Or can it? the voice in my head whispers again as my fingers seek out the pendant once more.
Memories of the day at the diner fill my head, my perception shifting to see it in another light. If I hadn’t done what I did, Sebastian and my cousins would be dead right now, and so would I. Maybe Ivy, my cousins, and Sebastian are all wrong in their assumptions of magic. Casting a dark spell doesn’t make you a dark caster, and magic in and of itself isn’t black, white, or gray. It just is. Sure, I made those vampires suffer, but in doing so I saved the ones I loved and all the ones who would have come next had the vampires won. So my eyes turned black. So what? I didn’t hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it, and when you boil it down, that’s what counts, right?
So the question is: Is what’s perceived to be dark magic really dark when it’s used for good? Ten minutes ago I would have said yes, but now… I don’t know.
Another zap of heat surges through my body beneath the pendant, leaving me feeling justified in my thoughts. Magic is magic. Good, bad, black, white, gray—every other color under the sun—it’s all the same, and I should stop beating myself up all the time over whether or not the spells I cast are evil or not. If it gets the job done and my friends and family are safe, then that’s all that matters. Who cares about the rest?
Wait. I shake my head.
Who cares about the rest? Dark magic is okay? That’s not right.
A sharp pain shoots through my skull from front to back. I stumble back into the car behind me, my palm pressed against my forehead. I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my teeth as pain ricochets throughout my brain. Flashes of light pulsate behind my lids, and I crack them open, hoping for a reprieve. Around me, the room sways and shifts, the reality of what’s in front of me blending into something buried deep within my mind until I’m no longer standing in the garage.
On the floor, several faceless people in hooded robes hover around me, their hands held over my body. The person above my head pours something hot over the skin of my chest. It burns through flesh, but I can’t scream. I can’t do anything other than listen to their mumbled chants as candlelight flickers over the darkness of the room.
“Indi? Indi, can you hear me?”
The room shifts again, moving in and out of focus until Sebastian’s face materializes in front of my own. The moment our gazes lock, the crease between his brows flattens out.
I press a palm to my forehead, rubbing circles over the space between my eyes. “What happened?”
“You passed out. Again.” Taking my chin between his finger and thumb, he turns my face side-to-side, his eyes searching over everything.
“I’m fine.” I think. A memory tugs at my consciousness, but trying to force it into anything other than a fuzzy image I can barely make out sends icepicks through my brain. I squint my eyes against the onslaught, the left one twitching to the stab, stab, stab piercing through it.
“Let me help you up.” Scooping an arm under one of mine, he lifts me to my feet. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I think so. I don’t know what happened. One minute I was thinking about my magic, and the next I was on the floor. But I feel fine now.”
“Maybe I should take you home.”
“No, really, I’m sure I’m good. It’s probably low blood sugar or something. I skipped breakfast this morning. Uncle Caleb made frittatas with sardines and black olives. No one in the world could pay me enough to eat that. Besides, we have to get back to school, and we still need to figure out what to do about Seth. Do you think he’s down there somewhere?
“I don’t know.”
“What was the something you found?” I ask again since he’s yet to answer.
His gaze drops to the ground as he scratches at his jaw.
“Is it bad?” His gaze remains on the floor, pretty much giving me my answer. “Of course it’s bad. If it wasn’t you wouldn’t be avoiding the question. You think Gavin knows what I did? That Seth told my secret, and now I’m a weapon Gavin wants to get his hands on?”
“I don’t know.” His eyes finally make their way up to meet mine. “The only thing I found was a room with a lot of blood on the floor.”
My stomach churns, every bit of color no doubt draining from my face. Blood all over the floor in a secret room in a secret section of the center can’t be a good thing. Who exactly is this Gavin guy?
I clear my throat, hoping the stomach acid I feel creeping up stays down. “Doesn’t mean it’s Seth’s blood though, right? I mean, maybe Gavin tortures monsters for information or something? And it’s some random vampire’s blood?” It’s a much more pleasant thought than the disturbing one skittering around the edges of my mind about the vampire girl having gotten loose at some point to rip apart some unsuspecting soul before being locked back up. Or worse, that Seth was bled out and experimented on to figure out how he became human again.
“His shirt was there.”
“Oh. Okay. Um. Seth was injured when he came in. Maybe things got… messy while they were trying to help stop the bleeding?”
He shakes his head. “Ava was already healing him in the van. He should have been fine by the time he got here.”
“Oh.” The room shifts beneath my feet, and I suck in a breath that doesn’t quite reach my lungs. “Um… maybe her healing didn’t work? Maybe because he was turned back human, he’s now immune to magic or something?” I know I’m grasping at straws here, but if we lose Seth, we lose all our intel on Ludvikas and I’m back to square one in finding out why he really wants me dead. Not to mention the ramifications I’ll likely face if Seth told the chasers about me. A walking, talking, vampire cure? The chasers will never let me go if they know that little tidbit. “We have to go back and find him. We have to know what happened.”
He takes hold of my arm when I start to pace. “We will, but not yet. Not when Gavin is there. It’s too dangerous. I’ll go back tonight when he’s sure to be gone.”
“You mean we’ll go back tonight.”
“No, I mean I. Today cut it too close, Indi. I don’t want him to find you down there.”
“I’m coming.” I slap a hand over his mouth to keep him from protesting. “I can whoosh us in and out of there with no one the wiser.”
“And if someone’s down there when you whoosh us in?” he mumbles against my hand.
“I didn’t think about that part.”
He starts to mumble again, and I slap on a second hand. “I’m coming with or without you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. You may as well give up arguing now.”
“You’re one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met, you know that?”
I smile sweetly as I release my hold over his mouth. “It’s a gift.”
The last bell rings just as I reach my locker. Thirty seconds later, I’m flanked by both Taylor and Paige. At his locker down the hall, Sebastian shoots me a grin and a wink. I told him this would happen.
“An all-day office assignment with Sebastian Chase? How did that go? And since when does the office have students do assignments?” Taylor asks in her usual ant-under-a-magnifying-glass way. I swear one of these times the sun is going to hit just right and I’m going to get burned.
“It was fine. They just had us sorting files.” Her penetrating stare bores into the side of my head. I can’t look at her, or I’ll crack, so I busy myself with adding books to my backpack.
“Who cares when the office started giving out assignments? The real question is, how do I get selected? I’d spend all day in a room full of files with that boy.” Paige licks her lips, her gaze raking Sebastian over from head to toe before her caramel eyes settle on me. “Unless of course he’s already taken.” She wags her eyebrows, then drops her gaze to my overstuffed backpack. “Geez, Indi, how much homework do you have?”
“Um, I’m not sure. The office gave me a paper for all the assignments I missed today, but I didn’t read it, so I thought I’d just take everything home.”
She gives it a tug. “I thin
k maybe you should read the list before you give yourself a hernia.”
A half-laugh tumbles from my mouth. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Except I don’t actually have a homework list, because there was no office assignment, and I’m lying through my teeth right now.
“You’re acting weird,” Taylor states. “Did you and New Boy spend the day making out amongst the files or something?”
I drop a book, nearly flattening a toe.
“You did, didn’t you?” Taylor leans a shoulder against my locker, gazing at me with eager eyes. “I knew there was something between you two. You protest way too much every time we confront you about it for there not to be.”
Paige sidles up beside me on the other side of my locker. “Yeah, so spill. We want all the lusty details.”
“I did not make out with Sebastian Chase in the office today.” Not a total lie. We were outside the center.
“Uh-huh. Sure. And I didn’t make out with Jacob in the janitor’s closet during study hall either.” A goofy grin covers Taylor’s face as I roll my eyes and smile. It’s a well-known fact amongst the student body that Taylor and Jacob skip their seventh period classes to make out most days in the janitor’s closet. As for our study hall teacher, I’m pretty sure he thinks Taylor has bathroom issues, since that’s usually her excuse to get out of class.
“You know we’d be cool if you decided to date Sebastian, right? You don’t have to hide it from us because you think we want you to get back together with Evan.” Paige covers her mouth with a loose fist, coughing out the words, “Like some people claim.” She gives Taylor (who rolls her eyes, despite the grin on her face) a pointed look. “I personally thought you and Evan were better as friends. Don’t get me wrong, quarterback has it going on, but you guys kind of lacked in the all-consuming sparks department. Unlike you and Sebastian. Everyone can feel the chemistry between you two when you’re in the same room.”
“Everyone?”
“Not everyone.” I follow Taylor’s line of sight all the way to Evan. Surrounded by a group of his football buddies, he barely pays them—or Kayla, much to her dismay—any attention. His smile widens the moment our gazes meet. The intense gleam in his eye sends a shiver down my back. The way he looks at me now is all wrong.
19
Jack, Liv, and I stand along the sidewalk, our eyes locked on the house before us.
“What kind of horrorfest do you think Aunt Claudia has planned for us today? I don’t think I can take scrubbing down another bathroom.” My mind flashes back to the hour I spent cleaning the tub, the sink, the walls, the floor, and—a shudder runs down my back—the toilet. How is it possible for the males in the house to miss when the bowl has such a large opening? Guys are so gross.
The front door opens up and out comes Aunt Claudia, arms crossed over her chest. Yep, she’s definitely still mad. Horrorfest here we come.
“Guess we’re about to find out,” Jack mumbles under his breath. He leads the way up the steps with Liv and me trailing behind.
A gust of wind whips between the garage and house, bringing with it a loud bang that has me clutching my chest and tripping up the last step. I whip my head to the side in search of whatever threat has found me now, before letting out a deep thank the heavens sigh. It was just the garage door swinging inward to hit the wall.
I open my mouth to mention the open door only to have the words stall at the tip of my tongue when I spot Aunt Claudia glaring at me from under a furrowed brow. I’m the only one still outside. Arms crossed over her chest, she taps the tip of her boots against the foyer floor as her eyebrow raises a fraction, the razor edge glare of her eye commanding me to come inside.
Like yesterday, Uncle Caleb is waiting with a pile of cleaning supplies. A collective groan fills the room as my cousins and I line up. He hands a bucket packed with rubber gloves, scrub brushes, and various bottles of scented cleaners to Liv. “Today you get mine and your mom’s bathroom.” Moving down the line, he stops before Jack and me. “Jack, you’re on yard duty. I want every fallen leaf bagged up and gone. Once you’re done,” he steps to the left, so he’s now face to face with me, “you can help Indi finish cleaning out the garage. You too, Liv, if you finish the bathroom in a timely manner,” he adds without ever taking his eyes off me. “As for you, Indi, I’ve left a pile of boxes and trash bags in the driveway. I want you to sort out donation items from recycling and trash as you clean. I expect everything to be organized and neat when you’re finished.”
“Hop to it, children. You’re losing daylight, and I want everyone done by dinnertime.” Aunt Claudia shoves Jack and me out the front door before I even have a chance to set down my backpack. “I’ll be out later to check on your progress, so don’t dillydally.”
“Well, guess that explains why the side door to the garage was open when we got home. It’s the gateway to cleaning hell,” I mutter as Jack and I round the porch.
“I’m sure it’s not that bad in there.” Once we reach the garage, Jack feels along the wall for the light switch, then pokes his head in the side door. “I take it back. This is going to suck. Mom and Dad are packrats. It’s worse in here than it was in the basement. No wonder they park along the street.” He takes a few steps backward toward the yard. “I’ll try to rid the yard of all the leaves as fast as I can. Fingers crossed there are no snakes in the shed when I get the rake out.” He tips his chin. “Or the garage when you start moving things around.”
A full body shiver takes me over. “You just had to say it, didn’t you? You know snakes freak me out, and now I’m going to be imagining them hiding in all the dark corners.”
His mouth pulls back in a grimace. “Sorry.”
Once inside the garage, I drop my backpack onto the floor and open up the large doors. If there are snakes in here, I want to make sure I have a quick getaway. I will not be bitten a second time. Once at nine was enough.
Thinking about snakes makes me think about Miss Landry and her swollen hand after she was bitten in history class, which then makes me think about Evan. Could he really be behind the snake in her supply closet? Or did the snake get loose from the freshman science class and make its way there all on its own, like the school officials suspect? I honestly don’t know, and it kills me to think the worst about Evan, but at the same time, I can’t shake the creepy vibes he’s been giving off since I messed with his emotions. He’s not himself anymore.
My gaze makes its way to my backpack and the counter spell inside. I planned to cast it today at school but never got the chance. If I can get to school early tomorrow, maybe I can cast it before the start of classes. I can’t keep letting things go on the way they have been any longer—especially if Evan is responsible for all the terrible things I’m silently accusing him of.
After sorting out two boxes of recycling, three boxes of donation items, and filling one large trash bag, I’ve only cleaned a quarter of the garage and somehow made a bigger mess out of the remaining three-fourths. I wipe the sweat from my brow and a cobweb from my bangs, wishing this day would end already. At this rate, I’m going to be cleaning out the garage forever. Be done by dinnertime? Ha! Aunt Claudia is obviously delusional if she thinks that’s going to happen.
“Why hello there,” I say to an old radio cassette player, half-hidden behind a box on the shelf. I pull it down, a smile spreading over my face. If I’ve got to suffer through cleaning the garage, at least music will make it more tolerable. “Let’s hope you still work.” Unraveling the cord from the back compartment, I plug it into an outlet. Static blares from the speakers as I adjust the antenna and twist the dial in search of a station. “Change” by Deftones fills the space.
“Old school Deftones. I dig it.”
The hairs on the back of my neck rise one by one as chills race over my body. The light of the sun over the floor at my feet shrinks backward with the grinding sound of the garage door closing. I turn around to find Evan leaning against it, a small smile tugging at his mouth.
�
��Finally got you alone.”
My heart jumps into my throat. “Evan.” I swallow hard and smile, praying my voice doesn’t crack. “What are you doing here?”
“Hoping to hang with you. I miss our time together. As friends, of course,” he adds with a fifty-watt smile. “But lately, I feel like you’ve been blowing me off. You haven’t been blowing me off, have you, Indi?” His gaze penetrates straight through me, daring me to deny it when we both know I can’t because I have been avoiding him.
“I’m sorry. I’ve just been really busy. And then there’s all the family stuff I’ve been dealing with,” I say, falling back on the lie I gave him on the day we broke up. The same one I’ve been spewing to my friends to explain my weird behavior. All I wanted was to keep them safe from the supernatural world I fell into, but all I’ve really done is dig myself deeper and deeper into a hole. Evan’s not Evan anymore, and my friends are growing suspicious.
“Riiiiight… your long lost dad… whom you’ve never met. How are things with dear old dad and his troubles?” His eyes rake over me in a way that’s almost tangible. It makes my skin crawl. “The bad guys he’s involved with ever come knocking on your door?”
“Um, I’m not really supposed to talk about it. It’s still an open case.” My gaze darts to the open side door as my mind races over how I can get there without it looking like I’m trying to run away.
“You can trust me.” He takes a few steps closer, and I take a few steps back.
“I know I can. It’s just hard to talk about, you know? I’m still wrapping my head around things.”
“Maybe I could help.”
I back into a bicycle and knock it over. It bangs against the hard concrete, and I flinch. I swallow hard, hoping he doesn’t pick up on the unease gripping my insides. “Maybe, but right now I really need to get back to cleaning before I get into any more trouble with Aunt Claudia.”
“You? In trouble?” He pokes me in the belly, then runs his finger along my abdomen as he moves around me to pick up the bike I knocked over. He hangs it on the rack on the wall. “I find that hard to believe. Squeaky-clean Indiana Bellamy doesn’t get into trouble.” The teasing gleam in his eyes shifts into something darker as he stalks toward me. “You’re the good little girl. Straight A’s. Never misses curfew. Doesn’t lie to her friends, or sneak off with a guy who’s no good for her.”
Of Darkness & Light: Blood Descent Book 2 Page 19
