by K. C. RILEY
Vye stared up in awe. “It’s your mother. The dragonfly was her Familiar.”
“A Familiar?”
“Yeah. Think of it like an animal spirit, a witch’s guide in all of this mess. I’m sure you’ll be getting one soon.”
I wiped a tear from my face with my sleeve when the swarm of dragonflies circled and swooped up into the night sky. “Would you mind if I had a minute alone? I can find my way back to the car.”
“Not at all, sweetheart. You take all the time you need.”
Vye left, and I sat at Mom’s tombstone with my legs crossed. “I’m sorry I took so long.”
I spent the next half hour talking with Mom as though she had never left, as though she was right there. And she was. There was one dragonfly that stuck around.
“All of the paranoia, the depression, and mood swings, it all makes sense,” I said. “That and moving from town to town. All this time I thought you were just being selfish. But you lost so much and you were just protecting me. Thank you.”
I miss you and love you were the last words I said before the dragonfly took off.
Vye dropped me off at school and asked me a thousand times if I wanted to stay with her for a bit. I told her I wasn’t ready, and for now, I felt more comfortable in my own bed. She understood and told me that she loved me.
I took the elevator upstairs and opened my door. I looked around the room as I thought about everything that happened since I first stepped into All Saints. The stuffed rabbit stared up at me from the desk.
I gently picked it up as I thought of Jedidiah. After kicking off my sneakers, I curled up into my bed with a box of tissues, a bunch of pillows, and Jedidiah’s stuffed rabbit. It dawned on me Jedidiah used to call him Mr. Peebles. I turned on an old movie on my laptop and hugged Mr. Peebles tighter.
For a moment, I wondered if I had made the right decision on the lake leaving Jedidiah alone when I could have stayed with him.
Two weeks went by. Outside of class, most of it was me moping and crying in my room. Things were strange between Aunt Vye and me, but that was to be expected. We decided to start over, but this time as family, which was nice. Uncle Jonas was still somewhere in South America and still impossible to get in touch with. No surprise there.
I hadn’t found the amulet and still had the mark.
Meghan was finally allowed to have visitors at the hospital. Cassie went with me to try to talk to her a couple of times, but it was always the same thing. She’d start off quiet before going into a rage about something called The Power.
My nerves felt torn, straddled somewhere between the mundane antics of schoolwork and a supernatural world where the Black Mist of death was waiting to devour and ascend me. I spent every waking minute walking on eggshells and looking over my shoulder for it. But the Black Mist never came. The diner was insane given Jake never showed up for work, or school for that matter. And not knowing where he was, seeing him, or talking to him was driving me nuts. By then, I was angrier at him for not responding to a simple text than not telling me he was a vampire. I was worried. To make matters worse, Jake and I were voted Homecoming King and Queen, a not-so-minor detail Cassie forgot to mention when I was in the hospital.
Given my near-death encounter, Headmaster Wheeler cut me a break. It was Josie that convinced him by telling him how instrumental I was in pulling off one of the best homecomings the alumni had seen in fifteen years. Even though I disobeyed his orders, I never actually showed up for the dance. So no more kitchen duty.
Speaking of Josie. There was no doubt she felt utterly betrayed by me, Cassie, Mason, and Boyd. But specifically me and Cassie. The story was we went off with the boys to Shadowick Mountain on a stupid bet that the place wasn’t haunted. Headmaster Wheeler was busy making rounds with Josie as he introduced her to the crème de la crème of the alumni. Josie was good at it—building a name for herself. And we didn’t want to take that away from her. If she only knew the truth about her boyfriend, about all of it. Both Cassie and I hated lying and getting the cold shoulder. But who could blame her? From Josie’s perspective, not only had her best friends abandoned her, but her boyfriend had dumped her on the same night without a word, then disappeared.
I agreed to keep my mouth shut. But the guilt was too much. Zander killed people, and somehow, the police needed to know. What if Duke and Charlene had family looking for them? I dialed 911 and left an anonymous tip about Charlene and Duke’s bodies in the woods. I also mentioned how they needed to check Mrs. Ellington’s cellar and look for the dead girl in her library closet. I wanted to say something about Cassie’s father, but I couldn’t.
The operator on the other line asked for my name, and I hung up. It was the first time I felt like I could breathe in weeks.
After that I went and helped Miss Lyle pick out a new puppy from the pound, a shepherd-husky mix someone had abandoned in a box on the side of the road. The poor thing was shaking when we got there. But he was perfect, one eye gold and the other blue. Miss Lyle wasted no time scooping him up and named him Kota.
There was still one more promise I needed to keep. I got with Mason, Boyd, and Cassie to make all the arrangements.
Pulling together a surprise birthday bash felt way better than thinking about dead bodies, the Black Mist, the amulet, and anything else that could go bump in the night. I would have loved to say it also gave me a chance to forget about Jake, but it didn’t. I hated Jake for being so damned complicated and missed him at the same time. No matter. Two weeks was enough of feeling sorry for myself. Headmaster Wheeler gave the okay and the boys set everything up in the woods by the lake.
It took all day, and we still weren’t done.
Mason flipped a switch that illuminated a cascade of lights that glowed from tree to tree. “Okay, they’re working. And she’s almost here.”
We were running out of time.
Cake, food, chairs, tables, linens, because she’s got to have the linens, music, and flowers. Got it. “All right, everyone get into places.”
Josie barked through the dark. “I don’t know what all the fuss is about. And is this blindfold really necessary?”
Cassie spent the entire day waving the white flag and getting Josie to talk to her. The leaves and pine needles crunched under their feet until they came to a complete stop in the dark.
“Okay,” Cassie said. “You can take it off now.”
“What the hell? I can’t see a—”
Before Josie could say another word Mason flipped on the lights, and we all said, “Surpriiiiise!”
With her mouth open, Josie gawked at all the decorations—the white linen tables with fresh-picked flowers and candlelight, and the white and pink lanterns that flickered in the darkness. Wind chimes clanked in the background, and everyone was dressed in their outfits from the Ball.
“I thought we could give it one more try. This time with everyone,” I said.
Josie was teary-eyed. “I thought you guys forgot. I thought you guys didn’t want me around.”
“Of course we do. What we did was stupid. Really stupid. Now, if you’ll kindly change into your gown, we can get this Ball started.” I led Josie behind some white linens Boyd hung for a changing room.
Josie looked at what I was wearing. “I heard about what Meaghan did to your gown. Sorry.”
“I’ll have you know this dress cost me a pretty penny.” I wore a simple wine-colored tunic dress Cassie had let me borrow.
“It looks great on you.” Josie pulled me in for a quick hug and then grabbed her gown to change.
Cassie winked at me like she was up to something, and I left them to it. Warm ballads played in the night. Trees rustled, and candles flames danced in an evening of gentle winds. I looked around at everyone enjoying themselves and smiled. It wasn’t that I had forgotten the Black Mist or ascending. It just felt good to finally get something right.
The girls stepped out and were both stunning as usual. The only difference was that Cassie was wearing her original gown from the Ball.
And how? Norah practically shredded it to a mini skirt.
Cassie leaned into my ear and said, “Let’s just say, fairy godmothers really do exist.” She then winked again.
I didn’t get it, but who cared?
Mason and Boyd escorted Josie and Cassie to the center of the dance floor. It was weird how Josie danced with Mason as though Zander had never existed. There was also something different about Mason. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. But either way, they really did make a good couple. That is if she ever gave him a chance.
My favorite song came on, and everyone grabbed a partner onto the dance floor. They deserved this, and the night was perfect. Almost perfect. I refused to think about Jake, but that was easier said than done.
“What about you?” A deep voice rolled in a quiet thunder from behind me.
My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and exploded at the same time. I inhaled deeply and turned around.
Jake stood dressed in his black and white tails and held a garment bag over his shoulder. “Before you say anything, I’m sorry. I know you’re tired of hearing that. I would be too. I also know you deserve better. And I promise to explain why I left, why I did what I did. All I ask is one dance first.”
I tried to keep a straight face, a hard face. “The café has been a mess without you.”
“Yeah. Vye is next on my list of apologies.”
“So, you’ve got a list?”
“You’re at the top.” Jake's eyes locked into mine until he broke the gaze and handed me the garment bag. “I think this is yours.”
I slightly unzipped it. It was my ball gown, the one Meghan had destroyed. “How?” I looked over at Cassie, who smiled like the devil. “You’re the fairy godmother.”
The corner of Jake’s mouth curled up into a slick smile. “What’s the point of being an angel if you can’t do a little magic?”
I wasn’t going to make this easy for him, magical gowns or not. The gesture was sweet, but I was still angry. With my poker face intact, I took the dress from his hands. “One dance. And then...answers.”
The smile on his face pressed into a flat line. “One dance. That’s it.”
Moments later, I stepped out from behind the changing room. The dress fit perfectly. Given the look on Jake’s face, it must have.
“Wait.” Jake disappeared and then reappeared in a flash with a box in his hands. He removed the cover to reveal crystal pumps that sparkled like they were made of diamonds. “May I?”
My heart swelled up into my throat as I slipped my feet into the glass slippers. They were a perfect fit. Jake then gave me his hand and escorted me onto the dance floor where Josie and Cassie were waiting with crystal crowns in their hands.
“This belongs to you,” Josie said.
“What? No. This is your night,” I said.
“This is our night.” Josie placed the sparkling crown on my head.
Cassie did the same for Jake, and everyone clapped. I didn’t know what to say and blinked back tears of feeling like there was actually somewhere, someplace, that I belonged. Who knew it would be at All Saints? And who knew it would be with Jake?
I had said one dance, but by the third song, I found myself resting my head against Jake’s chest as he pressed me closer. Jake was complicated, way complicated. But then again, so was I. The feeling of being connected to someone in ways I couldn’t explain scared the hell out of me.
“Are you okay?” Jake asked.
I sighed deeply. “Yes.”
Jake whispered in my ear, “We should talk.”
I nodded. As much as I wanted the moment to last forever, we needed to sort things out. Jake led me off the dance floor and onto the wooded trails. We strolled quietly amongst the stars while the laughter and music from the party lingered behind us.
“You were there...when I woke up in the hospital,” I said. “Why did you leave? You just disappeared. For two weeks, no word. Nothing.”
Jake stopped in his tracks. At first, he wouldn’t look at me. “I needed time to clean things up. All the evidence at the lake, the bodies Zander left behind. It’s all gone.”
I thought about my anonymous call to the police. If what Jake was saying was true, they would find nothing.
“I also needed time to think about how I’ve been lying to you.” Fangs sprang from Jake’s mouth.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
His eyes were heavy. “You don’t understand. From the first day I met you, it took everything I had to be near you. That’s why I avoided you like the plague. With you, the hunger is more than blood. It’s your soul. And it’s getting harder to control. I didn’t leave the hospital to hurt you. I left to protect you...from me. I’m damned. I always have been.”
There was something dark about Jake wanting my soul, and yet at the same time something tantalizing about it. Tempting. Riveting. “And I’m not?” I asked.
Jake rested his forehead against mine. A rush of images and glimpses of another place and time flashed behind my eyes. Flowers illuminated in light, a heavenly fragrance unlike anything I had ever smelled. Walking through a garden holding someone’s hand, Jake’s hand. I saw myself kissing Jake in a place I had never been before. Whatever was happening, I couldn’t control it or stop it. And I didn’t want to. No matter how much my mind screamed that Jake was a bad idea, my heart screamed it didn’t care.
The intoxicating scent that erupted from Jake’s skin snaked around my body, pulling me deeper into him. I stretched up to kiss him.
But he stopped me. “I can’t. We can’t. Not anymore.”
So much for a girl’s ego. “Why? Is it because of me? Because of this?” I held up the symbol at my wrist.
“No. Yes. There’s so much you don’t understand.”
The frustration of being denied heated through my face. “Well, now is your chance to tell me.”
“I found a way to free you, once and for all. That’s what I came here to tell you.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Something was off. Dark clouds gathered overhead as Jake continued to talk. “You won’t need the amulet ever again.”
The wind picked up. “I still don’t understand.”
Jake stepped back away from me as his voice cut through the wind. “Opiterum Trovatum.” The coattails and shirt he wore burned away from his body in flames of ash. He repeated the words over and over.
“No,” I said.
The Black Mist was coming, and Jake was invoking it.
“You have to trust me,” he yelled out.
The howling of the wind whipped and cut through my heart as lightning cracked through the sky. Immaculate dark wings unfolded from Jake’s back as the Black Mist lifted off the ground and encircled him.
“Don’t,” I said.
He was playing with death itself. “I’m sorry for everything. For the lies. This is the only way you’ll ever be free. I love you.”
What? Why would he do that? Say that? A tear trickled down my face. I stood there, speechless, stunned like I had been hit over the head with a bat.
My wrist burned as the mark faded to nothing. But it wasn’t gone. The mark reappeared at the center of Jake’s chest, where it burned and glowed like blue lava. Jake was invoking some kind of transference spell.
Vye had said that Jedidiah and I had been born with magical abilities. Snapping out of it, I reached deep inside of myself and tried to pull up the spark that released Norah’s spirit from Kai’s body. I held up my hand to wield it, the sensation of a black python squeezing the life out of me brought me to my knees. It felt like it was blocking my magic.
Jake screamed in agony.
I heard his voice in my mind. The bond was still there. Don’t ever forget, who you are is more than enough.
He didn’t fight. He just let it take him. And like that, he was gone. Next to Mom and Jedidiah, it was the worst silence of my life.
The music from the party trickled into the void Jake had left behi
nd. I couldn’t think. I had to do something. Vye, she came from magic.
I got off my knees. My car keys were in my room. I tried to rush past the party undetected.
“Liz? Are you okay?” It was Josie.
Cassie stood behind her, smiling with a glass of Mason’s special punch. “What’s wrong?”
They were both so happy, and that’s how it was supposed to be. I wasn’t going to take that away from them.
“I’m great.” I made a pitiful attempt to smile.
“Where’s Jake?” Josie looked over and around my shoulder for him. “Are you guys finally together?”
The night swirled around me. I couldn’t breathe. There had to be something I could do. “I’ve got to go. We’ll catch up later. Jake is waiting for me.”
I gathered my dress in my hand and took off before they could see the tears.
Once in my room, I grabbed the keys off of my desk and rushed back down to my car. The tears wouldn’t stop rolling down my face, each one stinging deeper than the one before. Jake was gone. Dead, and it might as well have been me that killed him.
I stuffed myself and the dress into Lucy and drove off.
I was soon knocking at Vye’s door. I peeped past the Closed sign. Vye was wearing headphones and bopping her head from side to side as she wiped down the tables. I knocked again.
She finally came and let me in. “What on Earth? What are you doing here? I thought you had a party?”
“He’s gone. Jake is gone.” My voice trembled and cracked in hysteria. “The Black Mist, it killed him. He gave himself to it.” My throat went numb.
“Slow down, honey.” Vye pulled the earplugs from out of her ears and shuffled me inside with a swift hand. She then closed and locked the door behind me. “You, sit here. I’ll go get us some tea. And for goodness sakes, breathe.”
Did she not hear a word I said? Who wanted tea? But she was right. I tried to slow down my breath.
The kettle whistled from the kitchen, and Vye returned with a cup and saucer in her hand. “Now careful, it’s hot.”
Hints of mint drifted into my nose, and I took another deep breath. And then another.
