After the fire had died down, and we had all said our last farewells to David, I’d trudged up the curling stairs to my room. I hardly had the energy to put one foot in front of the other, let alone go to school.
Aradia had given me one look, and immediately had offered to call Aspen High’s office for me. I felt bad, with everything she had to deal with, but I couldn’t face a day of sitting beneath those too-bright fluorescent lights, trying to pay attention, and then, worst of all, having to talk to people. Because it wasn’t actual talking, not really; nobody at school knew me, not beyond the pretence, the façade, the part that I played for them. And, because of that, I didn’t really know them, either.
I told myself that that was why I was shrugging off my wet clothes and climbing into bed, when the truth was, in fact, much simpler. It could be boiled down to one word, and one word alone: D
I smiled to myself as I hung up the phone. Skye’s voice had begun to trail off, and his words had been peppered with yawns, so I’d let him go. I’d slept through the entire day, and I needed to get up, to stretch, and to hunt.I luxuriated in the feel of my warm sheets for a minute, sprawling my legs out beneath the duvet. My mouth felt heavy, swollen, and there was a familiar ache in my throat. The sun had dipped away, leaving darkness in its wake.The only light in my room came from the flat, blue-tinted hue of my phone screen, and it made everything look creepier than if there had been no light at all. It was ghostly, shining off the edges of my desk and bedside table, making them into strange, new shapes that weren’t really there.With a sigh, I shoved the duvet back with my feet. The cool air swilled around my bare legs, breathing in through the open window. I frowned at it for a moment. I thought I’d left it closed. Then I shook myself; I’d been asleep all day. That always left me
There was someone coming up the stairs.I flipped the book back over. I could feel the faint pounding of my heart as I stumbled out of Kathrena’s room, the words of the chapter’s title branded into my brain. She knew; she had to.I’d just closed the door behind me when the footsteps came to an abrupt halt. I turned slowly, wanting to drag out the time before I knew, for certain, that I’d been caught. I felt like Schrodinger’s poor old cat: simultaneously alive and dead, and I listened to the silence in much the same way that I imagined the cat would watch the light seeping in as its box was opened.Kathrena’s eyes were wide and sparkling, and her cheeks looked flushed. No: she was wearing blusher, over a light coverage foundation. Her thin lips looked plump, too, and they were gleaming with a clear sheen. She was wearing lip gloss.Our eyes narrowed in sync. I would have found it amusing, had my decrepit heart not been pounding against my ribs. Her hair was blown back, too, as though s
The sun was cresting the horizon as I slipped back into my bedroom, wafts of steam following me from the shower. It felt good to finally be clean, but the stress of the last few days was weighing on me, and I toyed with missing school for the second day in a row.Falmer’s offer had surprised me, but mostly because of my vehement, instinctive reaction: no. I’d realised, to my utmost shock, that I liked living with the Clan. Until I’d had another option – a serious one, something more than the vague idea of me going off on my own – I’d just assumed that I was staying with Aradia and Ezrand because I had nothing better to do with my time. I realised, now, how wrong I’d been.With that in mind, I’d showered quickly, wanting to rush through my routine so that I would have enough time to get ready for school. As I’d lathered shampoo into my scalp, I’d let m
I pulled the door open slowly, wary about who might be on the other side. The knock definitely wasn’t Falmer’s – he was abrupt, aloof, and never quiet, unless he was scheming slyly in the corner. His knocks meant business. This one was… shy.As I reached for the door handle, I wondered, for a beautiful, terrifying second, if it could be Skye. His knocks would be quiet, I imagined, and polite, and more than a little uncomfortable. Skye always seemed as though his skin didn’t fit quite right; he stood awkwardly, as if afraid to stand up to his full height.Thinking of him made my heart blister with warmth, but I shook my head at myself. He wouldn’t risk coming here; he definitely wouldn’t risk coming inside.I smoothed down the front of my dungarees, pushing out the crinkles in my t-shirt, and then I pulled the door open.It was Kathrena. She looked b
“Look, Ellis – are you sure about this?” Kathrena sounded nervous, and she refused to meet my gaze.The truck rumbled along quietly as I pulled into Aspen High’s car park. The sun was golden, with a cold quality to the light that spoke of chilly evenings, of gloved hands stuffed into warm pockets, and of pumpkin spiced lattes. I smiled to myself at the thought of that, and I imagined Skye sipping at one, shyly glancing at me across the worn wooden table in the coffee shop.“I’m certain,” I said, swinging the truck into a parking space. As I twisted the key, turning off the engine, I shifted in my seat to face her.“But–““But nothing,” I interjected, my eyebrows raised. “Your friend wants to meet you in town. So does mine. So I’ll drive us both to town, straight after final period. I’m going to the library
Kathrena was holding her books and binders close to her chest, and tapping her foot irritably when I reached my truck. The day had warmed, the autumnal chill receding for a few hours, but as the afternoon sky cleared there was a bite to the air that nipped at my fingers.I wished that I could feel it; really feel it, rather than being able to process the temperature change like an analyst. I wanted to shiver, to shove my hands deep into my pockets, and then, later, for Skye to coo over my cold hands, to pull them into his own and blow on them, rubbing them together with determination etched into the handsome lines of his face.I sighed, and Kathrena’s slack-jawed, anxious expression snapped into a frown. “You’re sighing?” She sniped. “You’re the one making me late. Again.”“Woah, Kath,” I said, holding my hands up. “Sorry. I got held up.”Her face softened, ever so slightly, and she shifted the weight of the folders in her arms. “I guess it’s only been a few minutes.”I narrowed my eye
Skye carefully placed the pumpkin down on the small table we’d chosen. It was right by a wide floor-to-ceiling window, and it was secluded from the rest of the library.I laughed, seeing the flush of red in his cheeks as he dropped heavily into his chair. “You didn’t have to get me such a big one, you know.”He shrugged, but he looked hopeful and more than a little proud of himself as he looked at me. “Four years is a long time to go without carving a pumpkin. You deserve a big one. It doesn’t make up for the lost time, but it’s a good start.”“You’re sweet,” I smiled, dropping my gaze and fluttering my lashes as I felt the heat of his golden eyes roving across my face. “Thank you.”“You’re welcome. You – you look really nice today, by the way.”“Thanks,” I said, and my stomach flipped. I shook myself, and I managed to re-arrange my features into a smooth, confident grin. “So. What did you find?”“Well,” he said, swelling up with pride, “it’s a story. An old legend, about this good vam
We looked through the books until the evening drew in, the warped glass of the windows dispersing the orange light of the streetlamps from outside into curved spirals and fragmented dots. It looked like golden-hued diamonds, scattered across a dark and turbulent sea.Skye stayed close as we searched, peppering my cheeks with kisses whenever I brushed past him to tug a heavy book out from the shelves. It was sweet, and I imagined myself blushing each and every time.I started to do the same, running my fingers along his bare forearm, or tracing the curve of his neck with my lips, as I stretched up or bent down. It was easy, light and teasing, but with an undercurrent of hot, heady passion, and of warmth, that kept the golden string between our hearts taut. I could feel him, steady and thrumming, at the other end of our shared bond, and he felt like home.But eventually my phone buzzed, vibrating insistently against
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
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
“If you have the power to do that,” I said, yanking the blade out from under my skort, “why not just kill us all now?”Cythraul clucked his tongue. “And what would be the fun in that? The realm I’m from is nothing like your world, Ellis. This place has hope, and fear, and love, and loss. There is duality in all things. It is a privilege for me to be here, you see. I plan to enjoy it.”“So this is just a game to you?” I spat, raising the knife. I tried to keep my eyes on the demon, not wanting to see the lifeless bodies of my family all around us.“Of course,” he grinned. “Though I’m afraid your chances are perhaps bleaker than I’ve made out. Your little witch friend, the red head – she was wrong about that stone around your neck.” He nodded at it. “It doesn’t mean what she thinks. Her first guess was right &n
“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
“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
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
“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
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
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