Deceitful Circle (Silent Circle Book 2)

by Cassandra Larsen

  Grayson’s standing on the other side of the lot, watching me.

  Chapter 23

  I freeze, waiting to see what Gray’s going to do. If he really is part of the pack, he could take me out right now in this empty parking lot. There’s no one around to stop him.

  Instead, he nods his head at me, his trademark smirk creeping across his face, before climbing into his colossal black Hummer and driving away.

  I bring my hand to my chest to calm my pounding heart. There is something strange about him, despite what Caiden says, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.

  As I drive home, I contemplate how I can get more information on Gray and his family.

  Back at my house, I’m surprised to find not just Arianna waiting for, but Lydia as well.

  “Hi,” Arianna says cheerfully. “So, Caiden told us about yesterday, and we decided we’d both come over to cheer you up!” Arianna smiles brightly, but Lydia looks down at the carpet, her mouth twisted like she just swallowed bile. I bet I can guess whose idea this was...

  My gut twists in trepidation. I’m really not in the mood to plaster a smile on my face and play nice. “Um, thanks, but that’s really not necessary–”

  “Of course it is,” Arianna says brightly before sobering. “We’re really sorry you couldn’t find out anything...”

  I nod my head without looking at either of them.

  “So... are you still going to go through with the ritual?” Arianna asks.

  I let out a sigh and lift my head to meet her eyes, trying to ignore the discomfort of having Lydia here as well. “Yeah, I made a deal. Caiden helps me, I help Caroline.”

  “But you don’t want to,” she surmises.

  I glance at Lydia quickly before answering. “No. No, I don’t want to. I know Caiden and Caroline and everyone else thinks the pack deserves to die, but how can I be sure? How do I know that they’re all...”

  “Monsters?” Arianna fills in. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Ethan’s the same way. Totally convinced that every were is evil and coming to get us. All because that one rogue killed Caroline’s son...”

  I freeze. “What? I didn’t even know Caroline had a son.”

  “Yeah, Brent Adler.”

  “Caiden’s friend?” I gasp, turning to Lydia. “He’s the one Caiden was talking about the other day?”

  “Yeah, they were really close. Caiden practically lived at his house,” Lydia answers quietly.

  “That’s terrible...”

  “Yeah, and it’s the reason the coven is so gung ho about taking out Silver Lake,” Arianna says.

  “So the werewolf was from that Silver Lake?”

  She shrugs her shoulders. “That’s what everyone assumes. It’s not like they came down here and admitted it, but Silver Lake is the nearest pack we know of, so it’s a safe bet.”

  “Well, I guess that would explain why Caroline and Caiden are so set on this...”

  “But it’s still your decision. You know that, right?” Arianna says earnestly. “As much as Caiden wants the pack to pay, he’s not going to force you into something you don’t want to do.”

  Lydia looks away again, avoiding my eyes.

  I shrug noncommittally. “I just wish there was some way to prove that Silver Lake is coming after us...”

  “You said they attacked you in Ashwood Creek, right? What more proof do you need?” Lydia asks bitingly.

  “That was different,” I protest. “I mean, technically they did catch us snooping around their territory, breaking into a house there. And it’s not like they hurt us or anything.”

  “Yeah, because you used your mad ass-whooping skills on them,” Arianna laughs, and I smile in response.

  “True. And now there’s Gray to worry about...”

  “That new hot guy? What about him?” Arianna grins, wiggling her eyebrows.

  “Hot or not, there’s just something really off about him. I mean, the guy’s been hanging around me, asking me all these questions, watching me... He even wrote my friggin’ essay for me today! No one does that unless they have some sort of agenda,” I complain.

  Arianna laughs. “He wrote your essay for you?”

  “Yeah. Weird, right?”

  “And you think that he has something to do with Silver Lake?” Lydia asks skeptically.

  “I don’t see what else it could be. I think it’s at least worth checking out, but Caiden insists he’s just hitting on me.” I roll my eyes at that. “I know when a guy is hitting on me; this is something else.”

  “Well, Caiden is at work right now...” Arianna says with a wicked glint in her eyes. “We could go check this out for ourselves.”

  I purse my lips, considering this.

  “You know Caiden and Ethan will flip if they find out about this,” Lydia says, but with a spark of interest in her eyes.

  “So we’ll just make sure they don’t know.” Arianna grins at us. “Besides, after you two broke into the sheriff station without me, you owe me.”

  I smile at her ploy. “Well, if we owe you, I guess we don’t have a choice now, do we?”

  “Yay! So how do we find out more about him? We could swipe his school records,” she suggests.

  “I think we’ve had enough with the B&E for now,” I drawl, smirking at Lydia.

  Surprisingly, she smiles back. It’s only a slight lift of her lips, but it’s a start.

  “Caiden did say that Gray and his dad moved into that old Victorian on Spruce,” I continue. “We could always take a casual drive by there and see if there’s anything going on.”

  “Caiden can’t get mad if we’re just driving around,” Arianna says slyly.

  We grin at each other in perfect accord.

  Chapter 24

  We park my car a block away and cut through the forest to reach the old Victorian. Like a lot of houses in this area, it’s set back into the woods, fully surrounded by trees. We creep through the woods as quietly as we can.

  The first thing we see is a huge yellow construction vehicle sitting in the muddy, torn up lawn. The house itself is a dingy white, the paint peeling, wood splintering. The front porch is sagging, chunks of shingles missing from the roof.

  “How is anyone actually living here? It must be Niagara Falls in there every time it rains,” Arianna whispers.

  “Hmmm,” Lydia says, eyes narrowing. “This place might be nice once it’s fixed up, but it’s a complete disaster right now. Why would they be in such a hurry to move in?”

  “Exactly my point,” I say. “The timing is way too suspicious.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” Lydia says, turning to look at me.

  “Look! There he is!” Arianna hisses just as Gray walks out of the house, keys in one hand, the other holding a black book bag over his shoulder. He heads across the muddy lawn, climbs into his Hummer, and takes off down the driveway.

  “What? Where is he going?” Arianna jumps up to watch him disappear.

  “What now?” I huff, frustrated.

  “Well...” Arianna hesitates. “With him gone, we could always check out the inside of the house. Look for clues or something...”

  “Didn’t Emerson say we had enough breaking and entering?” Lydia gives us a slight smile.

  I grin. Did she just make a joke? Maybe she’s not so bad after all. “Not to mention,” I add, “If he is a werewolf, wouldn’t he be able to smell us? He would know if we were in his house.”

  “Oh, yeah. Didn’t think of that...”

  “Why don’t we just follow him?” Lydia asks as if this is the most obvious thing in the world.

  “How are we gonna do that?” I ask her. “He’s long gone by now.”

  Lydia cocks her head at me, one eyebrow raised. “I know where he is.”

  “What? How?”

  “Messenger Class, remember?” Arianna says, a grin spreading across her face. “You’re a genius, Lydia! Come on; let’s get back to the car!”

  “Alright Lydia, where is he?” I ask as I
climb behind the wheel.

  She takes the passenger seat and closes her eyes, putting one hand to her forehead. “He’s turning down Sycamore Avenue.” She keeps her eyes shut tight, massaging her temples like she has a migraine.

  I start the car and head toward Sycamore.

  “Now he’s headed onto Oakland.”

  I follow her directions until we turn onto Pine Needle Drive, a narrow, deserted street with only a few houses, all spaced far apart from one another. Lydia cracks open her eyes, squinting in the semi-darkness.

  “There.” she points to a large wooden cabin with dark green shutters set far back from the road. “He’s in there.”

  I appraise her with one arched eyebrow. “That’s one spooky power you got there.”

  She gazes back at me, her own brows raised. “Says the girl who can read minds and toss people through the air?” She asks mockingly, but there’s a hint of humor peeking out of her eyes.

  “Fair enough,” I laugh. “Can you do that with anyone?”

  She gives me a half smile. “Yeah, but the better I know someone the easier it is.”

  “Well, it’s pretty impressive,” I say truthfully. Her eyes warm a little more under my praise. “So what do we do now? Sit out here and wait until he comes out?”

  “I have an idea,” Lydia answers slowly, her eyes creased in thought. “I don’t know if it will work, but it’s worth a try...”

  Arianna and I look at each other questioningly and nod at the same time.

  “Okay, lead the way,” I tell her.

  Lydia leads us into the woods on the side of the cabin, going deeper and deeper until we’re so far behind the house we can no longer see it through the trees, stopping only when she reaches a small pool of water.

  She eyes it critically. “This should work.”

  “Work for what?” I ask, bewildered, rubbing my arms briskly to bring some warmth to them.

  The sun is starting to set, casting gloomy shadows around us while the wind whips through the trees, penetrating my thin shirt.

  “Are you going to scry?” Arianna asks, awe in her voice.

  “I’m going to try.” Lydia’s voice is droll, slightly self-mocking.

  “What’s scrying?” I hate being so ignorant. I feel like all I do is ask endless questions about things that seem so obvious to them. And I really think I can defeat the pack, when I don’t even know the most basic of magick?

  “Scrying is another ability of the Messenger Class, kind of like the prophecies she gets.” Arianna answers, breaking me out of my bitter recriminations. “Some people are able to look into water or a crystal and see the future, the past, or the present.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not something I’ve ever mastered. It’s really difficult; I’m not sure we’ll be able to see anything at all, but I’ll try.”

  I huddle further into myself, trying to block the wind, and look around at the dreary forest. “Couldn’t we do this from the comfort of my living room? Do we really need to freeze our asses off out here?”

  Lydia smirks at me, amused by my discomfort I assume. But then, she’s wearing a thick hoody, unlike Arianna and me.

  “As much as I’d like to get indoors, this works best if I’m close to the people I want to observe,” she answers. “The further away I am, the harder it is to get a clear picture. We have to do it here.”

  I suppress a shiver. “Fine, let’s get on with it then.”

  She raises her eyebrows at my impatience, but holds her hands out over the water, her eyes staring blankly at a fixed point in the pond.

  We sit in silence, waiting, the wind in the leaves the only sound. I try not to shiver in the cold while I watch Lydia work.

  Her face is screwed up in concentration, every muscle rigid and tense. We wait for what seems like hours, Arianna and I occasionally casting worried glances at one another as the sun slowly fades, leaving us in shadow.

  After an eternity, I notice a faint yellowish glow emanating from the bottom of the pond. It slowly increases, getting brighter and spreading out to fill the small pool.

  Beside me, Arianna gasps, but Lydia remains silent, concentrating. Slowly, blurry forms take shape. I squint into the soft glow, trying to make out the dark blobs on the surface of the water.

  Gradually, the blobs come into focus, forming human-like shapes. It looks like two large men, both with dark hair, facing one another, talking. One is standing straight, feet planted shoulder width apart, arms crossed over his expansive chest, while the other guy leans casually against a fireplace mantle.

  The picture becomes sharper, revealing more details. I think the guy leaning against the mantle is Gray, his deceptively aloof pose looks familiar. He removes a bag from his shoulder — the black book bag I saw him carrying earlier — and tosses it carelessly toward the other man.

  The large guy gestures to the bag at his feet and two other guys I hadn’t noticed step forward to open it. I try to see what’s inside, but get distracted by the shaved head and glinting eyebrow ring of one of the guys.

  “Josh?” I ask in disbelief. “What’s Gray doing with him?”

  Arianna looks at me in confusion. “Well, he was sitting at his lunch table, wasn’t he? Maybe they’re friends...” she says doubtfully

  Then who are the other men in the room? The guy to the right of Josh is taller with light brown hair just reaching his ears. He looks older than Josh, maybe early twenties. I’m fairly sure I’ve never seen him before, so I focus on the larger man still crossing his arms, taking in the powerful build and silver streaked hair.

  “That’s Josh’s dad, James,” I say out loud. “I met him once when I was out with Sebastian. He was pretty strange...”

  “I wonder what they’re talking about,” Arianna muses. “Whatever it is, it looks serious.”

  “Yeah, it does. And what’s in that bag?”

  All at once, the light extinguishes, the images winking out.

  “Sorry guys,” Lydia pants. “I wasn’t able to hold onto it any longer.”

  “That’s alright,” Arianna says. “I don’t think it would have helped anyway. Without being able to hear them, there’s no way of knowing what that was all about.”

  “Yeah, sorry.” Lydia looks down, like she’s ashamed. “I haven’t figured out how to get audio on the images yet.”

  I look at her in disbelief. “Are you kidding? Just the fact that you can do this much is amazing. At least you’re not accidentally throwing people into cars...” I shake my head.

  “Yeah, there is that,” Lydia smiles slightly, mollified.

  “Come on, let’s get back. It’s freezing out here.” I rub my arms again briskly.

  We make our way through the now dark forest, hoping that we’re headed in the right direction, finally reaching the edge of the woods on the side of Josh’s house.

  “Hold up,” I whisper urgently, peering out at the front lawn, which is now illuminated by the porch lights.

  “What is it?” Arianna whispers back, her arms wrapped around her torso, shivering.

  “I’m not sure...” I focus on the vague feeling of unease tightening my chest. Then we see the front door open and Gray and James step out.

  “So we’re agreed then?” Gray asks him, turning to face James, who’s standing on the porch, the light at his back.

  “For now. This is a lot to think about.” I wish I could see James’s expression, but with the light behind him, his face is cast in shadow.

  “Understood. I’ll pass along the message.” Gray turns to leave, walking in our direction.

  “Shit!” Arianna hisses, ducking down behind a large sticker bush. “He’s headed this way!”

  “Shh!” I hush her. “He’s just going to his car.”

  Gray heads for his Hummer, which is sitting like a great hulking mammoth in the driveway. But before he gets in, he cocks his head to the side, eyes scanning the forest edge where we are huddled, praying not to be seen.

  His eyes narrow slightly and conti
nue scanning, finally stopping right where I’m crouched, peeking at him through the branches of a small tree. I suck in a breath.

  No, there’s no way he could see me. It’s too dark and I’m hidden behind this sapling. There’s no way anyone could see us.

  His eyes remain locked on my hiding place and a slow smirk spreads across his face. He stays like that for several seconds, just smirking in our direction as we stay perfectly still, not even breathing.

  Then Gray shakes his head, amused, before getting in his monstrosity and driving away.

  We all let out the breath we’ve been holding

  “Whew, that was close!” Arianna grins in the darkness.

  “Yeah, a little too close,” Lydia looks at me with wide eyes. “What was all that about?”

  “No idea.” I shake my head. “But I told you there was something off about him. He’s up to something.” I narrow my eyes, thinking through the short conversation between him and James. What is going on there?

  I drop Lydia off and drive Arianna back to my house for our ‘sleep over.’ God, I can’t wait until this pack is taken care of and I don’t need a babysitter anymore.

  “See, Lydia’s not so bad,” Ari grins as she settles herself onto the air mattress on my floor.

  “I never said she was.”

  She just looks at me, her lips twisted in a smirk.

  “Fine,” I laugh. “You're right, she’s not so bad. She’s even kind of funny.”

  “Yeah, she is, once you get to know her. She just takes a while to warm up to people.”

  “Yeah, I noticed,” I drawl.

  “So how was detention?” She asks as we get ready for bed.

  “Well, no one got punched...”

  “That good, huh?” She laughs.

  “Well, actually...” I feel a grin spread across my face “After detention wasn’t so bad...”

  “Oh?” Curiosity lights up her eyes. “Well?”

  “We, uh... we kissed. Caiden and me,” I admit hesitantly.

  “Again? That’s great!” She says excitedly.