Rush (25 page)

Chapter 19

Caroline

“Mom, I broke up with Trent,” I said
into my phone. I was sitting on Max’s bed while he worked on some graphic
design project in the living room.

“You did?” Mom sounded shocked. “Oh,
honey, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m not. He was cheating on
me.”

“How could that be? He seemed so devoted
to you.”

I bit back the snort of derision that
wanted to escape. “Um, no, he really wasn’t. He just put on a good show for you
guys. Anyway, I have a new boyfriend.”

There came a disapproving silence. At
least, I thought it was disapproving.

“That was sure fast,” Mom said. “Can you
tell me his name?”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t know it,” I said
without missing a beat.

Another silence. Sometimes my mom has no
sense of humor.

I snickered. “I’m just kidding, Mom,
Jeez. It’s Max. Max Kincaid.”

“Max? Isn’t that Trent’s stepbrother?”
Now I could hear the disapproval dripping from her voice.

“Yeah, it is.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,
honey.”

“I was hoping I could invite him to
visit us over winter break.” Otherwise, I was going to do a lot of driving,
because there was no way I was waiting three weeks to see him again.

“Visit us how? You know I don’t approve
of sleepovers.”

Had she missed the part where I’d turned
twenty-one? Well, it was her house and she could make the rules however she
liked. But I didn’t have to like them, either, did I?

“No, I wasn’t talking about a sleepover.
I just thought maybe he could have dinner with us a couple of times. Maybe we
could spend a day here and there together.”

“Well.” I could almost see the pursed
lips and disapproving frown. “I suppose we could do that.”

“You’ll like him, Mom.” And even if she
didn’t, it wouldn’t stop me from seeing him. I’d just have to sneak around,
which I hated.

“I’m sure I will,” she said, but she
sounded unconvinced. “What’s he like?”

“Nothing like Trent. He’s an artist. He
has his own company and supports himself.”

“Really.”

There’s nothing like having your parent
disbelieve everything that comes out of your mouth. “Yeah, Mom. Really. He’s
very mature for his age.”

“But isn’t this the guy who thinks he
can do magic?”

I sighed. “It’s not what you think. He’s
not like Jo.”

“Hmm. Well, I’ll withhold judgment until
I meet him.”

I guessed that was the best I could hope
for at the moment, so it would have to do. “By the way, have you heard from Jo
lately?” I said, making my voice all casual, like I didn’t much care one way or
the other.

“No. She doesn’t have our number. We
changed it, remember?”

“So she couldn’t find us?” The thought
still made me angry.

“Yes. So she couldn’t find us.”

“That was a long time ago,” I said.

“Well, that’s kind of my point. It’s
been so long I have no idea where she is now.”

“I wish you—I mean, we—could have kept
in touch with her.”

“She was dangerous,” my mom said
defensively.

“Really? How?”

“She was drinking. You know that.
Drinking a lot. And talking to people who weren’t even there. I wasn’t sure
what she would do next, but I knew I didn’t want you and the twins involved.”

How did my mom know those people who
weren’t even there were really not there? Maybe Jo had seen ghosts, like I did.

Or maybe she was really nuts. Maybe I
was, too. Insanity ran in families, after all.

“Look, I know Jo was your favorite,” my
mom said. “But she wasn’t well, honey.”

“Then why did you kick her out?”

“She refused to get treatment. What else
could we have done?”

“I don’t know. It just makes me sad.”

“I know. Me too.” My mom sighed. “It
wasn’t an easy decision to make, believe me. She’s my sister and I loved her,
too.”

I found it disturbing that my mom used
the past tense. Did she think Jo was dead?

“Why do you ask, anyway?” she said. “Have
you heard from her?”

“No, I’ve just been thinking of her
lately.” Because I’d been seeing spirits, like she did. If there was one thing
that still scared the hell out of me, it was ending up like Aunt Jo.

“It must be the holidays,” my mom said. “We
tend to think of the people we’ve lost at this time of year. I wish she could
still share Christmas with us.”

“Me too. I miss her.”

***

Sunday of finals week, Max took me out
to Brad and Marie’s farm to meet his circle. He drove an old beater of a
subcompact, and it wasn’t especially comfortable to drive. It was a far cry
from Trent’s luxury sedan, that’s for sure, but I didn’t mind at all because I
was with Max.

The farmhouse was painted classic white
and looked like it dated from sometime in the early twentieth century. It had a
cute, storybook quality that I instantly liked, with a steeply pitched roof and
gables on the second floor. A huge tree that looked like it was at least as old
as the house loomed over the structure. Max parked in a wide, graveled drive
near the house and led me to the front door.

We didn’t have to wait. The door opened
and a slightly plump middle-aged woman with thick brown hair streaked in gray
came out smiling. She had a pretty face with large, intelligent hazel eyes
behind wire-framed glasses.

“Marie, this is Caroline,” Max said. “Caroline,
this is my foster mom, Marie Bradford.”

Marie smiled at me, but her eyes were
keenly appraising. It made me wonder what Max had told her about me, because I
was definitely being looked up and down and evaluated to see if I was good
enough for her boy. I started to bristle and then it occurred to me that here
was a person who actually cared about him. Deeply, judging by the expression on
her face.

I stuck out my hand. “Hi, Marie. I’m so
glad to meet you.”

“Max has told us all about you,” she
said, taking my hand.

“I’m glad he has people on his side.”

“Caro—” Max said.

Marie grinned at me. “I think I like
her.”

I glanced up at Max. He was blushing. I
put my arm around his waist, wishing I could reassure him without embarrassing
him further. He just slung his arm around my shoulders and brought me into the
house.

The small kitchen, which looked even
more vintage than Max’s, had an old-fashioned diner-style table crowded with
five people who were all looking at me. A middle-aged guy with nondescript
brown hair who I guessed was Brad, a pretty young woman with black hair in a
long braid, an older woman with a short gray bob, a young man whose brown hair
hung past his shoulders. He sported piercings in his nose and eyebrows. Like
Marie, they seemed to be summing me up.

Max introduced each one in turn. The
middle-aged guy was Brad, the black-haired girl Selene, the gray-haired woman
Nancy and the pierced guy was named Wolf. I couldn’t help wondering if that was
his real name or some kind of alias.

“Pull up a seat,” Brad said, smiling at
me.

Marie handed each of us a folding chair,
which we wedged into a narrow space made by the others scooting over. Now
everyone’s elbows touched.

“There really isn’t enough room here,”
Marie said. “Let’s go to the living room.”

Everyone got up and trooped through a
curved archway into the house’s small living room. There weren’t enough seats
for all of us, and Wolf and Selene plopped themselves down on the floor. Max
and I sat on the couch, where I curled up against his side. When I glanced
around the room, I noticed Selene watching me with a resentful narrowing of her
eyes. What was her problem?

“I don’t know how much Max has told you
about us,” Marie said. “We’re his working circle. We do magical work together.”

“So...you’re kind of like a coven?” I
said, hoping I wasn’t insulting anyone.

She smiled. “It’s basically the same
thing, but only some of us consider ourselves witches, so we use the term
circle.”

“Ah.” So which of them were witches? And
what did the others consider themselves? “I’ve never, um, met anyone who did
magic before Max.”

“We promise not to sacrifice any goats
while you’re here,” Wolf said solemnly.

Was he serious? Everyone laughed except
me. I looked up at Max with wide eyes.

“He’s just kidding,” he said. “We’d
never harm any animals. Or humans.”

“Whew,” I said, jokingly wiping
imaginary sweat from my brow. “I was scared for a second there.”

They laughed again.

“I brought my drums and stuff,” Wolf
said. “If anyone’s in the mood for some drumming.”

I looked at Max again.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Caroline’s
never done that.”

“Is it a ritual or something?” My palms
began to sweat.

“No, not really,” Max told me. “Tonight
it’ll be just drumming, maybe some chanting. Singing. It’s really informal.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Are you game?” Wolf looked at me with a
challenge in his eyes.

He was pushing me to see how far I’d go.
I could see it on his face. What would happen if I turned him down? I wasn’t
afraid they’d do anything mean to me, but it crossed my mind that they might
think less of me. It could damage my relationship with Max.

“Sure,” I said. I hoped I wasn’t getting
into something sticky.

Max squeezed my shoulders and kissed me
on the cheek. “Thank you,” he whispered, softly so only I could hear.

Selene looked like she wanted to roll
her eyes and was only barely restraining herself. She was jealous of me.

“First,” Marie said, “let’s say our
names and tell Caroline a little bit about ourselves.”

I felt like I was at a church fellowship
group I’d attended for a few months as a teen. Or maybe a support group. There
wasn’t much I knew about support groups, since I’d only seen them in movies,
but this introduction routine felt like the kind of thing that would happen
there.

Marie went first. “I’m Marie and I spent
a lot of my childhood on this farm. It belonged to my mom’s parents, and they
basically raised me because my mom was addicted to crack cocaine. They were
great parents and they left the farm to me, so here I am.”

Wow. Her grandparents raised a cocaine
addict...but then they raised her, too. How did that happen?

Brad smiled. “I’m Brad, and I just
follow Marie around wherever she goes.”

Marie slapped playfully at his arm. “That’s
not true.”

“Isn’t it?” He winked at me. “Marie and
I had been talking about moving to the country for years before she inherited
the farm. I’m a rad tech—an x-ray technician—at the hospital in town.”

Selene was next. She repeatedly wrapped
and unwrapped the end of her braid around her wrist while slanting sneaky
glances at Max. “I’m Selene. I’m an x-ray tech also. That’s how I met Brad and
Marie. I grew up on the east coast, but I went to school in Portland so that’s
where I am now.”

“I’m Wolf and I run a chop shop in the
slums of Portland.” The pierced guy looked at me blandly, waiting for my
reaction.

Max snorted. “You’re so full of shit,
dude.”

Wolf shrugged. “Also, I raise
sacrificial goats on the side.”

I fought against the smile that
threatened to break out. “What do you really do?”

He made a dismissive movement of his
head. “I’m still in school.”

“What’s your major?”

Max gave me a sneaky sidelong glance.
Was he jealous too? Ridiculous. Wolf did nothing for me, although he was pretty
hot in a pierced, long-hair and weirdness kind of way.

“Botany,” Wolf said.

“Nice. I’m doing French.”

He nodded in acknowledgment. I turned my
attention to the oldest person in the group, Nancy.

“I’m a yoga instructor,” she said. “And
a retired teacher.”

“My mom is a teacher,” I said. “High
school English.”

“Is that what you plan to do with your
French?”

Hell, no. “I haven’t made up my mind
yet.”

“Well, you still have time. And you can
always change your mind,” Nancy said. “No sense in rushing into things.”

That was the polar opposite of what
everyone else always told me...except for Mrs. Kincaid, who seemed to think I
should become wife to Trent and mom to his kids. Or, she had thought that,
before I’d broken up with him. I wondered what she thought now, not that I
cared.