Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
About Joelle Sterling
This novel is dedicated to my niece, Jordan Arianna Sealy
CHAPTER 1
Holland Manning’s hand wandered to the nape of her neck. She cringed as she touched the area where her newly shorn hair came to a point. She felt utterly naked—completely vulnerable with short hair. Hair that once hung to her shoulders now abruptly stopped at her jawline on one side. The other side had been raggedly hacked at the top of her ear.
She’d asked for a layered cut—an asymmetrical bob.
“No problem,” the stylist had reassured her when Holland gave her a picture of singer, Rihanna. The stylist did a hack job. A first-grader using a pair of safety scissors could have done a better job than that so-called professional.
Staring in the mirror, Holland winced as she analyzed her reflection. She tried to focus on her good points. Her skin was smooth and flawless, showing no signs of her long battle with acne. And with her braces finally off, straight teeth were a major improvement. Sadly, neither of these enhancements could deflect attention away from her scraggly hair. Allowing her hair to be hideously butchered like this was total self-sabotage.
Holland zoomed in on her nose, which had always been a problem area, and her nostrils seemed more pronounced, flaring unattractively. Her chin looked particularly elongated and pointy.
Oh, God! Angst-ridden, she closed her eyes. She envisioned streamlined nostrils and at least an inch of chin surgically removed.
Chaela Vasquez and lots of other girls at school had gone under the knife to enhance their looks. If Holland’s mom could afford it, she’d get some work done on her nose. Not a full nose job—more like a mini-procedure. A few tiny snips to her nostrils would make a huge difference.
Glancing in the mirror, she turned her face to a different angle. There was no improvement; she still looked gross! Getting her hair cut was the worst decision she’d ever made. This horrendous style magnified her poorest features. Heartsick, she fought the urge to cry. There was no time for tears; summer break would be over in less than a month, and she needed to come up with a solution.
Frustrated, she grabbed the swath of hair that hung limply in her face. This piece of hair held no purpose. She grabbed a pair of scissors and considered cutting it. With lots of gel and hairspray, perhaps she could give herself a mini-mohawk. Bad idea. Creative hairstyling was not one of her strengths. Imagining a far shoddier hair disaster, she put down the scissors, and released the handful of hair.
Trying to blend in with the popular girls . . . the cool kids with perfect hair and impeccable fashion sense, Holland had attempted to step up her game, but now she wished she’d never bothered. She should have been content staying under the radar. Now, with such a noticeably bad hair cut, she could count on lots of negative attention.
Holland wouldn’t be able to handle kids pointing fingers and laughing at her. To become the butt of cruel jokes would totally destroy her.
Her best friend, Naomi, was taunted every day. For some unknown reason, she never went to her parents or asked any authority figure at school to intervene. She bravely endured the heckling and jeering and withstood all the cruel pranks that were played on her. Now Naomi’s off the hook. Somehow, her parents found out what was going on, and had her transferred to an all girls’ academy.
It was painful to think about how cruelly Naomi was treated at school. No one should have to live like that. Thankfully, Naomi’s new school had a zero tolerance for bullying.
Holland returned her attention to the mirror. Hoping to find some redeeming qualities, she scrutinized her hair once again. Nothing had changed, and it was terrifying to imagine how Chaela Vasquez and her groupies would react to her on the first day of school. God, I wish I could crawl into a hole and hide there forever.
All of her problems would be solved if she could go to the academy with Naomi. But that was out of the question; her mom could barely afford their regular monthly bills. Private school tuition was out of the question. Maybe she’d consider the idea of homeschooling me—at least until my hair grows back.
Way to go, loser, she chided herself as she imagined her heartthrob, Jarrett Sloan’s, appalled expression when he took a glance at her stupid hair.
Holland noticed her mother, Phoebe, standing in the doorway, observing her. Her expression was hard to read, but Holland could feel her emotions: a mixture of pity and concern. To no avail, Phoebe had tried to talk Holland out of cutting her hair.
“I thought I’d look edgy,” Holland said in an apologetic tone.
“It’s not that bad, Holland,” Phoebe replied, wearing a weak smile that failed to reassure. “It’s not like you lost a limb. It’s only hair . . . it’ll grow back.” Her words were followed with a headshake, which Holland interpreted as an unspoken, ‘I told you so.’
“Do you know any hair-growing spells? Something that works really fast?” Holland giggled as if she was joking, but the desperation in her voice spoke volumes.
“Well . . . I suppose I could do some research. Or I could ask one of my coven sisters,” Phoebe said as she turned to go to her work area that was once the family dining room.
Her mother belonged to an online witch’s coven. She spent more money than she should on occult paraphernalia. Their modest home was overrun with candles, weird herbs, crystals, vintage jewelry, and all sorts of witchery tools. She’d recently launched a website, offering love and money attraction spells. Business was not exactly booming, but Holland’s mother was confident that word of mouth buzz would eventually direct traffic to her site.
For as long as Holland could remember, her mother had dabbled in the occult, boasting that she and her daughter were the last descendants of a long line of witches. Holland had never taken Phoebe’s claims seriously. There was no proof that either of them had any special powers.
Last year, her mother was into astrology and numerology. Before that, she was reading auras and tealeaves. Her mother was such an embarrassment with her various New Age interests, and lately she’d been getting a lot worse. Her interest in witchcraft was becoming an obsession—an expensive obsession. Phoebe was spending so much money on the tools of her trade, she was neglecting important bills.
Still, in her desperation to get her hair back, Holland was willing to try anything—even one of her mother’s half-baked spells.
While Phoebe researched spells, Holland mixed a potion of her own: L’Oreal, copper-blonde hair color. Grabbing the long hank of dark brown hair that hung in her eyes and down to her cheek, she squirted the contents of the plastic squeeze bottle.
The end result was streaked hair that didn’t look too bad. After flat-ironing the front of her hair and applyin
g gobs of gel to closely cropped parts on the back and the right side, she miraculously ended up with spiked hair that looked sort of awesome.
Impressed with the results, she beamed at her reflection.
After a couple more approving glances in the mirror, she galloped off to show her mother her stunning hairdo.
In the dining–slash–work room, Holland was greeted by the sight of Phoebe sitting cross-legged on the dark tile floor. The table and chairs were pushed against the wall. She sat in the center of a chalk-drawn circle.
It was on the tip of Holland’s tongue to blurt out that she didn’t need the spell anymore, but Phoebe was already mumbling a chant—something repetitive and indecipherable. Her eyes were closed while four white candles burned inside the circle.
Holland gave a little sigh.
Geeze, Mom! This is seriously overkill, she wanted to say, but her mother was so deep into the spell, she didn’t have the heart to tell her that she no longer required her witchcraft services.
In a moment of panic, Holland’s eyes darted to the curtains. She was instantly relieved to find them closed. The neighbors didn’t need to witness this embarrassing spectacle. They’d be freaked out if they could see her mother right now.
It was bad enough that whenever Phoebe went out to the grocery store, the dry cleaners, or wherever, she’d walk up to total strangers and pass out her card, attempting to drum up business. It was so embarrassing the way people recoiled after her mother announced that she was a witch, and she could cast love and money spells. People sort of automatically assumed that being a witch was synonymous with being a devil worshipper.
She hoped that her mother’s witchcraft obsession would end soon. Holland would be ridiculed endlessly if the kids at school found out that Phoebe was a witch for hire.
Holland gazed at Phoebe again, and decided that it was only fair to respect her efforts. She was, after all, acting on her daughter’s behalf. Giving her mother some space and privacy, Holland quietly slipped out of the front door.
At the end of the block, she veered off the main street, and zipped onto the dirt path, taking the shortcut to Naomi’s house.
Naomi and Holland used to share the same social status at school: unimportant and invisible. Holland and Naomi had both always been more interested in having their noses stuck in a book than keeping abreast of the latest fashion trends. They were both on the D list as far as popularity went. But at some point during ninth grade, Naomi had dropped down to the F list. For no apparent reason other than the fact that she was a super smart, straight-A student, she had become a target for bullies.
With Naomi going to a new school, Holland would be utterly alone. It was clearly time for her to make an attempt to fit in with other students—the cool crowd. Though she hated to admit it, Holland was seriously considering dumbing down this year.
CHAPTER 2
Jerked from sleep and unearthed from his resting place by an invisible force, he grudgingly gave in to awareness. Back among the living, his clothing in tatters, he was disoriented and hungry. A ghastly sight, he stumbled out of the woods.
Shielding his eyes from the blinding bright sun with a dirt-encrusted arm, he took a few faltering steps. Limbs stiffened from lack of movement, he could barely stand upright. Acting on instinct, the haggard boy staggered back into the woods, intent on obscuring himself from view. Leaning against the trunk of a tree, he gazed down at his feet. The scars were troubling and mystifying.
A sharp and agonizing hunger pang drew his attention away from the mystery of the wounds. Bent over and clutching his stomach, it seemed that his very soul was crying out for sustenance.
From the corner of his eye, he saw something move through the grass. His stiff muscles did not deter him. Swift as lightning, he dove downward. Clawing at the ground viciously, he captured a small squirrel before it could scamper up the tree.
Ravenous, his teeth ripped through fur and skin. Biting into a live animal was disturbing. With blood dripping from his lips and down the front of his ragged shirt, he glanced around the woodsy environment. A million questions filled his mind as he ravaged his meal.
His hunger satiated for the moment, he dropped the squirrel’s carcass and looked at his bloody hands in disgust. Filled with self-loathing, he wiped the blood onto the soiled fabric of his ragged pants.
Sitting with his back pressed against the sturdy tree trunk, his wandering eyes took in the surroundings, and then his gaze settled on a hole in the earth—his former grave. A flash of memory: dirt hitting his prone body. Panic. Terror. Darkness. And finally, acceptance and peace.
How long was I in the ground? He dragged red-stained fingers along his jawline as he frantically searched his memory for answers.
In his mind’s eye, he saw a boat—a sailboat overcrowded with anxious people. Haitian people—hoping to find a better life in America.
He’d boarded the boat with a satchel filled with extra clothing, slung over his shoulders. He remembered his mother’s voice calling to him, “Safe travels, Jonas!”
The boat was cursed and all the passengers were doomed. Ah, Mother, you had no idea that you were sending me on a voyage to hell.
Vivid memories began to resurface. Before the hurricane, he had been receiving a good education, paid for by a charitable organization. He’d been taught English in his school, and he spoke the language fluently. His mother yearned for him to one day attend college and become a man of importance, preferably a physician. But like everything around him, his school had been demolished.
In America, he was supposed to continue his high school education, go to college, and eventually provide a better life for his family back in Haiti.
Jonas worried about his mother and little sisters having to carry the five-gallon bucket of water from the water depot to their crumbling home. Did his mother know that the money she’d borrowed for his passage to the United States had been wasted?
Of course, she knew. By now, relatives in America had informed her that Jonas had never arrived. Lenders back in Haiti would be demanding repayment. Harassing and threatening his mother.
I’m so sorry, Mother.
It was best that she believed that Jonas’s body was at the bottom of the ocean. The truth of his fate would destroy her. What mother could endure the knowledge that her child had been changed into something unnatural—a soulless monster.
A bird fluttered overhead, reminding Jonas of his persistent hunger. As if preparing to snatch the bird from the sky, he stiffened in a predatory manner, his grasping hands reaching upward. But the bird was out of his reach. Back in Haiti, he’d suffered through long stretches without food and very little water, but this kind of hunger was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. Being impoverished and living on the garbage-strewn streets of Port-au-Prince was better than eternal damnation.
For what purpose had he been awakened? He looked around, wondering what had happened to the others from the boat. Were they still under the influence of the poison or had they been buried, too?
Yearning companionship, he looked around. Aside from the hole that he’d crawled out of, the earth was undisturbed. There was no one else here in the woods. He was utterly alone. Disappointment crumpled his strong features. Woefully, he dropped his forehead on his dirt-caked arm. Why had he been pulled from sleep to wander alone in this strange land? He was doomed. Surviving from one moment to the next, scavenging for food. What had he ever done in his young life to deserve this wretched existence?
The shortcut to Naomi’s house was peaceful. No traffic. No people. Lots of trees and birds chirping . . . like a mini-oasis away from normal life. Walking along the dirt path, she lapsed into a quick fantasy about her dream boy, Jarrett Sloane. In her fantasy, Jarrett had finally noticed her. His eyes were smoldering with passion when he told her that he thought she was hot.
Practically swooning at the inner vision of Jarrett undressing her with his eyes, Holland found herself blushing at the very thought. Her gaze dropped dow
nward and she noticed a set of strange footprints.
A confused frown formed on her face. They weren’t shoe prints; they were prints of bare feet. All five toes were visible, but oddly, the soles of the feet had deeply grooved, bizarre etchings that reminded Holland of Egyptian hieroglyphics, only these etchings looked sinister. They looked otherworldly. No human being had a cluster of intricate drawings etched into the bottom of his feet.
Bending over, she looked closer at the markings. She didn’t know what to make of them. Using her phone, she took a picture of what appeared to be alien footprints. This was the kind of mystery that her mom and her coven sisters would enjoy researching and trying to solve.
With more pressing matters on her mind, Holland took off running, eager to show Naomi her haircut.
She rang Naomi’s bell and Naomi stood in her doorframe, gaping at Holland.
The way she was gawking was a little off-putting. Maybe she wasn’t as hot as she’d thought. Self-consciously, Holland pushed her hair away from her eyes. “What do you think?”
“Wow.”
“Wow, what?” Holland nervously bit her bottom lip.
“You cut your hair! That’s like . . . so drastic.”
“What do you think?” Holland asked anxiously.
“It looks amazing. I mean . . . seriously. You look like a totally different person.”
Holland flashed a relieved smile. “I’m trying to get Jarrett’s attention. I hope this works.”
Naomi looked her over with appraising eyes. “Your hair is great, but you need a little more pizzazz.”
Holland’s smile vanished. “I do?”
“Yeah, you need some flashy jewelry. Smokey eye makeup. Dark lipstick and fingernails.”
Holland frowned at her suggestions. “I’m not into makeup. It’s so fake, and it’s not who I am.”
“You’re glamming up your image, so why stop with a haircut? Why not go all out?”
“I’m not into fashion trends and neither are you,” Holland tersely pointed out. “No offense but you’re a bookworm. When did you become a beauty expert?”
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