Crushed (13 page)

“You.” She stood on shaking legs and shouted, on the verge of hysterics, “You can change into a wolf? Are you kidding me? What else can you do? Just how powerful are you?”

He approached her slowly, hands in pockets. “I don’t think you’re ready to hear anything I have to say right now.”

A jumble of emotions brought her to the edge of a mental breakdown. Fear, sadness, and confusion—each grew at a rapid rate until she thought she would collapse under the weight of them. He was right about one thing though.

She didn’t want to hear his explanation.

“I’ll take you back to school,” he said while reaching for her arm.

She stepped to the side, avoiding him easily. “I’m not getting on that motorcycle with you again. Forget it. Point me to the road, and I’m out of here.”

“You can’t walk back to school. It’s too far.”

“I’ll call Cyndi. I have my phone.”

“I have a car, too. Remember?” His tone was flat and lifeless, a good match for his eyes. “I can take you to school in it.”

“I am not going anywhere with you, not ever again.”

Digging a hand into the pocket of his faded jeans, he pulled out a set of keys. While she watched, still shaking, he removed a gold one from the ring and held it out to her, saying, “You can take the car. Leave it in the school parking lot with the key under the seat. I’ll get it later.”

She reached out slowly, afraid it was a trick. Snatching the key from his hand, she held it tightly and took a few steps backwards. “Where is it?”

“In the garage.”

“Where is the garage?”

“Next to the house.”

She swallowed her rising anger. Getting answers out of him was like undergoing a root canal without anesthesia. If he was trying to be cute, she wasn’t in the mood for it. “Where is the house?”

“Follow me.”

She walked several yards behind him. Her eyes floated in a puddle of tears over losing the boy she’d loved. It was almost like he’d died. Almost. Only in truth, he had never really existed. An occasional rock made her stumble. She wanted to run to catch up with him, snuggle close, and pretend the last ten minutes had just been a dream. His shoulders were slumped in defeat, and he looked as sad as she felt. She wanted to tell him she loved him, too, but she couldn’t. Even if he was who he claimed to be, even if he weren’t a threat, she couldn’t be with a boy she didn’t trust.

Zach had not only lied to her, he’d also pretended to be something he wasn’t.

A small voice deep inside reminded her that she’d done the same thing.

She told the voice to shut up.

###

It was over.

Although the day had started with promise, it was going to end in frustration and pain. Another loss. The last time Zach had been this miserable, he had just lost his parents. Maybe he should resign himself to the fact that this was how his life would always be. Maybe he’d been born under an unlucky star. He always lost the people he loved, no exceptions.

Someday soon, he was going to lose Morgan, too. He could feel it. Maybe that was why he let her get away with acting like a brat sometimes.

He stood on the dirt drive in front of his home, choking on a cloud of dust as he watched Kristen leave in his car. Fists clenched, he turned away and wandered back to the garage. Kristen was gone. She wasn’t coming back. Somehow, he was going to have to find a way to deal with the loss. He should have known better than to fall in love. Thanks to the situation with Morgan, he was doomed to spend his life alone. Nothing anyone could do to change that little fact.

“Zach!” Morgan tore across the yard screaming his name. She didn’t see him in the garage. Her eyes were focused on the now-empty road. The dust hadn’t quite settled yet. Fists clenched, she screamed, “Zach! Come back!”

It was the first time in years she’d shown any real emotion. He wasn’t sure if it was a step toward full recovery or a momentary lapse. Half the time he was convinced she wouldn’t notice if he were replaced by a talking hamster. Stunned speechless, he watched his sister kick the gravel in fury.

He found his voice and said, “I’m right here, Morgan.”

She spun around, and relief flooded her eyes. She whimpered. “I saw the car go, and I thought you were leaving without saying goodbye.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Promise me!” Morgan threw herself against him and clung to him. Her fingers dug into the flesh of his arms. The thin shirt he was wearing proved no protection against her claws. Part of him, a small part that he tried to keep buried, resented her.

“Promise me you won’t let her take you away from me.”

“Who? Kristen?” He started to pat her on the back to comfort her but stopped himself in time. For a moment, he’d forgotten she didn’t like to be touched. “You don’t have to worry about her. After what happened today, I doubt she’ll ever speak to me again.”

The way Morgan had her head tilted against his chest allowed him only a partial view of her mouth. For a second he could swear her lips lifted at the ends just slightly as if she were inwardly rejoicing over the fact that he’d lost the only girl he’d ever loved.

His resentment grew an inch.

A new suspicion came to mind. “Where were you thirty minutes ago?”

“In the house.”

“You weren’t playing around with magic again, were you?”

“No!” She stopped embracing him and took a step back. “You told me not to use spells. I wrote it down, but I remember, too. You told me not to use my powers, and I don’t. Are you mad at me?”

“I’m not mad.” With a harsh sigh, he turned away from Morgan. He didn’t want her to see the rage building inside him. He was mad but not at her. “There’s an evil witch in town, but I don’t know who it is. I’m going to have to find him or her before they seriously hurt someone.”

The two of them walked back to the house. Morgan searched for Bear while he went upstairs to his bedroom. The second he crossed the threshold he saw the secret drawer in his headboard was open. He jumped on the king-sized bed, scrambled to the top, and reached inside. His hand closed around the glass vial of magical dust. Relief flooded his system.

It was short-lived. He brought the empty vial up to his face and felt the bottom drop out of his world. The love-spell dust was gone. “Morgan!”

He ran downstairs, found her in the family room, and confronted her as gently as he could under the circumstances. Holding the empty glass vial up, he asked, “Did you go into my bedroom and take this out of my headboard?”

Morgan stared at him in silence, eyes huge.

Lowering his voice, he stepped closer to her. “You aren’t going to be in trouble. I just need to know what you did with the dust that used to be inside of this.”

“The sand,” she said, correcting him. “It was sand. Sand belongs on the beach. Mom told us not to take sand off the beach. I wanted to fill a bottle and take it home. She told me sand stays on the beach. You had sand in there. I took it to the beach. It belongs on the beach.”

Morgan was the only person he knew who would think it was sand. At least she hadn’t used it on some poor unsuspecting boy. Zach couldn’t even imagine how bad a disaster that would be, his mentally ill sister and a hormonal boy drunk on love.

“Are you mad at me?” she asked.

“No, but you need to leave my stuff alone. Okay? Stay out of my bedroom from now on.”

She nodded in agreement. “I will. I promise. I’ll go write it down in my notebook. Don’t go in Zach’s room. I’ll write it down and underline it three times.”

She left, and Zach let out his pent-up breath. He was so thankful she hadn’t used a spell on anyone. Someday it would happen, though. He knew it. Someday she would go too far, use her powers, and he would be forced to say goodbye to her forever. The thought was an arrow in his heart. He had hoped, after spending months on end with her, it would be easier to let her go. It wasn’t.

Destroying her was going to destroy him.

“Where’d you get the cool new ride?” Brittany asked. She circled the black sports car, dragging her fingertips over the gleaming body with a deep yearning in her eyes. Somehow, she had managed to ditch the girly dress, trading it for jeans and a tee. She cast a wide smile in Kristen’s direction. It was like their fight had never happened. That was how Brittany handled things. No apology—just pretend it didn’t happen and wait for the other person to forget. Too bad for her, Kristen was tired of her cold-and-hot routine. The girl was in serious need of medication.

As her sisters stared at the borrowed car in awe, Kristen realized she’d never felt so incredibly alone. They were standing in the center of the school parking lot, surrounded by her peers, people she’d desperately tried to impress over the years, but she didn’t see them. She didn’t hear them. Her heart ached for something she couldn’t have. Oh, why couldn’t Zach have told her he loved her yesterday?

She might have believed him then.

Despite the things she’d seen him do, a big part of her wanted to race back to him. She wanted to jump into his arms, squeeze him tight, and never let him go. She missed him already. How was she going to get through the rest of the school year without him?

Forget that. How was she going to get through the rest of her life?

Since Brittany had settled down, Kristen didn’t want to say the Z-word and start another war. “I borrowed it.”

“From who?” Brittany’s eyes narrowed. A flicker of intelligence sparkled in the girl’s eyes. She knew exactly where the car had come from. Letting it go, she smiled and wound an arm around Kristen’s neck, sounding almost proud. “Ditching school now? Be careful. You’re going to lose your halo.”

Afraid to go into school earlier with only a couple hours left, she had sat in the car and waited for the twins. She had chosen to sit in Zach’s car instead of her own because of the tinted black windows. If a teacher gazed outside during class, they wouldn’t see her inside of it. It had seemed like an eternity before she saw the first of the students emerge from the main entrance. She had wanted to tell her sisters everything on sight, but she hadn’t managed more than two words before Brittany had interrupted her.

A group of kids walked past them, whispering and giggling. Their expressions said they thought Kristen was the punchline of some dumb joke now. No longer the girl everyone envied, she had become an outcast, a notch above the girl who didn’t bathe on a regular basis. She dropped her eyes, pretending not to notice her waning popularity.

“Ignore them,” Cyndi said.

Kristen was only half-listening as she tried to figure out how to deliver the bad news about Zach. There didn’t seem to be any way to soften the blow. Finally, she just blurted it out. “Zach is one of us.”

Cyndi gasped. “No way.”

“He admitted it after I saw him do some pretty incredible stuff.”

“I don’t think so.” Brittany shook her head. “There is no way that Zach Bevian is a witch, warlock, wizard, whatever you want to call them.” She rolled her eyes. “He just isn’t. I can smell someone with power clear from the other side of town.”

Kristen didn’t bother to point out that she’d been the one dating Zach. If anyone should have known, it should have been her. Instead she said, “He can change into a wolf, and he can vanish and reappear in a place miles from where he started.”

“Now I
know
you’re lying.” Brittany folded arms over her chest. “No one can do crap like that, not even Grandma Noah.”

Wide-eyed, Cyndi asked, “Did you see him do it? Seriously?”

“He made me disappear and reappear with him, so yeah, I’m pretty sure he can do it.” His passionate words returned to the front of her mind. He had told her he loved her. Every sour turn of the day came back with the subtlety of a nuclear bomb. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep the tears at bay.

She climbed back into Zach’s car, and Cyndi followed.

“Is it over between you and Zach?” Cyndi asked.

“Yes.” Kristen faked a smile. “I’m fine with it. In fact, it’s great. I almost threw my future away because of him. I should have listened to Dad, kept my eyes on the prize, and not let a boy get to me. At least it’s not too late. I can start studying hard again and fix the damage Brittany has done to my life.”

Cyndi put a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

“I can’t go home tonight,” Kristen said. “I don’t want to see Dad. He wants me to start filling out college apps and writing essays, and I feel like my whole world has turned to mush. I can’t even think right now.”

“Okay. Relax. We won’t go home.” For a few minutes, the car’s interior was quiet. Then, Cyndi snapped her fingers. “I know—we’ll spend the night with Grandma Noah. Give me a second and I’ll call her, let her know we’re coming.”

Brittany beat her to it. Before Cyndi could dig her phone out of her purse, Brittany pushed her way into the front seat on Cyndi’s side because the compact thing didn’t have a backseat. Cyndi wound up sitting on the hard hump in the middle. Of course, being Cyndi meant she didn’t complain about it.

“Grandma told me to give you a warning,” Brittany said. “So here it is. She told me only extremely evil witches have the powers you described. She wants us to get down to San Diego as soon as possible so she can help us figure out what tall, dark, and scary is really up to.”

Kristen put the car key under the seat and grabbed the door handle. “Let’s go, then.”

“Can’t we take Zach’s car?” Brittany asked.

“No, we can’t. He’s coming after it. Let’s go.”

Brittany mumbled under her breath about some sisters not being any fun at all, but Kristen pretended not to hear it.

###

Kristen dug her hands into the soft soil. Grandma Noah was right about gardening. It
was
therapeutic. Stress dripped off her like tiny beads of sweat as she made a hole in the rich dirt. She placed a tiny plant into the hole and pushed the soil around it. Then, she patted the dirt down to make sure the thing would stay in place. Just a little water, and the plant would be ready to grow.

She lifted her head and watched the twins work on the other side of the yard. Cyndi was having a blast. Her smile was almost as big as the floppy straw hat she’d borrowed from their grandmother. Brittany, on the other hand, wore a sour expression. She hated anything remotely connected to work.

Grandma Noah bent over and pulled a few weeds away from her favorite rosebushes. She looked up and smiled. Although her face and hands were dirty, her eyes sparkled. Still, something beneath the cheerfulness worried Kristen. Grandma Noah didn’t seem quite herself today. She was distracted, but she hadn’t said a word to Kristen about Zach yet.

“How much longer do we have to stay out here?” Brittany whined. “It’s hot.”

“Hard work is good for you. Puts things into perspective.” A few minutes later, Grandma Noah moved closer to Kristen. She hunched down next to her and spoke in a low voice the other girls couldn’t hear. “I need you to tell me everything there is to know about the boy. What did the wolf look like? How fast did he change? I want every detail.”

Kristen whispered the whole story to her grandmother and watched with a growing feeling of dread as her grandmother’s calm demeanor underwent a metamorphosis. Her mouth tightened. The normally sparkling, pale blue eyes darkened. In a matter of seconds, the woman seemed to age ten years.

Grandma Noah dropped her head, and her shoulders sagged beneath the white cotton blouse. “Oh, sweetheart, you have gotten yourself into a mess this time. I’m not sure I can help you out of it.”

“What is it, Grandma? How bad is it? What can I do?”

“With a warlock that powerful, I’m afraid there isn’t anything you
can
do. I don’t have a spell good enough to protect you. I don’t think one exists. The medallion I have for you will boost your power, but not enough.”

“Should I leave town? Change schools? What?”

Grandma Noah patted her hand. “Let’s not go to extremes just yet. First, I want to approach the witches’ council and find out more about this boy. They must know about him. They would have to know about him and the powers he has. Let me talk to them. In the meantime, you keep your distance.”

Kristen looked away, not wanting her grandmother to see the regret in her gaze. Truthfully, she didn’t want to stay away from Zach. Even though part of her remained deathly afraid of him, a bigger part longed to be with him. She said, “He told me there’s someone after me, but that it’s not him. He claims he’s been trying to use his powers to protect me. Maybe we’re wrong about him. Maybe he’s telling the truth.”

Grandma Noah shook her head decisively. “No. I’m sorry, sweetheart, but there isn’t any possible way for that boy to be anything other than trouble.”

“But, Grandma—”

“Do you have any idea how someone goes about possessing the powers this boy has?” After Kristen shook her head, her grandmother said, “They have to sacrifice somebody. ‘Innocent blood’, they call it.”

Kristen shivered as an icy finger touched her spine.

Her grandmother added, “They have to kill another person, usually more than one. Only an evil witch or warlock can acquire the power to transform into an animal, not to mention the power to teleport.”

Kristen clamped her lips firmly shut and replayed each damning word in her mind. How could Zach be evil? He had saved her from falling off the cliff and from being crushed by the barn, and he had the most amazing blue eyes she’d ever seen. In the past she had thought them to be cold and calculating. Lately, she only saw warmth in them.

“Stay away from him,” her grandmother repeated in a firm voice.

Kristen didn’t know if she could do that.