“Do you remember anything?”
“Last thing I remember was falling to the ground and seeing two sharp fangs.”
“What about before that?”
I leaned back on my heels, trying to recall what had occurred before I’d fallen. Then it hit me. My hand fell from my chest to the dirt for support.
“I-I remember finding the bush we were looking for, and then a dark figure loomed over me. I couldn’t see him properly,” I said, looking off into the forest, afraid that he might still be lurking around.
Killian swore under his breath. He stood up and started pacing.
“What happened to your arms, Killian? Did that person get you?”
“No. I, uh, I tripped and fell into a bush,” he muttered quickly. But I knew straight away something wasn’t adding up. Those injuries couldn’t come from tripping into a bush. He didn’t sound too convincing; he was hiding something from me, and I would get to the bottom of it.
Something wet dripped onto my leg, bright red blood. I quickly looked up to Killian, who was standing over me. I reached up, grabbing his arm and pulling him down to the ground. It was bleeding; deep cuts running the whole length of his arm. Poor thing. I rubbed over one of his cuts with my fingertip, and he flinched, trying to pull back, but I pulled harder, causing him to fall farther into me. My eyes dared to look up to find him only inches from my face. He leaned his forehead against mine and breathed in deeply.
“I’m so sorry, Reagan,” he said between breaths, his eyes darted downward.
I leaned in, my lips brushing against his. He kissed me back lightly. One second our lips were tightly locked together in a hungry embrace, the next, he was gone. I looked around, trying to find him. He was leaned up against the tree with his hands folded.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, barely audible, but I heard him. Why did he keep apologizing? Nothing that had happened was at all his fault, was it?
Just then Laurel appeared from within the forest, looking as white as a ghost. She ran the last few steps and kept nervously looking around her.
“What the hell happened before? I heard you screaming, then I turned around and saw a black figure flying away.” She shifted from one foot to the other.
“You saw him?”
“Well, I didn’t exactly get to see who it was, but I saw someone in a black cloak fly off through the air. Is that who we were looking for?”
“I think so,” I admitted, but I couldn’t be sure. It made sense that it was who had been breaking in. Who else could it be?
“Let’s keep this to ourselves until we figure it out,” Killian said, his voice laced with concern. He kept looking around as if waiting for the figure to pop out again.
“There you lot are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Mrs. Wellward said, coming up behind us. Laurel jumped, sliding in next to me. Mrs. Wellward stared at Killian, looking closely at his injuries. She shook her head.
“What happened to you?”
“I tripped and fell over.” Killian was quick to answer.
“Ok, did you find anything?” she asked.
Each of us looked to one another, trying to figure out what to say. We didn’t exactly have time to work that out. Killian rubbed the back of his neck.
“Reagan found the bush and called us over here,” he said, sounding not one bit suspicious.
I needed to get some pointers from him. Me, I was a hopeless liar. That was why Killian stepped up to spin the lie to Mrs. Wellward. She stayed silent for an awkward minute. My chest tightened, thinking that she saw right through the bullshit.
But then, all of a sudden, she nodded her head. “Good job, Reagan. We’ll look into it. Lead the way.”
Killian walked off ahead and we followed silently behind him. Killian stopped in front of the bush and showed it to Mrs. Wellward. We stood back, Laurel kept looking around her brows drawn together.
“That’s it, perfect.” Mrs. Wellward clapped her hands together. She checked her watch and promptly turned and started walking away.
“We need to get back to the school urgently; something’s come up. You can report back to Principal Grayson later.”
We followed her back in silence. What happened at the school? I wondered to myself. Killian was on my right, and Laurel to my left, but we didn’t say a word the whole walk back. The school came into view, but it was dead quiet. I glanced down at my wrist, checking the time. It was already noon. Time had flown by while we’d been out in the woods. But at least we had accomplished our mission early.
Just as we reached the back entrance, Killian slid his arm around my shoulders and gave it a tight squeeze. I looked up at him, my brows drawn together.
He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Everything will be okay, Reagan. You just have to trust me, no matter what.”
I wanted to ask what he meant, but suddenly the doors opened. My attention was drawn there just in time to see the last two people I’d ever expect.
My parents.
“Mom? Dad?”
Killian dropped his arm from my shoulder and took a step back. My heart started pounding. They were glaring straight at Killian. If looks could kill, I thought.
Killian and Laurel said a quick goodbye and left me standing there.
My parents stood there watching them leave. I closed the distance between us, forcing a small smile and pulling my father in for a tight hug. He smelt of home, lavender and sage. I sighed. He pulled back and kissed me on my forehead. My mother looked at me, shaking her head in disgust. She spun around and walked back inside the school. Oh, no.
We followed her inside and into a spare classroom that was unoccupied. As soon as my father shut the door, my mother turned around, her cheeks a flaming red.
“What were you thinking, Reagan? Getting close to a vampire? It’s forbidden! You know we don’t dare mix with them—especially him. Not to mention you killed another innocent person. Who are you?” She crossed her arms over her chest in disgust.
My heart sank at her words. I hadn’t meant for things with Killian to progress so quickly. I knew the rules better than anyone, but when the pull was so strong, it was hard not to get drawn in—and what did she mean especially him? She was right about Christine, I had killed another innocent person.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, ashamed.
I looked to my father, who had stayed silent. He opened his mouth to speak just as the door flew open. Principal Grayson walked in.
“You are all required in my office,” she said, walking off. We followed her out.
“This isn’t over, Reagan,” my mother said. “This is a serious offense to not only us, but your family and our whole coven. You won’t be staying here a second longer, mark my words.”
Her words caused me to stop my advance toward the door. I turned around and there wasn’t an ounce of regret in her eyes. She’d meant every single word.
My days here at Wildwood were coming to an end.
17
I waited in my room while my parents spoke privately with Principal Grayson. I’d been in her office at the beginning of the talk, but at one point my father had asked me to wait in my room so the ‘adults’ could work this out. I didn’t know what that meant. I couldn’t even imagine how he thought he could get me out of this punishment. I mean, it was either this or prison, right?
Rascal sat on the windowsill, staring at the woods. He found something out there very interesting, but I wasn’t in the right mindset to figure out what it was.
When the door opened, I jumped. But it wasn’t my parents. It was Killian.
I stood up from my bed, wide-eyed, and hurried to meet him. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to see you.”
“My parents will flip out if they catch you in here. You should go.”
“Is that what you want?”
My brow creased. “What do you mean?”
“Do you want me to go away?” His gaze dropped to the floor. “Reagan, I know there’s
been some turbulence between us, but I think you know how… how much I like you.”
My breath caught in my throat. I didn’t know what to say. “I… uh…”
“When I heard your mother say she was going to take you out of the school, it was like someone had removed my heart. You can’t imagine the sadness I felt envisioning you gone.”
He reached out and took my hands in his.
“But… how did you hear her say that? We were in a classroom by ourselves.”
The corner of his mouth twitched upward. “Super hearing.”
“Oh.” I bit back a laugh. His mention about super hearing made me think about his other super powers. “Hey, your injuries.”
“I’m fine now.”
“But… you’re a vampire. How were you hurt so badly?”
It was then I noticed the tear in his shirt. It was a black shirt, so I hadn’t taken note of the blood until now. I pushed the material aside to find a healing wound on his chest.
“Killian, you’re hurt.”
“No. It’s okay. I’m healing.”
“How did this happen? And why is it taking longer than usual for you to heal?”
He shook his head. “I wish we had time to talk about it all, but to cut it short, when a vampire is staked, he’s weakened. His powers are almost nullified in that moment, and we suffer like humans do. Well, almost like humans. We do heal eventually.”
“You were staked?” My head spun, trying to grasp what he’d told me.
“There’s no time. That’s not what I came here to talk to you about. I need to tell you how I feel about you. Before you go.”
All other thoughts left my mind. We locked gazes, and all I saw—all I wanted to see—was him.
His thumb grazed over my hand in a circle. “I’ve grown to care about you, Reagan. I know that seems a bit crazy because we haven’t known each other that long, but there’s something about you—maybe it’s just the chemistry between us. It makes me feel like I’ve known you for decades.”
I let out a small, nervous laugh, my eyes trained on the floor. The next thing I knew, his finger was on my chin, lifting it gently. And then his lips were on mine, softly at first, but then almost hungrily pressing against my mouth. A part of me anticipated the feel of his teeth—his fangs. I didn’t back away. His arms enveloped me, and his hand stroked the small of my back. I felt lightheaded, like I was floating. When I dared to peek, I actually was floating. Killian had somehow lifted us off the ground. Or was this my magic?
I gasped, breaking the kiss, and fought not to lose balance.
“Was that you?” I asked.
His mouth opened, like he was about to answer, but then my dorm room door opened again.
Laurel stood there, her brows raised. For a second, she didn’t say anything, but then she hurried into the room. “I don’t know what you two are up to, but your parents are headed up the stairs.”
I backed quickly away from Killian. “You better go.”
“Please don’t leave without saying goodbye,” he said. “Promise me.”
“I don’t even know if Grayson agreed to let me leave.” I shook my head in disbelief. “Why would she?”
“There’s no time for discussion,” Laurel said, grabbing Killian and pushing him out of the room. “You’ll figure it out later.”
She slammed the door behind him and turned to me.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“No.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “My parents are almost here, so believe me when I say this is a nightmare for both of us.”
The door opened once more, and this time my parents stood there, staring at me. My mother was wringing her hands together, and my father kept breathing heavily through his nose. I could only stand and wait, wondering what fate I was being handed.
“We’ve cleared it all up,” my father said. “You can start packing your things.”
It took a moment for me to be able to breathe, let alone answer him. “What do you mean? Am I… Am I going home?”
“Yes, immediately,” my father said, linking his hands behind his back.
“But what about my sentence?” I asked.
“Principal Grayson has agreed—with the help of a generous donation to her school—to allow you to return home under the terms that you will be on house arrest. You must remain within the confines of our house with all your privileges taken away until you’ve served your sentence.”
I blinked, letting the words make their way into my brain. I was having a hard time believing them.
My father clapped his hands together twice. “Come on now. Pack your things.”
“But… but what generous donation? I didn’t think we had enough money for that sort of thing.”
“We’ve borrowed from my sister’s husband,” my mother said, looking flushed. “I didn’t want to—and your father is way too proud to have asked—but this was an emergency situation. And seeing how close you were with that… that student… it was obviously the right decision.”
“Yes, the sooner we get you out of here,” my father said, “the sooner we can stop this chaos from exploding around you. Classmates dying, forbidden connections with vampires, and goodness knows what else you’ve gotten yourself mixed up with. It all ends now.”
“What about Rascal?” I asked.
“Who?” my mother asked back.
“My familiar. My pet.”
“I’m sorry, Reagan,” my father said. “You’ll have to leave it.”
His words stung, and I pressed on my chest to stop my heart from hurting.
My mother made a gesture for me to hurry up and pack, so I turned away from them to get my suitcase. I caught Laurel peeking at me from behind her curtain of hair. I couldn’t imagine what she must have thought of this. I wanted so much to apologize to her once again, to assure her it was not her fault Christine had died. But I was being watched like a hawk by my parents, so all I could do was pack my things.
My father opened the door and waited impatiently for me to finish. Once I got the last of my things in my suitcase, I rushed to Rascal and pet his head. He looked up at me curiously, sniffing the air. I turned to Laurel.
“Bye, Laurel. I… I hope you’ll be okay. Please look after Rascal for me.”
She lifted her head. The smallest of smiles showed on her face, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Sure. You too.”
My chest felt as if it was hollow. I wanted to hug her and tell her I wished her well. I wanted to give her my contact information so she could call me. I wanted to tell her to tell Killian goodbye for me.
Oh, God. Killian.
He’d made me promise not to leave without saying goodbye. But how was I going to do that? There was no way my parents were going to let me out of their sights. Rascal tried to run toward me, but Laurel picked him up, my chest tightening at the sight.
With heavy dread, I dragged my suitcase to the door of my room and followed my father to the stairs. I kept turning my head left and right, scanning the halls and the doorways, but there was no sign of Killian. As my father carried my suitcase down the stairs, I held on to the hope that Killian would be near the door to see me off, but we reached the main floor, and he was nowhere to be seen.
Principal Grayson stood at the entrance with a paper in her hands. “Mr. Darkana, here are the stipulations of our agreement. Her assignments will be sent via email. You are to send me an update once a week on Reagan’s progress, and I will make rounds every other month for a check-in during the term of her sentence. If all the points are followed to the end of term, there will be a board meeting with your family to decide if Reagan will be allowed to be taken off house arrest.”
My father took the paper, handed it to my mother to put in her purse, and then nodded to Principal Grayson. “Yes, of course. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding, Principal Grayson. We’ll be in touch next week.”
She nodded to him in return, and then she spared me a glance. I wasn’t sure if it was ang
er or fear or pity.
We left the building, and as the door shut behind us, my heart went into overdrive. Our car sat in front of us, and my father opened the back door for me to get in. Before I did, I turned in a slow circle, taking in the school and its surroundings, searching for Killian. Could he be watching me through a window? Could he be lurking in the woods to get a glimpse of me? Would he rush out the front door for our promised goodbye?
“Reagan, let’s go,” my father said.
Tears formed at my lashes, but I ducked my head to hide them from my parents. They would be outraged if they found out I was crying over a vampire. House arrest would be the least of my worries. Without a word, I slipped into the backseat.
My father slammed the door and got in the car. My mother glanced at me over her shoulder, but I turned away, gazing out the window as my father started to drive away.
As we made our way down the driveway and out the gates of the school, I felt my heart sink. This was what I’d wanted. I’d wanted to go home, and now I was getting just that. But this tight pinch in my chest meant that Killian actually meant something to me. And as much as that scared me, knowing I might never see him again scared me more.
18
Dear Diary,
House arrest. My worst nightmare came true, I mean it could be worse I could be in Wildwoods jail. But for the past week I’ve been holed up in my parents’ house. The tension between me and my parents is unbearable. That’s why I’ve kept inside my room every chance I get. My mother is avoiding me at all costs as well. Every time we sit down for dinner, she’s not there. Dad makes up excuses, but I see through the lies each time. I know she can’t bear to be in the same room as me. She sees me as a traitor for getting close to Killian. At just the thought of his name, my heart tightens. I miss him more than I’d like to admit. After being near him every single day, being without him for a whole week hurts. I want him close, to talk to him, to figure out what the hell is going on. But that’s never going to happen because there’s no way I can see him again. Not only because of the school situation with Christine, but also because of my house arrest and the fact that we can’t be together. My parents would disown me, my coven would make sure that I suffered for the rest of my life. I’m royally screwed.
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