by Rachel Jonas
“Seems people have made a game of keeping things from me and I need you to not be one of them.” The request wasn’t as simple as it sounded, I know, but I hoped he’d consider it. I wasn’t a child and the more I knew, the more prepared I could be for whatever came next.
There was no sound other than the old truck bounding over the winding road. We bounced and swayed with it, neither speaking for several seconds, but then the sound of his voice touched my ears.
“You’re asking a lot,” he exhaled.
“I know.”
He fell silent again, thinking.
My parents keeping it from me that I was adopted was only the beginning. There were also secrets between Nick and I that we were both guilty of keeping. I understood why he hadn’t been forthcoming about what he was. How could I not understand? I kept my true identity from him too. It was easier that way, pretending nothing had changed when, in fact, everything had changed.
And then there was Liam—my warrior. Although that role in my life was a thing of the past, he still thought of himself as my protector. And that didn’t end with physical protection. He’d also made it his duty to block me from anything he thought might be too much to handle emotionally as well.
But I needed him to see beyond my almost eighteen-year-old exterior like I saw beyond his of twenty. We were both much older than that in spirit and I needed him to accept that. Just like I was beginning to.
I sat, waiting.
“Okay,” he agreed, giving in far easier than I expected, but I didn’t gloat.
“Thank you.”
Before filling me in on what happened today, he took a deep breath.
“Baz knows who you are,” he shared before clarifying who he spoke of. “The Elder.”
I turned toward him again. “So, what’s that mean for us?”
Us … Why did that word seem to keep slipping out?
It wasn’t like my problems were his, but maybe he made me feel like they were. Like, whatever I went through, he’d be right there on the front-line taking the brunt of it with me.
For me.
“I wasn’t sure at first,” he started, “but, by the time we finished discussing it, I believe the Elders are now our allies. They understand how important you are, how important it is to keep your identity secret.”
It made me nervous that others, outsiders, were now aware. Liam, I knew and trusted. The Elders? Not so much.
But I guess this fell under the umbrella of trusting him. If he thought things were mostly okay, I’d just have to believe that too.
“When you get there, to the facility, don’t be alarmed if you’re handled a bit more … cautiously than the others.”
“What? Why?”
“I got the feeling the Elder will be seeing to it that you’re looked after more closely because we have to be careful.”
“But won’t giving me special treatment make me stand out even more?”
He shrugged. “Most will just assume you come from money and your parents made special arrangements.”
I sat back with a heavy sigh. “I already don’t like this.”
I was in the middle of feeling way sorry for myself when a warm hand engulfed mine, pulsing its heat through my palm and up my arm until it reached my chest, my heart.
“You’ll be fine.” Liam’s words were comforting to a degree, and so was the contact. “I was already planning to be there with you, but the Elder is, supposedly, making that go a little smoother as well.”
“Yeah?” I glanced over, very much aware of our hands still linked as our forearms rested on the console between the two seats. I was also aware of a faint smile set on my lips.
Liam nodded and I snorted by accident when a thought came to mind. “What’re you gonna do? Teach or something?” My smile broadened and, eventually, a laugh rang out. However, Liam stayed straight-faced.
I leaned forward in my seat to get a good look at him, still grinning. “I was kidding, but … is that what’s happening?”
A heavy sigh puffed from his lips and I couldn’t imagine him, a guy who didn’t look a whole lot older than me, schooling those of us who’d be attending. He was totally gonna be the facility’s version of that hot camp counsellor all the girls secretly crushed on. I was sure of it.
“Now I have something to look forward to. It’ll be pure, comic relief watching you stand up there,” I smiled, “pretending to be all innocent and wholesome.”
Because I had a feeling he was everything but that.
A hint of a smile touched his lips too. “This is funny to you?”
I was nodding before he even got the whole sentence out his mouth. “Oh, yeah. One-hundred-percent. I can only hope I get to experience it firsthand. What’re you gonna be teaching?”
“Can we … not use that word? Teaching. It won’t be like that. I’ll just be me, sharing what I know.”
“Because you’re, technically, kinda old?” I teased.
The corners of his mouth turned up even more and another surge of heat rippled through my fingers when he squeezed them a bit. “Because we’re, technically, kinda old.”
He had a point.
I sat back in my seat and tried to look at the bright side of this. Yeah, I’d be away from my parents, but, during that time, I’d get to learn more about who and what I am. And that’s all I ever really wanted.
“I’m gonna tell them the truth. My parents,” I blurted, sharing my plan with Liam, secretly hoping he didn’t shoot the idea down.
His eyes shifted back and forth between me and the road several times and I had no idea what he was thinking. Maybe that I was insane to even consider it.
“I hate lying to them and I think they should know,” I explained, wanting him to understand my rationale.
“How do you think they’ll take it?” There was a strange tone to his voice when he asked.
I shrugged. “Beats me, but I’ve already made up my mind.”
He went quiet on me again, but then said something I didn’t quite understand.
“Evangeline, we need to talk, but … I’m not really sure where to start.”
There was that tone again. The one that made my stomach do somersaults.
My heart felt heavy all of a sudden too. I breathed deep, preparing for whatever he needed to say that made him so solemn.
“Okay … what is it?”
It took him way longer to speak than I was comfortable with, and when words finally left his mouth, I wished they hadn’t.
“The Council’s decided your parents are a liability. One the clan can’t afford to pretend doesn’t exist.”
My hands went numb first, and then everything else. His statement wasn’t even registering.
A liability.
He took another breath. “I don’t think I have to explain how cutthroat they can be, but I managed to get Baz to compromise,” he shared. “Still, I know you won’t like the agreement we came to.”
Water stung the corners of my eyes when I turned his way, subconsciously squeezing his fingers tighter in mine. It looked like he wanted to stop when he noticed the oncoming tears, but maybe remembered the request I made. The one where I asked him to always tell the truth.
Even when no one else would.
Even when it hurt.
“Their first solution was death.” That knocked the wind out of me and I immediately felt lightheaded. Like the world was suddenly spinning ten times faster and I couldn’t get my footing.
“Death.” I uttered the word with a whisper, unable to even fathom it. “But you said … you said they’d be okay here when I left. Because they’re human,” I sputtered, feeling the first hints of wetness on my cheeks. “You said that!”
The truck slowed and we moved to the shoulder of the road as heat spread through my limbs. Liam shifted into ‘park’ before turning to face me. With his free hand, he cleared my tears away and then let it settle at the nape of my neck.
“We have to stop them.”
I was c
ompletely irrational as he tried to say more, reaching for the handle to let myself out, planning to walk who-knows-where. I just knew sitting there was not the answer. If I had to go back down into that dark chamber of a basement beneath the library all on my own and face the Elders myself, I’d do it.
“Evangeline,” Liam said calmly, taking my waist when I made it halfway out of my seat, feeling gravel beneath one shoe.
“They can’t do this!”
“You’re right! Which is why I’m telling you I made him come up with something else.”
I stopped struggling, but didn’t climb all the way back in.
“They weren’t willing to just take my word that this wouldn’t lead to exposure, but they were willing to compromise.”
I had no idea what that meant. Compromise.
“A spell,” he sighed. “The witches will have to cast one that will…” When he hesitated again, I knew something terrible would follow. “It’ll make them forget you.”
A loud ringing in my ears muffled Liam’s voice as he explained further, and I zoned out.
They’d have to forget me.
More and more, it felt like the one thing I wanted the most … was the one thing life kept stealing from me.
Family.
“And I know this is a lot to take in, but I need to tell you the rest,” he went on. “Because you wanted honesty.” I blinked and more hot tears raced toward my chin. “It won’t just be your parents. It’s everyone. Any human you’ve ever encountered,” he added. “That’s the only way to make sure the story holds.”
Friends. Teachers. Classmates. Aunts. Uncles. Cousins. Gram.
Everyone.
I nodded as I wiped my face, but it was a forced gesture. Nodding was a sign of understanding, and I didn’t understand this. But I knew all too well how powerless I was, and I also knew I’d have to take this lying down. Just like everything else.
“But you have my word that I’ll do my best to fix it,” Liam promised. “When this is all over, when things have changed, I’ll make sure they keep their word and break the spell.”
I nodded again. “What if they don’t?” It was a grim question, but a necessary one. “After what they did to you, I don’t trust them. Can’t we find another witch to help break the spell when we get back?”
When Liam shook his head, a wave of frustration washed over me. “Magic doesn’t work like that. What one witch does, another can never undo. That’s just the way it is.”
So, my hope for a future with my parents lie in the hands of the three vicious witches who nearly killed Liam today.
Good to know.
While I didn’t share my thoughts with Liam, truth was, I didn’t have a ton of hope that things would work out. Not in my favor anyway. From where I sat, it seemed like this was my fate. Always had been. I, for whatever reason, wasn’t meant to keep anyone close. This universe had gone out of its way to make this abundantly clear.
And now, in a few short days, I’d be erased.
Again.
—Chapter Four—
Evie
Dinner had no taste. Well, I’m sure it did, I was just too distracted to notice.
Two pulses from my phone where it sat on the edge of the table made my heart leap. Desperate to hear from Nick, I nearly knocked my fork on the floor trying to get to the message.
‘There’s a candlelight vigil tomorrow night at 7 for Maddox and his brother. Need a ride?’ Beth asked. ‘I can have Roz come get you.’
I typed my answer while my parents chatted. ‘Sure.’ But I didn’t leave it at that. ‘Has anyone heard from Nick?’
I tapped my foot anxiously beneath the table while I waited. He’d been missing most of the day, but it was likely no one had even noticed yet. Still, it’d ease my mind to know someone reached him.
Even if he wasn’t returning my calls and texts.
Seemed like it took her forever to answer. ‘No one’s said anything. Why? Is he okay?”
I took a deep breath and tried not to let frustration get the best of me. ‘Yeah, everything’s fine. Just wondering.’
I set my phone aside and sat staring at the rice, peas, and baked chicken on my plate. My parents carried on with their usual banter, discussing how their day had gone, work stuff. Neither had any clue what was going on in Seaton Falls right beneath their noses. No clue the part I played in all of it. Thinking about it, I was a little jealous they had the luxury of being in the dark. Things would be much simpler that way.
Every now and then, one would glance over at my blank expression, my full plate, and ask if everything was okay. And, every time, I lied and blamed it on being tired.
Was I exhausted? Absolutely. Especially after the day I had—fighting mutts and scrubbing bloody floors—but mostly I was devastated.
Liam’s explanation broke down why this spell was necessary, but … all I kept thinking was how much I’d lost. How, again, I wouldn’t belong anywhere, would have no home.
I couldn’t imagine not being able to call my mom to share a laugh, my dad to get advice. In two days, they’d look at me and see a stranger. The memories we shared would all be taken away and there was nothing I could do about it.
Because the alternative was death.
That word sat in the pit of my stomach like an anchor. The order of the lycan world was packed with concepts and rules I didn’t even come close to understanding, but one thing was for sure; Liam and I, as powerful as he was, were outnumbered. I knew he would have fought this with me, but it simply wasn’t feasible. We would have to settle for being bullied by the Council right along with the rest of the Seaton Falls clan.
I sat, staring at my fingers as I twisted a ring on the middle one. How was I supposed to do this? Walk away? Pretend not to miss them when they were sure to be all I could think about?
Tonight wasn’t supposed to go this way. I was supposed to be making the most of these final moments with my parents, but now that felt pointless. Soon, I’d be no one to them. They wouldn’t miss me. There wouldn’t be any calls checking in. No one would think about me on holidays.
It’d just be me.
Alone.
I stood and their eyes were on me. I pushed my seat in and grabbed my plate to take to the kitchen.
“Headed up to bed already?”
My mother was smiling as she stared, waiting for an answer. I nodded. “Yeah. Not feeling great.”
Before I could get past her, she caught my wrist and made me wait while she touched my forehead.
“Hmm… you don’t feel warm. Is it your stomach? A headache?”
“No, I think I just need to lie down.”
There was concern in her eyes and I wished I could tell her everything. Wished that, if I did tell her everything… she would actually remember it beyond tomorrow night. But she wouldn’t.
“I’ll be fine,” I said in a rush, feeling my throat tighten as I fought the inclination to cry again. Felt like I cried way too much lately, and I’d never been that girl. Wouldn’t start now.
“Well, just yell if you need us,” she added with a smile.
After a brief stop at the sink and an exchanged ‘Goodnight’ with my father, I rushed up the steps. I was already nervous about leaving, sad Nick had run off, but now there was this tragedy that nearly blotted out all the others.
It took everything in me to keep reminding myself of the alternative to the spell. This option was, by far, the better one. And if Liam was right, their forgetting me would be temporary. However, that was assuming Baz and his witches really did make good on their word. There would have been comfort in knowing we could find another witch to break the magic should it come to that, but it didn’t work that way. The witch or witches who cast the spell are the only ones who can break it.
Period.
Not forever, Evie.
I chanted that to myself, hoping it’d stick. I wanted to lie down and hide beneath the covers, pretend none of this was happening, but when I walked into my room, someo
ne had already made themselves at home on my bed.
I gasped so loudly I wasn’t sure the sound hadn’t carried downstairs.
“How’d you get in here?” I panted, holding my heart while it hammered.
Liam’s response was a well-timed glance toward my open window. He made himself at home. Well, about as much as someone his size could in my small bed—arms behind his head, one bare foot planted on the floor, the other propped up on my footboard.
I quietly closed the door behind me, locking it right after.
“What’re you doing here? I could’ve easily been one of my parents coming in.” I wasn’t upset that he dropped by, just confused. With the way my evening was going, having him here to keep me company wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
Liam shook his head, dismissing my concern. “I knew it was you; felt you before you even made it up the stairs.”
Felt me before I even… Of course he did.
The gentle thrumming inside my chest picked up speed again as I repeated his words in my head. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied, I probably would’ve known he was close too.
My eyes scanned the length of him as I stood there, the way the veins in his arms protruded beneath tanned skin and colorful, inked symbols; the steady rise and fall of his flat stomach as he breathed. He was … a major distraction, and I don’t know, maybe I was kind of in the market for distractions right about now.
When he was around, I almost forgot our lives were in near-constant peril. For example, right now, my thoughts were stuck on how amazing my pillow probably smelled since he’d been resting on it. I fought the pull, though. Just like always. Instead of letting myself get lost in him, I went about shoving things in my closet, things like shoes and books I would’ve put away if I’d known someone was coming over.
“What made you pop in?” I asked casually, refusing to look at him because my insides would start doing flips if I did.
He’d never been to my house, let alone my room. However, I was sure this was far less inconvenient than having someone ‘pop in’ on your thoughts, like I often did to him—by accident, on purpose. It all depended on the day and how strongly the shifter within me longed for him. She, that side of me, had a way of bypassing my conscious mind to go to him. I was starting to get used to it and actively ignored the idea of this being some sort of natural progression.
