by Holly Hood
I swallowed hard, bringing my stare back to the boardwalk. But Ezra was nowhere to be found. She had vanished. And slowly my heart returned to normal.
“But I like him. I think I can handle it. He doesn’t need to worry about me,” I insisted. What was I saying? I wasn’t the girl to handle anything like this. What would I do if this girl decided to kill me? She pretty much gave it a shot once already.
“It’s too risky. Slade will never give in. Spells and curses are not to be taken lightly. Slade believes he is cursed and he will do whatever he has to to avoid putting anyone else in harm’s way. She was a witch, not your regular girlfriend. She could do it.” Kidd sighed. I knew he could sense my displeasure.
“Well, I’m not scared of some dead witch. And I really like him. This should be my choice.” I stood up. “I should have a choice.”
“You should be terrified,” Kidd told me.
I took my tray from the table. “Well, I’m not. And you tell Slade if he isn’t going to come around anymore to take this stupid tattoo off of me then. I don’t need his stupid tattoos. It’s just a really bad souvenir of what I can no longer have.”
Kidd grabbed my wrist. “He put this on you?”
I pulled away, going over to the garbage can. “Of course, who else would put it on me?”
Kidd shook his head. “Unbelievable.”
I didn’t wait around to figure out what he found unbelievable. I had heard enough. I knew Slade was avoiding me. He felt he was doing the right thing. Well, if only he had done the right thing before sleeping with me two times. Before kissing me. Before showing his face at all. I hated him for all that he was. Because if it weren’t for all he was I wouldn’t be so damaged.
The talk
I thoughtfully excused myself from frolicking on the beach with Karsen and Kidd. They liked each other, who was I to hang around like the third wheel? Besides, love of any kind didn’t sound too alluring to me at this moment in time.
I threw open the door to the kitchen. Nona and Dad looked up from the table, their expressions told me they were chatting about me.
“Hey, sweetpea,” Nona said, standing up. She smoothed out her lengthy pencil skirt. “How have you been? Are you happy Karsen showed up?” She winked as if I wasn’t aware she was the one who brought Karsen from the airport.
“I’m alive. And yes, I’m happy Karsen is here. I am miserable to think she has to go home though.” I did my best to hold it together.
Opening up the refrigerator and taking out left over cheesecake, I grabbed a fork from the drawer and headed off to my room where I could be by myself.
I set the cheesecake down on the bed and turned the volume high on my stereo. Rage Against the Machine blasted through my room. I sat cautiously next to my dish of cheesecake and took a mouthful, staring around my room. I was in misery. All because of Slade. I exhaled. Well, maybe because of this nutjob he formerly dated.
“Nutjob?” Ezra asked suddenly.
I screamed, dropping my whole plateful of cheesecake on my carpet. Had she heard my thoughts?
“Get out of here!” I yelled.
Ezra grinned evilly, taking a seat at my desk. She thumbed through one of my biology textbooks and then fingered my necklaces scattered on the desktop, ignoring me.
“I wish you would take a hint and get the hell away from me,” I growled. I lifted the plate off my floor. I wasn’t going to give in to this idiot.
“That’s the fun part. Of being dead, that is. I can do what I want.” She spun around in my chair like a little kid at a fair on some stupid ride. “And besides, once I know for certain you will stay far away from him, then I will do just that.”
I blotted my carpet with a tissue, not helping matters any. Dad knocked on my door. “Hope, are you okay? We thought we heard a scream. And where is Karsen?”
I sighed. “I’m all right. Unless you know a thing or two about getting rid of intruders of the mystical kind.”
“What?” Dad said, jiggling my doorknob. Ezra stood, walking to the door.
She placed a palm against it. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“No one can see you but me. I’m not stupid. Now leave,” I whispered.
“Hope,” Dad called again.
“Dad, I’m fine. Everything is just peachy. Karsen is at the beach.” I gritted my teeth. He muttered something from the other side of the door before leaving me be. I spun around to face Ezra.
“Maybe this is something you should take up with Slade. I have no reason to speak to him. And I’m sure you would know if I did.”
Ezra ran a hand against her hair, stroking it like a pet. “And if he comes around again?”
“Then he comes around again. That doesn’t mean he wants anything to do with me. He has already made it quite obvious. I think you have done your job. Slade wants nothing to do with any girl romantically. And it’s because of you.”
Ezra sharpened her eyes on me. “That didn’t stop him from running around with that Anaya. I don’t know what he even saw in her. She was plain.”
My stomach dropped. “Anaya?” If I had heard right she was beginning to make me think something I shouldn’t be thinking. That she took care of Anaya.
“Yes. I know you’ve heard about underprivileged, pathetic, Anaya. The girl who ended up dead on the shore. Don’t play dim with me, Hope.” She released a light laugh.
“Well, you don’t sound like that grand of a girlfriend pinning murder on your boyfriend. You do know the whole town thinks he was the one to blame for her dying.”
Ezra shrugged. She tilted her head, staring at me. “Does it scare you to know that you could be the next Anaya?”
“No, it bores me. If I was deceased and a witch I would find something better to do then pursue my living boyfriend, who I couldn’t be with anyways. I mean, aren’t there dead guys wherever you are now?” I raised an eyebrow.
Ezra’s appearance dulled, she took a seat. “None like Slade. He was amazing. And he was mine.” Her eyes locked on me and her tough stare was back.
“But Slade can’t be with a dead girl. And unless there is some magic charm that can bring you back to life, I would stop thinking about him,” I offered.
Maybe I was stupid to be debating ways for a dead girl to get back with her boyfriend, but what else could I do? I wasn’t going to stand there and act as terrified as I felt on the inside. Something inside me was pushing me to stay fearless.
“You don’t think I haven’t thought about this before?” she snapped, her lips curling up in resentment. I shrugged. “Witches have been destroyed for hundreds of years and it takes a very exceptional person to even get me close enough to occupy a new body.” She bit at her shimmering nail.
“I don’t know what that even means.”
“It means there aren’t many hot chicks practicing magic. And I don’t care to jump into some old grandma to get nearer to Slade.” She rolled her eyes, her breath quick as she sat across from me, clearly uptight now.
“Well, I am sorry to hear that,” I said wryly.
I started to say something else, but Ezra had vanished leaving me with a ton of questions to sort through. One being she killed Anaya. And if this were true, it meant I needed to stay far away from Slade. But it didn’t make sense. They said Anaya was raped. I gasped. Tucker said she was raped. And Ezra said she killed her.
I shook my head. The girl had been attacked by many horrible things that night she died. What a dreadful way to go.
And now Ezra was bitter and angry because she couldn’t have Slade back and she couldn’t find a way back to him. I took a seat in front of my computer. There had to be some kind of information on spells. Some kind of information explaining why a witch, once dead, couldn’t come back to life using magic. Or maybe it was only Ezra. Maybe Ezra was the exception to the rule.
I had watched movies where a dead witch could take over a person’s body. But that was the extent of what I knew. If there was a spell for that there had to be a s
pell for giving that same witch an everlasting restraining order.
I typed in curse removal. I scanned over the links and ventured on a website called Spells and Magic. I felt a bit brainless to be using the World Wide Web to try to fix my relationship, but what else could I do? I wasn’t dealing with an ordinary relationship. And if I wanted to get Slade back, I needed to do something.
I shook my head at the obsession spell. Chili, saliva and burial in a backyard? And it would take Ezra doing this, not me, to break her obsession with Slade. I let out an aggravated sigh. I was in over my head. If there was something worth doing, Slade would have done it a long time ago. Why would he want to spend eternity single and destined for misery?
I touched the heart on my wrist. I still missed him, despite the resentment and disappointment I felt.
“You wanted that off,” Slade said from behind me.
I stared past him to my open window. He had stealthy made it into my room. I hurriedly turned the power off on my computer.
“Don’t bother trying to find a way to get rid of Ezra. There’s only one way to get rid of her,” he said, taking my wrist.
I pulled away. “You could have removed it without coming here. You’re a witch. Now, why are you here?”
He took my hand back. “Maybe I wanted to say goodbye in person.” His eyes grew dim, his expression growing grave. “Maybe I wanted to see you one more time.”
“She comes around a lot now and I really don’t feel okay with being around you anymore. She killed Anaya,” I insisted, staring into his eyes. He didn’t look stunned.
“That was suspected, yes. But it wasn’t something I was going to share with you,” he said, understanding my next question before I needed to say it.
“Slade—” I dropped my gaze to the floor “—I really like you.”
He took a seat on the bed. “Stop talking about it okay. The more you vocally let it be known, the more danger you’re in.”
“Can’t you just say you feel the same way?” I asked. I stood up, approaching him, parting his legs to wriggle between them. I brought my hands to his shoulders. But Slade didn’t bring his hands up to my waist or any part of my body. Instead, he shoved my hands off of him and stood up.
“No. I can’t say anything. I didn’t tell you who she was and you know now. That tells me all I need to know. She’s evil, Hope. She won’t let it go.” He sighed. “Just give me your hand.”
I tucked my hand behind my back. “No. I changed my mind. I don’t want you to remove it. And the fact that you’re here proves to me you care about me. So no, I don’t want you to get rid of it.” I rushed to him, pressing my mouth against his before he had time to consider. Grabbing hold of his bicep, keeping him from pulling away, it didn’t take long before he was willingly kissing me back, the warmness of his breath on my lips. And my heart was pounding a hundred beats a second.
Slade pulled away. “I have to go. And it would be in your best interest to forget about me.”
I kissed him again, pulling him back in. Silently challenging his stubborn side to let him leave. He brought a hand to my face, his fingers running against my cheek. He pulled me closer, working his lips over my jaw line and down my neck, breathing my perfume in. I touched his chest, feeling his heart pumping against my hand.
“I have to go,” he whispered in my ear. I released his hand and watched as he climbed back out my window. As I drew my blinds, I hoped Ezra didn’t come back and end me.
I hoped for once I got lucky.
Consequence
I knew I had to do something. Not just stand around twiddling my thumbs. Something had to change. I folded the last of my laundry, shoving the basket into my closet. I could put it away later.
I rushed past Dad and Crawford fast asleep on the couch, going out the back door. I needed to get Karsen. If I was going to do anything, I needed her help. Tomorrow was her very last day and then she would be gone again. If I was going to work out anything it would only happen with her by my side.
I ran across the sand, bits of it collecting in my flip-flops on my descent. I scanned the shore, looking for any sign of Karsen and Kidd. At last, my eyes settled on them in a lip lock quite a ways down the beach. I stayed where I was, trying to not look at how passionate the two of them seemed. It made me a little envious.
Karsen ran a hand across Kidd’s arm before she slowly backed away from him, their fingers still laced, neither of them willing to let go. I groaned. They really needed to hurry it up before I lost my courage.
Finally, Karsen broke free, and, with her sandals in her clutch, she ran across the sand. Once she noticed me she picked up pace, waving a hand in my direction.
“At last,” I said, eyeing the sun that barely remained anymore.
“Well, you knew where I was. And we did invite you to come along.” She let out a weary breath. “What’s up?”
I bit at my lip. “I wanted to go out tonight. But before you say anything, hear me out.”
Karsen plopped down in the sand, dropping her sandals in front of her. She took in the ocean, waiting for me to talk.
“I want to go to the concert tonight. I want to see for myself what the excitement is all about.”
I waited for Karsen to yell at me. To tell me that I was a big idiot. Instead, she nodded her head. “Any opportunity I get to see Kidd again is fine with me. I only have a day left.”
“Good. But Slade can’t find out that I am there. Or you,” I told her. I wasn’t sure what we would do but we had to do something to keep this covert.
“Um. What about hats?” Karsen recommended.
I shook my head. Hats were not the answer. If we wanted any kind of answers we still needed to sustain our femininity.
I jumped up, pulling Karsen along with me. “Throw on your shoes. We are going shopping. You still have your dad’s credit card, right?”
She nodded with a big smile on her pretty little face. “Totally. I never go anywhere without it.” We both laughed, dashing across the sand to the Shore Store.
Karsen scanned the first rack of clothes. “You’re going to want something black. Black and taut and Unhope-like.” She snagged some black patent leather hot pants off the rack, shoving them at me. I cringed at the thought, but pushed it aside. If I was going to intermingle, I needed to take action.
“Yeah, but what are you going to wear?” I asked, pulling a black halter top off the rack and eyeing it. Karsen snatched it up.
“I’ll wear this and, hmmm… these.” She grabbed a black skirt with quite a few metal chains draped across the front of it. Something that I was pretty sure almost certainly was in Erica’s closet.
Karsen handed me another halter top, this one baring a dodgy neck line. I swallowed, totally freaked out. My dad would destroy me if he ever saw me in these clothes.
“Okay, so let’s try them on and get this show on the road. The faster we are done, the sooner we will be there. And the faster I will see the love of my life.” She shoved me in the dressing room, taking the one next to me. I pushed past the scratchy red curtain.
“Love of your life?” I called out, pulling my shirt over my head.
“Yes. You don’t understand. Well, I think you do. But I never met a guy like Kidd. I may not be in love with him, but I do like him a lot. I never felt like this about any guy before.” And she was right, she hadn’t.
I wondered if I could compare Slade to what Karsen felt for Kidd. It didn’t feel like love. It felt like a crush. No. It felt like a drug. He was invigorating and left me yearning for more.
I shoved that aside, pulling up the microscopic hot pants. Rotating in the mirror, I was appalled to see my rear end staring back at me. I tugged the hot pants down, only sending it up in the front. “Karsen, it’s not covering any of me.”
“That’s because you have those long legs. It’s all right. Just make sure you wax and wear adorable underwear,” she told me. I closed my eyes, trying to calm my anxiety. I was near a panic attack.
&nbs
p; “Wax? You are joking right? Who waxes down there?” I shuddered at the thought of it.
Karsen whipped open my dressing room curtain, dressed in black from head to toe. She spun in a sudden circle. “Do you like?”
“You look incredible. It’s kind of fitting.” I laughed. Karsen’s aura, I was sure, was black. I was willing to bet money on it.
“Thanks. And yes, wax. And it’s not something you do yourself, unless you want to tear off a lip or two. Maybe even an ovary.” She pushed her hair behind her ear, looking at herself in the mirror.
“Ovaries are nowhere near that spot. Seriously, you might need to go back to sex ed,” I told her, tugging down the halter. It clung to my meager breasts almost making me rethink this whole covert operation plan. Almost.
“Boobs are for girls that have no intelligence,” she said, like always, while she busily adjusted her bosom.
I wished I had the chest she had. I wished I had a lot of what she had in the flesh and otherwise. Karsen had parents that were always in high spirits. An enormous home with a luxurious bedroom. All the money she wanted and a great brother. And she had this slipshod outlook about herself. If someone didn’t like her, she didn’t need them. I wished I had such self-confidence, I thought to myself.
“Okay, so now that we have the fashion, what about the hair?” I asked, staring at the two of us in the mirror. Karsen’s thin frame, skinny waist and muscular thighs staring back at us. While my longer frame, longer legs and not that curvy body stared at me.
She slapped my rear. “You’re doubting yourself and you shouldn’t be doing that. You’re a gorgeous young woman. That is why Slade is fully infatuated with you. And I know because Kidd told me so.”
A small glimmer of exhilaration slid through me. “Really?”
“Those light brown eyes. That evenly tanned skin. You have the greatest hair, it’s always so polished and perfect. Not to mention your teeth, so white and smooth. Kind of lickable.” She laughed. “And have you ever looked at your ass? Maybe that’s why Slade likes saying adieu all the time. Just to see you walk away.” She let out a whistle, sending me into a fit of laughter.
