by Terry Spear
Mr. Thornton explained the ingredients we’d require for our next potion and how to combine them to produce the perfect sleeping aid.
When the bell rang, it was time for history. Dominic and I nearly slept through class while Miss Winston droned on about the Salem witch trials, absent-mindedly twisting a gray curl around her finger the whole time. But when it came to the last class for the day, gym, Dominic tried to follow Kate and me into the witches’ locker room. I pointed at the room across the hall. “Warlocks’ locker room.”
He rubbed his chin and considered the door to the guys’ locker room. “You know, I’m not really a jock or anything.”
I squeezed his hand, hoping to reassure him it didn’t matter to me. “You don’t have to be, but try not to do anything you shouldn’t. After this, school’s done.”
“Lunchtime?” His dark brows perked up.
“Yep.” I was glad to see his spirits lifted.
“Good, I’m already famished.”
“Are you buying?”
Dominic smiled. “I thought you were cooking.”
“We’ll order a pizza,” Kate said, then tugged me toward the locker room. Dominic looked so forlorn, I balked. “He’ll live.”
But then I saw Debbie Damint headed for the girls’ locker room, her attention riveted toward Dominic, her girlfriends Linnie and Carissa in tow—a disaster just waiting to happen.
I must have looked livid because Kate glanced from me to the girls and said, “What’s up, Marissa?”
“Debbie turned Dominic into a toad a while back.”
Kate’s brows rose and she snapped her gaping mouth shut.
“I can’t make them forget they’ve seen him before. Though I sure wish I could,” I said, not sure of any options I might have, but I started walking toward Dominic.
He caught sight of the three witches who were now bearing down on him, his attention focused on them so much he didn’t know I was coming up behind him. Her lipstick as red as her hair, Carissa glanced in my direction and gave me a “what-do-you-want?” kind of look.
I ignored her and seized Dominic’s arm. Pulling him around, I smiled to see his eyes rounded in surprise. “I didn’t give you a parting kiss.”
I tried to ignore the audience of witches and concentrate on the kiss. Dominic jumped right in and helped me with a sexy, lingering, sizzling hot kiss and by the time we broke free, I was sure my cheeks were rose-red. Wow, what a kisser.
For a minute, I felt like I might swoon, and Dominic held my arm to keep me upright, then pressed his lips against my cheek and whispered, “You sure know how to send a guy to the moon, Marissa. See you in a little bit.”
Dominic winked at Kate, whose cheeks colored crimson and mouth hung slightly agape. I chanced a look at Debbie Damint and her friends. Carissa’s red brows were arched to her bangs, and her arms were crossed over her chest. Linnie tucked her dark hair behind her ear, but her eyes were still wide with surprise. Debbie Damint looked from me to Dominic, and I wondered if she was thinking she’d made one horrible mistake turning such a hunk into a toad.
As soon as I grabbed Kate’s arm and hurried her to the girls’ locker room while Dominic disappeared into the boys’ locker room, Debbie caught up with me. “Hey, what’s going on with this guy?”
I attempted to look like I didn’t know what she was talking about and lifted one shoulder in response.
She glanced back at her girlfriends, but both seemed tongue-tied.
“He’s not a warlock,” Debbie insisted.
“Oh?” I said, with a definite lift to my brows and voice.
“Yeah, he…I…we would have known.”
“Cloaking,” I lied. “He has a rare ability to cloak his gifts.” I gave her the most winsome smile, intimating I had captured the attention of a warlock extraordinaire. Which I had, so there on them.
Kate instantly joined in on the game. “Yeah,” she said dreamily, her hands pressed to her heart. “I would give anything to have a guy like that interested in me.”
I loved that she was really good at going along when she got the gist of a game in play.
Debbie glanced at her friends.
Linnie shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Carissa sneered. “I don’t believe it.”
“Well, whatever. He’s new to school, and when we met at the Hamburger Spot…” I paused for effect, sighed deeply and continued, “…we just gravitated toward each other. Our fate was written in the stars. Good thing he hadn’t met any other witches first. Boy, was I ever lucky.”
“He didn’t even try to stop you,” Linnie said to Debbie.
“Stop what?” Kate asked, her eyes narrowing, pretending she didn’t know that Debbie and her friends had done something bad to Dominic.
“That’s what makes him the kind of guy he is,” I said, entering the locker room. “You know, the type who’d put up with people’s nonsense and not turn them into worms for being so mean-hearted.”
“What happened?” Kate asked, her voice rising in exasperation, playing her part perfectly, and for once I thought she wasn’t a half bad actress after all.
“Nothing,” Debbie said quickly. Her face was pale and she hurried off to her locker.
Linnie cast a glance at me, then quickly closed the gap between her and Debbie. Carissa just stared at me, as if she was trying to intimidate me into telling the truth.
“Want something?” I asked, totally superior-like.
“He’s human.”
“Really? Well, I wonder how he got into our school, then. Better watch out because if you try anything with him, you might be the one wearing the bumpy, slimy skin instead.”
Carissa’s mouth opened as though she intended to say something, but then she whipped around and stalked off instead.
“What was that all about?” Kate whispered.
“Another of Dominic’s mistakes,” I said, my voice hushed. And I wondered then how many others he’d made where girls were concerned.
“Okay, so Debbie turned him into a toad, why?”
“He asked her out to the movies.”
Kate chuckled. “He sure gets himself into fixes.”
“I don’t think they’ll bother him again.”
“Ohmigod, no. I thought all three of them were going to die when he kissed you so long and hard. Does he have a brother by chance?”
I gave Kate a smug smile. “I didn’t expect him to give that much of a show in front of them, but it seemed to work.” Then I frowned at Kate when we reached our lockers, determined to find out her role in the Joshua situation. “What in the world did you say to Joshua to get him to pay attention to me?”
“What? Nothing.” Kate sounded sincere but grouchy I’d even suggest such a thing.
“You didn’t bribe him to offer to take me to the dance?”
Kate shook her head, stripped out of her jeans, and pulled on navy gym shorts. “I thought he was hung up on Debbie Damint.”
“Well, something got into him because all of a sudden he asked to carry my bag and offered to take me to the dance. He got really perturbed that Dominic said he was my steady.”
“Jeez, how did Dominic handle it?”
I pulled the gray gym shirt over my head. “Not well. Joshua threatened to take him on during gym class.”
Kate frowned. “I hope Dominic has lots of self control. I mean, when he hissed in class earlier, I nearly had a heart attack. As soon as I saw his sharp canines appear and of course when he defended you against that woman…” Kate shuddered. “I could see he really cares for you—deeply, I mean. Well, heck, the way he kissed you…” She gave a heavy sigh. “Gosh, are you lucky.”
I considered Kate’s words about Dominic’s control, then shook my head. He wouldn’t let Joshua egg him on. “I’ll only be lucky if we can destroy the vamp.”
Kate nodded and pulled her hair back in a scrunchy. “Otherwise he’ll become one of them for real, right?”
“Worse
.” I really didn’t want to discuss what would happen if we didn’t win the game, but I couldn’t hide the truth from my best friend. Especially when she was willing to risk her own life to help us.
“What can be worse than that?” Kate asked, her eyes dark with concern.
I tied up my hair and took a deep breath. “He’s my soul mate. If he’s turned, he’ll still come after me.”
“Oh, great. And turn you?” Kate chewed on her bottom lip.
“Yeah.” No way could I tell her he’d already managed to do that to me to an extent. But I suspected once we destroyed Lynetta, the curse would be lifted for both Dominic and me. Certainly, there wasn’t any reason to mention what had happened to me, not at this point.
“But, Marissa, don’t you think we ought to ask some experienced, more powerful witches and warlocks for help?”
“Would any believe us? You believed it could be true because you already suspected he was a Prince of Darkness. Even I had a hard time with it, until…” I stared at the floor, the image of Lynetta’s wicked teeth still poised to strike Dominic’s throat filling my mind.
“Marissa?”
I looked up at Kate through misty eyes. The sight of the soulless eyes of the vamp was burned into my memory. “When Lynetta extended her canines, intent on piercing Dominic’s throat—”
Kate nodded. “You couldn’t deal with her attempting to hurt him because you already knew he was yours.”
“Yeah. But how could I?” I really wasn’t into the fate thing. Even now, I couldn’t see it as providence, just that we were drawn to each other, like any guy and girl might be. He needed my help and I was willing to come to his aid. That was all.
“You sensed him in the dark, when I couldn’t.”
I swallowed hard, remembering how strange it felt to know he was hidden in the dark, watching us, and Kate hadn’t sensed him at all. “That’s what he said.”
“So, does he have a brother?”
Not sure if she was joking or not, I frowned at Kate. She often had a wry sense of humor, but I really wasn’t sure this time.
She smiled. “Just kidding. Let’s play ball.”
Mrs. Sticklemire tied her red hair back with a ribbon, straightened her gray T-shirt, stiffened her spine and motioned for us to all line up against the bleachers. Which meant she would lecture us, again.
“Yesterday we had a rather embarrassing incident when one of the boys cast a magic spell to win a game and accidentally broke another boy’s leg. You girls are much better behaved.”
The girls grinned.
“But after yesterday’s fiasco, the principal told us we had to explain the rules again. Physical training is just that. Exercising your bodies and giving your brains a rest. Therefore, just like regular human students do, our P.T. program is strictly for exercise. All witches and warlocks are forbidden to cast any spell during P.T.” Mrs. Sticklemore tossed the rubber ball to Debbie Damint. “Let’s begin.”
Debbie Damint threw the colorful ball, trying to tag another player while I attempted to read Dominic’s thoughts. I couldn’t help but worry about him with Joshua. I could just imagine Joshua egging him on until Dominic’s teeth extended.
“Try one more time, warlock.” I read Dominic’s thoughts and figured his feelings had to be aimed at Joshua.
Before I could worry anymore about that, the ball hit me squarely in the chest, knocking me down. I let out a strangled “oof” in surprise.
“Oh, sorry, Marissa!” Debbie called out, her tone totally apologetic.
I sighed. Beautiful, brainy, athletic and good-natured, the girl had no faults. Except that Dominic had been attracted to her and she’d turned him into a toad—which was totally unacceptable in witch/warlock circles. She really was the perfect person to hate.
Kate ran to help me up. “Are you all right?”
“Take me to the healer’s station,” I whispered, holding my chest, pretending it hurt worse than it did, knowing the tips of my ears had to be brilliant red from fibbing. But I was sure as hard as I’d fallen, the teacher would think I might have been more seriously injured.
“Take her,” Mrs. Sticklemire said, her red brows pinched, motioning for Kate to hurry.
I was certain my teacher was perturbed anyone would get injured in her class after the mess with the boys yesterday. But at least it was just because of my not paying attention and not because anyone had broken the rules.
Kate helped me to the locker room, then I bolted for the boys’ gym room. “Marissa, what’s going on?”
“Dominic’s had his fill of Joshua!” I couldn’t tell her I worried he’d threaten Joshua with his fangs, and already I was close to panicking.
“Oh, great!” Kate exclaimed, the exasperation evident in her voice.
The shortest way to the boys’ gym was through their locker room. And since all the boys would still be in the gym, I dashed through there, diving between the labyrinth of red and blue metal lockers with Kate breathing down my neck. The odor of smelly socks and sneakers and chlorinated shower water permeated the air.
Suddenly male voices spoke, some laughing, some in heated argument, as their sneaker-clad feet clomped in our direction.
“Back,” I whispered to Kate. Her face turned snow white and she whirled around and ran back to the entrance.
I wished I could stop whatever Joshua would pull with Dominic, and wished I had an invisibility potion so I could help defend him with my witch’s powers without Joshua or Dominic knowing. I wished so hard my arms, my legs and my whole body vanished in a flash before my very eyes. I was thrilled and terrified!
Turning invisible just by wishing it was just too cool, but what if I wished for it at the wrong time? Not really wanting it, but just thinking how nice it would be and poof, I vanished?
This could be so bad.
I felt as solid as before, just like when using the invisibility potion, except no sweet acidic taste accompanied the change. Then another notion nagged at me. How long would it last?
All I’d need was for someone to catch me in the locker room and report me to the staff.
Then Dominic appeared, Joshua following him, crowding him, violating his space. I couldn’t hear his words, but Dominic’s face grew dark with anger.
Then he seemed to sense I was nearby. He shook his head at me. “Go, Marissa. I’ll deal with this in my own way.”
His thoughts were harsh, and he definitely didn’t want me to interfere. What was going on with Joshua?
“Marissa, go.” Dominic frowned in my direction. “If you see a naked guy in here, you’ll lose your concentration and turn visible. Then what will you do?”
I didn’t want to leave him alone. Not if I could help him against Joshua.
Ignoring me when I wouldn’t obey, Dominic turned to face him. “Why are you interested in dating Marissa all of a sudden? Why wait ten years before you take any notice of her?”
Joshua yanked off his sweaty T-shirt and opened his mouth to speak, but then a boy walked into the room wearing only a towel around his waist, the rest of him dripping wet, and I inadvertently gasped.
Dominic swung around, his face hard, his eyes as dark as a brewing thunderstorm.
I ran for the locker room’s entrance, my tennis shoes clomping on the floor.
Laughter filled the air. “Hey, who’s the witch sneaking a peek at us naked boys?” one of the guys hollered.
If I hadn’t been so scared about getting caught, I would have laughed.
“My very own Marissa,” Dominic thought to himself. “I’ve created a wild woman.”
“In your dreams, Prince of Darkness.”
“Yeah, you are, Marissa, my love. You are.”
As soon as I bolted out of the room, Kate grabbed my arm. “Tell me you didn’t get caught.”
“I didn’t.” My mouth was cotton dry, and I headed to the water fountain.
“Tell me the truth now.” Kate trailed behind me. “Your face is as red as a chili pepper, and I imagine ju
st as hot.”
“I swear, I didn’t get caught.” I drank my fill from the fountain, but that didn’t satisfy the dryness of my throat.
Kate grabbed my arm, hauling me toward the girls’ locker room. “Jeez, Marissa, let’s get changed and go home for the day. I can’t take any more excitement than this.”
“Wait until tonight,” I warned her.
“Yeah, I forgot.”
I turned when I heard someone’s footsteps behind us.
Joshua cast a knowing smile at me from the boys’ locker room entrance. What had gotten into him?
“Having regrets?” Kate asked me, pulling me into the girls’ room.
I shook my head. “No.” I didn’t either. Not yet.
After we changed back into our street clothes and left the girls’ gym, Dominic joined us. He shook his head at me, a glint of a sparkle in his dark eyes.
“What?”
“You didn’t need to rescue me.” He took Kate’s book bag and mine, then slung them over his shoulders.
“You were angry with Joshua,” I countered, still unable to squash the worry about the bad blood between them. It seemed utterly ridiculous, too, because Joshua had never shown any interest in me before. So why now?
“I controlled my temper.”
“Well, I worried about you.”
He took my hand and squeezed lightly. “I know.” His words were warm, and though he seemed perturbed that I had tried to rescue him, I could tell my actions touched him.
We passed the wooded park where joggers ran on an asphalt path and kids too young for school played in an airy fortress, complete with slides, rope ladders, and bright yellow, blue and red tunnels.
Kate glanced behind her. “Uhm, while you guys were busy making up, I think we picked up a couple of stalkers.”
Dominic and I looked over our shoulders. Two men dressed all in black, like a couple of overgrown Goths, were closing the gap between us, though they still had about a football-sized field to go.
“Use your protection spells.” Dominic hurried us along.
“Will it work against them?” I quickly raised my fingers to create the spell, while Kate mimicked my actions.
“They might be human hosts, or just a couple of guys out for a stroll.” Despite speaking calmly, his words had a tinge of worry to them.
