by E. M. Moore
I looked away. The beautiful, white hall caught my attention. From what I could tell, wherever the ocean lied, the walls on that side of the house were either all glass or had so many windows it was like you were standing outside completely immersed in the ocean yourself. “Where are we?”
“You like it?”
“It’s gorgeous,” I said, my hand coming up to one of the windows as I watched the waves crash into the short cliff-side below.
“I’ll let Liam tell you, but come with me, I’ll take you to the most fantastic bathroom you’ve ever seen in your life.” I raised my eyebrows, confused that a guy like Randy would care about bathrooms. His nipple was pierced for crying out loud. Speaking of, I hadn’t thought to tweak that while we were in the car. I’d have to file that away for another time.
He tugged my hand, and we walked the length of that hall to a staircase at the back. Once we ascended the steps, we were in another hall with a similar layout of windows to the backside of the property that met the ocean. This time, though, he took a hard left and walked into an enormous room with a bed inside. He closed the door behind us and walked me straight through the beautiful room to an en suite bathroom. My breath caught as this room, too, had a wall of windows. On one of the windows was a huge jacuzzi tub. I walked toward it and played my finger over the ornate fixtures. I’d love to spend some time in this tub, but something told me we really didn’t have time for that right now. Mandy wanted to go home. It was selfish to think that I could spend time here. Fortunately for me, there was a shower on the other side. A walk-in with more than enough room and the same view.
“Not a lot of privacy,” Randy said. “Not that you need it out here. Who’s going to see you? We’re too far away for passing boats and the rest of the property is well-secured. Trust me.” He bent over and kissed my forehead again. “I’ll get you some clothes too and meet you downstairs when you’re done.”
I nodded dumbly, still transfixed by what I saw. It took me a few minutes of looking around to settle down enough to want to get in the shower. Randy had come back with the clothes and hurried me along, but still, I was in awe of where I was. It was like a fairy tale castle compared to what I was used to. After he left the second time though, I finally did strip down and step into the huge shower. The shower head was directly above me and felt like a hot rain shower. I stayed under until I was pruney, just staring out at the ocean. Then, I used the beauty products that were waiting in there for me: shampoo, conditioner, shower gel.
I stepped out feeling like a million dollars. Hesitant to leave the place, the only thing that drew me downstairs was remembering that I would be with my guys again, my coven.
Well, that was new. Did I really want to go there? Yeah. I guessed I did.
I threw on the clothes Randy left for me, a pair of gray sweats and a plain white t-shirt that looked like women’s clothes, deepening my curiosity further. The only way to get answers was to head downstairs, so I retraced our steps and ended up in the living room we’d passed earlier. Mandy was already sitting on one of the monstrous couches overlooking the ocean with a stark white mug in her hands. Steam curled up and around her freshly clean face. She was a beautiful girl, sporty thin with perfectly plucked eyebrows and the remnants of a manicure on her fingers I hadn’t noticed before.
Before I could say anything to her, Liam came out of the kitchen with two more white mugs. He handed one to me and I sniffed the delicious cocoa scent. Feeling as if I should sit next to Mandy for female solidarity—or something like that—I plopped down next to her. The guys took various spots around the room, but all facing us. When we just stared at one another, unsure of what to say, I was shocked when it was Travis who broke the silence.
“Let’s try to make this fast. Mandy wants to go home and I’ve promised her that I’ll take her. She hasn’t seen her family in about two weeks, as far as she can tell, so we owe it to her to get this done fast.”
I looked back and forth between the two of them and hated the way my stomach curled in jealousy. Was that Travis’s type? A blond-haired sorority girl with some definite fashion taste? She even made the same outfit I had on look tons better. I tried to shake the thought out of my head, but I couldn’t drop the sudden feeling of abandonment. Travis had never even been nice to me and we were alike. How was he already so close with this girl if it wasn’t because of her looks? Or because of something he saw in her that he liked more than what he saw in me? From his first time meeting me, he looked at me with disdain.
Liam took over after that, bombarding Mandy with questions as nicely as he could. He asked if she knew who had taken her which I already knew the answer to, someone named Jay who she met at a Starbucks. She gave them a complete, head-to-toe description including the fact that she knew he wore an Armani suit. Me? I wouldn’t have been able to pick that out of a line up if my life depended on it.
After Liam was done scribbling in a notebook, I looked at Mandy and asked her a question of my own. “You said that they tortured you mentally. What did you mean by that?”
She took a deep breath, her lips already trembling. She put the mug of coffee down and stared out at the sea. A storm was about to come in, and the clouds passed over what little sunshine was coming in the house already. “They just kept telling me that no one would miss me. This is going to sound crazy, but a few times, they brought in someone who looked exactly like me, right down to the color on my fingernails and the little freckle I have here on my lip and they told me that she was going to take my place. That she’d already been to the sorority house and no one even knew I’d gone missing, or cared. They brought her in and then she and Jay would do things to my body—on her—while they made me watch.” She put a hand over her mouth. “I know he wasn’t really doing it to me, but it almost felt like it, you know. That girl was me.”
The guys and I all exchanged confused glances. “You’re one-hundred percent sure about this?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded. Her hair had started to dry already, and she pulled it over one shoulder. “I saw it. They told me if she could go into the sorority house and fool my sisters that she’d be able to fool my parents as well and that I’d just rot away in that prison for the rest of my life while someone else was out there living the life I was supposed to have.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I told her, trying to reassure her. “You’re out now. We’re going to get you to your parents, you’ll be fine.”
“Besides,” Travis said. He moved closer and sat on the arm of the couch near Mandy. My stomach curdled. “While you were in the shower, I did some research. Your parents have been looking for you. It’s kind of strange because your sorority insists there’s nothing wrong, but your parents went on the news and are pleading for anyone who has any information about you to contact them.” He pulled out his cell phone and Mandy tore it out of his hands while a video played. The gut-wrenching words of what was most assuredly Mandy’s mother and father tore at my heartstrings.
When it was over, Mandy was a trembling mess. “I don’t know why they would tell me no one cared.” She broke down and Travis put his arm around her. She collapsed into his lap, sobbing.
Ridiculous, but true nonetheless, steel permeated my veins as well as a toxic venom known as the little green-eyed monster. Why? I wasn’t one-hundred percent certain.
Travis rubbed her back. “I think if we’re done, I should take Mandy to her parents’ house.”
We all looked at Liam for confirmation. He rearranged his glasses on his nose. “I think we’ve gotten all the information we’re going to get. She doesn’t know who this Jay guy really is, and it simply sounds like someone who gets off torturing others’ mental state.” He shrugged. “Let’s take her home, wipe her, and then get back here so we can figure out what the hell else to do.”
Travis gave her shoulders a squeeze. “I’m going to take you home now. Okay?”
She nodded, and he helped bring her to her feet. Before I even knew wha
t I was doing, I stood along with them. “I’m going with you.”
He looked back at me, his gaze almost challenging. “Suit yourself.”
Randy stood too, but I waved him back down. I didn’t know exactly why I was doing this, but I just needed to. Liam wrapped a hoodie around my shoulders and I followed Travis and Mandy to the Jeep. Travis helped Mandy into the front seat while I slummed it in the back, piercing Travis with a glare. I knew where it was coming from, but it surprised even me. It was a half-hour drive to Mandy’s house back toward Salem. Apparently, the house we were at was in Ipswich. The drive was mostly silent with only a few sniffles coming from the passenger seat. Every once in a while, I caught Travis looking at me through the rearview mirror, but I looked away almost immediately when he did so.
The closer we got to Mandy’s house, the more she navigated Travis right to her street. He parked along the side of the road, but before Mandy could just jump right out, he put a hand on her arm. He whispered something that sounded a hell of a lot like sorry before closing his eyes. The magic in the interior of the car ratcheted up. When Travis pulled away, Mandy got out of the car and walked toward the house like a zombie. I took my seatbelt off and sat forward, peering out the windshield as the surrounding air shimmered. “What did you do?” I whispered as she walked up her stone walkway.
“I just wiped everything that had to do with us. Everything else is the same. The guy, her experience, everything. Oh, and I hid the Jeep for when—”
At that moment, a woman pulled the door open. Shaking hands came up to her mouth and she screamed before pulling Mandy in for a hug. Heat stung my eyes as I watched. I’d always been a sucker for those reunion videos on YouTube and here I was watching one in person. One I helped make happen. We’d saved Mandy from those bad people. We’d brought her back home. With my mouth tight and dry, I asked, “Do you guys get to do this kind of stuff all the time?”
Travis’s lips pulled down as his jaw twitched. “It’s not always this…fulfilling,” he said, as if he’d chosen his words very carefully. “Lots of times we stop things before they get so bad. There’s reward in that as well. A deeper one even when you think about it because you can help a girl who’s about to go through a traumatic experience from ever even having to go through it.” He started the Jeep and put it in Drive. “I just wonder why the hell we didn’t get a forewarning about the evil shit going on.”
The tense lines around Travis’s eyes told me he was pissed. I could only think of one reason. “Maybe it wasn’t magic related?”
“Then why you?”
“That wasn’t all that magic related either.”
He shook his head. “No. Something strange is going on here. Something twisted.”
I sat back in the Jeep and put my seatbelt back on as he drove out of the affluent neighborhood. Right when it clicked into place, he looked over his shoulder at me. “You’re really not going to move to the front seat?”
“I didn’t know you wanted me there.”
Travis shrugged. Since he’d put Mandy in the front to begin with, I really didn’t want to give in and take the seat. The longer I stayed in the back though, the more awkward it got. I was just sitting in the back for the sake of getting back at Travis who probably didn’t even understand I was pissed—and jealous as fuck—anyway. Finally, I heaved a sigh and moved to the front. When I clasped my seatbelt, I dared a look over at him. The corner of his mouth was turned up in a slight smirk. God. Why did he have to be so infuriating?
Minutes went by, and neither of us said anything. I didn’t know what I was hoping to accomplish with this little alone time, but apparently I was deluded to think I’d accomplish anything with him. Hell, maybe I just wanted to come to make sure nothing happened between Travis and Mandy. How pathetic would that be? No, that was definitely not it. As if I couldn’t control myself, I said, “So, you met Granny, huh?”
“She told me to tell you not to call her that.”
“Yeah, well, good luck. I’ve been calling her that against her will for my entire life.”
Travis snickered, and I looked at him in shock. Did I just make him laugh? What in the fuck? “She’s pretty funny, your grandma.”
“You do realize she’s dead, right?”
He nodded. “Yes, Captain Obvious. I’m fully aware.”
“Just making sure,” I said, shifting in my seat. “I didn’t know if she’d told you or, what you guys talked about.”
“She was worried about you and she thought I could help. Thankfully, I could.”
I shivered. No matter how much I hated how pompous he was being right now, I shuddered to think what could’ve happened if they hadn’t showed. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m glad you guys were there to save me. The guy, Dupre or whatever, he told me that Jay had promised him that whatever magic we all share wouldn’t have helped in finding me. I thought I was going to be alone there for a second.”
It was Travis’s turn to look uncomfortable. He wiped at his forehead and then returned two hands to the wheel. “You didn’t need us anyway, Norah. Randy told me you’d gotten the guy off you already before he came roaring in there. We only helped you escape, we didn’t help you from not getting hurt, and if we’d been any later, you would’ve handled the escape thing on your own too.”
I blinked at Travis. That was the nicest thing he’d ever said to me.
“Well, according to Randy and Gabe.”
Asshole.
“Anyway,” I said. “I’m glad Granny could get a hold of someone.”
“Me too,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Chapter Eighteen
The guys were practically walking on the walls when Travis and I got back. Probably worried sick we’d kill one another on the drive back alone. Liam raised his eyebrows at me when we got back, and I just shrugged. There really wasn’t anything to tell. We had a conversation without wanting to kill one another, so maybe that was a plus. He also hadn’t made a move on Mandy, so I was pleased even though I kept telling myself that was not the reason why I wanted to tag along in the first place.
I was glad I did though. Seeing Mandy reunite with her Mom reminded me of Granny. Finding people was her specialty. They would come from miles around asking for Granny’s help about kids, dogs, moms, and dads. She was attuned to people like that, which was probably why she latched onto Travis to get him to help find me. Why she chose Travis, I had no idea. Maybe I could ask her next time she popped up into one of my dreams.
Large hands wrapped me in a hug from behind. I yelped in surprise only to be surrounded by maple. I breathed Randy in deep and relaxed as he carried me into the living room and situated me on his lap. Liam was already there, a pen tucked behind his ear as he chewed his lip. Gabe, too, stood by the windows, but came forward to join us all. “Coven meeting?” he asked.
Liam grabbed at the pen behind his ear and threw it at the table mumbling something about not having his laptop here. Surprisingly enough, Travis plopped down on the sofa next to Randy and I. As we sat there, moments before anyone said something, I felt complete. They were having a coven meeting, and I was here, too, like I was part of the coven and we all realized it. They weren’t the bad guys and apparently running away from them had done nothing but harm me. Thanks, Granny, for that wonderful nugget of advice. I was supposed to be here, and it didn’t matter that that scared the shit out of me, I had them. And I could have more moments like how we’d helped Mandy. Instead of using fake, or watered down, voodoo, I could be more like Granny. More like the witch she always wanted me to be. Maybe Salem was negotiable. I could talk to them about moving. It was so…warm in New Orleans.
“My first thought is,” Liam said, all business, and not caring that I was having an epiphany. “I think Mandy had her mind messed with too much. Someone who looks exactly like her?” He shook his head. “I’d be more apt to believe that whoever was messing with her dressed someone up like her. In the shadows and everything, she just assumed it was a perfe
ct representation of her. Nothing really to go on there except her description of Jay.” He turned to me. “You didn’t see anyone else except for this Dupre guy?”
“Not a soul,” I said. “Except for the person who tried to get us at the cafe too. Does that mean they were magic-wielders and we got it all wrong? Or did the same person who spelled him the first time get to them again?”
“Weak minds,” Travis said.
The guys all nodded, but I just stared at him. “Care to elaborate?”
“Weak minds are more susceptible to manipulation. My guess is he was spelled again. They don’t want people who can think for themselves. They want a zombie who will just do their bidding.”
“But he—” My tongue got stuck in my throat. “He tried to—”
“I didn’t say he wasn’t a bad person, Norah,” Travis said, his green eyes boring right through me. Wow. Had I noticed his eyes were that striking before?
Not the time, I reminded myself. “Right,” I said, nodding and looking off toward the ocean.
With Liam prompting, I gave them the entire story about how I had known Dupre, done business with him, and what he’d told me about this other powerful guy—Jay, presumably—and how they seemed to know more about us than we did about them.
“There’s one thing I think we can all agree on,” Randy said, the tone of his voice even more authoritative as it rumbled in my ear and even vibrated my shoulder where it touched his chest. “We’re stronger together. That means no more trying to leave us, Norah. We still have to figure out what ties us all together, and why we’re stronger together.”
“That’s something we have over them,” I said, remembering Dupre’s words to me. “Dupre seemed sure this guy knew what he was talking about and he said our magic wouldn’t work to find one another. He was wrong.”