The Darkness Within (3 page)

Shannon raised an eyebrow. Of course she’d peeked, most likely because of all the commotion the kiss had caused. “That was… interesting.”

Tell me about it. I fiddled with my ruby ring, the one Ethan had given me for my last birthday. Something was going on with him, making him different, more aggressive even. I didn’t like it, but school wasn’t the place to address the issue.

“You’re worried, aren’t you?” Shannon leaned closer to me. “Maybe you should start wearing your necklace again. The one Dylan gave you.”

Dylan had given me the necklace to ward off unfriendly spells. As
it turned out, those spells had been Nora’s doing. “Why do you think I need protection from harmful spells?”

Shannon shrugged, but I could tell she definitely had a reason. She just wasn’t willing to say it. “Never mind. The warning bell rang. We’re going to be late.”

I followed her into class and took a seat in front. I used to sit in the back by Shannon’s twin brother, Tristan, but since I’d joined the coven, I sat right next to Shannon. She didn’t like me talking to Tristan, which kind of sucked because he was really nice. He even shared my old opinion that Shannon was a bitch. Come to think of it, maybe that was why Shannon didn’t like me talking to him. She told me Tristan had no idea she was a witch, and she wanted to keep it that way. Her choice, I guess.

“Ladies.” Mr. Ryan sat on the edge of his desk, which happened to be directly in front of us, and crossed one leg over the other. “Don’t you think you’re cutting it a little close this morning?”

“Sorry, Mr. Ryan.” Shannon’s voice was sweet as could be, making me want to gag up my egg sandwich. “We were caught up in a discussion about last night’s reading assignment. We totally lost track of time.”

Damn it! We had a reading assignment?

Mr. Ryan picked up his copy of Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein
. Great, another book about monsters. How appropriate. “Well then, maybe you two would like to start off our discussion today.”

I hadn’t read a single word. I only vaguely remembered getting the book in class yesterday. “Shannon, you had such great insights. I think you should start.” I smiled at her, hoping she’d get the message.

Luckily, she nodded and took off on some symbolism in chapter one. I leaned back in my seat, relieved to have dodged that humiliating experience. My cell phone vibrated in my back pocket. Texting was not easy from the front of the room, only inches from Mr. Ryan. I kept my head turned toward Shannon and nodded, pretending to be interested in what she was saying, while really I wasn’t processing a word of it. I slowly reached back and slipped the phone into the palm of my hand. I paused while the conversation shifted to Mr. Ryan. He went to the computer at the back of the class and projected
an image up on the screen in front. Now was my chance. I moved the cell under my desk and opened the message.

Meet me in the girls’ bathroom in the English wing
.

The girls’ bathroom had become a favorite meeting spot for Ethan and me. I wasn’t surprised he asked me to meet him there. After that kiss, I knew the boy had only one thing on his mind this morning. Of course, the kiss had left me with a very different thing on my mind—finding out what was messing with Ethan.

Going now
. I put my phone back in my pocket and raised my hand.

Mr. Ryan beamed. “Yes, Miss Smith, I’d love to hear your take on the issue.”

Oh no. I’d apparently volunteered to answer something the rest of the class had no clue about. Wonderful. “Um, actually, I was hoping I could be excused to use the bathroom.”

Tristan laughed in his seat next to Mr. Ryan and the computer. “Hey, when nature calls.”

“Very funny, Mr. Tilby.” Shannon cringed when Mr. Ryan said Tristan’s last name. She’d told everyone they were cousins, and it seemed like everyone had believed her. But that was before the spell mishap. Now she worried people would find out the truth, and that wouldn’t help her popularity any. Tristan, while funny and spot-on about Shannon’s ability to be a royal bitch when she wanted to be, was about as low on the popularity chain as a person could get. Mr. Ryan sighed. “Is it an emergency, Samantha?”

“Kind of.” I could claim female issues, but I didn’t really want to deal with all the disgusted looks from the guys in the class.

“Kind of?” Mr. Ryan pressed.

A stinging ran across my right pointer finger.

“She cut her finger.” Shannon held up my hand and sure enough, blood was dripping down it. She’d used a spell to cut me! I glared at her, but she mouthed, “You’re welcome.”

“Oh,” Mr. Ryan said. “Maybe you should see the nurse.”

“No, really, it’s just a paper cut. Nothing major. I’ll rinse it off and put a Band-Aid on it.” I shrugged to show him it was no big deal.

Mr. Ryan nodded. “Go right ahead.”

I cupped my finger in my other hand and continued to glare at Shannon as I left the room. As soon as I turned the corner and was
out of sight, I focused my magic on healing the cut. It didn’t take long. Shannon had only given me a bad paper cut. I thought about how I’d get back at her while I walked to the bathroom.

No one was at the sinks, so I checked the stalls for feet. The only pair was at the very end. Black boots. “Dylan?”

The stall door swung open, and Dylan stepped out. “Good. I thought maybe you couldn’t get out of class.”

“Shannon handled that for me.” I shook my head. “What are you doing here? I’m supposed to be meeting Ethan.”

“No.
I
texted you.”

“From Ethan’s phone?”

“Not exactly.” He looked away, totally guilty. There was a spell at work here.

“You put a spell on the message so it would look like it had come from Ethan’s phone?”

He shrugged. “I had to get you to meet me. Without Ethan.”

“Why?” I stepped toward him, hoping to intimidate a confession, and maybe even an apology, out of him. I had plenty of magic to make him talk.

“Do you know what’s happening to Ethan?”

My mind raced. “Something happened to him?” I turned for the door, ready to run to Ethan’s honors history class and save him from whatever was hurting him…maybe save him from himself.

“I’m not talking about what’s happening to him at this moment.”

I stopped and faced Dylan. “You mean last night. With the spell.”

“Of course.” He narrowed his eyes. “Wait, did something else happen?”

“No.” It slipped out. The question was, was it a lie? Ethan had lost his temper with me before we had gone home last night, and then there was the kiss in the hall this morning. But I wanted to talk to Ethan before I told Dylan anything.

“Are you sure?” Dylan stepped toward me. His face was full of concern, and I had a feeling it was more for me than Ethan.

“Yes.” I couldn’t tell him, but I was interested in finding out what Dylan thought was wrong with Ethan. “Why are you asking? What do you think is going on with Ethan? You must think it’s something if you tricked me into meeting you here.”

Dylan reached for my hand, but stopped. I took a step back, not knowing what to make of the gesture. Was it concern? Or something more?

“You’re freaking me out right now.”

“Yeah, well, this is pretty freaky stuff.” He took a deep breath. “I think your boyfriend is messing with dark magic.”

3

I
DIDN’T
know if I should laugh or slap Dylan across the face. Ethan using dark magic? It was crazy. I couldn’t figure out why Dylan would even suggest such a thing. Sure, he and Ethan had gotten off to an even rockier start than Shannon and I had. They’d beaten each other up. But to accuse Ethan of using dark magic was going too far.

I gritted my teeth and shook my head to keep from screaming at him. “I don’t know if you think this is some sort of game or what, but this isn’t funny. Ethan would
never
use dark magic. Never. I get that you two aren’t the best of friends, but seriously, if Shannon and I can put the past behind us, you two need to do the same. Get over it.”

“This isn’t about a grudge, Sam.” Dylan grabbed my hand—not forcefully, more like the way Ethan would. My eyes fell to our hands. What the hell? Did he have feelings for me? Was that what this was about?

“Wow!”

My head jerked to the side, and I tore my hand from Dylan’s. Beth was standing in the doorway, staring at us.

“This is interesting. I heard you and Ethan liked to meet here. A little risky taking another guy to the place you sneak kisses with your boyfriend, don’t you think, Sam?”

This couldn’t be worse. First Dylan might have feelings for me, and now Beth catches me holding Dylan’s hand? I wanted to scream
at her to keep her nosy self out of my business, but I didn’t want to make the situation worse.

“It’s not like that, Beth. We were talking about Ethan. Planning his birthday party.”

She wrinkled her forehead. “And you needed to hold hands to plan the party?”

“I had a cut on my hand. Dylan was looking at it for me.” Hopefully, she wouldn’t ask to see it, since I’d already healed myself.

She nodded, but didn’t look the least bit convinced. “Isn’t Ethan’s birthday like a month away?”

Damn her for knowing so much!

“It’s going to be a hell of a party,” Dylan said. “We need to start planning now in order to put down a deposit to reserve the location.”

Beth smiled. “I’ll be expecting my invite soon then.” She gave a little wave before entering one of the stalls.

I nodded toward the door. We couldn’t talk anymore now that we had an audience—a loud, blabbermouth audience. Besides, I didn’t have anything else to say to Dylan. I needed to get away from him.

The bell rang, and Dylan ran off before anyone else could see he’d been in the girls’ bathroom. I pushed my way against the flow of traffic and back to Mr. Ryan’s class. Shannon had my bag for me and was ushering me back out the door.

“Everything okay, Miss Smith?” Mr. Ryan called, following us out of the room.

“Yeah. Sorry I was gone for so long. I had trouble finding a Band-Aid. I’ll be sure to get the notes from Shannon.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure she’s all caught up for tomorrow, Mr. R.” Shannon draped her arm over my shoulder and practically shoved me down the hall. As soon as we got to the stairwell, she turned to me with a big grin on her face. “So, how was the meeting with Lover Boy?”

“The message wasn’t from Ethan. It was from Dylan. He used a spell to make it look like it was from Ethan.”

“Oh, he can go and mess with your head like that, but he gets all over my case for—”

“Shannon, focus please.”

“Right. Sorry. Go on.”

We exited the stairwell and paused. Our classes were in opposite directions. I lowered my voice. “Dylan thinks something’s up with Ethan.”

“Well, yeah. The guy can’t get a hold on his magic.” She shrugged. “He just needs more practice. Dylan is such a worrier. Don’t let him get to you.”

Maybe she was right. Maybe that was why Ethan was acting so strange. He was just having trouble adjusting to the magic inside him. “There’s more.” I swallowed hard. “I think Dylan may have feelings for me.”

Shannon’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “What?” She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the bathroom. I was spending a lot of my morning in bathrooms. “What did he do? What did he say? Tell me everything.”

“It’s not a big deal. We were talking about Ethan, and Dylan reached for my hand. I think he’s worried about me, too. Like he thinks whatever is going on with Ethan is going to hurt me.”

“Whoa. I haven’t seen him show interest in anyone in a long time. And considering,” she paused and lowered her voice, “what you did to Ben, I’m surprised he’d feel that way about you.”

“You and me both.” I lowered my head, staring at my sneakers. “He should hate me.” Killing his brother gave him every right to.

“Sam, it wasn’t totally your fault. Nora made you into a monster.”

I put my hand up to stop her. “Don’t. I don’t want to talk about it. We should get to class.”

“What about Dylan? How are you going to handle him?”

“I’m not. I’m with Ethan. He knows that. Whatever he’s feeling for me, it’ll pass.” I hoped.

I left Shannon to check her makeup. Ethan was already in sculpture and talking to Beth. I was afraid she’d told him about the bathroom incident, but Ethan smiled the second he saw me. He wasn’t upset, which meant Beth hadn’t said a word. Yet.

“How was English?” Ethan kissed the side of my head and moved closer to me at the table.

“Fine.”

Beth stared at me, waiting for me to say something. Like I’d talk
to Ethan about Dylan while she was listening in. I twisted in my seat so my profile was to her and I was completely focusing on Ethan.

“Want to spin some clay together?” Ethan wagged his eyebrows. I would’ve laughed, but the truth was, having our hands intertwined while shaping the clay was beyond romantic.

“Definitely.”

Ms. Matthews turned on some music. It was her new thing. She said we should let the music wash over us and allow us to be more creative. She was seriously the coolest teacher here—next to Mr. Ryan. Ethan and I left Beth sitting alone at the table and walked over to the clay station.