“It’s David,” I said. “He said he needs to talk to me.”
Mom stared. “Can he come in the house?”
“Let me just go sit in his car for a few minutes, okay?”
Mom stared at me for a long time before nodding. The horn blared again, and she winced. “Just make him stop doing that,” she said. “It’s so rude!”
My heart was in my throat as I ran outside and climbed into the passenger seat of David’s car. I kept staring straight ahead at my parents’ front door as he started rambling about something.
“Elizabeth, you’re not even listening,” David growled.
“Monica’s back,” I said. Finally, I turned to him and stared. “What do you want me to say? She’s acting super weird,” I added. “She’s not talking about what happened, and she grew really angry with me earlier when I told her that I’d been worried.”
David pushed his messy black hair away from his forehead. He was even paler than usual, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
“Something weird happened,” David said. “Some kind of ancient evil.”
“What?” I narrowed my eyes. “What the fuck does that even mean?”
David sighed impatiently. “The ancient evil, in the woods – it abducted Monica, and used her as a vessel for power.”
I swallowed. My heart was thudding in alarm. There was something scary about the fervent, glittering look in David’s eyes.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said softly.
David spun around, twisting until he was groping at the floor of the backseat. When he emerged, he was holding a leather-bound book. The covers were moldy, and the pages were falling apart. When David cracked it open, a musty scent filled the air.
“It’s here somewhere,” David said. He fumbled through the pages until he stopped on an illustration. It had been painstakingly done, and I gasped at the intricate image. A woman with blonde hair was hovering over a fire, surrounded by a group of dancing people, all clad in long, black robes. There were symbols painted around them.
“What are those?” I pointed down. “Like astrological symbols? What kind of book is this?”
“They’re witches,” David said. He pointed to the blonde woman. “And that’s Monica.”
“Come on,” I said. I rolled my eyes. “David, you know witches don’t exist. That’s all fake. It’s meant to scare people into behaving. Or at least, it was, like a few hundred years ago.”
David stared at me. “No!” he growled. “That’s Monica. Look closer.”
I sighed. “This is crazy, I’m going–”
David grabbed my wrist. I yelped in pain. “Ouch!”
“Just look,” he said. “Elizabeth, you have to believe me.”
I took a deep breath. “Fine,” I said. David gingerly passed the book to me, and I looked down, studying the image. The blonde woman’s eyes were closed, and she wore a contented smile. She was drawn in remarkable detail, with the same symbols from the outside of the page tattooed on the inside of her forearm, a mole on her shoulder, and one toe missing from her left foot. A chill crawled down my spine. The longer I stared, the weirder I felt – almost like something was changing inside of me. The people dancing around the blonde didn’t have the same serene expressions on their faces. If anything, they looked tortured. Unhappy. Like they’d been forced to perform for a powerful witch.
“It’s her,” David said woodenly. “I know it. I just know.”
“This is a dumb coincidence,” I said. My palms felt cold and damp, and my voice was shaky. “It can’t possibly be her. This book is ancient!”
“It’s from the eighteenth century,” David said. “I found it last night.”
“David…what exactly are you saying?”
David swallowed dramatically. “I’m saying, something bad happened to her while she was gone. Something supernatural. Something paranormal, even.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know!” David said hotly. He grabbed the book from my lap and slammed it shut.
“Well, what do you want me to do?”
“Something happened,” David repeated. “And it’s up to us to figure it out.”
--
I felt numb as I went inside and trudged up the stairs to my room. My mom had disappeared from the kitchen, but I only felt a sense of relief that I wouldn’t have to argue with her over David’s weird behavior. I felt exhausted, almost wrung out. Like I could have gone to sleep for a decade and still needed more rest.
I pushed open the door to my room and gasped. My feet were rooted firmly to the spot, and a shiver inched down my spine.
Monica was sitting lotus-style on my bed. When she saw me, she smiled.
“Hey,” Monica said. “God, you took forever to get home! I feel like I’ve been waiting for hours!” Her cheeks were flushed pink.
“I was just outside,” I said slowly. “How did you get here? I’ve been in the driveway the whole time.”
“Elizabeth, come on,” Monica said. “We both know you’re not exactly the most observant person in the world.”
I stared at her. “But…I just…I just went outside a few minutes ago. I didn’t see you come in,” I added. “What’s up?”
Monica grinned. “You’ve been anxious over Steven and Andrea,” she said softly. She raised an eyebrow. “But I know how you can win Steven – for good.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
“I know all about what’s going on,” Monica continued. “And I know how you can come out on top.” Her grin turned sinister in the low afternoon light.
I felt myself begin to tremble and shake with fear.
“Come here, Elizabeth,” Monica said. She beckoned me with a slender finger. “Don’t you want to know?”
To be continued….
THE END
Book 3: The Hunt
Prologue
Elizabeth – Present Day
“Oh, my god, congratulations!” Karen pulled me into a warm hug, clutching me tightly before releasing me and grabbing my hand. “This is beautiful!”
I bit my lip and smiled self-consciously. I wouldn’t have admitted it for anything in the world, but I’d been staring at my ring for the better part of the day. Until Steven had asked me to marry him, I’d always thought all the fuss and nonsense over new engagements was pretty stupid.
“Thanks.” I grinned at Karen. “And thanks for this. This is all really nice.” I gestured around to the inside of the kitchen. When Steven and I had told her the news, she’d immediately decided that we should throw ourselves an engagement party. I thought the idea was kind of silly, but Karen was really excited. She threw herself into baking these elaborate little appetizers and snacks. Now the house was packed with practically everyone Steven and I had known in grade school and college.
“I know,” Karen said modestly. She smiled again. “This is just so exciting! I don’t even know what to say!”
I nodded slowly. “It feels kind of surreal,” I admitted. “I wasn’t expecting a proposal at all.”
Karen frowned. “You guys didn’t talk about it before?”
I shook my head and narrowed my eyes. “Why? Did Steven say something about it to you?”
“No, nothing like that,” Karen said quickly. “He didn’t even ask me to go ring shopping with him.”
‘Why would he?’ I thought, biting the inside of my mouth to keep from saying it aloud. ‘It’s not like you and I are good friends or anything like that.’
Instead, I forced another smile. “Yeah, well, you know Steven,” I said. I rolled my eyes. “He always has to be right about everything, and on his own terms, too.”
Karen nodded. “So, have you set a date?”
I shook my head. “We’re just taking things one step at a time,” I said slowly. “I don’t even want to think about planning a wedding right now.” I shrugged. “It’s just so much.”
Karen’s eyes got big and wide. “Elizabeth,” she said. “Come on! Aren’t y
ou even a little bit excited?”
The truth was, I wasn’t. The day after Steven had proposed, he’d come home with an armful of magazines and wedding planning books. He’d been really thrilled about it all, and I’d dutifully flipped through a couple of the magazines after dinner while we were sitting in our bedroom. But seeing the exorbitant price tags on everything made me a little squeamish. It seemed so stupid to spend so much on a giant wedding when we weren’t even that social in the first place.
“Yeah,” I said. “Well, I’m excited to be marrying Steven. I don’t really know about a wedding, though.”
“Oh, Elizabeth, it’ll be great,” Karen said enthusiastically. “I have a cousin who’s a wedding planner in Boston. Oh, my god, she just makes everything perfect. Have you thought about a maid of honor yet? Bridesmaids?”
I shook my head.
“Elizabeth!” Karen laughed. “You have to pick that stuff soon! You know, like all of your friends are going to be wondering.”
I shrugged. “I mean, I guess I wasn’t really thinking about having a bridal party.”
Karen looked deeply, personally offended. I wondered if she’d been hoping for an invitation.
“Elizabeth, you have to take this seriously,” Karen said. “This is, like, the one time in life where everything is about you, and you can demand anything you want.”
I laughed nervously. “I don’t really agree,” I said. “I mean, no one actually likes being a bridesmaid, right? They just do it out of obligation?” I wrinkled my nose. “All those tacky dresses … ew,” I added. “Maybe we’ll just go to the courthouse and get married in jeans.”
Just as Karen was about to chastise me, Steven swept through the kitchen and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, relieved to have an excuse to walk away from Karen.
“You look gorgeous,” Steven said. He pulled away, surveying my outfit and grinning. “Man, I haven’t seen some of these guys since high school!”
I nodded, glancing around. Music was blaring through the house, and the kitchen was filled with a bunch of people drinking punch out of red plastic cups and eating Karen’s canapes.
“I still feel like a kid,” I admitted to Steven. “Somehow, I thought getting engaged would make me feel like an adult.”
Steven rolled his eyes and kissed the tip of my nose. “Yeah, you old lady,” he said with a smirk. “All of twenty-two and off the market already.” He laughed at his own joke. For a reason I couldn’t have explained, a feeling of discomfort washed over me, and I nodded mechanically.
“Hey, kid, what is it?” Steven frowned. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah,” I said. “Fine. I’m going to go see who showed up. It’s kind of rude to be ignoring our guests.”
For a moment, Steven looked like he was about to argue. Then he nodded. “Yeah,” he said, “you’re right.” He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. “See you later, kid.”
I yelped as Steven playfully swatted me on the ass before grabbing a beer from the fridge and sauntering out of the room, looking cocky and smug.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Karen darting toward me. ‘Shit,’ I thought. I didn’t want to answer any more of her stupid wedding planning questions, although I had a feeling literally everyone at the party would be asking me the same stuff. ‘Is it going to be like this until we get married?’ I wondered as I poured some rum punch in a cup and walked outside. ‘Is everyone just going to ask me about dresses, and venues, and catering, and bridesmaids?’
I knew I should be happy. According to one of the books Steven had brought home the other night, this was supposed to be the happiest time of my life. But whenever I thought about walking down a silent aisle in front of hundreds of people, my throat closed up, and I felt scared and shaky. I hated being the center of attention. The thought of everyone watching me, inspecting my every detail, made me incredibly nervous.
I pushed my way through the crowd and went outside to sit on the porch. Our driveway was overflowing with cars, some of them spilling onto the front yard. I bit my lip and took a long sip of rum punch, enjoying the liquor’s burn as it slid down my throat. Inside, I could hear Steven laughing and cracking loud jokes with his friends about a ball and chain.
If anything, that just made me feel worse.
It was cold and dreary, more like fall weather than spring. The sky was full of inky clouds, racing back and forth, and it wasn’t long before a cold rain started to splash down. I curled up on the porch swing, sipping my rum and listening to the sounds of everyone, but me, enjoying my engagement party.
A station wagon pulled up and parked, the headlights sweeping across the front of the house. The glare was so bright that I couldn’t see who was driving until they parked and climbed out. I gasped. A tall, lanky guy with black hair flopping in his eyes was loping toward the house in an oddly graceful gait.
David.
I stood up and set my cup of punch down. When David got to the porch and saw me, he threw me a cockeyed grin.
“And just what is the bride-to-be doing out here alone? Banished?”
I shook my head. “It’s crowded in there,” I said slowly. “I needed some air.”
David nodded. He stepped closer, and my heart thudded in my chest as he pulled me into a tight embrace. Under his baggy, black clothing, his body was thin, almost bony. But his grip was surprisingly strong, and I sagged against him.
When we pulled away, I felt strangely naked and vulnerable.
David showed no sign of being affected, though. He ambled over to the porch swing and sat down, brushing droplets of water from his lightweight, black trench coat.
“Want some punch?”
“I can go in and get it,” David said.
“No,” I said quickly. “I’ll be right back.” I couldn’t explain it, but something inside of me wasn’t ready to go back in for good. There was something infinitely more appealing about sitting quietly with David and listening to the rain.
Thankfully, no one noticed me as I slunk into the kitchen and poured rum punch into two red cups, filling them up nearly to the brim. I walked outside carefully, holding both cups in front of me and trying not to spill.
“Thanks,” David said when I handed one of the cups over. “I guess congratulations are in order.”
I groaned. “I really, really don’t wanna talk about the wedding right now.”
David narrowed his eyes. His face had changed since we were kids; he’d finally grown into his long facial features. His chin was free of scruff, but his eyes seemed darker than ever.
“Why? Did something happen?”
“No,” I said quickly, “nothing like that.” I sighed. “It’s just…oh, I don’t know. Ever since I got this thing,” I held up my hand, showing David my engagement diamond, “all everyone wants to talk about is wedding planning. And it’s, like, if I don’t wanna talk about it, then I’m the weird one.”
David nodded. “I get that,” he said.
I swallowed a big mouthful of rum punch. The liquor was starting to work its magic on me, and I felt a little more confident than I had before, when Karen had cornered me in the kitchen.
“So,” I said, “are you seeing anyone?”
David shook his head. “No,” he said stiffly. “I haven’t, since–”
“Oh,” I said softly. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”
David shrugged. “It’s not a big deal,” he said. “I mean, it is. But I guess not really anymore.”
I sank against the ancient wood of the swing, making the chains that fastened it to the ceiling creak.
“I think about her all the time,” I said. “It’s, like, no matter what I do, she’s always there.”
David nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Sometimes I feel like that, too.”
“I wonder what she’d be doing now,” I said sulkily.
David shrugged. “That’s the part I try not to think about,” he said. His voice was dark and laced
with obvious pain. “I hate thinking that she could be here, but she’s not.”
Just as I was about to ask him what exactly he meant, the front door swung open, and Steven strode out. When he saw me, he grinned, but the smile faded instantly when he caught a glimpse of David.
“What’s he doing here?” Steven said, more to David than to me.
“I came to show my support,” David said. He grinned sarcastically at Steven. “Isn’t that allowed? This is an engagement, after all.”
Steven narrowed his eyes and scowled.
“Steven, it’s fine,” I said quickly, getting to my feet. “Really. I invited him.”
“You did what?” Steven glared at me. “Are you kidding me, Elizabeth?”
I shook my head. “Of course not,” I said. My heart skipped a beat in alarm, and I felt blood rising to the surface of my skin.
“Why would you do something like that?”
“Because he is my friend,” I shot back.
“Whatever,” Steven said. He sighed loudly and whistled. “I’m going inside. This is fuckin’ bullshit. Elizabeth, come on.” He pushed the door open and jerked his head toward the inside of the house.
I shook my head. “I’m gonna stay out here for a while,” I said. “It’s too hot in there for me.”
Steven rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he said. Before I could reply, he walked inside and slammed the door.
“Sorry about that,” I said to David. “I didn’t know he’d be that pissed.”
Oddly, David didn’t look the least bit bothered by my fiancé’s rudeness.
“I think he’s probably just…” I trailed off. “I don’t know. He’s still upset about Monica, too.” I felt like I was groping for words. “I wouldn’t take it personally.”
David gave me an odd smile. “I didn’t,” he said. He took a long swallow of punch.
I frowned. To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what had made me want to invite David. It had been years since we’d talked. But a couple of nights ago, I hadn’t been able to sleep. I’d taken my laptop down to the kitchen and wound up poking around Facebook. David had shown up in a list of people that I ‘might know,’ and I hadn’t been able to resist sending him a message. He’d replied almost instantly, and we ended up chatting until the wee hours of the morning. Toward the end of the conversation, I’d invited him to the engagement party.
The Coven Series: Books 1-5 Page 17
