Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy)

by Kelly, Amanda

  I didn’t even turn to look at him. I just got onto the highway and drove like a crazy person. The black cat was out of the bag. “No, I’m a witch but it’s not what you think.”

  “Are you kidding me right now? Is this some sort of kidnapping attempt? If so, you should know my father won’t pay you a dime or get involved in your war.”

  “No. Jay, I’m so sorry but I needed to get out of there. I’m on the run and I need to get away.”

  “From what, water? Are you going to melt?”

  “No, from other witches, look there’s no time to explain but you need to call everyone and tell them to head out without us.”

  “Or what, you’re going to turn them into ingredients for your next potion?”

  “No. Jay listen to me-”

  “Listen to some witch? Not going to happen.”

  I’d had enough and I started yelling. “I’m not out to hurt you or anyone else. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you but I’m on the run from others of my kind. One just showed up at the rest stop.”

  He yelled back “Oh right, you’re a good witch, I’m sure people are after you because you’re innocent.”

  “Oh and you’re so innocent? Is that why you were injured and then attacked again last night?” I bit my lip hard and calmed my voice or I’d be driving us off the road soon. “If you or anyone of the rest of them needed my help, I would be there in a heartbeat. You’re not exactly human either Jay so stop being a hypocrite and help me.”

  His eyes sparked at that.

  I looked back to the road. Luckily it was mostly empty. “Do you want your friends to be safe or not?”

  His voice was beyond suspicious when he asked “Do you?”

  “Of course I do. They’re my friends too and I don’t know how long that man has been following me. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of me. My phone is with Annabella so either pick up your damn phone or hand it to me so I can do it myself.”

  Our eyes locked but before I had to look back at the road, Jay looked away first, growling. He picked up the phone and dialed Trent. “Trent, you need to leave now. Tell Will too”….”Just do it.” “Because I said so. I’ll meet you back at my beach house…this isn’t a frickin’ joke, man. This is” he hesitated “an order. You guys leave the rest stop now and make sure you’re not followed. I’ll explain later. Bye.” He hung up. “Happy?”

  “Yes, thank you. Do you see if anyone is following us right now?”

  “I didn’t do it for you and no, not that I’ve noticed.”

  “It doesn’t matter he might be able to track down the car eventually, we have to get out of it.”

  “What and steal another one?”

  “No, whatever I use magic on might be traceable depending on how good he is. We’ll have to jump out and walk as far as we can until we are safe enough for Trent to pick you up. After that I’ll call a cab and leave.”

  “Not until you explain who you are and what you’re doing here.”

  “I don’t owe you anything, Jay.”

  He turned to me “You owe my uncle.”

  My whole body sagged “Yes, I do. I’d like to explain to him too, I think I can trust him. In any case, I think he already knows.”

  “Well that’s news to me” he grumbled.

  “Then I definitely can trust him.” I said snidely.

  He folded his arms. “I’m just sorry he trusted you.”

  His words stabbed me like knives. My balloon of self-righteousness popped and deflated. “I understand that and I really am sorry to put you, any of you in danger. I thought I was safe. If I’d have known this would happen, I wouldn’t have come. I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  We sat in silence until I said “As soon as I can, I’m going to spell the car to keep going until it runs out of gas, it’ll pull over to a shoulder on its own and it’ll sense the flow of traffic to slow down or stop at appropriate times. As soon as we find somewhere to jump to, we’ll have to jump out.”

  “That’s not possible.” He said, disbelievingly.

  “I’ve done it before. It’s going to be fine.”

  He blew out a breath and his voice was hard and cold as he said, “Whatever. Just tell me when to jump out.”

  “I have to find a turn so no one sees us. Let me ask you something, can Max or Mena delete footage from security cameras?”

  He faced the windshield, his voice like ice. “Probably, why can’t you just use your magic on them?”

  I pushed on, unable to do anything about the complete distrust Jay displayed. I’d deserved it after all. “I could but I’m too far away now and again I don’t want it to be traced back to me. If you call them to take care of it, it would help both of us. No one needs to know we stole the car. I’ll magic our past and future fingerprints off of the car now.”

  He nodded once and took out his phone again. “Shit”

  I looked to him as I wiped the prints with a small charm. “What?”

  “My phone’s dead.”

  “Right, ok, we’ll call them as soon as we can…There’s a turn up here, you ready to go. Make sure to roll on the grass.”

  “I got it.” He said bitterly.

  “Ok” I set the spell up and sparks flew from my fingers into the car.

  Jay stiffened as he watched me but didn’t say a word.

  “One” Jay opened the passenger door. “Two” I brought my whole body over to his side. “Three” we both jumped out as the car went tight around a corner.

  ************

  Jay

  We jumped onto the grass and rolled down the hill into the expanse of trees. I ignored the pain from random branches and rocks stabbing into me on the way down. At the bottom I grabbed hold of a branch to try and slow my momentum. It was either that or plow straight into a tree.

  When Kira’s body neared mine, I grabbed onto her to help her stop. My grip on the branch slipped and Kira and I rolled until I was able to pull her over to me. We landed tangled in a heap one inch from the bark of a tree. My head dropped and we lay there breathing heavily. I tried not to think about the very person on top of me and failed.

  My breaths got easier as the weight disappeared. I looked up to see Kira standing over me with her hand out. “Come on. We have to get going.”

  I just looked at her as I ignored her hand and stood up. “You’re bleeding.” I said as we started walking into the forest.

  She looked down and started picking off the branches and leaves from her clothes, turning to look at herself this way and that. It was a shame because she’d looked damn good today. “Where?” she asked.

  I reached out and brought my thumb to her bleeding eyebrow. “Here.” I said as I brought my thumb in front of her to show the blood.

  “Oh.” She reached up to feel it for herself. Infinitesimal sparks flew from her hand. The cut closed up and she wiped off the remaining blood. All that was left was a faint pink scar. “It’s fine. Let’s keep going.”

  “Yeah.” I said angry all over again. This girl, who I’d hung out with and allowed around my friends and family was a frickin’ witch. I trusted her. I told her things. I debated shifting and leaving her here but I wanted answers.

  She looked me over. “Do you have any cuts I can help with? The ones from yesterday might have opened up again with our fall just now.”

  “I’m fine.” I said curtly. It was the truth, my body was in serious pain but all of my cuts had closed by now. My stitches still held my side up good and tight. We were far enough into the trees that we couldn’t be seen and I exhaled, relieved.

  “That’s how I knew you weren’t totally human.” Kira said.

  “You saw my scars healing too fast?” I should’ve known.

  “Yes and when I looked at them from a different dimensional view I saw them healing through your own magic.”

  “I don’t have magic. I’m just a werewolf.”

  She froze. Shit, had she not known what I was? “Werewolf?” s
he spoke the word as if she were tasting it in her mouth. “You know, that makes sense…You’re all werewolves aren’t you?”

  I didn’t answer, kept walking. The less she knew the better.

  “You’re the head of it then…the um, Alpha, right?”

  I kept my voice steady “What makes you think that?”

  “I learned all about werewolves when I was home-schooled plus I understand animal behavioral patterns. Everyone refers to you. No one challenges you but me. Although I’ve seen Demi do so on occasion, in small ways.”

  Noticed that, had she? “Does it matter?”

  “No but just so you know I think you do possess some magic. It must be intrinsic to your kind, the way you can shift forms isn’t some parlor trick. It’s got to be magic.”

  “I don’t know what it is. You’d have to bring it up to my uncle. I’m sure he’s got a lot of theories on it. I personally don’t care.”

  She cringed at my tone. “Right… So I have to confess something.”

  I turned to her, prepared for more bad news “What?” “I don’t know where we’re going… exactly.”

  I closed my eyes in relief. “That, I can help with.”

  “But how-”

  I pointed to myself “Werewolf. Good sense of direction and all that.”

  “Oh” she said perplexed. She may have studied up on werewolves but I doubt it told her much about us except for the facts. It was time for some firsthand learning.

  I sniffed. We were headed southbound on the highway before we made the tumble into the woods. The woods are on the right of the highway so we’re going west now. I sniffed some more and pointed forward. “If we keep walking this way, we’ll hit civilization in about eight miles. We can call the pack then”

  “The pack?” she repeated hesitantly.

  “Yes.” I said and felt stupid for letting even more slip. I was on a freaking roll today. I needed to stop talking.

  “Listen, I know you don’t trust me anymore but I need to-”

  “No” I cut her off. “I don’t trust you anymore.”

  She stiffened but stayed silent. I didn’t try to apologize. I just wanted to get out of here.

  Chapter 18

  Kira

  We walked down through the forest in the sweltering heat. I had pulled my shirt up over my ribs, tied a knot and pulled it under in the back to hold it in place. It helped a little but I was still jealous of Jay for being able to walk around shirtless without a care in the world. Worse, it had been hours and I’d had to walk in the heat with Mr. Attitude in utter silence.

  In the absence of conversation, I’d taken in the scenery. At least it was peaceful and we were somewhat shaded by the trees. I’d noticed the nature around us was actually quite beautiful, so I focused on that and nothing else. Especially not Jay’s eight pack abs or muscled chest. I did not notice those at all. In fact, I hoped he got a terrible sun burn.

  Jay abruptly pulled me out of my day dreams. “Up ahead” he placed one hand at his forehead to shade his eyes and with the other hand pointed out over the hill “I can see a little bit of a town.” He sniffed and pointedly didn’t look at me before continuing on “If I’m right, there’s civilization up ahead. If we can use a phone we can call the guys to come get us.”

  I nodded, no less than overjoyed inside, but I didn’t want to show it and said dryly, “good”

  He frowned, “You could sound a little more grateful, you know. You would be lost if weren’t for me.”

  I gritted my teeth “Trust me I’m grateful, I can’t wait to get away from you.”

  His head whipped toward my face, his eyes burning holes into me. “Same.”

  I turned away and had to stop myself from stalking off. I didn’t know where I was going. Instead I kept myself busy with visions of grandeur in my head where I fashioned a broomstick from one of the trees and flew off and away from him. Unfortunately they didn’t make me feel any better.

  The next half hour on the way to the town was worse than I could’ve imagined, we walked up a steep incline to get to the town and it was all I could do not to slip. As it was, my whole body was taught and straining to just reach out and punch Jay. If his body language was any indication, he felt the same toward me.

  When we spotted a sign with a large black scaled fish on it that said “Welcome to Bridgewater. Population: 1,593.” I sighed audibly. The town itself was not very pretty, it had older buildings in need of repair but at that moment it was my paradise. Fishing seemed to be the main trade and every shop held that theme from fish n chip restaurants to bait and tackle shops on every corner.

  A few people were out and about most dressed in shorts and t-shirts. It was clear the people of this town were hard working and not the frilly or fancy types. In contrast, I noticed something sparkling brightly in the windows of what seemed to be an antique shop. The sparkle seemed to be emanating from a wind chime of sorts. Before I could get closer to check it out, I felt the world slow around me.

  One moment I was walking to the shop, the next Jay had grabbed me around the waist and pulled me hard until my back was pushed into his bare chest. Before I could react to this, a large cart whipped past us down the incline of the hill, gaining more speed and running over everything in its path. If Jay hadn’t grabbed me, I’d have been run over too.

  As time sped up to its normal pace, I noticed a young boy running after the cart and simultaneously commanding people to get out of its way.

  When I had trouble managing to get a few breaths in, I noticed the difficulty had more to do with Jay’s tight grip around me, than my own shock. I coughed and whispered “Jay” I gained another breath and said louder “Jay” as I tried to pry his hands from me.

  Slowly he relaxed his grip but instead of letting go, he grabbed on to my shoulders and turned me to face him. His eyes were alight, deep purple in color and filled with a look I couldn’t decipher. “Kira, are you ok?”

  I stared at him, unable to merge the person before me with the person I wanted to kick in the shins earlier today. I swallowed “I…I’m fine Jay, just need a second to get my breath back.”

  Then, as if he suddenly remembered who I was, the urgent light in his eyes died away. He dropped his hands instantly, like touching me had been like touching a hot stove. His whole face changed and he raised an imperious eyebrow. “Watch where you’re going, will you?”

  Stunned, I watched him pull his shirt on as he walked toward a bar called “Judy’s”. Before I could get a word out, he turned back to shout “I’m calling Trent, try not to get run over while I’m gone.”

  I rolled my eyes and stood there stupidly, still trying to catch my breath. Eventually I looked around and found a tree to sit beneath, nearby. I closed my eyes briefly, hoping the rough, solid bark against my back would steady me somehow and help calm my nerves. It worked at first but soon my head swam with images. Jay’s eyes filled with might have been concern, his hands holding me close to his body, the warmth of him surrounding me, protecting me from being trampled.

  I couldn’t push the images and feelings away, so I opened my eyes. Maybe Jay wasn’t so bad, we just needed to stop fighting. Mostly, he needed to stop being a prejudiced jerk. I was a witch, he was a werewolf. It was time he got over it already. I hated it but I knew I should thank him for saving me, even if it killed me and I would.

  Just as I resigned myself to try and make things better, I heard a horrible keening noise. It was one that could only be made due to deep pain and sorrow. One of those things your soul just recognizes and can’t ignore.

  I looked to the faces of the people milling about but couldn’t locate the sound. I got up and finally reached the entrance sign to Bridgewater. Below it, sat the source of the cries. A young boy, who I immediately recognized as the one who ran after the cart, was curled up into a ball, crying into his knees. I approached him and sat next to him. “Hey, are you all right?”

  He looked up, startled but saying nothing.

  “My nam
e’s Kira. Do you mind if I sit with you.”

  He sniffed and I guessed then that he was about nine or ten years old. He was a really cute kid too, all messy hair and bright blue eyes. He remained silent except for the tiny sniffles.

  I pushed on. “It’s a really beautiful view from the top of this hill.”

  He nodded but didn’t look at me when he said “Yeah, I like it sometimes.”

  “It’s great. So…is everything ok?” He stared off into the scenery. I thought we might sit there in silence and I was ok with that. I didn’t want to push him.

  He surprised me by speaking up. “I was building the stand for my mom so she could sell some of her creations.”

  I smiled encouragingly, “That’s amazing, did you build that by yourself?” he talked louder gaining courage and pride. “I did, all by myself, it took me all year to get the supplies and learn how to get it right but-but now it’s busted.” His voice cracked on the last word and he gestured farther down the hill where the cart lay smashed into several pieces.

  I nodded “I see that, I’m sorry about that.” I didn’t know what else to say so I put my hand around his tiny back and rubbed in circles.

  He sniffed again and wiped his nose on his sleeve “Not your fault. I didn’t build brakes for it. I came out to the town square to find the perfect place for it and now it’s ruined. I can’t do anything right and now my mom….well she has to keep doing what she’s doing and I can’t let her.” He got a steely look in his eye that he was far too young to have. “I won’t. ‘Specially cuz Sheriff Evans said if I built it then he would give her a permit. He promised. ”

  This little kid had obviously taken on the role as the man of his house. I knew I had to help him. I could easily fix the cart with my magic but that just wasn’t an option right now. Even a simple charm could alert a coven to me and I didn’t know anything about Bridgewater, there could be witches everywhere. I wanted to help though.

  I was trying to think of a better way when I heard a booming voice behind me “Kira! Kira, what the hell? What the hell are you doing? I leave you for two minutes and you disappear.”