With Cross & Charm

by D.L. Miles

  Chapter 13

  Ithinara decides it's time to talk, and she wants more than just thinking things at me, she wants to talk face to face.

  It's a strange feeling to talk to yourself in the mirror, especially when it talks back. Delilah once saw Ithinara talk to me through the mirror at school; of course at the time neither of us knew it was possible. My reflection moves without me, and the eyes are different; that's how I can tell. So while I'm at Delilah's house we go into the bathroom and let Ithinara do what she wants.

  My visage changes in the mirror. The eyes become larger, the iris wider and more green, the pupils narrow down just a bit. My brow gives more emotion than I could ever display, and it displays a hateful version of myself. Spite, anger, and arrogance all rolled into two eyes.

  “So creepy,” Delilah mumbles. “What do you want?”

  Ithinara rolls her eyes. “We need to discuss the Steele’s.”

  “Why? You got a crush on Cain too?” Delilah asks. “I don't blame you; he's hot in that dangerous sort of way.”

  “His family hunt our kind, Willa,” my reflection says, “they won't spare you because you haven't killed anyone. Which brings me to my next point—”

  “I'm not killing anyone,” I groan. “We've been through this.”

  Ithinara's brow lowers into a glare. “The time has come; it is now or not at all. You'll thank me when it's over.”

  “When someone's dead? When Cain is dead?” I whisper. “Why would I ever thank you for making me do something so horrible?”

  Her teeth grind. I tell her, “I can't just kill someone; I'm not that kind of—”

  “Anyone can kill under the right circumstances,” she interrupts. She adds quietly, “Anyone can go against what they believe.”

  “Why won't you just tell me why?” I ask. “Just tell me!”

  “Not until you agree!” She shrieks and smashes a fist against the mirror. It breaks under the pressure, a spider web crack reaching to all corners. Above it the light bulb flickers in and out of life, before it finally settles on a dim yellow.

  Delilah and I are speechless; Ithinara has never done something like this before. My reflection is breathing heavily, green eyes staring into my own with such fury I can feel it burning through my own veins. Ithinara removes her fist from the concave space and lays it flat against the surface...it slides down until she lets it hang at her side.

  “I'm never going to agree,” I say, “so why don't you just get out?”

  She looks down, her snarl gone. A low chuckle comes from her throat. “Not until you agree,” she whispers.

  The image blurs a bit, my eyes beginning to return to normal. But Ithinara doesn't return to my thoughts until she says, “He won't have any mercy for you, you lovesick child. He is a hunter, and he will take joy in my death, in both our deaths.”

  The air stills, and I'm staring at my own eyes.

  “Cain wouldn't actually kill you,” Delilah assures me. “He always asks about you; no way he’d go psycho-killer.”

  “Unless he thought I was a psycho-killer,” I say. “Wait, he asks about me? He’s not just asking if I’m going to steal his car again, is he?” And when did Delilah and Cain start talking?

  Delilah wiggles her eyebrows. “He does indeed. You’re dating aren’t you? I mean, he did kiss you.”

  “I don’t—we’re not dating,” I admit. “Cain is charming, and attractive in so many ways but he’s also a little…I don’t know, off. Sometimes I feel like he knows exactly what I am, and he’s just playing me.”

  “If he knew that Ithy was around then wouldn’t he have already done something about it?” Delilah questions. Ithinara hisses quietly at her nickname. “I mean, wouldn’t any of them have done something?”

  I furrow my brow. “Maybe.” I still feel there’s something I’m missing. Something about the Steele family is missing, and I always assumed it was because they’re hunters. But Cain is different, even from them; it’s like he’s toying with me.

  I rest my head in my hands, covering my eyes. “She took over without any effort,” I tell Delilah. Beth is waiting outside in the car; she’s always hated seeing just how real Ithinara was. So did I, really. I feel it would be so much easier if my childhood doctors were right and she was a figment of my imagination. But she isn’t.

  “It’s probably from your accident,” Delilah suggests. “I mean, you’re on pain killers, right? Those things mess with memories.”

  I’m not. “Why does it have to be Cain?” I ask, more to God than Delilah. “Why does he have to be a hunter, and the one she wants dead?”

  Delilah doesn’t have an answer, and for once it stops her from talking without thinking. “It sucks, I know. But maybe…maybe him being a hunter is a good thing.” She wraps an arm around my shoulders and shakes me. “Beth even said that he’s different.”

  I look at the clock atop her stove and see we’ve already skipped first period. I wonder if Cain is curious why I wasn’t there. My body stands on its own, and I’m not sure if it’s because of Ithinara, or I’m just too out of touch with the world. I think it’s the latter.

  “We should go,” I announce. “I’ll get that book back this afternoon, and then get rid of her!”

  Ithinara grunts, almost as if she’s in pain, but says nothing. Delilah and I find Beth in the car, texting her boyfriend. It then occurs to me to ask if he’s involved. “Is Joe a hunter too?”

  Beth flinches so bad that she drops her phone between the seats. She struggles to get it back, twisting her arm into the wrong directions. “D-Don’t be silly,” she stammers. “He could never be a hunter.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “His mother is.”

  I swallow loudly. “She is?”

  “But that’s it,” Beth says, pulling her phone up. She quickly buckles into the seat and backs out of the driveway. “It’s us, the Steele’s, and Joe’s Mom. He doesn’t know anything, so don’t mention it.”

  “Wasn’t gonna,” Delilah says. “Any other secrets you wanna divulge?”

  I’m curious too if Beth is still hiding things from us. She shakes her head as she drives, shrugging her small shoulders up and down. “Not that I can think of.”

  “If Joe isn’t a hunter, but his mom his,” I theorize, “is Cain’s mother a hunter, too?”

  “All the Steele’s are,” Beth admits. “But again, they’re retired.”

  “I don’t think it’s something you just ignore if you see it.” I moan. “Will I even be able to enter their house?”

  “Of course,” Beth laughs. “They don’t live in a church. Besides, they all think you’re normal. Ariel even likes you; she told me so herself last night.”

  “She does?” I question. “Why? I crashed her son’s car as far as she knows.”

  “She thinks you’ll be a good influence on Cain,” Beth says. “I might have talked you up a bit in hopes of throwing them off. It’s kind of hard to have a conversation with her…”

  “Knowing we’re enemies?” I suggest. The rest of the ride to school is quiet. I think in a way I’ve shamed Beth into silence.

  I think she knows she’s scared me a bit. If Beth can barely talk to someone she’s known for so long, how can I have an entire meal with Ariel?