by Jus Accardo
Yeah. So my plan to impress Mom with my mad Sin-catching skills kind of backfired as Lukas predicted. Actually, backfired was putting it lightly. She was probably going to bench me for weeks over this one.
“I don’t flounce. More like swagger. And they’re people, Ma. Not things.”
“I don’t care if they’re defenseless little kittens dangling over a tub of acid—I told you to stay away.”
She was stalking the office floor, steam all but puffing from each ear. Mom didn’t get angry with me often. Sure, she got annoyed—she was constantly irritated at my unwillingness to embrace normal teenage activities—but angry? Not so much.
“You need to chill. You’re gonna set Lukas off.”
She took a deep breath. “I have the mind to handcuff you to the furniture in your room.”
“That’s a horrible idea. We’d end up spending a fortune on furniture repair.”
She rolled her eyes and settled into the chair behind her desk, fighting a smile. That was more like it. The good thing about Mom getting pissed? It never lasted long.
Drumming her fingers against the desk, she eyed me. “Still, you did an excellent job.”
Score!
“But it doesn’t change my mind. I don’t want you involved in this case, Jessie.”
And there went the air from my happy balloon. “After what I just did? You can’t be serious!”
“I am. If you want to help by picking up some of the slack from the other cases, fine. I do not want you messing with the Sins.”
I felt a normal teenage tantrum coming on. “You trust me to take down demons and other creepy crawlies, but not this? How is that fair?”
Mom stayed calm. She was used to this. It was one of the few things we argued about. I wanted more responsibility. A chance to prove to her that I could handle myself. She insisted on keeping me in the kiddie pool. “This isn’t about fair.”
“Then what is it about? Skill? I’m perfectly capable—”
“You don’t need to remind me what you can and can’t do. I’m well aware—and very proud. But this is different. I can’t properly keep an eye on you, and catch the Sins, and protect your father, and make sure Lukas doesn’t turn the town upside down, and find the box. I’m just not that good.”
For a second, I thought about flattery. On a normal mom, it might have worked. Sure you are—you rock! Are you kidding? You’re totally that good. On my mom, though, it’d never fly. She had the best bullshit meter in the country. “But I just proved you don’t have to do this alone. I snagged Sloth without even a hair out of place. If this is about your whole fascination with normal—”
“This has nothing to do with normal, either.” She sighed. “This has to do with keeping my seventeen-year-old daughter off the radar of one of the oldest evils around.” She stood and leaned over the desk. “We don’t have time to take things slowly, Jessie. I only have three days to find these people or they’re going to die. This morning your father and I tracked them to a warehouse downtown, but they’d cleared out by the time we got there.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. There was no sense in arguing—or telling her technically I was already on their radar because of Vida. For all my beef with logic, I understood her reasoning. I didn’t like it and didn’t agree—but I understood. She was doing the mom thing. I couldn’t blame her.
Much.
Gritting my teeth, I retreated up the stairs to my room. I slammed the door and dove for my cell. Time to make good on my promise to Kendra. The cell rang five times, and I was about to hang up, when she answered. “Hey—”
“Took you long enough,” she snorted. “Before you say anything, though, I need to apologize.” Knowing Kendra, she was tapping her fingers and biting down on her bottom lip—nervous tics.
“Nothing to say. It’s all good.”
“All good?” she squeaked. “We are talking about the same thing here, right? The part where I tried to kill you at Flankman’s yesterday?”
“Kill is a little dramatic, dontcha think? I mean, you were using magic. How much harm could you have done?”
She gasped, but I could tell it was totally fake. Kendra had a definite flair for the dramatic. “Jessie!”
“Seriously, it wasn’t you, Ken. Don’t sweat it.” I readjusted the cell and rolled onto my back. “Was surprised to see you at school, though. Thought for sure Cassidy would keep you home.”
“Not even,” she mumbled. “She couldn’t get me out of the house fast enough.” There was a slight pause, then I heard her take a deep breath. “She’s helping your mom with something, isn’t she?”
Feeling a spike of guilt, I glanced toward the door. “Yeah. We need to find a family. They’re one of yours.”
Kendra’s voice got a little lower. “Do you know the name?”
Kendra and I had a slew of things in common. We were both part of a small, lesser known community. We loved the same music and laughed at all the same jokes. We also both had parents that wanted to keep us safe.
“Wells. Ring a bell?”
She was quiet for a moment before exhaling into the receiver. “Not even a little one.” A pause. “Listen, I’ll hit you back later, okay? Mom’s on my ass to do the dishes. If I take any longer, she’s liable to curse me with a tail.”
Do the dishes. I sat up straight and swung both feet over the edge of the bed. That was code for someone listening.
The coven Kendra and her mom belonged to was full of some seriously badass women. They all kept pretty close tabs on each other, terrified that their secrets would spill into the supernatural world. Sometimes, I worried what they were hiding. I’d seen them go to extreme lengths when they thought someone had been compromised. Anyone that paranoid of people getting into their dirty laundry had to be hiding something bad.
“Yeah, totally cool. We’ll hook up in school tomorrow,” I said, meaning call me back as soon as you’re sure it’s clear.
There was a faint snap, then some rustling paper. “You gonna be okay?”
“Totally. You know me and Mom. The Darker girls have it covered.” I hoped I sounded more convincing to her than I did to myself.
“Stay safe.” And the line went dead.
I rolled upright and kicked at a stray sock on the floor by my feet as I grabbed my iPod. Volume cranked and eyes closed, I flopped backward onto the bed and let the calming sounds of Beethoven’s Ninth wash over me. My life was kind of like his music. Chaotic at times but balanced. Peaceful in its own strange way. I was betting Beethoven would’ve made an awesome monster masher. The guy’s dedication to his craft was boundless. Hell, he used to stick his head into icy water to stay awake. If that wasn’t dedication, then I didn’t know what the heck was.
I stayed like that for a while, letting the calming melody soothe my nerves as I tried to think. I understood where Mom was coming from, but she was going to have to cut the apron strings eventually. I was almost an adult, and I’d seen more than most people did their entire lives. No. I wasn’t going to be benched. She needed me. We’d just talk this out. Like adults.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and opened my eyes. At first it was just a dark blob in my field of vision. Then it took shape. A person’s shape. I stumbled back, yanking the bud from my left ear along with the small silver hoop earring. Lukas was standing over me, looking down with a strange expression on his face. He thrust a white mug at me. “I thought this would make you feel better.”
As soon as my heartbeat stabilized, I took the cup. Chocolate milk.
“It’s not the same as what you made the other night—I couldn’t figure out how to work that damned machine in the kitchen—but it’s surprisingly good.”
I took a sip and nodded. “It’s great. Thanks.”
I expected him to leave, but he stayed where he was. Watching me.
“So why the chocolaty olive branch?”
“Olive branch?”
“Seriously. Your time would be so much better spent watching
TV to learn the language,” I muttered, trying to hide my smile. “Why bring me the chocolate milk?”
He shrugged. “You seemed upset.”
“So what? I thought I was irritating.”
He tried to hide a smile, too, but it broke free and crept across his lips. Our eyes met for a moment, and a rush of warmth shot through me. Right before he turned and strode from the room, he said, “You are.”
I watched him leave and downed the chocolate milk in one swig. Very few things in life couldn’t be made better with chocolate. Well, chocolate and sharp weapons. As I set the cup down next to the bed, my cell started going nuts. I caught it just before it vibrated itself off the edge of the nightstand.
Sumthg wrong w/me. Come ASAP.
Garrett.
Chapter Seventeen
This was murky water. On one hand, the text could be a trick. The memory of his chilling laugh and confident stare as he pulled away earlier flashed through my mind. But on the other hand, what if it wasn’t? I had no way of knowing what the effect of direct contact with a Sin was. For all I knew, he was shriveling up from the inside out and in terrible pain.
My first instinct had been to ignore the text. But the longer I sat there thinking about it, the more I wondered what Mom would’ve done in my position. She’d go, that’s what. If there was any chance Garrett—or anyone else—was in real danger, then she’d go. She wouldn’t want me to go, but as far as I was concerned, that was splitting hairs. I didn’t want her to know about Vida yet, and that meant handling this myself. If I asked for help, then I’d have to explain. If I explained, there would be some kind of lecture.
Garrett had lived two blocks away from me since the fourth grade. We’d never been friends—mainly because we didn’t travel the same social circles. Hell, until last month when the agency took his Mom’s case, we’d never even spoken other than the time he’d stolen my cookie in fifth grade. But I’d spent some time with him since then. He wasn’t my idea of optimal stimulating company—the guy was obsessed with football and old cars—but he wasn’t horrible.
Garrett’s house was a cute Victorian with a nicely manicured lawn surrounded by huge flowerbeds. It was approaching fall so everything was starting to die off, and still it somehow managed to look amazing. Bright red and gold leaves gathered around the edges, giving the whole scene an autumn tone. We had tons of trees out behind the office—but they were all pine. The most they dropped were pinecones and huge blobs of sap that stuck to everything.
I made my way up the steps, and with a deep breath, knocked on the front door. “Garrett?”
After a few minutes, when I got no response, worry started creeping in. Images of him writhing in pain, curled up in a corner of the house and unable to speak, flounced through my brain. Imagine my surprise when I turned the doorknob and found it unlocked.
Upon pushing through, I was greeted by a homey room drenched in warm inviting colors and decorated with birds and flowers. A lot of flowers. Disturbed blared from speakers bolted to the walls on either end of the room, causing the small knick-knacks on the mantle to shimmy and rattle.
I made my way through the living room and into the kitchen. Other than the music, there was no sign of life. From there, I searched the den and master bedroom. Still, nothing. With each step, I grew more and more concerned. What if I’d taken too long to come? “Garrett? You here?”
I was about to start up the stairs to the second level when the music went silent. I whirled around to see him standing in the doorway between the hall and the kitchen wearing a devious grin. “You came.”
I had no clue where he’d come from—or how he’d managed to sneak past me. Granted I wasn’t hyper aware like Mom, but a civie high school student shouldn’t have gotten the drop on me. I knew right away something was wrong. Maybe his smile was just a little too wide. Maybe it was the strange pitch in his voice.
Or it might have been the way he crossed the room in three easy steps and pinned me to the wall with his body.
I sucked in a breath and tried not to gag. Newports and orange soda again. “This isn’t funny anymore, Garrett.” I pushed against him, but he only smiled.
“I’m glad you finally realize that.” He nuzzled my ear.
My blood ran cold. Every nerve in my body twitched. This was wrong. Twisted. Garrett was one hell of a hottie, but not once had I ever entertained a what if fantasy. It wasn’t just that I didn’t date—it was more like even if I did, Garrett wouldn’t have been my type.
“Listen to me,” I said, pushing a little harder. He didn’t budge. Desperate times—desperate measures. I’d go with something I didn’t use often. The truth. “Remember Vida? That foreign chick from the caf the other day? She wasn’t human. She hit you with some kind of nookie beam. That’s where this is coming from. You’re not really into me—you just think you are.”
He chuckled. “This is just one of the things I love about you. Nookie beam? Please. Just face it—” He slid the tips of his fingers down my neck and just inside the shoulder of my shirt. “You want this as much as I do.”
“Wait—want what?”
“You feel it, don’t you?” He moved against me. Warm breath puffed across my neck and tickled my ear.
Something solid pressed against my stomach.
Oh, I felt it all right. And it was making my skin crawl.
My heart banged into overdrive. Desperate now, I lashed out anywhere I could. Elbow to the neck. Kick to the shin. Nothing fazed him. If anything, he liked it.
God.
“Tell me you don’t ever think about me.”
“I don’t ever think about you,” I said without hesitation.
“You’re lying,” he said, sliding his other hand down my back and over my butt. He looped his thumb into my back pocket, fingers grazing the right cheek.
That was it.
There was no thinking—just reaction. I pushed off the wall and knocked us both to the ground. By the look on his face as we landed in a tangled heap, he thought I’d given in.
He got the proper message when I kneed him in the nuts.
He curled into a fetal position, hissing in pain. “I’m so sorry—but you’ll thank me for that later!”
On my feet and out the door, I didn’t make it far before a blood-chilling roar shattered the silence.
“Jessie!”
Garrett came barreling out in a flurry of hormone-fueled rage. There was no way I could outrun him in a straight race. He was faster than I was—the football team’s running back—but I also knew he was a klutz, and one of the few useful things I’d inherited from my dad was his unnatural grace.
I needed a way to lose him. Obstacles. I took off into the woods at a speed just under run like hell. Behind me, the brush exploded as Garrett followed, not far behind.
“Get back here!” he screamed. I’d never heard a voice full of so much venom. For the first time ever, I was actually scared—of something human.
Scratch that. I was terrified. So terrified that I could almost taste it. Like something metallic and foul I couldn’t spit out. I loved the rush of the job. How the adrenaline got pumping as the chase started and you fought to take down the baddie, but this was different. My heart hammered in a way that made me think my ribs might explode at any minute, and the blood pounding in my ears made it hard to concentrate. Every muscle in my body spazzed and my brain demanded my legs move faster—only they didn’t. Couldn’t.
I managed to stay ahead of him, but just barely. A few times he got so close, I could feel the disturbance in the air as he made a swipe for me. I opened my mouth to scream—but no sound came. Of course not. My body couldn’t spare the breath. Or maybe I was too afraid. Fear did funky things to the body, didn’t it? God knew I’d seen some things.
Deeper and deeper, I plunged through the brush and soared over fallen trees and rocks. Garrett kept pace, never falling more than ten or twelve feet behind.
“Don’t be like this, baby,” he called. He didn’t sound l
ike he was out of breath. Me? I was gasping for air. I couldn’t keep this pace much longer. “I need to be with you!”
I hadn’t been out on these trails in a long time, but I knew we must be getting close to the cliffs. I’d started to double back, thinking maybe I could outrun him, with the obstacle course of the forest having hopefully worn him out a little, when my sneaker caught in an exposed tree root. I went down hard, sliding in the mud and brush. Up. Get up, Jessie! I ignored the stinging in my hip and throbbing in my wrist, and clamored to my feet.
I only got two steps.
Something crashed from behind, knocking me back to the ground. Again I tried to scream, to make a sound—any sound—but the only result was a mouth full of dirt and dead leaves. Violently spitting and gasping for air, I struggled against the weight settling on top of me. It was useless. I managed to flip onto my back, but Garrett was seated confidently across my waist, legs pinning mine into the forest floor.
“It’s him, isn’t it? He’s the reason you don’t want me.” Eyes blazing, the tone of his voice chilled the air to an almost arctic level. He leaned closer, slamming his hands down on either side of my head. Bits of dirt and twigs flicked into the air, making me flinch.
It took me a second to realize the him he was talking about was Lukas—who was supposed to be my cousin.
I pushed up with my knees, but got nowhere. His face was inches from mine. I inhaled, but it felt funny. Shaky. Like there were a million nervous butterflies all flapping away just beneath my rib cage. “Garrett—you’re not yourself. You don’t really feel this way about me. Think about it. You were chasing Holly a week ago. You were convinced she was the meaning of life!”
He faltered. Brow furrowed and lips twisted in a scowl. “Holly—”
I nodded. “Yes, Holly. Your girlfriend. Then, two weeks ago you were drooling over Amy Gilmer. Remember? If you had this epic love for me, don’t you think you would have known?”
He straightened, confused. “I was interested in hooking up with her. At Joe Carson’s party.”