“I’m going to find Ian,” she said. “Will you be okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” I replied.
She turned to walk away. “Wait,” she blurted, turning back. She had that pleading look on her face. “Can you please, pretty please, be the designated driver?” She gave me puppy dog eyes and pouty lips.
“Dani, I don’t drink. I’m always the designated driver.”
She smiled and started to leave again.
“Keys?” I called after her.
She tossed them to me. After a few drinks, Dani tended to forget that she couldn’t drive. I had learned a while ago to make sure she didn’t have access to them.
I stuffed the keys into my pocket and walked down to the lake. Everyone was dancing, laughing, and having a good time. I hated it. I didn’t know why I always let Dani drag me to these things, especially when I knew I’d inevitably be ditched.
Actually, I did know why. I was worried about what might happen to her if I wasn’t around.
I plopped down in the grass and watched the water ripple. I instantly felt calmer. Looking at the water, the stars, and the moon, it was easy to drown out the party.
I noticed a swing set and made my way over, plopping in the seat. My legs propelled me up and I felt like a little kid again, going to the park and having my dad push me, as I giggled and screamed, “Higher!”
“Hey,” said someone, taking the swing next to mine.
“Hi, Eli,” I mumbled.
Of course he found me. This must be a record.
“Dani said I might find you out here,” he supplied when he caught my tone.
Curse that girl.
I didn’t mean to be overly rude to the guy, it wasn’t his fault that he liked me, but man, shouldn’t he have gotten the message by now? I’d never done anything to lead him on.
“Do you need something?” I asked. I tried and failed to keep the edge from my voice.
He sighed. “I just wanted to see you.”
“Here I am.”
Eli looked at the ground and I watched his feet drag little pieces of grass. “Why don’t you like me?”
Wow. Straight to the point for once.
I closed my eyes and swallowed. “I like you, Eli.”
“But you don’t like me, like me?”
What was this? Third grade?
“No,” I answered softly and chewed on a piece of nail to avoid his eyes. I sighed and said, “Eli, you could have any girl you wanted. Why do you want me?”
He smiled. “You’re different. Most girls around here are so superficial. But you’re not. You care about people. I like that about you.” He laughed. “I think I fell in love with you a bit in fifth grade when Stan fell off the playground swings and started crying. Everyone wanted to make fun of him but not you. You stood up for him. Right then, I thought, that’s the girl I want to marry.”
“Eli—” I started.
He held up a hand. “I know you’re not interested but you asked why, and I wanted to answer honestly. Friends?” He held out his hand.
“Friends.” I took his hand.
Just then, fireworks erupted over the lake making me jump.
“It’s okay. Just fireworks,” he told me in a soothing tone.
I laughed. “Sorry, I’ve been kinda jumpy today.”
Eli started to swing. “Where are you going to college?”
I sighed. “The community college. It’s only one course, that’s all I could afford, but it’s a start.” I lifted my feet in the air and tilted my head back as I swung so I could see the stars. “We don’t have the extra money for me to go and besides, my dad needs me. I need to stay here and work and help him out. Maybe one day …” I let the sentence fall away. I had never liked the word maybe it was too open, too vague.
Maybe I’ll do this, maybe I’ll be that, maybe, maybe, maybe. It was all so tiring.
“That’s very admirable of you.”
“Hardly,” I snorted.
“I’m sure your dad is very proud to call you his daughter.”
“I hope so,” I replied. “I love my dad and I know he loves me very much but sometimes I wonder if he regrets me. I mean, I was a baby when my mom died. If he hadn’t had to take care of me there are all kinds of things he could’ve done.”
“But none of them would have had any meaning without you,” Eli supplied.
I laughed. “This got deep fast.”
Eli chuckled. “Yeah, sorry.”
“Mara! Mara!” I heard called in a panicked tone. I sat up in the swing and the metal chains twisted around each other.
“Dani?” I hollered into the darkness.
Eli stopped swinging.
“Mara! Mara! Mara!”
“Dani?” I screamed back, turning in every direction. I couldn’t pinpoint where her voice was coming from. It was like it was coming from everywhere all at one time.
My beautiful friend appeared through the darkness.
“Dani!” I rushed to her, grabbing her. Her hands and legs were covered in blood.
So much blood.
“Are you okay? Where are you hurt?” I asked, looking her over.
She sobbed, her body shaking. I’d never seen my friend like this—so unhinged. But I guess I’d be pretty upset too if I was covered in blood.
“N-Not mine,” she swallowed thickly. “Ian.”
Eli joined me, looking Dani over. “What happened?” he asked.
She moved her hair out of her face and I noticed then that there was blood splattered on her face too.
“I-I don’t know. H-He was fine one s-second and the next he was mumbling all these things. It didn’t even sound like any language I know. Almost alien. T-Then blood started coming out of him. First it was just a trickle out of his mouth t-then his shirt was drenched with blood. I-I tried to stop it I held his chest, but the b-blood kept coming and then he started choking. Before I k-knew it, he was g-gone.”
I looked from her to Eli, both of us horror stricken.
Things like this didn’t happen in our town.
First my dream.
Then the sword.
The guy.
Now this.
Something big was happening. Something I believed none of us were prepared for.
In the distance, sirens could be heard, and everyone scrambled to hide the alcohol.
“It happened so fast,” she whispered, her eyes glazed over.
“We need to leave,” I told her, grabbing her arm.
I knew the normal thing to do would be to stay and talk to the police, but my gut was screaming to get away from there. That it wasn’t safe.
When she started to stumble and shake, I put an arm around her to hold her steady.
“It’s okay,” I whispered.
“Jake! Jake, wait up!” Eli called after a retreating truck. Eli slumped. “There goes my ride.”
“Come on.” I nodded toward Dani’s car. “I’ll drive you.”
He perked up. “Thanks, Mare,” he said.
I flinched. Did we have nicknames now? This friend thing was going to be harder than I thought.
I unlocked Dani’s car and helped her in. She was a blubbering mess. Eli climbed in the back. I started the car and raced out, at a safe speed, hoping to avoid the cops.
“He was fine,” mumbled Dani. “It was so strange.”
“Dani,” I said softly. “It’s okay.”
Eli leaned between the two front seats and patted Dani’s shoulder. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Of course she didn’t,” I snapped. Eli held his hands up in surrender and sat back. “Buckle up,” I told him.
“You got it, boss.”
“Where do you live?” I asked him.
He rattled off the address. I pulled in front of his house, located in a neighborhood not far from Dani’s.
“Thanks for the ride,” he started. “Mara, maybe we could—”
“Goodnight, Eli,” I snapped. I’d officially reached my limit with
him.
He shook his head and closed the door.
I parked Dani’s car and helped her inside.
“She’s not drunk, is she?” asked Dani’s mom coming from the hallway. Instead of worrying about underage drinking, Mrs. Danielson—yes, Dani’s name was Danielle Danielson—was probably more worried about Dani throwing up on her floors.
“Someone died,” I explained softly. “Ian Gordon. Jules’ brother.”
Mrs. Danielson’s face paled. “Goodness,” she said and put a hand to her chest. “That’s a tragedy. What happened?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, edging Dani closer to the stairs. “Dani was with him when it happened.”
Mrs. Danielson’s eyes widened even more. “Let me run you a bath, sweetie,” she said sympathetically and took Dani from my arms. I watched them disappear upstairs.
I was turning to leave when Levi collided with me.
“Did you say someone died?” he asked. He looked up at me with wide eyes.
“Uh … yeah,” I hedged.
“Cool! That’s awesome!” he cried.
My jaw dropped open and I shook my head. Fifteen-year-old boys.
I placed Dani’s keys on the foyer table and pulled my own from my pocket before heading out the door.
I kept my head ducked as I walked down the driveway to the truck. An uneasy feeling that someone was watching me took over, but I was scared to look—afraid if I did it might convince them to jump me if someone was there. I reached the truck and it started right up. Breathing a sigh of relief, I headed home.
Exhaustion was swallowing me whole and my bed was calling my name.
Chapter 3
GRAVEL CRUNCHED UNDERNEATH THE tires when I pulled into the driveway. I took the keys out of the ignition and sat. Something wasn’t right.
Like the feeling I had when I was leaving Dani’s house, I seemed to just know this time that something was wrong. I stepped out of the car, stuck the keys in my pocket, and crept quietly into the kitchen through the side door.
The house was pitch dark and quiet. It was late, but Dad normally waited for me to get in. I wasn’t even as late as I sometimes had been. My heart raced with fear and I looked around for anything heavy enough to hit someone with. Finding nothing, I quietly slid open the kitchen drawer and pulled out the heavy-duty flashlight that my dad kept there. I held the thing like a bat as I crept through the house. I wanted to call out for my dad, but I didn’t dare. If someone was in the house, the last thing I wanted to do was alert them to where I was.
I crept around the corner into the living room and down the hallway.
Something slammed into me. Blindly, I tried to beat it away. Someone grabbed my wrist.
“Careful with that,” a husky voice whispered in the dark. My heart sped up, but it wasn’t in fear. “You could hurt someone.”
I rolled over onto my back and stared at the guy above me.
His gray eyes glittered in the darkness like jewels and his dark curls flopped messily over his forehead.
Snapping out of my daze, I barked, “Get off me. Who the hell are you anyway?”
He rolled his eyes like my request was completely asinine. “Ask questions later. We need to leave. Like … now. I packed you a bag.” He stood and grabbed a black duffel bag off the floor, holding it out to me.
I was still sprawled on the floor and he didn’t even bother helping me up.
This time, I was the one to roll my eyes before I stood up.
“You went through my stuff?” I shrieked, grabbing the bag from him—nearly ripping it out of his hands.
“I did,” he replied like him going through my stuff was no big deal, “and by the way, those bras and underwear? Not sexy at all. Don’t you have anything with lace?”
My eyes threatened to pop out of my head and my hand twitched to smack him.
“What. Is. Going. On?” I said. “Why are you in my house? Who are you? Where’s my dad?”
He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re in danger and we really need to go. I’m your protector. Lucky you, right?” He smirked and nodded cockily like what he was saying was perfectly normal and not totally creepy.
My protector? Ha! More like my murderer most likely.
I clenched my teeth. “My protector?” I asked instead—I didn’t want to tip the guy off to my suspicions. If he was planning to kill me maybe I could get away.
“Yeah. You’re a witch and I’m a … sorcerer. Don’t call me a wizard,” he added, “ever. I’m not Harry Potter. See, no lightning-bolt-shaped scar.” He lifted his wavy black hair off his forehead to prove his point. “We call ourselves enchanters, though. It sounds cooler.”
“I’m supposed to just believe you?” I asked and suppressed a laugh.
This guy was clearly crazy. Maybe he’d escaped some mental institution or something.
Do I really believe that?
My gut was telling me this guy spoke the truth but surely it was wrong.
Things like witches didn’t exist.
He rolled his eyes. “We told your father he needed to tell you. Stubborn humans,” he muttered. “Yes, you’re supposed to believe me. Do I look like I would lie to you?” He gave me the most innocent face he could muster.
“Yes! Yes, you do!”
He sighed like he didn’t have time to deal with me. “Where’s your box?”
“Where’s my dad?” I countered.
He groaned and smacked his hand on top of the other. “Mara,” he spoke sternly, “we don’t have time for this. We need to leave now. I’ll explain more later. Now where’s your box?” He spoke slowly like I was too dumb to process his words.
“My box?”
“My God, Mara, surely you know what box I’m talking about?”
“I do, I’m just unsure why we need it.”
He tugged at his hair. “We don’t have time for this. Get your box. They could find us at any time.”
“Who?” I cried. “Who could find us? And how do I know that you’re not the bad guy?”
Gray eyes looked me up and down. “You’ll have to trust me.” He began to play with his lip ring, a look of boredom on his face.
“Yes, because you’re so trusting,” I intoned.
“Get the damn box,” he growled, vibrating with anger.
I sighed. “It’s in my room.” Even if he was a bad guy I didn’t see what could be so important in my box. Granted, I didn’t know what was in there, but still.
He motioned sarcastically with his hand for me to lead the way. “Hurry,” he urged as I stepped into my room. He looked around like he expected a fight. I got on my knees in front of my closet and pulled back the carpet. I then lifted the plywood board beneath and peered into the darkness for the glowing box. The box pulsed with a golden light that shimmered from the unique design on the front. It was some symbol that my dad always said was a family crest, but if this guy was telling the truth then maybe what my dad told me wasn’t true. I pulled it out and blew the dirt off its surface.
Gray eyes snorted. “Steven was smarter than I gave him credit for.”
I quirked my brow.
“Earth, like the dirt there,” he motioned, “disrupts the magic so it can’t be traced.” His eyes widened. “And now that thing is calling to every magical being in the area. We have to go now.”
Stunned, I stood there.
He grabbed the box and my bag from my hands and started down the hallway. I followed behind him like the lamb to the slaughterhouse.
He opened the side door and immediately cursed, “Shit. Take these—” he shoved the items into my arms “—and get in the truck. If I’m not there in five minutes leave. Do you understand?”
“I can’t just leave you,” I cried. Despite his infuriating attitude, I couldn’t leave him here to die because of me. Bad guy or not. I refused to have something like that on my conscience.
Besides, my gut was telling me I could trust him. It was like some invisib
le tether tied me to him and I knew instinctively we were connected in some way.
“You might have to,” he warned gravely. “Now go,” he cried and shoved me back toward the front door. I could see some kind of dark, shadow-like thing moving around the side door. Gray eyes muttered something under his breath. Light burst forth and the black shadow cried and inched away. Who knew a shadow could cry?
Gray eyes pulled something from the straps of his black—ninja pants? I thought he said he was a sorcerer. The sticks were large and cylindrical shaped. He said something and they began to glow blue and hum before transforming into lethal swords. They still had that glow to them that reminded me of a lightsaber, except the whole thing was glowing even where he held it, and I was pretty sure in Star Wars that would’ve severed his hand.
Looking behind and seeing me, he yelled, “Go, Mara!”
“Look out!” I cried and pointed. He swung the glowing sword.
Something loud thumped to the ground and purple ichor spread across the floor and toward my feet.
Then an explosion rocked the house. Gray Eyes jumped on top of me, knocking me to the ground and protecting me from the debris with his body. Pieces of walls and dust rained down on us.
“You’re so stupid,” he spat. “I told you to run.”
“You’re squishing me,” I wheezed.
He jumped up and pulled me up with him. He looked over his shoulder. Apparently, he saw nothing because he turned back to me.
“We need to go.”
“Ya think?” I pointed to the … I didn’t know what it was, on the floor, but I knew it had clearly meant to kill us. It was something I’d never seen before. It didn’t exist in my world—in the human world.
But I guess, maybe—obviously—this guy was telling the truth and I wasn’t human. I wasn’t a part of the world I’d been raised in.
He rolled his eyes. “I tried to get you to leave. Come on,” he growled in a warning tone that told me if I argued he’d most likely swing me over his shoulder. He began to tip-toe around the mess on the floor. “Don’t touch their blood. It’s acidic.”
“What is it?” I asked, wrinkling my nose at the rotten egg smell.
“It’s a Grindor. They can only be summoned by The Iniquitous.”
“The what?” I asked.
Enchant (The Enchanted Book 1) Page 3
