Entangled (5 page)

It took a moment for Graylee to calm her racing heart and manage words. She sat up. “Figured what out?”

“How to get Blake back.”

This was the reason Charlene had nearly given her a heart attack? Well, of course, ’cause what was more important than Blake Foster?

“Put on a new dress and extra makeup?” Graylee asked hopefully.

Charlene continued as though Graylee had never spoken. “I’ve been holding out on Blake, thinking he’d enjoy the challenge. But everyone needs gratification, Lee. Everyone. I mean, think of the most popular celebs. They put out.”

Now Graylee was fully awake. “So, you’re a celebrity in this scenario?”

“Exactly,” Charlene said, missing her sarcasm. “I’m one of the most popular girls at school. In terms of McKinley High, I’m on the A-list. And what do A-list celebrities do?”

“Sing? Act?”

“They party, Lee. They sleep around. It’s all about notoriety. That’s what puts them in the spotlight. It’s what makes them get noticed and talked about.”

“So you want everyone to be talking about what a slut you are?”

Charlene grinned and eased herself off the bed. “Sleep tight, Lee.”

Graylee watched Charlene leave before muttering, “You, too, Britney.”

She punched her pillow and lay on her side, then on her stomach, then on her back and finally back on her side.

Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep
, she chanted in her head at the same time Raj’s voice repeated,
I like it. I like it. I like it.

At one time, Graylee had been the most gifted student in the Kent Chapter Coven. Until the day she’d messed up a spell.

Her cheeks heated at the memory. Like a bad dream—the one where you stood naked in front of everyone—but Graylee’s ultimate humiliation hadn’t been a dream.

She was in sixth grade, the coven’s star pupil. After group lecture she’d followed the kids down to the basement as she’d done every Sunday afternoon since she could remember.

Their peer leader had them lay out a second outfit on the long table and work on changing their clothes without touching the garments.

Sure, Graylee had become somewhat cocky as only a rising star can be. Magic fascinated her, and she allotted all her free hours to perfecting her spells and trying new ones. Like any other talent or ability, magic took practice. Just because one was a witch didn’t mean she could perform the same level of magic as her peers. She had to work for it.

Graylee could already change in an instant. She’d practiced that one for weeks in her bedroom, never tiring of the elation when the new outfit materialized over her body. So she’d lifted her chin and snapped her fingers. And that’s when it happened.

The clothes she’d worn were successfully removed, but her second outfit hadn’t moved from the table. Except for her cotton underpants and bra, she stood stark naked.

Graylee could still hear the laughter as it erupted. Like the hyenas in Mrs. Pritchett’s class Friday afternoon. She almost felt sorry for the woman no matter how mean she was. Raj McKenna was trouble and acted out of spite and self-indulgence. Just like Charlene.

Thank goodness he’d been absent from the Gathering the day Graylee exposed herself. He probably would have liked that. Raj was a relatively quiet boy back then. Dare she say it? Well behaved. He always partnered with Shay Baxter and glared at anyone who giggled and whispered about the two of them being secretly in love. Nothing had come of it. They’d been thick as thieves until Raj quit attending and Max Curry made an advance on Shay. Shay Baxter, consequently, had taken Graylee’s place as the most gifted student of the 42
^nd
Coven, Kent Chapter.

Graylee couldn’t help hating her just a little and Charlene had been happy to join in. Worse than losing her spot at the top, Graylee hadn’t been able to perform magic without freezing up after streaking her peers.

Raj McKenna clearly respected power. That’s what he really wanted from Graylee—to strip her of her most prized spell and make it his own. See how fast he’d ditch her once he’d gotten what he wanted.

Graylee pushed her bowl of oatmeal aside and stared across the dining table at her mother. It’d been just the two of them for breakfast the past few days.

“Can I stay home, too?” Graylee asked.

If Charlene didn’t have to attend Gathering, Graylee didn’t see why she had to go. It wasn’t like she was able to participate or anything, but that excuse always led to Mom’s rejoinder: “I don’t want you to miss lecture.”

“Can’t you give me a summary tonight?”

“You know how important Gatherings are,” Mom said. “We need to stick with our own kind, those who understand us, who keep us in check as we ensure they don’t lose their way in return.”

Graylee tilted her head back. “I’m not the one you need to worry about.”

Mom looked side to side then leaned in, barely speaking above a whisper. “Don’t worry about Blake Foster or that Stacey girl. Your sister’s magic is useless against them.”

Yeah, ’cause Blake and Stacey were such big concerns of hers.

“Still,” Gray said, “I should probably stay home and make sure Char doesn’t hurt herself.”

“Your sister will be fine. She just needs some time alone.”

Gatherings were held in a light bluish-gray brick building surrounded by a large parking lot. The outside looked conspicuously like a church or rec center. Take your pick.

That morning’s lecture, predictably, had to do with St. Valentine’s and the dangers of love spells. Graylee’s mom listened attentively on the bench beside her as their chapter president, Mr. Holloway, spoke.

“Love is a more powerful force than magic. You can trick the mind and even the heart, but never the soul. When a person is not free to love with their soul, that is not love and that is why a love spell can never truly work.”

Blah, blah, blah
. Graylee picked at her cuticles. Mind control and love spells had never interested her. Now moving objects with the mind—that was fun.

“It can get lonely, being gifted,” Mr. Holloway droned on. “But that is why we’re here. We’re here for each other.”

Oh, brother
. Graylee pictured Charlene curled up on the couch at home watching back-to-back episodes of
Glee
and had to bite back a frustrated sigh. It was at times like these that Graylee missed her sister. Neither of them were fond of Gathering. They paired up when partnering was required, which today—naturally—it was.

After lecture, their peer leader asked that they team up with a partner. Graylee felt her palms begin to sweat. She was fairly certain that Ryan had glanced in her direction. There was no way she was enduring an hour of one-on-one time with Ryan Phillips. He’d probably spend the hour peppering her with questions about Charlene. If she didn’t act fast, she’d be stuck. Ryan was already moving her way.

Graylee took three large steps over to Nolan Knapp. “Hey, want to be partners?”

His initial surprise was immediately followed by a smile. “Yeah.”

Nolan was cute in a boy’s band sorta way. Although they were in the same grade at McKinley High, Graylee never saw him around school. He’d moved to Kent sophomore year. She might have crushed on him if he weren’t a warlock—another preference Graylee and her sister shared: No dating warlocks!

Nolan brushed his bangs out of his eyes and smiled as if to say,
Why not? Think about it.

There was nothing to think about. Graylee didn’t date warlocks, period. Anyway, he didn’t make her heart patter.

Shay Baxter stared in their direction before joining a group of children in the adjoining room. Shay had been recruited as a peer leader to coach the coven’s youngest students. Graylee would have loved working with kids, sharing her joy of magic and discovery. But she had nothing to teach.

“Today we’ll work on basics then discuss how they can be used for advanced purposes,” their peer leader announced. “You and your partner should start by practicing what you consider elementary magic.”

Elementary magic
. Was this for Graylee’s benefit?

She turned to Nolan and pasted a smile over her face. As far as he knew, Graylee was merely related to witches.

“Elementary,” Nolan mused. His brows lifted. “Moving small objects. Opening and closing doors. Floating.”

He was probably being nice by listing these abilities rather than performing them. Beside them, Ryan was already floating two feet off the floor. Not all witches and warlocks were capable of performing the same spells, but certain basics, like the aforementioned, should have come naturally to any offspring of a witch and warlock.

Graylee looked from Ryan to Nolan. “I wish I could float.”

Nolan’s forehead wrinkled. “Why can’t you?”

“I was able to. Once.”

“If you could do it once, you can do it again.”

Graylee frowned. “It’s not that easy.”

“You need to have faith in yourself. I have faith in you.”

Graylee rolled her eyes. “That’s corny.” Not to mention Nolan barely knew her.

“Give it a try.”

Graylee sighed. “Okay. I have faith in myself.”

Nolan nodded. “Now try floating.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

Nolan just stared back at her with his liquid blue eyes.

Graylee studied him a beat longer before closing her eyes. “All right. I’m going to float. All I have to do is imagine my body getting lighter. Lighter and lighter. Lighter than air. I don’t weigh a thing.” Graylee chuckled at the last bit. She kept her eyes squeezed tight because it was easier than watching herself fail yet again.

Lighter and lighter. Lighter than air.

Graylee wasn’t big on words. She was more of a visualizer. She stopped chanting in her head, breathed in and out, and imagined herself hovering above the floorboards. In her mind she was suspended in air. She stopped trying. She let go. The ground gave way beneath her.

“Open your eyes,” Nolan said softly.

Graylee didn’t need to. She smiled, eyes still closed. “And ruin the moment?” She had no sight, no hearing, only feeling and the sensation of soaring beyond reach.

The room became quiet and then Graylee heard the applause. She opened her eyes and saw their peer leader clapping, along with her peers. Their hands smacked together in metered tempo. Nolan simply grinned at her.

Graylee smiled and bowed, still hovering in the air.

Everyone laughed in the good sense of the word, making her feel more buoyant. It was like no other feeling. Graylee had forgotten it. It was sensational.

“So, um, are you able to come down?” Nolan asked when Graylee remained floating.

His cheeks dimpled when he smiled.

“I like it up here.”

She could see Nolan wasn’t sure if that meant she was stuck like a helium balloon at the top of a ceiling—one he might have to jump up and catch and drag down. She imagined her feet as weights and hit the ground harder than she’d intended.

It didn’t matter.

Graylee could float. After a five-year hiatus, her full abilities had returned. She straightened out and studied Nolan’s face.

“What?” he asked.

“You should help with the kids. You’d make a fantastic peer leader.”

Nolan looked at his sneakers and grinned. “Thanks.” He made a semicircle on the floor with his toe.

The gesture reminded Graylee of a girl. But Nolan was no girl. He was tall and compact. Fit. Casual. His smile was endearing. And he smelled good. Graylee felt herself leaning into him almost as though not of her own free will.

Love spell
, she warned herself. Many involved scent.

Couldn’t be a love spell. Not if Graylee was able to stand there considering it might be a love spell. The Power of Reason: a sure sign that one still had their wits about them.

 Not to mention Nolan was the one who looked uncomfortable. Certainly not the stance Raj McKenna would take.

Graylee leaned back.

Raj’s wicked words came back in a rush.
You, me, and the world to ourselves
.

No one had ever spoken to her that way. And the tone he’d used. It had sounded older, husky, accented. Full of temptation.
We’d make a powerful couple, you and me
.

Graylee resisted the urge to shudder. If she hadn’t turned invisible, Raj McKenna wouldn’t have looked at her twice. And he was wrong. They had nothing in common… well, besides the whole children of witches and warlocks and magical inheritance thing. He was big-time bad news. Opposed to Nolan Knapp. Smart. Cute. Wholesome… Scratch that, wholesome didn’t get a girl’s heart racing. Thoughtful. Thoughtful was sexy.

No one had ever tried to help her regain her abilities. Unless you counted the peer leaders over the years, and they’d all used the same tactic—trying to push her into it while the class watched.

“I’m glad I could help.”