by Aileen Erin
That was a huge sacrifice she’d made for her mother. “So, what were you going to do? You can’t want to stay here.”
“And be her pawn? No. I don’t want to be here. I don’t know who I am or what I want, but it’s not this.” She met my gaze. “My plan was to find you. You were our only hope. If you can’t fix this, we’re all lost. And to some of the people in the coven—” she shrugged—“maybe that’s okay. They’re fine with what they’re doing. They think they’re right and that witches are better than both wolves and humans. Plus we have so much more reason to want revenge. The wolves were never persecuted like we were. We burned, and for some hiding here, it still chafes.”
“So what happens if you were to come with me? Stay with the pack?”
“I don’t think anything. At least not while you were alive. Luciana wouldn’t dare. And I’m pretty sure with your abilities, we could find a way to break the curse without the unfortunate side effects.”
Yeah. I didn’t want to try that unless it was really necessary. Those side effects were pretty extreme.
I stood to put my dishes in the sink and dropped it on the ground. I winced as it rattled, but didn’t break.
“That unbreakable spell is really handy,” Claudia said.
“No kidding.” I picked up the plate. “Let’s find out who’s chafing. It can’t be just a handful of you. There’s got to be more. I’ll offer my protection. I’ll fight for you. But you have to take the first step.”
She nodded. “That’s all we can ask for.” She glanced at the clock. “Class starts in an hour.”
Enough time for me to clean this up and figure out a plan. “Good. I’ll be ready.”
She got up and went upstairs.
I was almost done with the dishes when Raphael came down. “You coming to the schoolhouse with us?”
He nodded. “Someone’s got to look out for you two.”
I wiped off my hands and hung the dishtowel over the edge of the sink. “Tell me this—waste of time or no?”
“Eh, we’ll see.”
“What’s your story? You have powers? A specialty?”
“I’m good at defensive stuff. Claudia enhances others’ abilities.”
“And Daniel?”
He shoved his hands in his shorts’ pockets. “Much to his mother’s disappointment, he’s got a little of everything, and not much of anything.”
Poor Daniel. Every time I learned something new about him, I felt worse. “Right. I bet that frustrates her.”
“Yup. That’s why she was so ready for you to marry him. Gain some power that way.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure it works that way. Moot point anyhow.”
Claudia came downstairs. She was dressed in her usual peasant shirt and cut off skirt. Both the twins always wore a pair of worn-in brown leather flip-flops. Claudia’s thick, nearly black hair was separated into two braids. “Let’s do this.”
I stumbled as I walked, but Raphael caught me.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I don’t know what happened. Apparently, I’m dropping things and tripping over my own feet today.”
“Give yourself a break,” Claudia said. “You didn’t get much sleep.”
I was tired, but it wasn’t that. Or it wasn’t just that. My limbs felt like lead. They were heavy. Like I was moving through sludge. But I wasn’t dizzy.
Claudia was right. It was exhaustion. I’d been through a major emotional upheaval the past couple of weeks and it wasn’t going to get any better any time soon. It was weighing on me. That was all.
The schoolhouse looked prettier during the day. It had a large porch on the front and the wood was painted a bright white that gleamed in the sun. Large windows let a ton of light into the main room, which was filled with tables. Kids worked in groups of threes. A few older ladies walked around, pointing and making comments.
“Follow me,” Claudia said.
I did, and Raphael took up the rear.
Claudia didn’t knock. She just walked in. Everyone stopped.
One of the women rushed to the front. She was wearing a pair of wide-leg jeans and a flowing top with a paisley print. Her hair was fully gray, but it hung long and wavy down her back. “Claudia. Raphael. You know that Luciana doesn’t want her here with the other students.” The woman moved toward us with her hands out, as if to say we shouldn’t go any farther.
“I understand that, but Daniel has been having trouble teaching her a few things, and we thought it’d be best to bring her here. She needs to learn, and what better way than how I did?” Claudia gave her a brilliant grin.
Whoa. Way to throw the guy under the bus, Claudia. But it was working. The lady had stopped trying to herd us back toward the door.
The lady rubbed her hands along the front of her jeans. “Yes, well…”
“Look, I don’t want to put anyone out, but I’ve been kind of hiding in their house, and I’m going a little crazy. The learning isn’t going well, and I just want to meet some more people. If this is my coven, then shouldn’t that be normal?”
“Yes, but you’re not…I mean…it’s just that Luciana—”
“Why don’t we just let her try a little bit?” Claudia asked in a voice that was so sweet it was almost sickening. “If she wasn’t meant to be here—if it wasn’t good for our coven—wouldn’t Luciana be here already?”
That stopped her. “I…Yes, of course. That’s very wise of you, Claudia.”
Way to go, Claudia. I spotted Cosette and Elsa at a table in the back of the room. Daniel and Shane were in the back, too. I wondered if Daniel would be pissed at Claudia, but he gave her a thumbs-up.
“I’m sorry for being less than welcoming,” the older woman said. “I’m Mary. If you find a spot, maybe with…” She looked around the room. “With Cosette and Elsa. Then we can continue on our lesson. We’re working on a spell for spiritual healing.”
Spiritual healing? Trying not to roll my eyes took way more effort than it should’ve. I walked around the room and took a spot.
If I made it through this class without being completely condescending, it’d be a miracle.
Spiritual healing? Were they serious? No wonder Luciana had them all under her thumb. They didn’t know how to do anything. At least Daniel had gone straight to protection spells to keep anyone from messing with me or my things.
This was going to be a long day. I hoped it was worth it.
***
To put it nicely, I wasn’t going to be healing anyone anytime soon. Thank God that wasn’t why people were coming to me for help. Nope. I was just supposed to fix the whole coven.
I cleaned up the ingredients we’d used in the potion—placing the unused stuff into their labeled jars and burning all the odd leftover bits in one giant cauldron that had been ‘tainted’ by the day’s work. As I stepped away from the table to leave, a girl got in my face.
“You’re not welcome here. Don’t come back to the schoolhouse.” Her black hair was pin-straight. It fell in a sheet down her back. Her eyes were a little too far apart and her nose a little too hawked to ever allow her to be called pretty.
“I’m supposedly part of this coven. I’m here to help,” I said.
“We don’t need your help. You’re wasting your time.”
“Then why did Luciana drag me here? I’m happy to go home.”
As soon as she grinned, I knew she knew something about it. “Don’t worry about that. After the month is done, we don’t ever want to see you again.”
The rest of the class had gathered around her. Besides the people I knew, only the one old lady and two others stood off to the side, looking awkward. The rest looked as angry and put out as this girl did.
“Right. So I do my time, and then I go home.”
“If you’re still around by then…”
Still around? “That sounds a lot like a threat. Are you insinuating that my safety is in danger while I’m here?”
“You’re the precog. Shouldn’t yo
u be able to answer that?” A few people laughed.
It was surreal. I’d been made fun of a lot in my life. This scene wasn’t anything new to me. In fact, it was almost tame. I’d been slammed into lockers. Beaten. Accosted. Had a few unwelcome guys try to grab me. Kiss me. Worse. But this?
It was safe to say that I’d never been bullied or made fun of because I couldn’t see enough. From experience, I knew that the best reaction was to not react. So I forced myself to keep breathing.
“I’ve seen enough. I know what’s to come, and I’m not the one who should be worried right now.” I moved toward her. “Excuse me,” I said keeping firm eye contact. “I’m leaving now.”
She looked away and stepped back. “Bitch,” she muttered as I walked past.
“Don’t worry. I’ve been called much more creative things.” I could hear footsteps behind me, and took a deep breath in. From the scent, my cousins, Cosette, and Elsa were following me. I wasn’t sure what Shane and Daniel were up to, but I wasn’t turning around to find out.
“Well, that went just about as well as could be expected,” Claudia said, breaking the silence when we were halfway to her house.
“It wasn’t so bad,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Cosette said.
“Yeah, those people sucked, but did you notice the ones along the sidelines?”
“Beth, Tiffany, and Yvonne. Yes. I noticed,” Raphael said.
“They’ll be in with us. So, that’s more than I had this morning. The rest seem like a total lost cause. I’m assuming most of the adults who disagreed with Luciana found a way to leave—like your parents, Mom, and Tia Rosa—and the rest here are complacent.”
“Yes,” Claudia said.
I blew out a breath. Well, it wasn’t a total waste. We’d learned some good stuff. Maybe not all of it was actually good good, but knowing was half the battle.
I texted Mom about getting more food and she promised to come by tomorrow with a truckload.
Until then, I needed to get a game plan. Those dreams were still haunting me. I needed to find out how to make sure none of my nightmares come to pass.
Chapter Eighteen
I’d thought the dreams couldn’t get worse. But they did.
I was drowning in the images. I couldn’t breathe and my heart was breaking.
Dastien was with Imogene.
Her gaze met mine as I saw them across campus. He was kissing her. His back was to me.
It was worse than a punch to the gut. There was no more air in my lungs. It burned and I couldn’t get a breath in.
This was why people cut themselves off from love. This was it. I knew it. It was worse than anything I’d ever felt and I wasn’t sure I’d survive.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, the images changed.
I blinked and we were back in Imogene’s room. It was a sty, as always. Clothes piled everywhere. Clean mixed with dirty.
She was putting on her gold necklace; Dastien had given it to her and it had triggered a vision for me once. Now I wanted to rip it from her throat.
I moved toward her, lunging for the gold chain, but the image shifted again, and suddenly she wasn’t there.
A moan had me turning around.
They were in her bed. They were…they were…they were…
***
“Wake up!” Claudia said.
I blinked. I was sobbing so hard I couldn’t catch a breath. The pain—the heartbreak—was still there. Lingering. I couldn’t shake it free.
“You have to calm down or you’re going to make yourself si—”
She didn’t have to finish that sentence. I ran to the toilet just in time to throw up.
When I stopped, I washed my face. I looked at my reflection. My skin was usually pale, but now it looked ghostly.
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t like it. “I’ve never had such vivid dreams before. I could smell her perfume. I could smell her…as he kissed her. I can’t…” I took a breath. “God. I thought since I was a Were, I wouldn’t get sick anymore, but I think I might throw up again.”
Claudia reached out to me. “Let’s get you back in bed.”
I shook my head. The thought of going back to that room made me even more queasy. “No. I can’t go back in there. I don’t trust my dreams. I can’t take it.”
“Fine. Then come to my bed.”
Seriously? I wasn’t so sure that was a good idea. What if I got visions in her bed? I was already a mess… “I’ve never slept in a bed with anyone other than Dastien.” It sounded lame, but it was the best excuse that I could come up with.
“Don’t worry. I have a queen-sized bed, and I’m not going to try and steal your virtue.” She winked. “Come on.” She pulled me toward her room, and I let her.
It was a nice room. A large bookcase took up one wall. I looked through it and saw mostly classics. All of them were vintage. The smell of vanilla wafted from the pages and they made me wish I could really enjoy an old book instead of buying new all the time.
“Pretty good stuff you’ve got here.”
She hmmed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to bed.” She climbed into her big, four-poster bed. It had way too many pillows. So many that when I got in, my feet nearly fell off the end. Quite an accomplishment for someone as short as me.
“One thing.” She leaned over me. Her lips were moving, but no sound was coming out. She traced a knot over my forehead with her pointer finger. “There. You’ll sleep well now.”
“You think?”
She nodded. “It’s a protection spell. It’s something my mom used to do to me when I was having a hard time sleeping.”
“Did you have nightmares as a kid?”
“A lot. But not so much anymore. And I never had one so bad that it made me throw up.”
“Yeah. I’ve never felt anything like that before.” I didn’t know what else to say. It was already a little embarrassing that she’d seen me in such a state. But she was family. Even if I felt like I was only just starting to get to know her.
I rolled over and tried to think happy thoughts.
I didn’t know if I could take another dream like the last one. My heart couldn’t handle the stress. It was too hard.
I said a little prayer as sleep overtook me. God. Send me good dreams.
***
I woke up to the sound of a car honking. I sat up, going from sound asleep to totally awake in an instant. Claudia’s side of the bed was cold, and from the light streaming in the window, it was way past morning.
Two days of total horrible sleep must’ve really done a number on me. A clock ticked on Claudia’s bedside table and I tilted it toward me. Two forty-five. In the afternoon.
I’d really slept. Claudia’s spell thingy must’ve been the real deal.
I got up and went into the hallway. There was someone downstairs.
“—brought the food and—”
I knew that voice. “Dad!” Raphael looked a little startled as I flew down the stairs and jumped into Dad’s arms, knocking Dad back a few steps. It was overkill, but the nightmares and everything had left me feeling a little off center. I missed him. I missed home. I missed a lot of things.
“Hey there, baby.” He ran his hand down my back. “How’re you doing?”
I pulled away, even though I didn’t really want to. “I’m okay.”
“Well your mother bought the entire grocery store.”
I stepped out onto the porch to see her pulling things from the trunk. “Mom.”
“Reina de mi vida. How are you doing?” She put down everything she was holding and pulled me close to her.
“Better now.”
“Good. Te queiro mucho.”
“Love you, too.” I grabbed the stuff she’d set down. “Thanks for this.”
“Of course, anything for my baby.”
We set to the task of putting everything aw
ay. Claudia and Raphael made themselves scarce and honestly, it was really nice of them. Not necessary, but appreciated.
After we had it all unloaded and put away, Mom pulled out a dining chair and sat.
“Now tell your mother what has you upset.”
I looked between my parents but they were both giving me that look. The one that said I’d better tell them or else. Sure, I was old enough to blow that off, but I didn’t want to. I sat in the chair at the end of the table. “I’ve been having nightmares the past two nights and they’re sticking with me.”
“You’ve had nightmares before.”
“Not like this.”
Dad sat down in between Mom and me. “You know, dreams are usually driven by our fears and—”
“Unless they’re visions of the future.”
“And do you think that’s what it is?” Mom leaned into Dad as she talked. They were always doing that. Supporting each other. I guessed that was why I felt okay jumping in with Dastien. I was lucky to have a good model of a healthy relationship.
“No. I don’t think so. They’re nightmares. At least some of them are. Others…I don’t know. They might be visions.” I thought about the battle on the St. Ailbe’s quad. Even if I didn’t want those to be visions, I thought they might be. “But there are ones with Dastien and it’s not good.”
Dad laughed.
That wasn’t the reaction that I was looking for. “Glad my nightmares amuse you.”
“I’m sorry.” He sobered a little but the smile was still there. “There was a little while when your mom and I were long distance, and she used to have the worst dreams. She’d call me ranting in Spanish. It was completely nuts.”
Mom slapped his shoulder. “It wasn’t nuts. They were nightmares and they felt real.” She shook her head. “But your dad is right. My fears were consuming me, and my biggest one was that something would happen to take your father away from me. From cheating to death. I dreamed it all.”
Dastien cheating would definitely be a relationship killer. “That’s exactly it.” God. It felt so good to be normal.
