Tethered 02 - Conjure (12 page)

“So…about this initiation,” I started, my eyes still fixated on the tiny droplet of tea resting on the table. “When exactly is the moon waxing so we can perform it?” I asked as I shifted to look at her.

“I think we have about two weeks,” she answered, her eyes glimmering with excitement. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. I can’t wait! I know what the magick inside of me feels like when Adam and I touch now. I can only imagine what it will feel like when we’re able to actually use it.”

The remembered sensation of what she was talking about floated through me, and I couldn’t help but feel a shared excitement. The memory of what it had felt like to use Binks’s magick when I cast that revealing spell splashed through my mind as well. I was sure making magick after you’d been initiated must feel one hundred times more amazing than everything I’d felt so far.

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do?” Callie asked, pulling me from my thoughts. “Are you going to stay in Soul Harbor?”

I turned to look at her. Her blue eyes were wide with worry and her hand was clamped down on a throw pillow. “I truthfully don’t know yet. I mean, when I first came here, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to stay for the two weeks my best friend was going to be here or if I wanted to stay for the entire summer. Now I’m supposed to choose between leaving here for good and staying for practically forever.”

Callie shifted her weight around and began to wiggle her foot. “I’d probably be freaked out just like you are. I know I would. Please don’t think we’re all being selfish in wanting you to stay, because it’s not all about that. We all really like you… Kace really likes you. I’ve never seen him this caught up in someone before.”

My heart picked up its pace and my palms grew sweaty at her words. I really liked Kace too, but were he and the magick enough reason to stay? I wasn’t one hundred percent sure just yet.

“I wouldn’t have to stay here forever, right? I’m not signing my life over to this town and to the initiation bond forever if I do it, am I?”

She shrugged. “Not unless you want to, I guess.”

“What I mean is, there’s not some crazy rule after we become initiated that we’re bound here or else we die?” Oh shit, could that have been what happened to my mother? Had she died because she’d left?

“No.” Callie shook her head. “We aren’t bound anywhere. Well, if you want to use your magick you are bound to the rest of us to do that.”

“After doing the initiation we don’t need our magick to live or anything?” I asked.

Maybe I was nuts. Maybe I’d read too many paranormal books. I just wanted to be sure I’d looked at it from all angles.

“Nope.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Magick is sort of like…I’ll use the sun since your element is Fire. You don’t necessarily need the sun to live. A lot of people are powder white because they never go out into the sun and they’re still alive. But, you enjoy the sun immensely…so you would never cut yourself off from it willingly. That’s how magick is. We don’t need it to live, but because we enjoy it, we would never cut ourselves off willingly.”

I didn’t speak at first. Instead, I thought about the point she was trying to get across. There was no way I could ever give up the sun. It was something I enjoyed—the feel of it against my skin, the sight of its liveliness—if I went without it for too long, I became depressed.

“Good point,” I finally said.

My cell chirped, alerting me of a new text. It was from Kace.

Hey, sexy. Just wondering why you’re ignoring me. I’m outside your house.

I smiled as I thought of how worried he must be right about now. I wondered how many times he’d knocked on the door and rang the bell before texting me.

I’m not there. I’m at Callie’s. She came and got me this morning.

He responded back instantly.

Oh. Good. I was about to knock the damn door down. Can I come by and pick you up?

I laughed. “Kace is at my house. Do you care if he swings by here to pick me up?” I asked Callie.

“No.” She shook her head and then stood, heading in the direction of the kitchen. “Actually, I should probably get to the shop and help my mom out for a bit.”

“All right.” I sent Kace a message, telling him it was okay to pick me up, and set my cell on the coffee table. “Can I use your restroom?” The tea had gone right through me.

Kace showed up moments after my last text. He flashed me a kilowatt smile that deepened the dimple I’d grown to adore.

“So, what have you two been up to all morning?” he asked as he strutted across the living room and nestled his tall frame into the contours of the couch.

“Eh, not a whole lot,” I said. “Callie brought some pictures of my mom over for me to look at. There were a few of the entire group in there too.”

“Oh, really?” he asked. “So you figured out that your beauty came from your mom, huh?”

I smiled. “Yeah, I did. I look just like her.”

“She really does,” Callie agreed. “It’s crazy.” She sat down at the far end of the couch and tucked her feet underneath her.

“Callie also read my tea leaves,” I said.

Kace looked at Callie, his smile widening. “Really? And what did Madam Callie find?”

“Someone tall, dark, and handsome will come sweep me off my feet soon,” I joked.

Shit, what was I saying?
Tall, dark, and handsome…that sounds an awful lot like Theo
, my mind reminded me.

“Is that so?” Kace grinned. “Guess that rules me out then, huh? Because I’m none of those things…am I?” He quirked an eyebrow at me.

“Well you are tall…” I trailed off.

“Oh, that’s all I get…tall?” He leaned forward, his icy eyes glittering with playfulness. “You’re not even going to consider tossing the handsome in there, too?”

“I might.” I smiled and glanced at Callie. She looked somber, and then I remembered what my tea leaves had actually said. “But seriously, the tea leaves didn’t have great things to say about me today.”

Kace sat up some and all teasing trickled from his eyes, turning them hard and serious in a matter of seconds. “What did they say?”

“That she’s undergoing some kind of psychic development, she’ll have a bond with the occult, or that there’s a jealous enemy in her life right now. Someone is deceiving her and she’s in danger or there’s a scheming enemy looming,” Callie muttered, her eyes locking on the edge of the coffee table as she spoke. “All not so good things.”

I glanced at Kace to gather his reaction from the reading and realized he looked just as freaked out by Callie’s Tea Reading as she’d been. My stomach twisted into hard knots. “It’s nothing we didn’t already know, really.” I shrugged.

“It still isn’t good,” Kace insisted.

“The leaves also fell from the cup when I had her invert it,” Callie added.

Kace’s eyes flickered to mine. “Definitely not good.”

I took in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Yeah, I think we’ve already established that. By the way, how do you know so much about reading tea leaves?” I asked him point-blank.

“You’re right, we did.” Kace rubbed his rough cheeks with his hands and met my stare directly. “I’m sorry. Let’s head to your house, you and me, and have a non-magickal, quiet night together.”

“Sounds good.” I smiled. I was so in the mood for a night like that. Especially with Kace. “But, you didn’t answer my last question,” I reminded him.

Kace stood and a small smile twisted his lips. “Callie practiced on me and Adam for months when she first decided to learn how to do Tea Readings.”

I shifted my gaze to Callie. “Bet those were some interesting readings.”

“Definitely.” She smirked.

On our way from Callie’s house to mine, Kace stopped by the grocery store and we rented a couple of movies from the Redbox.

“I wouldn’t have pegged you for a romantic comedy kind of guy,” I said as we climbed back into his car, two romantic comedy movies in tow.

He looked over at me as he started the engine. “Glad I could surprise you.”

“It’s not a surprise, really… I know there’s some kind of ulterior motive in your reasoning for choosing them. I just can’t put my finger on it right now. Give me a minute, though.”

“So, me simply liking them is out?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Oh yeah. In fact, it wasn’t even on the table to begin with.”

“Think you have me all figured out, do you?” He chuckled as he backed out of our parking space and pulled away from the store.

“Not entirely, but I’m getting there,” I teased.

“Uh-huh, sure you are,” he mocked me.

I shifted in my seat to face him more. “Okay, here are my two theories: either you have a crush on the leading ladies, or you think of chick movies as an easy way to get laid.”

Kace pressed a hand to his heart. “How could you think I was so scheming and shallow?”

“It’s number two then, isn’t it?” I grinned.

“Definitely number two,” he admitted with the widest shit-eating grin I’d ever seen displayed on his face. “Romantic comedies make women feel all warm and fuzzy because the guy and girl generally get together at the end. Also, generally speaking, there’s a lot of sex scenes spread throughout the length of the movie.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him. “And this is good for you, how?”

“One, it will put a woman in a warm, fuzzy mood from the happy ending. And two, the sex scenes will light up a woman’s libido subconsciously. It’s like, accepted porn in the woman world or something, kind of like all those naughty books ladies read.” His eyes flicked away from the road and to me for a split second. “Are you a naughty book kinda girl, Addison? I haven’t asked you that yet.”

I laughed, but my cheeks still grew warm with embarrassment. “Naughty books…umm, no. And, how long did it take you to come up with this theory? Have you tested it out a lot?” This last thought bothered me more than I cared to admit.

“All you need to know is that it’s been proven.” Kace grinned. “I’ll remind you in the morning so you can see for yourself.” He looked my way again and winked.

I shifted in my seat, leaning back against the headrest. “God, you are so flipping cocky.”

Kace chuckled. “Eh, you like it though.”

I smiled and rolled my eyes. He was right, I did. Kace gripped my thigh with his free hand and squeezed. I savored the sensation his simple touch ignited inside me, while yearning for more.