she says, sighing. She takes a bite of cake, licking every bit of frosting from the fork. “I think Lancaster’s a From Afar.”
“A From Afar?”
“Yeah,” she says, “A guy that looks good from afar. Cute, on the football team, stuff like that. But once you get to know them, you find out, like, a million unattractive things about them. Things you wouldn’t have known if you’d just kept noticing them from afar.” She looks across the room to where Lancaster’s standing by the punch bowl.
“Like the fact that they spiked the punch.”
“He didn’t.”
“He did. Lame, right? I mean, how 1980s movie can you get?”
“Well, you have to give yourself some credit,” I tell her. “You asked him out.
Which is amazing.”
“True,” she says. “I am kind of proud of myself for that. And at least now I don’t have to waste any time pining for him.”
“Exactly,” I say. “Think about how horrible it would have been if you’d secretly lusted after him all year.”
Chelsey goes walking by, wearing a long turquoise dress, holding hands with some kid I don’t recognize. “She still mad at you?” I ask.
“Yup.” Chelsey and Adrianna are in a fight, since Adrianna was supposed to ride over to the dance tonight with Chelsey. But when Adrianna asked Lancaster to be her date, and he said yes, she decided to go in his limo. So then Chelsey got mad and said that it was ridiculous that just because Lancaster was popular that Adrianna had to go with him. And Adrianna said no, it was because he was the guy, and besides, he’d already paid for the limo. And then Chelsey said that was sexist, and Adrianna said it wasn’t, and then Chelsey told her not to talk to her ever again. Which is a little dramatic.
“Go talk to her,” I say, as I catch Chelsey sneaking looks at Adrianna out of the corner of her eye.
“You sure?” Adrianna asks. “Will you be okay by yourself for a second?”
“Of course.” I gesture to the table. “I’ll eat my cake. And Brody’s too, if he’s not back in time to stop me.”
“Thanks.”
I watch as she makes her way across the room and over to Chelsey. The two of them start to talk, Chelsey moving away a few steps away from her date. But she still looks mad. In fact, their conversation looks like it’s getting a little heated, and then Chelsey gestures to the doors of the ball room. The two of them walk outside to continue their conversation. That can’t be good. Anytime a conversation has to be moved outside, it’s not on the right track.
“Don’t even think about eating my cake,” Brody says. He sits down next to me, and sets two glasses of punch down on the table.
“The punch is spiked,” I tell him.
“Lancaster?”
“How’d you know?”
“Old trick.” He smiles.
“Why does this homecoming dance seem like a prom?”
“You think this is like a prom?” he asks. “You haven’t seen anything yet. Wait until the real prom.”
“Even worse?”
“Way worse.”
I take another bite of cake and scan the crowd, looking for Cam. Or Raine. But I don’t see them. Or Becca. Or Teri. Or Aiden.
“I don’t see Cam,” I say, suddenly nervous. I shift on my chair, trying to get a better look at the crowd.
“Relax,” Brody says. “I saw him on my way to the bathroom. Him and Aiden were on their way back to the limo.”
“For what?”
“Said they had some shit they needed to talk about.”
“Was Raine with them?”
“No,” Brody says.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I relax a little. If Cam wasn’t with Raine, then it’s okay. Maybe him and Aiden got some information out of the Triad, maybe they were on their way back to the limo to discuss it in private. Maybe –
“This party,” Lancaster says, dropping down in the chair next to Brody, “Sucks.”
He stinks of alcohol, and there’s sweat on his forehead.
“How much have you had to drink, Lancaster?” Brody asks.
“Enough,” Lancaster slurs. He reaches across the table and holds his hand out to me. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m your date, Lancaster.”
“I’m Natalia,” I say, opting not to take his hand. “And you’re not my date.” I think about reminding him that he’s Adrianna’s date, but honestly, she’s better off not having anything to do with him for the rest of the night. Plus she’s still gone, talking to Chelsey somewhere.
“You’re really drunk, Lancaster,” Brody says. He sighs and looks at me. “I should probably take him outside. If anyone catches him, he’ll get suspended.”
“I’ll go with you,” I say, not wanting to be left alone at the dance. Not only that, but I’m kind of afraid to be without him.
“You sure?” Brody asks. “You don’t have to come.”
“Are you kidding? I welcome the chance to get out of here.”
I start to follow them outside. As we walk through the lobby, Lancaster tries to moon a girl talking on her cell phone.
“Haha,” Brody says, pushing him along. “Lancaster, you kidder.”
“I’m not kidding,” Lancaster says. “My ass is serious. Serious as a fucking HEART ATTACK!” He bellows the last part, but we’re outside now, so his voice does nothing but echo into the night.
I actually don’t mind his antics. It’s so normal that it feels almost safe. And it’s keeping my mind off Cam and Raine and all the other crazy stuff that’s going on.
Our limo is right in front, parked up against the curb. I know it’s our limo because we’re the only ones who took a limo to the dance. Apparently Raine likes to make a big spectacle. Not that I’m surprised.
“Hey,” our driver says. He’s leaning up against the car, smoking a cigarette and wearing a top hat. He looks at Lancaster. “Homeboy can chill in the car, but if he gets sick, it’s a hundred bucks.”
“That’s okay,” Brody says, but the driver goes to open the car door. Great. Now it’s going to be me, Brody, Cam, Aiden, and a drunk Lancaster all in the limo together.
I’m about to beg off and go back to the dance to find Adrianna, when I see it. A white butterfly, perched on the side of the limo. A chill moves up my spine.
And so when the driver opens the door, I push by Brody and peer inside. The car is empty.
“Brody,” I say slowly. “Where are Cam and Aiden?”
“They must have gone back inside,” he says. He’s easing Lancaster into the limo now.
“Did two of the guys who were with us earlier go back into the dance?” I ask the driver.
“Nobody’s been out here since I dropped you off,” the driver says. He shrugs and tosses his cigarette onto the sidewalk, stomping it out with the heel of his shoe. He walks around to the drivers side, and slides inside.
“Brody,” I say. “The driver just said nobody’s been out here.”
He’s still distracted. He barely glances at me. “Well, maybe they never made it to the limo. I don’t know. Lan—hey.” Lancaster’s foot kicks up from inside the car and Brody steps back to avoid getting kicked.
“Brody,” I say, my voice catching. “Tell me the truth.”
He’s ignoring me though, trying to deal with Lancaster, laughing and trying to get him to stay in the limo.
White hot anger is building up inside me. Rage. Humiliation. Betrayal. It’s all coming together to form a hard knot in the pit of my stomach. “Brody, where’s Cam?”
“I already told you, I don’t know, “ he says again. He finally shuts the door and looks at me.
“Don’t lie to me, “ I say, and then it’s like something explodes. It’s coming out of me, a wave of fury and hatred. Brody takes a step toward me, but as my gaze locks on his, he stumbles back and slams against the limo. Hard.
“What the fuck?” he says.
“Brody, “ I say again. “Where is
Cam?”
“Natalia,” he says, still on the ground. “You have to leave them be.”
“What is she doing to him?” My voice sounds calm and measured, but inside, I’m screaming.
“She needs to do it,” Brody says. “She needs to do it or there will be consequences. Bad ones. A war. You’ll be hurt.”
“What is she doing to him?” And now I really am screaming. Brody tries to stand up, but the white hot fire is back, burning out of me, and he falls to the ground again.
The butterfly on the car turns black. And then it flutters up, into the night, coming to rest on my shoulder. I turn around and start to run. Back into the lodge.
I have to find Cam.
RUINED
(The Witches of Santa Anna, Book Seven)
by Lauren Barnholdt & Aaron Gorvine
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
Natalia
I’m rushing back into the lodge, my heart pounding, adrenaline coursing through my veins. Cam. He’s all I can think about. I have to find him, to save him, to keep Raine from doing whatever she’s doing to him. It was stupid to believe Brody, to trust him, when Cam warned me not to. I run back into the ballroom, scanning the crowd, hoping that I’ll see Cam. But of course I don’t.
I don’t see Raine either. Or Becca. Or Aiden. I keep searching, praying, hoping I‘ll see someone, anyone who can help me. My eyes are looking, moving, faster and faster even as I try not to panic. At one point I think I see Derek, standing by the door in the back of the ballroom, but I blink and he’s gone. I feel like I’m going crazy, that I’m losing my mind, that I might just fall apart, collapse to the floor and start crying And then I spot Teri. She’s over in a mass of bodies, jumping up and down to the music, dancing to some rhythmic pop song that’s pounding through the speakers.
I fight my way through the crowd and tap her on the shoulder. She turns around, her face sweaty, her blonde hair messy from all the jumping and dancing. Her smile falters when she seems me. “Ugh,” she says, “What do you want?”
“I need to talk to you,” I tell her.
“Fuck you.” She turns back around, but I grab her shoulder and pull her toward me, rougher than I need to. I make sure to dig my nails into the flesh of her shoulder.
“You want to talk to me,” I say, concentrating my whole energy on it. “And you’re going to tell me everything you know.”
“I’m not telling you shit.” But her voice is faltering now, her face starting to go slack, her eyes starting to look dead.
“Yes, you are.”
She starts to say no, but then she nods. I keep my hand on her shoulder, steering her out into the hallway outside of the ballroom. I push her roughly up against the wall, and stand in front of her so that she can’t get away.
“Where are they?” I ask.
“Who?” Her eyes are moving back and forth, her pupils dilating like crazy, and I can tell she’s trying to fight me off.
“Raine and Becca,” I say. I focus on her eyes. “Where did they take Cam?”
“Upstairs.” She bites down on her lip, scared.
“Show me.”
I keep my hand on her shoulder and follow her up the spiral staircase, into a long hallway filled with heavy mahogany doors. Teri turns right, then left, then right again.
The walls are lined with mirrors, and when I look at my reflection, I can see a flock of butterflies around my head.
Teri leads me down so many hallways and up so many stairways that I start to get nervous. I’m thinking about turning back when finally, she stops in front of a door.
It opens into some kind of library or study, an old room filled with leather couches and dusty books. The smell of marijuana hits my nose. But the room is empty.
“They were here?” I ask Teri.
She nods.
I take a step inside, my eyes falling on a jewel encrusted lighter that’s sitting on one of the heavy wood tables. I pick it up, running my finger over the glittery beads. On closer inspection, I see that they’re set up in a pattern. A pattern of a butterfly. I set it back down.
They were here.
But they’re not anymore.
“Where did they go?” I ask.
“I don’t know.” She looks dazed, confused. “They took him and Aiden,” she says simply, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Becca and Raine?”
“Yes.” She picks up the lighter from the table and I snatch it out of her hand. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not taking any chances.
I grab her shoulders, resisting the urge to shake her. “Where are they now?”
“I told you, I don’t know,” she says, and shrugs.
“Tell me where they are.” I’m looking in her eyes, for any sign that I might be losing my grip on her But she’s still blank, leading me to believe that she really doesn’t know where they are.
“I. Don’t. Know,” she says. “And besides, you can’t do anything about it.”
“Can’t do anything about what?”
“About them. Raine’s making Cam hers. Forever. And you can’t stop it.”
“You’re going to help me find them,” I say. “Okay?” She doesn’t say anything, and I shake her gently.
She nods.
We walk out of the room and into the hallway. I shut the door behind me, not wanting anyone to know we were here. “Where should we go first?” I ask Teri.
She shrugs. Her eyes look bored and empty, and her shoulders are hunched forward, making her small frame look even smaller.
I concentrate as hard as I can. “Teri,” I say, “Where would Raine and Becca have taken them?”
“I don’t know,” she says, an edge creeping into her voice this time. “Maybe a bedroom?”
We start to check, opening doors up and down the hallway. Bedrooms. Offices.
Libraries, bathrooms, rooms full of junk. Each one is empty. We keep looking, moving faster, peering into closets and bathtubs. I’m starting to get frustrated when I catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. A flash of black. Movement.
I turn around. Derek. Behind me. In the hall. My first instinct is to panic, to run, to get away from him. And in that moment, that split second, I’m so thrown that I lose my concentration. I can feel my focus draining away, and Teri turns and starts running down the hall, back toward the spiral staircase that leads down to the dance.
“Teri!”
I yell. But she’s gone.
And I’m left there, alone with Derek.
He halves the distance between us in just a few seconds, stepping out of the shadows in a black hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans. “Hello, Natalia,” he says. And then he grins.
Chapter Two
Campbell
When I come to, I’m being dragged across the ground.
My head is still foggy, but starting to clear a little.
“He’s heavy, I need to stop,” I hear her say. Raine. Of course. It’s always Raine.
I open my eyes just enough to see her standing at my feet, hands on her hips, breathing like she just ran the 100-yard dash.
Becca is a little ways in front of Raine, and she’s dragging what looks at first like a mannequin. In the darkness and with my eyes half-closed, I can barely make it out.
“Want to switch? Aiden’s way smaller. And I don’t just mean his you-know-what.” She laughs.
“Really? I think we can do without the sexual humor right now,” Raine says.
“We need to get them to the clearing.”
“I feel strong,” Becca tells her. “Like I could run a marathon.”
“Just keep going, I’ll catch up,” Raine says, and bends down, grabs my feet. She hoists my legs and I try to stay relaxed and still.
And then slowly, slowly, she starts dragging me again. I can’t believe she
’s able to move me—I’m about two hundred pounds—but somehow she’s doing it.
I can feel the wet grass as I slide through the blades. The sky above me is a canopy of bright stars and darkness. I desperately try to fight off sleep, as a wave of exhaustion rolls over me. For an unknown time I go unconscious.
And then suddenly I’m awake again, only this time the canopy of sky has been replaced by forest and trees.
“Finally,” Raine says, dropping my legs and brushing off her hands.
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