Something Witchy This Way Comes (18 page)

“You’re going to talk to Mr. Linton tomorrow, right?” she asked, getting out the other side.

“Yeah. Why? You know something?”

“Not really. My gut’s telling me that you need to get whatever you need from him by the end of the day.” Tessa shadowed me to a chain link fence beyond the sidewalk.

I put my hands against the fence and leaned forward. “St
retching before a run is important. Just do what I do.” I watched her mimic my movements and struggled to keep the lust at bay. “Keep your feet flat. Feel it in your calves?”

“Yeah.”

Damn. She was so hot.

We planned to go to the karate studio after our run, then meet with Chait and his hoodlums later. How could I get her to spend the rest of the day with me?

Chapter Seventeen

Tessa

We entered the abandoned building and my eyes were immediately drawn to the stream of light coming from the window Hayden had broken the day before. It had been boarded up but only enough to prevent human intruders. Six-inch spaces between slats kept the large room from becoming too dark and musty.

“You guys don’t like electricity and running water?” I asked.

Chait chuckled. “Easier to meet here since you already knew where it was.” 

“Are you armed?” a blond man asked Hayden. I remembered his face from some pictures Fawn had shown me in the auditorium. I was pretty sure she called him David. He had a higher position in the organization than Chait and Rena.

A shorter guy reached toward Hayden’s waist to check for a gun.

Hayden blocked him with one arm and sent him stumbling back with the other. I’d barely seen him move. “Back off.” He glared first at the guy who’d attempted to frisk him then at the blond guy. “After what happened yesterday, don’t you think that’s a stupid question? If you’re smart, you won’t give me a reason to use it.”

Testosterone plus Hayden equaled a very heady effe
ct on me. Butterflies did the cha-cha in my tummy.

“Fair enough. Can’t say I blame you after what happened.” The blond man scowled briefly at Rena, then stretched a hand out to Hayden. “I’m David.”

Hayden shook it, which relieved me. It would be difficult enough trying to figure out Chait and his team without Hayden’s hostilities complicating things.

 “If you don’t mind, we’d like some time with Tessa. You can sit over there and watch.” He patted himself down a
nd opened his suit jacket. “I’m not armed and you’re welcome to check everyone else. You’ve met Rena and Chait.” They each nodded. “That’s Jason who already knows to stay away from you.” David smiled. “Actually, I think we all do.”

Hayden’s face remained expressionless.

“From what I hear, you’re well informed,” David continued.

“Yeah. You guys read minds and crap.” Hayden folded his arms over his chest. “I’m relying on the fact that you guys know what I’ll do if anything happens to Tessa.”

David held his hands palms out. “We got it. You stay cool. We’ll stay cool.”

“Good. Get started. I have things to do.” Hayden backed away and leaned against the wall near the broken window.

“Tessa, why don’t you take a chair?” David asked.

I glanced around at the bare walls and open ductwork on the high ceilings. No one lurked in the corners but I remained standing, my arms crossed over my chest. “No, thank you.”

David, Chait and Rena sat.

“Our apologies for the incident yesterday. I was misinformed or never would’ve approved it. And they weren’t supposed to use force.” He glanced at Rena long enough to drive the point home. “Our intentions aren’t to hurt you.”

“Let’s cut to the chase.” I inhaled deeply. “Why would I believe you guys over Ms. Phillips and Mr. Linton? Both sides have a pretty good spiel so far, but your actions leave a lot of room for doubt.”

“You’re right. All we ask is a chance to give our side,” David said.

“What if, in the end, I choose them? Then what? You guys will kill me?”

Chait stiffened in his chair. “We don’t go around murdering people because we don’t like their choices. That’s Frank and Lila’s style, not ours. We’d rather everyone picked us but we can’t use force. The only reason we’d need to kill anyone is if they came after us.”

“You’re wasting your time.” Rena kept her gaze averted as she tapped a fingernail on the seat of her wooden chair. “She’s not going to help us, no matter how hard you try to convince her, Chait. In the end, even if she does, she’ll still end up like her sister. She won’t be any use to us either way.”

Chait’s head whipped around, his blue eyes cutting into hers. “What?”

My brows knitted. “Do you mean Bree?”

Rena smirked. “No. Your
big
sister. Zoe.”

“Big sister?” A vague memory washed over me. Blond hair, green eyes — a girl who looked a lot like me. In my mind, my beloved older sister hovered over me; the ends of her long hair brushed my cheeks as she tickled me and I squealed.

“Zoe,” my mother had called out, “make sure you give her a chance to breathe.”

But that was a long, long time ago, before my family fell apart and everything changed.

The room swirled. My throat closed up and I strained for oxygen.

My older sister, though I’d forgotten her with time, had existed. My knees threatened to give way so I gripped the back of the chair to stay standing. “What happened to her?”

Rena’s brown, lifeless eyes met mine. “She died.”

Was the memory real though? Or was it only my imagination, a video created by Rena?

It felt like my other memories but different than the fantasies I’d gotten from Hayden before we’d kissed. The visual of Zoe was definitely a real memory.

“I thought you knew.” She met Chait’s disapproving glare and shrugged.

I knew
now
, but how could I have forgotten my own sister?

Another long-lost memory rushed me. My mom’s panicked shouts had intruded upon my dreams and I’d staggered out of my room, rubbing my sleepy eyes against the bright lights. Mom was shaking Zoe’s limp shoulders while my dad frantically dialed 9-1-1.

The ambulance had arrived while I’d stood there numb from crying, my cheeks and eyelashes soaked with tears. By the time they wheeled her body out on the gurney, covered in a sheet from head to toe, I’d already gone to that scary place you go when reality is too much, when you know it can’t get any worse. When you turn everything off.

I remembered everything now as if I’d never forgotten.
My
memories. Not fabricated. “How did she die?”

“The official report says heart attack.” Rena had lost the smirk but I wondered if she felt badly about the situation or only pretended compassion — for Chait and David’s benefit.

“But you don’t think so?” I asked.

“C’mon. A young healthy teenager drops dead from a heart attack? Doubtful. They killed her,” she said.

I cringed at her choice of words. Hayden moved in my peripheral vision, but I shook my head to signal him to stay. He retreated to the corner. Good. I wanted as much information as I could get without Hayden distracting them. “Frank and Lila?”

 “Who else?” she asked.

“How?
”

“A Mover can shift molecules, speed things up, create heat. They could have over worked her heart until
it gave up.”

That made sense. The more answers I got, the steadier my legs grew beneath me. But I still clung to the back of the chair for support, just in case. I would’ve preferred to sit, but I didn’t want to look vulnerable to these people since I had no idea if they were really my friends. “So my sister was a witch?”

 “Yes.” Rena’s gaze drifted as though she’d lost interest in the subject matter.

“But why would anyone want to kill her?”

“Maybe they suspected she’d chosen sides. She still lived with her parents which left her unprotected.” David shook his head, eyes full of sympathy. “Tessa, I’m sorry.”

My grandmother had passed away, too, about four years ago. A more recent memory of her mingled with the others wrea
king havoc in my head and my chest tightened. I blinked and a teardrop slid down my cheek.

I still missed Grandma. I remembered how she’d always smelled of orange blossoms, how much I loved her and that weekends were my favorite time of the week. Not because there was no school, but because sometimes I got to see Grandma.

There were photos of her scattered throughout the house. Not of Zoe though. It was as if they’d erased their daughter, my sister, from their lives by removing evidence of her existence. Until now, it had worked.

My throat ached and I desperately needed a moment alone so I could fall apart. But not yet. I needed more information. “My sister was a witch and so am I. But not my mom?”

“No.” David glanced at his colleagues. “Not that we know of.”

 “I thought it wasn’t hereditary. If my sister and I were both witches, it has to be.”

“I told you not to listen to Frank and Lila,” Chait said gently, leaving his chair to drape an arm around my shoulder. I automatically leaned into him.

“Don’t touch her.” In a flash, Hayden stood at my side, bumping Chait away. He tilted my chin up and looked into my eyes. “You okay?”

“Not really.” My chin quivered.

Hayden wrapped his arms around me. I buried my face in his shoulder and squeezed my eyes shut a moment before pulling back.

“I’m sorry about your sister. If I’d known about her and that you didn’t remember, I would’ve found a gentler way for you to find out.” Chait glared at Rena.

“I guess I forgot she existed.” My voice trailed off. “How could I have forgotten her?”

With his free hand, Hayden reached over and wiped away the new tear with his thumb. “Well, I think this went well. Shall we do this again real soon?”

I almost let him lead me away, but instead, turned to face David. “One question. Which side did she choose?”

“Zoe picked us,” he answered.

Hayden poured me into his car and we took off. Once we got to his guesthouse, he guided me inside and coaxed me to sit, then tucked a blanket around me. “You want tea? Hot cocoa or something?”

It was almost dinner time but I couldn’t imagine eating anything. I needed something to battle the nausea though. “Cocoa would be nice.”

“I’ll be back.”

* * * *

I awoke disoriented in the dark silence of Hayden’s living room.

“You awake?” Hayden whispered.

“Yeah.” I stretched. “What time is it?”

“A little after seven.”

“I need to get home.” I moved to sit up and spotted the mug of cocoa I never had a chance to drink.

“You need to chill, that’s what you need.” Hayden stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. “I already called your mom. Sounded like she was at a bar or something. Bree’s with the babysitter.”

“How did you get her number?”

He grinned, sitting on the arm of the couch. “It’s in your phone under
Mom
.”

I laughed weakly, still groggy. “What did you tell her?”

“The truth. That you fell asleep on my couch and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I’m going to sit up now.” I eyed him and he didn’t try to stop me.