by E. M. Moore
Her eyes were narrow slits as she gazed at me as if through a dark tunnel, which I guessed it was. “Yes, Granny,” I groaned. I could really use a full night’s sleep without being bothered by dreams or worse yet, these dreams that also seemed to be real even though I was talking to my dead grandmother. “What’s up?”
“What’s up? What’s up? Girl, I know you did not just say that to me like that.”
I bit my lip down to keep from smiling. She always hated teenage slang. Glad to see that hadn’t changed in her afterlife. “Sorry, Gran. How are you doing? Is it a good day in your…whatever you call where you are?”
Granny rubbed her forehead as she tsked. “I’m still getting the weirdest vibes from you. One minute I’m getting nothing but excitement and happiness, but the next, I’m just in pure confusion.”
So, basically, she was living my life with me? Wonderful. “I don’t know what’s going on, Granny.” I told her truthfully. “I am confused. There’s a lot going on here right now and I wish you were here.”
She reached over and pinched my arm. “Ow!” I looked down to find a pink welt forming. She winked. “I am here, Norah Girl.”
“Why? How? What do you do all day?” I said, rubbing at the spot on my arm.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s weird here, too. Talk to me about what’s going on.”
“Well, there are these guys.”
“So, that’s where the happiness comes from, hmm?”
I pressed my lips together. I was thinking the excitement part, but I wasn’t going to explain that to her. We’d just go with happiness.
“But there’s something else?” she asked. “I can tell.”
“It’s weird,” I offered. “My magic seems to increase around them. Same for them, too. Today we were working on something and I’d never felt more powerful. It was amazing until…it wasn’t. The aftermath was scary. I felt like I’d had too much. Kind of like OD’ing on magic.”
Granny’s eyes widened. “Oh, Honey.” She sat forward, her eyes closing. I’d seen her do this many times when she was alive. She was searching herself for answers, for the magic to do something or another for a neighbor. People just loved Granny. “This isn’t good,” she finally said. “Who’s this guy who does this to your powers?”
“Well, there’s four.” Ugh, did I just count Travis in that? No. “Three, actually. The fourth doesn’t count. He’s a prick.”
“Language, Norah Girl,” Granny scolded.
I rolled my eyes. She’d think the same thing if she ever met him. Infuriating. Ridiculous. Sexy as fuck though. I had to acknowledge that.
Granny snapped her fingers in front of my face again. “Focus, Girl. Tell me about these four guys. How in the world did you get mixed up with four? How long have I been dead? Is it socially acceptable to be with four guys now?”
This last sentence she asked with true interest as if the world had turned on its head in the short months she’d been gone. I merely shrugged. “You’ve only been gone for six months or so, Granny, and no, I don’t think it is socially acceptable, but I can’t help it. I get this little feeling in my gut, and you always told me to follow my gut.” I pointed out, then smiled when her wrinkles became more pronounced as I threw her advice back at her. She hated when I did that. “I don’t know what to do.”
Granny just sat there shaking her head. “I don’t like the sound of this. Not one bit. You may not like this, but I think you need to get as far away from them as possible. I’ve heard stories, Norah Girl. Terrible stories about what can happen to witches in similar situations. Trust me, it’s nothing you want to get mixed up in.”
“But then why would my magic have brought me here?”
“Magic has two sides. You know that. There’s a dark and a light, and lots of times, magic is only looking out for itself. You’re still young, you don’t have the control you need to let in only the light. You need to leave, Norah Girl. Leave and don’t look back.”
My mouth dropped and at once, I was forced out of the dream. I sat up in bed, a big gasp at my lips.
“Hey, hey, I’m sorry,” Liam said. He scrambled over his own feet and almost fell over.
He had on nothing but a pair of boxers. My mouth gaped open at the body he’d been hiding. He wasn’t just studious. Though thin, he had muscles hidden underneath his shirts. Nothing like Randy and not as athletic as Gabe, but that didn’t make it any less sexy.
“I’m sorry. I’ll sleep out on the couch.”
“No,” I said before I could stop myself. Gah! Why couldn’t I think before I speak? Shouldn’t I be doing what my grandmother told me to do? “I just had a nightmare, that’s all.”
In the dim light, I saw Liam smile. “I kind of thought you were. You were mumbling in your sleep. It was cute.”
I reached out for his hand, and he moved forward so I could take it up in my own before pressing it to my cheek. Just one last moment with sweet Liam wouldn’t hurt anything. Right? “Were you trying to get into your own bed?” I scooted over. “Sorry I took it on you.”
“I don’t care,” he said. He looked toward the closed door. “Really, if you’d rather sleep by yourself, I’ll take the couch.”
“Don’t you dare,” I told him. “I did just have a nightmare.”
I pulled the covers up, inviting him inside. He rubbed his jaw and put his glasses on the nightstand before slipping into bed next to me. The heat from his body put mine at ease instantly. I cuddled up to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and laying my head on his shoulder. “What did you dream about?” he asked, his voice a whisper in the dark.
My body locked up and his hand came up to my back, forcing me closer until I was surrounded by him. It took me a few minutes to answer. I couldn’t tell him the truth. He’d never let me leave based on the fact that my dead grandmother told me I should. So, finally, I just said, “Something terrible.”
Liam kissed the top of my head. “You know what I do when I have a bad dream?”
“Hmm?”
“Remember all the good things in my life. Like the coven, and magic. Like how I’d do anything for the guys and they’d do anything for me.”
“You’re lucky,” I told him, pulling him closer. “It’s nice to have people that care about you.”
“We care about you,” Liam said. His careful, even breaths hit my shoulder sending goosebumps up and down my body. I closed my eyes, fighting against all the emotions warring within me. I couldn’t do this to Liam. I couldn’t give into the feelings and then leave him alone in bed the next morning. It might just break him. As the other guys had said countless times, Liam was too good.
“Can you just hold me tonight?” I asked. I’d have to figure out how to extract myself from him later on when I left. I’d probably have to resort to magic, so he’d be as pissed at me as Randy was. Then again, did it matter? When I left, I probably wouldn’t be seeing these guys again. They’re actual fifth would show up, and they’d move on. They said it themselves that it was unprecedented for a coven member to be a girl. Maybe we had this all wrong and it was exactly like Granny said. Magic was just playing games and we should cut our losses before we got in too deep.
“I’ll do whatever you want,” Liam said.
My breath caught. I had many ideas when it came to spending the night with Liam, but I could show restraint—for his sake. For both of ours, actually. I put my best sexy smile on and looked up at him. “One of these days, I want to do something else, but just not today.”
His body temperature rose by a few degrees, and I clung to him, my skin blazing under his. On my thigh, I felt his cock harden, but I bit my lip and pretended I didn’t notice. He moved it carefully away from me and I sighed internally.
His voice got quieter. “I can’t stop thinking about the way you looked on Gabe.”
My throat dried. I pulled Liam closer, anticipating that that had taken a lot for him to say, as shy as he was. I was glad he was opening up to me. Yet, it didn’t matter. �
��Are you trying to torture us both?” I asked, keeping the mood light before I gave in to the heat pooling between my legs.
“Not meaning to,” he clarified. “Just sharing. Randy says I should be honest with you.”
That was interesting to note. I pulled away and kissed his cheek. “I bet you’ll like the look of me on top of you better.”
Liam groaned, and even though his hips were further away this time, his cock lengthened until it hit my thigh again. “Fuck, Liam,” I moaned. “You’re as hard as a rock, aren’t you?” Clenching my fingers together, I willed myself not to wrap my fist around him, to feel him pulse under me.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m just going to lay back and think about calculus.”
He twisted away and the pressure between us both released fractionally.
“Is that the non-sexiest subject?”
“I do love math. Maybe I should think about Science instead. There’s nothing sexy about atoms and the periodic table.”
I had to agree with him.
We stayed up a little while longer talking about his classes at Salem State. Eventually, we both calmed down enough until we were able to touch one another again. Shortly after, Liam’s soft snores filled the room. I sat up, glancing down at the peaceful look on his face. I yearned to touch him, but was too scared he’d just wake up and ruin my escape plans.
Somehow, I managed to step around him, my feet hitting the floor without actually waking him up. Before I left, I sat down and wrote him a short note that I left on his desk. Out of all of them, he deserved to know the reason why I left. Maybe he’d do the research. Maybe he’d be able to figure something out, take Granny’s clue and run with it to figure out a way we could be with each other without simultaneously destroying ourselves.
“Bye, Liam,” I whispered. Then, I tiptoed from his room with my bag in my hand, through the apartment and out the front door before I felt the first traces of tears down my face. I tried to tell myself it was the cold-as-fuck weather messing with my tear ducts, but it wasn’t that. Even though it had been such a short amount of time, I’d grown close to the guys in that apartment, and even though I knew it was the right thing to do, for all of us, I didn’t want to do it. Not at all.
Chapter Fifteen
The trek to the bus station was just as I remembered it, except in reverse. The feelings I had walking there were much different. When I’d gotten here, finally, feeling confused as fuck about where I was headed and angry about being taken away from my normal routine, I’d prowled the streets of Salem with a big chip on my shoulder. And when I’d finally been drawn to my final destination, the apartment of four college guys, you should’ve heard the slew of profanities that popped from my mouth. I was a twenty-one-year-old business owner from down South who’d built her small shop into something big from the ground up and somehow, mystically, I was being drawn to these four college students.
Except, that’s how it only looked on the surface. There was Randy, who I’d first noticed wasn’t actually in college. That he worked for a living, and then there was Gabe who, though still in school, was actually an athlete, adding other things on top of his already full schedule. The appearance of their easygoing life was just that, an appearance. Though Travis and I didn’t get along, from what everyone had said, he’d had a rough few months, and Liam, Liam had it tough too.
I’d been drawn into their circle and here I was, willingly giving it up just to make sure we all didn’t hurt one another. I still didn’t want to be their fifth even though the idea of it enticed me more and more. None of that mattered though. There was nothing to work through because being close to them was scary. In more ways than one.
I handed the ticket over and hopped on the bus. The only thing I wouldn’t miss about this place was the weather. I’d taken Liam’s hoodie. I pulled it around myself and breathed in his scent. Here, in the dry air of the bus, I could put my finger on his smell. The sea. It smelled like the ocean when Granny took me down to the Gulf when I was younger. I’d bottled that memory up and clung on to it for as long as I could. It was one of the few times we’d ever left the parish.
I waited as more and more passengers got on the bus. I put my feet up on the seat next to me and leaned my head against the cool window, pulling my bag tight to my chest and holding it like I’d just done with Liam. I had a long trip ahead of me. I might as well get some sleep in. Maybe I’d sleep right through this chilly weather and wake up when it got to a decent temperature.
The bus spit and sputtered as it finally pulled away from the station. The vibration of the bus jostled me for a little before I settled back into an almost comfortable position. The more I tried to sleep, the more my mind stayed on the guys. Even Travis. Being taken away from them was almost physically painful. Nausea rose up in my throat, but I fought against it. I wished for sleep in hopes that Granny would come visit me again. I wanted to ask her if this was the right thing to do, why did it feel so awful? Why was it making me physically sick? I ground my teeth down and tried to work through it, conjuring my magic in the area where I felt the greatest pull and trying to heal myself. I’d only done it once before under Granny’s guidance, but I wanted to do it now. I didn’t want to feel this way.
One second, I was so caught up in trying to heal myself, that when the jolt jarred my body, I didn’t know if it was something that was happening because of magic, or out in the real world. My eyes flew open. Screams rose up and bodies started flying through the air as the bus swerved, tilting at an impossible angle. We glided along on two wheels before another hard crash sent us screaming into the road. The sound of metal scraping the highway and glass breaking impaled my eardrums. I grabbed for the seat, trying not to get thrown toward the area where the glass broke, but I couldn’t. I reached out, but my fingers slipped away from the fabric. I fell, my shoulder hit the side of the bus hard and then worse, it was being dragged along the highway. The bus skidded to a stop on its side. Moans rose up around me. There were a few cries and screams. A baby’s yell pierced the air around me as I blinked, trying to get my bearings from being tossed around like I was in a washing machine.
What the holy fuck? Decide to leave the guys and get in a fucking bus accident? Christ.
The peeling of metal away from metal caught my attention as I tried to assess the damage that had been done to my shoulder and head. A square in the side of the bus was being ripped open, and a body stuck his long leg through. People immediately started crying, yelling out for help, but the guy walked right past them all, ignoring several outstretched hands as his eyes roamed over everyone. I made myself as small as possible, trying not to garner his attention. This wasn’t some rescue worker. He looked exactly like one of the guys who’d been in the cafe the other day.
I pulled my hood up, but it was too late. A strong hand grasped my wrist and yanked. A searing pain shot through my body. The light around my vision started to dim. No matter how much I fought against it, I couldn’t keep the inevitable from happening. I passed out.
* * * * *
As soon as I felt aware again, I hissed in pain. My head throbbed like an ice pick was being shoved into my brain over and over again. A whimper escaped my throat the more aware I became of the damage that had been to my body.
A scuffle in front of me pulled me out of my own head, reminding me what had happened last. I’d been taken by the people who’d tried to hurt Liam and me. “Hey, shh,” a whisper came. It was a girl. Not what I was expecting. “They’ll come back if they know you’re awake. Trust me, you don’t want that.”
Slowly, carefully, I propped myself up on the nearest surface to me. It was still too dark to see more than just the outline of things and I cringed at the wet, cold of the wall I placed myself against. “Where are we?”
The voice came a little closer. She was still a ways away and the more I looked in that direction, I noticed I was in a small room with bars on one side. Through the darkness, I could see another set of bars and the voice came
from the other side of that. “I have no idea.”
My hand roamed up my arm, and I groaned at the raw, flaming skin I felt there. I needed medical attention. My whole body felt like it had been through a blender. “How long have I been here?”
“Not even a whole day yet,” the girl said.
Yet? What the fuck? “How long have you been here? Were you on the bus too?”
“The bus? No. I’ve been here for a couple weeks.”
“A couple weeks!”
“Shh,” the girl scolded. “They’ll hear you. You don’t want them to hear you. Please, please. Don’t make them come.”
Her voice was bordering on hysteria, so I lowered mine to a whisper again. “I’m sorry.” I took a deep breath trying to calm myself and reassure her that I wasn’t trying to get her, or myself, in trouble.
“Are you injured? You didn’t look too good when they brought you in here.”
I took stock of me again. It was my shoulder, mostly, but my head didn’t feel too hot either. “Yes,” I told her.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and her voice sounded as hollow and desperate as I’d ever heard.
I closed my eyes around a shudder. Looking around the cell, I noticed there wasn’t a window. Of course. No toilet. No bed. Just a room with a smooth, cool floor and matching walls. “I don’t suppose you know who has us?” I asked.
“I do,” she said, her voice hard. “Jay. He was so nice to me, and handsome.” Her voice broke. “He was older, and had money, you know? The kind of thing every girl dreams of. I hadn’t known him for that long, but when he asked me out on a date, of course I said yes. I ended up here, rotting away in this cell.”
Jay? I didn’t know a Jay. And the two who took me certainly weren’t handsome. I listened to her soft cries until I thought I could bring myself to talk again. My heart went out to her. “What’s your name?”
“Mandy,” she said. “Mandy Shifborn. I go to Salem State, Kappa Delta.”
I blew out a breath, trying not to judge her as I did my guys at first. “That’s a sorority, right?”