Spellbound (Spellbringers Book 1) (4 page)

***

By the time school rolled around the
next day, I’d nearly convinced myself I’d dreamt everything that
had happened over the past several days. One look in the mirror at
the Too Cute shirt convinced me at least part of my recent
nightmare was real. It was probably safe to assume I hadn’t
imagined the Hunter attack and Jace’s use of strange, magical
powers either.

When I arrived in first period, I
staked out my usual spot in the back of the classroom and tried to
finish the homework I’d failed to complete the night
before.

Jace entered the classroom alone. “How
are you today? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. How are you, though?” I
asked softly.

“Great. I’m looking forward to dinner
tonight. You’re still coming, right?” He smiled at me and I fell
even more deeply in love with him.

“Absolutely.” I returned his
smile.

“You should give me your phone
number,” he said. I scribbled my number on a sheet of notebook
paper. He hadn’t accepted Becky’s number when she offered, but he
wanted mine. Unreal.

Jace spoke to me for a couple of
minutes and I struggled to think of witty, semi-coherent replies. I
wasn’t a very skilled conversationalist, so I was relieved when he
took his seat at the front of the room.

I expected our early morning
conversation to be the extent of our interaction at school, but I
was wrong. I sat alone at the back of the lunchroom and picked at
the unrecognizable food on my lunch tray. A sudden wind lifted the
wisps of hair at the nape of my neck, and an instant later, Jace
pulled up a chair to sit next to me.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted,
gaping at him in shock.

“Do you mind if I sit next to you?” he
asked, gesturing at the four empty chairs grouped around the table
where we sat.

“You don’t have to,” I
said.

“That’s good to know. What is this
crap?” The fact that he couldn’t identify the food before him
didn’t seem to dampen his appetite. He shoved forkfuls into his
mouth, and I cringed as he devoured the mystery meat. Jace chatted
in between bites as if it were perfectly normal to be sitting there
with me. I thought I should tell him he was off the hook, that he
didn’t have to pretend to like me just because he thought I’d saved
his life.

“Hey, aren’t you eating?” he asked. I
shook my head and he attacked my food with gusto. “My brother and I
will pick you up for dinner tonight.”

I shivered as I recalled Bryce’s
penetrating, cold stare. “I can walk. I like walking.”

“Yeah, but still. It may not be safe,”
he insisted, glancing around the cafeteria to make sure no one was
watching. They were, of course. Everyone was staring. Jace leaned
in closer and I shivered. “You need protection.”

“Your brother said I’m not the one
they’re looking for. What does that mean?” I asked, shocking
myself. Ordinarily, I let others ask the questions, but my
curiosity couldn’t be contained.

“We’ll talk about it later. So, do you
want to come over to my house right after school?”

“I don’t know if I can. I mean, I
didn’t ask…” I stammered. “My mom’s picking me up
today…”

“Just make sure she lets you come over
tonight.” His smile temporarily stunned me and I nodded in
agreement before I could help myself. “Let me know if you need help
convincing her, because I can be very persuasive,” he
claimed.

I blushed and glanced away. I imagined
he could persuade me to do nearly anything.

Jace continued talking to me as if he
actually enjoyed my company. He didn’t act martyred or
uncomfortable. I barely said a word to him, and yet he continued a
one-sided conversation until the bell rang.

As I scurried nervously from the
lunchroom, Jace finished the last few morsels of food on my tray.
“Hey, Alisa,” he called across the lunchroom. “I’ll see you
tonight.”

I nodded to indicate I’d heard him,
and then made my hasty retreat. I was painfully aware half the
school was watching me as I rushed to my next class. If Jace
continued to associate with me, he’d better be prepared to join me
in the cesspool of Cooper High gossip. I hoped he wouldn’t choose
his budding popularity over our newly established friendship. I was
tired of being alone.

Chapter
Four

Rachel

From the moment I’d opened my eyes
that morning, I felt off-kilter. Strange dreams had plagued me all
night, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember what any
of them were about. Though I’d gone to bed early the night before,
I still felt exhausted. I contemplated skipping my morning run, but
the beginning of football and cheerleading season was no time to
give in to laziness, so I knocked my covers aside and got out of
bed. After throwing on a pair of shorts, a tank top, and my ratty
tennis shoes, I pulled my long hair into a lopsided knot at the top
of my head, grabbed my I-pod, and sprinted out the door.

The sun was just coming
up, but it was already muggy and humid. Typical late August weather
in southern Georgia. Imagine Dragons’
Radioactive
assaulted my eardrums as
I broke into a steady run. My breath came more rapidly as I gained
speed and left my subdivision. Sweat trickled down my back. I
couldn’t wait to get home and take a shower.

As I turned onto the main road that
led toward town, ripples of fear shot up my spine—a feeling that
usually signaled someone was watching me. It had been happening a
lot lately—the strange sensation of being watched. Sometimes I even
caught of glimpse of a dark figure, though no one else ever seemed
to see anything. The idea that it was all in my head certainly
didn’t soothe my fears. Mental illness seemed to run in my family,
so there was nothing comforting about the thought that I was
imagining things.

I kept running while scanning my
surroundings, my anxiety increasing with every step I took. I
pulled the earbuds from my ears so I could hear if anyone tried to
approach me. Without the music, it was too quiet. The sound of my
own feet as they pounded the pavement freaked me out.

I’d carefully selected
this route. My mother and I drove it in order to get the exact
mileage. I never deviated from this path, but that day I did. I
knew if I continued along the street I was on, I would run
headfirst into danger. Turning around, I retraced my route toward
home. As I passed my neighbor’s house at the end of the street,
their dog suddenly began barking. Not a friendly bark, or a
hey you came too close to my territory
bark, but an ears back, snarling,
growling,
I’ll rip you apart
bark. The ferocity of his growls made me miss a
step and I staggered, almost falling.

A snarl came from a
different direction. When I looked to my right, a figure darted out
from behind the house across the street. I sprinted in a full-out
run until I reached my front door. I briefly considered waking my
mother and telling her what happened, but what
did
happen? Probably nothing. I
quickly showered and got ready for school.

The strange experience left me with a
lingering feeling of anxiety as I went through my morning routine.
Halfway to school, I realized I’d forgotten to put on my necklace.
I felt naked without it. The necklace had been passed down through
my father’s family for generations, and I wore it without fail ever
since the day he gave it to me. Before he died, my father told me
it was special and to wear it always, so I hardly ever took it off.
If I held the pendant close to my heart, I could feel his
presence.

I was nervous when I arrived at
school. My legs shook slightly as I walked into my first period
class. I nodded politely to Jace and Alisa as I took my
seat.

“Hey, Jace,” Becky called as she
flounced into the room. It irritated me the way she flirted with
him, but I knew my feelings weren’t justified. After all, I had a
boyfriend and Becky did not. And although the dogs had been
circling since the beginning of the school year, she’d managed to
hold them at bay while pursuing Jace relentlessly.

“I wonder how many points Mrs. Hanks
deducts for a late assignment,” Jace said.

“Ten each day,” I replied. He turned
around and looked at me. I wondered why he seemed so startled that
I’d answered his question. A warm shiver ran through me as our eyes
met.

Jace had been in my thoughts
constantly, but each time I found myself thinking about him, I gave
myself a sharp mental slap. Junior year was critical and I couldn’t
afford to succumb to the inevitable drama that would result if I
dumped my long-time boyfriend to hook up with this new guy. As far
as boyfriends went, Robert was safe—no emotional investment there.
Jace was…well, a distraction.

Distraction took on a whole new form
the moment the room filled up and Mrs. Hanks passed out our
exams.

“This class is stupid,” a petulant
voice whined. I turned my head to look at Amber, surprised to hear
her speaking out loud in the middle of a test. She looked at me
quizzically.

“I wonder if Justin is going to ask me
out.” Sydney’s voice drifted over to me on a raft of despair. I
turned to look at her, but she stared resolutely at her paper. I
glanced around the classroom and it occurred to me that no one else
heard these voices. As waves of depression, joy, confusion, and
fear crashed over me, I feared I’d lost my mind.

Becky’s voice insinuated itself into
my head and with it, an avalanche of hatred and animosity poured
into me. “I can’t believe Jace was talking to Alisa. I should
totally tell him she’s a whore. Everyone will back me up. She’ll
have to drop out of school by the time I’m finished with her. I
swear, I don’t know how I can possibly be related to someone like
her. What a freaking waste of space.”

Becky’s thoughts brought my migraine
to a crescendo, and as my emotional pain blended with my physical
agony, shards of razor-sharp images slashed through my mind. Each
memory lashed a deeper furrow through my conscience: the time Becky
spread a rumor about Amber, effectively ending her relationship
with a long-time boyfriend; the time I watched while the football
players brutally hazed a weaker player because he made a bad play,
resulting in the freshman spending a night in the hospital; the
dozens of times Becky tormented her shy, socially inept cousin.
Each incident shared a common thread—I did nothing to stop it, said
nothing, helped no one.

By the time first period was over, my
nervous system was on overload. As I walked down the hall from one
class to another, I tried to avoid looking at anyone. Each time I
inadvertently made eye contact with someone, a barrage of feelings
assaulted me. Everyone seemed to be surrounded in a haze of color.
I blinked several times to clear my vision, but it didn’t
help.

Class changes were agony. When people
brushed against me in the crowded hallway, those brief episodes of
physical contact sent waves of love, pain, fear, and shame through
me. I could feel a mix of emotions in every cell of my body. As the
day progressed, I became increasingly overwhelmed. A thin layer of
perspiration covered my face, but my arms were cold and goose
bumped. I was either very ill or having a complete mental
breakdown.

I spent lunch period hiding in the
bathroom, praying and begging God to help me get through the day. I
cried a little and hated myself for it. I hoped I would be able to
pull myself together enough to take my History quiz. Crazy or not,
there was no way I would let my grades tank.

By the time the bell rang to signal
the end of the day, I couldn’t take it another minute. My head
pounded and my whole body ached. Every muscle and nerve ending in
my body twitched and burned.

“Hey, baby. Where have you been
hiding? I haven’t seen you all day.” Robert stepped in front of me,
blocking my escape.

“I’m sick.” I flinched away from his
outstretched arms. “I don’t think I can stay for
practice.”

“Poor Rachel. I’ll tell the coach
you’re going home. Hey, Vanessa,” he called as he led me outside.
“Can you give her a ride?”

I somehow managed to endure the
agonizing journey home. Being in such close quarters with another
human being was a brutal assault on my emotions. Weak with relief,
I let myself into my house.

After swallowing three of my migraine
pills, I waited for the agony to subside. The day’s horrific events
replayed in my mind and the emotional overload created the most
agonizing headache I’d ever experienced. Out of desperation, I did
the only thing that really helped my migraines—I took a
nap.

My cell phone rang, startling me
awake. Disoriented, I glanced at the time on my alarm clock. It was
after five. The caller ID displayed Becky’s name and number, and
with great reluctance, I answered it.

“Hello.”

“Hey, girl. Why weren’t you at
practice?”

“I wasn’t feeling well.”

“Slacker,” she replied. “So, I have
this idea about how to get back at Alisa…”

“What? Why do you need to get back at
her? What did she do to you?”