by C. J. Pinard
“Sounds good,” I said as I watched her set her coffee down on the windowsill of the room and walk out toward the front door.
I quickly walked to my room and jumped on the bed. “Get up.”
“What?” Ryder said, groaning as he lifted his head from the pillow.
“Sanja’s here. Get up!”
He looked at his fitness-watch thing and said, “Damn, we slept in.”
I hopped off the bed and ran into the bathroom, grabbing my toothbrush from the holder. I squeezed some toothpaste onto it and gave myself a quick scrub.
Ryder followed me in and did the same, and then he told me to leave because he had to “take a piss.”
By the time I emerged from the bedroom, Sanja had four more boxes in her room, and the nightstand.
“Did you bring in that in yourself?” I asked, pointing at it.
“Yes, it’s empty so it wasn’t a big deal.”
I nodded, and just then I heard Ryder’s voice at the doorway. “You need some help?”
I looked at Sanja, and grinned as her eyes went wide. “Yes, please, there is more in the truck out front.”
“Sanja, this is Ryder,” I said, almost forgetting my manners.
He walked into the room, and I was grateful he had thrown on his T-shirt and sweatpants. “Nice to meet you, witch,” he said.
With my eyes wide, mortification didn’t even begin to cover it.
I reluctantly looked at Sanja, and a slight amusement danced in her eyes. “Nice to meet you, too, wolf.”
Ryder grinned and released her hand before walking out of the room.
“I’m sorry—”
“Don’t be,” Sanja said. “I’m soooo used to it.”
That made me kind of sad. “Really?” I asked.
She nodded, making her way toward the bedroom door. I looked her up and down and wished I had her legs. Warm caramel color under her dark-blue short-shorts. “Wolves and witches don’t usually get along so well.”
I worried my lip at her comment, and tilted my head. “Really? Because I like you just fine.”
She smiled. “I’m glad. Because I like you, too. I just know we’ll be great friends.”
I relaxed a little.
Sanja crossed the room and put both hands on my shoulders. “Don’t worry about him.” She jutted her chin toward the doorway of the room. “I can tell he comes from a long line of strong, old-school wolves. He’ll come around, I promise.”
I nodded, looking into her powerful brown eyes. “I hope so, because I really like you, Sanja. Help me help you to earn his trust. He told me not to rent to you. I told him you were a great person, someone I could see becoming a good friend. Don’t make a liar out of me.”
She grinned knowingly. “I won’t, my friend. I won’t.” With a last quick hug, she sprinted out the door and to the truck to retrieve the rest of her belongings.
College was hard. I thought it was going to be kind of easy—but it wasn’t. Not by a longshot. I kept telling myself to be grateful. You know, grateful for my family and the opportunity afforded me. Grateful for the boyfriend who supported me despite our differences. Grateful for friends like Sanja. She had been living in my house for two months and never once said a word about me leaving for three days every month. But, she knew why I stayed away once a month, and it wasn’t because of PMS. And we never discussed it.
On a regular Tuesday night, I was sitting at the dining room table studying. I didn’t want to go into my room, so I found an alternative. After her shift at Magik Books & Coffee, Sanja came home.
“Hi,” I said, greeting her as she sat in the chair opposite me, seeming tired from her shift at the store.
She stared me for a few long, awkward seconds, and then said, “How are you today?”
I waved a hand at her without looking up. “Great. Thanks for asking.”
I secretly had an annoyance with people who continuously asked “How are you?” I wanted to scream at them, “I’m not okay, you asshole!” or “Stop asking me that stupid question!”
But of course, I would never say that to anyone.
“I met someone,” she blurted out.
These nightly talks in our dining room had become our ‘thing’. When one of us needed to talk, we’d sit on the futon sofa or the armchair, me with my legs over the arm. Her, cross-legged on the sofa.
“Oh yeah? Wanna tell me about him? Or… her?”
She grinned. “It’s a him. No worries.”
I frowned. “I wasn’t worried.”
“I know.” She winked. “Well, he came into the shop a few days ago. Just like me, he isn’t from Colorado. He is here to go to school. This school.”
I nodded. “Okay, go on.”
“Sorry, details, right? So not important. Anyway, he’s a warlock from Maine. His parents run a very powerful coven up there. The minute he said the name, I knew I’d heard of it. Anyway, it was weird, when he came into the shop and our eyes met, we both kind of froze. He was probably the most beautiful guy I had ever seen. Despite his stylish red hair, his skin was smooth and had no freckles or zits or anything. He has these full lips and eyes the color of grass.” She let out a dreamy sigh.
“He sounds pretty awesome. So did you give him your number, or what?”
She nodded, her eyes wide. “Yes, I did, and he texted me as soon as he got home after buying a few things at the shop. We talked on the phone and have been texting nonstop. He gives me butterflies.”
“That’s great,” I said, “I’m really happy for you. What’s his name?”
“Brennan James.”
I nodded in approval. “Very cool name.”
“I know, right?” she squealed.
“At least he’s a witch. You have to, uh, mate with others of your kind, right?”
Sanja wrinkled her nose. “Mate, ew, that’s such a werewolf and vampire term. But yes.”
“Sorry,” I said, laughing. “I really don’t like the term myself. And for the record, I totally liked Ryder before I knew he was a wolf. Heck, even before I knew I was a wolf!”
She turned her head slightly, looking confused. “What do you mean… before you knew you were a wolf? Aren’t your family wolves?”
With a heavy, dramatic sigh, I launched into the tale about how my brothers and I were adopted, and what a nightmare my first shift had been. The look on Sanja’s face was a mix between sympathy and horror.
“You’re telling me nobody told you that you’d transform into a beast once a month during the full moon? You just… shifted one night?”
I nodded and, with a shudder, told her about my first shift.
“Wow, that’s a tough break, girl.”
“You are probably gonna hate me for asking this, but what exactly can witches do? Like spells and such? Or parlor tricks like making shit disappear?”
She laughed. “A little of both. We don’t use magic unless we need to. I grew up knowing my parents were witches, and that I was one, too. I have my own spell book, but I don’t really use it that much. We are taught that magic is for necessity, not for want or personal gain.”
“So you couldn’t show me anything cool right now?” I asked, goading her.
She chewed her perfect lip, and then threw me a mischievous grin. “Okay, just one thing.”
I smiled, excited.
She closed her eyes and lifted both hands, palms up, toward the ceiling. “Ignium!”
All the candles in the room immediately lit up with flames burning at their wicks. I am a candle-collecting whore, so I had them everywhere. The room was immediately bright with a warm orange glow.
Gasping at how she’d done that, I stared at her as she slowly opened her eyes. She smiled. “You like?”
“How did you do that? And what did you say to do that?”
“It’s Latin. Lots of Latin involved in being a witch.”
“Wow, I tried to take Latin once, totally failed. I’ve got a new mad respect for you now, girl.”
“Thanks. It wasn’t easy to
learn, but I’m learning slowly. That ‘trick’ I just did was easy.”
“What else can you do?”
She smirked, like she was hiding a secret. “A lot of things, but like I said, we use magic out of necessity. Otherwise, we are just regular people.”
“So, you can’t, say, cast a spell over a bank teller and make them give you ten thousand dollars?” I asked, feeling devious at asking, but curiosity getting the better of me.
“Yes, I probably could do that, but I wouldn’t. That is stealing. We do have some morals and ethics,” she replied, amused.
I nodded. “Gotcha.”
Just then, the front door opened. Ryder came in carrying a duffel bag. He lifted his chin at Sanja—something he always did, as he didn’t like to interact with her too much—and said to me, “You ready to go?”
“Yeah, let me pack real fast.” I got up and headed toward my room. I turned before going down the hall and said to Sanja, “Thanks for the chat. I’m happy for you. Keep me posted. I’ll be gone all weekend.”
She smiled and glanced out the window at the full moon. “I know.”
After packing a small bag, I emerged from my room and looked at my gorgeous boyfriend. “Let’s roll out.”
“Bye, wolves. Be good,” Sanja said, flicking the TV to life with the remote, even though her attention was on her phone.
“Thanks,” I chuckled. “Lock this door behind me.”
She waved a hand, and the second the door closed, I heard the locks immediately click into place. I chuckled.
Witches. Gotta love them.
Chapter 11
One day, a few months ago, Aden had told us before a shift that we were going to pool our money together to get a mobile home or trailer to put up on the mountain for our shifts. There was no use going up and down the treacherous mountain for the three nights of the full moon, when we could just stay up there and deal with our curse before returning to our schools, our families, our jobs, and our lives. Nobody really disagreed with him.
A couple months later, he had towed a double-wide trailer up there, and while we still didn’t have electricity, it didn’t seem to matter. For whatever reason, we didn’t seem to need it. But, it was late spring/early summer, and I worried about what we would do in the middle of winter when temperatures reached what was sure to be below zero at this elevation. I was sure Aden would figure it out.
As Ryder and I approached the mobile home, we saw a few of our brothers and sisters sitting in front in lawn chairs holding drinks encased in koozies. They looked up when they heard Ryder’s car approach. He parked next to Aden’s truck, and we got out after grabbing our bags.
The heavy scent of a campfire burning hit my nose first, and then the cool, mild, dry air around me felt wonderful against my skin, which was beginning to heat up. I always ran near fever-pitch on the first day of the full moon.
Ryder fist-bumped a few of the others, and I said my hellos, still not knowing all of their names and feeling like an asshole about it. But I knew in a few months’ time I would. In my defense, a lot of them were new. Older teenagers who had just started their shifts.
Aden greeted us from the door of the mobile home. “Hey, guys. Come inside. I’ll show you around,” he said, opening the door and ushering us inside like we were VIP in his mountain cabin-but-really-it’s-a-trailer home.
“How many wolves are going to be staying in here?” Ryder asked, standing in the small kitchen, which was pretty much a joke. It had a microwave and a sink, but not much more.
“All of the pack,” Aden replied, lifting his chin.
Just then, Austyn came in. “Dude, it’s gonna be crowded A.F. in here. Seriously. But, it’s better than sleeping outside on the ground, I guess.”
Ryder said, “Did you just say A.F. in a sentence, man?”
“Yeah, so?” Austyn replied.
I chuckled. “You can say ‘as fuck’, you know.”
“Fuck you, Ayla. Don’t tell me what to do,” Austyn said, storming out of the trailer and back outside.
Idiot brother of mine. I shook my head and shouted out the door, “I was joking, you turd. Stop taking everything so seriously!”
Without turning around, he gave me the finger and kept walking.
“Geez, touchy,” I murmured with a giggle.
Ryder leaned down and kissed my nose. Then he pulled a bag out of his pocket and held it up. “Maybe we should give him some of this. Might help him lighten up.”
I looked at the small, clear bag, which contained a green, leafy substance, and a small package of white papers. My eyes went big.
“Where did you get that?” I asked.
Ryder chuckled. “Anywhere. Everywhere. Does it matter? Let’s smoke a little before our shift.”
I worried my lip. “I’m not quite sure that’s such a good idea. Why don’t we try it on another night?”
I looked up to see the clouds dancing in and out of the moon’s reflection. I began to feel twitchy.
“Try it?” Ryder said. “I’ve already ‘tried it’. I want to ‘try it’ again. Come on, it’ll relax us. Maybe make the shift less… uncomfortable.”
Well, I had never tried weed and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. But the thought of maybe easing the pain of the shift, and relaxing me was a bit appealing.
Ryder sat at one of the small tables that surrounded the trailer and pulled the rolling papers from the baggie. Laying a paper flat on the table, he then withdrew a pinch of the drug, and sprinkled it into a straight line across the paper. Then he rolled it tight, licked the paper to seal it, pressed the seal to make sure it stuck, and then twisted the ends. He placed the joint on the table, and then continued to roll and stuff the remaining papers with the smelly green leaves.
“You sharing?” Aden asked, coming up to us and sitting at an empty chair at the table.
Ryder lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “Sure, but just with you.”
“And me,” Austyn said, seeming to come out of nowhere.
I looked at my brothers nervously, and asked again, “Should we be doing this right before a shift? I mean, what do high werewolves do?”
Austyn chuckled, and said, “Dude, I don’t know, actually. Might be kinda fun to be all fucked up when we shift.” He ended on a deep, unintelligent laugh.
I shook my head. “Yeah, being high while there are vampires around sounds like a great idea. We could get killed.”
“Our body temperatures probably won’t keep us high for very long,” Ryder said, still working at his task. “I’m only doing this to try to reduce the pain of the shift.”
Aden looked at him curiously. “I hardly feel it anymore, it goes so fast.”
Ryder stopped what he was doing, glanced at me, then at Aden. “Yeah, but I don’t think Ayla’s there yet.”
My heart softened at his concern for me, and then I felt obligated to smoke one of the blunts. I really hadn’t planned on it.
“I’m sorry, sis,” Aden said, looking at me with sympathy. “Sometimes I forget what it was like in the beginning.”
I shrugged like it was no big deal. “It’s okay. I’ll live. It’s not like I have a choice.”
The three boys nodded in agreement.
Nothing else was said until Ryder was done with his rolling and licking, and he had a neat line of joints on the table. “Help yourself, dudes,” he said.
Austyn picked up one immediately, and then produced a lighter from his jeans pocket. With an expertise that both impressed and horrified me, I watched as he put the blunt between his lips, lit the very tip with the flame, and then pocketed the lighter as he took a long drag from the cigarette.
Holding it in for a few seconds, he then blew the smoke out and almost seemed relieved as it left his mouth in a big, blue rush.
“What the hell, Austyn? How many times have you smoked this stuff?” I pointed to the table where there were still joints lined up.
He rolled his eyes and put the joint back up to his lips. “You seriously
sounded like Mom just now.”
I lifted an eyebrow, about to defend myself, when Ryder lifted one to his lips, his forefinger and thumb holding the cigarette. He lit it, took a long pull from the end, and then handed it to me. I looked down at the cigarette, then up to his face, which was a bit red until he finally let the smoke out.
“Take it, babe. Please?”
I chewed my lip, and then eventually took the smoldering thing from him. I reluctantly lifted it to my lips and then wrapped them around it.
“Suck it in slowly, hold it for a few seconds, and then let the smoke out,” Ryder instructed.
Sounded simple enough, so I did exactly what he said. With my lips still wrapped around the cigarette, I took a big, long drag from it and held it. I began to count in my head. One, two, three, four… ohmigod, I need to cough… shit! Five, six, seven… crap, I’m gonna choke, eight, nine… I let the smoke out and began to cough my head off. I coughed, and then coughed some more, and then coughed and coughed until I thought I might throw up. I bent at the waist and put my hands on my bare knees to steady myself.
Then I heard laughter, and looked up to see my two brothers chuckling at me. Well, Aden was mildly chuckling, Austyn was flat-out laughing and pointing. Once my coughing fit subsided, I launched myself at my irritating brother. He let out a yelp and tried to move out of my way, but he was too slow. Probably thanks to the weed. I tackled him to the ground, the sound of his head hitting the hard dirt giving me some kind of sick satisfaction.
“Don’t you laugh at me, you dick!” I said, now completely straddling him around his chest like when we were kids. “I will beat your ass!” Cough.
He tried to buck me off but I squeezed my thighs onto either side of his torso.
“Get off me, Ayla! Get off me!” He had a look of paranoia and panic in his dark blue eyes. I saw them flash between blue and yellow as he looked up at me.
“Say you’re”—cough—“sorry!” I bellowed at him, raspy, at the top of my lungs.
“No, just let her,” I heard a voice behind me say.
I glanced behind me to see Ryder with a look on his face, something mixed between concern and panic, and Aden with a restraining hand on Ryder’s arm.