“I recognise it from somewhere,” I mused, squeezing Skye’s hand as we rounded the cobbled corner and came onto the high street. It was raining, now, the sky edged with black and a miserable shade of grey in between.
Kathrena, walking on my other side, laughed. “That’s wishful thinking if I’ve ever heard it, El.”
Thankfully, Skye seemed to have completely forgiven my cold comment from earlier, and he squeezed my hand back, throwing me a sympathetic smile. “Well, for my part, I really hope you do recognise it, El. If we need a witch to take down whatever this is we’re fighting, a head start – or any leads at all, really – would be great. I mean, we don’t even know what this thing is. Maybe there’s a second Book of Shadows that Herb doesn’t have access too. Maybe she’s still writing it now, even!”
“Or maybe she’s dead
“Well?” Kathrena asked, probing me for information with a surprisingly gentle tone. One of her fingers was tapping at the wooden bench, though, so I didn’t want to take too many liberties with dragging out my story.I sighed. Herb had pulled me aside as the others had left the library. I’d told them to go ahead, as I’d been planning to return his papers to him, anyway. They’d been of little use to us, in the end: though there had been a few animal attacks in Hawthorn, they all seemed legitimate. We were near a National Park, which bordered the coastline, and it was plausible that the occasional bear might stray. Even the forest that the Clan house backed out onto was home to mountain lions, and that was even closer to Hawthorn’s town centre.There had been no strings, no sightings, and nothing suspicious. But Herb had helped us as much as he could, given that we’d had very little information to
My hands were shaking as I scrolled through my contacts list to find Skye’s number. It was dark outside now, and late, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong.Someone had been in my room, and that same someone had left a tarot card on my bed. A tarot card that foretold death.I’d hunted with Kathrena, wanting to push it out of my mind. It was an impossibility: I lived in the Clan house, for goodness sake, where other vampires lived, too. Vampires that, right now, were on high alert for an attacker.I’d gorged myself on animal blood, feeding on a number of larger animals so that I didn’t hurt any of them. But only so many deer and moose could dent the terror that was shaking my bones, and I’d told Kathrena about the card on our way back in from the woods.“The death card is only perceived as negative, you know. In tarot read
“Where are we going?” I asked, tucking myself into his tiny car.“It’s a surprise,” he grinned, reaching over and touching my thigh. His warm hand brushed the soft denim of my jeans, and I shivered with pleasure. Like the sun, he’d burned away the clouds – for the time being, at least – and I was bathing in the sunlight of his golden eyes.Outside, the dark pine trees rose, ragged, into the night sky. My eyes had adjusted, over time, and I could make out shadows upon shadows, and the slight differences in the shades of black that made up the shapes of the world as we drove by.For the moment, cramped in Skye’s small car, with him beside me, I felt safe.“Can you give me a clue?” I asked, settling back in my seat.“Okay,” he said, his tone light and teasing. I liked this side of Skye, a hard and fun edge
I couldn’t believe that I’d been so blind. Of course that was where I knew the name from. My truck rumbled beneath me, and I stared into the pretty front garden, unsure as to what my next move should be.The two weeks in the run up to the senior party had passed in a hectic blur of frenzied research. I’d almost forgotten about school, and Kathrena and I had doubled down together, more often than not with Skye, too, in an attempt to catch up on our work. I doubted that catching up was ever a position Kathrena had been in, in regards to homework, at least, and we struggled to find a balance between finding answers to the very real threat facing us, and keeping up appearances at home and at school.My spontaneous date with Skye had relaxed me, though I couldn’t keep up the walls pushing the world away for long. He’d asked me again what had happened, what had got me so shaken up, and I’d told him in quiet, stammering words that I’d found a tarot card in my bedroom. The card that signified
“I can’t believe the town are going to let this go ahead,” I said, brushing my hand across the wide leaf of a fern. It was spattered with rainwater, and it shimmered in the grey-drenched sunset trying to pierce through the cloud cover.Skye shrugged. “They won’t want to scare people. Everyone knows about the senior party. The adults will be looking out for their own kids.”“Yeah, but still,” Kathrena interjected. “There was an attack in public. With adults around.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”I’d managed to convince Molly that I needed to know where the senior party was going to be held. It was kept under wraps until the day of, but I’d managed to get it out of her by offering up some gossip. The gossip itself wasn’t true, not exactly, but it got me what I wanted. The seniors would start setting up for the party this evening, so we’d arranged to meet at the clearing before they arrived, to check for any signs of potential attacks.“It doesn’t make any sense to me
I stepped out of the shower, following my normal routine, and my feet sank into the plush bath mat. I turned, without conscious thought, to face the mirror. As I was raising my hand to wipe the condensation away, I stilled.I didn’t want to see the fox again. Seeing it in my own reflection had scared me the most. The one I’d seen in the woods earlier could easily have scampered away; it could have been real. The one in the mirror looked like it was real, though, and that was the problem.I’d never been scared of anything as a human. But, I supposed, I’d never had to deal with anything actually scary before. This was new territory for me – for all of us – and with that in mind I left the bathroom mirror behind, still steamy, still unusable.For the first time since I’d been turned, I was grateful that I couldn’t feel the cold. The dress I’d picked out for tonight was slinky and short, and, though I was going to layer a jacket over the top of it, it would undoubtedly still leave me too c
“What was that all about?” Kathrena hissed, once we were seated in my truck.Kathrena looked stunning, in a simple calf-length green dress that shimmered softly in the dim cabin light. Her black bob was neat, her dark skin was dewy, and she’d slicked eyeliner on in wings that gave her a mysterious cat-eye.I shrugged, my jacket sliding down my shoulder. “He wanted to make amends,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “I think I’ve upset him. We used to spend so much time together, but now, with you, and with Skye, and with school, and all of this research – well, let’s just say that Falmer hasn’t been at the top of my list of priorities.”“That’s understandable,” Kathrena sighed. “I feel like everything has changed this year.” She shifted uncomfortably as we pulled out of the driveway. “I never liked being this way before,
The clearing was teeming with people, all of whom were – thankfully – dressed similarly to Kathrena and I. There were a lot of skimpy dresses, full flares and crop tops, all of which were paired with huge, warm coats and boots that looked ready to face off a mountain, rather than attend a high school party.I felt a pang in my chest as I looked around, watching everyone – the humans – interact with one another. Hawthorn was exactly the kind of town I’d imagined settling down in, one day, filled with interesting people and quaint traditions. There were thick bulb lights strung over our heads, wrapped around branches and dangling between trees. They cast golden light through the leaves, which filtered down and dappled the forest floor. There were tables dotted around the woodland, too, covered with red cups and beer cans, some unopened, some empty, and one had been set up for beer pong at the far edge of the clearing, on what appeared to be the flattest bit of ground.There was music pl