I hesitate. I stop, turn around. He keeps walking toward me. “Don’t come closer,” I say, focusing my energy on him so that he’ll do what I want.
He holds his hands up. “I won’t,” he says. But it’s like that day in the car with Brody, where I was trying to control him but couldn’t. Which means Derek’s not moving because he doesn’t want to, not because I’m making him.
“What do you want?” I demand.
“I don’t want anything.”
“Bullshit,” I say, turning back around. “You want something. Either that or you don’t really know where he is.”
He’s still standing in the same spot, and he stays there, even when I start to take a few steps away from him. “I’m not the enemy, Natalia. I’ve always wanted you and Cam to be together.”
I whirl back around. “Is that why you were acting so psycho? Taking all those pictures of us? Because you wanted us to be together? How stupid do you think I am, Derek?”
He hesitates, then finally takes a step toward me. But he puts his hands up in front of him, a gesture of surrender. “You don’t have to believe me,” he says. “But if you have any chance of saving Cam, you’re running out of time. So you don’t have much choice.”
I think about it. He’s right. If I know Raine, she’s getting right down to whatever it is she’s doing. And Derek’s also right that I don’t have a choice but to listen to him.
I’m on my own, and I have no one to turn to, no one to trust.
“Why won’t my mind control work on you?” I ask him. “Who are you?”
“Someone who has a stake in you and Cam being together,” he says. “Now do you want to help him?”
“Yes,” I say.
“Then listen carefully.”
***
He leads me to the back of the lodge, to a sliding glass door that opens to a cherry-colored deck with a wooden staircase that leads four stories down to the backyard.
A few feet away are a row of tall pine trees, and beyond that, a thick patch of woods.
“Go down the to the ground,” he says. “And follow the path beyond the trees.”
I look out into the night, where a thick fog is starting to build, rolling in from the sky and enveloping the deck. I want to tell Derek no, that there’s no way in hell I’m going out there, that it seems dangerous. I want to turn around, to find Adrianna, to go home, to stay away from Cam and Brody and Raine and everyone. To try and forget that this whole crazy thing ever happened.
But I know that I can’t. Me and Cam… we have a connection. And I have to save him.
“You’ll come to a clearing,” Derek says. “That’s where they are. Watch for a fire.”
“Aren’t you coming?” I’m scared of him, but suddenly, I don’t want to be alone.
“No,” he says, “You have to do it on your own.”
He turns around, and disappears back through the sliding glass door. My heart pounding, I start down the stairs.
***
The staircase seems kind of rickety, but I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination, or if it’s really not that stable. I walk down to the yard quickly but carefully, relieved when the last wooden plank gives way to the softness of the grass.
From the front of the building, I can hear the sounds of the dance, kids talking, a car starting, someone laughing, the deep throb of the beat of the music.
I start moving forward before I can lose my nerve, toward the trees. There’s a path, just like Derek promised, and I head down it, walking fast. The high heels I’m wearing sink into the soft ground, and the hem of my dress is already torn. I force myself to keep going, to keep putting one foot in front of the other even though my brain is screaming for my feet to turn around.
The path seems to go on forever, twisting and turning. After a while it becomes narrows and for a moment, I think I’ve lost it, but then it reappears and slowly starts to get wider.
And then, I hear voices. Laughter. Raine.
I force myself to slow down, hoping to be able to take stock of the situation before they hear me coming. I take smaller steps, and pull in deep breaths of air to try and relax, because my heart is pounding in my ears.
Some fog slides over an opening between the trees, and through the break I can see a clearing. There’s a fire, its flames licking up toward the sky and casting light over the woods.
I kneel down on the grass, squinting through some bushes to try and see what’s going on. It looks like Cam’s on the ground, and Raine and Becca are gathering some branches. Aiden is strung up on a tree, his hands tied together with a rope.
I wonder if I can take on Raine and Becca, wonder if my power is strong enough to stop both of them. I debate if it’s better to plan a sneak attack, or if I should try to figure out a way to alert Cam that I’m here. I wonder if he’s too out of it to even help.
But before I can decide what to do, the fire cracks, sending sparks up toward the branches of the trees. I jump.
And then Brody steps into the clearing.
Chapter Four
Campbell
I start to think that maybe I’m dreaming.
Brody is standing in the clearing arguing with Raine and Becca while my best friend is hog-tied and hanging from a tree branch.
“You can’t do this, Raine,” Brody says, looking at me and then Aiden.
She laughs. “I can and I will. What’s your problem, anyway? You knew what was going to happen and you never tried to stand in my way before.”
“Because I thought you were going to be reasonable.”
“Reasonable? Why should I be reasonable?” she says, poking a stick into the fire and making the flames rise higher.
Somehow I can move a little, maybe because Raine’s attention has been diverted.
But I still feel completely exhausted. I start to sit up. My hands and feet are tied, but at least I’m not strung up like Aiden.
Raine glances at me and frowns. “Settle down, Cam. Relax.” She points at me and a new wave of warmth pulses through my entire body. I slide back onto the ground.
My eyes close. I can hear them talking, but their voices sound faint and I find I don’t much care what they’re saying.
“Look, you can take Cam and use him if you need to,” Brody says. “But whatever you’re thinking of doing with Aiden—“
“You know exactly what we’re going to do. Stop being such a prude,” Becca says. “Why do you even care? As long as things go according to plan, this is none of your business.”
“No killing. I’m sorry but I won’t let you do it.”
“Blood needs to be spilled.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s blood that ties the final bond.”
“That’s crazy. As it is, you’ve got him sufficiently under your influence. Don’t get greedy.”
“I’ll be greedy if I want. I’m starting to lose patience with you, Brody.”
My eyes open as the warmth and sense of calm fades. Whatever Raine is doing to me, it feels good but it doesn’t last all that long. I blink a few times. Shake my head to clear out the cobwebs.
“I’m the one who’s losing patience,” Brody says, his hands clenched. “And you don’t have a clue what I’m capable of.”
“You?” Raine steps toward him and suddenly the flames in the fire shoot toward the sky, almost like a fireball. “What you’re capable of?” She makes an effortless, swatting gesture and Brody goes spinning into a tree and falls into a heap.
Becca laughs. “Oh, my God. I love it! I totally wish people at school could see what you just did to Mr. Football Stud.”
Brody isn’t moving.
Raine looks at me and then Becca. “Hurry. I think we’re running out of time.
Get the knife.”
Becca does as she’s told. The blade glints in the dim firelight as she holds it aloft.
Her face is a mask of excitement—as if she’s really looking forward to killing Aiden.
“When I recite the words
, cut his throat. It must be precise and you have to kill him with a single stroke,” Raine says, her voice cold. She comes nearer to me, as if she has to be close to me in order to carry out some other part of the plan.
I wonder what she intends to do. Somehow melt my brain—make me into a zombie? I think of Natalia, and tell myself that no matter what Raine does to me tonight, I will never forget that it’s Natalia I love.
I’ve never even admitted to myself that I love her until just this moment. And now I might lose her.
“No,” I say, but my voice is low. I try to stand, but fall to my side.
The wind picks up and the trees begin swaying and rustling. The fire starts to dim but then Raine looks at it and the flames rise again.
She starts to speak, to say something in a foreign language. Nothing I’ve ever heard before.
Becca raises the blade higher and prepares to cut my friend’s throat.
I try to yell.
“Stop!” a voice screams. I turn my head and see Natalia running into the clearing.
Raine’s face turns into a snarl. “You stupid bitch. You just went too fucking far.” She makes the swatting motion.
Natalia stumbles backward, but nothing like what happened to Brody. She seems to be able to resist what Raine’s trying to do to her.
Raine starts walking toward her. “Becca, help me take care of this little slut.”
“Gladly.” Becca and Raine move toward her at once.
I want Natalia to just run—get out of here and don’t look back. There’s no way she can take them both on at once.
But Natalia stands her ground, a look of determination and defiance on her face.
Natalia looks to Becca first. “You want to hurt Raine,” she says slowly and confidently. Becca halts, almost in mid-step. “You hate Raine,” Natalia finishes.
Raine reaches Natalia just as she’s finished saying this, grabs her shoulder and swings at her with her free hand, hitting her clean on the jaw.
Natalia’s head rocks back from the blow, but she keeps her balance. “Becca, you have to attack Raine now,” Natalia says, as Raine loads up to throw another punch.
Becca practically tackles Raine in that instant, and the two begin struggling against each other.
Raine is shrieking at her. “What are you doing, you idiot? Get off of me!”
Natalia watches them for a second, almost as if she’s in shock that she was actually able to make them fight each other.
Becca throws Raine to the ground and jumps on her, flailing wildly, grabbing Raine’s hair, scratching and clawing her.
After a few moments of this, Natalia runs to me and begins untying my hands.
“Are you okay, Cam?” she asks breathlessly.
I try to talk but my voice is just a whisper. “They put some kind of…I don’t know. A spell on me or something. I’m not much good to anyone at the moment.”
“Just stay still and let me get you free.”
Raine finally throws Becca across the clearing. Becca stands up.
“Whore!” Raine yells. “I should have known you were too weak for this, Bec Bec. Go to sleep.” Raine takes a moment to gather herself, then snaps her fingers.
Becca sits down, her eyes promptly closing. She reminds me of a battery-powered toy that’s been suddenly turned off.
Nat almost has my hands entirely untied now. Raine sneers as she sees this.
“What are you going to do with him once you untie him? He can’t even move.”
Natalia stands. “Get out of here Raine. It’s over. The cops will be told all about your little plan to kill Aiden and you’re going to get kicked out of school and thrown in jail. You lost. Now get lost.”
Raine puts her hands on her hips. “Oh, you told me. And with such a catchy phrase too. ‘You lost now get lost.’” She barks a laugh. “You just don’t get it, Natalia.
You think you’re a player but you’re really just a little gnat, a little fly that I’ve been too busy to squash. But not anymore.”
She rushes toward her.
Chapter Five
Natalia
Raine comes toward me. She looks extremely focused for someone who was just about to kill someone. I had no trouble controlling Becca, but when I look at Raine and try to control her, I can already tell it’s not going to work.
It’s like our powers are bouncing off each other, canceling each other out, and it’s hard to even speak. Our gazes are locked together, and I can’t look away. I can feel it coming off of her, how badly she wants Cam.
She must feel it too, the fact that we can’t control each other, that we must be evenly matched. Because her eyes narrow and she says to me, “Looks like we’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.”
I realize what she’s talking about a second before she’s given me credit for, and I reach out and slap her across the face. Hard. Raine looks shocked, and she brings her hand slowly up to her face, feeling the place that I hit her. There’s an angry red hand print already starting to show.
“I thought you were going to squash me,” I say, taunting her just because I can.
“The only one around here who seems to be getting squashed is you.” Her legs are totally exposed from the way her dress is cut and I grab her around the waist, scratching and clawing and finally slamming her to the ground.
We’re tangled up, the two of us, and I’m on top of her, pulling her hair. She’s smaller than me, though, and a lot more flexible. I can’t get a good grip on her, and we wrestle around on the ground for a while, neither one of us able to take over. Shapes and objects go swirling by -- trees, ground, sky, a blur of colors and shapes that make no sense. I feel dirt under my cheek, and a rock scrapes against my forehead.
I’m on top, then she is, over and over, again and again.
“Give up!” she yells, “You’re not going to win, Natalia. If you stop now, I’ll go easy on you.”
I ignore her, not wanting to waste my strength by yelling. Finally I’m able to pin her to the ground, my weight on top of her. I slap her again, then decide I’ll probably have to punch her. But before I can, she wiggles out from under me, her hands around my wrists, pushing me down so that she’s on top of me.
She grabs my neck with her fingers, her hands making a death grip around my throat. I try to breathe, but I can’t, and I start to panic, clawing at her, trying to throw her off of me by kicking my legs and squirming around. But it’s not working.
Her grip tightens and my vision starts to blur. I can see Cam, on the ground, trying to get up and help me, but he’s too weak. And then, just as I’m about to fade out, something catches the firelight.
The necklace. Raine’s butterfly necklace, tied around her neck. I reach up, not knowing if it’s going to work, and grab the delicate chain in my hands. I yank it as hard as I can, and the piece of jewelry breaks and falls off her neck.
The move startles her, and her concentration fades a little as the charm goes sliding off the chain and falls onto the ground. Her grip loosens, just the tiniest bit, but it’s enough for me to throw her off me and then roll onto my knees. My breath is coming in ragged gasps.
I look up and she’s already coming back at me, a snarl on her face, her eyes flashing. I take every last ounce of strength I have, and then I look at her.
“Raine,” I say. “You are going to turn around and leave me alone. You’re afraid of me, Raine. You always have been.”
For a second, she looks confused, but she keeps coming at me. “Raine,” I say, and her feet slow down. “Turn around. And get out of here.”
She stops, her face going slack. “No,” she says, but it’s faint. Somehow, without her necklace, I’m more powerful than she is. And if I had mine, I probably could have kicked her ass right from the start.
“GO!” I scream it, and Raine stops. Her body sways back and forth in the moonlight, and for a second, I think she’s going to faint. But then she’s turning, running away, faster and faster into the woods.
<
br /> I rush over to Cam. “Are you okay?” I ask.
“Sort of,” he says. He’s flat on his back now, exhausted from the strain of trying to stand up to help me.
“Can you stand up?”
He tries, his legs weak. He almost buckles, but is able to stay up by holding onto a tree. “I think I’m getting better,” he says, “But we have to get Aiden down.”
I look over to where Aiden’s strung up. He looks like he’s trying to open his eyes, but they roll back into his head. He moans.
“I think I’m going to have to just untie the rope,” I say. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to get him down, and we don’t have anything to cut it with. He’s going to hit the ground pretty hard.”
Cam nods. “Do it.”
I untie the rope that’s attached to the tree trunk, and Aiden does hit the ground hard. “Ooof,” he says when he falls. I rush over to him. He opens his eyes slowly.
“Hey,” I say, “Are you okay?”
“I think so,” he says.
“Move your arms and legs,” I instruct, mostly because that’s what I’ve seen on medical shows and read in books. He does it.
“Natalia,” Cam says, his voice sounding panicked. “Brody. He’s gone.”
I turn to look. Becca’s still there, on the ground, sleeping. But Cam’s right.
Brody’s gone. I sit down on the ground, leaning back against a tree. I close my eyes, still trying to catch my breath. “It’s okay,” I say, “It doesn’t matter. It’s over now.”
Chapter Six
Campbell
It’s morning, and Natalia’s next to me, sleeping in my bed.
It takes me a moment to remember what even happened last night. It all feels like some kind of weird fever dream. Being taken to that study, my energy fading, waking up in the clearing. The fighting. Brody going down. Raine being sent scurrying off with her tail between her legs.
Afterwards, Nat and Aiden and I called a taxi and got home before the dance had even ended. Aiden was quiet, didn’t say much as I held Nat close.
But it’s all over now, I think, trying to shake the memories and move into the present. The present is good enough.
The Witches of Santa Anna ( BKs 1-7 Complete Set) Page 21