Wicked Fate (The Wicked Trilogy) (23 page)

It’s not like it’
s costing me anything or hurting me in any
way. No one would ever have
to know. Not to mention it keeps
my min
d occupied. That’s what I need
, lots of things to keep my mind an
d hands busy. Plus, if I don’t
do something soon ab
out the house and the land it’
s all goi
ng to fall apart.

After a few days have
passed
,
every outside area of the house
,
including the six gardens, looks brand new. I’ve
managed to keep myself busy
. N
ow
,
standing in front of the hous
e looking at how great it looks, I know that I have to move inside. I can’t
stop
,
I
have
to stay busy.

Maybe when I’m done remodeling the house I’ll go in
the library and tackle those books. I really should t
ry to figure out what exactly i
s going o
n. Not to mention I haven’t
entered the library or said two words to Thaddeus since his confession about being a magical man.

After cleaning up the kit
chen later that night, I grab a quick dinner and go
upstairs for a shower. When I ge
t to my room Sir
e’
s laying on my bed with hi
s tongue hanging out. I climb into bed and snuggle
up to him. The loneliness and sil
ence of the big empty house take
over me
and with tears on my cheeks I’m
soon fast asleep. That night
,
instead of the usual blizzard with
wind and sleet, it just snows; a sign that things are
getting a little better.

Chapter
16

Mage to the Rescue…
Again

The next day at school, everyone
’s talking
about the unique
weather and how the weather man can
’t explain the strange phenomenon. Weather
professionals from all over the United States have come
to Sum
merville to be a part of what’
s now called “The North
Pole of the South.”

They can’t figure out how it’
s happen
ing. How in Summerville there’
s snow, ice
, and fifteen-degree weather. Y
et in Charleston
,
twent
y minutes down the road, there’s breeze, sunshine, and seventy-
degree weather.

I’m
staring into my locker trying to figure
out how to make it stop. I hate that I can’t change the weather, that I can’t
make this cold lonesome feeli
ng go away. I throw books in and pull books out then I feel someone behind me. I know who it i
s without even looking. His warmth spread
s
th
rough me and for a minute I feel like nothing’s
changed.
The feeling quickly disappears when he turns
a
nd walks away. I turn around in
time to see Adam walk around the corner without looking back.

Gym flies by in a daze; Bernie asks me several times if I’m
ok
ay.

“I’m okay. I think I’m getting sick or something,” I shrug.

The quick peek I get of him in the hallway is the only time I see Adam today. He didn’t come to lunch and he doesn’t show up to history either. Even though technically I see him in school most days, I still miss
him so much. Someh
ow, the empty desk next to me mak
e
s
it worse.

I agree to let Bernie give me a ride home from school. We walk
through the parking lot towards her car
,
stoppin
g every now and again for her to talk to someone. She’s
become quite the
Social S
ally in the last couple of weeks. I think it has something to do with the relationship between her and Kale.

When we get to Bernie’s car, which i
s parked
closest to the trees, I wait as she digs
through her book bag sea
rching for her car keys. I can
feel Adam’s ga
ze penetrating my skin. I look
over
to where his truck is usually parked and he’s there. He’
s le
aning against the driver’s side, his arms crossed over his chest as he stares back at me. He looks pissed off and mad at the world. Good! Join the crowd, punk!

That’s when I hear it, a
loud popp
ing and cracking noise. I turn
my head quickly to the noise and
I notice that a huge pine tree that’s draped over Bernie’s car i
s frozen solid
. Long sharp icicles hang from it, waiting to drop at any second. One of the large branches looks like it’s about to
break off a
nd that branch i
s covered in the largest and sharpest o
f the icicles—it’s right above Bernie’s head.

An icicle
break
s
of
f
and dart
s
straight towards Bernie’s car
crashing into it before I can
stop it. I jum
p back and Bernie screams as she falls onto her back. Before she has
a chance to move a
nother sharp icicle heads
straight to
wards her followed by the
en
tire tree branch—it’s the size of a small tree.

I react
quickly without a
thought for the people surrounding me. I lift
my hand
to the falling objects; I feel a small sting
when the now invisible fire leaves my fingertips. I don’
t even feel the fire anymore, not since I started using my magic every day.

The fallin
g objects stop abruptly and si
t
,
floating in mid air f
or a second or so. I quickly fli
ng my arm towards the woods; the huge tree branch along w
ith four sharp icicles fly
into the woo
ds
.

I drop
my hand quickly pray
ing that no one saw what I’d done. I’m
o
n the outer edge of a
packed parking lot full of people who alrea
dy think I’m odd. The
last
thing I need right now i
s for those exact
same
people to see me do what I just did.

I look
around a
t the people who are closest to us. Everyone seems
to be going
about their business. No one even noticed, thankfully.

B
ernie
’s eyes never leave mine as she stands and slowly dusts off her pants. Here we go! Soon everyone will know. But it’s not like I could just sit there while she was murdered by a tree and icicles.

I try to
seem normal
as I stand there next to her little car.

Bernie’s serious face changes
and a knowing smile spread
s across her face. She walks
over to me and
then reaches out and gives
me a huge hug.

“
Thank you, again,” she whispers
in my ear.

I kno
w immediatel
y after that comment, that she’
s always known t
hat I saved her from The Three
Bitchkateers
on the first day of school. Maybe that’
s why she pushed so hard to be my friend.

Obviously, I can
trus
t Bernie a little more than I’
d expected. She knew from the beginning that I did strange things yet she
never told anyone. I won’t tell her more, but there’
s no need to lie to her about what she had obviously seen with her own two eyes.

“You’re welcome,” I reply
.

We both get into her car and pray that the heat will warm the car soon. As we pull
out of
the parking lot we drive
righ
t next to Adam’s truck. I look
up at him j
ust in time to catch him smirking
back at me. He had seen it all.

That night before I go to sleep I pull
out the purple notebook that Adam had gi
ven me for Christmas. I snuggle
u
p next to Sire who’s sleeping loudly and I get comfortable. I begin to write and slowly I start
to feel a little better.

With
visions of your smile
I lay my head to rest.

A so
othing slumber I dream of since
my dreams are not their best. Forgive me while I hide from
you I never want to show, the
risk that I
will take for us or how far
I will go. So I’ll miss you
from a
far my love, and pray for your return. My soul feels incomplete these days my heart remains to yearn.

I stick my notebook in the nightstand.

There are no tears tonight—it’s becoming
a li
ttle easier. There’s no snow or sleet and it doesn’t
even r
ain. While it still remains cold, all the wild winds have stopped. That’s
a go
od sign. Soon, I fall
as
leep and the nightmare returns
.

I’m on the beach. Adam stan
d
s
before me wit
h a smile on his face.  I look behind him and watch
my grandparents
and Thaddeus disappear. I cry against Adam’s chest and feel
his
arms surround me. I look back up and soon Adam begi
n
s to disappear as well. I drop
to my kn
ees in the sand and cover
my f
ace with my hands. Tears stream
down my face and the weather that
had been sunny and bright turns
into a hurricane.

The wind
blows the
trees and debris all aroun
d me. My long black hair wraps
around my face blocki
ng my view for a minute. I stand and push my hair out of my face. I can feel that I’m not alone anymore so I search the beach. Three figures are standing thirty-feet away from me. I know instantly who they are. Eris stands
be
tween two rather large men in gray robes. All three stand
completely still as if waiting for me to react.

Instead of being afraid I ru
n towards them with my finger poi
nted out. I want to cause them pain, I want them gone. I’m
sick and tired of running and being afraid of the
se sinister people. Eris laughs
her typical
ear piercing laugh and it forces
me to s
top and cover my ears. They are
less than ten feet away
from me now and I can
see their
faces. The three of them stare
back at me.

The two men have
evil smiles
on their faces while Eris looks
at me with pure
hate in her eyes. The men look like twins. They both have
the clear expressionless mirror-
like eye
s that reflect
the thing
s around them. But while one has long black and gra
y hair
, the other has short black hair. The one with the long hair is older.

“Who are you? What
do you want from me?” I scream
.

The older o
f the two men steps forward and lifts
his hand to me.

“
It won’t be long, my dear. We’re coming and you’
ll soon know e
xactly what we want from you.”

Purple flames shoot
from his fingert
ips knocking me flat onto my back. I lay
there while his fire spread
s through my body. It’
s so painful; worse than the night of
my sixteenth birthday. I want to cry out when I hear them coming towards me. I’m about to die; he’
s going to kill me.