“That’s fine” Jay said but he looked weary.
I could tell none of them were used to magic. Mena and Max turned to each other and then to me “Can we watch?” Mena asked.
“Sure, it’s kind of boring though.”
“It’s fine, we’ve been interested in this stuff for years. Did you know Magic is very similar to science?”
“I always thought so. Then again in many ways it’s its opposite.” I said.
Max spoke up. “They seem to be more similar than opposite but regardless we don’t get a lot of opportunities to observe. Witches are dangerous you know.”
“You don’t say?” I laughed. “Glad I can be of service. Meet me in 20 minutes and I’ll do the wards. Then we can get ready to go out.”
“Yes.” Annabella said excitedly. “Kira, Mena, and Demi meet in my room when the wards are done. I’ve brought plenty of outfits if you need. If not let’s still get ready together.” Annabella was so thrilled it was comical but adorable.
“That’s perfect because I didn’t bring anything to wear to go out in. Thanks A.B.”
She lifted one shoulder. “No problem.”
Full from the most amazing key lime pie I'd ever eaten, Max, Mena, and I excused ourselves from the table and brought our dishes to the kitchen. Inside was Rosie. She was fair skinned, with plenty of wrinkles and white shining hair. She could not have been more than 5 feet tall. “You must be Kira” she said succinctly.
“Yes, it's nice to meet you. The food was amazing. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a meal this much.”
She nodded once. “I'm glad you liked it, hand me your plate dear and go enjoy yourself.”
I wanted to argue and help her with the dishes but she didn't seem the type who'd want that. “So how long have you known Jay?” I asked her.
She took Mena’s dish and looked up at me. “I’ve known James Neil Dellarson his whole life.”
“Can you tell us something funny about him?”
“Yeah, Mena said. We want all the dirt.”
“Girls, not only will I tell you a story, I will show you pictures.”
Mena and I exchanged mischievous glances but then Max came up behind us and said “You better not. Jay will somehow blame me for not stopping you Rosie.”
“That boy needs to lighten up. My stories are wonderful as well as hilarious. He should be honored he’s the star of them.”
“I agree” I said wholeheartedly.
“All right just one story Rosie, Kira has some business to attend to.” Max stated.
“All right, I’ll make it a quick one. When James was six years old, his parents brought him here for the summer to play with his grandparents. His grandfather, Robert Senior wanted to take him out shopping. So he took him to the mall. They were gone for several hours and we all thought it was strange but didn’t think too much of it. When Robert Senior came back he told us all the story of how they’d been having a great time when James had wanted Ice cream. Robert Senior thought it was a great idea so he’d gotten in line and bought some.
When he looked down, James was gone. He searched high and low for hours but couldn’t find him. Finally he walked by a store and something caught his eye. He looked down at the mannequins in the shop window and there was Jay wearing a purple scarf like all of the other mannequins. He stood stock still like he was apart of the display. After the initial relieve had worn off, James’s grandpa laughed and laughed until James unfroze himself and laughed along with him.
He’d gone into the store to get him but James didn’t want to leave. His grandfather had to buy him the purple scarf just so he would agree to get out of there. When he came home he brought in that little boy wrapped in his new favorite toy. We all thought it was crazy but that was James, no matter what he did, he got away with murder because he was just too lovable.”
I smiled. “Please tell me you have a picture of him with the scarf.”
“I do.” She said easily and went into a drawer in the kitchen. She pulled out the picture and even Max snickered a little. There was a little boy with brown hair and purple-blue eyes and an adorable smile. He had a bright purple, glittery scarf around his neck as he made a robot, type of mannequin pose for the camera. Mena, Rose and I laughed so hard, I almost couldn’t breathe.
Max held himself back but just barely and said. “All right, we should get going.” I nodded and said to Rosie, “Thanks again.”
Mena grabbed my arm, her eyes sparkling as she said. “Let's go.”
We waited for Max to drop off his plate and watched as Rosie squeezed his cheek. Mena and I snickered. He blushed and followed us out the side door to the porch. “How far or close to the house do we need to be?” Mena asked.
I took a look around and considered. “With a house this large, I should do one for the outer perimeter. Does this porch wrap all the way around?”
“No, just on three sides." Max answered.
“Then I'll also do an inner perimeter ward around the porch and around the back as well. That should do it.”
“Sweet” Mena said.
Max turned to her. “Why do you always insist on speaking like a plebeian, Mena?”
“Just because I have an extensive vocabulary doesn't mean I have to use it all of the time, I prefer to speak how I feel. We live in the 21st century, we should act like it. Besides, some people find it pretentious if you speak formally all of the time.”
“Was that supposed to be a dig at me?” Max asked, appalled.
“I don't know, do you think it applies to you?”
I stopped them “Guys, I'm going down to the beach. You can join but I'm going to need silence so I can concentrate. This was a total lie. I used music all of the time and as apart of my training, learned to cast any spell under pressure but they didn't know that.
“Of course, lead the way, Kira. Well be on our most professional behavior.”
“Sweet” I said and Mena laughed as Max put his head in his hands. We walked down to the beach and I took off my shoes to enjoy the feel of the sand under my feet. I stopped for a moment to enjoy the crashing sound of the waves on the shore. Then I turned back to the house. “Warding can be done many ways but for me it’s just a charm, an incantation that wards away unwanted guests. Anyone with harmful intentions cannot cross it.”
“But the wards can be broken” Mena stated. “Yes but only by the very powerful or the very lucky. The wards will alert me if someone with malicious intentions is trying to cross them but not if they disappear altogether. I’ll just have to check on them from time to time. I would normally use my wand to help focus my powers to do the charm but I can do just fine without it.”
“You have a wand? That’s so cool. Where is it?”
“That’s literally one of those things where if I tell you I have to kill you. A witch’s wand is a powerful tool and could be disastrous if it fell into the wrong hands.”
“Oh wow, that’s crazy. Sorry I have a billion questions.”
“It’s no problem I have about a billion and one when it comes to werewolves. So when I get around to asking, watch out.” I said.
“It’ll be our pleasure to teach about our kind. Now, please feel free to ignore us and begin your wards, if you answer all of our questions, we’ll be here all night.” Max said.
“All right” I said and closed my eyes. I envisioned the whole of the house and began to recite in my mind my own incantation. “If trouble may find thee, if harm they do lend, if wrongness, injury, or evil they send, then hold them away, stand strong mighty fortress, from the power of the light, I ask you this purpose.”
I opened my eyes saw what looked like a clear elastic rubber band bubble out from my hands and shimmered into the air before turning invisible. I could feel it magically but could no longer see it unless I was to slip into my third eye’s sight. I walked around the entire outer perimeter, reciting the words over and over, first in my head, then aloud. Once that was done, I bowed to the invisible ward and thank
ed it.
From there I got as close I could to the back of the house and I repeated the ward and walked up onto the porch to close the inner perimeter off. At last, I bowed to the inner perimeter and thanked it as well.
“Wow” Mena said. “That was incredible.”
“Thanks.” I said smiling. Magic always lifted my spirits.
“How did you manage to learn all these skills? It must have been difficult if you’ve been in hiding all of your life.” Max stated.
“Yes and no. Three magic users are better than one so my parents and I were able to put up enough wards to help us go undetected. My parents taught me everything they could and whatever they didn’t know, we learned together through their family’s books and memoirs. We had blocking spell after blocking spell on our home and I’ve trained myself to pull in loose spell remnants in 2.8 seconds on average. My record is 1.9 seconds, though If a spell required you to be outside, we would head up to the mountains and practice there.”
That’s where I learned to fly I remembered, smiling to myself. “We had a few close calls here and there but only with the humans. We never had any witch trouble and that’s always been our main priority.”
“True, we understand that,” Mena replied “The pack has got it down to a system about how to hide our true natures from humans.”
“Yeah, it probably helps that Jay’s father is the mayor so he can cover any scandal pretty easily, right?”
“Yeah but he has more power than just as a mayor, he’s the Alpha of the entire southeastern part of the United States.”
I paused. “Seriously? That’s crazy cool. Jay never told me that. Then again he hadn’t even confirmed he was an alpha himself.”
“Yes, Jay is an Alpha and so is Demi, each pack has a male and female alpha. For our own generational pack, they are the leaders but Jay’s father is our entire pack’s leader. More than that, he’s also in charge of every state under the Mason-Dixon Line on the east coast.
He’s on business right now actually, in Tennessee, I think. He has to settle disputes if the packs can’t settle it amongst themselves, especially if they’re having Alpha troubles and they need someone above them all to step in.”
“Wow, is Jay going to have that same position someday?”
“He’s supposed to sometime after he’s finished school. It’s what his dad’s been trying to train him for, that and to get him to run for political office.”
“Wow, I didn’t know all that.” I considered. “Jay doesn’t want to do that, does he?”
Max and Mena exchanged looks then Mena spoke. “He doesn’t want to but at the same time I can believe he does want to. He cares about us as a pack more than you can imagine, certainly more than his father knows. He’s born to lead us, he just needs to want it for himself and not because his father is making him. He’s not there yet but we believe in him. He’s going to make a great leader one day.”
I noticed the pain in Max and Mena’s eyes. There was so much more that she wasn’t saying. They loved Jay but they didn’t know how to help him. It must’ve been really difficult for his pack to watch him suffer since his mom’s death. I was glad for him that he had such immense support from his pack.
I watched as the sky got darker and the pinks and purples faded away. “It’s getting late. We should go inside and get ready.” I said.
“Yes” Max agreed and Mena nodded. “Prepare yourself now for Annabella dressing you and glammin’ you out. It’s kind of her thing. I like it now but at first, it can be overwhelming.”
“Thanks for the warning.” I said, curious as to how the rest of this strange day was going to go.
Mena and I walked into Annabella’s room and were met with clothes to the face. I pulled the garment off of my head so I could breathe and Annabella said “Try these on.”
I turned and found Mena trying to get the dress off her own head and saw that it was stuck on an earring. I untangled the fabric from the jewelry. “Thanks.”
“Sure.”
Annabella put her hands on her hips. “Don’t just stand there, girls, we have lots to do. Try those on.”
Mena grabbed my arm and pulled me further into the room to stand with Demi. I peered at the piles and piles of amazing designer clothes strewn across the bed and forgot what I was doing. Mena held onto my arm, shaking her head. “Just breathe, Kira.” But she misunderstood completely.
Annabella sang out “She’s right. It’s best if you just do everything I say.” I would do anything she said, anything she asked. I may have just gone to couture fashion heaven.
I was frozen. “What was I doing again?” Demi tugged at the maroon halter dress in my hands and I got excited all over again. “Oh yeah” and I put it on.
Demi, Annabella and I looked at my outfit in the bathroom mirror. “It’s cute but let’s keep looking.” I said and the girls agreed. We saw Mena in the mirror heading over to us in a deep green, mini dress with a sweetheart neckline that flowed at the bottom and we all turned to her with huge grins. “Yes.” We said in unison.
I pointed “Yes, that’s so the one you’re wearing tonight.”
“Phew. That was quick and painless. I’m going to sit on the bed and comment on you guys until you pick too.”
“Good idea” Annabella said innocently “Then we can all move onto hair, make-up, shoes and accessories together.”
Mena rolled her eyes “Damn. I almost forgot about that.”
Annabella smiled and it seemed almost evil. I loved it. “Ok girls based off of Mena’s stunner of an outfit, we’re going with the mini dress theme, from there do whatever you want.
Demi went with a royal blue mini dress that had only one shoulder attached to a long sleeve. It too was gorgeous and it complemented Demi’s blonde hair and blue eyes perfectly. Annabella went with a trendy silver sequined mini dress with cap sleeves. The only problem was me. Annabella’s clothes fit me and they were cute but they were all too cute. It was too difficult for me to decide.
Annabella looked me up and down and said “Hold on. I’ve got it.” She brought out a black lace mini dress and I loved it. For some reason Jay flashed through my mind and I knew immediately that he would like this dress. I put it on and boom, it was perfect. If I hadn’t known better I would’ve thought Annabella was the witch because she definitely had a sixth sense. For fashion, that is. We did our hair and make-up and picked out our shoes as we got dolled up for our night on the town.
Chapter 22
Jay
I threw on a gray shirt, black slacks, and my black shoes. I grabbed my black leather jacket and I was good to go. I didn’t do the cologne or hair gel shit. A werewolf’s nose picks up more smells than I wanted, so I always vetoed out anything that had too many scents.
I waited downstairs in the living room with the other guys and we watched some T.V. About a million years later the girls came downstairs. We waited in the living room for the girls to present themselves which was always hilarious in my opinion.
Whenever we went out somewhere nice three things always happened without fail. One, Will would swallow his own tongue whenever he laid eyes on Demi. This was to be expected but it was always funny to watch him totally lose it. Two, Max got anxious over what Mena was going to wear and if any of us guys were going to stare at her. We did but not seriously. She was hot but it was a well known fact that Max’s greatest fear was that one of us would date his sister. He didn’t talk to Brandon, his best friend, for almost two months when he found out Brandon had kissed Mena at a party once. He’d gotten over it but barely. Three, Logan would try not to stare at Annabella and fail every time.
I know it wasn’t nice to laugh at my friend’s private moments, anxiousness, or pain but it was weirdly kind of fun for me to watch. I was a sick bastard sometimes. I waited to watch my friend’s faces as the girls came in but Kira walked in first, looking like a goddess and all other thoughts drifted away.
“Hey you guys ready to go?”
Other people mu
mbled things and she nodded but I couldn’t hear the words. The girls came in behind Kira and I remembered I wanted to do something when that happened but I didn’t care. I couldn’t look away even if I wanted to.
Her blue eyes had heavy dark shadow and she that seductive wing thing like Cleopatra or something. Her dark hair was around her face and it curled at the ends brushing her bare shoulders. Her lacey dress molded to her body like a glove, and it showed off her long legs. Trent gave me a hard shove and the world came back into view.
We were heading to the car. I looked to Trent who had the most wolfish smile I’d ever seen on his face and I shoved him back but mumbled a “thanks” under my breath. Max offered to be the designated driver and we all packed into Trent’s car. There were two less seats than people and Trent told Kira she should sit on my lap and told Demi to sit on Will’s. The girls agreed easily and Trent winked at me. I gave him a dirty look but obviously I was grateful.
I took back everything I ever said about disliking my exceptional sense of smell because Kira smelled even more amazing up close. Her cinnamon scent had my mouth watering and I had to fight to concentrate when she started to speak to me. I was going insane.
“So, have you ever been to the Club we’re going to?” She asked, peering up at me through her lashes.
I thought “Wow.” But luckily I said “Yes, a few times. It’s nice. It has a big dance floor area and the D.J is pretty sick from what I remember. There are a lot of us so we should probably do V.I.P.”
“Yeah that’s what Logan just said.” She looked at me like I was slow. “Oh, my bad. Then I agree.” I said and shrugged it off. I wasn’t about to pretend I’d been listening, there was no point.
She kept looking up at me and laughing until I asked “What is it?”
She smiled and since we were in a packed car full loud music and even louder shifters she whispered so our conversation could be somewhat private. Saying, “I really like Rosie.”
“Yeah, she’s great. She’s like a part of the family.”
Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) Page 16
