Catalyst (A Tethered Novel)

by Jennifer Snyder

  I picked up the deep red-colored menu and glanced over the entrees typed in thick black letters. “Wow, this place is a little pricey.” $22.95 for most of their pasta dishes?

  Vera grimaced, noticing the same thing. “I know. $3.42 for a soda. Yikes!”

  “Oh, but they have my favorite…eggplant parmesan.” I groaned.

  “And manicotti…” Vera said. “Woo, spaghetti too!”

  I scrunched up my nose. “Eh, spaghetti is one of those dishes restaurants make that are always too bland. Homemade is always so much better.”

  “Not here…” a familiar voice said from just a few steps away. I turned and spotted Adam strolling over to our booth.

  “Really?” I asked, matching his cocky demeanor dead-on. Vera shot me a questioning look from across the table.

  Adam nodded. He placed his hands at the edge of our table and splayed his fingers out as he leaned down, putting all of his weight against them. “Really. This place is Five Star for a reason.”

  My stomach dropped—Five Star? No wonder it was freaking astronomically priced and so busy.

  “That’s a pretty awesome feat for a restaurant in such a small town,” Vera said. I was acutely aware of her tone—she’d given him her I’m-cute-don’t-you-want-me tone.

  “It is. My family is very proud of it,” Adam said.

  “Your family owns this place, then?” I asked. His bright green eyes met mine, and he flashed me a crooked grin.

  “Sure do,” he answered. “Glad you guys found the place.”

  “Oh, well Addison wanted something that wasn’t seafood and this place seemed right up our alley. I love Italian food,” Vera said.

  My leg itched to jerk out and kick her beneath the table. She seriously needed to stop flirting with every guy she came in contact with. She was never this bad at home, but that could be because she’d already dated half of the guys our age there and moved on.

  “What about you, Addison, do you like Italian food too?” Adam fixated his eyes on me. There was something menacing in them, like he wanted nothing more than to mess with me. It seemed to give him some sense of amusement or something. “I can assure you that you’ll enjoy this food… It tastes like pure magick. Trust me.” He winked and then slid away from the table so Janelle, our waitress, could take our drink order.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Janelle said, flashing Adam a shy smile. She was a short, plump girl with short-cropped brown hair and a bad case of acne. Her cheeks turned a bright shade of crimson when she glanced at Adam. She sat a basket of the most heavenly scented bread I’d ever smelled down in front of me along with some butter that had little flecks of something in it. “Can I get you ladies something to drink?”

  “Sure, I’ll take a sweet tea with lemon, please,” I said, feeling sorry for her because she obviously had a thing for a complete A-hole.

  “I’ll take the same.” Vera smiled.

  “Are you ready to order, or do you need a minute?” Janelle asked. Her pen shook as she wrote down our drink orders.

  “What’s your special of the day?” I asked, wanting to know what was on sale, because I didn’t think I could afford to eat what I wanted and there was no way I was walking out now that Adam had spotted me. I didn’t want to admit to him that his family’s Five-Star restaurant was way out of my price range.

  “Don’t worry about ordering the special,” Adam said as he leaned against Vera’s booth to get a better look at me. “Order what you guys want; it’s on the house tonight.”

  “Oh, awesome! Thank you!” Vera gushed at him.

  “Thanks,” I said, wondering why on earth he’d done that. “In that case I’ll have the eggplant parmesan with a… Caesar salad.”

  Janelle jotted down my order. “Great choice. I love the eggplant parmesan here. And for you?” She glanced at Vera, pen ready.

  “I’ll take the manicotti with a house salad, please.”

  “What type of dressing would you like?” Janelle asked Vera.

  “Ranch, please.”

  “I’ll put the order in.” Janelle took our menus with a smile and walked away, casting one more glance back at Adam beforehand. He didn’t notice her, but her cheeks flushed even more just the same.

  I picked up a roll and split it open. The warm steam wafted up to my nose, carrying with it the scent of sweet bread. Unrolling my silverware, I found my butter knife and began to spread on some of the spiced butter.

  “I need to use the restroom real quick. Which way is it?” Vera asked.

  “Straight back,” Adam said. As soon as Vera was out of her seat, he sat down across from me. “So, what do you think?” he asked as he watched me take a bite of my slathered-up roll.

  “Seriously?” I said around the food in my mouth. I didn’t care about impressing him any. “Are you really interested in what I think of the food here?”

  It was freaking ecstasy in my mouth, but there was no way I was telling him that.

  “I am,” he said with a wicked grin. “Kace told me about what happened between you two last night, how he informed you a little.”

  I nearly choked on the bread in my mouth. So, Kace was one to kiss and tell…awesome. “Uh-huh, and…what about it? What does that have to do with the food here?” I asked, attempting to play it off cool, while wondering where he was going with this conversation.

  Adam hunkered down. “It’s cooked with magick.”

  I swallowed hard. “Excuse me?”

  Adam smirked at me, his bight green eyes glittering with excitement. “I didn’t stutter.”

  “You didn’t make any sense either,” I snapped, not enjoying his cocky tone at all. That’s what I didn’t like about him most, his cockiness.

  “Magick, Addison…it’s how we all survive, how we thrive in today’s world,” he said in a low voice so the others around us wouldn’t hear.

  How they all survived? How they thrived? I didn’t understand. Did they use magick to get what they wanted out of life?

  Adam must have been able to see the confusion in my eyes, because he grinned at me and then elaborated.

  “This restaurant”—he looked around—“is all enhanced by magick…the food, the décor, the ratings…magick made this place what it is today.”

  “How is that possible?” I asked, glancing in the direction Vera had disappeared in. There was no way I wanted her to hear this conversation, it was too…out there…too unsettling.

  “We have our ways,” he said simply and then leaned back against the booth seat.

  “Oh, I’m sorry… I didn’t realize you’d be joining them,” Janelle said, sounding flustered as she sat Vera’s and my sweet teas down. “Would you like something to drink too?”

  Adam shook his head, but never removed his eyes from me. “No, I’m all right.”

  “Okay, well, umm, your food will be out shortly.” Janelle smiled.

  “Thanks,” I called to her as she hurried away.

  I hunkered down the way Adam had before. “Don’t be so cryptic…what ways?”

  Adam grinned, his eyes flashing like he was bursting at the seams to reveal all the information I asked for. “Hoodoo” was all he said before I spotted Vera making her way back to our booth.

  “Hoodoo? Don’t you mean Voodoo?” I’d heard of Voodoo, but never Hoodoo. A shiver went up my spine as I thought about the little I did know of Voodoo, or at least what I thought I knew. “Isn’t that like creepy little dolls symbolic of a person with needles stabbed into them to inflict pain?”

  Adam laughed. “No, I mean exactly what I said—Hoodoo. Voodoo is something completely different.”

  Vera approached the table, and Adam slid out of her seat before she could slip in to trap him.

  “Well, I’ll let you ladies enjoy your meal,” Adam said. “I’ll catch you later, Addison.”

  I frowned. “Yeah, later.”

  This would be the only time I would ever wish to remain in his presence and only because I wanted to find out what he’d meant. Ho
w did his family use Hoodoo to run this restaurant? Was that what I had inside of me, some sort of Hoodoo magick? God, I hoped not.

  I stood in the kitchen, staring at the number written across the dry erase board, contemplating whether or not I should call Kace. The yearning to learn more, to understand, was nearly overwhelming. So was the desire to see Kace again.

  “Oh my God, just freaking call the guy!” Vera snapped as she strolled into the kitchen already changed back into her PJs.

  She opened the fridge door and pulled out a Mountain Dew. One of these days she was going to start sweating that crap and then have kidney failure or something. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her drink a glass of water.

  I took a deep breath. “Are you going to be okay hanging out here by yourself?”

  “Why, where are you going to ask him to take you…parking?” She laughed and then took another swig of her sugar death.

  “No.” I rolled my eyes. “But maybe for a coffee or something.”

  “I’m a big girl. I’m probably gonna hit the hay soon anyway. My hangover isn’t officially over just yet. I’m exhausted.” She sauntered out of the kitchen, Mountain Dew in hand. “Now why don’t you be a big girl and call the guy!” she called over her shoulder.

  I stifled a grin. “Fine, I will.”

  My fingers fumbled as I punched the numbers into my phone. I double-checked them, making sure I was calling the right number, took in another deep breath for courage, and then pressed call. It rang twice before Kace picked up.

  “Hello?” he said into the phone, the sound of his voice sent shivers along my spine.

  “Kace? This is Addison. I was just calling to umm…” I ran my finger through some sugar grains that had spilled onto the countertop from something Vera had made earlier and bounced my leg, stalling. “To see if you wanted to get a coffee together or something?” God, I sounded like an idiot!

  “I was hoping you’d call.” I could hear a smile in his tone. It lightened my nerves a little and I chuckled softly.

  “Oh, well I did…I mean I am.” I stopped talking. My cheeks flamed red, and I was glad we were doing this over the phone and not in person.

  “That you are. A coffee would be great. When can I pick you up?”

  I couldn’t say now, could I? Wouldn’t that make me appear too desperate? “How about in an hour?” That seemed reasonable.

  “All right, an hour it is. See you in a few.”

  “Bye.” I hung up, unsure if I’d even given him time to respond to my bye.

  My heart pounded in my chest so hard my fingertips tingled. I’d just asked Kace out on a date! I’d never asked a guy out on a date before. I set my phone down on the counter and rushed out of the room to ask for Vera’s help with my outfit before she dozed off again.

  “Don’t you think the heels are a little much, though?” I asked, staring at my reflection in the long antique mirror that stood beside my dresser.

  Vera yawned and wadded up my pillow beneath her head a little more. “No, not at all. I think you look hot.”

  I turned to look at myself from the side. I always wanted to be one of those girls who wore heels everywhere. They seemed to look so sophisticated and sexy, so sure of themselves. Vera was one of those girls. She had a pair of heels in every color imaginable and could walk in them like nobody’s business. Me, I owned one pair. They were black with a little strap that went across the top of my foot. And I was not the best when it came to strutting my stuff in them. I felt like I looked awkward, which, of course, made me feel like a moron.

  “Yeah, I don’t know,” I said, scrunching up my nose at my reflection while I twisted my right foot from side to side in front of me. “I think I might just wear my flip-flops.”

  “Whatever,” Vera muttered from somewhere deep within my bed, hidden beneath the blankets. “You’d better head downstairs before lover boy shows up. There’s no way you’d ever hear him knock from up here, and who knows if the doorbell even works.”

  “Good point.”

  A tinkling ding-dong noise filled the house just then, causing me to jump.

  “Guess it works,” Vera grumbled, burying her head in my pillow. “Oh my God, it’s so loud!”

  “I’ll see you later,” I said as I grabbed my clutch off my dresser and slipped out of the heels. I slid on some brown sandals and darted toward the door. “And don’t fall asleep in my bed!”

  “Why?” Vera yelled after me. “Planning on bringing lover boy home to it?” She chuckled at her comment.

  “Not gonna happen,” I shouted in a singsong voice. “I just don’t want you drooling all over my pillow.”

  “Whatever. I’m getting up. Have fun and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Vera called after me, and I heard her slide out of bed. “Which doesn’t leave out much.”

  I chuckled as I bounded down the stairs. Pausing in front of the door, I smoothed out the sage green sundress Vera had loaned me—she’d insisted that it brought out the greens of my eyes—and forced myself to take in a calming breath and then slowly released it. Gripping the doorknob with my trembling hand, I turned it.

  “Hey.” I smiled as I opened the door. Kace stood in the doorway, his full lips twisted into a grin, deepening his single dimple that I was growing to love.

  “You look great.” His eyes skimmed over the length of me, and I swore I could feel the heat of his gaze slipping over my exposed skin.

  “Thanks,” I managed as I tucked my hair behind my ears, positive my cheeks were tinted a shade or two darker than what they normally would be due to his ravenous stare. “Ready?”

  He shoved his hand into his front pocket and fished out his keys. “Sure.”

  Closing the door behind me, I started down the steps with him watching my every move. I was incredibly glad that I’d changed my mind about the heels. There was no way I would have made it down the steps knowing he was looking at me the way that he was without falling on my face.

  Kace drove a supped-up, solid black Dodge Charger with gray interior. It beat the heck out of my ’95 Jeep Cherokee, but there was no way I was going to make a big deal about his nice car. I’d realized long ago that guys could talk forever when it came to their cars, especially if the car was nice.

  I played with the hem of my dress line as I silently hoped Kace didn’t have the other thing that I’d always found to go hand in hand when it came to guys and nice-ass cars…a huge ego. In my experience, the nicer the car, the more of an ass the guy ended up being. My ex, Ryan, was proof of that.

  “So have you had any more time to think about the other night?” Kace asked, pulling me from my thoughts. His right hand reached out and found mine. The sudden warmth flaring up in the spot where his skin pressed against mine caught my breath. “I assumed that’s why you called me, because you wanted to talk about it.”

  I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t. “It is…” I trailed off, unsure of what I wanted to say first, how I wanted to start this insane conversation.

  Kace squeezed my hand in his, causing the warmth to intensify and then spread up my arm. “I’m an open book. Ask me anything.”

  I pulled my hand from his. There was no way I would be able to focus clearly if he was touching me. “Keep your hands to yourself for a little while then.” I chuckled to soften the unease in my tone. “I can’t concentrate when you’re touching me.”

  He shifted his attention off the road to glance at me for a split second, flashing me a devilish grin. “Is it bad how much that excites me?”

  I grinned like a fool and shook my head. “No, not really.” My eyes dropped to my fingers, and I began picking at my cuticles as I searched for what I truly wanted to know from him. “How does this work? What is it?”

  Kace sighed like I’d either asked the hardest question of all, or he wasn’t sure how to answer.

  “You mean the magick, right?” His eyes flicked from the road to me, and I nodded in answer as I met his short gaze. “Well, it’s a little tricky to explain, b
ut I’ll try. We’re Elementals.”

  My heart began to pound. He’d mentioned something about elements before, but I needed to be sure I knew exactly what he meant. If there was any time to question him on this, it was now. “Elementals? You mean the magick has something to do with the elements—like Earth, Air, Fire, and Water type stuff?”

  He smirked, but kept his eyes straight ahead. “Exactly. It’s something that’s passed down through our bloodline. Our magick is awakened only in the presence of our corresponding element. We stimulate and fuel each other’s magick.” He stopped talking then, either allowing me a moment to comprehend all that was being said or giving me a moment to ask any other questions I might have. When I didn’t speak, he continued on. “Air flames Fire…”

  He reached out and trailed his fingertips against my fidgeting hands. I could feel that his words were true, even though I’d already guessed as much from the night before. His touch was the reminder that this was all real. Warmth danced across the top of my hand and along the edge of my wrist.

  “The same with Callie and Adam…he’s Earth and she’s Water. Water makes Earth grow. Well, plants and such. Their elements nurture each other,” Kace continued. “The only thing is, we can feel the magick, but we can’t use it unless there are four of us, a balance, and we’re all initiated. And since none of us are initiated…well…”

  His fingertips slipped from my wrist to my thigh, stroking the skin there in feather-light lines and patterns, letting me know exactly all that we could do while uninitiated. We could torture each other with this incredible magick that flowed through us upon contact, but could never find a way out, a release.

  “Then how can Adam’s family use magick at their restaurant?” I asked, trying to ignore the little tingles of pleasure Kace’s touch created in my lower region. It had been a while since anyone had caressed my skin the way that he was.