Bait

by Kasi Blake

The song continued.

  Bay-Lee tried not to cry. It was the most beautiful song she’d ever heard, so romantic. Everything inside of her—blood, bones, nerves, and muscle—seemed to link with the music. Each chord sent a spark of happiness shivering through her entire body. This was love. Now, looking back, she saw how silly it had been for her to avoid it. She’d been afraid love would ruin her plans, but it was going to save her life.

  Nick finished the song, and she sat frozen on the end of the couch. Should she clap? The intimate setting made applause seem tacky. Instead of clapping she slowly stood to her feet and crossed the room. She slid onto the piano bench next to him and said, “That was beautiful.”

  He shook his head in denial, looking embarrassed. “Now you know why Mike writes all our love songs. I’m not good with feelings.”

  “Not true. I loved the song, and I’ll never forget it.” She took a deep breath and made a difficult decision. “I’ll talk to Van for you if you want.”

  Shock registered on his face. “About what?”

  “You are too talented to waste your life here. Van can bring Tyler back if he wants to and I think he should. I’m going to tell him he needs to find a way to give you back your career in music. Then you can share your talent with the world.”

  “Is that what you want?” He looked stunned. “You want me to start touring again?”

  She swallowed the building lump in her throat. “No. Not really. But I want you to have your dream.”

  “What about your dream?” He pinched her chin between thumb and forefinger and tilted her face so he could search her eyes. “What does Bay-Lee Bishop want more than anything?”

  Revenge. The word screamed through her brain. Even though she’d wanted to deny her need for justice, replacing it with love, the urge to kill those werewolves repeatedly reared up. She couldn’t keep denying it. Instead of telling him the whole truth, she gave him half of it. “I want to buy a boat and sail around the world. More than anything, I want to find peace. There aren’t any monsters at sea.”

  A weird sort of smile stole over his face. “Hey, maybe I can trade one dream for another. Forget about Tyler Beck. I love you more than I ever loved music. You buy that boat and I’ll join you as your first mate.”

  “You mean it? You want to sail around the world with me?”

  “Hey, I’d like to get away from monsters too.”

  She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. It was a fierce, long-lasting embrace. His hands smoothed down her quivering back. After a few minutes he pushed her away, saying he needed to go to his meeting with Van. He assured her she didn’t need to keep her appointment with their leader. Good news for her. Van was the last person she wanted to deal with at the moment.

  Bay-Lee left the castle with a spring in her step. She couldn’t remember being this happy. Images of sailboats floated through her mind. Keisha owned a laptop. Bay-Lee wondered if the girl would allow her to use it to search the Internet for a good deal on a boat. Her thirst for revenge died a little.

  When she made it back to the school building, she found Maxx waiting for her in the library. He beckoned to her with one hand, fingers bobbing up and down. She reluctantly crossed the large room to meet him at a cluttered table. Several books littered the red surface. He lifted one and handed it to her, opened to page forty-six. It was a journal with sloppy, smeared writing and a torn leather binding.

  “This journal belonged to a hunter,” he said. “Apparently, he found a way to get rid of wraiths. It’s the most reliable data I could find.”

  She dropped into a vacant chair. “Do I have to read the whole thing, or are you going to give me the Cliff Notes version?”

  Maxx lifted a hand, palm up. A tiny flame shot into the air and dispersed. She gasped. Her eyes followed the dying flame. Words appeared in the air, written in wispy white smoke. Invincible on birthday. The words slowly faded into nothingness. She was beginning to hate magicians.

  “Old news,” she said, scowling. “I thought you said you found out how to defeat them.”

  “Patience.” He smirked, although it was hard to see his mouth due to the scraggly hair concealing half his face. “While there is no way to kill a wraith on their target’s birthday, they can be killed if they get confused and attack someone on a different day.”

  Why hadn’t she thought of that herself?

  “My research produced an interesting fact,” Maxx added. “The master of the wraiths is close by. The spell he used has to be performed within a certain distance of the target.”

  Her eyes widened. “So it’s true, the killer is a hunter. But why would a hunter kill other hunters?”

  He shrugged. “Jealousy, perhaps. Or maybe they were paid to do it by someone in the Order. Maybe they are being blackmailed. There are multiple possible reasons, but we don’t have the luxury of twiddling our thumbs while you try to figure it out. Find them and break the spell.”

  “I’m not even sure where to begin.”

  “Do I have to do everything for you?” He sighed. “First, you need to get close to a wraith and release it using a spell that I happen to have a copy of.”

  She also had a copy of the spell, but she wasn’t going to tell him. He might want to know where she’d found it and she wasn’t ready to rat out Gavin, not without proof that he was actually doing something wrong.

  The teacher stood and gathered his things while her mind raced. A sly smile tilted his lips. “They appear on birthdays so perhaps you should throw a birthday for someone on a non-birthday, if you know what I mean.”

  Unable to help herself, she asked, “Who do you think the bad guy is?”

  “Most likely? A teacher.” He lifted his briefcase off the table. “Whoever is doing it must have tons of power, so I would rule out the students if I were you. Alec Gallos is bitter because he can’t hunt anymore, and Bruce Devereux was born bloodthirsty. Those two are at the top of my list. Richard is too old to control a wraith, and Grace is a woman.”

  The sexist comment caught her off guard. “Excuse me? Are you saying women aren’t as strong as men?”

  He rolled his eyes at her, and she finally understood her uncle’s warnings about doing that. It did have a way of pissing off a person like nothing else. In seconds it became apparent he wasn’t going to explain his sexist comment, so she asked, “What if we get caught?”

  “You’ll be tossed out on your ears.”

  “But we’re doing this to save lives, and you’re helping us.”

  “No,” he said. “You get caught, and I will deny this conversation. Never happened. Good luck.”

  He walked away, briefcase in hand, leaving her to wonder what she should do next.