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Authors: Nikki Jefford

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BOOK: Entangled
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Just as she headed toward Sadie, Graylee was bumped from behind. The force of the body against hers sent her pack flying out of her hands onto the ground. Okay, now she was pissed. “What’s your…”

Graylee whipped around to find herself face-to-face with Raj McKenna.

“…problem,” Graylee finished, the word fading like bleached denim.

Raj flicked his Zippo open and closed in his left hand while studying Graylee.

Raj had the kind of bronze-toned skin the socialites of McKinley tried obsessively to replicate in tanning booths. The only thing they managed to enhance was their orangish glow. Raj’s was a hundred percent authentic. His mother was Indian—as in India Indian. He’d inherited her lush dark hair and exotic eyes, the color of which he got from his American father; green like a panther’s, which fit him well ’cause he looked ready to pounce if you made the mistake of turning your back to him. Case in point: ramming Graylee as he’d just done now.

The Zippo clicked shut again. Raj really shouldn’t be playing with a lighter considering he’d burnt down his last house.

“Sorry, didn’t
see
you.”

Graylee’s jaw dropped.

This time, Raj’s eyes met hers. There was a glint there, or maybe that was just the flash from Raj’s lighter as he flicked it open and closed again.

As Yeats might’ve said back in the day: bloody hell.

The last person Graylee wanted knowing about her newfound disappearing act was Raj McKenna.

Raj was the kind of warlock who didn’t take vows of honor. An invisibility spell had no place inside Raj’s bag of tricks. He probably hadn’t considered it before and now Graylee had gone and put the idea into his delinquent head. Friggin’ great.

Raj didn’t belong at McKinley High. He ought to be sent off to one of the coven’s rehabilitation campsites far from civilization. But no order had been handed down, not even when Raj’s own mother had taken his younger sister and gotten the hell away from him.

Mr. McKenna no longer showed up for meets. They said Raj had driven his dad to drink and the boy was left unsupervised in the ramshackle home where he and his father had relocated in a seedy part of Kent.

Raj’s smile widened. “See you around, Gray.”

Not if she could help it. Graylee bent down and picked her pack off the floor. Jackass. If only she knew how to do a memory spell on Raj and make him forget what he’d seen… or rather not seen. But Graylee had no talent for messing with memories or emotions. She was content to let the world go on without her interference. She simply wanted to be left alone. Maybe that’s why she was so good at disappearing.

 

 

Chapter
Two

 

 

“Mom, Charlene’s gone off the deep end!” Graylee yelled when she arrived home.

She entered the kitchen in time to see her mom attempting to wrench a six-inch knife out of Charlene’s hand. “Charlene, give me the knife.”

“I’m going to kill her!”

At least Charlene wasn’t trying to take her own life. She gripped the knife so hard her knuckles were turning white. “That bitch Stacey Morehouse moved in on my man. She so picked the wrong girl to double-cross.”

“Charlene, I know you’re upset, but you can’t go using magic on someone you’re unhappy with,” Mom said.

“Who said anything about magic?” Charlene snapped. She lifted the knife and grinned. “I don’t need a spell to take care of Stacey
Whorehouse
.”

“Right, because stabbing her without the use of magic doesn’t make it evil.” Probably not the best time for sarcasm.

Charlene gave Graylee a look that curled her toes. Charlene gasped a moment later when the knife turned into a spatula.

“Charlene Perez,” their mother said. “You are not leaving this house until you calm down.”

Charlene threw the spatula to the ground. “Fine!” she snapped. “Then I’ll stay here forever!” She turned on her heel and stomped up the stairs to her room. Her door slammed shut with a force that shook the house.

“Wow. You don’t think she’d really…” Graylee cleared her throat. “Hurt someone?”

“I don’t know,” Mom admitted.

They avoided each other’s eyes. Graylee looked around the kitchen. Her mom sighed. “I better work on a protection spell for Stacey—just in case.”

Graylee nodded. “Good idea.”

 

 

“I heard about your sister and Blake Foster.” Graylee’s best friend, Thea, plopped into the seat next to hers in first period the next morning. “She must be suicidal.”

Thea had no idea. “She didn’t get out of bed this morning,” Graylee said.

“That bad?”

Graylee nodded as Mr. Houser began roll call.

After class, Charlene’s best friends, Brittany and Kiki, practically shoved Thea aside to get to Graylee. Both girls were wearing long leather boots over skinny jeans.

“Where’s Charlene?” Brittany demanded at the same time Kiki asked, “How is she?”

“She’s at home and she’s fine.”

“Obviously she’s not fine. She just had her heart ripped out,” Brittany said.

“And yet it still beats,” Graylee said. “Excuse me, ladies; I’ve got to get to class.” She felt bad ditching Thea that way, but she wasn’t about to stick around for a lecture on broken hearts from two of McKinley High’s biggest sluts.

And speaking of sluts, Stacey turned the corner with Blake’s arm draped over her shoulder.

Glaring at Stacey Morehouse came naturally. Her beauty was as blinding as the sun. She was all leg, perky Victoria’s Secret–sized breasts and as blond as a Barbie. Face it, Charlene didn’t have a chance.

Graylee dodged a group of freshmen as they whizzed past and pounded her way up the stairs to the second floor. As she rounded the corner Raj McKenna stepped in her way.

Just great. If she’d known the Annoying People Parade was scheduled that day, Graylee might’ve elected to stay home, too.

Raj leaned into her. “Pretty neat trick yesterday.”

Graylee frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Raj put his hand out, blocking Graylee as she tried to walk past him. He grinned. “Of course you do. What about the whole Vow of Honor thing? No magic in public sacred promise?”

“That’s not part of the Vow of Honor, and anyway, it was just that one time.”

Raj’s grin widened. “That’s how it starts.”

“Starts? I’m not starting anything.” Graylee decided it was worth touching Raj to push past him.

Raj quickly caught up. “How about you teach me your invisibility spell?”

“You’re the last person I’d teach.”

“I’d make it worth your while.” Raj’s lids closed halfway and his voice turned husky.

Graylee focused on the disgust his tone elicited in her and laughed. “Not on your life.”

Suddenly, Graylee was no longer walking. She was frozen in place, paralyzed. Not only was Graylee rooted to the ground, her mouth wouldn’t work. She could only follow Raj with her eyes as he circled her like a jungle cat.

Her head finally moved, but only when Raj pulled it back by her ponytail. His breath was moist on her neck. “Hair like snow,” he said. “What a contradiction,
Gray
.”

Graylee tried to move, to strike out at him. She felt herself break through the spell, or maybe Raj had released her. Her eyes stung from having her hair pulled, or maybe it was from the unshed tears of anger at having been so grotesquely violated.

Raj waited as though expecting Graylee’s outcry. Instead, she turned and ran. Her clogs pounded down the hallway. Even after she turned the first corner she kept running.

When Mrs. Ryerson called on her in third period, Graylee sounded like an idiot, sputtering, “Huh? What?”

Several students chuckled.

“What’s wrong with you?” Thea asked at lunch.

“Huh?” There it was again. That creep Raj had ruined her entire day. Graylee could still feel his breath on her skin as she stood powerless under his spell. It was the worst feeling in the world. Guys like Raj McKenna should be stripped of their abilities. There had to be some kind of magical binding spell out there.

“Hey, earth to Gray,” Thea said, waving her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in front of Graylee’s face.

She blinked several times. “Sorry, I’m on drama overload.”

Thea’s expression was sympathetic. “It’s times like these I’m glad I’m an only child.”

“Try having an identical twin—it’s two times worse.” When the lunch bell rang, Graylee groaned. “Fifth period… with Mrs. Pritchett.”

“Say no more,” Thea said.

But again, Graylee was kidding herself. The real reason she had to pry herself away from the cafeteria was because of a certain lighter-snapping warlock. This compelled Graylee to hustle to class and select a seat in the front row. She didn’t look up from her book. For all she knew, Raj never came to class. When class ended, she shot out of her desk and made her way to last period.

This time, she sat in the back row, and before class was out Graylee made herself invisible, promising herself this would be the last time she’d erase herself at school. But hadn’t her mother said magic should be used in a case of emergency?

As far as Graylee was concerned, getting even with Raj McKenna was an emergency of extreme importance.

 

 

It didn’t take a locator spell to find Raj’s junk heap. The idiot hadn’t even locked the doors, not that that would have hindered Graylee. Unbolting spells were practically Magic 101. Even with all the trouble she’d been having, Graylee could manage unlocking a door. Still, it was nice not relying on mystical aid to climb into the backseat of McKenna’s car.

Graylee didn’t need magic to protect herself. She wasn’t above getting her hands dirty the good old-fashioned way.

Well, okay. At the moment she was invisible—as was the shoelace wound tight in each fist.

She sat poised and ready on the edge of the backseat. She didn’t have to wait long. Raj was out moments after the final bell rang. For once, his lighter was tucked away as he swung his ring of keys around his left finger.

Graylee’s heart rate quickened.

Raj opened the car door and landed with a thud in the driver’s seat. “Another day in paradise,” he mumbled under his breath.

He reached forward with his key, but before he could stick it in the ignition he dropped the ring with a clink. Graylee had the string around his neck.

“Don’t move. Don’t speak,” Graylee hissed.

Raj glanced into his rearview mirror. Graylee had already made herself visible. She wanted Raj to see her plain as day, the one in control this round. If she hadn’t been so angry it might have surprised her to see the unease in his expression.

Yeah, not the best feeling being at someone else’s mercy.

“Now listen carefully, McKenna.” Graylee’s lips brushed his ear.

So maybe she was getting off on the whole revenge thing just a tad. She’d tasted something sweet, but after she set the creep straight no more—she was back to Graylee Perez, model citizen, hardworking student, and honorable witch of the 42
nd
Coven, Kent Chapter.

But first things first.

She tightened the string. Raj inhaled sharply.

“If you ever use a spell on me again I’ll bury you alive.”

Graylee tightened the string one last time for emphasis before releasing it and grabbing the handle of the car. Before she could get out the locks clicked shut with a sound reminiscent of the snap of Raj’s lighter.

So much for a dramatic exit. “What did I just say?” Graylee said through gritted teeth.

Raj lifted his arms in the air. “I’m not performing a spell on
you
.”

The locks reopened with barely a thought from Graylee. Like she said, Magic 101.

They bolted just as suddenly.

Graylee caught Raj’s eye in the rearview mirror. He was neither smiling nor frowning. Something was brewing between them. Something that could only lead to a world of regret and self-loathing. Graylee had to get out of there.

The locks sprang open and closed. Open and closed.

The pounding at her window nearly made Graylee shriek. She was instantly relieved to see Thea standing beside her door. Even without magical abilities, her friend was a guardian angel.

“Gray? What in the heck are you doing in there?”

God, this didn’t look good: getting out of Raj McKenna’s car like they’d snuck off to…

Graylee threw open the door, swiftly followed by her legs and everything that went with them. She high kicked the door shut and glared at Raj. In response he snatched up his keys, shoved them in the ignition, and floored the gas petal. The vehicle roared.

Graylee linked arms with Thea and dragged her away.

 

 

Chapter
Three

 

 

Raj revved the engine one last time then eased up when Gray was a good thirty feet away. It was a damn waste of gas, but it helped ease the pounding in his chest. Gray had spooked him good. He’d never dreamt he’d need a protection spell on his car. Its rundown exterior—not to mention the fact that it belonged to him—had always been protection enough.

BOOK: Entangled
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ads

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