by J. L. Weil
His eyes went skyward, eyeing the violent show above and took a step toward me. “I thought it would be best if I was gone before your aunt found us,” he explained.
The mention of my aunt weakened a chip in the cyclone of rage spinning inside me. In the rational part of my mind, he had a valid point, but that still didn’t absorb the illogical disappointment, turned insane anger bubbling within me. I was treading on dangerous ground and becoming irrationally dependent on him. One night with him had spoiled the rest of my nights forever. His scent still lingered on my sheets and would taunt me for nights to come, I was sure.
“You said you wouldn’t leave,” I argued, the root of my hurt.
His arm reached out tentatively for my hand.
Lightning lit crazy patterns in the sky. “Don’t touch me!” I snapped, stepping out of his reach. The haze of red behind my eyes had not entirely receded. I was afraid I would hurt him. And hurting him would kill me.
“I’m sorry, Bri,” he said, looking sincere.
The last bell for first period rang, and the parking lot was mostly empty except for a few stragglers who were hurriedly trying to seek shelter from the impending storm.
Tears started to burn my eyes, spilling over my flushed cheeks. They were washed away by huge raindrops that had begun to pour from the ominous clouds. With the back of my sleeve, I wiped under my eyes. I was ashamed of the violence inside me, ashamed that I was crying, and most of all, scared that I loved him. Unable to speak, I turned and walked away.
“Bri!” he called, and I knew it was only seconds before he caught up with me. I wasn’t prepared to go up against a witch, but I had to get away from him. Taking off at a full run, the rain pelted me in the face, mixing with my own tears drenched and blurred my eyes.
I managed to reach my car without slipping or falling on my face.
“Bri!” my name sounded behind as I fumbled with the lock.
It clicked open and I got in, slamming the door shit. Two seconds later, the engine was revving as I peeled out of the parking lot. My eyes were glued to his as I sped by. His blue eyes were glowing with magic. There was only a very slim window of opportunity to escape what he was brewing, but I had to try. Pressing down hard on the gas, I floored the poor aging Mustang. Please let me through. Please let me through, I repeated over and over again.
It wasn’t until I reached the main road and the school was in my rearview mirror that I eased up the gas and exhaled.
I kept driving, and the realization that I ditched school again hit me. Where the hell did I plan on going?
My aunt was at the shop. That was not an option. Home was out of the question. I didn’t want to be in my room with the reminder of what started this whole terrible day to begin with. There was only one place I wanted to be right now.
The one place I went to when I wanted to be alone.
And knowing Gavin, he wouldn’t be far behind, which meant I needed to hit the gas. My car had no chance at outrunning his Charger, not in its present condition, and there was no doubt in my mind he would be at my wheels.
Every few minutes, I checked in my rearview mirror, expecting to see his black car trailing me. My face was salt-streaked from my dried-up tears, and the storm looked to be passing on, but still left the sky darkened from the aftermath. It wasn’t until I pulled up to a secluded section of Topsail Beach that I relaxed.
I loved the beach, the crisp, clean ocean air, the gentle sound of waves crashing, and the feel of warm sand in between my toes. There was peace and harmony, and it settled my mood. I walked down the boardwalk, glad to see only a few people wandered the beach this morning. Stormy weather tended to keep people inside. If there was anything I wanted, it was solitude. Now if only I could get rid of those pesky seagulls. A flock of them dive-bombed the churning waters in an attempt for a fresh catch.
Trotting down onto the beach, I sat just far enough from the shoreline to not get wet. I hugged my knees to my chest and lost myself in the rippling of tides washing over the sand. With each pass, seashells were uncovered from the depths of the ocean floor. As a little girl, my aunt took me here every weekend during the summer. We spent hours gathering shells, playing in the unpredictable waters, and making up stories about the mermaids who lived below those rapid waves. I’d always had a fascination with mermaids as a kid, thanks to Ariel.
The memory made me miss my aunt in a way I hadn’t in a long time. An ache bloomed in my chest. Solitude no longer appealed to me, and I wished she were here. My eyes closed as I laid my chin on my knees, basking in the sounds. I didn’t know how much time had passed when I felt him.
“How did you find me?” I whispered.
He sat down beside me in the sand, his shoulder touching mine. “Magic.”
It hadn’t occurred to me that he might be able to track me. The idea was both disconcerting and relieving. He’d always be able to locate me. “I bet you’re no fun to play hide and seek with,” I said. My heart swelled. I was glad he found me.
His lips upturned at the corners. “Sophie never thought so.”
“Sophie couldn’t track you?” She was a witch. I assumed she could use magic to find him as well
“No, and it drives her nuts.”
“How does it work?” I asked.
He shrugged. “It’s a defense spell. Easier to follow when it’s someone I care about,” he explained.
I swallowed thickly.
“It’s a locating spell. The closer I am to the person, the faster I can locate them, but I can find anyone if I have something personal of theirs. Though that kind of spell takes time,” he finished.
That had me thinking. “How long have you been here?” I asked, holding my breath and waiting in anticipation.
His sapphire eyes held mine. “I watched you walk down the boardwalk. I wanted to give you space. You seemed like you needed a few moments to yourself. You were safe. I didn’t see a reason to crowd you.”
I exhaled and warmth spread in my chest. Gavin somehow knew what I needed before I did. “You got a spell for getting out of detention?” There was going to be consequences for leaving.
“Don’t worry, I took care of it,” he assured me.
I assumed he did a kind spell to excuse me from school for the day. Regardless, I was grateful. He was handy to have around. My eyes wandered out over the vast ocean. “I’m sorry about earlier. I don’t know what came over me. You did the right thing by leaving,” I admitted. “I overreacted.” It also never even occurred to me that his family might have been wondering where he was all night. How selfish. I hoped that I hadn’t gotten him into any trouble.
“We need to talk. There’s something I think you need know.” His mouth set into a straight line, telling me this was a serious talk. What other secrets could he possibly have bigger than wielding magic?
My mind spun trying to figure out what this was about. The events of today seemed to somehow have triggered this talk. And that frightened me.
“Okay,” I said tentatively, not really sure what was going on or what to expect.
“Since we have the day off…what do you say we go to my house?” he suggested, grinning. “Then we can talk.”
“Okay, but you’re scaring me. Your parents won’t care?” I asked, thinking that his mom was usually at home.
“Nah, but Sophie is going to be pissed when she finds out that I did this without her.”
I gave him a blank look.
Chapter 23
I followed him in my car to his house. He kept it to a reasonable speed for my slow-chugging mustang. By the time we arrived, my stomach had wound itself into a thousand pretzel knots.
What did he want to talk about?
Was it about my behavior?
Did he not want to see me anymore?
We weren’t official, but we’d sort of been dating. The last thing I wanted was losing what we had.
Gavin’s mom poked her head out of the study when we walked in. She looked from him to me and back to hi
m. “Gavin?” Her expression wasn’t angry or upset, as I had pictured. There wasn’t even surprise. I had a feeling Lily knew we were coming.
She had a brush in hand and paint splattered on her hands and apron. I imagined if the situation had been reversed, and we had walked into my house, my aunt would already be driving my butt back to school. The Masons definitely had a different policy about attendance than my family.
“Bri and I had an altercation at school this morning,” he began.
I shifted my feet, feeling uncomfortable. Talk about the understatement of the year. The mention of our fight this morning caused my cheeks to bloom red. I wasn’t proud of what happened and had hoped to keep it between us. Guess not.
“Which led to a little bit of unexplainable magic,” Gavin continued. “I covered my tracks, but I thought it would be best if I had that talk with Bri now.”
Whatever he wanted to tell me, Lily knew what it was.
“Hmm, I see. I wondered when you would get to this,” she stated, wiping her paint stained hands on the front of her apron.
The fact that she knew what was going on, and I was clueless, unnerved me, to say the least. It was as if I was walking blind into a busy highway.
“I don’t have much choice. She needs to know,” he said.
“She does,” Lily agreed and looked over at me. “Brianna, remember that if you need anyone to talk to I am a great listener.”
I nodded, and more confused than ever, I followed Gavin to the backyard. It was fenced beautifully with decorative framing and offered privacy between the house and the beach. I could hear the water spraying over the rocky shores, infusing the air with salty surf.
He turned around and faced me, biting the bottom of his lip. His sapphire eyes searched mine. “When I first met you, I recognized something of myself in you. It’s what drew me to you. I spent the first few weeks waiting for you to acknowledge you felt it, too. And when you didn’t, it puzzled me. I thought maybe you were playing a game. I couldn’t figure you out. It was my mom who brought it to my attention that you didn’t know. And I thought, how does she not know? Truthfully, I still don’t know how it came to be that you weren’t told, but if I had to guess, it has something to do with losing both your parents at a young age.”
What do my parents have to do with anything?
What is he talking about?
He ran a hand through his dark hair and exhaled. “I want to show you something. It will be easier to show you than tell you. Give me your hands,” he instructed.
I eyed him with hesitancy and concern, my heart thumping wildly in my ears. Nothing he said made sense, and my fear was written in the lines of my face. If there was anything I knew about Gavin, though, it was that I trusted him. So, I placed both my hands of top of his, palms up. A spark of power ignited, but I’d come to expect it.
He eyes locked onto mine. “Relax.”
Easier said than done; my brain was on overdrive. I inhaled the moist air and tried to calm my anxiety. The feel of his hands under mine were reassuring.
“I want you to think about the warmth and glow of a light, any kind of light. Envision it inside your head,” he encouraged in a husky voice, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else.
“I don’t understand. Why am I doing this?”
“Indulge me.”
Fine. I did what he asked, bringing the image of silver starlight, shining brilliantly behind my eyes. The beams surround the star, lighting up the sky, each giving off their own natural light. I’d always been fascinated with stars.
“Keep the image in your mind. Don’t let it go, and say the word Luminescence. Repeat it.”
My gaze was locked on to the depths of his blue eyes, and I swore I could see the twinkling of starlight in them. I felt detached from the rest of my body, an underlining hum buzzing along my arms and traveling through my veins, like an IV of power. I could feel it mixing with the heat of my blood—an elixir.
“Luminescence. Luminescence,” I murmured, my eyes never wavering from his. My body began to sing with an intoxicating high, the taste of something pivotal on the tip of my tongue.
A gust of flames erupted at the center of my palms, a soft glow of dazzling silver light. My lips parted, and a gasp slipped from my mouth as the light pranced over my hands. There was no pain; the magical fire didn’t burn, but tickled. My skin tingled where I could see the magic fluttering. It was illuminating and invigorating.
Looking through the flickering silver luster, my lips curled. Gavin was watching my reaction. “It’s beautiful,” I said.
“This is one of the most basic spells. To make light,” he whispered. “Can you feel the energy feeding the magic?”
There was a zing dancing down my arm. Was that what he was referring to? It was similar to the spark when we touched, but more prominent. “I feel something,” I admitted.
We grinned at each other. What he could do was breathtaking, and I admired his gift. “This is amazing,” I told him.
He took a step backward. “Don’t move. Just stay where you are.” Carefully, he removed his hands from underneath mine, so I was flying solely.
“Oh, my God! You can share magic.” My eyes stared down at my hands. I turned them from side to side, watching the flames follow my movements.
He shook his head. “No, I can’t. This—” he indicated with his arms. “Is all you.”
“W-what?” I stammered, eyes wide. The light in my hands flickered.
“It’s your magic,” he said softly.
My head shook in denial. He was crazy. I didn’t have magic. “That can’t be. I don’t have magic,” I said, adamant. The glow dropped from my palms, but there was still a faint hum under the skin.
“You’re wrong,” he stated. “I‘ve been aware of the power in you from the second we met. What I didn’t understand was how you didn’t know. I thought for sure you recognized me for what I was— A witch.”
I was still shaking my head in denial. Refusing to believe anything he said. “That’s crazy?” my voice bordering frantic.
“If you stop and let yourself thing about it, you know I’m right. Witches can always identify each other. The energy we wield is like a signature.”
“Why are you doing this?” I tried to keep the disbelief and anguish from my voice. He was turning my whole life upside down, and I didn’t want to hear it.
“Because it’s the truth. I thought it would be easier to show you,” he reasoned.
“Easier?” I shrieked.
“I’m trying to help you, Bri.”
I believed that he thought he was. It hurt nonetheless. “I’m not a witch.”
He looked exasperated, his shoulders slumped. “You used magic earlier today to get out of the school parking lot. I was shocked that you were able to overpower my spell without really knowing you could. And that wasn’t the first time. Have you ever noticed how the weather mirrors your moods? You can weathercast. I saw it the day we met, Halloween night when you were scared, and today, the storm. Indirectly, you’ve been using magic.”
Everything he said sort of made sense, however, it wasn’t enough proof I was a witch. How much of it could be considered coincidence? He might have been able to put a seed of doubt in my mind, but I wasn’t ready to start calling myself a witch.
He saw the uncertainty begin to ease into my eyes. “You’re not only a witch, but there is something different with your energy, something unique, extra. I’ve been trying to pinpoint it. I just don’t know what it is.”
Freaking great. Was that supposed to make me feel better? Not only was I supposed to be a witch, but I was some super mutant witch on steroids.
I crossed my arms, hiding my tingling fingers. “I know you think I’m a witch, but I’m not.” Even as the words left my mouth, I was beginning to discredit everything I thought I was or knew about myself. Doubt wiggled its way in.
My uncontrollable anger. The little things I always brushed off. The welts I’d left on Rianne’s
arm. How could I be a witch and not know?
“I’m not the only one,” he countered, running a hand through his hair. “My whole family knows. If you don’t believe me, ask Sophie.”
I didn’t want to ask her, for fear she would only tell me what I wasn’t ready to hear. My whole world felt like it had just tumbled down on top of me like a nuclear bomb, the damage irreparable.
“Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but I want you to know I am here for you, and I want to help,” he said, closing the space between us.
I took a step in retreat and watched as his eyes flickered. The only thing I wanted was to get out the hell out of there. I didn’t want to be bombarded with questions, sympathy looks, or admit what they all believed. The Masons might be ready to call me a witch, but I was far from ready or eager.
“I’ve got to go,” I said and turned, walking toward the gate. Away from the one guy I thought got me. Away from a family I admired. Away from the possible truth.
I looked over at him, before I opened the iron door. “And don’t follow me…please,” I pleaded.
His eyes fell, causing an ache in my chest. It didn’t stop me from walking out the door and getting into my car.
Chapter 24
When I reached the shelter of my car, I laid my head on the steering wheel and gave up trying to sort all the scrambling thoughts. I concentrated on getting home; doing simple tasks like putting the key in the ignition, hitting the gas, and making sure I stayed on my side of the road. By the time I pulled into my driveway, I was a wreck. My entire body was numb, and my brain fuzzy. I couldn’t feel anything.
In my zombie-state, I let myself into the house, tossed the keys on the entry table and went to my room. I shut the door behind me before climbing into bed fully clothed, my eyes affixed on the ceiling above. I started getting flashes of myself, each time in a different form, and all of them depicted me as a witch.
In a black dress that whipped around me in violence. Another with me in the same dress, but in red, and this time I was standing at the edge of cliff, my hands thrown in the air. I even saw myself Salem-style, burning on a stake.