The Darkness Within (31 page)

“D
ON’T
start that again.” Shannon stood up and went to the window, leaning her back against it. “You’re wearing me out with the way you keep changing your mind about her, Sam.”

“I’m sorry, but there’s so much we don’t know.”

“Then let’s ask her,” Ethan said.

Shannon laughed. “What, come out and say, ‘Hey, Mirabella, we were wondering if you’re really evil?’ Good luck with that.”

“Besides,” Dylan said, “she already told us she didn’t like Nora.”

“Fine, but what if Nora was trying to harm Mirabella?” I said.

“Trying to pawn your dark magic off on her. If you were Mirabella, wouldn’t you want to know if that had been Nora’s plan?”

Shannon crossed her arms in front of her. “Are you blaming Nora or Mirabella? Because I’m confused.”

I didn’t really know, but I didn’t want to start the whole debate over Mirabella again, so I went with the lesser evil—well, actually the
bigger
evil. “Nora. I’m blaming Nora.”

“It does make sense,” Ethan said. “Nora was setting us all up.”

Shannon nodded. “No argument there.”

I turned to Dylan. “What do you think? Should we tell Mirabella our theory about Nora?”

He shrugged. “Why? She’s obviously still battling the dark magic, and trying to help Ethan is probably making it harder on her.”

“Why would you say that?” I asked.

“Because.” He walked past me to the bookshelf. “She’s working with the dark magic inside Ethan. She’s got to be terrified that it might transfer to her, like it did when she helped me.”

“She told me she’s sending it to her mother’s grave, burying it there forever.”

Dylan stopped scanning the book titles and looked at me. “Yeah, and what if she messes up? What if she loses control over the dark magic and it doesn’t make it to her mother’s grave? What if it decides to settle in her instead?”

“You’re talking about the magic like it’s a living, breathing thing that can make decisions for itself.”

“Because it basically can.”

“No.” I might be new to this whole witch thing, but I knew the magic was useless without a witch to tap into it. “It can’t do anything on its own. It has to be controlled.”

He glared at me. “Get some dark magic inside you and then tell me if you can control it, or if it’s controlling you.”

His words burned into me. I’d had dark magic inside me. Nora had put it there when she brought me back, and I’d been powerless against it. I’d killed because of it.

Ethan squeezed my hand, reading my mind. “He’s right, Sam. You remember what it was like. This magic lingering inside me is a lot like that. I lose control. It takes over, and I do what it wants me to. It might require a host, but that’s all we are to it—a shell. It becomes the brain.”

“I see what you’re saying, but isn’t this all the more reason to tell Mirabella what we think Nora tried to do to her?”

“What she
did
do to her,” Dylan said. “She’s already lived it, Sam. We don’t need to spell it out for her. I’m sure she’s guessed on her own.”

“Okay, I think I’ve got it.” Mirabella walked into the living room, and we all went silent. She looked up at us with the book open in her hands. “Did I miss something? Or have I interrupted something?”

“No,” I said. “We were just waiting for you.”

“Oh. Okay then. I found a spell that should work.”

“Does it require dark magic?” I asked.

“No. There’s a stronger one that does, but we’ll try this one first.”
Her fingers clutched the book tighter. She didn’t want to have to use the stronger spell. Neither did I.

I forced a hopeful smile. “Great. Tell us what to do.”

She brought us down to the basement. Apparently that was where she liked to cast big spells. I wondered if the fountain had anything to do with that. If it was magical—aside from having been conjured from thin air.

Mirabella made a circle in the air with her index finger. “Stand in a circle around the fountain, please. We’ll need water to seal the spell.”

“We’re tapping into the elements?” I’d never used a spell that required the elements. The thought made me excited and scared.

“Only one. It will be fine.” She inhaled, and her shoulders shook. That didn’t reassure me at all.

We formed a circle. Ethan and Shannon were on each side of me. Both looked as nervous as I felt.

Mirabella filled in the circle between Dylan and Ethan. After the almost-fight in the living room, I was glad they were separated. “Good. Now, I want you to focus your magic on concealing yourself from everyone who is not present in this room. No one should be able to see you or locate you, no matter what the spell. Understand?”

We all nodded. This didn’t seem too bad. A lot like the invisible spell we’d used when we’d changed Dylan’s schedule to match Ethan’s. But I knew it was so much more, or it would be when Mirabella did her part.

Mirabella closed her eyes and raised her hands in front of her, her fingertips brushing the water in the fountain. “Follow my lead. Do as I do.”

I reached forward, letting the water brush my fingers. Instantly, it heated up. How strange.

“To all who seek to find, do make these four now blind.” I didn’t like that line at all. It sounded like she was making
us
blind, not the witches coming after us. “Become right now unseen, as water washes clean. Erase them from space. Leave behind no trace.” Mirabella opened her eyes and smiled. “It is done.”

Oh crap! I’d forgotten to focus on concealing myself. I’d been so
thrown by Mirabella’s words that I hadn’t held up my end of the spell. Everyone was looking relieved, and I felt like a complete idiot. How did I tell them I’d screwed up?

“More tea, anyone?” Mirabella asked. “I’m going to make another pot, and then Ethan and I should get back to work.”

Ethan nodded, looking more than ready to get the dark magic out of him once and for all.

“You feeling okay?” I knew using any magic at all made him nervous. It was risky with all that dark magic trying to break through. I just had to check with him again.

He rubbed my arms. “Yeah, I’m good. I could use some Sam time, though.”

“We’re out of here,” Shannon said, tugging Dylan toward the stairs.

I wrapped my arms around Ethan’s waist and pulled myself into him. “How’s this?”

“A good start.” He leaned down, finding my lips with his. “This is better,” he managed to say between kisses. Somehow we ended up on the couch. I hadn’t even felt our feet moving, but I was on Ethan’s lap with his hands on my face. I was starved for his touch. The dark magic inside him made it difficult to get close like this. He was always so afraid of losing control and hurting me, but this time he wasn’t holding back. He deepened the kiss, and his hands drifted under my shirt.

“Ahem.”

I jumped off Ethan and into the seat next to him. Mirabella gave me a harsh look. “That is not a good idea until all the dark magic is out of Ethan. Believe it or not, Sam, you are the worst thing for Ethan right now.”

Worst thing? That felt like a sucker punch. How could that be possible? Ethan and I had always been the best thing for each other.

“Don’t ever say that, Mirabella.” Ethan wrapped his arm around me. “I’m nothing without Sam.”

Every time I thought I couldn’t love the boy any more, he proved me wrong. I kissed his nose. “Have a good session, and come back to me without dark magic.” I leaned toward his ear. “I’ll miss you.”

“You have no idea,” he said, squeezing my hand. He looked like
he wanted to kiss me again, but I didn’t want another lecture from Mirabella, so I stood up. Ethan sighed and let go of my hand. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you.” I kept my eyes on Ethan as I walked upstairs. Shannon and Dylan were in the living room, drinking more tea. “Seriously? How do you guys drink so much of that stuff?” It tasted like stale cardboard.

“I like it,” Shannon said.

“Yeah, it sort of grows on you.” Dylan took another big gulp.

“If you say so. I’m sticking to bottled water, though.” I went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle out of the fridge.

“That was a cool spell, huh?” Shannon said, following me and sitting down at the kitchen table.

“Yeah.” I hadn’t told anyone that I’d screwed it up. I wasn’t as invisible as the rest of them were. I hoped Mirabella’s spell had been enough to conceal me. “Hey, why aren’t you in the living room with Dylan?”

“I need a break from that boy. You’re lucky you have Ethan.”

I sat down across from her. “What did Dylan do?”

“He made some stupid comment.” She shrugged a shoulder like it wasn’t a big deal, but I could tell it was really bugging her.

“It wasn’t a stupid comment,” Dylan said, leaning on the doorframe.

“Whatever. Go drink your tea and leave me alone.” Shannon waved him out of the room, but he stayed put.

“You just can’t handle the truth.”

“Oh, yeah and you’re the expert on my feelings, right?” She stood up, her chair screeching against the floor.

“I know you’re jealous of Sam and Ethan’s relationship.”

She was? Shannon didn’t seem like the relationship type, but maybe that was all an act. Maybe she did want what Ethan and I had. I couldn’t blame her.

“Whatever.” She turned to me. “This is why guys and girls shouldn’t be in covens together.”

“Why don’t you go join an all-girl coven? You could curse the entire male population the next time you’re all pissed off and PMSing together.”

“Screw you, Dylan!”

I stood up. “Seriously, enough. I’m so tired of playing referee. Our coven is falling apart, and right now we need each other more than ever. Ethan isn’t better yet. We have another coven coming after us and trying to kill us.
And
we keep finding out more ways that Nora has screwed us all over. The last thing we need to be doing is fighting, so get over it.”

Shannon crossed her arms. “He started it.”

I glared at her. “You’re not five.” Dylan laughed, drawing my attention to him. “And you can be an insensitive prick sometimes. You push her buttons on purpose.”

“That’s because she—”

I held up my hand. “I don’t care. We’re family. Got that? We help each other, not make life more difficult.”

Shannon sat down again. I looked at Dylan until he sat, too. “I’m not apologizing,” Shannon said.

“Me either.”

“Good enough for me.” I slumped into a chair and drank my water, enjoying the silence. “What started your fight anyway?” I could never figure out what set either one of them off.

Shannon shrugged. “I was trying to enjoy my tea when he got on my case about how I’m jealous of you and Ethan.”

“I was only trying to say that you pretend you don’t want a relationship when you obviously do. You wanted one with my brother, too.”

“Don’t bring Ben into this, okay?”

I silently seconded that. It was still hard for me to talk about anyone I’d killed during my monster days.

“You were in love with him,” Dylan pressed.

“And you were in love with his girlfriend.” Shannon took another sip of her tea. I hadn’t even noticed she’d brought it in here. “You were jealous of Ben and wanted everything he had. That’s why you gave in to Mindy so easily. You can say you tried to fight her off, but you didn’t. You broke down like two days after she started flirting with you.”

“Thanks, Shannon.” Dylan slammed his fist on the table. “At least
I’m not like you. I actually loved Mindy. You sleep with anything that has a car.”

“I do not!”

“Trevor? Tell me what else there was to see in that guy?”

Great. Let’s bring up another one of my victims. “Guys, you have to stop this.” I practically yelled, but they ignored me. They were screaming at each other. Spilling secrets that I’m sure neither wanted me to know. Shannon flailed her arm, and her tea fell to the floor, the cup breaking into pieces.

“Look what you made me do!” Shannon pointed to the tea, which had begun to fizz.

“What is that?” I bent down to get a better look. Green swirls mixed with the black tea, making little bubbles.

Shannon knelt down next to me. “Is that—?”

“Dark magic.” I’d recognize it anywhere. The tea was laced with dark magic.

33

“W
E
need to get Mirabella,” Shannon said. “She needs to see this.”

I grabbed her arm. “No. Wait.” I couldn’t help thinking this was my fault. I’d screwed up the spell downstairs, and now the tea Shannon and Dylan were drinking was laced with dark magic. My first thought was that Mirabella was responsible, but she drank the tea all the time, so that didn’t make sense. Had the coven done this? They’d already drugged our food. Why not the tea this time? “Guys, I have to tell you something.” I stood up, afraid to get too close to the dark magic creeping across the floor in the spreading tea. Shannon and Dylan backed away too, but their eyes remained locked on me. “Downstairs, I kind of messed up my end of that spell.”

“What do you mean?” Dylan asked.

“I was so caught up in what Mirabella was saying that I forgot to do my part. I never made myself invisible.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Shannon asked.

“Because I felt stupid and I kind of thought maybe the spell would be okay anyway because Mirabella’s words were working to mask us, too.”