Wicked Secrets

by H G Lynch

  She pushed free of Reid’s arms, trying desperately to catch her breath and cool the burning both in her face and her stomach. Reid just chuckled and tossed himself down on Ember’s bed casually, as if all Sherry had walked in on was a discussion.

  “Hi. Yeah, I’m calm,” Ember replied, though her breathlessness betrayed her. “Reid and I were just…just…talking about…” She struggled with the pointless lie, seeing from the look on Sherry’s face that she knew perfectly well there hadn’t been any talking going on at all. Ember wasn’t calm at all, not in the slightest.

  “Talking about Ember’s awful music choices. I mean, Enrique Iglesias, seriously? I thought you had better taste than that Emz,” Reid covered smoothly. Sherry laughed.

  “Yeah, figures you wouldn’t like him. He’s hot and he’s a singer. You’re totally jealous.” Ember laughed, but it was too high-pitched to sound casual. Jesus, She thought, Breathe Ember, breathe!

  “I don’t do jealous. Everyone else is jealous of me,” Reid stated arrogantly. Ember bit her lip on a smile, not wanting to encourage him, but Sherry let out a scoff, moving to her bed and facing away from them to hide her grin. Reid just grinned, looking devilish.

  Trying to distract herself from his sexy smile, Ember said, “Okay, so let’s listen to something else then.” She bounced off the bed abruptly and went to change the CD, sliding out the Enrique disc and putting in a cheap, self-made CD. She’d never bothered to label the blank disc so she had no idea what songs were on this one anymore. Hesitantly, she pressed play and Depeche Mode filled the room with funky, haunting beats. Seeing Reid’s look of distaste, Ember continued to flick through the tracks on the disc, skipping songs by Fall Out Boy, Papa Roach and Nickelback.

  “Now, that’s a better song,” Reid sighed in approval as a song by Avenged Sevenfold blared through the speakers. Ember rolled her eyes and slumped onto the soft carpet by her bed, letting Reid trail his fingers through her hair. She was starting to think that might become a habit of his – he was always touching her hair.

  “So, are you excited for tomorrow? I’m sure your mum has missed you loads,” Sherry teased, sitting on her own bed and crossing her legs. Vaguely, Ember wondered where Ricky had gotten to. She hadn’t seen him all day, and he normally dropped in to see Sherry at least twice a day.

  Shaking her head, Ember groaned, “No. I think I’ll die with her here for two weeks. I can only imagine the kinds of horror she’ll bring.” She was exaggerating. She was just worried about her mum’s reaction to her and Reid. Oh, and about her possibly finding out that her daughter was now a supernatural creature.

  Turning, she pointed at Reid, where he lounged carelessly on her bed. “As long as you stay away, it might not be too awful,” she said. Reid feigned hurt and then grinned, flashing fangs at her. She glared at him and he pretended to sulk at her. She sat down where she’d been before. “Stupid vampire,” Ember muttered but Reid ignored her, returning to his fascination with her hair.

  “Well, as long as I can control my temper, I might be able to handle it all I guess. But if things start to shake, we’ll have a problem. I mean, how do you explain to your bitchy, all-too-logical mother that you’re now half-vampire and half-witch and you can…Oh!” Ember slapped her forehead with the heel of her hand, feeling like a moron. Sherry gave her a puzzled look and she could imagine Reid’s expression with one arched brow gazing at her back, but she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of this already.

  “I’m a freaking vampire! What do vampires do when they get found out by humans?” Ember sighed, shaking her head at her own idiocy. Nobody said anything, and it seemed they were still confused. Or at least Sherry was – Ember wasn’t even sure Reid was still listening anymore. He was probably busy imagining things he shouldn’t be again.

  “What are you talking about, Emz?” Sherry asked, leaning forward to put her elbows on her knees, cupping her chin in one hand.

  “Compulsion,” Ember said as way of an explanation. Then at Sherry’s blank look, she expanded that explanation. “I can make her forget. I don’t like the idea, but if it’s really necessary…well, I’ll have to.” Ember shrugged, though really, the idea of Compelling her mother made an uneasy knot form in her gut. In a firm tone, she said, “I can’t let her find out about me. Not a chance. She’d run screaming for the hills.” Her mother could never accept her as a vampire – never.

  “Well, have fun with that,” Sherry said sarcastically, not in the least bit encouraging.

  Ember sighed and whacked Reid’s hand away as he drew his fingertips down her neck. He wasn’t doing anything for her concentration. “Do you think it’ll work though, that’s the thing? I mean, you are only half vampire,” Sherry added. She was in a nit-picking mood obviously, and it wasn’t helping Ember’s morale.

  Ember smiled thinly. “Well, if not, I’ve got a mind-erasing, full-blooded vampire at my command, so I think it’ll work out okay. For now can we just forget it? It’s stressing me out.” That was true; she was getting a headache just thinking about it. But Reid’s fingers stroking through her hair was helping. She tipped her head back, sighing, thinking about how it may not be so easy to go without her unusual, gorgeous blood-sucking boyfriend for two weeks after all.

  *

  “Oh, God.” Oh, God, Oh, God, Oh, God!

  Ember was having a moment of sheer dread as she stood in the parking lot, waiting for her mother’s arrival. She wanted to go back to her bed, crawl under the covers and go to sleep again. There was no way she could handle her mother along with everything else right now. What if she got angry and did something she couldn’t erase from her mother’s mind? What if she started craving blood? What if the witches came back and went after her mum? Dear God, there were so many possibilities, and without Reid to give her a hand to hold, she felt like she was drowning – she was way out of her depth in this.

  “Ember, chill out!” Sherry said suddenly, making Ember twitch. “It’s only your mum. You handled her last time, you can handle her again.” Sherry gave her a pat on the arm and Ember flinched again. She was so on edge. She’d only barely handled her mother last time, and this time there was so much more that could go wrong.

  “Last time she was here I wasn’t a half-vamp, half-witch freak!” Ember hissed and Sherry frowned for a moment before sighing.

  “I suppose you’re right,” she said evenly. “But still, she’s you’re mother. Everything will be fine.” The sad part was that Sherry obviously truly meant that. She didn’t have the same pit-of-the-stomach bad feeling that Ember did. The feeling had been growing constantly since the moment she woke up this morning, and she had the dizzy notion that something unexpected was about to hit her like a punch in the gut. And now, the show was about to start.

  The familiar blue car pulled into the parking lot and Ember sighed, hanging her head. “Wake me when it’s over,” she mumbled under her breath. Raising her head, she kept her glare locked on the damp, gravelly ground as she heard the approaching footsteps. Even when she heard Sherry’s tiny gasp next to her, she didn’t bother looking up to see what had surprised her. It wasn’t until a pair of ratty trainers appeared at the edge of her gaze, with amber leaves swirling around jeans-clad legs, that Ember knew there was something really wrong standing in front of her.

  “Ember, hello? Are you daydreaming again, or sleeping on your feet?” Carol Jennings waved a hand in front of her daughter’s face. When she blinked, Ember was rushed into a hug from her mother, and it took her a moment to register what was off with the picture she saw over her mum’s shoulder. When Mrs Jennings moved to say hello to Sherry, Ember felt her hands curl into fists. Half of her wanted to stick out her hand to test that what she was seeing wasn’t a hallucination, and the other half wanted to scream in surprise.

  Turning back to Ember and seeing her daughter’s expression, Mrs Jennings gestured to the person standing next to her. “Ember, I don’t know if you’ll remember him but this is–” Mrs Jennings started, but Ember fi
nished her sentence for her.

  “Owen,” she whispered, incredulous. She knew her eyes were wide and her mouth was open, but Dear God, could you blame her? Owen Thorne, her friend from years ago, the boy she’d walked away from, the boy who’d been haunting her dreams, was standing right in front of her. And he was nearly unrecognisable.

  “Hi, Ember. Long time, no see,” Owen said quietly, grinning shamelessly at her. Ember blinked. She’d been hearing that voice so much recently, but it still shocked her to hear it while she was wide awake. Especially since it didn’t have any of the cold arrogance she’d grown used to. A prickle of ice ran down her spine.

  Cautiously, Ember looked over her once-upon-a-time friend. He was wearing simple trainers, jeans, a blue t-shirt and a brown leather jacket. Nothing like the gothic black outfit he wore in her dreams. She returned her gaze to his now-familiar face, and nearly keeled over in shock when she saw him smiling what appeared to be a genuine, laughing smile. The high cheekbones, the smooth black hair that was no longer styled in harsh spikes, but combed back behind his ears; he’d grown up to be almost pretty. The only thing that made her sure it was really Owen was the eyes; those wide, thick-lashed, haunted violet eyes. They were such a deep, rich purple, so unusual and impossible. She’d never met anyone else with eyes that colour.

  “Uh, Sherry, this is Owen Thorne. He’s an old family friend of ours. Owen, this is Sherry, Ember’s best friend.” Mrs Jennings was either oblivious to Ember’s stunned state, or she was trying to compensate for it by – thankfully – ignoring her for the time being.

  Unfortunately, Owen didn’t show the same tact. He tore his eyes from her long enough to politely shake hands with Sherry, and then returned to gazing at her. Ember felt a blush roll up her face as she realised she still hadn’t said anything but his name; she must look like a total moron. But she couldn’t make her mouth work, couldn’t think of anything to say. She wanted to throw accusations at him, yell at him for messing with her dreams. But she knew that was insane, and this was obviously a different Owen to the one she’d known before. The Owen she’d walked away from would never have looked at her the way he was now.

  “Okay, why don’t you kids go get acquainted while I grab the luggage? Go on.” Mrs Jennings gave them all a verbal push, and Sherry was the first to move.

  “Um, sure. We’ll…uh, show him back to our room, I guess,” Sherry said slowly. She nudged Ember’s arm and Ember forced a too-bright smile. She spun on her heel and linked her arm with Sherry’s as they started back to the dorms, Owen hot on their heels. Frowning, Sherry whispered in Ember’s ear, “Ember, you’re acting like you’ve seen a ghost. What’s up?”

  She snatched a glance back at said ghost, so she didn’t see the face Ember pulled. A blast of cold wind whipped their hair back and Ember shivered. The trees rattled their harsh laughter at her as they walked, the damp leaves skittering across the frosty concrete chattering and chuckling. Apparently, the whole world was laughing at her; this had to be some annoying cosmic joke.

  “I’ll explain later,” she said shortly, her stomach still in knots. She’d thought before that this was going to be a long two weeks. Now, she was re-thinking that; it was going to last an eternity.

  *

  Half an hour later, they were all three sitting in Ember and Sherry’s room. Sherry and Owen had struck it off easily, chatting about random things and Owen filled Sherry in on what it had been like to be friends with Ember while Sherry had been absent from their family holidays. They exchanged stories about her, while Ember glared at them.

  Ember felt almost like she was ten years old again as she stole glances at the friendly, hardly-recognisable boy sitting on her bed. Owen hadn’t said much to her, and Sherry had taken Ember’s silence as a warning to follow the same lead. It wasn’t that Ember was trying to be bitchy or rude, but she just didn’t feel like talking. She felt dizzy and sick and she was still slightly in shock.

  She was contemplating perhaps running to her tree to escape when a knock on the door broke into her thoughts and interrupted Sherry and Owen’s conversation – Ember had no idea what they’d been discussing but they’d been laughing about it. For some reason, that irritated her to no end.

  As Sherry got up to open the door, Ember wasn’t sure if she was praying for it to be Reid or for it not to be. Which would be worse? She thought.

  It wasn’t him.

  “Hi, Ricky,” Sherry squealed as she saw who was behind the door, and Ember let out a sigh of relief…which, apparently, was very interesting to Owen, who was watching her annoyingly intently. He eyed her with some sort of suspicion, analysing her expression. It was something he’d always done, even when they were kids. He liked being able to know what she was thinking, and she hadn’t minded it – when they were eight. Now, it bugged her immensely.

  Ember shot him a quick, tight smile and turned to see Ricky stepping in, smiling politely at their new guest. Owen got up and shook Ricky’s hand as they introduced themselves. Ember wanted to get out of here. Ricky said something to Owen – Ember wasn’t listening to what it was – and they all laughed. Ember frowned to herself, feeling separated from them. It was like she had cotton wool in her ears and fog in her head.

  “Ember?” Sherry’s voice came through clear enough though, and she blinked.

  “Sorry, I was daydreaming,” Ember lied.

  “Same old Ember then,” Owen chuckled and met her eyes for a moment before she looked away uncomfortably. He didn’t seem fazed by her impoliteness. “I was just asking if you remembered that summer at the camp site in Aviemore.” He grinned and she could’ve sworn he winked at her. She flinched. The memory of that summer was the memory that had set off her goddamned dreams about him.

  “Uh, yeah. Sort of. I…I need some air. Excuse me,” Ember mumbled and darted out the door dizzily. Impolite or not, she needed to go elsewhere and think.

  *

  The wind had calmed down since earlier, and Ember felt quite snug huddled in her tree. Her mind was spinning but the fresh air was easing her nausea a little. The gusts muttered through the trees, stirring the pines and making the oaks shiver their balding branches. The clouds were opaque and drifting sluggishly across the sky, weak sunlight filtering through the haze. It was cold, but Ember barely noticed. She was too busy thinking.

  Why the hell was Owen here? How could he be here? It was either the biggest freaking coincidence in the history of creepy or…um…no, there was no other option. Why did her mother bring him? Did he find her and ask to come? But that made no sense. Ember hadn’t had any contact with the guy for four years and they hadn’t ended the friendship on a good note. He wouldn’t know she was here unless her mother told him, or her mother told his mother who then told him. Same difference. They knew how things had gone wrong with Ember and Owen, so why would they update him on her life? It didn’t make sense!

  And there was the matter of how he’d appeared in her dreams, as a totally different guy but telling her he’d ‘find her’. And apparently he had. That was just freaky. There were so many ‘whys’ that it was starting to sound like a meaningless noise in her head – like when she kept saying a word over and over, and it stopped sounding like a word. Like that.

  Ember let out a grumble of frustration and whacked her hand against the branch she was sitting on. “Why is he here?” she hissed to herself, rubbing her temples. Even if Owen had completely changed since the last time she saw him – which it really seemed like he might’ve, judging by his relaxed appearance and charming manner – and for some reason, had been asking about her (that was an insane leap, but she had to work out one thing at a time) why would her mother bring… Oooh.

  Ember just about toppled off her branch as the obvious answer to that question slammed into her head and brought everything else to a halt. “Damn it!” she spat, eyes wide, teeth gritted. She curled her fingers into fists and dug her nails into her palms. Well, she could work out Owen’s motives for coming along later, but she’d stu
pidly overlooked her mother’s possible motives. I’m an idiot! She thought, letting out her breath in a hiss.

  She’d been so worried about her mother seeing her with Reid, because she thought she’d try to break them up. Yell at Ember to dump the boy, warn him to stay away, something like that. Oh no, she had taken it a step further. That’s why she’d brought Owen, whether Owen himself knew it or not. Mrs Jennings had brought him along in the hopes that Ember would dump Reid for him. After all, Owen was an old friend, and he’d changed. They had history, and he was a bright kid, good-looking and charming, clearly polite and ready to reconcile what had gone wrong in their friendship.

  Yes, her mother was using Owen, but did he know it? Did he know why she’d brought him? If he did, well…it said a lot about how close he and Ember had been in the past, that he came along to try to steal her back from her boyfriend. It was insanity, considering he didn’t even know her anymore. But if he didn’t know what Mrs Jennings’ plans were, then what were his motives for coming?

  Ember groaned as she felt a serious headache forming on top of her spinning thoughts. So, Owen was either here to reunite with her and win her heart – Ember could only imagine the amount of damage he must’ve done to his brain with drugs and alcohol to even vaguely consider that himself – or he was here for some unknown motives of his own that she may or may not like.

  Why was her life so complicated?

  “Hey, Ember!”

  Ember groaned internally at the voice calling up to her. And the complication of the hour arrives, she thought. She shouldn’t have been surprised really. Coincidences and freaky happenings were just daily things now; the fact that Owen knew where to find her wasn’t all that bizarre. Sherry had probably told him – the girl would pay for that later. Ember deliberately thumped her head back off the trunk behind her, sighing, and then looked down at the friendly ex-friend smiling up at her. Oh, why doesn’t someone just kill me now? She thought bitterly.