The Darkness Within (30 page)

I thought back to last night. “We were watching
Transformers
. That’s all I remember. And I didn’t see much at all. Sam—the Sam in the movie, not me—hadn’t even gotten Bumblebee yet.”

“He got a bumblebee?” Mirabella shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t need to know. I have to focus on finding a spell.”

What else had happened? Had I felt strange? I’d been full. Really full. And tired. “That’s it. It has to be.”

“What?” Mirabella searched my face for an answer.

“The food. We were all so full, and it made us tired. We fell asleep almost as soon as we got comfortable. Ms. Matthews and her coven did something to the food. They drugged us so we’d fall into a deep sleep.”

“Sam.” Mirabella’s voice shook. “If they tampered with the food we created, they could interfere with any of our spells.”

“Any? You mean, even the one you and Ethan are doing?”

She nodded.

Not only was this other coven drugging us, and most likely plotting to kill us, but they were messing with Ethan. And this spell proved they had some wicked power on their side. More power than we could handle. We weren’t safe here anymore.

31

N
OW
that Mirabella knew what kind of spell the coven had used on us, she was able to find a way to reverse it. She told me to watch over the others while she used her magic on the food. I didn’t like the idea of eating more of the food that had sent us all into this twisted version of
Sleeping Beauty
, but Mirabella said it was the only way.
Only way
—I was really getting tired of those words.

Ethan came downstairs, looking like he was ready to pass out again. He sat on the couch next to Shannon and even slumped over onto her a few times.

I reached for him, making him look me in the eyes. “You have to stay awake, Ethan. If we give in to this, we’ll be sitting ducks. They could rush in here at any moment and kill us all.”

He shook his head and slapped his cheeks. “I’m good.”

I paced the room, waiting for Mirabella. I was anxious to reverse the spell, but I was also trying to keep myself moving so I didn’t crash like the others.

Mirabella came back with a tray of food. She placed it on the table. “Dig in. Everyone needs to eat enough to counteract the previous spell.”

“You mean we need to pig out like we did last night?” My stomach was still full from all I’d eaten.

“I’m afraid so. It’s the only way to make sure you get the harmful spell out of your systems.” Mirabella returned to the kitchen, no
doubt for tea. When this was all over, I decided, I’d ask her what her obsession with tea was all about.

Ethan was already digging into the food. “It doesn’t taste as good as it did last night.”

“Probably because you’re still stuffed,” I said.

“Nah.” He patted his perfect abs. “There’s still room in there.”

“You’re like a bottomless pit.” I sat next to him, reaching for his abs. “A really hot bottomless pit.”

“I’d kiss you, but…” He held up the forkful of steak he was eating.

“I’ll take a rain check.” I ate a few potatoes and a little salad. It was the best I could do. I was seriously about to explode. My stomach twisted and turned like I was going to be sick. I leaned back on the couch. “Whoa.”

Ethan was on his second baked potato, but he stopped eating and looked at me. “You okay?”

“I feel sick.”

“That’s the spells working against each other.” Mirabella sat in the chair across from us, and, sure enough, she had a cup of tea in her hand. “It will pass.”

“Why aren’t you eating?” I asked her.

She held up her tea.

“Why can’t we drink tea instead of eating?” That seemed so unfair. Gorge ourselves while she drank tea?

“I’ll pour you a cup.” She rose from her seat. “Try waking Shannon and Dylan. They need to get food in them, too.”

I nodded. Ethan nudged Shannon since he was sitting next to her, and I went to Dylan, shaking him lightly. “Dylan, time to wake up. We need you to eat or drink tea, whichever. There’s a spell on you.”

At the word
spell
, his eyes opened. “What happened?”

“We were magically drugged.”

He sat up straighter, still looking dazed. “By who?”

“Who do you think?” I wasn’t about to tell him Mirabella had been the one to figure this out. Let him think it was me.

“We seriously need to transfer schools when this is over.”

“Don’t worry. I have a feeling it’s going to come down to us or them. One coven won’t be around to be at school.” Until I’d said it, I hadn’t realized it was true. We were going to have to face Ms.
Matthews, Mr. Ryan, and the rest of their coven. It still killed me to think about it. “Mr. Ryan seemed like such a nice guy. He’s helped me out so many times.”

“Ms. Matthews has been really nice to me,” Ethan said. He had pretty much the same relationship with her that I had with Mr. Ryan.

Shannon finally sat up. “Yeah, well, Mr. Malinowsky has cut me more than a few breaks. It’s like they targeted us, got close to us so we wouldn’t suspect them of being evil witches who want to kill us.”

Mr. Malinowsky cut Shannon breaks? I hadn’t known that. “I don’t get it, though. Why Mr. Mal? You’re always flirting with Mr. Ryan. I’d think he’d get close to you.”

“I think Mr. Ryan didn’t want to get
that
close to her,” Dylan said. “He could’ve lost his job with the way Shannon threw herself at him.”

“Very funny.” Shannon picked up a baked potato and chucked it at Dylan’s head.

“Eat that,” I told him. “Mirabella cast a spell on the food. That’s how the coven got to us. They drugged our food last night, so Mirabella used a spell to counteract it.”

Shannon grabbed her stomach. “Oh, yuck! I have to stuff myself again?”

“Mirabella is pouring us some tea that she cast a spell on, too. You can drink that instead if you want. That’s what I’m doing.”

“Oh, thank God.”

“Whatever. I’m eating.” Dylan put the potato down and dug into a steak. Boys and food. I was never going to understand it.

Mirabella returned with the tea. “Good, everyone’s up.” She put the tray with four cups in front of us. We each took one.

Drinking the tea was much easier than eating. I downed mine in two gulps. “What do we do now? How do we stop them from getting to us again? The spell on the cottage obviously isn’t strong enough.”

“No.” Mirabella sighed. “We’ll need to find a stronger spell. One that will make you all untraceable.”

I set my teacup on the table. “But they’ve already traced us here. How would becoming invisible now help?”

“We’ll have to make it seem like you’ve left. Like you figured out they put a spell on you and you ran.” Mirabella got up and walked
to her bookshelf. “I must have a strong enough spell in here somewhere.” She stopped looking and shook her head.

I walked over to her. “I’m sorry we put you in the middle of this. I didn’t mean for you to be in danger. We thought the deer clones would get the coven off our backs.”

“It’s okay.” She looked at me, and her eyes filled with tears. “It’s just that I’m afraid the spell we need will tap into magic I’m afraid to use. The more power and the darker the spell… I’m still trying very hard to keep the dark magic I took from Dylan buried inside me. I can’t remove it from myself.”

I put my hand on her shoulder. “Once we’re safe from the other coven, we’ll try to help you the way you’re helping Ethan. We’ll try to get that dark magic out of you. I promise.” Maybe it was traces of that dark magic that made me keep questioning her even after all she was doing to help us. “What about the spell book you’re using for Ethan? There must be a spell in there, right?”

She inhaled sharply at the suggestion. “There are only a select number of spells in that book. It won’t help us with this.” She pulled a book off the shelf and dusted the cover with the palm of her hand. “This one should do. Give me some time to work through the logistics. You all eat and drink up. I’ll be back soon.” She walked out of the room, leaving me to wonder if she could handle this. It was the first time I’d seen her falter. She was always so confident, almost to the point of cocky. Now, she was practically cowering at the thought of using magic.

“That was strange,” Shannon said.

“Good. I’m not the only one who noticed that.” I was starting to question my perception of everything lately. But this time, I wasn’t imagining things. She really was acting strange.

“Give her a break,” Dylan said. “Taking that dark magic from me really screwed her up. She’s doing great, and she doesn’t want to revert back to whatever the magic originally changed her into.”

My thoughts raced. “What did it change her into?”

Everyone turned in my direction. “What do you mean?” Ethan asked, finally putting down his fork.

“Well, the dark magic had to do something to her, right?”

Dylan nodded. “Trust me, it screwed me up big-time. I killed someone I loved.” He turned away.

“Yeah, your brother’s girlfriend.” Ethan’s jaw clenched. I knew exactly what he was thinking. If Dylan would go after his own brother’s girlfriend, he’d go after anyone’s girlfriend, if he liked her. And he’d done enough to make us all think he liked me. This wasn’t going to end well.

“You don’t understand.” Dylan turned to me instead of Ethan, which only made things worse. Ethan stood up and walked over to me, wrapping his arm around my waist. I was getting really tired of the territorial guy stuff lately, but I didn’t want Dylan to have any misconceptions about me. I wasn’t available.

“I just want to make sure
you
understand,” Ethan said.

Dylan huffed. “You think I went after my brother’s girl, right?”

“That’s the way it sounds.” Ethan’s tone was getting more unfriendly by the second.

“Yeah, well, you know what they say about people who assume things.” Dylan’s comment made me bite my lip. He was only making things worse. Insulting Ethan was the last thing he should’ve been doing.

“And you know what they say about guys who go after another guy’s girlfriend.” Ethan let go of me and stepped toward Dylan. His fists were clenched and ready to throw the first punch.

“Stop!” I stepped between them. “No one is going after anyone else.” I reached for Ethan and pulled his face to mine. I lightly kissed his lips and smiled at him. I’d never leave him. It wasn’t even an option. He relaxed and kissed me again. I couldn’t help wondering if the kiss was for Dylan’s benefit, but I didn’t care. I never objected to a kiss from Ethan.

“
She
came after
me
,” Dylan said, after Ethan and I pulled apart. “She liked the thrill of dating brothers.”

Shannon pulled her knees to her chest so she was sitting almost in a ball on the couch. “That’s really sick.”

“Believe me, I know.” Dylan broke a dinner roll into tiny pieces. His frustration was clearly getting the better of him. “I resisted her for a while. Ben could be a jerk, but he took care of me. I didn’t want to hurt him like that. But Mindy was persistent.”

Shannon rolled her eyes. “And you’re a guy.”

“Not all guys give in like that,” Ethan said. “I’d never date another guy’s girlfriend. And Mr. Ryan didn’t give in to you, Shannon.”

She flashed him a dirty look. “Thanks for pointing that out.”

“Yeah, well, most guys aren’t fighting dark magic inside them that fueled those emotions.”

“Dylan, where did your dark magic come from?” I didn’t know why I’d never thought to ask.

“Nora. Where else?”

“What?” My eyes could’ve popped out of my head. “Nora? But you said Ben took you away. Brought you here.”

“Right, but I’d met Nora online. She turned me on to some spells. I didn’t know they were tapping into dark magic at the time. She’d neglected to tell me that.”

“She tricked you.” I wasn’t surprised. Everything Nora had done to me had been trick after trick after trick.

“Yup. I think she wanted to create a coven of dark witches. When she convinced Shannon to use the popularity spell, she thought that meant she’d get her way. But when I insisted on seeing Mirabella…”

“Wait. You said Nora introduced you to Mirabella.”

“She did.”

“But why? If she wanted you to become dark like she was, why would she point you to the one witch who could help you get rid of the dark magic?” Nora must have had a plan. She always had a plan. But what had it been?

Dylan stood up. “You’re right. Do you think she was trying to turn Mirabella?”

I hated to get back on the Mirabella-is-evil train, but I couldn’t help thinking it. “What if she succeeded?”

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