“I’m not a fairy. Fairies are weak.”
Ooookay. “Then what are you?”
“I’m a witch.”
“A witch?” I asked skeptically. Was this lady off her rocker? I shifted and caught a glance at myself in the mirror across my room. Someone who could make me look this good in five seconds or less wasn’t crazy. Maybe she was a witch. “Is Heven a witch too?”
“She wanted to be. But then she stole something of mine.”
Heven stole something? That didn’t sound like her at all. She wouldn’t even buy a paper off the internet. “She stole something from you?” The disbelief in my voice was clear.
“Didn’t she just take from you?”
Touché. “Yeah, she did.” Every time I thought of Cole, my chest began to hurt.
“I have a proposition for you,” the woman said.
I lifted a perfectly arched brow.
“I’ll give you the powers I planned on giving her, if you get back what she’s taken from me.”
“What powers?”
“Powers to have anything you want. To take whatever you want. You’ll have it all. Beauty, popularity—”
I cut her off. “I already have all that.”
“You’ll have the power to take back Cole, to make her pay for everything she’s done.”
I considered her words. “So I would be a witch?”
“Yes.”
“Will I be able to do what you just did?”
“If you wish.”
“And all I have to do is get whatever she stole from you back?”
“Yes, bring it to me.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a piece of paper. She carries it in a bronze tube. You’ll know it when you see it.”
A lousy piece of paper? Please. If I was going to steal something, it would be better than that. I sniffed. “If you’re so powerful, how come you just don’t go get it yourself?”
My words caused her to bristle. “I need someone she trusts, someone she knows to get it back. She’s hidden it from me.”
“So, all I need to do is get this paper from Heven, give it to you and then you’ll make me a witch?”
The woman smiled, her blood-red lips parting to reveal white teeth. “Precisely.”
“How do I know you won’t change your mind about my powers when I give you what you want?”
I watched as she reached into the folds of her cloak and pulled out a vial. It fit in the palm of her hand and was shaped like a mini wine bottle stoppered with a cork. The glass was dark green and I could see the liquid move around inside it as she held it out. “Take this; it’s a guarantee of what I promise.”
I didn’t reach out to take it, but stared at it instead. “What is it?”
“It’s a potion to develop your powers. Take a drop a day, a single drop. It will enhance your powers. I’ll help them grow. Each day you’ll grow stronger.”
Right. A potion to turn me into a witch. This woman was from crazy town. “Okay, drink potion every day, get the paper from Heven and give it back to you. Got it.”
The woman held out her hand, extending the “potion” to me, and I took it. It was time for her and her special brand of crazy to get out. “Thank you.”
I sat the bottle beside my bed and when I turned back, the woman was muttering beneath her breath… not really muttering, but chanting.
Awaken what slumbers, bring dark to light
Bring power to those in my sight.
As she spoke the hairs on my arms began to stand.
Break the binds, tie anew
To darkness thou stays true.
I felt as if there were a box inside of me, a box I hadn’t realized had been there, and it suddenly opened. From the inside of the box, a strange sensation seemed to flow forth and spread through my chest to my limbs and climb up my neck. It felt as if something thick and warm coated my insides.
Everything around me grew dark until it was just me, standing alone, outside with my feet in the dirt. Something thin but strong began to wrap itself around my legs and move upward.
Vines? I looked down and shrieked. They were vines, but they weren’t the bright green ones that grew in the sun. These were black and dry looking—I knew that these plants had never seen the sun.
Just as I was about to panic, to fear I would be overcome with these weird, dark chains, they soaked right into my skin, disappearing.
I felt renewed, stronger somehow…
I felt powerful.
“It is done,” the woman said, her voice low and full of authority. It was strangely hypnotizing.
I shook myself, opening my eyes to see I was still in the comfort of my room. “What is?”
“I’ll be accompanying your class to Italy in disguise. We have a deal. I’ll be watching.”
I didn’t say anything else. She was totally creeping me out. When she was gone (about time), I stood in my room for a few long moments before shaking myself and going down to the kitchen, heading for the fancy espresso machine Daddy had installed last year. I grabbed my favorite mug (my name was engraved on it), and with a press of a few buttons, a perfectly created latté began to brew and pour into my cup.
While it brewed I stood there and thought about what just happened. That woman hadn’t even told me her name. It was just as well, I wasn’t about to drink some weird potion she claimed would give me powers. She was probably some whack-job drug dealer who thought she could give me a sample of something and then I would want more and more, which she would then charge me for. She was probably just someone who was hoping to take advantage of someone with money. How unfortunate for her I wasn’t that gullible.
When I reached for my completed latté, I was suddenly assaulted with images, stark, clear images that played behind my eyes like a movie.
Cole and Heven. Heven and Cole. He had backed her up against the wall and her face was upturned, her blond hair tickling her shoulders. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and all the muscles in his arms stood out as if he was fighting against himself not to touch her, not to be even closer to her than he already was. His face pointed down, meeting hers halfway, and her eyes were closed. I wanted to cry out when his lips captured hers, his arms going around her like vices, not letting go. He lifted his face, just a fraction above hers, and he smiled.
“Cole,” she whispered, before pulling him back down.
I sank to the floor, not bothering to wipe the tears that fell, one after another, over and over again.
I felt completely and utterly alone. Betrayed by the two people I trusted most.
I don’t know how long I sat there and cried. I replayed the images again and again in my mind. I remembered the way Heven looked when I was watching them through the window tonight, the way he had pulled her close, the blankets piled on the couch.
Eventually, the tears stopped and reality returned. Sitting on Travertine tile was not comfortable, even if it was heated. I stood, wiping my face and grabbing the latté from the machine. I went upstairs where I dumped half a bottle of my most expensive bubble bath into the Jacuzzi tub and turned the water as hot as it would go.
In my room, I took off the red dress and stared down at the bright red color.
I was angry.
No, I was pissed.
I was done being friends with a girl who would treat me this way. I was done being in the shadows. It was time for a little payback. And as far as I knew, payback couldn’t be bought at Walmart (wouldn’t that be convenient?).
But maybe… maybe I had my payback right here.
I glanced down at the little green bottle sitting innocently beside my bed.
Without another thought, I grabbed it and tilted it to my lips.
* * *
“Cole,” I gasped, surprised that he was standing there. “What are you doing here?”
He looked tired. His usually clear blue eyes were dull, and he had that look that said there was something wrong. I felt a moment of happiness because he came to me with
whatever was bothering him and not Heven.
“Sit down. What’s wrong?” I asked, preparing to be the best comforting girlfriend I could be.
“I came to apologize,” he said, catching me off-guard.
I sat up in the lounge chair, dropping the magazine I had been barely paying attention to. “Apologize for what?” Like the fact that you slept with my best friend? I couldn’t stop the bitter thought from spearing through my head.
“For the other night, when we got into that fight. I acted like an ass. I had too much to drink and I’m sorry.”
“You’re forgiven.” I sniffed then and drew my feet up so there was room for him to sit next to me on the chair.
“That’s the thing, Kimmie,” he said, sitting in the chair next to mine. “I’m tired of being forgiven. I’m tired of fighting.”
“We wouldn’t fight so much if you would stay away from Heven,” I snapped. This was not going the way I thought it would.
“I told you there is nothing going on between me and Heven. Why won’t you believe me?”
Because I saw you with my own two eyes. I saw you touching her. “Because you’re lying to me.”
Cole sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose with this finger and thumb. “I want to break up.”
I stilled, wondering if I heard what I thought I heard. “Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry. I still care about you, but this isn’t working anymore. I’m tired of fighting, of hurting you, of you not believing me.”
“You’re breaking up with me!” I demanded. If that wasn’t confirmation that he was sneaking around with Heven, I didn’t know what was.
“I really hope we can still be friends.”
“Oh, no,” I said, rising from my chair, giving him a full-on view of me in my new killer bikini. Let him eat his heart out. “I don’t get the friends speech. I give it.” He didn’t even have the grace to check me out, but kept his eyes on my face. “Oh, it’s definitely over,” I spat. “You’re going to regret this.”
“I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, Kimber.”
“Yeah, well. If anyone should be sorry, it’s me. I’m sorry I wasted so many years on such a jerk!”
I stepped over the chair to run past him into the house, but he grabbed my wrist and spun me around. “Don’t be like that.”
I gave a halfhearted attempt to pull away before giving up. This was probably the last time he would ever touch me. Sure, we had broken up a million times in the couple of years we were together, but this seemed final somehow. “Like what?”
“Like all my time with you was a waste. It wasn’t.” His voice was low, and it drew me in.
“I hate you right now.”
“Yeah, I know,” he whispered.
He was looking down at me; his eyes were sad and I couldn’t help but lean up into him and press my lips to his. He kissed me back, a slow but short kiss. When he pulled back, he released my wrist. “I hope you change your mind about being friends.”
I swallowed the sob that rose in my throat and turned away, then walked into the house, shutting myself in. Only then did the tears fall.
I watched from behind the curtains as he climbed into his truck and drove away. I wondered if he was going to Heven. The last thing he said replayed through my mind.
No. I wasn’t going to change my mind. Cole and I weren’t meant to be friends. We were meant to be more.
* * *
The. Freaking. Nerve. I was so mad I was shaking. She comes over here, waiving a mocha latté (with whip cream and a caramel drizzle!) in my face, knowing I would let her in. I didn’t want to, but a girl needs her caffeine. I hoped she would feel the icy vibe I was throwing off and take the hint and go. But she didn’t seem to notice I wanted nothing to do with her boyfriend-stealing, lying ways.
I wanted so badly to scream I knew all her secrets. That I knew she was dating some freak. But I was sworn to secrecy. And if I wanted to admit it—I still kind of didn’t believe everything Hecate was telling me. I scoffed a second at that woman’s name. Hecate. I mean, ew. Her parents must not have liked her much. Hecate was as bad as Helga. It must be why she always looked so flawless, to offset the name she was saddled with. If I were her, I would change it.
She came over here to see if I was drinking a drop a day of that potion she gave me. I told her I was and then she handed me a little box with some weird amulet in it. Then she started flapping her tongue about hellhounds and how dangerous they were and how Heven was dating one. She claims it’s the reason Heven betrayed her and took her precious paper and then betrayed me as well. She thinks Sam is bad news. She said the amulet would somehow mute his powers.
It all seems a little far-fetched to me. Sam—a hellhound? I didn’t even know what that was. All I could think about were all those fantasy shows on TV with werewolves everywhere. Ew. Hairy, drooling beasts. Sam was hot. He never drooled once when we were hanging out—no matter how tight the dress I wore or how much cleavage I flashed. Lack of drool equals no werewolf. Or hellhound or whatever.
When I first saw Heven pull into my driveway, I was tempted to tell her everything—to see what she would say. I wondered if she would laugh and ask me if I was hitting my parents’ wine stash. Then I would laugh too and we could go read fashion magazines by the lake like we used to. But then she marched in here all little miss perfect and started saying she knew my boyfriend’s secrets—ex-boyfriend, that is.
The only reason she had come here at all was because she knew I was going to make her miserable in Italy. I saw her face when she realized we were going to share a hotel room. She looked the way I do when I can’t get a really cute pair of shoes in my size. Well, I was going to make her miserable! I stomped into my walk-in closet and pulled out some clothes and shoved them in my suitcase. Then I pulled the box with the amulet out of my robe pocket and stared down at it before burying it beneath a pile of clothes. Heven had zeroed right in on this thing—almost as if she knew it was something I could use against her man. I wasn’t sure if she even would know what it was if she saw it, but I wasn’t about to take the chance and have to try to explain it.
How dare she come over here practically gloating that she knew things about Cole that I didn’t! Then she starts going through my things, snooping—sticking her nose where it didn’t belong!
If she could’ve seen the look on her face when the door slammed behind me; the shock and the fear that I saw pass through her eyes was actually kind of satisfying. Maybe if Heven had a little bit of fear of me in the first place, she never would have went after Cole. I’ve concluded that people being slightly afraid of me might be a good thing.
Though, I admit, I was a little freaked at first too. I hadn’t meant to do it—to slam the door, but I was pretty sure I had done it. Apparently, that stuff Hecate gave me was no joke. The good news was I didn’t think it was drugs—becoming a druggie was so uncool. My magic was making appearances in strange ways, like slamming doors and burning out light bulbs when I touched the light switches.
I picked up my cell phone and hit the button for Cole, but before I hit SEND, I threw it down on my bed. He wouldn’t answer. He hadn’t answered after we left the Italy trip meeting and neither did my parents. As far as they were concerned, they forked over a few thousand dollars and that meant they were free of me for the summer.
I was pathetic.
Heven was sure to let me know she knew it too.
I tore the robe I was wearing off to reveal a white strapless dress and then I grabbed up the potion and took a big swig. Screw one drop a day. I wanted people to be sorry they ever made me feel pathetic.
I wanted power.
I stormed out of my room and onto the back deck where I paced. I felt hot. I could feel the anger churning inside. But there was hurt too. I felt alone. Cole and Heven were keeping secrets, Sam was apparently some weird freak, and my parents… They didn’t even want to be around their own daughter.
I headed down the stairs toward the lake
. I walked straight, keeping my eyes focused on the sky. It was a clear day, but as I stared, dark storm clouds rolled in, blocking out the sun and creating a darkness to match my mood. I smiled. I didn’t really know where I was walking, or what I planned. All I could focus on was the anger and the power that seemed to swirl together within me. I felt the water touch my toes and then my knees, but I kept walking. When the water was lapping at my waist, I stopped.
I wanted to see what I could really do.
I threw out my hands and let out a scream. Then another. I raised my arms, palms facing down, and I began to call on the power inside me. I wanted this water, this lake, to feel my wrath. I wanted the very air around me to shrink away in fright.
Heven & Hell Anthology (Heven and Hell) Page 7