Unbound (45 page)

“My mom painted it,” she said softly when she saw me looking at it.

“It’s beautiful,” I said admirably.

“Thanks.” She handed me a folded pair of jeans and a light pink tee shirt. “I think Sam is more your size, but I don’t feel like dealing with her brattiness.” She smiled.

A Ziploc bag full of white powder on her nightstand caught my attention. Julia was either a huge coke addict or- “What is that?” I asked, pointing to the bag.

“Vesta Powder.”

“What does it do?” I carefully picked up the bag.

“Clears the air of negative energy and dispels evil spirits.”

“I think I have some.” I thought of the velvet bag I had hidden in my closet months ago. “I never knew what it was though.” I put the bag back down.

“Oh.” She walked over next to me and picked the bag back up. “Watch, it’s kinda cool.” I followed her to the bathroom. She put a small handful of the Vesta Powder in the sink, lit a match and threw it in. There was a loud bang and the powder erupted in smoke.

“That is cool,” I said, fanning smoke out of my face.

“As the smoke dispels, so does the negativity,” Julia explained.

“Would it work against the Pricolici?”

“No.” Julia shook her head. “It might stun them for a few seconds at best. This is really for spirits or other non-corporeal beings.”

“Interesting,” I said, an idea already forming in my head. “Hey, thanks again for everything, Julia. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem,” she said with a smile. We went back into her room; I grabbed the clothes, quickly got ready for bed and was back under the covers in a matter of minutes.

I was still awake when Ethan came back into the room. He silently stripped down to his boxers and climbed under the covers next to me.

“How was everything at the barn?” I asked sleepily.

“Fine. We did a quick sweep of the woods and found nothing.”

“Good,” I said. Ethan wrapped his arms around and pulled me close.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe for now,” he whispered.

“I know,” I whispered back. I put my hands over Ethan’s and closed my eyes. Despite the crazy day today was, I quickly fell asleep and didn’t even have any bad dreams.

***

“Spill,” Laney instructed as soon as we sat down in photography class.
 
We put several photos in front of us to make it look like we were working on something.

“Ok, well, I guess it starts after we left the barn.” I went into full detail about running into Jill, Sam accusing me of cheating on Ethan with my own brother, the Devil’s Shoestring and my brilliant idea to go after the Pricolici solo.

“You are crazy, Annie. I don’t even like to be home alone at night. I could never do that.”

“It probably wasn’t the smartest, but whatever. I did manage to kill a few,” I told her about how we got surrounded and had to run for it. I looked up and saw Brent Miller staring at us with his mouth hanging open. “Uh, that is the plot for the movie I’m making,” I said, trying to conceal what we were really discussing.

Laney was confused for a second until she got the hint. “Oh, yea, that will make a really cool movie, which is all fake of course,” she said a little too loudly compared to how she had been speaking. Brent shook his head and went back to his own photo project. Much quieter, I told Laney about Isaac and how he wants to track the Pricolici as soon as possible.

“So what do you do until then?” she asked.

“I don’t really know, Ethan’s gonna stay with me as much as possible in case they decide to attack again. I just want this over with, but,” I looked at Laney. “I’m scared.”

Laney reached over and patted my hand. “I would be too.”

There was only a few minutes left so we packed up our stuff and waited by the door. Jewelry class went by slowly; I was feeling the effects of my not very restful night’s sleep again. Thank goodness tomorrow was Friday. I have to go to bed early tonight, I told myself. Econ was even worse and I kept nodding off while taking notes.

I really didn’t want to sit by Marie or Jill today. In fact, I started to dread lunch so much that the last ten minutes of econ went by faster than expected. My luck—or magic—struck again and two empty seats were available at Harrison’s table. He said he wanted to talk to me anyway and didn’t mind if Laney and I joined him, at least for today.

“Sneak out last night?” he asked as I sat down across from him. Luke smiled brightly at me and I weakly returned the smile.

“No, I said I was going out. I just lied about where.”

“And you say I’m the evil twin.”

“You are the evil twin. I had to lie, anyway. It’s not like I can tell Mom and Dad the truth about demons.”

“Keep your voice down!” Harrison glanced around; he didn’t want his buddies to hear his weird sister talking about—God forbid— demons.

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes.

“So?”

“So what?”

“So what happened last night? With the, you know.”

“Pricolici,” I said, my voice at a normal volume. Harrison ‘shh-ed’ me again.

“Oh, like they know what I’m talking about.” I quickly and very quietly told Harrison about the fights in the woods.

“I’m impressed, little sister.”

“Thanks.” I fell silent.

“Hey!” Laney said suddenly. “Did you hear Marie and Gavin broke up?”

“Good,” I said bitterly. Harrison and Laney looked at me surprised. With a sigh I told them about my over hearing of Marie trash talking me to Jill after school yesterday.

“What a bitch!” Laney exclaimed.

“It doesn’t matter,” I told them, trying to convince myself. No matter how many times I said that in my head, it still hurt that my supposed best friend would say something like that about me. I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes.

“You ok?” Laney asked gently.

“Yea,” I said, straightening up. “I’m just really tired.”

“I wasn’t gonna say it, but you look like it,” Harrison told me. “You look sick, actually.”

“I do?” I asked, probably sounding a little too happy about that fact.

“Yea.” Harrison nodded.

Maybe enough to go home sick, I thought. Harrison turned his attention back to his friends and Laney and I chatted about regular school stuff for the rest of lunch. The bell rang and we all stood to leave.

“Harry.” I grabbed his arm before he took off.

“Yea?”

“Do you know where I can buy fireworks?”

“Why do you want fireworks?”

“It doesn’t matter. Do you or don’t you know where I can buy some?”

“Yea.” He ran his hand through his hair. “It’s not a legal place though.”

I flipped open my notebook. “Give me the address.” He did, and the place as a good ways away. “How do you know about this?”

“Uh,” Harrison looked away. “It’s where I get my-” he cut off abruptly as a teacher was near. “-my supplies.”

“Mh-hm,” I said, narrowing my eyes a little. “Thanks, though.”

“You’re welcome, I think. Oh, Annie. They only take cash.”

“Not a problem.”

With part of my new plan already possible and being able to completely avoid Jill and Marie I was feeling ok until I sat down at my desk in calculus. Not only did I forget to do the homework, but I forgot that we had a test today. Shoot, I would have done a spell if only I remembered. Oh well, too late now.

I did the best I could, which wasn’t very good since I didn’t know any of the formulas, and turned in my test. I went back to my desk and put my head down. After a few minutes I asked Mr. Huber if I could go to the nurse because I wasn’t feeling well.
 
I must have looked ill because only ten minutes later I was packing up my stuff to go home. I wrote a note to Laney explaining that I was leaving and slipped it into her locker.

I drove to the hospital. I took the quartz crystals from my purse and stuck them in my pocket. I pulled the hood over my head and kept my eyes on the ground as I walked up to Leslie’s room, praying that I wouldn’t run into my mother. A nurse was coming out of the room just as I walked in.

“Hey Leslie,” I said quietly, happy to see her sitting and awake. The puffiness of the sctatches on her face had gone down a bit, but pale bruises sat behind them.

“Hey,” she called back, just as quiet. “Come in.”

I sat down on the chair next to the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Uh, in pain,” she said. “They cut my morphine.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks, but it’s not your fault.”

Oh, but it was. “I know,” I said, only because it was what I was supposed to say. “But I still wish I was there. Maybe I could have stopped it.”

Leslie raised a bruised eyebrow. “Yea, skinny little you.”

I looked out the window. The rain had stopped but today was still gray and bleak. I exhaled deeply.

“You ok?” Leslie asked.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” I turned back to her.

“You’ve seemed distracted for a while now. Why?”

“Just busy with Ethan.” That wasn’t a complete lie.

“Then why do you look so sad?”

“I’m not sad,” I objected. “I’m just…tired.”

“Uh-huh. Hey. Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Yea. I faked sick and went home early.”

“You are turning into quite the little rebel. I’m so proud!”

We laughed. “Thanks.”

“Does your mom know you’re skipping?”

“No, and she’d kill me if she found out.”

“Then you better leave, she said she’d stop by to say ‘hi’ after lunch, and she hasn’t come yet.”

“Shoot. Thanks for the warning.” I stood. “Oh, before I forget.” Reaching into my pocket I said, “You might think this is lame, but I believe in this weird stuff and I thought it was worth a try.”

I put the crystals on the table next to her.

 
“Crystals?” she asked, sounding skeptical already.

I nodded. “They have healing properties.”

“At least they’re pretty.” She smiled. “Thanks. Now go before you get your ass in trouble.”

“Alright, feel better!” I got back into the car without being spotted by Mom. I called Ethan and told him that I wanted to go home, shower and get dressed in my own clothes. He said he’d meet me there in an hour.
 
Thinking he’d probably get there sooner and arrive while I was in the shower, I left the garage door unlocked for him. I was almost done rinsing the conditioner out of my hair when I heard Hunter woof his ‘someone-is-at-the-door’ bark. A fluttering of butterflies went through my stomach when I thought of Ethan. I hurried up and got out of the shower.

“Ethan!” I called. The house was silent. I put on my bathrobe and padded down the stairs to see what was going on. “Ethan?” I called again but still didn’t get a response. I rounded the corner in the kitchen. Hunter was sitting by the sliding glass door starring into the back yard.

“Whatcha looking at, boy?” I asked and tried to follow his gaze. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. I should have known better. I shouldn’t have gone back upstairs thinking he must have barked at a squirrel. But I did.

You live and learn, right?

I turned on the hairdryer and started to dry my hair, the loud noise masking Hunter’s barking. When I clicked it off and flipped my hair over my back my blood ran cold. Hunter was barking, growling, snarling and jumping at the door. I could hear his nails scrapping on the cold glass.
Ethan!
I thought and sprinted down the stairs.

I slid to a stop in the kitchen. My eyes widened in terror. Standing on the deck looking into the house was the biggest gray Pricolici I’d ever seen. It looked like a Bull Mastiff crossed with a Great Dane crossed with the Devil. Its paws ended in horrible talons and its eyes were black as night with an eerie yellow iris glowing in the middle. A chill went down my spine; I knew those eyes. I’d seen them before. The thing looked from Hunter to me, showed its fangs and took off, jumping over the six foot fence and disappearing into the woods. Hunter barked until he couldn’t see it anymore. I stood rooted in the spot, shaking. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and sank down to my knees. Hunter trotted over and licked my face. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his fur. I took several deep breaths and tried to calm myself.