Chapter Forty-Six
Bewitch
“So evil Witch-mother is the leader of a Coven?”
The school bell still hasn't rung so when Avery and I walk in through the front doors of Westershade High I steer us towards our usual table out in the courtyard. I skim the crowds as we go, looking for Stacey or Lara.
I shrug. “That's what she said.”
“The other Witch named Raina?” Avery asks.
“Uh-huh.”
“And they called her a High Witch? And Elise said that the coven was the reason she left? And that you would have had an auntie if she wasn't dead? And she kicked you out?”
I bypass all the other questions and decide to just answer the last one.
“She didn't kick me out.” I insist. “Chill. You don't need to storm the castle.”
“I don't like her.” she says. “I really don't like her.”
“I know but unfortunately she is the person who birthed me and bestowed these, you know, extraordinary powers or whatever and considering she knows more about being a Witch then I do we have to tolerate her at the moment.”
Avery grumbles bitterly, boarding on a low, humming growl. I gently elbow her to stop the sound.
“If you think this is bad,” she says. “Then you'll rue the day when Elise Crawford and I meet.”
“And who might that be?” someone asks.
My chuckling laughter cuts off when I spot Merida ahead of us.
“Do you even go to your classes?” Avery asks her. “Or do you just lurk in the hallways, lean against walls, and put in your opinion where it isn't needed?”
“Oh come on, sweetheart, my opinion is very needed.” Merida straightens up and gives us her best, most devious smile – the first warning that she's striving to cause trouble.
She turns to me, the nefarious smirk still set in place, even though her eyes soften just that smallest fraction in a change that I only barely notice.
"It's good to see you aren't dead.” she says. Her faint care is gone already. “You definitely don't smell like it anymore."
The disquiet I'm edging towards settles fast.
"What are you talking about?" Avery takes half a step forward.
Merida waves her hand like she just remembered something that was otherwise clearly evident before. "Oh right, you weren't there. A few days ago your little Witch here looked as if she'd been dragged through the lowest circle of hell.”
My blood turns to ice.
"How do you know that?"
Merida glances at me, casting her smirk a twitch higher, before she looks back at Avery.
“But I suppose you wouldn't have known that considering you where no where to be found." she says.
"I was-"
"Too busy to save your closest friend from having her head ripped off?"
I can practically see the rage stirring beneath Avery's skin, summoning up claws and coat and strange eyes that glow from her own.
“Don't piss me off, Merida.” she warns. “There's five days to the next full moon. I don't want to have to bury a body.”
Full moons equal incredibly heightened agitation. I'll keep that in mind.
"I mean, you should have seen her, Avery. Blood everywhere, pale as a ghost. I might have thought she was already dead if she wasn't standing here right now.” Merida pauses to look between us. “And how is that exactly?"
Neither Avery nor I speak. Merida clicks her tongue.
"You girls,” she says. “I've never encountered so many secrets in my life. Living here really is going to be so much fun.” She looks at me again with a smile that's grown into a full blown grin. “Especially considering the people coming after you, sweetheart."
Avery steps forward. “Shut your mouth.”
“What are you gonna do about it?” Merida moves even closer. “Leave me to die, too?”
Avery grabs Merida and shoves her up against the locker at her back. Her eyes burn a brilliant blue, like a flame's hottest center, and Merida's react so, glimmering silver. She snarls with teeth sharpened to points.
I move between them.
"Stop!"
It's like the world trembles at my shout, like I'm a raindrop and I've just landed in the sea to cause a ripple effect that resonates for miles. The air shimmers and slams into the two Werewolves to send them flying back, split from each others reach.
Avery stumbles and snaps her widened eyes up to me. Merida leans a hand against the lockers and attempts to collect herself again.
"And here I was,” she says, panting and smiling even still. “Beginning to think you were powerless.”
I cast a glance around us in alarm. People have stopped to watch. The halls have gone silent.
I shoved them, that's what they'll think. My hands were close enough to their chests. It must have looked like I pushed them apart.
I glance over at Avery. Her eyes have returned to normal. Her fingernails, too. But she's stiff with alarm and lingering anger.
“Take a breather.” I say, pointing towards the bathroom.
She nods, spins around, and stalks away from us.
Merida chortles at the small victory.
I turn to her. “Why have you got be such an asshole?”
She shrugs. “I like ruffling feathers.”
I shake my head and walk past her in the opposite direction to the one Avery took. The last thing anyone needs is another interception of the two.
Merida walks by my side.
“You aren't curious?” she asks.
“Curious about what?”
“How I know you're a Witch.”
I press my lips together, readjust my bag strap on my shoulder, and keep going.
“That old Seer's only teaching you how to make water boil and flowers bloom out of season, am I right?" she asks.
"What would you know? You're a Werewolf."
"Yes but I've had my fair share of run-ins with Witches over the years." she says. "Nasty ones, too. Ones that know how to fill your head with nightmares that practically rob you of all sanity. Ones that can alter the weather, turn the brightest summer day into a hell storm that kills everyone in it's path. Ones that can levitate thirty meters off the ground, turn blood to tar, cast a curse that can make someone literally tear themselves out of their own skin."
"Stop."
"And you know what? Your mother is one of those Witches. She can do all that, Parker.” she says, her quieting voice accompanied by her slowing footsteps. “She just has to stick around long enough to show you."
When I spin around, Merida's gone.
“You seem to be lacking your usual conscientiousness, Parker.” Paul comments from beside me, two long hours after the beginning of my shift.
My head has been thumping in time with my heartbeat ever since I walked into the diner. Just before I had set the rag in my hand down and leaned against the front counter, closing my eyes against the spiking headache, when he'd walked in. I stand up straight now, grab the rag back up, and continue wiping down the surface of the bench.
“Are you alright?” he asks. “Is it a migraine? Do you want something for it?.”
“No, I'm okay.” I say and send him a quick smile. “Just tired I guess. It'll pass.”
“Are you sure?” I nod. “Just take care of yourself, alright? I know things can get pretty stressful at times but nothings any good if you're stopped by pain every step.”
It sounds a bit like an inspirational line from a TV commercial but it's sweet for Paul to say. He disappears into the kitchen and I keep going, ignoring the headache until nine when my shift comes to an end. I'm pushing open the front door, listening to the bell dinging in my wake, just before my phone starts to ring.
I reach into my pocket for it and read the ID.
“Hey,” I greet when I pick up.
“I'm sorry I'm late.” Avery says with sounds like a closet door opening and fabric being rifled through playing in the background. “I fell asleep but I'll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“No, it's alright.” I say. “I've got Blue with me and–“
Parker.
The sound of my name whispers out of the trees, gliding inside a pocket of my mind with a familiar prick of dull pain that chases away my headache for just a moment. I look out to the forest lining the parking lot and search the trees. My gaze catches on someone else's and I stare out at the familiar wolf.
Raoul.
His deep brown eyes remind me of a cave. Dark and yet strangely alluring. They draw me in but at the same time they chase me away.
“Parker? Parker?” A distant voice squeaks.
I press the phone back to my ear.
“I'm here.”
“What's going on?” Avery demands.
“Nothing.” I reply. “Listen, I've got Blue. I'll be fine. He can keep me safe. I'll call you when I get home, okay?”
“Parke– “
I end the call and drop the phone back into my pocket.
“You might as well come meet me by the road.” I say to myself so that only the wolf can hear. I start walking without seeing if he decides to go or not, focusing on the path ahead and the feel of Blue's fur against my calf as I walk.
When I pass by the closest gathering of trees to the road right before it melts into more buildings and asphalt, Raoul drifts out of the undergrowth to walk alongside me. I'm glad that it's a cold night; there's less people out and about this way. The street ahead looks practically abandoned.
The dark wolf glances over at the black cat across from him. He stares for a moment, blinks, then looks away without saying anything about it. I don't doubt that he knows what Blue is.
“You came looking for me.” I say.
“To see if you were still alive.” the wolf replies.
It's such a strange feeling to have someone's voice in your head, like a melody made only for you to hear.
"So how long have you been watching me?"
Raoul glimpses me out of the corner of his brown eyes and huffs, looking forward again.
"How come?” I ask him again. “Surely there are more important things for you to do besides watching out for the stupid girl who snuck into a meeting of Shapeshifters."
Pause.
"Stupid Witch girl." he corrects.
My heart skips a beat.
I try to keep my voice as even as possible when I speak. “How did you know I wasn't human?”
“Because I pay attention.” he says. It seems to be the most obvious answer. “You're just lucky there were other human partners at the Naelake meeting. If the Alpha's hadn't been so distracted you wouldn't have made it off the property alive.”
I have you to thank for that, I think.
"What do you know about Carter South?" I ask aloud.
“The Alpha boy?” he sounds seemingly indifferent to the subject. “He's too young to be a pack leader. Nineteen years old and in charge of over three dozen wolves?” He makes a guttural noise to show his disapproval.
We walk in silence for a few more steps before he adds something else.
“I know he has some kind of interest in you.” Raoul says. “It's clouding his mind and his judgment. That's probably the reason why he's yet to detect your mixed blood."
Mixed blood. Like a mixed drink, a mixed crowd, a mixed bag of lollies. It's an almost trivial thing to be mentioned now.
“What do you think will happen when he does?” I ask.
“Nothing good.” he replies.
Right then my head starts to thump strong again, the violent ache coming on so quick that I have to stop and take a breath, fingers pressed to my forehead. I squeeze my eyes closed against the sharp pain.
“Kid? Are you okay?”
This doesn't feel like any other headache anymore. It feels different. It feels wrong.
“Parker?”
I open my eyes to the image of the sidewalk blurring at the edges, to Raoul's voice quickly fading into low, thick sounds that I can't quite make out. The world lifts and pulls out of shape. The ground slides away. Colors melt. A spike of fiery pain goes through my chest to set alight every nerve in it's wake.
It all happens so fast that I barely have enough time to reach for Blue before I'm going down.