Entangled

by Nikki Jefford

  When the first members of the coven began exiting the building, Raj made himself invisible. He moved to the walkway just outside the building. There was no reason to hang back when no one could see him. Shay, no doubt, would be one of the last to leave. She always held back to help with chair-stacking spells and other clean-up.

  Raj flicked his lighter open and closed. A man passing by glanced his way, an expression of perplexity appearing over his features when he saw nothing. Raj quickly replaced the lighter in his jeans pocket.

  Why wait? It wasn’t like anyone would see him if he went inside, though it was easy to imagine Shay’s ire if he were to try consulting with her in the Gathering’s sacred space. It wasn’t as though Raj had been banned or anything. He’d just elected not to attend. He didn’t exactly feel welcome any longer.

  And speaking of those who chose not to attend, Charlene stepped out of the building . . . arm around Nolan Knapp. Finally, activity of the interesting variety. Raj followed the pair around the building.

  “You are so sweet wanting to help me and my sister out,” Charlene cooed. “Mom always said you were one of Kent’s most gifted warlocks . . . not to mention one of the cutest.”

  Nolan’s chest lifted. The dolt was grinning like a fool. Couldn’t he tell Charlene was playing him? Of course not; Nolan Knapp was an idiot. Raj wondered what Gray could possibly see in him.

  He’s not the one she kissed, he reminded himself.

  “So you want to go now?” Nolan asked.

  Charlene batted her lashes. “Are you game?”

  Nolan’s voice lifted an octave. “I’ll tell my parents I’m spending the afternoon at the library.”

  Charlene giggled. “You’re so bad. I’ll be waiting for you in my car.”

  Road trip it was then.

  * * *

  Raj’s initial guess, that Charlene was on her way to the city, hadn’t panned out. She hadn’t taken any of the Seattle exits and now she’d even passed Everett. Cityscapes had turned to open fields and farmland. They were roughly fifty miles into the I-5 headed north.

  Canada.

  Charlene was making a run for the border.

  Raj squeezed his steering wheel. At least the witch was making good time. That hadn’t been as helpful when Raj had to pull off for gas and scream back up the highway to catch up to the speeding vehicle.

  It looked as though they were going to buzz through Bellingham until Charlene suddenly cranked over and barreled down an exit—no blinker. Raj was following far enough behind to have time to trail after her down the off-ramp.

  They ended up in a residential neighborhood, parking on the street outside a small ranch home with hedges and rose bushes lining the walkway up to the front door. Roses shouldn’t be in bloom yet, nor lilies, freesias, or dahlias. If Charlene and Nolan were soliciting aid, Raj shouldn’t be surprised that they’d gone to a witch.

  Nolan was the one who knocked. A large, burly man filled the doorframe. Words were exchanged and then the pair was invited in. Raj didn’t have time to hear the exchange. He’d been parking several houses down as Charlene and Nolan made their way up to the house.

  Raj was once more invisible. He peeked through the windows. The figures inside looked ghostlike through the sheer, gauzy, lace curtains. Great, probably another warlock with granny issues.

  Raj put his ear up to the front door. No sound. He couldn’t risk coming in with the entrance leading directly into the living space.

  “Thank you for seeing us, Brock,” Nolan said after the door opened and he stepped outside with Charlene. Her smile was tight. Maybe that was a good sign?

  “Crap!” Charlene said the moment the door closed on them.

  Nolan’s lips turned down. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”

  “Figure something out—she’s trapped inside my body! God, it’s like having a Siamese twin stuck to my brain.”

  Stop walking, Raj silently commanded them. Once they got inside Charlene’s car he’d be cut off from their communication. Oh, to have Shay’s mind-reading abilities.

  “Something needs to be done,” Nolan said. “It is your body, after all.”

  Charlene suddenly stopped and turned slowly toward Nolan. “You’re right. It is my body, and if she can be put inside it, she can be taken out.”

  * * *

  Raj pounded on the door of the warlock’s home. He nearly fell inside when it flew open.

  “Yes?” A burly figure straight out of a fairy tale stood in the doorframe. With his facial hair and long mane, he bore a striking resemblance to Gimli the dwarf warrior in Lord of the Rings.

  Raj cleared his throat. “I need to know what you just told that couple.”

  The warlock scratched his beard and looked down at Raj.

  “And why should I tell you?”

  Raj straightened. “Because a girl’s life depends on it.”

  The warlock glanced over Raj’s shoulder. He jutted his chin toward the door. “Hers?”

  “No, her sister’s.”

  “The sister anything like that one?”

  “Nothing alike . . . except in appearance.”

  The warlock rolled his head from one shoulder to the next then turned. “Follow me to my living room. Have a seat there.”

  Raj looked at the antique rocking chair in front of the window. “I’d rather stand.”

  “Have a seat.”

  Fine, what choice did he have?

  “Name?” the warlock asked.

  “Raj.”

  “Last?”

  “McKenna.”

  “Coven and status?”

  What was this? An interview?

  “Kent. Inactive.” Raj rocked forward. “What is your name?”

  The warlock settled onto the middle cushion of the couch in front of him. “Brock.”

  “Mind telling me what Charlene and Nolan were doing here, Brock?”

  Brock folded his hands over his lap and studied Raj a moment. “You’re a healer.”

  Raj suppressed a sigh. “That’s right.”

  “I was never good at the healing arts. I hope you appreciate having the skill.”

  Brock continued to stare at him so Raj answered, “I do.”

  “It’s a lonely calling—always helping others. One’s in danger of neglecting themselves.” Brock leaned forward. “Like I told your friends, it’s too late for the sister to get her body back. Can’t transfer a soul into a decomposed body.” He thought a moment. “Well, could in theory, but I doubt she’d want to go around looking like a flesh-eating zombie.”

  Raj’s feet hit the floor. “Now what?”

  “You can’t stuff two souls inside a body. One of them has to go.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  On Monday morning Gray went straight to the bathroom mirror. Her hair had been trimmed and now landed just above the shoulders. It looked pretty cute—not that she’d get to sport the new look to school.

  For once, the communications notebook was blank, but Mom had firm instructions in regards to lengthening her hair before stepping foot in McKinley. Add hair growth, right alongside tanning, to the daily spell regiment.

  “I told Charlene the two of you are going to have to learn to get along,” Mom said as she walked Gray through the spell.

  They’d blessed a bowl of water, snipped a small lock of Gray’s hair, and placed it inside the bowl.

  Gray had never messed with her hair length so the whole thing was taking a while. Okay, maybe she was taking long on purpose. She was in no rush to get to school any earlier than she had to. Extra time meant possible encounters with Nolan, Blake, Ryan, or all three. The only person she wanted to see was Raj, but as Charlene she had no business being seen with him.

  Mom had one of her spell books open to the page on hair growth. “Repeat after me: Long and flowing like a river. Make my hair grow quicker and quicker.”

  Gray turned her head side to side in front of the mirror. “I like my hair the way it is.”

&n
bsp; “I like it, too, and you can cut it any way you want once you get your body back, but for now you need to keep it the way Charlene likes.”

  Ah, yes, the daily reminder that Gray had no rights over the body she was borrowing.

  By the time Gray got her hair flowing down her back, she was running seriously late for school. Again, teleportation would have come in handy that morning. The school parking lot was full of cars, vacant of students. Except for Raj McKenna.

  He sat waiting on the hood of his car. Raj slipped off as soon as he saw her. “Gray, we need to talk.”

  Sooner or later Gray was going to have to own up to her part in their kiss, but right now she had graver concerns to contend with, not to mention more immediate ones—like getting to class on time. “Can we talk about this later?” she said as she rushed past Raj. He fell into step beside her. “I’m running late for biology.”

  “We have bigger problems than biology.”

  Gray craned her head to look at Raj.

  “It’s important,” he said.

  Fifteen minutes later they were seated at their usual table at The Daily Grind. The barista raised her eyebrows when they ordered, but Gray hardly noticed.

  “Charlene went to Gathering yesterday.”

  “Charlene? Gathering?”

  Raj pushed his finger into the table. “I followed her there and waited. She came out with Nolan Knapp.” Gray was just reaching for her mocha when her hand stilled. Raj looked at the surface of the table as he spoke. “He got into her car and I followed them.”

  “Where did they go?”

  “They visited a warlock named Brock in Bellingham.”

  Gray forgot to breathe. She nearly gasped for breath a moment later. “That jackass!”

  A man glanced up from his newspaper one table over and frowned.

  “Nolan was supposed to pick me up Saturday to see that same warlock. The weasel stood me up.”

  Before Gray could grumble further, Raj cut in. “Is that why you sent me packing Saturday morning? You were meeting up with Nolan later?”

  Oops.

  He didn’t have to give her the face. Gray had real problems on her hands. She straightened in her chair. “Well, he offered to actually introduce me to a warlock who does body transfers, which is more than I can say for you.”

  Raj’s jaw tightened. “I’m trying to protect you.”

  “I don’t need your protection. I need help!” Gray rose from her seat.

  “Sit down!”

  Did Raj really just issue a command? To her? Gray’s nostrils flared. “If you think you can boss me around, McKenna, think again.”

  “Charlene plans to purge you.”

  Gray’s mouth opened. Her butt hit the chair with a thump. “What?” She blinked several times.

  “Shay confirmed it. During Gathering all she could think about was how to extract you from her body for good.”

  “I thought I told you I didn’t want Shay Baxter messing in my affairs.”

  “What do you have against Shay? She broke a personal oath to take a look inside your sister’s head . . . to help you.”

  Now not only was Gray frustrated, but she felt like a jerk on top of everything else. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just stressed. I don’t know how much time I have left. Do you have any idea how Charlene plans to purge me?”

  Raj frowned. “No, but that’s because Charlene doesn’t have any idea how to do it at this point, which is a good thing.”

  Gray tapped a finger against the table. She pushed her mocha aside.

  “Gray . . . can I ask you a question?” Raj studied her face. “What happened? How did you die?”

  “I don’t know.” Gray shrugged. “Something called SUDS.”

  “I find that hard to believe. I remember driving myself mad thinking if somehow I could speak to you, you’d be able to tell me what really happened.”

  “I don’t know. One day I went to sleep and the next I woke up and found out I had been dead.”

  “Think, Gray.”

  “My mom already had the coven look into it. There were no mystical circumstances surrounding my death.”

  “They’re certain?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So think harder.”

  Why was he being so hard on her? She’d died, for crying out loud, and now her own sister was trying to purge her from existence. A little compassion please.

  “I don’t even remember dying!”

  “What events do you remember leading up to your death?”

  Fine, that wasn’t too difficult. In her head that’d only been a week ago.

  “Nothing out of the ordinary. I went to school. Came home. Did some homework. Snacked. Hung out in my room. Had dinner . . . God, what a lame last day of my life. It’s sad.”

  Raj rolled his hand in the air impatiently. “Had dinner?” he prompted.

  “Then went to bed.” Gray shrugged.

  “Did you feel okay before you went to bed?”

  Gray wrinkled her nose. “No, actually, I felt sick to my stomach.”

  “What did you have for dinner?”

  “Salad, but that’s a moot point. I started feeling ill before dinner.”

  “What else did you eat?”

  “I was fine after lunch. Then I came home and ate some chocolates.” Gray’s eyes widened. Chocolates that Charlene made.

  “What?” Raj asked.

  “I need to go.”

  Raj stood up after Gray. “What is it? What do you remember?”

  “It was Charlene,” Gray gasped. “Charlene killed me. She didn’t mean to, but she did.”

  * * *

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Raj asked after he pulled up next to Gray’s car in McKinley’s parking lot.

  Gray stared forward. School was still in session. It seemed so insignificant compared to everything she’d been through. Charlene had tried to kill Stacey—twice. She’d succeeded in killing Gray instead and now she was trying deliberately to purge her from existence forever.

  “I want to talk to my mom alone.”

  Raj nodded.

  Gray felt a sudden urge to reach for his hand, to squeeze it, a human connection. How long would she have that? “Can we meet up later?”

  Raj swallowed. “Yeah, of course, but first I’m going to see Adrian.”

  “Adrian,” Gray repeated blankly, as though she’d never heard the name before. Then she snapped out of it. “I’ll go with you.”

  Raj’s shoulders lifted and dropped. “You should talk to your mom. Let me deal with Adrian. If I do some work for him he’ll play ball.”

  “Fine.” Gray made like she was going to exit the car then leaned over the seat and kissed Raj on the lips. Then, in a flash, she got out of his car and headed home.

  “Mom!” she cried as soon as she entered her house. “Mom!” Gray rushed into the kitchen, the scene of the crime. No sooner had she stepped in, she froze. There was a note on the countertop. Her heart began that wild beat that made her feel halfway between a stroke and fainting episode. She leaned over the counter, her hair falling over her shoulders as she did so.

  Girls:

  Got the call.

  Hope to be back soon.

  Love you both.

  Mom

  That was good news, wasn’t it?

  If so, then why was there a lump the size of Texas in Gray’s stomach?

  To think she’d worried that Charlene would want to kill her for slapping Blake. She already had killed her! And that weasel Nolan was helping her now.

  That’s it. If Charlene was going to play dirty then so would Gray. She snatched the keys to the Beetle and stormed out of the house. It was time she met Adrian the Avenger face-to-face. Gray had some serious avenging to do.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Gray pulled up in front of the sign announcing Hedrick the Healer. Locating Adrian had been ridiculously easy. He was listed in the Yellow Pages.

  A bell jingled whe
n she walked through the front door. She stepped into a cramped room. There was a small round table covered with a cloth in the center. All that was missing was a crystal ball.

  Raj was pacing, a large text in his arms. He looked up abruptly. “Gray? What are you doing here?”

  “My mom’s gone.”

  “Gone?”

  “She heard from her contact.”

  Raj was about to speak when a young man pushed through a curtain and entered the chamber. Adrian Hedrick Montez might not have his powers, but his presence reeked of supremacy. He was built like a fireman—one who started rather than put flames out.

  A smile spread over Gray’s face even as Adrian looked at her as though she were trivial. “Who’s the skirt?”

  “No one,” Raj said at the same time Gray said, “Graylee Perez.”

  “Well, Graylee Perez, your boyfriend and I have work to do so if you don’t mind . . .”

  “I’m not here to see Raj. I came to see you.”

  “Oh, really?” Adrian studied her with renewed interest. Mostly he stared at her chest and legs. His eyes ping-ponged between the two.

  “I’m in need of your services.”

  This earned a look in the eye. Adrian swept his hand over to the small round table in the center of the room. “Take a seat. What ails you, my dear?”

  “This body,” Gray said as she settled onto the hard wood chair.

  Adrian’s eyes roved her once more. “I see nothing objectionable about the one you have now. Don’t tell me Raj has told you otherwise—a breast enhancement, perhaps?”

  Raj snapped his book shut and stepped forward. “That’s enough.”

  Gray didn’t break eye contact with Adrian. She folded her hands and set them flat on the tabletop. “Flattering, Mr. Montez. This isn’t my body. I’m borrowing my twin sister Charlene’s body at the moment and I wish to extract her. Permanently.”

  “Gray . . .” Raj’s mouth dropped at the same time a smile spread over Adrian’s face.

  Gray ignored Raj. “Can you help me?”

  Adrian leaned forward. “So you’re the one who needs a body transfer, are you? The question is, where is your own body, Miss Perez?”