Microsoft Word - santaanna1234567.doc

by Lauren Barnholdt

  I back my car off the lawn and onto the street, then get out and assess the damage.

  The bushes are okay, maybe a bit flattened, but part of the lawn is torn up and you can see my tire tracks. I shake my head. Still, could’ve been worse.

  I go up to the door and ring the bell. Mr. Nance opens the door and I explain what happened to him. He’s a nice guy, very understanding and tells me it’s no problem.

  But I promise to come back and work on his lawn this weekend to repair the damage.

  The conversation is short and he wishes me good luck for Friday night’s game.

  I’m going to need it, the way I’m functioning lately.

  When I get home, I tell mom I’m tired from practice and head up to my room, Lying in bed, I try to think about whether there’s anything to what Aiden said, whether I should actually be somehow afraid of Raine Marsden. But the truth is, I’m too tired to care.

  Chapter Five

  Natalia

  My mom’s home from work early, and as soon as I walk in from being with Brody, she pounces.

  “Who’s the boy?” She’s sitting at the kitchen table, her laptop open, papers spread in front of her.

  “No one,” I say, shrugging. “Just a guy from school.”

  “He’s cute.”

  “You didn’t even see him.”

  “I did, I saw him through the window. Nice truck, too.” She hesitates. “Just be careful.”

  “Mom,” I say, opening the refrigerator and surveying the contents. “You don’t have to worry about anything. He’s just a friend.” A friend. It’s not a lie. Is it? I mean, me and Brody are friends. Although he did kiss me. We still haven’t really talked about that. And I’m not sure if I’m supposed to tell him I kissed Cam or not. Cam. Ugh. I slam the refrigerator door, suddenly cranky. “There’s no food in this house.”

  “I know,” my mom says cheerfully. “I was going to go grocery shopping later.

  Want to go out to dinner?”

  “Thai food?” I ask hopefully. “At that place in the mall?”

  An hour and a half later, I’m full of chicken pad thai and shrimp dumplings, and in a much better mood.

  “Do you mind if we stop and look at some lamps at Pottery Barn?” my mom asks after she pays the bill. I wrinkle up my nose. My mom is, like, obsessed with Pottery Barn for some reason. Not that there’s anything wrong with Pottery Barn (although I prefer a more eclectic look – everything in PB looks exactly the same), it’s just that once my mom gets in there, she can never get out. Seriously, she can spend an hour deciding between two of the same lamps in different shades of tan.

  “How about I’ll meet you?” I say, even though I know when I get there she’ll only be getting started. “I’m going to wander around for a bit.”

  We make plans to meet up in an hour, and I head up the escalator and into ICING, my favorite cheap accessories store. I browse for a little while and then buy pair of huge silver hoops that will probably break apart in like three weeks, but are totally worth it since they’re only five bucks.

  On my way out, I pass the COACH store, the beautiful bags glistening under the lights in the window. I sigh, wanting to go in, but knowing it’s pointless since I can’t actually buy anything. But then I think, why not? Browsing can still be fun. At least more fun than following my mom around Pottery Barn.

  Once I’m in the store, it’s obviously apparent that I’m not going to purchase anything, since none of the salespeople approach me. Which is fine. I don’t want to have to deal with annoying salespeople. I spend a few minutes looking at the bags, all leather and cloth and smelling fresh and new. I know it’s ridiculous to spend eight hundred dollars on a purse. But they are gorgeous.

  I’m debating whether or not it would be totally inappropriate to sling one over my shoulder and try it out, when an unmistakable voice goes echoing through the store.

  “I’m looking for the poppy sequined wristlet,” Raine says. “In silver.”

  “Over there,” I hear one of the salespeople say. I quickly put the bag I’m holding back onto the shelf, but it’s too late. She’s spotted me.

  “Oh,” she says, “Hello, Natalia.”

  Teri and Becca are behind her, of course, and they narrow their eyes at me.

  Becca’s hand goes up to her face, I guess over the spot where I supposedly punched her.

  I know I should just leave, go look around in the GAP, maybe buy a sweater or some new makeup to cheer myself up. But now with The Triad right in front of me, I can’t resist.

  “So what’s the deal?” I ask. “You guys think you can just make things up about me? You think that’s okay? Why? Because Cam invited me to your stupid party?”

  Raine sighs and looks down at the wristlets, running her fingers over the sequins on a pink one. “Oh, Natalia,” she says, “I can’t believe you’re going to do this.”

  “Do what?”

  “Pretend like nothing happened.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You punched me,” Becca pipes up.

  “Oh, really?” I say. “Because yesterday you said I scratched you. And can you please explain to me how I got up and punched you without anyone realizing what was going on? Without anyone hearing anything?”

  “I heard it,” Teri says. “You attacked her.”

  “Please,” I say. I’m so angry now that I really could punch one of them in the face. I’d start with Raine, since she’s the worst of them, then move onto Becca, since if she’s already claiming I hurt her, I might as well actually do it.

  “You know, Natalia,” Raine says, her eyes never meeting mine. She’s still looking down, only now she’s moved her attention over to a row of wallets. “You should be able to admit when you’ve done something wrong. You can’t just go around pretending it never happened, or trying to deny it. That’s how people get in a lot of trouble.” She looks up at me, then, her eyes serious and her gaze piercing.

  “But I didn’t do anything,” I say, “So there’s nothing to admit.”

  She gives me a thin smile, like I’m a child she’s trying to teach. “I’ll go first,”

  she says, “I left a note in your locker on the first day you were here, telling you to stay away from Cam. I didn’t like the fact that he invited you to my house, and I thought a note would scare you.”

  Becca snorts. “Obviously not.”

  “Yes,” Raine says, “Obviously not. You decided you wanted to learn your lesson the hard way.”

  I gape at her. “Are you threatening me?”

  “I don’t have to threaten,” Raine says.

  “This is ridiculous,” I say. “I’m leaving.”

  I don’t need to put up with even a second more of this. The Triad is obviously crazy, mean girls times a thousand. They’re not playing with a full deck, and I don’t have to deal with it.

  I turn and walk quickly out of the store, but the three of them follow me.

  “Don’t be like that, Natalia,” Raine says. “Just admit what you did.” She puts her hand on my arm, and whirls me around. Her nails dig into my skin through the sweater I’m wearing. “You hit Becca. Just tell me you punched her.”

  “I didn’t punch her,” I hiss, wrenching away from her grasp.

  A woman goes by, and stops and looks at us.

  “Are you okay, miss?” she asks me.

  “She’s fine,” Raine says, and the woman nods and keeps walking.

  I push past the three of them, walking fast toward the escalator. I’m a little scared now, because for the first time, I’m starting to get the feeling that Raine is dangerous.

  I step onto the escalator, and for a moment, I’m afraid the three of them are going to step on after me. I’m mentally mapping out the way to Pottery Barn, knowing that if I can just get to my mom, I’ll be safe. But when I glance over my shoulder, they’re not on the escalator. They’re standing, all of them, leaning over the railing in front of the Coach store, looking down at me.

  I take a d
eep breath, trying to calm myself down, but it doesn’t work. My heart’s racing and my legs are jittery, and when I go to step off the escalator, my feet get tangled up underneath me. The steps keep moving, and I try again to step off, but the next thing I know, I’m falling. I catch myself with my hands, but not before my knee scrapes against the jagged edge of the bottom part of the escalator. Pain radiates through my leg.

  I get up, swearing under my breath, already seeing the small bloodstain that’s starting to seep through my pant leg. A group of teenage boys going up escalator point down at me, laughing.

  Another peel of laughter comes from upstairs, and I look up. Raine, Teri, and Becca.

  “See you at school tomorrow, Natalia,” Raine calls. She waves her fingers at me, and then they’re gone.

  Chapter Six

  Campbell

  I wake up from a fitful sleep with half-remembered dreams and look at my clock.

  It’s after ten, and for a second I wonder if I slept all night, until I see the darkness through the curtains of my bedroom window.

  Nope. I didn’t sleep all night, just a few hours. And finally I feel a little more awake and alert.

  Is this how long it takes to recover from being around Raine? I wonder. It’s been nearly twenty-four hours. A full day.

  Don’t be a jackass. You’re going to listen to Aiden? He once tried to convince you that his uncle had a collection of genuine shrunken heads that he brought back from the jungles of South America. The kid is kooky.

  So now I’m having arguments with myself. I shake my head and get up out of bed, stretching. It feels good to have my wits about me, even if I am being paranoid.

  Anyone would be paranoid after that stuff Aiden said.

  I walk softly down the stairs to the first floor. The house is quiet. Mom must already have gone to bed.

  Puttering around the kitchen, I make myself a huge turkey sandwich and then sit at the kitchen table and eat it in under two minutes.

  Maybe you should put what Aiden said to the test.

  I grab the remaining crumbs of turkey from the plate and throw them in my mouth as I ponder this.

  Like in science class. When you have a hypothesis, you construct an experiment to test it out. That’s what scientists do.

  Right now the theory is that Raine is doing something to me. Putting me under some kind of spell, whatever that means. Somehow she’s making me weak.

  So I need to test it out. Go over and see her, and then pay attention to whether or not I get sick afterwards.

  After all, right now I feel pretty much one hundred percent. What better time to see if the stuff Aiden told me is real or not?

  It isn’t real. It can’t be real. Things like that don’t happen in real life, only movies.

  I take out my cell and text Raine.

  Can I come see you tonight?

  I wait for her answer.

  I’m sitting at the table staring at the phone and nothing’s happening. Time is dragging on. I’m feeling antsy.

  Screw it. I get up and put the phone in my pocket, put my plate in the sink, and quietly leave the house out the back door.

  On my way to Raine’s, I try to think of what I’m going to say to her to explain dropping by unannounced at this time of night. Her parents shouldn’t be an issue seeing the way she handled them last time (and wasn’t that a little weird by the way?), but she might be annoyed.

  You can never tell how Raine’s going to react to anything.

  When I finally pull up to the curb near the front of her enormous house, I recognize Becca’s car in the driveway.

  Shit. That really puts a damper on things.

  I debate just turning around and driving home. There will be other chances to test Aiden’s hypothesis, it doesn’t have to be right now.

  But something tells me to stay.

  Instead of parking right out front, I drive a little ways down the street and park under the shade of a tree that pretty much obscures my car from view. Then I get out and cut through the yard of Raine’s neighbor’s house, going all the way back and into the woods.

  I feel like an idiot running around, hiding, like some pervert peeping tom or whatever. But I just don’t want to ring the doorbell and let the Triad know I’m here.

  I want to spy on them.

  But why? What can they possibly be doing?

  I don’t have an answer, just a hunch. So I make my way through the trees and bushes, until eventually I catch a glimpse of the familiar Olympic sized pool and hot tub in the backyard. The yard is lit up by powerful floodlights.

  I hear laughter and voices floating toward me, and so I continue moving forward, wanting to get as close as possible without being seen or heard.

  I creep closer, my heartbeat starting to accelerate a little as I come to the edge of the woods that border her yard.

  And now I can see the Triad clearly from my vantage point just behind a large, cropped line of shrubbery.

  “…ridiculous, thinking she has a chance. The look on her face was so priceless, Raine. Seriously.”

  That’s Becca talking. She laughs.

  The three of them are sitting out on the fancy lounge chairs and it looks like they’re drinking wine or something.

  They might even be drunk.

  “It’s just the beginning,” Raine says. “She has no idea what kind of shit storm I’m going to rain down on her.”

  “No pun intended,” Teri says.

  “Ha. Fucking. Ha.” Raine doesn’t seem to like any kind of jokes at her expense, even harmless ones.

  “I was just kidding.”

  “Whatever. Natalia’s nothing. She’s a little gnat and I’ll squash her when the time is right and I feel like it.”

  “Like, really squash her?”

  “Not literally, idiot.”

  “I know not literally, but…”

  “But what?”

  There’s a prolonged silence.

  “Like, you know…end her?” Teri asks.

  “Whatever’s easiest. I really don’t care. Now Cam on the other hand…”

  The three of them laugh for some reason, like they have some kind of inside joke-

  -and I get goose bumps. My flesh is crawling, it feels like a million ants are running up and down my arms.

  “He’s sweet.”

  “Succulent,” Becca says, giggling.

  “And so much energy! I’ve never felt anything like it, I’m telling you,” Raine says, standing and pouring herself more wine. “There’s something special about him. I feel more powerful than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

  “Prove it,” Becca says.

  “Prove it?”

  “Yeah!” Teri says, clapping. “Prove it! Show your power.”

  “I don’t have to prove anything to you dumbasses.”

  “Scared?” Becca says.

  And then suddenly one of the floodlights blows out. I can hear it shattering everywhere and half of the yard goes dark.

  The girls whistle and cheer.

  “Good enough?” Raine asks, her voice sounding wicked. “Or do you want more?”

  But I’m already creeping backward, trying not to make any sound they can hear.

  My heart is really pounding now. I can’t believe what I saw and heard.

  My mind is telling me that I must have imagined it. Because people can’t do those things. They can’t make a light bulb explode with their mind.

  That’s science fiction. It’s not real.

  It must have been a coincidence. Had to be.

  And then I’m in my car driving and at first I don’t even know where I’m going.

  To Aiden’s house to tell him he was right about everything? No. Definitely not.

  He couldn’t handle the truth. I’m not sure he even believed what he was telling me.

  And definitely not Brody. I can’t even remotely trust that guy.

  But then I realize where I have to go.

  I have to warn Natalia.

  HUS
HED

  (The Witches of Santa Anna, Book Four)

  Copyright 2011, Lauren Barnholdt and Aaron Gorvine, all rights reserved This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental

  Chapter One