“That’s the point, Denton. She. Is. My. Baby. Sister!”
Well, that about summed it up. That was exactly what he was afraid D had meant. That was what he hadn’t wanted to know.
What they had been lying to him about for months.
Danick stood up, walked over to his best friend since birth and decked him.
D swore.
Danick stalked into the hallway, descending the stairs as he swore under his breath with every step.
CHAPTER 18
Karmichael closed Shanna’s bedroom door behind him and walked into the common room. He and Shanna hadn’t had the chance to talk. She had clammed up and kicked him out, telling him she needed sleep.
Scanning the semi-darkness, he spotted D on the couch, staring off into space as he absently rubbed a bruise that was forming on his jaw.
It looked like one of the brothers had beaten him to the punch, so to speak.
He assumed, since Danick hadn’t liked the turn his inquisition of D had taken, that he was going to like it even less. He crossed the room to stand in front of D.
D focused on Karmichael, his eyes narrowing. “What do you want Miler? Speak, boy. Speak.”
“Nice bruise. I take it the conversation didn’t exactly go the way you wanted it to.” Karmichael bit the inside of his cheek to keep from openly laughing at the poor guy. He would’ve paid to see Danick deck D, though.
D’s eyes had murder clearly written in them as he assessed Karmichael. “State your business quickly. Then leave me the hell alone.”
“All I want to know is what’s going on between you and my girlfriend. It’s as simple as that.”
D laughed, the sound dry and forced. “Nothing is simple where Shanna is concerned,” he muttered. He sighed, the sound slightly resigned, as he pushed himself up off the old couch. “Nope. You know what, this conversation isn’t happening. If you want to know what’s going on, you’re going to have to drag it out of said girlfriend. And I wish you the best of luck with that endeavor.” He headed for the stairs. “I am so done with being the only one telling the truth. Shanna can suffer the consequences this time.”
Well, hell.
That statement alone said everything that needed to be said without any specific details being leaked.
“Whose fist did you run into?”
D shot his older brother a dirty look as he popped a chip into his mouth. He was seated at the kitchen table, a bowl of chips and an icepack sitting on the table in front of him. His jaw throbbed something fierce and he so was not in the mood to deal with his idiot brother. Damn. He’d forgotten how hard Danick could punch.
“Don’t you have someone else you could be annoying, Carter?”
Carter, who was home for an early Christmas leave—who could believe Christmas was only two weeks away?—smiled. “Nope.” He downed the rest of his bottle of beer, studying his baby brother. “You going to answer my question?”
“Nope.” D popped another chip into his mouth, chewing a little harder than necessary. He winced in pain as his jaw protested. He gave up on the comfort food, placing the Ziploc bag filled with ice on his jaw. He sighed in relief as his jaw slowly, blessedly, became numb. “Stay out of it, Carter. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t clean my clock for that pot shot.”
D groaned as Danick’s voice hit him like a ton of bricks. He removed the ice pack long enough to wrap a dish towel around it. He placed it back on his throbbing jaw. “Go away, Corelsand. Far, far away,” he mumbled through the numbness. “You only get one free shot. Next time I swing back.”
Carter watched the exchange like he was at a tennis match, an amused look on his face. “I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and venture to say that a girl is somehow involved in this.”
Danick and D both shot him a look that would’ve killed a lesser man.
“Shut up, Carter!” they both exclaimed in unison.
Carter ignored them as usual. He tossed his empty beer bottle into the trash, leaning back against the counter and smiled. “So, who’s the girl?”
“Me,” a soft voice said from the entryway, not sounding the least bit happy.
They all turned around and gaped at Shanna.
She smiled sweetly, her eyes meeting and holding D’s.
Oh, God, he thought. She wouldn’t.
D read the intent in her eyes plain as day. He sunk lower in the padded kitchen chair.
Okay, so she’s a little pissed. She’s not that pissed though…
Shanna turned her smile and attention to Carter. “While they work”—she motioned between Danick and D, a blank look on her face—“whatever this is out, can I talk to you in the other room?”
“Uh, sure.” Carter threw a questioning look at D.
D shrugged, studying the wood table, suddenly wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole.
“I’ll meet you in the living room,” he said slowly.
D waited until Carter was safely out of earshot to blow his gasket. He glared at her while Danick stifled a laugh. “Just what the hell was that?” he demanded.
Her green eyes twinkled mischievously. “You told my brother. I’m returning the favor.”
With that she strolled out of the kitchen.
Fuck me.
D attempted to swallow the lump in this throat. Holy mother of God, he really was going to die a slow, painful death.
“You did what?!”
Carter pushed himself off the couch, pacing in front of her. He grasped his hands so tightly behind his back, his knuckles turned white.
Shanna flinched at the biting tone in his voice.
To say he was incredulous was putting it mildly. It was like saying a boulder was just a pebble. He looked like he wanted to kill them both.
He scrubbed a hand over his shaved head. He finally blew out a breath, stopping in front of her as he lowered himself onto the coffee table. He was, unfortunately, now eye level with her.
“I love him, Carter,” she admitted quietly with unwavering confidence. “Heaven help me, but I do.”
“And I love her,” a voice said from the archway.
D sent her a sad smile. “Now, the question remaining is, what the hell are we going to do about it?”
Karmichael met Shanna in the park over by Lisa’s house later that night. She was huddled underneath one of the pavilions, blowing on her gloved hands as she stomped her feet in the snow.
“Tiern? Really?” he called to her to let her know he was around.
She studied him, her head cocked to the side. “Do you really want to discuss past mistakes? I can end this conversation with the mention of one name.”
“So, what do you want to do now?” he asked as he approached. He stuffed his own gloved hands deeper into his coat pockets.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“Yeah, yeah. You win this round,” he groused. “All I need to know is how you want to handle this. I mean, it’s not like we are really dating. I’m just a cover for you, remember?”
“Unfortunately,” she mumbled.
“Okay. Then let me continue to protect you and let’s come up with a game plan.”
“Did you hookup with anyone while you were in London visiting your father?” she suddenly asked.
He nodded. “I had a few…uh…hookups. If that’s what you want to call them.”
She smiled. “Uncomplicated must be nice. Okay, let’s make this a mutual, no hard feelings, we stay friends break up.”
He could see a plan formulating in that pretty little mind of hers. “Okay, Corelsand. Lay it on me. How do we convincingly pull this one off?”
Monday morning, Del found Shanna with her head stuck in her locker like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand. She shook her head, slammed her locker shut, and tapped Shanna on the shoulder.
“You can’t hide forever, you know. You have to face him sooner or later.”
Shanna mumbled incoherently.
/> “What was that? I speak English, not Gibberish.”
Shanna reluctantly pulled her head out of her locker, pulling her white button down shirt down. Smoothing out her ankle length skirt, her red, bloodshot eyes met Del’s. “I said, just because the truth is now out in the open for all to know, that doesn’t mean I’m at all ready to deal with him.”
“Chicken.”
“Balk, balk.” She shut her locker. “I hate skirts.”
“Then why are you wearing one? Looks good, by the way. Didn’t know you owned one. Nice change of subject by the way.”
“What change of subject?” Shanna asked innocently. “And it’s mandatory attire for a report in English.”
“So, what happened?” Del asked, leaning against her locker.
“After D and I had our little heart-to-heart, we sat down and had another one with Karmichael.”
And the whole conversation had gone exactly as she and Karmichael had planned.
“Karmichael came clean about his own indiscretions while overseas this summer. We decided to stay friends and there were no hard feelings involved. He helped me with my report after D left.”
Del nodded as the bell rang. “Well, you lucked out there,” she said as they headed towards homeroom.
Luck had nothing to do with it.
The ability to lie convincingly, on the other hand, had everything to do with it.
CHAPTER 19
August 2015
“Wait. Let’s go back to this whole graduation night incident,” Andre cut in, scratching his head. “You all keep referencing it, but no one goes into what happened.”
“Yeah,” Nile added. “I thought we were supposed to be telling the truth here.”
“The truth and nothing but the truth,” Jarrett piped up.
Shanna stared at the floor.
Karmichael fidgeted awkwardly.
Rhyder pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck.
“Oh, for the love of God,” D groaned. “First of all, it’s been a decade and a half. Second of all, I know damn well you two heard my conversation with Lise a few hours ago.” He looked at Rhyder and Shanna expectantly.
“Fine,” Rhyder mumbled. “Lise does know that this is coming.”
“Do you think they are ready?” Shanna asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Karmichael added.
Shanna stood up, turning to face the rest of the group. “I’m going to put this disclaimer out there right now,” she started.
“We don’t need to do this out loud, but for the sake of show, we will speak out loud,” Rhyder finished, coming to stand by his sister.
“Before we show you that, I have to do something. I can’t take this anymore.” Shanna waved her hand. The cuts and bruises on her body began to mend themselves. The pain in her ribs disappeared. “Ah. Much better.”
“How the hell did she do that?” Zeke yelled.
“Holy…” Brennan said.
“Shit,” Andre added.
“She lifted the spell hindering her natural healing capabilities. It’s a defense mechanism built into our DNA to make us like normal human beings,” Rhyder explained. “Cristian isn’t our biological father. He and Lara adopted us.”
“Wait—what?” Danick yelled.
“How come we never knew this?” Nile demanded.
“That’s one hell of a secret to keep all this time,” Jarrett accused.
“I’m so confused,” Zeke moaned.
“Imagine how I felt when I found everything out at fourteen,” Karmichael muttered.
“Anyway, I guess we can give a small demonstration now,” Shanna said, glaring at her twin.
“Has in animali cogito,” Rhyder said, pointing at Karmichael.
Loosely translated, he said, transform him into the animal I am thinking of.
“Has maxime vult in creaturis,” Shanna chanted, keeping her eyes on D.
Loosely translated, the incantation she chanted said, transform him into the creature he most desires to be.
There was a loud popping sound.
Then complete and utter chaos broke out in the room.
Shanna and Rhyder patiently waited the incredulous exclamations out. This took about twenty minutes.
When everyone was somewhat calmed down and they could hear themselves think, Shanna turned to Rhyder. “Did you just turn your best friend into a pig?”
Rhyder shrugged. “Like you have any room to judge. You turned D into a donkey.”
They stared at the animals sitting in the center of the room glaring at them.
“What? I have the means to make his greatest wish come true. It would be remiss of me not to help him along.”
“I know he’s a jackass, but did you really need to turn him into one?”
“Did I mention Karmichael is a pig?”
“Touché, sis. Touché.”
“Both of you shut up and explain!” Jarrett ordered.
Shanna rolled her eyes. “Fine. Take all the fun out of showing off our magical skills,” she groused.
“Shanna,” Danick warned.
“Lay off, guys. Lara and Cristian adopted us knowing full well we weren’t fully human. How they managed to hide our lack of control over our magic is unknown to even us,” Rhyder explained. “Cristian began to resent our abilities over the years, and Kai was cool with my having these abilities, but not Shanna. They decided a female couldn’t possibly handle all this power, so they set out to control her.”
Shanna waved her hand. There was another loud popping noise and suddenly D and Karmichael were standing in front of them back in human form.
Two extremely pissed of humans.
“Really, Shan?” D demanded.
“Are you freaking kidding me, Rhy?” Karmichael yelled. He looked around at the shocked faces of the others in the room. “Yeah, guys, I know exactly how you feel. I wish that was how I found out they are witches. Well, at least half witch. The other half…yeah, I hope you never meet that half.”
CHAPTER 20
June 1999
Shanna sat on the hill, staring up at the stars. She ran a hand through her hair, checking her watch. What was taking them so long? She was supposed to be meeting Karmichael back at the house for the family party. After all, they had just graduated junior high and were officially on their way to high school.
They needed to hurry up. She didn’t want Karmichael to think she was flaking on him twenty minutes after making things between them official. She wondered what was so important that Lise needed to see her now.
Shanna’s ears perked up like a hound dog on the hunt. She heard the sound of quiet footsteps from the parking lot. Sometimes having supernatural hearing really was a pain. If she wanted to, she could hear what movie they were playing a few blocks away at the discount theater. All from her spot on the hill at the park.
“What are you doing out here all alone?”
Shanna jerked her head up, watching as Karmichael approached her from the left. “What are you doing here?” she asked, fidgeting with a blade of grass.
“Looking for—”
He was cut off by the sudden appearance of Lise Yves.
“Sorry about that, Shan. Sneaking out was a little”—she turned around, noticing Karmichael—“harder than I thought. And you’re not alone.” She smiled weakly, waving slowly. “Hiya.”
Shanna groaned, rolling her eyes. “Annelise Yves, meet Karmichael Miler.”
Karmichael just stood in front of them, jaw on the grass, eyes popping out of his head cartoon style. “You…just—I mean there was nothing there….then suddenly, you were, uh, well, there,” he stuttered.
“This isn’t good,” Lise muttered, placing her hands on her hips.
“You think?” Shanna grumbled.
“Shit,” Lise said.
“Yep, that pretty much… Ohhh. That is what you were saying shit to.” Shanna closed her eyes. Opening her eyes slowly, she blew out a breath. “He’s coming with us, isn’t he?”
“I’m going where with who?” Karmichael demanded. “Just what the hell is—?”
Somnus. Shanna waved her hand in Karmichael’s direction, ordering him to sleep.
Karmichael’s eyes widened a second before he dropped to the ground in front of them, out cold.
“Nice,” Lise said as all three of them faded into the night.
Karmichael moaned, opening his eyes. Why did he feel like he had finished off his father’s entire bottle of gin by himself? His head was pounding to the beat of a Metallica song, his mouth was stuffed with cotton, and his entire body felt like it was made of lead.
He stared up at the night sky. Wow, the stars were really out tonight, and clearer than usual. Wait. Why was he laying in a pile of leaves, in the dirt, surrounded by trees he didn’t recognize? He went to push himself up, then thought better of it when the beat in his head sped up its tempo.
Where the hell was he and how had he gotten here?
“I wouldn’t move just yet,” a female voice suggested. “Magical hangovers are the worst of the worst.”
Karmichael blinked up at the girl. She was his age, thin and muscular, with short black hair and the greenest eyes he had ever seen. Even greener than Shanna’s. She was dressed in all black and was holding a very large knife with a curved blade.
“Did you just use the words ‘magical hangover’ in a sentence with a straight face?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes, Miler. I did. Shanna has used her magical voodoo on me before. I have had dates with a fifth of Jack that didn’t end that painfully,” Lise answered, peering around the large trunk of the tree she was crouched behind.
“Where are we exactly, Yves?” he inquired, sitting up slowly.
“Somewhere in northern California,” she replied.
“Oh, for the love of God,” Shanna groused, suddenly appearing in front of them. “Shut up. Both of you.”
“Jesus Christ!” Karmichael screeched, jumping a mile out of skin. He placed a hand on his chest, his rapidly beating heart thumping like an out of control drum against his chest bone. “You two really need to knock that shit off!”
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