Prom Fright

by Madison Stone

  I swallowed and turned my head only to see the boy with the intense stare. My fingers tightened around the glass as I slowly lowered it.

  "I have school tomorrow," I blurted. My cheeks heated at the admission, but a slow grin slid over his face.

  "Is that so?" he asked quietly. He leaned against the bar, his skin golden against the darkened wood.

  Clover honey. The color of his skin.

  His eyes were a dark chasm, mesmerizing as he studied me. I couldn't tell if they were brown or black in the dim light of the club. His lips were kissable, the bottom fuller than the top.

  I nodded, even as I realized I'd just admitted to being in the club illegally. Hopefully, he wasn't a truant officer or something. He looked too young, but I wasn't always the best judge of character.

  I had to tilt my head up to look at him as he loomed over me. He wasn't traditionally handsome, but he had a presence. His face was angular and his nose was strong, yet patrician. Straight and proud. His brows were a little disheveled and his hair was in delightful disarray. Many high school guys I knew spent hours making their hair that way, but I thought maybe he woke up that way and went with it.

  My traitorous heart pounded within my chest. "Are you here for the costume contest?" I asked.

  He shook his head and gestured to the bartender. "A Coke," he said and waited for the man to leave before he responded. "I'm ... looking for someone." His dark eyes flickered.

  "Oh yeah?" I swiveled in my seat and looked around. "Tell me what they look like and maybe I can help."

  His lips twitched in amusement. "I don't have a description. I'll know them when I see them," he said, his voice cryptic, even as his brows drew together.

  "So you're here looking for someone but you don't know what they look like?" I shook my head and took a sip of my water. "That makes no sense."

  "I'll know them when I see them." His gaze lingered on my face.

  My cheeks burned as I finally dropped my eyes. He wasn't quite handsome ... he was ethereal. Something about him took my breath away.

  "I'm here for the contest," I admitted. "I've been working on this for a while."

  "It's a great costume." His gaze narrowed. "And you have more than a passing resemblance to Gal Gadot."

  I didn't. And that was a problem. I was wearing a lot more makeup than usual, but once that came off, I wouldn't look anything like the person sitting in front of him. It made me sadder than I wanted to admit. To know the person he was looking at now wouldn't be the same one tomorrow. Inside, I would be. But the outside of me would be vastly different.

  "It's all makeup," I said, feeling guilty for lying, even as I didn't know exactly what I was lying about.

  "That's some makeup job," he said as the bartender dropped off his drink.

  "I've been practicing for a while." I cleared my throat nervously. "You can do a lot with shadowing and contouring."

  "Hmm," was all he said. I wasn't sure why it felt like a judgment, but it did.

  He stuck out his hand. "Mannix," he offered.

  I put my hand in his and swallowed hard at the warmth and strength of it. Mannix ... it was a strange name, but it seemed to fit the strange, beautiful boy in front of me.

  "Harmony," I said. My last name was LeCharme - an odd name for someone living in a small town in Texas, but the truth was I'd always cherished it. It felt ... magical.

  "Pretty name," Mannix murmured.

  And yet another blush. "Thanks." I'd once asked my mom how I got my name and she'd flinched. It had been an odd reaction, but she recovered quickly.

  "Harmony!" she said as if just now remembering that was my name. Her mouth softened as a memory came over her. "Your grandmother was a wonderful musician and quite the rebel in her day. I wanted something to honor her."

  I'd frowned up at her. "But I can't carry a tune in a bucket."

  Suspicious wetness appeared in her eyes as she'd gathered me to her. "Oh, darling. You have no idea what you can do, but you will one day. I promise you."

  Her reaction was strange, but sometimes Mom was strange. I'd chalked it up to living too long on a farm and away from the real, modern world.

  Mannix and I sat quietly. I checked the time again. Five minutes until the contest started. My skin tingled in anticipation. Winning that money would mean a lot to me. If I didn't win, it was okay. I'd have to try again or maybe sell the costume. I could probably gather at least that much if someone bought it.

  "Where do you go to school?" I asked. I'd never seen him around, but I was a way from home. He probably lived in Austin somewhere and went to an elite private school. Just the look of him told me he more than likely went somewhere I couldn't afford.

  "A private academy." His gaze shuttered as if he didn't want to talk about it.

  "Oh? Like a Christian school or something?"

  His lips quirked. "Something like that."

  The speaker overhead crackled as the DJ music lowered.

  "Come one, come all!" an overly enthusiastic male voice said. "If you're interested in competing, get down here and sign up!"

  "That's me," I said and jerked a thumb over my shoulder.

  He held his hands up. "Don't let me stop you."

  Sliding reluctantly out of my chair, I held my hand out to him. "It was nice to meet you," I said.

  He shook it. "I doubt this will be the last we see of each other, Harmony."

  My gaze narrowed at the surety in his tone. I didn't see how that would be the case. We were from different worlds. Mannix set his drink down and walked away from me. I stared at the lean form of him until he disappeared into the crowd.

  "Weird," I murmured. Shaking my head, I headed over to the DJ booth to make sure they had all of my information.

  2

  Thirty minutes later, I was holding a check for $500 and searching desperately for my best friend. If I didn't find her soon, I was going to leave late and I'd miss my curfew time. I couldn't find the fox boy either.

  Pushing against the crush of bodies against me, I headed to the bathrooms to check one more time. Maybe I missed her the first time I checked.

  Pushing open the door, I called out her name, but no one responded. A sense of dread trickled down my spine, and I wasn't sure why. We were at a bar, sure, but we'd been out a lot together. There was no reason why I should be feeling so apprehensive.

  I let the door shut behind me and allowed my gaze to soften as I searched the crowd. The bar was on the larger side, but I'd only seen one Princess Leia tonight. Or ... one Princess Leia not dressed like slave Leia. The dance floor was crowded with half-dressed women and men wearing masks. I couldn't see any flashes of a white robe there, so I scanned the upstairs seating area.

  There. A flash so quick I almost missed it. I rushed up the stairs and through the seating area, hot on what I hoped to be my friend's tail.

  A startled shriek loud enough to hear over the booming music made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

  I rushed through the door I'd seen her go through and came to a screeching halt when I saw the fox boy holding what looked like an orb of blue light in his hands.

  Christa's face was slack and she swayed on her feet.

  "Hey!"

  He turned to me, his mouth open in surprise.

  "Let go of my friend!" I shouted.

  The surprise quickly turned to condescension as we both realized there wasn't much I could do. He was a lot bigger than I was and I had no weapon or anything within my reach.

  "What are you going to do?"

  My gaze flicked to the light in his hand. My brain couldn't comprehend what was going on because there was no way he should be able to do that. Unless it was a special effect. It was Halloween after all. If there was only a way to scare him ...

  "I'm going to call the police," I whispered and fumbled through my bag for my phone. As soon as my fingers closed around it, it shot out of my hand and across the room.

  Dumbfounded, I stared at it. What in the world was
going on?

  Josh grinned at me, a hateful smile on his handsome face. "Keep trying and you'll keep losing."

  Fear spiked within me. Christa still slack-jawed stared at him adoringly. "This isn't right. Stop and I won't say a word about this to anyone."

  Josh snorted. "Like anyone would believe you." He took a few steps over to me. I swallowed hard as he loomed over me, seemingly bigger than he was before.

  I hated bullies. I hated them with the fire of a thousand suns. As I stared up at him, I wished I could teach him a lesson - that I could confront him with what he feared the most. I didn't want to hurt him. I just wanted him to go away.

  I squeezed my eyes shut as I wished so hard that I could feel ... something inside of me. Something dark and twisted and ready to rear its head.

  "Make him pay," I whispered to myself, not knowing what I was saying only hoping something would happen.

  A startled scream was the first to alert me something wasn't right. I opened my eyes only to see Josh batting his arms as dozens of dark things scrambled up his arms and legs.

  I took a step back as I realized what they were.

  Spiders. Hundreds of them. Nausea roiled in my stomach as Josh screamed in horror. Christa snapped out of whatever spell she was under as Josh struggled.

  She blinked and a harsh, guttural scream came from her as she scrabbled backward.

  "Get them off! Get them off! Get them off!" Josh screamed as he batted at his face and hair. Spiders poured down from the ceiling and up through the cracks in the floor. I hurried over to Christa and grabbed her arm.

  "We have to go. Right now," I said urgently. The spiders weren't coming for us. I had no idea why, but I thought maybe I was the one in control of them. That thought sat like a lead ball in my stomach. Christa turned her gaze to me, her eyes full of revulsion and horror. She ripped her arm away from me.

  "Get away," she said. Christa took a few steps back, the look on her face one I'd never forget.

  "We have to go!" I pleaded with her. "Don't let him have the chance to get out of this."

  "I'd rather take my chances with him," she said, her voice trembling. "I don't know what this is, but I don't want anything to do with it." With one last look at me, Christa turned around and ran away.

  From me. Her best friend since second grade.

  A choked sob escaped me. Josh still screamed in the background.

  "Turn it off," a voice said. I spun around only to see Mannix standing by the door, his face haunted.

  "Turn what off?" I spat, ready to push by him and get home.

  "What you did to him," Mannix said. He took a few steps toward me.

  "I didn't do anything to him," I said, my voice a desperate plea, even as I knew I was lying. I had done it. I just wasn't sure how.

  "You did," Mannix said, his voice sure and strong. "And you need to fix it. Right now. Before my people find you." He took me by the upper arm. I ripped myself away.

  "Your people?" I shook my head. "What is going on right now?" I said, half to myself, half to him.

  His voice was low and urgent. "Harmony, I cannot stress to you how important it is that you drop the illusion you have on him. In less than a minute, we will be surrounded by agents of my academy. If they see what you've done, I can't help you."

  We stared at each other, our gazes wide. My nostrils flared. "Tell me how," I demanded, not sure why I was going along with this, only knowing in my gut that I was responsible for it.

  "Tell yourself he's had his punishment. Imagine in your mind's eye. Make the spiders disappear. They aren't real, Harmony. Everything here is an illusion."

  I blinked and nodded. Squeezing my eyes shut, I whispered to myself. "Stop. Make it stop."

  "Faster," he urged.

  Josh's screams were making it hard to concentrate. "Make him shut up," I whispered.

  The noise abruptly cut off, but I could still hear him shuffling around, trying to get the spiders off of him. I did my best to clear my thoughts, even as fear settled low in my belly. "I've made my point. Disappear."

  "Good," Mannix said. "Keep going."

  I imagined the spiders disappearing in puffs of smoke, their brown hairy bodies evaporating into thin air. A few seconds later, I dared to open my eyes.

  Josh sat on the ground, sobbing, with his head in his hands. Mannix leaned over him, and as I watched a soft golden light trickled from him and into Josh. "Forget," he murmured.

  Josh stiffened for a moment before his body relaxed and he gave a sappy smile to Mannix. Shock rooted me to the floor as I watched Mannix make the kid's terror disappear. I opened my mouth to ask him how he'd done that, but Mannix gave a quick shake of his head. He straightened and walked over to me. "Say nothing about this," he said urgently. "Let me do the talking."

  Josh stood and brushed his pants off. "I need to get home," he said to himself. "Class is bright and early tomorrow." And as if nothing at all had happened, Josh walked out of the room.

  I gaped at his back. Even as the door shut behind him, I still stared. "I have no idea what's going on," I finally said.

  "I'll explain everything, but now is not the time." Mannix took me by the upper arms and stared into my eyes. "Whatever happens after this, please know that I'm so sorry."

  The door behind us opened. A bright flash of light blinded me and I sagged into Mannix's arms.

  Seconds later, my consciousness faded and I collapsed into oblivion, safe in the mysterious man's embrace.

  3

  Memories slammed through me like a movie going at quadruple speed. A woman's face swam in front of my mind's eye - a pretty blonde woman with eyes just like mine.

  "Luna," she whispered to me. "You must not reveal our secret."

  I didn't know what she was talking about, but something floated just outside my consciousness. Something I knew was dangerous.

  "Help me," I whispered.

  The woman stroked my hair. "You will be okay. This is not ideal, but you're strong enough to survive this. You must."

  "Survive what?" Frustrated tears swam in my vision. It didn't feel like I was awake, but it also didn't feel like I was unconscious. This felt like an in-between place. A place where my true self was. A place where I could be myself.

  I gasped in sudden realization as the pieces of the puzzle finally began to fit into the right place.

  I felt like myself because I was myself.

  Finally.

  And I was not Harmony LeCharme.

  I sat up abruptly, banging my head on something above me. "Ouch." I rubbed the top of my head and looked around. The world swayed around me. I was in a vehicle.

  Stiffening, I reached over and pulled a scrap of fabric back covering the window. Outside, snow covered the ground. I blinked in surprise.

  "Where are we?" I asked no one in particular. My voice came out as a croak.

  No one answered.

  I blinked rapidly as my eyes tried to adjust to the differences in the light inside the vehicle and outside of the window.

  "Where am I?" I asked again.

  "Nowhere you need to know," came a gruff voice from the front. My head jerked up and I winced at the pain that shot through my temple.

  "Kidnapping is illegal, you know," I said, not expecting him to respond.

  "Yeah?" came the voice. "And so is hiding magic users. You're lucky your parents aren't locked up."

  I gasped. Mom and Dad. Wait. No. Not Mom and Dad. The LeCharme family wasn't my family ... or they were, but the woman I thought to be my mother wasn't even blood related to me.

  What in the heck had happened to me? Someone had placed a hell of a memory charm on me. I gently scooted up to see if I could peek into the driver's area. Mannix sat in the passenger's seat, his jaw tight and his eyes on the road.

  I shut my eyes briefly and whispered a prayer to the gods I no longer believed in. He knew. Mannix knew what I was. And it didn't seem like he'd said anything yet.

  I was living on borrowed time.

&nb
sp; Leaning back against the cool metal of what I assumed to be a van, I let out a sigh and tried to relax. "Where are you taking me?"

  "Where you should have been all along," the voice said.

  The graveyard? I chuckled to myself. That's where they put all of us when they found out what we could do. I didn't want to give him too much information so I stayed silent. If Mannix hadn't told him what I was, then the least I could do was keep my mouth shut. He wouldn't be able to keep it a secret forever. Nor should he.

  If anyone found out he was hiding a member of the Rook family, his head would be on the chopping block.

  Why hadn't he said anything? My hungry gaze roamed over his profile, the sharp proud nose and the long eyelashes over those dark fathomless eyes.

  I was in a world of trouble. Especially now that I could no longer claim to be ignorant.

  Homesickness swept over me, even as I knew now that Mom wasn't actually my mom. Still, though, she'd been kind to a Rook child, and I loved her for it. She'd been my mother for all intents and purposes and had known what she was getting when she agreed to take me in.

  How in the world she'd managed to keep me hidden for so long, I'd never know. I guess it helped that I hadn't realized I had magic.

  But why was I remembering everything now? At the worst possible time.

  "Where's Christa?" I croaked.

  Mannix turned to me then. "She's fine," he said, his voice clipped and his eyes unreadable. "She abandoned you, remember?"

  She abandoned me because I'd scared the stuffing out of someone with one of my illusions. If she only knew the things I could do now that I remembered. I swallowed hard and nodded. "She couldn't help it," I said, defending her coming naturally to me.

  "She could," Mannix disagreed. "But her fear won out."

  "It wasn't her fault," I whispered.

  Mannix grunted, and I couldn't tell if it was in agreement or just to shut me up. "Either way, it doesn't matter anymore."

  "Did you tell my parents?" I asked. He knew what I meant. Not my real parents. My foster parents. Sadness welled within me. It was like all of my memories had been ripped off and replaced. I remembered them, but I also remembered my real family.