Ethan dragged me out of Lucy's and across the street to the park where he settled me under the first set of trees he came to with a stern, "Don't move." Then he turned around and went back into the café.
My chin hit my chest. I felt my face heat with rage and wouldn't have been surprised to see smoke coming out of my ears. Oh, he so did not! The wind picked up and blew through the trees with a force that matched my anger. I grabbed my bookbag and started walking deeper into the park. Angry and embarrassed, I trudged along for another ten minutes or so before collapsing under a tree. Mr. Melt In Your Mouth Gorgeous was turning out to be a royal pain in the ass. Stay put? As if!
I sighed. This had to be the worst first date of my life. I'd gotten a crappy note taped to my locker while he was with Kay and then, when he'd finally shown up, his high-handed tactics only managed to piss me off. This was worse than when Craig had taken me to the Nascar Hall of Fame and proceeded to drone on and on about cars. Sure, my dad was a mechanic, but why would he just assume I'd know all about cars? I'd been bored within minutes and he'd gotten irritated when he figured out I wasn't paying attention to his babble. Needless to say, that had been our first and last date. I couldn't help but to wonder if Ethan and I would end up on that same course.
The rustle of leaves caught my attention and I looked up to see Sara Jordan and Megan Parker, Jeff's little sister, heading down one of the trails. Megan jumped up and down, barely able to contain her excitement.
"I can hardly wait," she said. "Can you believe it's on Saturday, Sara?"
"How could I not?" Sara asked dryly. "You won't let me forget."
"Well, it's not every day a girl gets inducted into the Junior Coven," she said defensively as they continued on down the path and out of hearing distance.
I smiled at the excitement in her step as she bounced from one foot to the other. Megan always did get a little over excited about things, but I suppose she had a right. Her induction into the Junior Coven was a big deal. Entrance signaled the beginning of the training that would end when she turned eighteen. Junior members were inducted at age fifteen and spent the next three years learning their craft from respected teachers of the Senior Coven.
Megan's excitement made me remember the night of Emily's induction. I wasn't allowed to go, but I'd stayed with her right up until she'd gone to the Hall. I let myself drift back to that moment.
Emily twisted her hair up and then let it fall back down. She turned in front of the full length mirror in her room and frowned. Her hair went back up and she flipped back and forth, trying to see it from all sides in the mirror. It blazed with life, all the colors shimmering as she moved. Her hair fascinated me. I'd never seen anyone's with so many different colors. It was beautiful.
"What do you think, CJ?" she fretted. "Up or down?"
"Up," I said promptly. "It makes you look older." I was obsessed with being older, especially tonight. I wanted to go and see Emily inducted into the Junior Coven more than anything, but my parents said no, I was too young. You had to be fifteen to go to the meetings and I was only twelve.
She saw my disgruntled face and smiled. "It'll be your turn before you know it."
"I don't want a turn," I rolled my eyes at her. "I just want to go and see you."
"You'll change your mind when you're older," she promised. "The Coven is everything you could ever want, CJ."
"Would it give me the new Nintendo Game Boy?"
She laughed. "I don't think even the Coven has that much pull. You'll have to work on Mom and Dad for that."
"So what use is the Coven then?" I grouched and crossed my arms over my chest.
"CJ, the Coven is a part of us even if we don't want it to be. Our family has been members since the town was founded and I can't wait to become a part of that history."
"Are you sure I can't sneak in? Kay would do it. She's dying to go too."
"I'm sure she is, but no, you can't sneak in. You need to respect the laws and traditions of our past." She pulled on her ceremonial gown. It shimmered in the light as if a thousand tiny diamonds were woven into the silvery white material. I jumped off the bed to touch it. I'd never seen it before. It was tiny and delicate, barely reaching mid thigh. Two thin straps held it up around her neck and I was glad she'd kept her hair up. It made the dress look even more fragile and Emily all but sparkled in it.
"It's beautiful," I whispered and fingered the soft material.
"This is part of our history, too," she told me while she fastened her silver locket around her neck. "This is the original gown Sara Bishop wore when she became a part of the Coven in Massachusetts."
I gave her a crazy look. Sara Bishop? She'd lived in like the 1690's. "It's too short. Didn't they wear stuff that covered everything?"
She grinned. "Usually, but this is different. Witches wore things a little more risqué when they worked their magic."
I gave her a look of total disbelief. I was not going to fall for that crap.
"I swear, CJ, it's hers," she promised with a wink. "Magic."
"There's no such thing as magic," I grouched, mad that she'd try and trick me.
She laughed and kissed the top of my head. "So how do I look?"
"Beautiful," I told her, unable to stay mad at her for long. She really was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen and tonight, tonight she looked like a goddess descending from the stars.
"Thank you," she said and fingered the locket. "Do you know why I'm wearing this?"
I shook my head.
"So you really will be with me." She leaned down and pulled me into a hug. The heart shaped locket held a picture of both of us. "I have an idea." She went into the bathroom and came out with a pair of scissors. She snipped a piece of each of our hair and put it into the locket. "I want you there too, little sister, and this way, I'll have a piece of you with me."
Her sapphire eyes had glowed with happiness when she'd left the house. She'd been just as excited as Megan. Emily had truly loved everything about the Coven, so why had she warned me to stay away from it? It made no more sense to me now than it had all those years ago. I'd seen the same desperation in her eyes that I'd seen in Dad's. What had caused her to change her mind? It was a mystery I needed to solve and soon.
"Can you not stay put for five minutes?"
I looked up into a pair of flashing storm clouds. Ethan glared down at me, a picnic basket in one hand. I swallowed. Picnic basket?
"I had to pick up our food," he growled and sat down next to me. His shirt stretched tight over his muscles and his jeans looked poured on. Did he have to look so yummy? "Then I come out to find you gone. I have been looking for you for the last twenty minutes. How do you move so fast in those heels?"
I glanced at my favorite black Jimmy Chou's. They'd cost me a small fortune, but the three inch black heels were more than worth it.
"Do not start on my shoes. You're in enough trouble as it is. I didn't really appreciate the attitude so I left," I told him, aware of his arm brushing mine as he pulled out the Styrofoam containers. My stomach rumbled at the smell of hamburgers. I was really hungry. Dad claimed my stomach was a bottomless pit and I had to agree with him. When I opened the one he handed me to reveal my favorite burger off the menu, made just the way I liked it, I almost started salivating. Lucy's had the best bacon cheese burgers in the state. Her burgers had even been featured on that show about diners on the Food Network.
"Attitude?" he asked, puzzled.
"I didn't appreciate getting hauled out of there like a naughty child."
He took a bite of his burger and his eyes crossed. "Good God, what's in this? I've never tasted anything so good."
"It's a secret recipe. Lucy won't tell anyone. Next, I did not appreciate you leaving a note on my locker while you were off with my best friend." Did my voice get just a wee bit loud at that? He was lucky I wasn't shouting.
"I took her home because she is your best friend," he snapped. "She was dead on her feet and I didn't think you'd appreciate it if she fell asleep driving home and was in an accident, especially considering what happened to your sister."
Oh. I cast a quick peek up at him and saw him glaring down at me. He'd taken her home because of me? Wait, I didn't tell him how Emily had died.
"How do you know what happened to my sister?"
"I asked Billy." He grabbed a fry and paused, watching me dip my own in blue cheese sauce. "What's that?"
I held it out for him to sniff and laughed when his face screwed up in disgust.
I popped the fry in my mouth. "Blue cheese. It's an acquired taste."
"If you say so." He eyed me with open curiosity as I savored the taste. "Billy said you took Emily's death really hard. I was only trying to make sure you didn't have to go through that again."
Crap. He had to go and remind me what a nice guy he was. "I'm sorry," I muttered. "I jumped to conclusions. Kay..."
"...is Kay," he interrupted me. "She's not you."
"She's beautiful," I whispered, not looking at him. "Every guy we know wants her." My paranoia was getting the best of me. I had never doubted myself before, but Ethan made me think crazy things, feel insane things, and I felt like I was losing my mind.
He sighed. "Have you not ever looked at yourself, Cassie? You're just as beautiful as she is." He reached out and wrapped a lock of my hair around his finger. "Your hair reminds me of the sunset and your eyes fascinate me. I've never seen such a blend of gold and yellow. They're not brown, not really, unless you get good and mad. No, they look more like honey." His other hand came up and cupped my cheek. "Your skin is the softest alabaster and as smooth as silk. You're gorgeous, Cassie Jayne Bishop."
Is that what he really saw when he looked at me? No one had ever said anything so beautiful to me in my entire life. He made me feel special.
He let go of me and tweaked my nose. "Now eat your food before it gets cold. Lucy said it was your favorite."
Flustered, I tried to pick my burger up with both hands, forgetting one was injured until pain lanced through it. "Oww!" I cried out, not expecting the sharp pain.
Ethan picked up my hand and pulled it gently to him. Before I could stop him, he started to unwrap it. His breath hissed out when he saw the finger shaped bruises. "Is this why you didn't want me to walk you home?" he demanded, his eyes black with fury.
"No!" I said quickly and tried to pull my hand away, but he held firm. His fingertip traced the bruises from beginning to end.
"Why didn't you want me to walk you home then, Cassie, and don't use Kay as an excuse."
"Since Emily's death, my dad drinks a lot," I told him. "When I got home yesterday, I heard him and Mom fighting. I went to visit Emily long enough for their fight to cool down. I figured Dad would be drunk by the time I got home and I didn't want you to see that."
"Does he hurt you every time he gets drunk?" he asked, his voice low and hard.
"NO! Dad's never laid a finger on either me or Mom."
Ethan stared pointedly at my wrist. "Did he do this?"
"Yes, but he didn't mean to."
Ethan gave me a look I'd seen on countless people's faces on TV when they heard others say they stayed with an abusive husband or boyfriend because they loved them even if they hurt them sometimes. I was not one of those people.
"I'm not stupid and I'm not making excuses for him. Yesterday was the first time he's ever done something like this. We were talking about Emily and the Coven meeting last night. Something scared him and he grabbed my hand not thinking. He forbade me to ever go near the Coven. His eyes were crazy. My going frightened him so much, something snapped in him. He didn't even know he was hurting me until I told him. Dad didn't mean to do this, Ethan. "
"He doesn't want you to go to the Coven meetings?'
I shook my head.
"Well, at least you're not lying to me." He started to re-bandage my hand.
I frowned.
"You lip's not quivering, Cassie," he explained with a laugh. "And I'm sorry too. I didn't stop to think what you might have thought about me escorting another girl home when you and I were supposed to be on a date."
"Thank you." He apologized? Wow.
"So, what's your favorite color?"
"Huh?" I blinked at the abrupt change of topic.
"Your favorite color, Cassie," he laughed. "I'm trying to get to know you."
"Red," I said. His eyes sparkled at me. He knew how much he rattled me.
"The color of passion," he murmured and eyed my hair. My face flamed to match the color of my hair.
"What about you? You grew up in Virginia?" I quickly changed the line of questioning to something I was more comfortable with.
He grinned ruefully at me and winked. "Falls Church. It's a great place."
"Then why did you come here?"
"Because my dad thought it would be good for me to learn about his side of the family. He met my mom in college and she was never a part of the town or the Coven. She wouldn't even let us visit Granddad here. He had to come to us, so we rarely saw him."
"Your mom doesn't believe in any of it either?" I asked and tried to eat my burger one handed. It was simply too big to hold with one hand. Ethan laughed at my failed attempt and took the burger from me. He held it up for me to take a couple bites.
"My mom was raised to be a good Catholic girl and to her, witchcraft was evil," he told me and put my burger back down. "Dad, on the other hand, thought I should have the option of learning about my heritage. The Coven is very important to him so I thought I should at least give it a try for him."
Mom's words came back to me about owing it to myself to find out why Emily loved the Coven so much. Ethan's words echoed hers. It was important to his dad so he'd try it. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe I should at least think about seeing what it was about.
I'd promised Emily I wouldn't go near it. How could I break my promise to her?
"What are you thinking?" Ethan asked me. "I can never tell what you're thinking."
"Nothing," I shook my head. "Do you believe in it?"
"I don't know," he answered me thoughtfully. "Some of the stuff I've seen is...I just don't know. What's your favorite flower?"
"Daisies. What kind of stuff have you seen?"
Maybe something like what I thought I'd seen earlier at the cafe? It had been fuzzy and blurred, but definitely something. It'd almost looked like...someone. That couldn't be right, could it? Or was it?
I frowned and looked at Ethan. He'd shown up right after it appeared and Billy had stared at him like he was a freak show for a second or two. It couldn't have anything to do with him, could it? No. I was being ridiculous. Ethan was real. I wasn't so sure about the shadow.
Then the conversation with Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Johnson popped into my head. They'd been shocked at what I'd done. What had I done? The more I thought about it, the more I began to think I might have caused that shadow to appear. It would explain everyone's reaction and the conversation I overheard. But if that was true, then I needed to reevaluate my whole nonsense theory.
"You're doing it again, Cassie," Ethan sighed. "You've got that expression that says you're thinking really hard. What's going on in that head of yours?"
"Just wondering...if maybe...I'm the one that's wrong about it being nonsense?"
"Only one way to find out." He offered me another bite of my burger. "Go to one of the meetings. They're holding an induction Saturday night."
"It's for Jeff's little sister," I said and took the offered bite. I sighed in pleasure. Lucy's burgers were s-o-o-o good. I took two more bites before I let him put it down.
"Favorite band?" he fired off and filched one of my fries.
"Fall Out Boy." I slapped his hand. I wanted my fries. "Yours?"
"Kings of Leon. Why don't you believe in it?"
"I just never did," I told him.
"But why? You grew up with it more than even I did. I just don't understand."
How could I explain it to Ethan when I was finding it harder and harder to explain it to myself? "It's like a fairytale, Ethan. Magic only exists in books."
"You don't sound quite so sure of yourself." He laced his fingers through mine.
"Not anymore," I sighed. His hand felt so warm. His eyes...goodness, but his eyes could make me melt from the inside out.
"Then come with me Saturday night and find out if it's all just nonsense or if there really is something to it." He pulled my fingers to his lips and brushed a kiss across my knuckles. "Please, Cassie?"
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. His lips were like a little electric shock. "Let me think about it, okay?"
He smiled that heart-stopping smile and leaned in to kiss me. An explosion of fire went off. I felt it all the way down to the tips of my toes. When he pulled back, we were both a little breathless. "Take all the time you need to think about it. What was the last movie you watched?"
"That last Transformers movie."
"You like action movies?"
"No, I like Shia LaBeouf. He's cute and he can act."
He grinned. "You always amaze me and never say what I expect you to."
"What were you expecting? Some chick flick?"
"You're not at all what I thought you'd be," he frowned, his smoky eyes guarded. "I almost wish you were that girl."
Now what the hell did that mean?
"But I'm glad you're not." He gave me his best cocky smile. "I like this girl who's sweet and loyal, but has a temper to match all that fiery red hair."
I smiled at his words, but something niggled in the back of my mind. It wasn't what he said, but his tone of voice. A sliver of alarm crept up my spine, but I pushed it away as he leaned over and kissed me. My arms found their way around his neck and he deepened the kiss. Curse the Fates, but the boy knew how to kiss. I never wanted it to end.
All too soon, he pulled away. His forehead pressed against mine and all I could see was his eyes. They were the color of molten steel, almost silver, and stared into mine with an intensity that made me blush. He grinned at my reaction.
I took a shaky breath and tried to disentangle myself. I needed distance to think straight. His touch could make me forget almost everything. I winced when my wrist connected with his shoulder.
"I think that's our cue to get you home, Cassie Jayne Bishop," he sighed and started repacking everything into the basket. I watched his muscles ripple with each movement, amazed at the grace in every action. He helped me up and then grabbed my bookbag and the picnic basket in one hand and took mine in the other. We walked in silence until we reached my house.
I was thankful the parental units weren't home yet, but they soon would be. Ethan had a look that said he very much wanted to meet my father. Uh, no. Not gonna happen, at least not yet.
"Thanks for the picnic," I said. "It was very thoughtful."
"Are you trying to get rid of me, Cassie?" he asked with a grin.
"Yup," I nodded.
"I should be hurt," he purred, "but I can see the panic in your eyes. I promise not to say anything to your father, okay? I believe you."
A long, drawn out sigh escaped. He believed me? Really?
He sat my bookbag down on the porch with the basket and pulled me into his arms, careful of my hand. "Trust me, Cassie." He lowered his head and gave me another one of those mind blowing kisses. "See you tomorrow," he told me when he broke the kiss. He grabbed the basket and walked back down the lane.
I couldn't stop thinking about his parting words—trust me.
Did I trust him? Maybe, but something told me not to. How weird was that?