Crystal almost backed up a step from the fierce blond’s threat. She remembered herself and what she’d gone through and jerked her eyes back up. “You’ve made my life hell long enough,” Crystal pointed out. “Why would that be any different?”
Stephanie’s breath caught in her throat and she dropped her gaze first. “I’m sorry,” she admitted. “I didn’t realize.”
“Didn’t realize what?”
“How nice you are. Everybody always talked about how quiet and helpful you are. It was frustrating; you never did anything wrong and never realized it.”
“So you were a bitch just to hurt me?” Crystal frowned and felt a tingle of heat in her chest. She fought the urge to tighten her hands into fists. After all, Stephanie was admitting what she’d done. It was a step in the right direction, but not enough. “Maybe you should try being one too sometime.”
“What? I am! I mean, I’m helping you out. And not screwing with you anymore,” she protested. “And I’m doing it because I want to, not because you cast some magic spell on me. And don’t expect me to kiss some stupid frog in this swamp either!”
Crystal snorted a laugh at the unexpected demand. Stephanie’s eyes widened and she laughed with her. The two shared a moment of giggling like the school girls they’d once been before a mosquito buzzing past Stephanie’s ear ruined the moment.
“Okay,” Stephanie said before she slipped her tennis shoes and socks off. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“Neither can I,” Crystal admitted and turned to walk deeper into the weeds and onto the spongy ground of the swamp. She glanced back when she heard a curse and saw Stephanie sneering as she stared down at her feet.
“This is nasty,” Stephanie said. “Oh God, it’s squishing between my toes!”
Crystal glanced down at herself and smirked. She thought it felt good. Cool and slimy, but it made her skin tingle. “You need to get in touch with nature,” Crystal teased her.
Stephanie glared at her but kept her thoughts to herself. Her nostrils flared and she started forward, walking slowly and trying to find the firmest ground to walk on. A fresh grimace or whimper occurred with almost every step.
Once Stephanie caught up to her, Crystal turned and led the way deeper into the swamp. She glanced about, looking for landmarks and found herself sniffing the air. She was getting better at ignoring the bad smells of rotting plants and natural gases bubbling to the surface and focused on using what she saw and what she smelled to guide her.
“Oh God!” Stephanie screamed.
Crystal crouched as she spun and saw Stephanie backing away from a tree with vines hanging from it. She slipped and windmilled her arms to try to catch her balance. Water coated in green slime lurked behind the cheerleader.
Crystal threw herself forward. She grunted as she felt something crunch in her feet and had to reach down with her right hand to keep from overbalancing and hitting the ground. She jammed her fingers into the soft ground, making it sting like she’d been stung by a dozen hornets. She ignored it and caught Stephanie in the crook of her arm as she started to fall backwards towards the water.
Crystal’s foot splashed at the edge of the water but she was out of it before the displaced water rushed back in to fill the depression she’d made in it. She slowed to a halt and turned to steady Stephanie and make sure her feet were on the ground. She let go and saw Stephanie spin around to stare at her and then behind both of them, at the scummy looking water she’d nearly fallen in.
She twirled back and pointed at the tree with the vines. “Snake!” she squealed.
Crystal looked down at her hand, fearing she’d been bitten by a snake herself. Her fingers were contorted and, as she turned it slowly, they looked unnatural. Dark hair sprouted from the back of her fingers and her fingernails were elongated and curved to sharp points. She gasped and felt the same stinging sensation flare before the nails shortened and the hair faded back into her skin.
“Crystal,” Stephanie asked. “Are you okay? Oh my God, I almost fell in the water! There might be more snakes or alligators! Holy shit! You caught me! Thank you!”
A jolt of liquid fire burst in her feet and flared up her legs to her spine. She hissed and forced herself to turn. She didn’t need to look to know what was happening.
“Crys?”
“I’m fine,” Crystal lied. Or almost lied. Already the pain was fading and she felt the cool mud squishing between her human looking toes. “Are you okay?”
“What? Okay? Um, I guess so. I mean, this is crazy! What are we doing here? This isn’t safe! I almost grabbed that snake. What is it, a cottonmouth or something?”
Crystal looked at the snake hanging from the tree. She sniffed as the snake’s tongue flicked the air. They were testing each other. The snake was a female. She wasn’t sure what kind, but she didn’t smell anything dangerous like venom. A cottonmouth was one of the most venomous snakes Arkansas had to offer, and naturally the first one Stephanie thought of. “No, probably a water snake or milk snake or something.”
“Oh,” she said. Stephanie hugged her arms to herself and shuddered. “It’s still gross!”
Crystal shrugged. She wasn’t a big snake lover herself but she didn’t see anything wrong with it. She licked her lips and turned back to Stephanie. “Try to be more careful.”
“Fuck this!” Stephanie snapped. “Let’s go back. I’m going back. Are you coming?”
“Steph, wait!” Crystal said as Stephanie turned to leave. Crystal hesitated before she said, “I need you. Please.”
Stephanie turned back to look at her. She glanced at the tree with the snake that was crawling back up into the branches and then at the water. “Are you serious? About the water?”
Crystal nodded. “It’s only waist deep.”
“I am not getting back in my car with my nasty muddy pants!”
Crystal rolled her eyes and sighed. She reached down and grabbed the bottom of her sundress and yanked it up and over her head in a single move. She wadded it up in her hand and held her arms out to stand in front of Stephanie in her bra and underwear.
“Holy shit,” Stephanie said. She let out a laugh and shook her head. “How did you lose so much weight? You look awesome! I can’t believe you—what happened to your stomach? I don’t remember hearing anything about that?”
Crystal shrugged. “I was attacked by a dog when I was younger,” she said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. She had been younger a few days ago and the dog that attacked her was her. Dog, wolf—whatever.
“I had no idea.”
“Nobody does,” Crystal said.
“Not even Beth?”
“Yes, Beth does.”
Stephanie scowled. “Of course.”
“You want something just between us?” Crystal asked her.
Stephanie bit her lip and nodded.
Crystal fixed her gaze on Stephanie’s eyes and said, “Then take off your pants and come with me. Beth’s never been here.”
Stephanie gasped and brought her hand up to her mouth. “You’re serious?”
Crystal nodded.
Stephanie stared a moment longer and then shook her head. She reached down to her waist and started unbuckling her rhinestone-studded belt. “I better not get bitten by anything!”
Crystal smirked. “Not even me?”
The cheerleader’s eyes widened. “What? You said—”
“I’m messing with you.”
Stephanie’s eyes narrowed. “What happened to you being nice?”
Crystal laughed. “Maybe you’ve been rubbing off on me some?”
Stephanie harrumphed and unbuttoned her pants. She pushed them down and swept her underwear with them. “That figures,” she said and stepped out of them one foot at a time to keep from getting them dirty.
Crystal sniffed subconsciously and smelled Stephanie’s scent. She shook her head and blew out her nose to try and push the smell away. Stephanie’s musk felt natural in the swamp. She was aroused.
&n
bsp; “What do I do with these?” Stephanie asked as she finished taking her shirt and bra off. She held her clothes crumpled in a ball in front of her hips.
Crystal tucked her dress under her arm and finished slipping her underwear off. She added them to her bundle and said, “You can put them back on when we get out of the water. Unless you want to meet the witch naked.”
“Fuck that!”
Crystal smirked. “Thought so. Come on then, it’s not much farther.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
Crystal nodded. Neither could she.
Chapter 10
“Oh God! Something just touched me! Crystal!” Stephanie shrieked after she jumped and splashed water all around.
“Be careful or you’re going to fall!” Crystal snapped.
Stephanie turned to face her and froze. She held her bundle of clothes overhead and left herself completely exposed above where the murky brown water covered just below the tanzanite charm dangling from her pierced belly button.
“There are fish and frogs in the water,” Crystal explained. She kept her eyes above the twin cherries capping her stretched breasts. She did it out of respect for Stephanie that the blond was not returning. Her mom called it leading by example, but she doubted her mom had ever been anywhere near a situation like this one!
“You think that’s what it is?” Stephanie asked.
Excited bits of flesh aside, Crystal knew there were turtles, snakes, and maybe a few stray gators from farther south living in the swamp. She also knew better than to remind Stephanie about the more dangerous critters. “The water’s muddy and we’re making it worse. They can’t see us and run into us. It’s not a big deal.”
“What if they bite me?”
Crystal laughed. “Would you eat a steak?”
“That’s not funny! Of course I would. And I don’t want these fish thinking of me as a buffet!”
“Would you walk up to a cow standing in a field and take a bite out of it?” Crystal asked. She almost didn’t hear Stephanie’s response over the sudden grumble in her belly.
“Of course not!”
Crystal nodded. For Stephanie, that made sense. For Hank and her friends, the answer was a lot more complicated. “Well, there you go. There’s nothing big enough down there to try to bite you. They’re scared of us.” Unless there’s a hungry gator, she added silently.
Stephanie turned slowly and studied the surface of the water as the tiny rings from her movement rippled outwards from her. She turned back and shuddered. “This is so gross.”
“So is smearing mud on your face and wearing slices of vegetables on your eyes, but people do it. Think of this is a whole-body facial.”
Stephanie’s eyes narrowed. “You’re kidding, right? You can’t be serious.”
Crystal shrugged and started wading again. “Clover looks pretty good.”
“Clover?” Stephanie asked while glancing around again. “I didn’t know clover grew in a swamp.”
“Clover is who were going to see.”
“What? Oh, you mean the witch?”
Crystal stopped and pointed with the arm not clutching her clothes against her side. Stephanie stepped beside her and followed her finger. “What is that? Holy shit, is that a house? It’s covered in weeds!”
Crystal rolled her eyes. “That’s Clover’s house. Be careful what you say. She’s watching us.”
Stephanie’s breath hissed through her teeth. She jerked her head around, looking all around them. “Where is she?”
Clover stepped into the doorway of her hut, lending weight to Crystal’s warning. She stood wearing the same outfit she’d worn the other day, which meant virtually nothing but some jewelry, her hair, and a primitive loincloth.
“Hi, Clover.” Crystal waved. “I, um, I brought a friend. The one you said I put a spell on.”
Stephanie gasped as Clover stepped out onto her deck and looked at the skinny cheerleader. She nodded. “Welcome, Stephanie, to my home.”
“She knows my name!” Stephanie hissed.
Crystal grinned. Clover knew her name because Crystal had talked about her. If Stephanie didn’t know that, then that was her fault. Crystal decided to have a little fun with her. “Of course she does, she’s a witch!”
“This is a really freaky dream, right? I’m going to wake up and—”
“You shouldn’t tarry,” Clover interrupted. “Dusk nears and there are things that hunt in the waters that might find the flesh of young women very tasty.”
“Fuck this!” Stephanie grunted and started wading forward.
Crystal laughed until she saw Clover wasn’t laughing with her. She glanced around while remembering a similar warning from her friends about the swamp at night. She turned and followed behind her friend, only to reach the dock as Stephanie was pulling herself up and out of the water. Crystal jerked her eyes away from the obscenely exposed cheerleader in front of her and hoped Stephanie didn’t look back to see her cheeks blushing.
“Get out of the water!” Stephanie hissed a few seconds later. “You heard her.”
“I’m coming,” Crystal mumbled and laid her clothes on the deck. She climbed up beside them and stood there wiping off the stray algae that clung to her waist and legs.
Stephanie stared at her pile of clothes and frowned. She looked at Crystal and then glanced down at herself. She gasped and bent down and then let out a squeal when she saw a leech just beneath her ankle.
“Get it off!” she shrieked and turned, hopping on the other foot.
“Stand still!” Crystal shouted at her. Stephanie was panting by the time Crystal knelt down and grabbed her foot. Stephanie yelped again and had to grab onto Crystal’s shoulder to keep from falling back into the water.
Crystal squeezed and pulled at the bloodsucker but her fingers kept sliding. She forced her fingernails into it and finally managed to rip it off. It squirmed between her fingers, trying to latch onto her. She flicked it away and let Stephanie’s leg go.
“You can let go of me now,” Crystal suggested.
“What? Oh! Sorry, I kind of liked having you on your knees.”
Crystal gasped and jumped to her feet. “Really?”
Stephanie’s cheeks were burning and her hand covered her lips. “Oh shit, I don’t believe I said that. That was such a guy thing to say!”
Clover cleared her throat, sparing them from the awkward moment. They both turned to face her but the witch’s attention was focused on Stephanie. She looked her up and down and held her hand up to indicate the blond should circle.
Stephanie spun around slowly and then stopped. “What the—who are you? Why am I—”
“I’m Clover,” she said. “You’re here because you need my help.”
“I—what?”
“She cast a spell on you,” Clover said and pointed at Crystal. “It had no direction but it was raw and very powerful. The delivery method made it part of you.”
“Delivery method?” Stephanie breathed. She turned to look at Crystal. “What is she—”
“I kissed you.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened and she raised her fingertips to her lips. She rubbed them across her lips and glanced down at the faint pink residue of lipstick left behind. Her tongue followed, moistening her lips. She turned her attention back to Clover.
“It can’t be undone,” Clover stated.
Stephanie’s head twitched and then she turned to look at Clover. “But—wait. I, um, I don’t understand. I don’t love her. I like her, but—”
“Your feelings will grow over time. The more you are away from her, the worse it will be,” Clover said.
Crystal bit her lip and watched Stephanie as she reacted to the news. She felt bad for doing it to her, especially since she didn’t know how she’d managed to cast a spell in the first place. She didn’t even think that magic was real, except for what she’d seen with her own eyes. And if her hands and feet growing hair and claws wasn’t proof of that, she didn’t know wha
t was!
Stephanie shook her head. “This doesn’t make sense. I mean—I don’t feel different! I like Crystal, but I’ve always liked her. I—”
“You said you hated me!” Crystal interrupted.
“No.” She shook her head. “I hated that you didn’t realize how much everyone liked you. Even me. That’s why I wanted people to stop liking you so much.”
Crystal blinked a few times as she tried to understand Stephanie’s twisted logic. “That’s messed up.”
Stephanie nodded. “It is. I’m sorry.”
Clover smirked. “This change of heart is proof.”
Stephanie spun back around on her. “But I’d feel different! Wouldn’t I? I mean, I’d know something.”
“How would you know? The spell is a part of you. It’s tied into your heart. Whether the intent came from your head or from the spell doesn’t matter; it’s all a part of you now.”
“That’s messed up,” Crystal muttered. “It’s like, I don’t know, a loss of free will or something.”
“You wouldn’t do that to me,” Stephanie sputtered. “You’re too nice!”
“She would, and she did,” Clover stated.
“I—I didn’t mean to,” Crystal said. “I was frustrated and angry and dealing with a lot of things. I, um, I just wanted you to know what it felt like to want somebody to need you.”
Stephanie sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “I still can’t believe this. If that’s true, then I’m not really into girls. It’s all just something that happened to me because of you.”
“Does that upset you?” Clover asked with a tilt of her head.
“Yes! No! I don’t know.” Stephanie groaned. “I mean it should. I would have made fun of, um, me for feeling this way. The old me would have. But now I feel like it’s okay. I want to be mad, but I’m not. It just feels right. Natural. Like it’s okay. Oh God, my parents are going to be so pissed if I’m gay!”
Clover shrugged. “The heart wants what it wants. Labels are for close-minded fools.”
“Tell that to my dad,” Stephanie muttered.
Claimed by the Beast Bundle Page 27
