Awry (8 page)

Tristan crossed his arms again.

“Okay.” Nate took a deep breath. “Now that we’re all caught up on the new no-no’s of the house, what do you say we find a tarp and some duct tape and MacGyver ourselves a new window in the living room? Just, you know, to keep out the wind…and the leaves…and any sharp-toothed woodland creatures prone to attacking people in their sleep.”

Tristan raised a brow.

“What?” Nate shrugged. “Death by dragon? Awesome. Death by rabid forest squirrel? Not cool, man. Not cool.”

“You’re immortal, Nate,” Gabriel said.

“So? That doesn’t mean I want rabies.” Nate shook his head. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have medieval aliens to defeat.” He turned and left the kitchen, heading back to his video games upstairs.

Gabriel stared after Nate and muttered, “He’s so weird.”

Tristan replied, “Tell me about it.”

For a split second, there was no curse. There was no Scarlet, no broken window in the living room, no tension.

There were just two brothers, staring after their odd friend.

Simple.

But another gust of wind swept through the kitchen, bringing cold reality with it.

And reality was never simple.

14

Gabriel waited in the alleyway as he fiddled with a twig. It was mid-afternoon, but the tall village shops on both his left and his right shadowed the alley, making the narrow corridor dark and cool.

From around a corner came a dark figure with gray eyes.

Gabriel smiled and tossed the twig aside. “I feared you would not make it.”

Raven Fletcher’s face slowly came into view as she walked through the shadows. Her long, black hair slid around her shoulders and her hips swayed with every step.

“And miss seeing you?” She walked up to his body and lifted her chin so her lips were just beneath his jaw. “Never,” she whispered, her hot breath tickling his skin.

Gabriel gave her a crooked smile. “How many lies did you tell to get here today?”

“Enough to send me to Hell. You?” She smiled.

“Oh, I don’t lie.I simply don’t obey.”

Raven ran a finger down his chest, stopping at his waist. “And that’s why we are perfect together. I lie…and you defy.” She kissed him quickly before pulling away with a smile. “I have something to show you. Come.”

Raven took his hand and led him down the dark alley, across an abandoned village street, and into the tall trees beyond until they were very, very alone.

“What it is you wish to show me?” Gabriel watched her hair shine in the patches of light that fell through the trees.

She stopped walking and turned around, her eyes bright. “Magic.”

Gabriel tried not to roll his eyes. “You mean your tricks?”

“No.” Raven picked a handful of leaves up off the ground and piled them on a nearby rock. “I mean magic. Watch.”

Stepping away from the rock, she took Gabriel’s hand in hers. Chanting something indiscernible, she closed her eyes and held out her free hand to the leaves.

A spark, a flame, and the leaves caught fire. Burning in a controlled and unnatural way, they withered and curled under orange licks of heat.

Raven laughed. “See?” She looked at Gabriel with big eyes. “I can do it!” She squeezed his hand.

“How did you do that?” He took a step back.

Raven smiled at him. “I’ve been practicing spells.”

Gabriel frowned. “Spells are dark magic.”

“Yes. And I was born to a family of dark magic.” Raven’s gray eyes narrowed at him. “What is your point?”

Gabriel was concerned. “It is dangerous.”

Raven dropped his hand and scoffed. “Only if I do it wrong. Which I won’t.”

“People will say you are a witch.”

“But I’m not a witch.” She smiled and pouted her lower lip. “I am just a girl who likes to play with magic.” She put her hands on his chest and ran them down the length of his torso. “And I…want to share…my magic…with you….” She looked up at him with a smile and Gabriel forgot what he’d been worried about.

Raven continued. “They are harmless spells. Just for fun.”

“Harmless spells?” Gabriel asked.

She nodded, her hands skimming his waist.

Gabriel could live with that.

15

Gabriel met Scarlet in the driveway when he saw her car approach. She had called earlier to say she had an “idea” she wanted to talk to everyone about. Which made him nervous. Scarlet’s “idea’s” were usually dangerous.

Once Scarlet exited her car, Gabriel pulled her into a hug. She snuggled her face into his shirt and he welcomed the distraction from the emptiness inside him.

“These last few weeks have been pretty rough for you, huh?” He stroked her hair.

Scarlet breathed out a laugh against his chest. “These last few months have been rough.”

“I know.” Gabriel shook his head. “They no longer serve pizza in the school cafeteria and it’s really bringing me down.”

Scarlet laughed again. “Totally. And all this dying stuff is really interfering with my grades.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel mocked. “Death is so inconvenient.” He squeezed her gently.

Scarlet pulled back and looked up at him with a weary frown. “I don’t want to die again.”

Gabriel’s heart clenched. “You won’t die. We’re going to figure this out and everything will be better.”

Scarlet nodded, but didn’t look encouraged.

Gabriel bent down and softly pressed his lips against hers. He slid his hands down to her hips and brought her against him as their mouths came together. He wanted to drink her in, draw her into his heart. He wanted to keep her safe forever and take away all the bad stuff. He wanted to—

Scarlet had stopped kissing him.

Gabriel pulled his head up. “What’s wrong?”

She blinked, then shook her head. “I don’t know. I just feel….” Confusion crossed her face.

Gabriel waited, his hands still on her hips.

Shifting her eyes from side to side, like she was concentrating on something. She muttered, “So weird…” and moved away from Gabriel.

“What?” Gabriel blinked at her. “What’s weird?”

Scarlet hesitated, then shook her head with a smile. “Never mind.”

He raised his brows. “Are you sure?”

Scarlet nodded and headed for the cabin’s front door.

Gabriel waited a beat, lost in thought.

Why had Scarlet stopped kissing him? Had he done something wrong?

The hole in his chest inched outward. Growing larger. Making him less whole.

He took a deep breath, grasping at the sliver of quiet hope that still remained in his heart.

And a sliver it was.

***************

As soon as she and Gabriel entered the cabin, Scarlet was greeted by Nate. Who was wearing several sweaters and a pair of mittens.

Scarlet didn’t entirely understand Nate’s dedication to their quest or why he was so willing to drop everything in his life to help them break the curse, but she was grateful.

“Good morning, Scarlet.” Nate raised a mitten. “High-five!”

Scarlet high-fived him with smirk. “Morning, Nate. What’s with the arctic getup?” She stepped inside the cabin.

Nate pointed to the living room, where the broken window was now covered with a blue tarp. “Tarps aren’t very insulated.”

“Ah.”

“We ordered a new window, but it won’t be here for a few weeks because someone had to design a cabin with custom-sized windows.” He glared at Tristan, who was seated in the kitchen as they walked his way.

Scarlet raised her eyebrows. Tristan designed the cabin? Interesting.

Tristan said nothing as he looked at Nate, but once Gabriel and Scarlet entered the kitchen, he dropped his eyes to the coffee mug in his hand.

Scarlet wasn’t sure if his lowered gaze was because of Gabriel’s presence, or because Tristan had just felt Scarlet and Gabriel kissing in the driveway. Or both.

Probably both.

Scarlet averted her eyes from Tristan and tried to act natural. Which was impossible.

When her lips had first touched Gabriel’s in the front yard, Scarlet had felt normal. She had been eager to kiss her beautiful boyfriend and feel his arms around her and his mouth against hers.

But once the kissing became more intense, hot jealousy bubbled inside her, heating her veins until it was a relentless boil.

It wasn’t her jealousy she had felt.

It was Tristan’s.

Scarlet had tried to ignore it. But the jealousy expanded within her until Scarlet could feel nothing but the intruding emotion.

Not knowing what else to do, Scarlet had pulled away from Gabriel and now, standing in the kitchen with both Archer brothers, she was completely confused.

Nate looked at Scarlet. “So, what’s up?”

Scarlet looked at him for a moment, pulling her thought’s away from Tristan’s jealousy. “What happened to your mom, Nate?” She looked at Tristan, then Gabriel. “And your mom? Did she…did she die?”

Gabriel nodded. “A long time ago.”

Scarlet’s lips parted. “But didn’t she drink water from the fountain of youth?”

Nate smiled sadly. “Water from the fountain of youth is fatally addictive.”

“What?”

He nodded. “Even just a drop of water to your tongue makes you an instant slave to the addiction. Our mothers,” Nate gestured between himself and Gabriel and Tristan, “drank the water thinking it would heal them, but instead they became consumed with addiction. They quickly depleted their vials of water and soon began writhing in pain without more. The addiction killed them.”

Scarlet’s mouth hung open. “Then why on earth are we searching for the fountain of youth? Don’t get me wrong, I want to undo the curse as much as you guys. But I don’t want to develop a fountain habit along the way!”

“You won’t.” Gabriel shook his head.

Nate explained, “The addiction only works on those who are strictly mortal. You have immortal elements in your body, so fountain water can’t poison you. Or us.”

Scarlet bit her lip. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Nate said.

Scarlet tucked her hands into her coat pockets.

“So…” Nate started, “was that why you came over this morning? To talk about our mothers?”

Scarlet shook her head. “No. I had an idea that might help us find the fountain.”

Nate smiled and rubbed his palms together, making a swish-swish-swish sound with his mittens. “Awesome! I love it when you get ideas. What is it?”

Smiling nervously, Scarlet cleared her throat. “I think we should use one of the Head Ghosts to go into my brain and pull out my memory of the fountain’s location.”

Gabriel’s jaw dropped.

Nate’s jaw dropped.

Tristan’s jaw clenched.

***************

No.

Hell no.

Tristan started shaking his head.

No way. Never, ever, ever—

“Now, before you guys say anything, just hear me out.” Scarlet set a hand against her head. “I have what we need inside my brain, somewhere in my memories. If we use a Head Ghost to pull those memories out, then we can find the fountain, undo the curse and live happily ever after.”

No, no, no.

Tristan didn’t care how logical Scarlet’s plan sounded. They had no idea how dangerous the Head Ghost could be and Scarlet’s brain was not up for experimentation.The fact that she would even suggest using a Head Ghost on herself was crazy. She was crazy.

Beautiful and brave and completely crazy.

Tristan kept his eyes away from Scarlet, not trusting himself to look at her without growling.

First, he’d had to silently endure Scarlet’s desire for Gabriel when they were kissing earlier—that was new. Now, she wanted to use an illegal head device to invade her brain?

She was going to give him a heart attack.

Gabriel was the first to respond. “Um...Scarlet, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Way to give a rock solid “no”, Gabriel.

“Why not?” Scarlet looked at Gabriel sternly. “We get the memory, we find the fountain, we’re free of the curse.”

“Yeah, but…” Nate tried to scratch the back of his head with a mittened hand. Finding the mitten to be problematic, he yanked both off his hands and tossed them on the counter. “We don’t know how dangerous Head Ghosts are. What if the Head Ghost causes brain damage or permanent amnesia or turns you into a crazy person—”

“The fountain could fix all that.” Scarlet’s eyes were hard and her face was flushed.

Gabriel shook his head. “We don’t know that for sure. What if the Head Ghost damages your brain and the fountain can’t fix it?”

“Then at least the curse will still be broken and you two,” she gestured at Gabriel and Tristan, “will get to live normal lives.”

Tristan tried his best not to shout out how much he hated this idea.

“Normal lives?” Gabriel stepped closer to her. “Scarlet, we’re trying to break the curse to save you. Tristan and I are fine.”

Scarlet’s lips tightened. “You two are not fine.” Whipping around, she looked at Tristan, protectiveness and desperation rolling off of her in waves. “You live in pain when I’m alive. And you,” she pointed a finger at Gabriel, “aren’t free to love anyone other than me.” Scarlet pressed her lips together, resolve coming over her features. “Nate,” she said, looking at him seriously, “you’ll help me, right?”

Tristan looked at the counter, frustrated by her stubbornness. Stupid, beautiful, crazy, stubborn—

“No,” Nate said without hesitation, as he walked to the pantry.

Tristan looked up.

God love Nate.

Scarlet looked like Nate had just slapped her. “No?”

Nate pulled a box of Lucky Charms down from a pantry shelf and casually walked around the kitchen collecting a bowl, a spoon, and the milk carton from the fridge. “No,” he repeated.

Sitting at the counter, Nate poured his cereal and milk and took a bite.

“Why not?” Scarlet squared her jaw.

Nate finished chewing. “Because your brain has more secrets than just the fountain’s whereabouts. Secrets that we might need you to remember someday. And I don’t want to risk losing those to a Head Ghost. I think the last thing we need to do is screw around with your head.” He shrugged and took another bite. “We’ll find the fountain. But not with a Head Ghost.”