Twisted Magic (35 page)

Slade shot me a quick glance and returned his angry scowl to
Hutch,
“
stay
the hell away from Hope. This is the last time I’m nice about it.”

Hutch shook his head in disbelief. “You don’t get it. You’re a pawn just as much as Hope. Let her
go. I'll
keep her safe.”

I held my breath watching everything take place. Hutch was doing his best to talk Slade into letting me go.
However,
Slade didn’t seem to be budging. Slade let out an aggravated sigh and hauled off clipping Hutch in the face with his fist.

Hutch recoiled in shock. His face red with anger, anger I hadn’t seen before from him.
“
You’re
lucky.”

“I promise you if you come around again that will be it for you,” Slade warned Hutch.

Hutch shook his head giving Slade what he wanted. And he left.

I wasn’t sure if that was the last I was going to see him. Hutch had promised he wouldn’t let anything happen to me.
I prayed Hutch was as powerful as he seemed and that Slade's threats hadn't worked.

I
looked at Slade. “Is he right? Am I just a pawn?”

“You really need to learn not to trust so easily. Don’t believe anything coming from someone with a lot of power.” Slade opened the door and motioned for me to go in first.

“He might have
a lot
of
power,
but at least he is doing
good
with it,” I countered taking a seat. I was starting to feel like a hostage.

“Who says I was talking about him?” Slade asked me, shooting me a mysterious stare.

It seemed like hours had passed. Dad still was nowhere to be
found,
and my brothers conveniently were gone like usual. I was starting to wonder if there was any hope for me.

I tried sending cerebral messages to Hutch to Karsen to anyone who could help me.
But it was beyond me if it even
worked.

Slade stood up bringing me back to life. “It’s time, let’s go.”

I stared at him confused but stood up
.
“How do you know?”

He took me by the elbow and
led
me to the door. “Just call it a feeling.”

***

It was
dark. The
moon followed reflecting on the ocean as we headed further down the beach and into Henry
park
.

There was a soft lull of
mosquitos,
in
the distance,
and a cool chill to the air.

I started to regret not leaving Dad a note. Something sayin
g
good-bye,
or that I loved him, m
aybe just enough to give him peace if I didn’t come back.

I knew that Karsen was going to be kept busy by Kidd. He wouldn’t let her get hurt even if it meant trying to help me. I
didn't know
if Kidd would help me if it meant going against the coven or Slade. I wasn’t sure of anything.

Slade headed past his
Rv
,
and through the empty field of trampled grass where at one time was the stomping
ground
for their concerts. The stage
was
gone;
it was all vacant and eerie. He stopped in front of the fence. The fence
where
I had first realized just how desperate Slade was to be free of his problems.

And as he pulled the
chain,
and we entered
,
I
gasped. There stood Audrey in the middle of a stone circle. Along with Tucker bound at the ankles and his hands behind his back, I was sure those were tied as well. His mouth was covered with
tape,
so he couldn’t scream for help. And he looked frightened and miserable.

Audrey clapped her hands at the sight of us heading toward her. Slade stepped over the circle, his hand still on my arm. I
reluctantly
obliged, my palms starting to sweat.

Audrey took me by the other
arm;
she pushed me down beside Tucker. His sweaty body touched
mine; I
pulled away. “What are you going to do?”

I looked at Slade. Slade looked at Audrey for an answer. He never said much when she was around creating chaos.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head,” she told me, she raised her palms to the sky and ignited the circle. Tucker’s muffled pleas
were audible
beside me
.

I watched in fear. Unsure if I wanted to try to object
any
further.
Audrey
only
wanted
me dead
a
nd gone, s
o Slade
could
be hers,
even
if he didn’t
want
her.
They
all
wanted
him, but
nobody
understood
him
like
I
did
.
Nobody
saw
the
real
Slade;
they
only
saw
him
as something
useful
as a
tool
.

And I wondered if ever in Slade’s life
he felt accepted, o
r really
human,
or
loved.
As
I sat there, my skin
starting to heat, the sweat starting to build with each flick of the fire, I realized that I was the only one who showed Slade love. I cared about
him,
and I wished he
had seen
that.

I wished he didn’t see
me as a pawn like Hutch thought he did. I wished I had talked to my mom. I wished a lot of things, but one thing I would never wish was that I never met Slade.

We locked eyes for a brief moment. His expression
changed.

Audrey drew a silver dagger from behind her back revealing its elegant carved blade. She extended her hand to Slade offering him the knife. I swallowed down my fear, my heart in my throat and fear
coursing
my veins, sickening my gut.

Tucker’s muffled screams and thrashing grew even louder as Slade accepted the knife. I didn’t know what to do or say to comfort him. I couldn’t even comfort myself. I held my breath watching Slade study the knife in his
hand. His
head finally shot back up. He nodded, pleasing Audrey. And as soon as she turned, Slade did something I didn’t expect.

Audrey let out a
blood-curdling scream
as Slade plunged the knife straight into her back. She fell forward onto her knees, her eyes huge
,
filled
with alarm and panic. She turned and looked at Slade, the air literally escaping her as she tried to make sense of what just happened.

Slade
turned on
her.

I jumped to my feet and raced toward him. He grabbed hold of me,
pulling
me close.

“I couldn’t do it.” He
said, letting out a sigh.
“I would never do it. I hope you believe me.”

I nodded, pulling away so I could see his face. I grabbed him by the arm turning him away from Audrey’s pathetic body as it crumpled to the ground.

“I trust you. And I’ll always have faith in you,” I told him, squeezing him tightly.

Slade produced a small smile indicating his relief. As soon as I blinked things changed, Slade groaned dropping to his knees. I turned just in time to grab a hold of Audrey
’s
arm. The
blade
was
inches from my face. She pushed and fought with
everything she had left trying
to stab me.

I ran back to
Slade. He
sat up clutching his side.

“Are you okay?” I tried to pry his hand loose from his
side,
but he refused.

“Don’t worry about me, it was a cheap shot,” he said
, staring down at the blood staining his t-shirt
.

I still was concerned. I
never saw
him look so vulnerable.

“I want you to untie Tucker and let him go,” Slade told me.

I hesitated
,
but got on my feet and made my way over to Tucker. I quickly worked him free from his restraints and pried the tape from his mouth. Tucker jumped to his feet, but he still couldn’t leave. He couldn’t walk through
the fire that Audrey had set.

“I’m sorry this had to happen to you,” I told him. “
I hope you believe me.”

Tucker refused to look at me. “Kill the
fire,
so I can go.”

“Tucker, Slade and you have had a lot of bad blood, but I promise
you,
he would have never hurt you.” I pleaded with him to
understand. Somehow this anger between the two of them had to end.

“Kill the fire!” He snapped.

I flinched, closi
ng my eyes and finally conjured
up
the right spell to end the fiery inferno. Tucker’s feet pounded the sand as soon as the fire
died,
he was gone, not wanting to understand anything about Slade or I. I didn't think he would ever change no matter what happened to him.

I didn’t know what caused Slade to turn on Audrey. I wasn’t sure if it was Hutch, maybe he had a hand in convincing Slade to do the right thing. Or maybe he was as powerful as he claimed, and he helped me like he had promised he would.

I didn’t know if I would see him again to be able to ask him myself.

Part of me wanted to believe Slade did the right thing on his own. That I was important enough for him to go against everything he was part of.

I turned around to find Slade lifting Audrey’s lifeless body.

“What are you doing?” I asked, confused.

“I can’t leave her laying here. It
won’t
take long before the coven knows
something’s
wrong.” Slade
hurried toward the
Rv
and
kicked open the door. He dropped Audrey onto the floor.

I shut the door behind me in a panic. “What do we do?”

Slade rubbed his hands together and placed one on Audrey’s head and the other he clamped around my wrist. I screamed in agony
as
searing pain
filled
my body. It seemed like an eternity before it ended leaving me depleted.

I dropped back against the
wall. My
whole body
tingled.
“What did you do, Slade?” My voice came out
unsteady
.

“I transferred Audrey’s power over to you,” he said standing up. “Now let’s get out of here.”

“If we’re lucky and make it out of here, we go on the run.” He squeezed my hand as we headed for the exit of Henry Park.

“What about Karsen and
Kidd, and what
about my
family,”
I
asked
in a panic.

I knew by Slade’s reaction seeing my family wasn’t going to happen after everything that occurred. Tucker now knew what we
were,
which meant the entire town of Cherry soon would too.

And Slade turned on the coven; he killed Audrey, and although I didn’t know what it meant, I knew it was bad for Slade.

Slade tugged me faster toward the gate. “We
will find
Kidd and Karsen on the way out.”

Slade stopped walking. He took me by the shoulders. “I promise you once things die down you will be able to talk to them.”

He searched my eyes for acceptance. I nodded
.
I had to listen to
Slade,
there wasn’t anything else I could do now. And I trusted him.

As soon as we left Henry Park the dark cloud that seemed to be hanging over all of us grew even darker. I gripped Slade’s hand in terror.

“Don’t panic.” Slade told me, as I stared at
the entire
police force
and Mayor
Sinclair,
along with Tucker right by his side.