by Apryl Baker
Xavier caught my hand as I was about to walk by him. “Be careful, Rose. I don’t think you know what you’re getting into.”
Rose? No one called me that. I frowned at him, but said. “You’re wrong. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
His eyes said otherwise, but I didn’t let it bother me. Much, anyway.
Sebastian walked with his hands in his pockets, like he was preoccupied, as we made our way to the office. I tried my best to look awed, but I’m not sure I pulled it off. He kept giving me odd glances as we walked.
“So,” he finally said. “Everyone says you’re a witch.”
“I am,” I answered honestly. I’d never made any pretenses about who I was, not even in LA. Most accepted it there because of how I dressed. Not that they thought I could do real magic, though. The majority of the population refused to believe in magic.
“Like a Wiccan or something?”
I laughed. “No, I’m not a Wiccan.”
“But you just said you’re a witch.” He stopped and turned to face me. There was an openness on his face that shocked me. He seemed more than just curious.
“I’m a witch. I deal in witchcraft.”
“There’s a difference?”
I nodded. “Wicca is a religion. Its followers rely on gods and goddesses to perform their magic. I don’t. I utilize the five Elements around us to do mine. Wicca is typically white magic as well. Witchcraft is a blending of both white and dark magic. There are no clear lines in witchcraft.”
“So you do black magic too?”
“When I need to, sure.”
“You’re not at all impressed by me, are you?” he asked after a moment, the first real hint of smile tugging at his lips.
I could lie, but I didn’t. He’d busted me, and if I wanted him to trust me, I had to be honest. “No, not really. I get that you’re cute and all, but I’ve met cuter.”
“Like Xavier?”
“He’s cute, but he’s obnoxious, so his looks don’t impress me either.”
Sebastian laughed. “Why don’t you come eat lunch at our table today? Mandy and the rest of the gang would like to get to know you better.”
I got the distinct feeling I had just passed a test. “So I passed the Caine test, huh?”
He laughed again. “I’ve never heard it called that, but yeah. If you don’t fall all over yourself around me, then you get a chance to meet our group. I know exactly what I can do to women.”
“Real charmer, huh?”
He smiled a smile that made my legs go slightly weak. I wasn’t expecting it. I was female, so my hormones responded to a smile like that on a face like his. Human genetics. His fingers brushed my cheek. “Oh, yes, Ms. James, I can be quite the charmer when I want to be.” He leaned closer, and I forced myself to take a step back, which earned me another chuckle. “Trust me, if I decide I want you, I will have you.”
“In your dreams, Mr. Caine,” I told him with a steady voice. Brownie points to me. I had a grip on myself again. He was just a wolf in very cute sheep’s clothing. I knew what he’d done to my sister. There was nothing on the face of this Earth that could blind me to that. I walked into the office without a backward glance.
“Then I’ll be dreaming of you tonight, Ms. James,” he called after me. “And I’ll save you a seat at lunch.”
Hook, line, and sinker. I had the attention of the wannabe witches. Just where I wanted to be.
“Excuse me,” I interrupted the nail filing of the receptionist. “I’m Melinda James. Mrs. Moore wanted to see me?”
She waved me to a seat, never looking up from her nails. Ten minutes later, she finally rang back and told the guidance counselor I was waiting, and I was ushered back to the administrative offices.
Mrs. Moore was the exact opposite of what I assumed the guidance counselor at this school would be like. For one thing, she had on jeans and a tee shirt. I’d expected a skirt at least, but no. Her brown hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and she had a local radio station playing quietly in the background. I’d expect this back in LA, but not here.
“Mrs. Moore?” I asked quietly. She seemed involved in the dance she was doing around a corner of her desk.
She jumped and then stomped hard. “Got you, you little sucker!”
My eyebrows shot up. So un-Stepfordville.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “That spider and I have been going round and round all morning.”
“Spider?”
“Yeah, I hate the little suckers. Creepy as all get out.” She shuddered before turning her attention to me. “Melinda?”
I nodded, unsure of why I was here. “There’s a problem with my paperwork?”
She took a seat and pulled out a file, presumably mine. She opened it and then turned it so I could see it. Staring back at me in all my glory was the Goth me. My eyes went slightly round in horror. How had she gotten that picture? I stared at her, nonplussed.
“For some reason, your file got sent to us twice. The pictures in them are so different, I wanted to discuss it with you first, Melinda. Why do we have two different pictures?”
I could do this. I’d lied to my dad on more occasions than I really wanted to own up to.
“It was a phase,” I told her, my voice and my eyes as honest as I could make them. “I was the typical teenager looking to rebel against her father. My dad’s great, don’t get me wrong, but he wasn’t home a lot the last couple years, and I wanted his attention when he was there. So I got into the whole Goth look. When I do something, I don’t just dabble, I go in head first and immerse myself in it. So I went completely Goth.” I paused and took a deep breath. “My sister died last year, and it made me think about what’s important. The whole black look didn’t really do anything but piss my dad off, so I gave it up.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your sister,” Mrs. Moore said softly. “Losing someone close to us will always bring what’s important into perspective.”
“Yes, ma’am, it does.”
“The pictures?” She opened another file with the blonde picture and slid it beside the one with the Goth picture.
“I knew this school’s reputation, and I really, really wanted to go here. It has one of the best science programs in the country, and science is my thing. I knew if you guys saw the Goth picture, you’d take one look and pass without considering anything else. So I switched out the picture on the file. I’m sorry if that was wrong, but I just really wanted to get into this school.”
She sighed. “I understand why you did it, Melinda, but I am going to have to report it to the headmaster. While you didn’t lie on your application, you did deceive us just a bit. That worries me. If you could deceive the school on something as simple as your appearance, then what else might you deceive us on?”
Oh, crap. Mrs. Sunshine here was a stickler. No way was she screwing me over now.
“Sands of time, winds of change,
I call upon thee to listen as I speak,
Blind her to what she sees,
Erase this memory that she seeks
And forever let it be.”
I reached over and pulled the file with my Goth picture from the desk and put it into my backpack. Memory spells were sometimes tricky, but seeing as how she’d never see this file again, I wasn’t as concerned with her memory coming back unexpectedly.
“You said there was a problem with my paperwork?” I asked her. “I don’t know what it could be. I made sure everything was in order before I came here.”
She blinked at me and then looked down at the file folder on her desk. She scanned it and then shook her head. I knew she must feel a little fuzzy at the moment. Memory spells did that to a person, especially if you erased a memory.
“I don’t see a problem, Ms. James,” she said, frowning. “I’m not sure what I was thinking, but you’re right. Everything is in order.”
“Was there anything else?”
She shook her head and smiled at me. “You’ll have to forgive me. I’
m just a little rattled this morning. How are things going for you? Settling in okay?”
“Yes, ma’am. The classes are really interesting, and I have the Science Fair coming up in a few months. Mr. Simon has to order some stuff for me, but I should have everything in time for Nationals.”
“You must be very excited.”
“A little nervous, actually. I am going outside my comfort zone and building an organic robot to work in hydroponics farming. I’m utilizing chemistry, physics, and robotics. It’s taking a lot of work to make everything run properly.”
“An organic robot?”
I laughed at her expression. Most people had the same reaction. “It’s mainly comprised of organic material that will eventually break down and release tiny Nanos to monitor growth and development of the plants while they grow in the water.”
“I can certainly see why you’ve won the competition the last few years,” Mrs. Moore said. “We are all very glad to have you here, Melinda.”
“Speaking of science, I really need to look over my Chemistry notes before class. We are doing a new experiment today, and I want to make sure all my equations are correct. If we’re through here, may I go so I can do that?”
“Oh, yes, of course!” She nodded. “If you have any problems or just need to talk, my door is always open.”
“Thank you,” I said and left the office, breathing a small sigh of relief. How had that file landed on her desk? I made sure there were no pictures left of my Goth self to send. Where did it come from?
Maybe the Fates were starting to work against me.
Chapter Eight
~ Lab Partners ~
When Xavier entered the Chemistry class, every girl looked at him like he was something good to eat. He was the piece of chocolate they were craving. I seriously didn’t want it to bother me, but I found myself glaring at them all. Bethany took one look at my face and resolutely looked down at her lab book. The boy turned those black eyes on me, and I felt my entire stomach clench deliciously. My heartbeat hit overdrive, and for a moment, I forgot that I was mad at him, forgot that he might be a Hunter, and simply basked in the glow of those eyes. The fact that he didn’t look at another girl as he crossed the room had absolutely nothing to do with my accelerated heartbeat or the glow I felt growing inside.
He leaned in close when he took his seat, and when he spoke, his warm breath tickled my ear. “Someone’s been doing magic.”
I frowned at him. How could he possibly know that? Was he hanging outside the office? I didn’t use enough magic to even leave much of a trace. It was just a simple memory spell.
“I can smell it.”
My eyebrows shot up. Even Hunters couldn’t smell magic. As far as I knew, there wasn’t anyone who could. “Who are you?”
He grinned his cockiest grin. “Not who, Rose. What.”
“What are you?”
“Let me take you to dinner and I’ll tell you.”
“No.”
He laughed. “Rose, what am I going to do with you?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“Not true,” he said, grinning. “I think we’re about to start our experiment.”
“All right, everyone, quiet down please,” Mr. Simon called out. “Everyone should have come up with their equations and measurements. I want you to compare what you have with your partner and then combine the work to create one project. You have exactly one hour to confer and complete your experiment, starting now.”
Xavier pulled out his lab book, and I took one look at the complex equations he had worked out and let out a low whistle. Whoever or whatever he was, he had a good grasp of Chemistry. They weren’t as complex as some of mine, but I’d guarantee no one else in this class could keep up.
For the next hour, I forgot how much trouble he could be for me, forgot how cute he was, and concentrated on the experiment. Xavier seemed content to do the same. I could hear people softly cursing around the room, but neither he nor I spoke. We conferred with our notes and adjusted a few things here or there, but by the time the hour was up, we’d produced the bubbly blue liquid that was required. It was an acid that only ate nonorganic material. Mr. Simon came by and dropped a small slice of bacon fat into a petri dish and poured a little of our mixture into it. Nothing happened. That was good. He then took a small piece of rubber and placed it into another petri dish. The acid began to bubble and foam as soon as it hit the compound. He grinned at us like a kid on Christmas morning after checking our equations and calculations.
“I knew you’d be able to do it, Ms. James.”
“Xavier did help,” I told him grudgingly. “Two of his equations worked better than mine did.”
“Well done, Mr. McGregor,” he said and beamed at Xavier.
Xavier nodded and gave me a wink when Mr. Simon moved on to test the next table. The groans told me Bethany had not managed to get the equations right. I grinned.
“It’s not nice to take joy in others’ failures,” Xavier told me calmly.
My head snapped up, and those onyx eyes were full of something that made me feel guilty. How could he do that? No one had ever been able to make me feel guilty about anything, not even when I used black magic. My gran and my dad both frowned on it, but they didn’t forbid it.
“You’re very much like a rose, you know. You’re beautiful, but you have thorns,” he murmured. “The question now becomes are you going to let those thorns become poisonous?”
“How do you know they aren’t already?”
“I wouldn’t be here if they were.”
My breath whooshed out as those black eyes swirled, and I lost focus. I felt like I was drowning, and my stomach heaved. My fingers clutched the table, and I fought to look away, but I couldn’t.
“You don’t have to make that choice, my little Rose.”
“It’s already been made,” I gasped. He knew. Curse the Fates, how did he know?
“Then change it.” His face became hard, unbending like stone. Then he looked away.
The earth re-centered itself, and my vision cleared. The room came back into focus, and I had to blink several times. What in Hades’ name was he?
“Breathe, Melinda,” he whispered into my ear, and I shuddered at the sensation of his lips against my flesh. I’d never felt anything like it before. I wasn’t a virgin, but I’d only slept with one guy in my seventeen years. Never had I experienced the raw sensations rolling through me with just the touch of those feathery soft lips. It scared me.
The bell rang and I jumped up, flushed and flustered. Xavier laughed softly and made a show of putting my books into my bookbag before handing it to me. He winked at me and waltzed out of the room, leaving me very unsteady, both physically and emotionally. Who and what in the hell was he?
“You okay, Melinda?” Mandy asked when I didn’t move.
“Yeah, fine,” I sighed. “Just thinking that boy is way more trouble than he’s worth.”
She laughed. “Yeah, but what boy isn’t?”
I smiled. “True.”
“Come on, let’s go eat, I’m starved.” She and her little group jostled me along with them out the door and toward the lunch room.
Chapter Nine
~ Lunch ~
The lunchroom at Westover Academy was exactly like lunchrooms around the world. There was the proverbial lunch line, but instead of questionable mystery meat, there was a wide variety of food that looked not only edible, but yummy. Dozens of tables were scattered around the room and filled with chattering students laughing and talking louder than they should.
I eyeballed the greasy cheeseburger with something akin to lust, but after seeing the Blonde Brigade all opt for healthy choices, I bit my lip and asked for a salad and a fruit bowl. Diet Pepsi completed my lunch. I only hoped I’d be able to choke the drink down. Diet soda was foul and should never ever be consumed by anyone.
Mandy led us to a table in the center of the room. No one had touched it. I assumed it was the Special Table for only the
Mega Elite as Jenny had called them. Mandy was flanked by her two flunkies, Lori and Madison. Both were blonde. Lori was the shortest of the three and had hazel eyes. She immediately pulled out her phone and started texting. Madison rolled her eyes and stabbed at her salad. Sebastian came over next and took one of the seats next to me. He slurped at his Coke and dug into his fries. My eyes envied the cheeseburger on his plate.
“That is disgusting, Bas.” Mandy grimaced. “How can you eat that?”
“Like this.” He popped a fry in his mouth and chewed slowly, making sounds of pleasure.
“You are so gross!”
“It’s a guy thing, Mandy,” Brandon laughed as he sat down on the other side of me.
I looked at him, startled. Brandon was part of their group? He must have joined after Jenny died. I don’t remember her talking about him at all.
“So what was going on with you and Xavier earlier in class?” Brandon asked me. “It seemed pretty intense.”
Mr. Nosy was way too observant. “Nothing, really. He asked about my science project, and we got into a debate about the robotics aspect of it. He’s smarter than he looks.”
“A debate about science?” He gave me a skeptical look.
“Well, that and other things. Xavier has a very high opinion of himself.”
Sebastian laughed. “He just wants in your pants.”
“He’s not getting in them.”
“You’re very refreshing,” he said and smiled at me. “Not at all like the other girls around here.”
“Why’s that?”
“I don’t know,” he mused. “Let me think about it, and I’ll text you.”
“Where’s Wes?” Brandon asked around a mouthful of burger.
Wes would be the guy who’d leered at me yesterday. He’d creeped Jenny out too.
“He pissed off Mrs. Eames in second period, and she’s making him spend lunch with her going over whatever he’s supposed to be reading,” Mandy answered. “I definitely won’t miss that old bat when we graduate. She’s evil.”
