Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot)

by Amsden, Christine

  After that, I went to locate and tend to the wounded. At first, I passed over Scott, figuring him for dead, but of course I had forgotten the amazing strength and healing properties of the werewolf. He wasn’t quite as invincible in human form as he was in his wolf form, but since the bullet had just missed his heart, he was already beginning to recover.

  When I stepped out of the cabin he stared up at me with wide, darkened eyes. “What happened?”

  “Turned him into a frog.”

  Scot laughed, though the effort seemed to pain him. “Damn. I told Evan learning that spell was a waste of time, too. I’ll never live it down.”

  I shrugged. “You’re intuitive, not clairvoyant.”

  “Yeah.” Scott shifted a bit and grimaced at the pain. “Sometimes I think you are, too.”

  My cheeks went a little pink but I shook my head vehemently. “I’m not going down that road. I’ve been there before, and it only leads to disappointment.”

  “I heard the game you were playing in there,” Scott said. “At first I thought you were crazy but I couldn’t move to help you. Then I realized it was brilliant and that it was working. You knew just what to say and when. That’s intuition.”

  “Um, we need to find my brother.”

  Scott waved his arm toward the lake, only a few yards off. “He’s there on the beach. Luckily, he knows just about everything there is to know about fire or he’d be dead right now. He’ll need some work, but he’ll hold out until reinforcements arrive.”

  “Evan?” I looked back the other way and saw him starting to stir. An instant later I was by his side, holding him as his eyes blinked the world back into focus.

  “I thought I told you to run.” He slurred his words slightly, but I could still hear an undercurrent of... fear? I would have expected anger.

  “I don’t listen very well.”

  “You could have been killed.”

  Possibly worse than that, but I didn’t say so. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” I paused before adding. “I love you.”

  He swallowed, averting his eyes. “Come on, let’s get to the girls.”

  * * *

  The two men who had purchased the stolen magic turned out to be two brothers from the West Coast who spent the next week or so living the agony of returning the magic. The girls were given the choice, but after both received offers from their respective families to learn how to defend themselves in the future, they decided to take it all back. From what I understand, they might have left the reverse flow on a little too long. Their would-be buyers weren’t drained completely, but they wouldn’t be much of a threat to anyone anymore.

  Ben Goldstein had been given a slow-acting poison intended to make it look as if he had overindulged in alcohol. He lived, but it doesn’t seem likely that he will ever see his daughter again.

  Away from Hank’s influence, the Polk County sheriff didn’t turn out to be quite as useless. He tracked down Mackenzie’s body at the crime lab in Little Rock where Hank had supposedly sent the bodies of two girls. They had only ever received one body, but had not been able to identify it until they received Mackenzie’s dental records.

  They were a match.

  We sent Renee to her mother, hoping time would heal her. Well, time and a strong magical sedative. The sedative may have erased a few days’ worth of memories, too. It wouldn’t help her grieve, but it would help her live the rest of her life.

  * * *

  The next night I made my first overture toward forging a new relationship with my parents by having dinner with them. It was a somewhat tense affair. Afterward, I knew we still had a long way to go to heal. But it was a start.

  Mom told everyone the truth that night, to the mingled, horrified gasps of those old enough to understand and some frankly worried looks from those too young. She didn’t hold anything back, and as she told us about her long-dead sister, Sheridan, I felt the memories as if they were my own, a side-effect of the mind-merge.

  “It didn’t work, as you all know by now,” Mom concluded, “My heart was never in the spell, and neither was your father’s. It turned out, it wasn’t even necessary. We’re about to be nine, not eight. Three by three is almost as good as seven, anyway.”

  I did the math first. “Twins?”

  She nodded. “The hospital insisted on doing an ultrasound. I wouldn’t let them tell me if they’re boys or girls, but they did say there were definitely two.”

  The evening would have gone well if it hadn’t been for my father, who kept giving me sideways looks. I tried to ignore him, and at one point even bit my tongue to keep from demanding: What? I sensed he wanted me to ask, that there was something he was dying to tell me, but I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. Especially not now, when I hadn’t heard from Evan since the rescue.

  It wasn’t for lack of trying, either. I had called, e-mailed, and texted him, leaving enough messages to qualify me as a stalker. I just couldn’t get our last conversation out of my head. It kept looping endlessly through my mind, and each time I remembered it a little worse than the time before.

  I would have to go to him, maybe even that night. Definitely by the next day. I couldn’t let this... whatever this was... fester.

  If only I understood it. Dad kept looking at me, too, making me wonder if he knew something he wasn’t telling. Had he spoken to Evan? Evan had claimed he hadn’t spoken to my brother, but, I realized, I hadn’t asked about my father. The technicality didn’t detract from the deception, but the lie didn’t bother me as much as the possibilities. What had my father said? What had he done? And how could any of it matter if Evan did, as he claimed, love me?

  I was on my way out the door, my head swimming in doubts, when a phone call brought the family one last surprise. I paused with the door open, one foot on the threshold, when a few words from my mom’s end of the conversation caught my attention.

  “Jason? No. I don’t believe it. Not Jason... Sherry, slow down... No, you know you have our support... Yes, of course...”

  I closed the door, stepping back inside, and set my purse down, waiting for Mom to finish. It only took her a few minutes and when she did, her face was as white as a ghost.

  “What?” I asked.

  “They’re saying Jason’s turned.” Her voice was barely a whisper. From around the living room, nearly every head snapped around.

  “Turned?” I said.

  “Into a vampire.”

  I shook my head. “Impossible. He’d have to willingly take the antidote to the potion protecting him from that fate, and he’d never do that.”

  Mom didn’t look as if she saw me. Her gaze was fixed on Dad. “He wouldn’t do it, would he?”

  Dad hesitated. “I don’t know. What if he were tortured? It’s hard to know what anyone would do in a situation like that.”

  “Edward, you can’t believe it,” Mom said.

  “I don’t know what to believe.” Dad looked at me. “I do know that we need to protect our family, even from him if need be.”

  Mom sank onto a chair.

  “What about Kaitlin?” I asked, wondering how I would broach this subject with her.

  “We’ll help her,” Dad said, firmly. “She’s family now, too.”

  * * *

  The news about Jason became the last motivation I needed to seek out Evan right away. I didn’t want to face Kaitlin with the news that her baby’s father may no longer be human – not yet. So I drove to Evan’s house, feeling a sense of relief when I saw lights on in the den. The relief vanished a few minutes later when he stood, framed in the doorway, his eyes cold and impersonal. He looked... he looked as if he didn’t know me.

  “Evan?” I made it a question.

  “What do you want?” Evan asked.

  “I-where have you been all weekend?”

  “Busy.”

  “With what?”

  “You’re not my keeper.”

  I took a step back, trying to regroup, but finding I had no footing for what wa
s happening.

  “You did talk to my father, didn’t you?”

  “Wednesday night, after you left my house.”

  “What did he do?”

  Evan stared past me, at something in the distance only he could see. “Let’s just say, he settled your debt.”

  For a second, I considered arguing that I didn’t care what my father had done. The debt was between the two of us, and always would be. But thinking about his reservations when it came to how I felt about him, I chose a different tactic.

  “So I don’t owe you anything?”

  “No.”

  “I still love you.”

  Something flashed across his face – something like agony, I thought – but it went away so quickly I wasn’t quite sure.

  “It would never work between us,” Evan said. “There’s too much hatred between our families.”

  “What did he say?” My body felt numb all over. This couldn’t be happening, whatever this was. I should at least understand.

  “I’m leaving town for a while,” Evan said. “It’s-it’s over between us.”

  “Just like that? No.” I shook my head. “There’s no way Grace’s prophecy was this straightforward. No.”

  “It is, though.”

  “Did my dad put some kind of spell on you?” I asked, still not quite able to believe the things my best friend was saying to me.

  “No.” But he said it too quickly, and that made me more suspicious than ever.

  “I’ll find out.”

  “Don’t.”

  I shook my head. “If I don’t owe you a debt any longer, you can’t order me around.”

  We squared off, with him giving me looks that, to anyone else, would have seemed quite threatening. I wasn’t afraid of him, though, and I let him know it. He looked away first.

  “Good-bye, Cassie.” With that, he closed the door in my face.

  I’m not sure how long I stood there, staring at the grain patterns of the oak door, as if it could tell me what Evan had not. I rang the doorbell a few times, but the door didn’t open. I couldn’t even hear Evan moving inside. Finally, with every part of my body numb save my aching heart, I walked away.

  Epilogue

  EVAN DIDN’T MOVE FROM THE FRONT window until Cassie’s taillights disappeared from view. Then, with a bellow of rage, he shattered the glass, barely noticing when fragments embedded themselves in his skin. He stalked back into the den, his eyes flying almost automatically to the small velvet box on the end table. Inside was his grandmother’s diamond and sapphire engagement ring. Only two weeks ago she had assured him that one day soon, he would need it. So much for her ability to see the future; she couldn’t even see the past.

  He’d done it. He’d known what he would have to do, had even rehearsed it, but he hadn’t understood how it would make him feel inside. God, she’d hate him now! He deserved it, but that didn’t make it any easier for him to bear. Grabbing the box from the table, Evan opened it and sank heavily onto the sofa, thinking back to the night he had lost Cassie forever. It wasn’t tonight, as she probably supposed. It had been Wednesday night, and she hadn’t even been there. It had only been Evan – and her father.

  * * *

  When Cassie had told him she loved him, he should have felt elated – victorious. Instead, he felt all twisted up inside, worried that it wasn’t real. Even before the life debt, his kiss had always made him worry that he wouldn’t know real love when it came along. With Cassie, he thought it would be obvious. It wasn’t. Even looking into Cassie’s eyes, and knowing her as he did, he feared he had somehow coerced her. And he knew of only one way to find peace or certainty. It was ironic, he supposed, that in order to keep her forever, he would have to first let her go. A few short weeks ago he refused to give her up, clinging to whatever part of her he could. Now he knew that part hadn’t been the one that mattered.

  “Hello, Mr. Scot,” Evan said, stepping into the man’s foyer. He didn’t expect to be allowed further inside, and the man didn’t disappoint him.

  “What do you want?”

  Straight to the point, then. “Your son approached me a couple of weeks ago, offering to buy Cassie’s debt. At the time, I wasn’t interested. But now, I think it might be for the best. Only I’d feel more comfortable dealing with you.”

  For some reason, Edward’s mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wide. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah.” He wouldn’t go into his reasons, not with this openly hostile man who wouldn’t believe him for a second. He wondered if they would ever find common ground, for Cassie’s sake, but doubted it.

  Edward Scot looked over his shoulder. Evan didn’t sense anyone, but Edward still activated a rune to encompass them both in silence, not permitting any word that passed between them to be overheard.

  “What’s that for?” Evan asked.

  “She doesn’t owe you a thing and you know it.” Edward’s cold assertion sank like needles into Evan’s skin, and were the last words he had expected to hear.

  “I hate to disagree with you, but I did save her life.” Quickly, Evan added, “I don’t think it matters, though. I’m in love with your daughter.”

  “If you loved her, you’d let her go. How could you even think of trapping her like this after what you did to her?”

  Evan blinked. “What did I do, exactly?”

  Edward gave the younger man a shrewd, piercing look. “Don’t you know? I would have thought your father would brag about it.”

  This was quite enough, Evan decided. He was perfectly prepared to be reasonable, but he wasn’t going to let Edward level these unfounded, veiled accusations. “If you don’t tell me what you’re talking about, I’ll hang onto the debt. I just thought this way might be best for everyone involved.”

  “You really don’t know?” Edward gaped, clear astonishment written across his face. “I can’t tell her, you know.” Edward gestured at the rune hanging from the amulet around his neck as if that explained everything. “Even after everything he did to me, I owed your father a debt, and he asked me never to tell Cassie what he did. Can’t imagine why he wanted that price, but it’s been hanging over my head ever since.”

  “What did my father do?” Evan asked, pronouncing each word slowly and purposefully.

  Sparks flew dangerously from Edward’s fingertips. “I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out by now. Let’s do some math. Two children born to powerful families within twenty-four hours of one another. One, mysteriously, with no magic at all. The other has more than twice the expected amount.”

  Evan felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. For a second, he didn’t understand, then he didn’t want to understand. After that he didn’t believe. Then he didn’t want to believe. “I-that’s impossible. How is that possible?”

  “Ask your father,” Edward said, “and let me know what you find out. Not that it would help anything, but I’d love to know how he did it.”

  “How do you know that he did, then?”

  “Oh, I know,” Edward said. After a pause, he added. “Haven’t you hurt her enough?”

  Evan closed his eyes against a wave of anguish. He had no idea what to say, so he left, barely noticing what he was doing even when he climbed into his car and headed for his lonely home.

  He stayed awake all night, agonizing over what to do. He considered telling her the truth, hoping they could work something out. Would she understand? Could she find it in her heart to forgive him?

  Could they possibly have a future together with this hanging between them?

  The next day she had confirmed his worst fears: I would never forgive someone who did that to me, and I’d find some way to get revenge.

  * * *

  The overhead light gleamed off the brilliant blue sapphire for another moment, then Evan shut the box with a loud snap. He hated himself, hated the whole godforsaken world. He had botched everything, including his breakup with Cassie. She hadn’t believed his lie for a second, even though it cause
d her obvious pain. She knew him too well, and sooner or later, she would learn the truth – whether he told her or not.

  So tell her, said the irrational part of his mind that still wanted to reason with the universe. If you tell her, she’ll understand.

  Right. She wouldn’t blame him in the least. She’d take his word for it that he hadn’t known until a few days ago. And she wouldn’t demand a piece of his magic for herself.

  Her life had been defined by her lack of magic. He knew that better than anyone because she had openly confided in him. But he had been defined by strength of magic, too. It was a part of him. It was his!

  He hadn’t faced his father yet. Maybe that would help, but he doubted it. He wasn’t even sure he would be able to stand the sight of the man afterward. He had a sudden flash of insight into how Cassie must have felt when her father disowned her, and then another, far more troubling insight: He knew how Cassie would feel when she learned the truth for herself.

  He’d lost her. For a minute, he held his dreams of the future in his mind: Cassie, her belly swollen with his child – maybe even the third or fourth – by his side while he tried to save the world. She’d offer him her insights and perspectives, and maybe even a touch of that intuition she tried to deny, and he’d keep her safe despite her tendency to fall headfirst into danger. She would be a great mother, and their children would be powerful. Maybe even strong enough to undo the damage their selfish grandfathers had wrought.

  The dream exploded into a million tiny fragments. When the dust settled, all that remained was a single personal resolve: Somehow, he wouldn’t let his power go to waste. It had cost him too much.

  End

  About the author

  Christine Amsden has been writing science fiction and fantasy for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.