Boxed Set: The Ink Series Volume 1-4

by Holly Hood

  “What just happened?” I sobbed.

  Slade stood, wrapping his arms around me for comfort. He held on to me tightly, allowing me to let it all out, not saying anything until he was sure I was done crying. When I finally settled, he cleared his throat and we both took a seat.

  “Oz and I grew up together—since we were in elementary school. Our parents created Evil Kings of Ink. And like I told you, we were always traveling because the band was a huge success,” he explained, rubbing at the back of his neck. “While on tour, there was an accident. A huge accident on the way to the next concert. Something so bad it wiped out everyone on the bus. I was fourteen.”

  I touched his hands, trying to keep him going forward in his explanation.

  “I was trapped at first but I broke free and ran for help. But instead of police, I found these men. Some really strange men. They helped me pull my parents, my sister, Oz, his parents, everyone out of the bus, and they swore they would help us.” He bit at his ring. “They would help us survive if we did something for them.”

  I pursed my lips, “Okay, go on.”

  “I don’t know…I don’t really know...They wanted our souls. I was a kid… my whole family and my friends were dead or dying. I said what any kid would say. I said yes. Lucy was the only one awake and she was screaming at me to take the deal, to agree and save her kid.” He dropped his head, going silent.

  “And then what?” I tried to take his hand in mine, but Slade only pulled away. He was tense and clearly upset. I wasn’t sure what to do. So I just waited.

  “And then like something out of the movies, they resurrected my entire family, right in front of my eyes. This dark energy filled them up and coughed new life in each of them.” Slade looked up at me finally. “And nothing was ever the same again. We all were different. We were faster and stronger and things were happening that made no sense to me.”

  He touched my wrist, sending goose bumps searing across my skin. “You could make things appear,” I murmured.

  Slade shook his head. “But that’s not the only thing.”

  I studied him closely. He ran a hand through my hair, instantly speeding up my heart like he hit a switch.

  “I don’t want to freak you out,” he warned.

  I shook my head. “Just tell me.”

  He shook his head. “Show you, is more like it.” He bit at his lip, touching me again, only this time a sumptuous surge of energy filled my body, making my eyes roll back in my head.

  “What was that?” I asked, breathless.

  “I don’t know what it is, but it’s kind of cool don’t you think?” He grinned.

  “Is it safe?” I asked, my head feeling a bit woozy now that he had zapped me with his magical fingertips.

  “I think so. But what I want you to understand, these people were into dark practices, they took something that changed everything about my life. About all of our lives, and ever since then we are not the same. I’m not the same and I don’t think I will ever be again,” Slade insisted.

  “I like who you are,” I said with a smile. “I am just trying to figure out what the hell happened down there.” That was the only answer that I wanted right now.

  “Spirits, magic, voodoo, it all exists. It flows a lot smoother around us than it does for the everyday person. Circe is very close to the other side and she pulls that energy out all the time. I don’t want you to be scared. But there is a lot more evil in the world than you can imagine. You just got a chance to see it,” he said.

  I couldn’t not believe him. There he sat on the bed spilling forth everything that it seemed he’d been hiding. There was no reason to lie about something you already proved. Now, I was just getting an answer.

  “I’m still trying to figure it all out,” I said, taking all the information and putting it into logical piles in my head like we did in science class.

  “I made a deal with a powerful group of people. To them, what I was doing was being initiated into their circle. That night we became one of them.” Slade exhaled, growing silent and still. He waited for me to say something.

  “But what were they?”

  “Witches. And when you’re initiated into the circle you inherit the same traits or capabilities. We were all given a magical talisman.” As he said this I wasn’t sure I knew what he was talking about, but deep down I knew where he was heading. But I didn’t interrupt, I just listened. “A talisman is an object that can conjure up magic. Maybe you can take a guess as to what ours are.”

  I leaned back on the bed, staring at his bare skin, the arm sleeves, the tattoos all across his chest. At one time they seemed reckless and something he would have picked to stand out. I touched his chest with my fingertips, running my hand across the evil skull staring back at me.

  “The tattoos. Your talisman is your tattoos.” Slade nodded. “But I thought only girls were witches. Like in that TV show Charmed. I used to watch old reruns back at home.” I blushed, realizing I was being stupid. Of course this wasn’t like charmed. This wasn’t a television set.

  “Anybody can be a witch. There are many ways to become one. Initiation, spells, being born into the family, stealing the power, a ritual, channeling nature even,” Slade rattled off.

  “Wow. I was a witch once for Halloween. Last year actually.” I smirked. Slade grabbed my hand, admiring the paint job.

  “Were you a good witch or a bad witch?” he laughed, not taking me seriously.

  “Good witches don’t wear black nail polish now do they?” I questioned.

  Slade shrugged, playing with my hand. “Witches do whatever they want.”

  “Just like you do,” I said, feeling entranced by his gaze. His eyes pulled me in. He leaned in, kissing me. And then stopped.

  “Like I do?” he asked, a bit confused that I would say what I just did.

  “Yeah, the ink, the kissing…the panties.” I bit at my lip, letting him kiss me some more.

  He trailed his fingers across my arm, down to my legs. Leaning me back on the bed. I ran a hand through his hair, pulling him down with me.

  “Maybe that’s just confidence,” he whispered, kissing my cheek.

  “Do you like being this way?” I questioned, staring up at him.

  He raised himself off of me, his hands planted on either side of my body. His body so well defined it made me ache. He was like a smooth, sleek piece of art.

  “If I wasn’t this way, what else would I be?” His brows knitted together as if he was pondering it. “I would have lost everyone close to me. I’d be nothing without who I am now.”

  But who he was now left him secluded. It left him the outcast of Cherry. No one liked Slade anymore. And I couldn’t imagine that was fun.

  “Is that why Tucker and you stopped being friends?” It made sense. But Slade shook his head no.

  “Tucker and I stopped being friends once Tucker accused me of hurting Anaya.” Slade pushed off the bed and took a seat on the side of the bed again. I sat up.

  “Can you tell me about her?”

  Slade nodded. “She moved here with her parents. They were part of a fishing company, I guess. An amazing singer, but like yourself, nobody wanted to give her a chance. My sister and her became good friends. We all liked Anaya, she was different, she understood us and we understood her. It was only about the music. And then one night she was just gone. And of course everyone pointed their fingers to us.”

  My heart ached. “Were you and Anaya dating?”

  “No. She was like a little sister. And besides that, she had a boyfriend back home. That’s all her and Erica talked about most days.” Slade searched my eyes.

  “I don’t think you would harm anything.” I touched his arm.

  Lying awake

  I rolled over in bed, unable to fall asleep. I was still wearing Slade’s undershirt. It smelled like him, a mixture of ocean breeze and crisp cologne. My thoughts wouldn’t shut off. They kept chanting the same thing over and over again: he was a witch. A witch. Witch. There
was no way I was falling asleep with that going on in my head.

  I snapped on my light, sitting up in bed. Wishing I could talk to him again. I wanted to know more. I needed to know more. It was the only way I wouldn’t go crazy knowing such a thing.

  A witch!

  I didn’t know how to feel. I didn’t know if I should run for the hills. Maybe tell my dad this kid that comes around all the time—the kid that kisses me and makes me think dirty things—has undeniable powers that I have yet to really figure out. I didn’t even know if this meant he was evil. Was he evil?

  I slipped out of bed. If he was evil that wasn’t a good thing. That was a really bad quality for a potential love interest. I smacked myself. Love interest. The words were funny to me. Kissing didn’t qualify as love. Love was a whole lot more than that. I was no expert, but I was sure love was more than that.

  The phone rang, scaring me out of my skin. I quickly answered it, afraid my dad would flip out seeing it was three in the morning.

  “Do you want to go to the beach tomorrow?” Slade asked on the other end of the line.

  I grinned. “How did you know I would be awake? And you do know my dad is sleeping, right?”

  “I decided to live on the edge. And I figured you probably were up still obsessing about my recent confession to you.”

  I frowned into the phone. “Oh, I thought you were going to say that you had a crystal ball or something.”

  “Um, I think that’s psychics or gypsies. But maybe I will look into it. That would be a great peep show,” he teased.

  “I don’t know about that. Judging by your body, I kind of wish I had one. You’re buff.” I smacked myself in the head for gushing. That, for sure, was gushing.

  Silence filled the air. I stopped breathing, feeling like such a dork now that he was not replying back to me. He could have given a laugh, a thank you, something.

  “Are you there?” I asked finally.

  “Yeah. I’m just imagining you lying in bed thinking about my body. That’s really hot.”

  My cheeks heated. “Oh.”

  “Do you think my eyes are dreamy too?” Slade laughed into the phone. His teasing was quite hot.

  “Actually, I thought they were intense,” I admitted, slipping under my covers as the conversation continued.

  “Intense is good. What else?” he asked, his voice calm and relaxed. I could feel his energy through the phone. I could imagine his smile.

  “The lip ring.” I didn’t like to admit these things. Back at home I would have shot any guy down with metal in his face. But Slade knew how to pull it off. And he had a mouth that was so attractive, this only drew you to it over and over again. Full and soft, the kind of lips that fit perfectly against mine and left me trembling in my skin.

  “I told you the girls liked it.” He laughed. “What do you want to do to me?”

  I laughed back loudly, feeling like I was in the middle of phone sex suddenly.

  “I’m kidding. Unless of course you wanted to share that.” Slade sighed.

  “You’re good, but not good enough.”

  “Oh, I beg to differ. I’m better than good,” he shot back.

  “Better than good. Would that be excellent?” I said, poking fun at him. I curled into a ball, holding the phone to my ear, butterflies soaring in my stomach.

  “You would have to be the judge of that. How am I doing so far?” he asked.

  I forced myself to talk, although my mind had drawn a blank from the intensity of the moment.

  “Uhh…so far, so good,” I said, closing my eyes in embarrassment.

  “So good… Just remember you said it. So tomorrow. The beach. You and me. Are you down?”

  “For sure.” I didn’t miss a beat. There was no saying no to that.

  “Okay, so I’ll see you tomorrow then. Noon?”

  “Sounds great. Night, Slade.” I clicked the phone off, letting out a glorious sigh. I definitely wanted to see him tomorrow.

  I spritzed some Love Spell on my neck and wrist, breathing in what I called the most amazing smell that had ever encountered my nose. Thank goodness Victoria bottled her secrets.

  I was nervous, I could tell by how many times I stared in the mirror at myself trying to make sure every hair on my head was perfect. I even curled my long bangs so they hung just right against my face. I was a nervous mess.

  I turned in the mirror, studying my jean shorts, the ones I had always sworn made my butt look amazing but was too afraid to showcase them to the world. This was my most expensive piece of clothing. And I only had it thanks to Karsen. She said she knew I had my eye on them, so for my birthday that was her gift to me. And now I was brave enough to wear the two hundred dollar shorts that the celebrities were raving about somewhere in my area.

  “Where are you off to?” Elliot asked, standing in my bedroom doorway.

  I spun around quickly, not wanting him to realize I was checking out my butt. That would just be mortifying to explain to my little brother. I hooked my necklace, fingering the silver bands that collected at my chest.

  “Going to the beach,” I answered, giving myself another look in the mirror.

  “Since when do you wear black?” Elliot asked me, his eyebrows knitting together in annoyance. I wondered why, if he was so annoyed, he was even bothering questioning me.

  “What, your other half still in bed on this fine Saturday morning?”

  Elliot groaned. “It’s eleven thirty, and who would go with you to the beach? I thought the whole school hated you.”

  I resented his statement. I very much wanted to inform him that, although the school disliked me, the witches were rather fond of me. And if he didn’t watch himself I might ask one of them to turn him into a giant toad, seeing that’s what he acted like most days. Instead, I bit my lip and gave him a dirty look. This was enough to send him away, and I was grateful.

  I liked my black shirt. It was the only black item in my closet at the moment, but I planned on getting more. I slowly realized black was more calming than scary to me. It was a color capable of bringing out emotion and it made me feel really good. Not morbid like some might think it would. It was a tight fitting black top and it actually was rather comfortable.

  I slipped on my flip-flops and headed into the kitchen. I had some time to kill so I drank some water, then I remembered I forgot to apply lip gloss, and hurried past Elliot who tried shoving me into the hallway wall, telling me to slow down, that I was acting like a freak of nature. Maybe I was being a tad erratic but it was all for good reason.

  “Hope.Door,” Elliot barked from out in the hallway.

  I ran the lip gloss against my bottom lip one more time, doing a quick pucker and lip pop. Another glance in my mirror and I was ready. Nervous, but ready.

  I touched my hair as I headed down the hallway. I could hear Elliot talking to Slade and I could hear Slade let out a laugh in response. And that was odd to me. He never seemed that cheerful. Most times his laughs were more just a smile or exhausted sigh or huff of air.

  “Hey,” I said loudly, ending their conversation. Elliot immediately plopped down on the couch, opening up a bag of chips.

  “She’s been running around like some crazed lunatic for you. You got this in the bag, dude,” Elliot said dryly. He shoved a handful of chips in his mouth, turning on the TV.

  I crossed my arms. “What would that even mean, in the bag?” I scoffed.

  Slade laughed. Elliot gave me a glance. “You were fixing the same piece of hair for an hour. You never worry this much about what you look like. Jeez, most days you stay in your pajamas until nighttime.”

  My face warmed. I was so going to kill him when I got home. I started after Elliot. He tossed the couch pillow at me, hitting me in the head.

  “Alright, I’m sorry. She doesn’t wear her pajamas all day. I don’t know what came over me. Leave me alone or I’m telling Dad. Or better yet, Nona. You know how she is so fond of me.” Elliot smirked.

  I shot him a secret
glare and spun back around to Slade who was leaning against the wall waiting patiently. “Are we ready?” he asked, pushing off the wall.

  “Yes, absolutely.” I ditched the goodbyes and slammed the door shut behind me instead.

  “You look nice,” Slade pointed out, his eyes on the beach as we walked through the sand.

  I touched my bangs. “Thanks. So do you,” I said, reviewing his outfit. Gray shorts, black t-shirt with the sleeves cutoff. Nothing but casual, but it didn’t matter because he was hot.

  “You mean this old getup.” He looked down at his clothes, grinning.

  “How often do you come to the beach?” I asked.

  Slade made a beeline across the sand, past several beachgoers and offered me a spot on a big blanket. I noticed a cooler sitting in one corner as I moved to sit.

  “I surf out here a couple times a week. What about you?” He opened up the cooler, taking out two bottled waters. I accepted one, opening it up and taking a sip before I gave him an answer.

  “I haven’t been in the water at all since we moved here.” I crossed one leg over the other, getting more comfortable.

  “We will have to change that,” he told me.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t have a bathing suit,” I insisted, trying to get out of it. I purposely left mine at home to stay far away from the water.

  “We are five minutes from your house. We can always run back and get one,” he offered.

  “Let’s just sit here for a while,” I told him, swallowing a mouthful of water in an attempt to dodge his idea.

  “Okay,” Slade said, lying back on the blanket. He put his arms behind his head, staring up at the sky.

  “Okay,” I said back, watching him.

  “Did you get any sleep last night?”

  I shrugged. “A couple hours,” I lied. In all actuality I had slept for maybe an hour and then panicked all night about witches, and when I was done with that, moved on to what to wear for our beach date. If he even considered this a date.