Deceitful Circle (Silent Circle Book 2)

by Cassandra Larsen

  “Can’t you just heal her ankle?” Lydia’s impatient voice drifts to me from somewhere to my left.

  “I could...” The hesitancy in Caiden’s tone makes me crack my eyes open. I’ve rarely seen him look so unsure of himself.

  “It’s alright, Caid.” I slur. “I don’t mind if you spell me again...”

  “Huh? What is she talking about?” Lydia looks at Caiden, raising her eyebrows.

  He hesitates a moment before answering. “My spells tend to have strange effects on her.”

  “Like what?”

  “It’s not important. Can you go get her some orange juice or something while I work on her ankle? She needs to bring her blood sugar levels up.”

  Lydia gives me a look, but leaves to do as Caiden asks.

  I’m so tired I feel like I’m floating. I try to focus on Caiden’s green eyes as they stare into mine.

  “Alright Em, I’m going to fix your ankle. You’re going to feel a warm tingling sensation in a minute.”

  He looks so nervous that I reach out and lightly brush the backs of my fingers down his cheek. “It’ll be okay. Don’t worry. I don’t care if you put a lust spell on me.”

  His lips quirk up into a small smile. “You really are out of it, aren’t you?”

  Before I can think of a response, he closes his eyes and gently rests his hands on either side of my ankle. I feel the warmth from his hands sink deep into my skin and sigh in relief. The throbbing slowly subsides, replaced by a growing heat, the tingling shooting up along my leg. I let out a quiet gasp.

  “Are you okay?” He asks, his voice deep with anxiety.

  “Fine,” I gasp out, trying not to moan as the tingling intensifies.

  I’m more than fine. I’m fantastic. I’m electrified. Not that I’ll tell him that. He’s already freaked out enough about healing me.

  After a few moments, Caiden removes his hands, taking the warmth with him. “How do you feel?” He asks hesitantly.

  Now that the tingling has left, I take a breath to calm my racing heart. My skin feels too tight, overheated. Keeping my eyes down, I test my ankle out, moving it in slow circles.

  “Fine. Good as new.”

  “No... side effects... then?”

  I slowly meet his eyes and try to smile. “No. No side effects,” I lie. “I don’t feel as tired anymore either.” I clear my throat. “Looks like whatever issues you were having are all cleared up.”

  I look down again and stop myself from moving closer to him. I can feel his eyes on my face, scrutinizing me. I want so badly to reach out and pull him toward me.

  Then Lydia walks in with a large glass of orange juice and some fruit. “Here, eat up.” She thrusts the glass and plate at me and moves to sit on the other side of the room.

  I sit up carefully, tucking my knees into my chest, and take a large gulp of the sweet juice, shaking off the last of my exhaustion. After a few sips, I ask whether they found the file.

  “We have it, but we haven’t looked at it yet,” Caiden answers. “Finish your food first, and then I’ll let you see it.”

  I smile at Caiden’s bossiness, but quickly polish off the rest of the juice and start in on the apple slices.

  “Okay, let me have it.” I hold my hand out for the file.

  My hand shakes slightly as I reach out to take the folder from Caiden. This is my last chance to find out what really happened. I sit up all the way, crossing my legs yoga style on the couch. Caiden sits down next to me, leaning in slightly so he can see the file too.

  I quickly scan the first page, which is mostly just details on my mother, her name, age, address, surviving family members, ect. I pause for a moment when I see her photograph paper clipped to the page. Her black hair and plum colored eyes are so similar to mine. My eyes prickle in the corners and I quickly turn the page.

  The next few sheets are a summary of the case, her disappearance, and the testimonies from the witnesses, verifying that she jumped from the bridge into the Housatonic River. There are three witnesses listed, Deborah Hills, Michael Holt, and—

  “Richard Price?” I gasp.

  “Landon’s dad was a witness?” Caiden sounds as shocked as me.

  “Landon?” Lydia echoes, crossing the room to look for herself.

  “I wonder what he was doing around there so early in the morning,” Caiden continues. “Doesn’t he work on the other side of town?”

  “Yeah, at that small law firm over near Main Street.” Lydia leans in further to read his testimony.

  “Well, that doesn’t help us much,” I grumble. “It’s not like we can show up at Landon’s house and start interrogating his dad.” I flip to the next page. “Do you guys know these other two?”

  “I think Michael works at the bank on Main. I don’t know about Deborah though. Lydia?”

  “No, I don’t know her. Does it list their addresses?”

  “Yeah, right here.” Caiden and I look at each other. “So what’s the plan?” I ask him. “Do we just show up and start asking them questions?”

  “I don’t know...” Caiden stares off in thought. “If your mom really was killed, then that would mean these people are lying. But what reason would they have to lie?”

  “Maybe they were scared. Maybe they saw something they shouldn’t have and the pack threatened to have them killed if they said anything.” I shrug my shoulders, at a loss.

  “Or maybe they are really telling the truth,” Lydia chimes in.

  I glare at her, refusing to believe Caroline’s version of events.

  She raises her hands in protest. “I’m not saying that your mom really jumped, I’m just saying that it was dark and they may not have been able to see much. It could be that they mistook what they saw.”

  “The only way to know for sure is to go visit them for ourselves.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Caiden says.

  “What! You can’t be serious! We went through all that work to get this list, and now you just want me to drop it?”

  “Em, if the pack is behind this and these people were threatened, then it isn’t safe for you to just show up and start asking questions.”

  “But—”

  “No, I won’t let you put yourself in danger over this. They’re already hunting for you; we don’t want to give them anymore reason to come after you.”

  “As you pointed out, they’re coming after me anyway. I don’t think asking a few questions is going to change that.”

  “Yeah, and what about those people you want to question? What happens to them if the wolves find out someone’s been poking around? It’s not just yourself you’d be putting in danger.”

  I open my mouth to argue, then shut it. He’s right. I could be putting innocent people at risk.

  “It’s not dangerous if they don’t remember it.” Caiden and I both turn to Lydia in surprise.

  “What?” Caiden asks sharply.

  “She’s right!” I exclaim at the same time. Then I see the look in his eyes.

  “You want me to go poking around in these people’s minds, messing with their memories?” He looks at me, thunderstruck. “Manipulating them into giving us information and then just erasing it all from their heads? And for what? What will you have gained?”

  My first impulse is to get good and pissed, but I stop myself, taking a deep breath and try to remain calm while I study Caiden’s outraged expression.

  He’s afraid, I realize. He’s always hesitant about using his powers, but I think his ability to manipulate others’ minds scares him the most. Not surprising, considering what happened to him.

  “You won’t hurt them, Caiden,” I say calmly. “I know you don’t like to mess with people’s memories without a good reason, but do you honestly think it’ll be better to just condemn an entire pack of werewolves to death, without proof?”

  My level tone penetrates his ire. His face loses some of its fury.

  “I can’t agree to the blood bond unless I know, beyond a d
oubt, that this pack is responsible,” I press.

  Beside me, Lydia sits up in shock. “What? What are you talking about?”

  Crap, I forgot that Lydia doesn’t know about the bonding thing yet.

  “Caiden will explain it to you later,” I tell her, not taking my eyes off Caiden. “What if they’re innocent, Caid? What if they had nothing to do with this?”

  His face becomes a hard mask before I finish speaking.

  “No werewolf is innocent. Didn’t you listen to anything I told you? Werewolves are hunting us. Have been for hundreds of years. If they have their way, they’ll eradicate us all.”

  “How can you just claim that an entire species is guilty? Have you ever even met a werewolf?”

  Lydia gasps, but I ignore her, too focused on Caiden.

  “Yes,” Caiden answers between gritted teeth. “I have. And I watched it tear my best friend apart.”

  My mouth drops open.

  “You remember Brent Adler?” He continues, his voice whip thin, fury emanating from every line of his face.

  I think back. I remember hearing something about him when I first moved to town. “Wasn’t he the boy who died in that car crash?”

  “No, he was the boy whose murder was covered up by a car crash. He was like a brother to me, and I watched him get killed by one of those monsters you’re so eager to protect.”

  “But...” I try to formulate a response, but what I want to say will only enrage him further.

  “What, Em? Go ahead. Tell me why we should just let this pack of beasts stroll into town and annihilate us all. Go ahead.”

  His antagonism sets me off.

  “Yeah, okay. So you met one werewolf, and he did something horrible. I’m sorry. I really am. I can’t imagine how terrible that must have been, but how do you know that he had anything to do with the weres you want to kill now?”

  A part of me wonders why I’m arguing to save the people who are most likely responsible for my mother’s death, but I can’t help but think that there’s more to the story.

  “There aren’t any other packs around here,” Caiden spits out, pacing around the room angrily. “He had to have been a part of the Silver Lake Pack. They’re all evil, violent monsters. Toying with these humans brains won’t change that, regardless of what we find out.”

  His chest is heaving with fury. I had no idea his hatred for werewolves ran so deep. It’s clear that I won’t be able to change his mind about whether the pack deserves what Caroline is so eager to give them. Time to change tactics.

  “Alright. You say they’re dangerous. Fine. But I still need to know if they’re also guilty of my mom’s murder. It’s not you whose power will be used to kill them. It’s mine. And before I commit myself to that kind of slaughter, I need this question answered.” His face doesn’t change.

  “Please Caiden?” I resort to begging. “I’ll never ask you for anything again. I can’t do this without you. Please?”

  Chapter 19

  The silence in the car is deafening. Caiden may have agreed to help me last night, but he clearly isn’t happy about it.

  “Smile Caiden,” I say in a falsely cheerful voice as he pulls into the school lot. “We’re supposed to be pretending we’re blissfully happy and in love, remember?”

  He arches an eyebrow at me, still scowling.

  “You could at least act like you want to kill me a little less...”

  He shakes his head and looks away.

  “Look, I know you don’t like messing with people’s minds, and I understand why you don’t want to do this…”

  He huffs out a breath and continues glaring out the front windshield.

  “But I need to be sure,” I press. “I need to know–”

  “I already said I’d do it, Emerson. Do I want to abuse my powers and manipulate these people? No. But if it means that we can take care of the Silver Lake Pack once and for all, then I’ll do it. That doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.” He climbs out of the car and slams the door.

  I try not to feel hurt and fail miserably. I don’t know what to do or say to get back the Caiden from yesterday. I hate this cold stranger he becomes whenever he’s brooding. I know he’s going to shut me out for as long as he wants and nothing I do or say will change that, so I just shake my head and follow him out.

  He comes around to my side and mechanically puts his arm around me. I have to fight not to shrug him off.

  We walk into school together, neither of us talking, and part ways as soon as we can. I stomp over to my locker, already anticipating this day to suck. I spin my combination angrily, having to redo it three times before it finally clicks open.

  “Rough day?” A deep voice sounds to the right of me.

  Great. Just what I need — another problem to deal with. At least this one is easily fixed. I simply ignore him, focusing instead on the books I’ll need for my first few classes.

  “Shit!” I yell out suddenly, hitting the locker with my fist. “Goddamn it! I can’t believe I forgot!” I hit the locker again, barely aware that I’m talking out loud.

  “I think that locker has learned its lesson, you don’t need to keep beating it,” Grayson’s sardonic voice brings me back to my surroundings.

  “Look, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but I’m really not in the mood,” I growl at him.

  “Hey, I’m sorry. Really.” He puts a hand on my shoulder, turning me to face him. “I was just trying to joke around. What’s the matter?”

  I look up at him, too annoyed to remember I’m supposed to be ignoring him. “I forgot to finish my damn essay.” I want to hit the locker again, but his hand stays on my shoulder, stopping me.

  “I take it from the crater you left in that metal that this was an important essay?”

  I glance down to where he’s looking and realize with a shock that he isn’t exaggerating; I really did dent the locker.

  “Yes,” I answer, my eyes still glued to the cavity I made. “It was a very important essay.” Great, now my dad’s going to be called in for a meeting. Just perfect.

  “What was the essay on?”

  I look up at him, wondering why he would even care. “It’s on individualism vs. conformity in the ‘Red Badge of Courage’. Why, you offering to write it for me?” I ask sarcastically.

  “Anything for you, Luna Moya. What period do you need it by?”

  “Are you serious? You’re really offering to write my essay for me?” I laugh. This guy is so full of it. “I have English seventh period, right after lunch. Knock yourself out.”

  I turn and walk away, already concocting a plan to skip out before English. I could always fake sick, except my car is still in the shop, so how will I get home? I might be able to sneak off to the library during lunch to write it, but that’ll be difficult considering I haven’t even finished reading the book yet…

  Oh well, I’m sure anything I type up will be better than nothing. I head off to first period, wishing for this day to be over.

  Of course the day crawls by, as it always does when there’s something unpleasant to look forward to. Caiden still meets me at the end of my classes, but he’s silent and sullen, a world apart from what he was yesterday. And in third period, Arianna barely says five words to me. When I ask her what’s wrong, all she says is that she’ll talk to me about it later.

  Maybe she and Ethan are fighting. Too wrapped up in my own inner turmoil, I don’t give it much thought.

  By the time I get to my locker after sixth period, I’ve firmly decided to skip lunch and try to type something up for Mr. Bayne. I’m standing at my locker, staring morosely at the four pathetic sentences I managed to eke out yesterday and wondering how the hell I’m going to write another four pages in a half hour, when a packet of neatly stapled papers waves in front of my face.

  I look over my shoulder to see Grayson looming over me, a pronounced smirk on his face.

  “One essay, as requested.” I see a glint of metal in his mouth when he s
peaks and realize his tongue must be pierced. Then what he said registers, and my jaw drops in disbelief.

  He chuckles at my dumbfounded expression. “You didn’t think I was going to come through, did you?”

  I turn to fully face him, having to tilt my head all the way back to meet his silver eyes. “You’re kidding me. You actually wrote my essay?”

  “I told you I’d help you out.” He gives me a playfully hurt look. “Your lack of confidence in me wounds, Luna Moya, it really does.”

  I raise my eyebrow at him. What’s his game? “You don’t even know me. Why would you do this?”

  “Maybe because I want to know you,” he smirks again.

  “Look, let’s be blunt. I don’t know what game you’re trying to play, but whatever it is, you’re gonna lose. Feel me? I’m not buying the whole, ‘let’s be friends’ routine. You want something from me.”

  “Of course I do.”

  When I narrow my eyes at him, he smiles wider.

  “So that’s what this is about? You do this essay for me and then I owe you?”

  “Yup.”

  I think for a moment. The fact that he moved to town right after my visit to Ashwood Creek is way too shady for me to ignore. He has something to do with the pack — I know he does. Maybe if I play along, I can figure out what his angle is.

  “Alright,” I snatch the essay from his hands. “What do you want?”

  A playful glint enters his eyes, his smile growing wider. “What’s your name?”

  In such a small school, surely he’s already figured out who I am.

  “Emerson,” I answer nonplussed.

  “Emerson what?”

  “Greenwood. Emerson Greenwood.”

  He cocks his head, studying me momentarily. “Nice to meet you, Emerson Greenwood.” He tips his head at me and begins to walk away.

  “Wait,” I grab his arm to stop him, solid muscle bunching beneath my fingers. “You never told me what you want. For the essay.”

  He turns his head to look back at me over his broad shoulder. “Yeah I did. Your name. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” He winks and walks away.