Wicked Sense (21 page)

“No, I mean, the name of your church or whatever. What do you call yourselves, I don’t know, in the
online
forums or in the Facebook groups?”

She looks at me as if I’m the delusional one. “We don’t have this
type
of
public discussion. It’s not something that we announce to the world.”

“I can imagine why,” I say. Sometimes I wish I’d shut up.

Her hoarse voice takes
an authoritative tone. “Drake, i
t’s not a fad. It’s the real thing. We don’t sell our teachings for ten bucks. There’s no downloadable PDFs, no web
i
nars, no speaking gigs,
no selling
spells on eBay,
no workshops. The knowledge is truly secret, passed
verbally
or via
handwritten
books, from generation to generation. And only to the true
Sisters
,
the ones who possess magical energy. T
he ones who had a Daybreak.”

Skye probably sees a big question mark where my face
should be. She
sighs. “The day our magical energy activates is called a Daybreak
,” she says.
“
It happens when we’re fifteen or so. Have you ever hea
rd of debutant
e
balls or
quinceañ
eras
? Those are remnants
of ancient celebrations of girl
s
’
Daybreaks. The true meaning is lost nowadays, of course.”

Something comes to my mind. As much as it pains me to talk about it, I need to know. “But what about your ex? I mean, he’s a dude, right?”

“Very much so,” she says, and then she looks at me
in alarm
. “I mean, it’s rare
, but sometimes a man can be a w
itch.”

So, the boyfriend is a rare bird. Like a straight male ballet dancer. Which means all the straight female ballet dancers will fall for him, eventually.

S
t
op being an ass, Drake,
you have
more important things
to consider
.

“It’s too much,” I say. I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees, my hand
s
pressing my forehead.

“Hey, you wanted the crash course.”

Staying still, I ask, “Is there any way you can prove it? To make things easier on me?”

I wait for a response, b
ut I don’t have to wait long. “We
can’t
create fireballs or ice storms
, nothing
like that. The effects
of a spell
are s
ubtle,
sometimes
over a long time.
”

“Can’t you brew me a strength potion, or something?
” I say from my
hunched position.
“
Do you have this
? Like love potions?”

“I kno
w how to brew a
fancy
-
me
potion. I
t’s very basic, but it lasts
just a couple of hours.
It’s huge with recent
Daybreakers
. It makes the boy dizzy and
open to suggestion
.”

A spark
ignites a memory inside
my head. I straighten up out of reflex.

“Seriously?” I ask. “How does it taste?”

“What?” She cocks her head. “Why—”

“Just
tell
me,” I plead.

“You want to see if I’m making this up, right? Like, if I can’t come up with ingredients, you’ll know it’s a lie.”

“
Humor
me,” I say with a hint of impatience.

“Okay. I won’t give you the specifics
, not that you could brew it. Even if you could,
you have no personal magic.
B
ut
it’s
still a secret. It takes wild berries, silica powder, honey—”

“A
nything
citrus
?” I ask, interrupting her. “Like orange?”

Her jaw drops. “Yes,
orange, or
grapefruit. How—”

“
A
nd an earth
y flavor?” I can barely contain myself.

“Yeah
. A
mushroom. Why?”

“Because,” I say, “I t
hink that if you mixed it with
beer, it can be a powerful date-rape drug.”

Skye’s eyes bulge
. “How can you possibly know that?”

Jane drugged me and took advantage of me. I have mixed feelings about that.

Also, I’m concerned it’s going to
sound like
the lamest excuse in the history of excuses.

Drake tells me what he’s been thinking.
His theory is not
as
far-fetched as he thinks. Based on Jane’s actions, it’s totally possible—probable, actually—that she would drug Drake to get some information about me. Or was it just to get Drake to go along with her seduction?

This is the part where I’m surprised at my own reaction. I recognize the sensation I had many times while (and
sometimes,
after) dating
Connor
.

It’s like this tiny, forgotten part of
me
is having an anxiety attack. You are well, but this small piece of you keeps nagging
you, nibbling
your brain, tugging
at
your heart, making you uneasy for no apparent reason. Yep: jealousy.

So, I do have feelings for Drake.
Huh.
For a moment I wonder if it’s just a territorial thing; a sense of entitlement maybe. I feel childish: how dare Jane try to win over
my
man? Never mind I abandoned him forever and dumped him by text
:
I called dibs on him!

I smile in my mind, but my smile somehow spills over my face, and Drake sees it.

“What?” he asks, half-smiling himself.

I assume a serious expression. “Nothing,” I reply. “I think you may be right. Drugging you sounds like something Jane would do.”

“I know, right?” He seems overl
y satisfied with my acceptance.

“What now?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Is there any way I can go to the police to
accuse
Jane?
Can you think of an explanation that doesn’t involve witchcraft?”

“We could think of something, but I’m afraid that Jane, if cornered, could bring up the subject. Maybe just to murk things up, maybe to damage our culture. The police wouldn’t believe her, but word would be out and damage would be done.”

He shakes his head. “How
have
you
managed to keep
this secret for so long?”

“
We’re a tight-kn
it
community. We have rules and safeguards.” I don’t mention a few well-positioned friends in government and media.
“The Veil is essential to us.”

“What are you doing here in Seattle? Did you come after your ex?”
h
e
asks nonchalantly, but his eyes betray his concern.

I can’t make him trust me by telling half-truths. I
spend the next half hour
tell
ing
him about the Singularity.

He lets out an exaggerated sigh. “That’s more like the kind of witch I’ve heard about.”

I need to show him the Veil’s importance across one more time. “Do you see how she’s
a
big liability to pe
ople who want to remain hidden? That’s not all. If somebody discovers the
existence of the
Singularity, there will be a witch hunt. They’ll come for me and everyone I know.”

“What? How do you know that?”

I shrug
.
“I just know.”

“How sure are you?”

“Eighty-two percent?”
I say, reciting the number the scholars
told
us
.

He
chuckles
and asks, “Where does Jane fit into this?”

“Jane is a free
agent.
Doesn’t
seem to
belong to a coven.
Nobody controls her.”

“I’ll say,” he mumbles, shaking his head
. “But aren’t you worried
about Jane
?
What if she attacks you again?
What’s
you
r
mother going to say?”

There we go. Okay, no more secrets.

I tell him about my mother, her career.
He blushes. “What?” I ask.

“Nothing…”

“Tell me!”

He rubs the back of his head. “It’s just that… I saw you
r
mother naked in a movie once.”

He and half of the
w
orld.
Yep, that’s Mum.

Drake
is
mortified, but I have other concerns. He listens while I tell him about the publicity it would attract if Katherine
Lexington-Ellis
’s daughter walked into a police station.

“Couldn’t the cops keep it quiet? Or the press?” he offers.

“You don’t know
your own country
very well, do you? And you certainly don’t know England. I don’t want my face on
the
TMZ website or o
n
T
he
Sun’s front page.”

He shrinks a little. No doubt he’s realizing the implications of dating the daughter of a celebrity.

Did I just use the word “dating”?

“What’s next
, then?” It’s his turn to ask.

“We go to school as if nothing happened,” I say.

“Skye, she tried to kill you!
” He stands up. “
There’s blood all over the pool building!”

“Nobody saw us. The school doesn’t know about it, or your
d
ad’s phone would be ringing,” I argue.

“That’s not what I meant. A person you see every day wants you dead.” He opens his arms wide. “If we don’t do something, tell someone, she’ll try again.
Aren’t you worried at all?”

I tug on his shirt, pulling him to sit down on the bench again. A
couple of joggers were looking at us. “Of course I’m worried,” I whisper. “But you’ll protect me, won’t you?” I can’t suppress a giggle.

“Come on, Skye…”

“Okay, okay. You and I are going to be more careful. I’ll
perform the strongest rituals I know to protect us every morning. We can also drink potions to ward off any
spells against us
,” I say, pretending I don’t see his eyes rolling.

“Are they FDA-approved?”

“
And we’ll do something about it,” I say.
“
Are you with me?”
I add, staring at him suggestively.

Skye, you flirty little devil. 
 

“You have to ask?” h
e says.

Is it wrong that I
’m
find
ing
this so much fun?

She’s a cipher. Well, g
etting mixed signal
s
from
a woman
puts me in
the
company of three and half billion men.
It’s a small solace.

Of all we discussed today, including witchcraft and Hollywood, what strikes me the most is what we didn’t mention: our…
situation.

I expected that,
with all the things going on right now, dating would be the last thing on my mind.
I was
dead wrong.

M
y head
is
spinning
at
the prospect of having her back.
Well, not having her
back
, because I never had her in the first place.

Still, as we leave the downtown park, I glance at her, and she seems different. Even with the gathering of
gray
clouds above us, she looks
sunny. A sunny witch.

I don’t care if she’s delusional,
or
if she’s maybe dragging me into her madness. Right now, I don’t need to make a decision about believing her or not. I can just go with it. I have plenty of evidence (the potions, the rituals, Jane and Skye’s behavior)
that
she’s telling the truth. On the other hand, there’s also evidence (
everything else in the world
) that she’s a lunatic.