Evil (13 page)

“What do you mean?”

“Witches, other demons. Messengers. Anyone who does magic or knows about that world.”

“They’ll still figure out it was us.”

“Yes, but it’ll take them some time. We’ll sense them before they know it’s us.”

“And you’ll kill Dylan to keep him from telling them?”

“That’s one of the reasons, yes.” His voice was rough, angered. Kellan was going to kill him anyway, even if there had been no threat to us. And he was going to do it because he played with Gus. He hurt her. He hurt one of us.

“When?”

“Now.” He stood and crossed to his closet. I looked away as he changed clothing. He had been in normal attire, jeans and a blue shirt. Now, he pulled on a black long-sleeved shirt that tightly fit him over black sports pants. They were made of soft material. When he moved across the room, I knew why he chose those clothes. I couldn’t hear him. I could barely see him. They were perfect for what he was going to do that night.

After he put his other clothes in a hamper, the ones that were bloodied from the house, he stopped and looked at me. “Are you going to stop me?”

I was torn inside, and I didn’t know what to say, much less do. All I knew was, I couldn’t move or stop him so I remained there while he left, after he left. Then I curled into a ball on his bed with my eyes wide open and waited for him to come back.

Sometime later, my eyes snapped open. I didn’t know how long I had stayed there or been asleep, but I lifted my head and saw someone in the doorway. It wasn’t Kellan, so I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and asked, “How is she?”

Vespar didn’t move from the doorway. He remained on the top step of the stairs. “He went to take care of Cavanagh?”

“You know he did.” I sighed.

He jerked his head up and down in an awkward nod. Guilt seemed to consume him. “Good.”

“Why didn’t you come to help? She must’ve called you first.”

“I can’t do what he can.”

His answer was simple, but I felt there was more to it. “How is she?”

He answered this time. “She’s… I put her out. I put her to sleep. She can’t handle what she did.”

“She’s not as dark as you.”

“Nor you,” he shot back. “You act like you’re above us because you don’t use your powers, but you’d do the same she did. Probably more. You can’t control yourself any better than Gus can—at least she can control her powers on a normal day.”

I stood now. “Do you really want to be threatening me?”

He opened his mouth, but Kellan appeared behind him. He jerked him backward and threw him down the stairs. As Vespar fell over the last step and stopped on the second floor, Kellan stood above him. “Do not say anything more. You should’ve been there, and you know it. Go to her. Take care of her now. At least do that.”

Vespar looked at me, angry, as I stood in Kellan’s bedroom entrance.

“Don’t!” Kellan warned again and then swept back up the stairs. He took my hand, dragged me inside, and locked his door behind us.

“Why are you—” I started to ask.

He threw me onto the bed. “You don’t either. We are going to sleep. Do nothing, say nothing.”

My mouth hung open, but I closed it when I saw his eyes in the moonlight. They were stark, in pain. Then he threw his clothes to the corner and started to come to bed. His eyes caught mine, saw something in them, and then he cursed before he grabbed a pair of boxers. Slipping them on, he crawled underneath his sheets and then lay there. Fatigued.

It didn’t feel right being there, so I started to get up. “I’m going to my room.”

He caught my hand and pulled me back. “Don’t. Please. I need you here tonight.”

A note was in his voice that I’d never heard before. It pulled at me, and I found myself crawling under his sheets with him. His hand held mine, and he turned his head to rest on my shoulder. As his eyes closed, I felt him fall asleep almost immediately. I stayed awake, watching him for the rest of the night.

No one left the house for four days. We weren’t on lockdown, but all of us seemed to respect the need to recuperate before we headed out and assessed the damage, if there was any. Then I broke the uneasy quiet as I packed my bag and headed toward my car.

Kellan stopped me outside the door. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to school.”

Vespar came out behind him at that moment. He passed us by with only a look as he headed down to the river. Gus followed, but she kept her head down when she walked around us. She hadn’t talked to us since that night; neither had Vespar. They sat with us at meals as we ate the little bit of food our human sides needed, but no one spoke. There were a lot of looks. Vespar looked anywhere but at us. Gus mainly only looked at Vespar or at her hands. Then there was Kellan and I. We stared at them, at each other, everywhere, but still no one said anything.

I’d had enough, and the urge to paint was strong. I had taken to drawing in the privacy of my room, but it wasn’t the same. I needed the large canvas. I needed to shut off everything and let the painting come forth. I couldn’t do that in my house, with my siblings there.

I reached for my car handle again, but Kellan took it instead. I glanced up. “What are you doing? I’ll be fine.” I waited to see if he’d say something about my messenger side, but he didn’t. He hadn’t spoken one word about that, and neither had I. With Vespar and Gus around, I was always fearful they could overhear our conversations. I didn’t trust them, especially since Kellan told me they couldn’t find out.

His eyes were trained on our siblings, and he nodded toward them. “What are they doing?”

“They’re going swimming.” I saw that he wasn’t going to say anything about it anytime soon.

“They’re not.” He frowned. “Let’s follow them.”

“Kellan, no.” I stood my ground as he tried to pull me behind him. “I’m going to school. Someone has to, or they’ll send the cops out here to make sure we’re all still alive. It’s weird that all of us haven’t gone back for a while and no one’s called.”

Kellan let go of my hand, but trailed behind the other two.

“I’m going to school,” I called after him. Did he no longer care?

He waved, dismissing me.

“Fine. I’m…” I stopped since he’d gone too far.

When I parked in the lot, I knew things were different. It wasn’t the same as before when we had changed Matt. And I wasn’t sure if this was because Dylan was dead, but as I walked inside and down the hallway, there was no grief in the air. I should’ve sensed it. His death should’ve been known. Then, as I got to my locker, my hand reached up to open it, but I froze when I heard Dylan’s laugh in the hallway. It had always been distinct, but it was even more so now.

Everything in my body went numb as I turned. I felt like it was in slow motion when the crowd parted and Dylan was at his locker, laughing at something Matt said in his ear. The two stood close with their hands on each other’s shoulders, giving their sign of bonding and approval to the other. Leah smiled beside them, eager for their attention.

It was how it had been a month ago.

I had thought… Oh God. I had no idea what to think anymore.

Leah caught sight of me, and her eyes widened in anticipation. She skirted over and clasped her hands together. “Is Kellan here? I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Do you—wha—how’s your stepdad?” I had no idea what to say, but I needed to know what else he’d done.

She froze. All the liveliness died, and she backed away a step. “I don’t have a stepdad. You know that, Shay.”

“She doesn’t even have parents.” Matt laughed, coming up behind her. He rested both of his hands on her shoulders and drew her against him. She tensed, but looked away, biting her lip.

“You don’t have parents?”

“Foster homes, Shay. Get with the program.” Then he winked. “We haven’t seen you in a few days. How’s it going? Where is the rest of the Braden foursome?”

I narrowed my eyes and sensed into Matt. Everything we had done was gone. I looked at Leah and then at Dylan. I thought Kellan had killed Dylan, but now I cursed myself for not realizing it before. He’d gone back and wiped all of their memories. Somehow, the death of Leah’s parents hadn’t been changed, and it was now known that she lived with foster parents.

Kellan cleaned up all of our messes.

I remembered the exhaustion he’d felt when he’d gotten home that night. He’d been tired before, but he’d been depleted of all energy. He’d slept through the night, then the next day. I hadn’t thought about it, but I gave him some of my energy. In fact, I’d given it the very moment he’d reached for my hand that night.

“Shay?” Matt asked again. His voice had a husky flirting note to it, and I knew that he was their leader again. He was the same guy who had thrown me against the locker two weeks ago. He’d always pushed too far, edging too close to Gus and me, rebelling against Kellan’s rule.

I ignored him and walked away. He didn’t call after me, and no one said a word. They parted for me, and I kept walking. When I got to the art room, Mrs. Ullen perked up in surprise. “Shay! Are you here to paint?”

“Where can I find the guy who painted those canvases of Kellan?”

She frowned. “I’m sorry. What paintings are those? I don’t seem to recall any of your brother.”

“They were here two weeks ago. Someone painted them of Kellan, but he looked like a demon. I got upset. You said you’d take them down… Any of this sound familiar?”

“I’m so sorry, dear. I’m drawing a blank. I’ve only kept your paintings in the back.”

“They weren’t in the back. You hung them up on the wall. Right there!”

She looked where I pointed, but still shook her head with a hand now resting on her nape, looking nervous. “Shay, honey, I never hung any paintings up unless they were yours or a student’s. I only hang student paintings up in the studio. Yours either stay in the back or go in the studio downtown. That was our agreement. Are you feeling okay, dear?”

I threw my hands up in frustration. “They were there. Where did they go? How did you meet that guy?”

She kept shaking her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I really don’t. I’m so sorry.”

“I need to check the back room.”

Hesitant, she handed over the keys, but after I opened the door and looked through all the paintings, I didn’t find the ones I wanted. They were gone, as if they didn’t exist. How could all of this have happened? Did Kellan know about the paintings, too? Did he wipe her memory?

Then I cursed and headed back to my car. Of course, Kellan knew. He’d known the whole time that I had been painting. He knew what I had painted. He knew the painter, whomever he was. Kellan cleaned up everything and what perfect timing. The messengers would get there and find nothing. There weren’t even any traces or lingering trails where magic usually remained after a spell had been done. I’d felt them before, but somehow Kellan had obliterated them, too.

How?

He’d have to have phenomenal powers to do that. Vespar and Giuseppa could only have done one or two memory wipes, but they still left traces behind.

I got in my car, ready to drive home and demand answers when I stopped. Two weeks ago, I quaked in fear of Kellan, too. There’d always been something more between us, like he was my protector, but I had still known how dangerous he was. Now I was ready to ask him anything, ready to tell him anything.

“He’s good, isn’t he? He’s the best I’ve known.”

I jerked my head up and around. The painter sat in my backseat, at ease, dressed in a white polo and khaki shorts. His hair looked shorter, and his eyes were so blue, so bright, they seemed to look through me. I felt like they, alone, were trying to give me a message that I couldn’t receive.

“Did you take your paintings, or did he?”

He flashed a smile. His teeth were perfectly white, blinding. “I did.” Then he laughed softly. “You thought he did, didn’t you? I will admit that I only took them because I knew eventually he would. Then he’d interrogate your teacher and find out more than I would want him to know.”

“Like what?” My lips were so dry.

“How long I’ve been here. How long I’ve known what he’s doing. Your brother knew it was only a matter of time before I stepped forward. He knew it was coming. You are, after all, part of me, too.”