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EIGHTY-SIX | UNDER THE BLEACHERS
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2020-10-19 20:06:45“Under the bleachers?” I scoffed to myself, though I typed out a message saying that was fine, that I’d meet them there. Kathrena had said she’d be late, so I was in no hurry to rush outside just to wait around in the cold.
I was stood at the edge of the cafeteria, leaning against a wall with faded, peeling cornflower paint. I dropped my phone back into my pocket, and was about to leave when I saw the queue for the lunch line shrink.
Throughout October the school was selling autumn-themed drinks. They were disgusting, apparently – no match for the coffee shop in town, or so I’d heard – but I imagined that, at the very least, they’d be warm.
One of Rowan’s quieter friends, Jade, had been buying them religiously, and they usually smelt pretty nice, too: sweet and spicy, wrapped up with cinnamon and cloves.
I ducked through the tables, trying t
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“Wait,” I said, pulling back. “That’s – that’s a good thing, surely?”“No,” Kathrena choked, stepping out of the hug too. Her eyes were back on the ground, and her hands twitched anxiously at her sides. “Oh, God, I just – I panicked. I said no to him.”“But why?” Rowan asked, frowning, her red lips pulled into a pout. “He’s cute.”“Look, I – I don’t want to talk about this right now,” Kathrena said, running a shaking hand through her hair, pushing her fringe out of her face only for it to fall down again seconds later, messier than it was before. “We have enough to deal with already.”Skye touched her forearm for a moment, his eyes gentle as they met hers. “Okay. But we’re here for you, whenever you’re ready.”“Tha
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I took a deep breath. My hand trembled as I raised it to knock on Aradia and Ezrand’s office door. I held it there for a moment, my knuckles barely brushing the wood as I hovered, uncertain.Then I steeled myself, and I knocked.“Come in!” Ezrand called out. I tried to picture him before I stepped through the doorway, which would effectively seal my fate: slightly rounded belly, brightly patterned shirt, white-blonde hair mussed from running his hands through it excitedly. I pictured him sipping microwaved blood from his favourite mug, clattering around the kitchen and dancing to anything, all the way from Fleetwood Mac to The Beatles to Mozart.It made me feel slightly better, but only for a second. As soon as I saw his cheerful face and his friendly dark eyes, my heart sank. But not because of Ezrand – because of the lean-faced, purple-eyed woman next to him.Aradia wa
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“It’ll be fine,” I murmured, knocking my knee against Skye’s under the table. He didn’t look convinced.We were sat in the coffee shop in town. Skye had agreed to meet the Sunstone Clan after school, but he’d been so nervous that I’d suggested we make a detour. The combination of caffeine and sugar didn’t seem to be doing him any favours, but my warm hand on his thigh was helping, at least.He sighed, pulling his coffee cup closer. “The pack took it really badly, El. I can’t – I can’t deal with that all over again. Not so soon, anyway.”“I know, and I’m so sorry that they treated you like that.” I reached over to squeeze his hand, wrapping my fingers around his, curling them around his cup. “But the Clan were surprisingly understanding. They were open to you, and to us.” I gave a little half-shrug. “I think t
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It was dark by the time we’d finished negotiating.“It’s not safe,” I’d sighed, over and over.“You’ll be safer with me there,” he’d argued – in that gentle, nudging way of his – and eventually I’d relented. I couldn’t resist his sweet face – especially those golden eyes fringed with thick, dash lashes, watching me with nothing but tenderness in their gaze.Hand in hand, we strode out to the woods together. The dusk was soft above us, a blurred purple that twinkled with stars. It seemed that, at long last, the rain had stopped. I was glad of the dry spell – not only did it make the sky prettier, after days of grey mist broken only by the evergreen arms of the pine trees, but it was also warmer. The idea of being soaking wet in the cool autumn air was far more deplorable than the idea of being cold but dry. The mere thought of it mad
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Entering my room with Skye by my side felt strangely intimate, although it wasn’t the first time he’d seen it. It was as though I’d been stripped bare tonight, and he was seeing me with fresh eyes. Every brushing touch sent shudders rippling through me, and I longed to slide under the duvet with him, to be shrouded in his warmth as we fell asleep together.“I guess we don’t need this anymore,” I grinned, nodding at the spell bag on my bedside table. “It’s all out in the open, now.”“It’s a nice feeling, isn’t it?” Skye smiled back, but it didn’t reach his eyes. I watched him worriedly as he toyed with his fingers, standing uncomfortably in the centre of the room.“It is,” I hummed, kicking off my boots. “But – are you okay?”“Yeah,” he croaked, and then, to my great dismay, a
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The week following the defeat of the demon had been surprisingly normal. Well – as normal as a week could be for two vampires, a witch, and a werewolf.I leant back against Skye, pressing my body against his. His arms slipped around my waist, and I snuggled closer. I could see the darkness swelling outside, scattering the stars and drawing away the purple haze of dusk.Skye had all but moved in to the Clan house, and, whilst most of his belongings were stashed in the spare bedroom upstairs, he slept and spent all of his time in my room.I’d dragged another chair up the staircase and lugged it into my room, so that we could share my desk – though very little homework ever got done, what with our constant teasing and moments where, despite the desk and my laptop, despite the mounds of assignments and text books, nothing but Skye and I existed. Those moments ended in kisses, always, and though I was
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The large, red-brown wolf in front of me panted, its claws digging into empty earth. I stepped closer, one quivering hand outstretched. The rain splattered onto its fur, slicking it down as it turned its huge, golden eyes to look at me.There was a nudging glee between our bond, as though we were both too scared to accept that we’d done it. We hadn’t failed. We’d won.I held the wolf’s gaze. He gave me a nod, and his jaw hung open in a lopsided grin.It was raining. I’d made it rain.I couldn’t make sense of everything that was happening. My grip on the knife loosened, and it clattered to the floor. Then Skye was shifting in front of me, and, rain soaked and bloody, we fell into each other’s arms. All around us people were waking up, witches and vampires alike, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding. They were going to
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“You know?” I whispered. My mouth went dry, and I swallowed thickly, trying to wet my lips. Ice flooded my veins. We had lost. We had failed.He stepped out of the shadows, snakes of black mist pooling around his body as he moved. His smirk deepened, and I saw a flash of white teeth as he struggled to hold in his laughter.He looked, for the most part, human. His skin shone with a pearlescent lustre, but two dark horns protruded from his forehead and his eyes glowed red. He was tall – taller than any person I’d ever seen, be they vampire, human, witch, or wolf – and, as the fog parted, billowing away from his legs, I understood why.He had the upper body of a human, and the legs of a large goat. But, as I watched, they shifted and shimmered in the darkness, stars and sparkles of an indeterminable colour – too matte to shine like that, too black to be so bright; it was impossib
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“I guess this is where I have to leave you,” I said, though I didn’t slide my hand out of Skye’s, or make any indication that I was planning on walking away from him. I was reluctant to leave him alone, even though I knew that his job was more likely to be safe than mine. That didn’t mean I wasn’t scared for him.“I guess so,” he echoed, though his clutch on my hand grew firmer.We’d agreed before that Skye should stay to protect the humans in the maze. With every second that we put off the inevitable, we were putting lives at risk. Our jaunt through the maze had been undertaken with the knowledge that we would likely be to first to arrive at the scene of any attacks – but there had been none, and, so far, it seemed as though the demon was planning on giving the maze a miss.The thought gripped me with fear, icy and unyielding, a frozen cage that constricted my
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We had an hour to kill before the Clan were due to start their fight. I didn’t want to think that it might be my last, but try as I might, my barricades were struggling to stay in place. The two thuds played on a loop in my head, and I had to concentrate very hard to keep the images of David and Toby out of my mind.No. I couldn’t think like that. Tonight we would avenge David, and we would keep the rest of the town safe. We’d been lucky so far in that there had been only one casualty – there was something odd about that, I was sure, though I was grateful that was the case – but I didn’t want to put anyone else at risk.I took a deep breath. “Do you want to go through the maze?” I asked, turning to face Skye.He slipped his hand out of mine and rubbed it on the thigh of his jeans. “Sure.” He pulled a smile onto his lips, but it seemed that I wasn’t alone w
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“Okay,” Molly said, clapping her hands together. “I think that’s everything.”“Finally,” Rowan muttered under her breath, and I had to stifle my laughter.It was the night of Halloween, and we were all milling around at the entrance to the maze. The committee had grown considerably since our meetings – we’d needed more volunteers to fill the maze, and there were parents, teenagers, friends and family stood beside us, all in costume. Molly had given out costuming guidelines before the event, much to the dismay of most of those participating, but even I had to admit that she’d done a good job with organising the maze and the activities within it.And, to my absolute delight, she’d made Skye come as a werewolf.“You’re just tall, and muscular, and you have all that hair,” she’d shrugged. “It makes perfect sen
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Skye let out a tiny, defeated sigh, but then he pushed through his disappointment and stepped closer, peering into the window beside me. “Are you sure they haven’t just changed the display around?”“The display is the same.” I groaned, banging my head against his arm. We were being careful not to say what we were looking for out loud – there could be ears anywhere – but I’d been so pent up all day, so focused, and it felt as though our plan had fallen flat before we’d even had a chance to start.“Hey, don’t do that,” Skye murmured, prying my chin off his shoulder. “You almost went through a window yesterday.”I shrugged. “It’s pretty much healed now. But – thank you for being concerned. It’s sweet. I like that you forget what I am, sometimes.” I gave him a tiny smile, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead, rig
She Runs with Wolves ONE HUNDRED | OCTOBER
I’d thought that my classes had dragged today, but they had been nothing compared to the committee meeting that followed.Beneath the table, I linked my fingers with Skye’s. We were in the same dimly lit classroom as yesterday, and, though it was still light outside, the room was cast in shades of grey. Outside, most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, leaving behind gnarled and bony fingers stretching up into the white sky.“So,” Molly said, tapping her stubby index finger against the whiteboard, “we’ll put the tomb right in the centre of the maze, and then I’m guessing you two want to be the ones to jump out of the coffin?” She directed her gaze at Carys and June, who both nodded eagerly, before turning to grin at one another.“Awesome,” Carys said.“Where’s the centre going to be?” I asked, frowning. It looked close
