Alison hurried off to her room with me in tow. I paused, seeing Rosetta watching us from a doorway, letting my friend go on without me. I approached the maid, my anger simmering, hating the way she looked at me and the fact she was still a part of my friend's life.Rosetta tried to escape, but I caught her arm as she spun to run down the hall. I guided her into the room from where she'd been spying and eased the door closed. The bedroom was lovely but empty, some kind of guest room for a whole football team from the size of it.I ignored my surroundings, focusing on the frightened yet defiant maid."Tell me," I said at my most menacing, "what has happened to the Chosen of the Light?" The last I knew they were busy tearing Demitrius apart. But having some more information on their current activities would be nice.Rosetta moaned softly, stricken. "We are no more." Tears gathered in her large dark eyes, true sorrow making her pathetic. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Maybe if he
I retreated to the basement for the remainder of the evening. It had been hard to find time to use the family pentagram with Dad hogging it all the time. I'd been forced to chalk one out on the floor of my bedroom or make one with string in the living room. Now that Mom had my dad confined to quarters after his little fireworks display, I had the whole space to myself.Everything seemed to come naturally lately. Without the constant threat of puking holding me back and the actually pleasant experience it was to open up to my magic, I still had moments of pure terror when my demon's power roared to life or when I felt Shaylee's magic touch me. It was all I could do to keep myself under control, to not shriek like a little girl in a haunted house at a carnival every time it happened.The trouble was I remembered how it felt when my demon took over. And while I knew we didn't have that kind of relationship anymore, it still wound me up."Magic is about the unconscious mind doing the bi
I stepped back from my artful hanging of a handful of balloons and eyed what I'd done. "This okay?"Alison came running over, ribbon ends stuck in her mouth and an armload of some kind of sparkly fabric in her arms. "Mumph mumph!"Um, what? I liberated the ribbons so she could talk."Looks great!" She beamed at me, flustered but clearly in her happy place. "Almost done. Can you help with the bunting?"So that was what bunting looked like. I followed her to the doorway, hopping up on what was surely an expensive chair to support the weight of the fabric while Alison tacked it to the wall. I winced a few times as she hammered the tacks into the trim with the heel of her shoe, wondering what her mother would say when she discovered her perfect home wasn't so perfect anymore.Half of me was proud of Alison. She'd initially asked me to host, switched her suggestion Johnny's, the local hangout, before deciding to have the party at her place."It's time I stopped hiding who I am," she s
I found myself congratulating Simon along with the others despite the look on his face. He did his best to be brave, but I knew that expression, had worn it a few times myself. The look of the newbie about to be thrown to the wolves of a new town.Worse for him was the fact I knew he was only fourteen and going to college. College. I was headed there myself the following year and I still didn't feel ready. I could only imagine how afraid he was.Before we had much of a chance to go beyond our uncertain kudos, we were interrupted. Angela chose exactly then to prove to her daughter embarrassment was the only love language she knew.She clattered her way through the door, a drink in one hand, droplets splattering from the rim to paint the floor. Angela was as perfectly made up as usual, but there was a harsh plastic edge to her that always made me cringe. She smiled at us, the tight expression of a woman who was trying too hard."Hello, children!" Her high heels slid over the wetness
It took Pain some time to pull herself together, and even when she did there was no way I was letting her find her own way home. I left her at her doorway, waving as I walked off, feeling a sense of déjà vu. Hadn't I just done the same for Simon?This day was some major suckage. Thank goodness it was almost over. Dark was falling over Wilding Springs, shadows lengthening before me as the sun set. I breathed in the cooling air as night approached, taking my time on my way home. The streets were quiet, only the odd car driving by to hit me with their headlights. Even that little disruption bothered me.I needed to be alone.The park beckoned, a beautiful, wide expanse leading almost all the way to my door. I crossed it on a diagonal, glancing into a stand of trees, remembering the night Sunny, Quaid and I met to talk about retrieving my demon. Thinking of Quaid just made things worse.I was inside the trees by then, just entering the park, when I felt someone following me. The feelin
This time when I flew down the stairs in my pajamas and out the back door I knew who I was running to kiss. No doubts, no confusion, just pure joy and the need to throw my arms around his neck and never let go.Quaid caught me as I leaped, my legs wrapping around his waist as I dug my hands into his hair and locked my mouth on his. For one blissful, amazing, beautiful moment, I was full of his scent, the sound of his leather jacket creaking, the feel of his black hair, the way his stubble scratched my cheek. He tasted delicious, his heat transferring to me as his power stretched out like hot taffy and engulfed me completely.I wanted it to last forever. And in that endless moment, I felt he did too. We were perfect for each other. It had never been so clear to me, this truth. He was my other half, the part filling me up and making me complete. I was never going to let him leave me again.Until I felt him tense, start to pull away. My throat tightened even as I let my lips part from
I found myself sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of hot chocolate heating my hands while the two women in my life stared at me like they weren't sure I was ready to hear what they had to say.Gram poked at the mini marshmallows in her cup with one sharp nail, scowling like they offended her somehow. Mom ignored hers, shifting in her seat a time or two before she finally spoke."Honey," she said, "there are things you don't know about Quaid."I flinched from her, from her words, anger rising in place of sadness. "You were the one who wanted me to marry him."She made a face, guilt and grief at war on her flawless face. "I know, Syd," she said. "That was before I understood where Quaid came from.""The Dumont coven." I hated the name already. Hated everyone in that stupid family.Turned out I wasn't far off Gram's feelings for them, either."The Dumonts." Gram spit the name like it hurt her tongue to speak it. "Filth of the witching world."Mom reached out and patted Gram's
Sassafras and Galleytrot were waiting up for me when I closed my door."Was that Quaid?" Sassy's silver tail showed his aggravation. "What did I tell you about running out into the yard in the middle of the night?""You might want to ask one question at a time," I said, feeling decidedly snarky."It was Quaid." Sassy sighed. "What did he say?"My face crumpled. I couldn't stand it. Sassafras said his name twice. The first time I could fake it and pretend, but the second... the waterworks threatened."Just leave me alone." I threw myself face first onto my bed, smothering myself in the pillow, squeezing my eyes as if that would make me forget. A hot, wet nose shoved against my hand on my left while a rough tongue licked my ear on my right."I'm sorry, Syd," Sassy whispered."Me too." Galleytrot's mournful tone sounded like the rumble of a river."I guess we all are then." My words were muffled, but I knew they heard me. I sighed and rolled over, scratching Galleytrot's head whil