Spellbound (3 page)

So tight against the baseboard, it felt like it might snap back. My first and second fingers wiggled in. At first I felt nothing but the wood and then, the tip of my middle finger brushed it.

Unmistakably, my finger felt cold, hard gold. As I lay there on the wood floor of my mother’s bedroom floor, I could trace the top half of the circle band of my mother’s gold wedding ring, right where Serena said it would be. I made a quick decision. I pulled my fingers out and left the band there.

I stood up and pushed the dresser back into place. My mom and sister were still giggling together downstairs and distantly the teapot was whistling as well, signaling she had put on a pot of tea for the two of them. I padded down the hall, shed my clothes and jumped in the running shower. I didn’t know why I left the ring there, just that doing it felt right. I lathered up and started thinking.

How did Serena know about it being there? Something was definitely special about Serena. What that might be, I didn’t know.

And perhaps, I didn’t even care.

Chapter Three

SERENA

I closed the front door of our new house and even before she started talking, I could feel her disapproving stare.

“Serena, you know that boy is going to be trouble.” My older sister Elizabeth sat on one of the overstuffed chairs in the living room with a cup and saucer and she appraised me with her cool blue eyes waiting for my reply.

Tabitha lolled on one of the lounge chairs on the other side of the room. Apparently, they had both been lying in wait for me.

“He’s so cute, Serena. Do you think he has a little brother?”

My sweet little sister Tabby had gone boy crazy, as all fifteen-‐-year olds do. She giggled and pined for all teenage rock stars. She annoyed me so much sometimes.

“No Tabs, he does not have a little brother. He happens to have a little sister.” Did they see me with him? Did they know? I just needed to be cool and collected and maybe they wouldn’t be able to tell how crazy about him I already was. Oh right, who was I kidding? My sisters were witches.

Tabitha rolled to a sitting position and breathed, “Perfect! I can have a best friend. That’s way better than a boyfriend!” The priorities of a fifteen year old, I thought, suppressing a smile. Short-‐-

lived, as it turned out. It seemed Elizabeth had an agenda.

“Oh no, you don’t. I’m putting a stop to this right now.”

Elizabeth set her tea down and leaned forward in her chair.

“Serena, I think you know that becoming even a friend to this, this boy, is not a good idea.”

Well, too late, I thought, we already are friends. More than friends, I hoped.

What does that mean?

Great! Now she wasn’t even bothering with speaking.

Can you please get out of my head?
I told my sister.
I hate it
when you do that.

When you tell me what it means by ‘more than friends’?

Just what I said. Friends. Anyway, I like him. Why can’t I be
friends with someone I like?
I demanded inside my head.

You know why Serena. Don’t play dumb. Because you’re a twitch.

And twitches shouldn’t be ‘friends’ or anything else with a Regular. The
Council wouldn’t like it.

Well, I don’t get the problem. And anyway, I’m seventeen now,
almost eighteen. Isn’t it about time I got to start making some decisions
for myself? Why is my life the Council’s concern?

I don’t know. I just know they won’t like it. And until I know more
about this boy, I am going to be monitoring you more closely.

NO WAY ELIZABETH!
I yelled hard enough in my head to hurt my eyes.
You stay out of my head and out of my life or I won’t be
responsible for my actions!

I am only looking out for your personal safety and for ours as well
Serena! You know that!
Now her volume in my head nearly matched my own.

“Hey!” We were both startled by Tabitha’s outburst. “Stop doing that! I don’t think it’s fair to mindspeak in front of me until I learn that power too.” Tabitha crossed her arms and glared at us.

“I’ve been practicing but so far all I can do is eavesdrop on the old lady next door trying to remember where she put her glasses. So if you don’t mind, knock it off! It is TOTALLY uncool!” And with that, my little sister spun on her heels, threw her nose in the air and marched out of the room.

Elizabeth and I exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

The tension broke. It was hard to be serious with that one around.

But, I was sure this conversation wasn’t over. One look at my older sister confirmed it. Elizabeth got up and walked over to where I stood. I couldn’t tell what was coming, so it surprised me when my sister gave me a hug. I couldn’t help thinking; maybe this new home would be good for us all. I hugged my sister back.

****

The next day at school I knew Elizabeth would keep tabs in my head all day unless I worked hard to push her out. She knew it, too, and gave up trying to monitor me by mid-‐-morning. Hah! I
was
getting stronger! After we got to school and I dropped Tabby with a group of her new friends, I went looking for Logan. I spotted him before he caught a glimpse of me, so I hung back and studied him.

He wore jeans and a dark grey t-‐-shirt, standing with a group of friends near his car, talking easily with them. He seemed to do everything easily. His dark hair was ruffled by the light breeze and his cheeks had a reddishness to them from the slight snap in the air.

Maybe he wasn’t a Roman god or anything, but to me he equaled perfection. He glanced over just then and noticed me. Sweet spells, I had nowhere to hide!
Wait, what’s that he’s doing?
Oh-‐-oh. He had waved me over. He wanted me to join him and his friends. This could be interesting. Quickly, I slammed my mind shut so Elizabeth couldn’t get anywhere near this and casually I walked over to where he stood.

“Hey Serena! I waited for you this morning,” Logan began.

“You know, in case you wanted that ride.” I wanted that ride but being engaged in an all-‐-out battle with my sister interfered. Instead I said, “Oh, thanks. But my sister wanted to drive Tabby and me.”

And control me until I die. I didn’t say that last part out loud either.

“You know Logan, I think Tabitha’s the same age as your sister, Jade.”

Logan pretended to groan and roll his eyes. “Great. That’s all the world needs is another fifteen year old. I’m kind of up to my eyeballs with the one I’ve got.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I’m sort of with you on that one.”

Logan gestured toward the group of friends with him. He pointed to each of them.

“So, let me introduce you to everyone. This is Tamera, Patty, Dave, Natalie, Nicole and Sully.” Each one of Logan’s friends introduced themselves to me when their turn came. Tamera seemed wedged into Dave, so I guessed they were a couple. Patty appeared a little lost. Sully wore a baseball jacket and cap, so it wasn’t hard to guess he was one of Logan’s teammates. And the other two girls, well, they were just easy to read. They hung around because they liked Logan. I sneaked a quick peek inside Nicole’s mind and found it to be pretty empty, except for some concerns about how she looked, how she could look and how others thought she looked. Natalie though, she was a different matter altogether. A quick jump into her mind became scary. She put on a good front, smiling nice, and welcoming me…doing everything one would expect a new friend to do. But there were some dark corners and shadowy recesses in there that warned me to not take her at face value. I jumped out quick.

As if he sensed my sudden discomfort, Logan came to my aid again, in a gallant and touching way.

“Can I walk you to class, Serena?” He had reached down and slung his backpack over his shoulder and now he looked at me, arms outstretched to take my books.

Well, time to take this bull by the horns. I took his hand instead of giving him my books.

“Yes, Logan. Thank you.” He positioned my hand in his, then announced to his friends, “I’m gonna walk Serena to class now.” His friends Dave and Sully were grinning like fools and Dave’s girlfriend Tamera had a dreamy expression on her face.

Patty still acted lost, only now she seemed haunted and sad as well.

Nicole stared off into space, no doubt planning her next outfit.

Only Natalie outright glowered at me, a defiant light shining from her eyes. I would swear her face said,
Let the games begin
.

****

“I don’t think Natalie likes me,” I said as we walked to my class. I was still shaken by Natalie’s intense stare and I was glad to be putting distance between us.

“Just ignore her. Her bark is way worse than her bite. We sometimes call her Nasty Natalie.” He talked casually but I became acutely aware we were still holding hands. He must have been aware of it too because all of a sudden he let go and ran his hand through his hair. Oh my, I thought. Can I do that? His hair must feel like thick bunches of wheat. I struggled to concentrate on what he was saying.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter. We don’t even have to hang around her if you don’t want to.” He said it almost like a question.

“Well, I know she’s one of your friends. I’m sure I just got it wrong.” Actually, I was sure I got it
right
. “I’m sure it’ll be different the next time we meet.” I was sure it would be
exactly
the same. I tried to retract my claws and play nice. “In fact, I know it will. Well, here’s my class. See you later, Logan. Thanks for walking me.”

“No sweat. Hey, you want a ride after school? I can wait for you, if you want. My little sis usually rides the bus. She hasn’t figured out yet how that’s not cool and anyway, all her Squeaker friends ride it too.” He laughed then, like he had yesterday in the car, the sound still rich and comforting. “They yammer all the way home. So I can wait for you, like I said.” He flashed me a winning grin and I knew I would ride home with him, just to see that handsome smile again.

Chapter Four

JADE

After school, I went to the usual place to wait for Logan. He noticed me waiting and came after me like a steam engine.

“You need to ride the bus today.” And he spun me around and started shoving me toward the bus pick-‐-up area.

“What? Logan, you
know
I hate the bus. All the kids from Band and the Audio Visual room and do I have to say it, the ASTRONOMY CLUB ride the bus. It stops like every ten feet and there are no seatbelts, like at all, and I HAVE A REPUTATION TO

PROTECT HERE!” But it was no use. He started cramming me toward the bus line. Unbelievable!

“Can I even ask why?”

“Because I’m giving the new girl, Serena, a ride home today.

Not that it’s any of your business. And if you tell Mom I made you ride the bus, I’ll tell her you’ve been wearing eye shadow to school and washing it off before she gets home.” And with that, my brother left me in Geekland.

So I rode the bus home with all the freaks, got home before Mom, thank goodness, and went straight upstairs to take off my eye shadow. I didn’t even think he noticed. It was SO hard to be the little sister of Mr. Perfect. He got good grades, played like Mr.

Baseball and he and mom seemed to have this bond with each other that I couldn’t even touch.

The thing is, they didn’t know what I could do. I’d come close to telling Mom a couple of times, but then I chickened out.

How did you tell your mom you thought you were a witch? I mean, I had always been able to just
tell
things. Like I could just think of a person and pretty soon, they either showed up at the house or called on the phone. Or I would wish a certain movie would come on television and there it would be. I used to think I had good luck. Then I thought I had
super
good luck. Now I’m just super sure I’m a witch. When I think hard about wanting the Spanish quiz to be postponed, I come to class and all of a sudden the copier is broken, so the pop quiz has to be rescheduled. Or a teacher gets sick and there’s a substitute. Or the worst one, my teacher fell at home and broke her leg, and ta-‐-daa–no test. How weird is that?

Just then the unmistakable sound of my brother’s car drew me to the window. Both of our windows faced the house across the street. I leaned out and watched him jump out of his car and kill himself to race around and open her door. Serena got out, one impossible long, perfect leg, then the other -‐- does that girl even
own
pants – and then I watched him study her as she strode up her driveway and into her house. Only when she darted safely behind the closed door of her house did my brother budge. He got back in his car and backed it carefully across the street and into our driveway.
Man, is he a goner for her.

The front door of our house slammed and soon banging sounds came from the kitchen. Logan was probably making a snack.
He’s a pretty good brother so I’m sure he’ll holler up soon if I want
something too.
Sure enough,

“Hey Jade! Want a PBJ?”

I smiled.
I’m getting pretty good at this.

“Sure!” I hollered back down. “With a glass of milk please!

I’ll come down and eat with you. I wanna know if you making me ride the bus was worth it.”

****

My brother and I were sitting at the kitchen counter eating PBJ’s and drinking milk. I would never tell him, but he makes the best PBJ’s in the whole world, just like my Dad used to make.

“So.” I took a bite of my sandwich. “Are you totally gaga for the new girl, Logan?”

I thought he’d be defensive, but to my surprise, he wasn’t.

“I guess I am,” he admitted, in between mouthfuls of his sandwich. “I haven’t ever felt like this about a girl before.” He chewed with a far-‐-away look in his eyes. “I can’t wait to be near her and when I’m with her, I can’t think about anything or anyone else.