Anathema (Causal Enchantment, #1) (32 page)

“
What did you bring us?” Rachel
asked, her cool lemon eyes passing over me, giving me
chills.

“
I … Stuff,” I mumbled.

“
You’re back!” Amelie exclaimed,
suddenly appearing to skip over and give me a big hug.

I nodded, unable to form words.

“
Did you bring blood?” Rachel’s
eyebrow arched severely.

“
Are you nuts? No! She’s not
bringing us human blood,” Fiona snapped, her normally placid face
showing rare annoyance. She untied the strings and knots and began
pulling items out of the bag.

“
Boots!” Amelie cried in delight,
hoisting a pair of brown leather riding boots. Fiona had a matching
pair. There was a third set for Rachel. I wanted to burn
those.

“
Mine!” Bishop shouted, startling
me, as an acoustic guitar appeared. I had barely noticed him stroll
in, even when he stopped to ruffle my hair. Seeing his genuine
pleasure, I felt a tiny ball of warmth swell in the pit of my
twisting stomach. Sofie had listened to every word I’d ever said
about them.

“
Check it out!” Bishop tossed the
instrument to Caden, who caught it with one hand. Letting go of
Rachel, he strummed the first few notes of some song.

“
You play too?” I asked, giving him
a chance to acknowledge me.

“
Of course I do.” His voice was
detached and cool, his expression remote, his eyes not leaving the
guitar strings as he spoke. He may as well have smashed me over the
head with the instrument.

“
Stupid girl,” Rachel mocked,
laughing at my wounded expression.

“
Show us how to turn this on.” Fiona
shoved a portable DVD player in my face, forcing my attention to
her. It gave me a chance to hide the pain on my face. She grabbed
my hand and squeezed it. Sympathy. Caden must have told
them.

“
Oh, this … for movies,” I
stammered. “There’s a bunch of battery packs as well, to keep it
running.”

“
Are any of them good?” Amelie
interjected, holding up a collection of DVDs.

They were trying to distract me, to keep my
mind preoccupied. A very considerate, if useless, act. “Um, yeah. I
mean, no. I mean—” I couldn’t think straight. “I don’t
know.”

“
Has she always been so stupid, or
is this new?” Rachel said to Caden, loud enough for me to
hear.

“
I know. The witch could have looked
a little harder,” Caden responded, reaching out to grab her hand
and pull her into an affectionate embrace.

It was a razor–sharp verbal stab. I dropped my
gaze to my hands, salty tears welling in my eyes. I couldn’t take
much more of this.

Fiona’s hand grasped mine again and squeezed as
Rachel giggled wickedly, likely pitying me. I dared one more glance
at Caden, one more gaze at that beautiful face before I accepted
the instant and horrible demise of my fantasy and moved my focus to
the dark reality of my situation: my death if I didn’t find the
secret of this spell.

My eyes crawled up along Rachel’s back, over
Caden’s arms, still wrapped lovingly around her, to his perfect
face. To see his eyes glued to me, a strange look in them.
What
is that look … pity? No, pleading. But for what,
exactly?

Rachel’s hand massaged Caden’s chest and
abdomen seductively, her fingers curling into claws that raked over
him hard enough to leave impressions in his shirt. I shut my eyes,
a mixture of revulsion and anger flaring, though I knew I had no
right. He wasn’t mine. He was Rachel’s, as ghastly a proposition as
that was. She could do whatever she wanted with him—to him. But
telling myself that did nothing to ease the pain of the knife being
twisted in my heart.

I opened my eyes. Rachel’s face was now
burrowed in Caden’s neck, her attention otherwise occupied. I
glanced up at Caden’s face again to see that same pleading look,
only more intense.
I’m sorry,
he mouthed
slowly.

My eyes went wide in surprise. Sorry for what?
For morphing from sweet and affectionate to exhibitionist
asshole?

Amelie loudly cleared her throat. I turned to
look at her. She stared hard at me, as if sending me a message
telepathically.
I’m not your pet, Amelie! I don’t know what
you’re trying to tell me!

Something very strange was happening here and I
hated it. I wanted the last trip back, with its laughter, its ease.
Its time with Caden. No Rachel. If only there was some way to make
her go away again …

“
Sofie says I can bring you back
with me,” I suddenly blurted without thinking.

Everyone’s eyes bugged out, Caden’s in
horror.

A plan was forming in my head. My own web of
deceit. The very idea of lying to Amelie, Fiona, and Bishop made me
ill but I had no other choice. I needed Rachel gone. I’d explain
afterward. “Sofie thinks the answer is somewhere out there and
someone needs to go looking for it,” I continued, my voice
trembling.

“
What the hell does
that
mean?” Rachel’s face screwed up.

“
Well …”
Think fast, Evangeline,
or she’s going to see right through your sloppy efforts!
“You
know how the statue just appeared, out of nowhere? Sofie’s spell
put it there. To create a point of origin. But something else also
appeared. A portal for my necklace. It will tell me how to bring
you back with me.”
Not you though, Rachel
.

“
She’s lying to you,” Caden said,
throwing a panicked glare in my direction.

I ignored him. “It could be a scroll, a book,
another statue. Whatever it is, you’ll know. It won’t look seven
hundred years old.”

“
Where do we start?” Amelie leapt
onto her feet, her typically animated personality in
overdrive.

Rachel was more wary. “It could take years to
find it, if at all!”

“
No. It wants to be found.”
By
you, Rachel. Go fetch.
“Sofie thinks it’s either in the
mountains or in a city. Somewhere still inhabited, where someone
who was familiar with the city could find it.”
Like
you
.

“
The only city left is New Shore,”
Fiona began.

“
Hey, isn’t that where you went,
Rachel?” I asked innocently. “You know it really well, don’t
you?”

“
Yes, but there’s nothing like what
you’re talking about there.” She bit her lower lip. “I’ll have to
do some searching …”

I have her.

“
Maybe I’ll go look around during my
trip there next week.”

No, it has to be today. This instant!
I silently screamed, my thumbs squeezed so tightly within my fists
that I thought I might break them. “That’s a problem …” I said,
pausing to formulate my next lie. “Sofie said that we’re running
out of time. I only have a few more trips before the spell wears
off.”

“
Oh my God! We better start
looking!” Amelie exclaimed. “Come on! Let’s go! I’ll take the north
mountain, you take the south, Fiona,” she rambled.

“
We can go to New Shore,” Rachel
said, her arm around Caden.

No, not ‘we’! Just you!
I reached over
to grab Fiona’s hand, squeezing hard, wishing I could take a
time–out and explain everything.

“
What about using Scout and the
others to search?” Fiona said. She hadn’t picked up on my panic. I
wanted to cry.

“
Of course! Great idea, babe!”
Bishop cried, kissing Fiona.

No, no, no!
This plan wasn’t going how
I wanted it.

“
Of course Caden is connected to
half of our guard around here, so he needs to be here to
communicate,” Fiona said slowly.

My panic escaped through my mouth in a long
sigh. I glanced over at Fiona, who winked at me. She understood. I
fought the urge to hug her, silently begging her forgiveness for
lying.

“
But, I just got back!” Rachel
scoffed, a horrified expression on her face. “We’ve barely seen
each other!”

“
Fiona’s right,” Caden said, taking
Rachel’s hands in his and staring into her eyes. If he was indeed
feigning great disappointment at the idea of being apart, his
acting skills were impressive. Rachel began shaking her head in
response. “We need all the help we can get in these mountains and
the valleys.” He cupped her chin. “Plus, as long as Evangeline is
here, we should have as many of us as possible around for
protection. You know New Shore best, out of anyone. And you’ll have
no problems searching it, being part of the Council. No one will
question you.”

Rachel’s bottom lip curved down in a childish
pout.

“
Think of this new world … human
blood,” he whispered.

I could see the uncontainable lust flash in her
eyes with the mention of human blood. Her dangling carrot. That
Caden had previously renounced the act of killing humans didn’t
phase her. “Fine. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” With one
obscenely long, mauling kiss for Caden—one that I didn’t watch,
instead locking eyes with Fiona—Rachel vanished.

I exhaled slowly, covering my overjoyed smile
within folded hands in the small chance that it may be
inappropriate. The ball of anxiety over Caden still sat prominently
in my stomach but at least now I’d have a chance to find out what
the hell was going on.

“
Let’s do this!” Bishop
announced.

“
Wait.” Fiona’s eyes narrowed,
communicating silently with him, nodding toward the cave entrance.
With a slight frown of concern, he nodded and walked over to stand
by the entrance, staring out into nothingness—listening or
smelling, I assumed.

We sat silently, waiting for Bishop’s sanction.
My eyes flitted over to Caden to catch him staring at me,
expressionless. His eyes dropped.

“
And she’s gone! Crossed over the
first mountain,” Bishop announced in a booming voice.

I had to figure out how to do that with Max, I
promised myself.

“
Okay Evangeline, what’s going on?”
Fiona asked.

At the same time Caden yelled, “I told you not
to say anything!”

“
Don’t get mad, everyone,” I said,
my hands out in a sign of peace. I had just lied to a group of
vampires about the one thing they desperately wanted. The gravity
of that began to sink in.

Amelie, Bishop, and Fiona’s eyes darted between
Caden and me. “You knew about this?” Amelie’s raspy voice was full
of shock.

I took a deep breath. “I lied,” I began. She
turned, her angelic face crestfallen, the brightness in her eyes
fading. “Not about taking you back!” I quickly added. “Before, when
I told you that I couldn’t take you back, I lied.”

“
So you can?” Amelie’s emerald eyes
began glowing eagerly again.

“
Sort of …” My eyes darted to Caden,
looking for help. He turned away, jaw clenched and eyes
closed.

“
Well, which is it?” Amelie cried in
frustration.

“
That’s the tricky part. I don’t
know exactly how to do it.”

“
So all that stuff about the portal
was a lie?” Bishop said slowly and evenly.

“
No! That was true! Sofie said
there’s no use in looking for it, though. We’ll never find it that
way, she said. But … there’s more.” I paused, dreading this part.
“I don’t know how many of you I can bring back. That’s why I didn’t
tell you.”

“
But … there’s hope?” Amelie began
pacing. “Maybe you can bring us all back?”

“
Yes! Maybe. I mean, Sofie thinks I
can.” A lie. A little white lie but a lie all the same. One I
prayed would never be proven wrong.

“
Bring us all back so we can kill
you when we get there?” Caden leaned against the cave wall, his
expression blank, his voice flat.

“
We won’t kill her, Caden!” Amelie
glared at her brother.

“
My sister, the eternal optimist,”
Caden sneered. “And if she’s wrong, you’re the one who pays.” He
pushed himself off the wall and turned, his back to me now like a
slap to my face.

My eyes roamed the group, studying expressions
full of optimism, shock, angst, and horror as they silently played
the situation through in their heads. There was a long pause, then
chaos erupted. Amelie and Fiona began giggling and hopping around
like sugar–high children, hugging each other. Bishop grabbed me and
repeatedly tossed me into the air until I was sure I would
puke.

I looked over to where Caden stood calmly,
seemingly apathetic to the prospect of leaving Ratheus.
Or
leaving with me,
that paranoid part of me
whispered.

“
So what’s the plan?” Amelie asked
when she and Fiona took a break from bounding around.

I shrugged. “Sofie said to wait and, when the
time was right, we would find the portal. It needs to be soon,
though.”

“
Why?” Caden quickly
asked.

I explained the curse’s warped sense of
time.

“
Are you saying that if we don’t
figure this problem out soon, you’ll die?” Caden asked, his voice
still unnaturally calm, that unreadable expression on his
face.