when we became like brothers.” Oliver laughed, and everyone looked at him.

  “Don’t,” Kyler said, a smile creeping across his face. “I’m warning you, brainiac.”

  Oliver shook his head. “I have to. They need to hear the story.”

  Kyler nodded. “But remember, karma is a bitch.” He smiled. “Go ahead.”

  I looked around the table. “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t believe a word they say,” Kyler said, and finished off his asparagus.

  Oliver sat up straight. “One summer evening we met down at the lake to skip fluorescent rocks across the water. It was the coolest thing ever. It left streaks across the water until the rock sank.” He pointed at Kyler who laid his head on the table. “Your boy over there picks up this huge rock, and Dash and I just look at each other, thinking there’s no way in hell the rock will make it even into the lake.”

  “Here goes,” Kyler mumbled. He started working on his pie, a smile cracking the corner of his mouth. We were heading back to normal.

  “So, he heaves this rock into the lake, but as the rock leaves his hands, you hear him grunt and then you hear what sounds like a baby blowing bubbles with his lips.” Oliver began laughing and couldn’t stop.

  “I’m never cooking for you guys again.” Kyler ate a bite of pie and then pointed at the guys with his fork. “I’ve got stories too.”

  Seeing that Oliver couldn’t continue through his laughter, Dash finished the story. “What brainiac is trying to say is that Kyler here shit his pants from heaving the rock. The dude obviously had something raunchy for dinner. He had to wade into the lake to clean off.”

  Oliver stopped laughing long enough to speak. “We never went into the lake again!”

  Everyone began laughing and then bread started flying around the table. I caught a piece of bread and stuck it in my mouth. It was good to see the guys happy and back to being close. I supposed, at that moment, there would always be times we grew apart, but we had to be ready to pull us back together again when it happened.

  When the laughter died down, Braeden spoke up. “We need to watch out for each other. There’ll be other assholes like Sonny who come along and try to come between us.” He looked at me. “I don’t see you as our mother. I know it sounds cliché, but you’re truly the glue that keeps this group together. It’s up to us guys to make sure the glue is always sticky.�
�� He smiled and winked at me.

  I was not used to Braeden making raunchy jokes, especially not in front of the others. But, to be honest, I liked it. I looked at the others. “I love each of you equally. And each of you has something special.” I stared at Kyler. “No matter what others may think.” He held my hand and kissed it.

  Kyler agreed. “We’re an awesome group together, Cass.” He kept his hand around mine. I looked to my left when I felt Oliver’s hand move around my other. Kyler looked at the guys. “We’re all in agreement that we do this for Cassandra, right?”

  Braeden grabbed the bottle of wine in the middle of the table and filled each of our wine glasses. He then raised his glass. “A toast to Cass.” We clinked glasses and drank.

  Dash held out his glass. “To the five of us and an unwavering commitment to each other.”

  We raised our glasses again in a toast and as we drank, I watched Dash over the rim of my glass, him watching me as well. “You guys are the best. I’m lucky to have each of you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Cassandra

  I left the guys behind in Kyler’s room so they could talk about whatever guys talked about. I had a sneaky feeling it would be about me. Each had been dropping hints about the five of us getting together one night and just seeing what happened. I had no doubt they would go to the ends of the earth to please and pleasure me. I was having a hard time waiting for that to happen.

  I stopped to check on a few of the students, hoping there’d been a change. But those I checked on still tossed and turned in their sleep and suffered from chills. Aurelius and the headmaster were not in any better condition. We were running out of time.

  For the first time in a while I thought about my parents and what they might do if they were still around. It would have been nice to pick up the phone and hear their voices on the other end. My father would have known how to handle Edius and Ren. In fact, my father never would have allowed things to get this far. You never know how much you will miss your parents until they are gone.

  Outside, the air was warm, but a light breeze made the night bearable. I wished I would have had one of the guys walk me back to my room. But I knew Ruby would be there waiting to hear all the juicy details of our dinner get together. She’d thought maybe tonight would be the night. I told her it was doubtful.

  “Hey,” Nicolette said as she appeared from around the corner. “Where ya headed?”

  “To bed.”

  “Alone?”

  “Funny. It’s not like that every night.”

  Nicolette looked away for a moment and then crossed her arms. She had something to say and was holding back.

  “Go ahead,” I said. “Say what’s on your mind.”

  “The burden you’re carrying is too much for one person. You need to share it.”

  “I share with the guys.”

  “I see that,” Nicolette said. “But there’s going to come a time when you’re going to need more than the guys.” She put her arms around me and squeezed before leaving and entering the guys’ dorm.

  Nicolette could be a pain in the ass, but she spoke truths. She was right—at some point I would need more than just the guys.

  I continued on my way, Nicolette’s words still ringing in my ears. I entered the dorm, and the lobby was eerily quiet. I’d told the guys not to go out alone, and here I was doing that exact same thing. When I made it to the second floor, I stopped and checked on two more students. Their conditions were the same as the others. The despair reminded me of the place Ren had placed us in months ago where the weight of the world rode our shoulders.

  As I approached my dorm room, I could see the dagger shimmer beneath the dim hallway lights. I pulled my wand from my pocket and prepared for an attack from within my room. I removed the dagger and the sheet of paper between the dagger and my door. Around the dagger was an unopened scroll. I immediately regretted not making Ruby join us for dinner. On the sheet of paper was a picture of Ruby tied to a chair, her mouth covered with a large piece of tape. I’d made a grave mistake.

  I rushed down the hall and through the dorm lobby, about to burst out into the night when I noticed Sonny sneaking between two buildings. I gently opened the door and, staying in the shadows, followed him. Sunny stopped at the tree-line, and two people emerged from the darkness. Edius and Ren.

  “You’ve done well, Sonny,” I heard Ren say. “Ruby was a good catch.”

  Sonny looked back at the buildings, and I ducked away.

  They continued to talk, but their words became a whisper. I slinked into the shadows and headed back to the guy’s dorm, following my own instructions of not engaging the enemy alone. My skin crawled ,and the hairs on my arms stood. I opened their dorm room door and stood there.

  “What the hell’s wrong?” Braeden asked. “Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I have, sort of.” The guys surrounded me. I looked at Kyler, knowing the information on Sonny would be hardest on him. I lowered my hands and tried to move them behind my back.

  Oliver placed his hand around my elbow and walked me to the couch. “What happened?”

  I let him guide me but struggled to keep the dagger, scroll, and paper with Ruby’s picture hidden. The guys tried to look at my hands, but I moved them behind my butt. “It’s nothing.”

  “The hell is that?” Dash moved around me and took the dagger, paper, and scroll from my hands. He turned the paper so the others could see the image of a tied-up Ruby.

  “Where did you find these?” Braeden asked. He studied the sheet of paper, the image shocking to us all. We’d been so concerned with having each other’s backs that we forgot about her. It wouldn’t happen again. “This is Ruby.”

  “Stuck to my dorm room door. I found it when I left. There wasn’t anyone around when I found it.” I looked at Kyler and let my eyes tell the story.

  “What?” His chest heaved as his breathing picked up.

  “I saw Sonny. After I found those, I was on my way over here, and I saw him sneaking between buildings.” I looked away, knowing, despite our earlier conversation, Kyler would be disappointed in Sonny’s actions. “I followed him between the buildings and then hid in the shadows when he approached the forest.” I shrugged, not wanting to finish the story.

  “Damn.” Oliver paced the room. “We should have been watching her.” He stopped moving around and shook his head. “She should have been part of us when all the others became sick.”

  “Sonny waited at the edge of the forest for a few minutes before Edius and Ren appear from the darkness. They spoke to Sonny. Thanked him for getting Ruby.”

  “Are you sure?” Braeden asked. “Ren and Sonny? How’d we never see that?”

  “No way!” Kyler paced right along with Oliver. “He’s an asshole, but I never really believed he was working with them. He wouldn’t stoop that low. Not Sonny.”

  Oliver stopped pacing. “Why would he try to help us and then turn around and screw us over? What’s in it for him?”

  Kyler stopped next to Oliver. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “I’m just telling you what I saw and heard.” I stood and started to leave. Kyler’s fists were clinching, and his jaws were tightening. Unfortunately, I had been the bearer of bad news.

  “Maybe what you heard and saw weren’t real.” Kyler looked at me as if I’d made the whole thing up. “Maybe Ren or Edius saw you and put a dream hex on you. Made you see what you thought you saw.”

  I crossed my arms and glared at Kyler. He was an out of control roller coaster. “I agree—it doesn’t make any sense, but I know what I saw and heard.” I looked at Braeden. “I saw Sonny talking to them.”

  “You know I believe you, Cass.” Braeden held my hand and kissed my forehead. “She’s telling the truth.”

  “It does make sense,” Oliver said, and we all turned to him. “Remember you asked me to see what I could dig up on Ren and Edius?” He smiled wide and proud. “I was able to hack Sonny’s phone. The dude has
some weird shit on there. Some of the stuff was kind of hard to look at.”

  “Nice,” I said. “So our suspicions were true?”

  “Wait,” Kyler said. “You hacked Sonny’s phone.” He glared at Oliver.

  Oliver nodded. “I found dozens of messages between the two. Sonny knew everything that was going on.” He removed his computer from his back pocket and logged in. He hit a couple of keys and then looked up at everyone. “There’s a message from Ren to Sonny about Ruby, giving him instructions on what to do with her if he couldn’t get you.” Oliver looked up at me and frowned.

  “I should have stayed by her side.” I shook my head, feeling like I’d let Ruby down.

  Dash moved by my side. “Ruby was all of our responsibility. It’s on all of us.”

  “Sonny would not have teamed up with Edius and Ren,” Kyler said. “Not after all those things he said to me.”

  “Dude.” Dash put his hand on Kyler’s shoulder. “We need to find him and beat the truth out of him.”

  “We can’t do that.” I took the paper, dagger, and scroll. “I’m going back to my dorm.” I left alone, not caring if I came face to face with Ren or Edius by myself. It was what they wanted anyway.

  By the time I got to the steps Braeden was catching up with me. “We can’t let you go out there alone,” he said. “You know better.”

  “I know that, Brae. But I also can’t stand in there and listen to Kyler try to protect the guy he was just accusing of being a traitor. Why would he do that? And why would I make that stuff up?”

  Braeden opened the door and walked me to my dorm, both of us glancing over our shoulders. There were three enemies that we knew of: Edius, Ren, and now Sonny. “I’m going to stay with you tonight. We can’t ever let you be alone, especially knowing that was supposed to be you and not Ruby.”