Renegade (29 page)

I stopped the Jeep and looked out the window. “What?”

“We’ve been searching for you,” Oscar said.

“You found me,” I replied.

“We have news.”

“I ain’t getting any younger over here.”

“Rumor is Beelzebub was banished.”

“Banished?” I echoed. “By who?” But then the answer hit me. There was only one dude with enough badass that could do that.

“
Him
,” Oscar whispered and the other nameless jar demon nodded. Maybe I would call him Jarhead.

“So where did he get banished to?”

“Earth,” Jarhead replied.

“Shit!” I yelled and hit the gas, leaving Oscar and Jarhead in my dust.

When the demons were no longer in sight, I stopped the Jeep, parked, and dug one of the marbles out of my backpack. The whole time I searched, the story Gran told us about how Beelzebub tried to kidnap Heven on her birthday—on
Halloween
—kept running through my head.

He was unleashed from the cell.

He was angry at Heven.

He was banished to Earth.

Heven was on Earth.

Today was Halloween.

I busted open a portal and jumped through, hoping I could get there in time to warn them, hoping I wasn’t too late.

Chapter Fifteen

Sam

“I can’t believe I let her talk me into this,” Heven groaned as she glanced out the window at the sinking autumn sun.

I smiled.

“And it’s, like, freezing outside.” She went on.

“Maybe she’ll have marshmallows to roast,” I said, thinking of the last party we went to at Kimber’s house on the lake. Except last time it was her birthday; tonight it was Heven’s.

Heven smiled. “That was fun.”

“Yeah.”

“But then I fell into the lake.”

“Do me a favor and stay off the dock tonight.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” She paused. “You know this party isn’t really for me, right? It’s just an excuse for her to have a party.”

“Isn’t Halloween enough of an excuse?”

“I was never allowed to go to Kimber’s Halloween parties,” Heven said, her voice turning serious.

“At least now you know there was a reason.”

“Actually, I kind of wish it was just because my mom was a freak,” she said, looking at me and flashing a smile.

Her smile always made the muscles in my stomach bunch.

“If you’re worried about tonight, about something happening, we don’t have to go,” I told her, fully prepared to turn the truck around.

She shook her head. “No. I’m not going to hide from him. Besides, Kimber’s Halloween bashes are supposed to be legendary.”

“Do you think everyone will show up?”

She made a face. “Oh the entire school’s going to be here, just watch. Kimber might be the most talked about girl at school right now, but she still knows how to throw a party. Besides, it will just give people more to talk about.”

“But everyone thinks your birthday was two weeks ago, right?” I asked, passing by the already packed driveway and having to park on the street.

“Yes, they just think we’re celebrating late.”

We climbed out of the truck and walked around the side of the house toward the sprawling back deck. I enjoyed the view of Heven in front of me in her tight pair of jeans and boots, looking up past her bottom half once or twice when her blond hair shone in the moon rising in the sky.

I couldn’t help but glance toward the woods that bordered the house, remembering the last party here and how China watched us until she dragged an innocent girl into the trees and killed her. I shook my head against the memory and pushed it back, but reminded myself that even though China was dead, there was still danger lurking.

Heven stopped toward the top of the steps and turned around. I was on a lower step so she was actually at my eye level. “You okay? You seem a little…” She tilted her head, trying to read me through the Mindbond. “Distracted.”

“Just stay close, tonight, okay?”

“I think I can manage that.” She pressed a quick kiss to my lips, then went the rest of the way up the stairs.

There was a ton of people here. I actually would believe close to the entire school was spread out all over the wide property. There were people on the upper deck, where we were, people on the lower deck, people dancing out on the lawn where a DJ set up a huge booth with flashing lights and a glowing jack-o-lanterns. There were people on the dock, people on the lakeshore, and people coming in and out of the house, where it looked like there was a huge setup of food.

“This is even bigger than her party last year,” I said to Heven over the thumping music.

She nodded and took my hand, pulling me through the crowd on the deck. People stopped us along the way to slap me high-fives and the girls gushed over Heven’s clothes. I noticed when they talked to her sometimes their eyes strayed to the jagged scar that ran down her cheek. If she noticed them looking, she acted like she didn’t. Not once did she duck her head or lower her eyes. She looked everybody head-on and smiled.

She was beautiful.

And even those that stared at first stopped when they realized she could care less about the mark on her face. If she didn’t care, they didn’t, either.

Kimber weaved her way through the crowd, appearing before us and pulling Heven into a hug she didn’t return. Kimber didn’t seem to notice and she pulled back and smiled. “Happy Birthday!”

“Thanks,” Heven yelled over the music. It was some song I never heard before. “You look great!”

Kimber did a little turn showing off the long purple dress she wore that was belted at the waist with a giant orange belt. She was wearing about a dozen necklaces around her neck, high-heeled boots, and to top it all off, a witch’s hat was perched on the top of all her red hair.

Irony at its best.

Heven waved at someone in the house and pointed in their direction to me and I nodded. Before I could follow, Kimber stepped into my path, smiling. “Ready to have some fun tonight?”

Now why did that make me nervous?

“What are you planning?” I asked.

“Nothing but a scary good time!” She cackled just like the witch she was and then disappeared into the crowd.

Maybe she meant it as a joke.

It sounded more like a threat.

Heven

There was a huge fountain in the center of the great room inside the house, just off the back deck. Orange liquid poured over three tiers and down into a huge black bowl adorned with spiders. On the very top tier was a sign that read “Witches Brew.” People around me were laughing and moving around to the music and others were filling plates over at the giant buffet.

Kimber definitely knew how to throw a party and people knew it. That’s why this place was so packed tonight. Sam came to my side as I was sliding a black plastic cup beneath the waterfall of punch and I glanced up at him as I took a sip. It burned the entire way down my throat and I coughed a little. This was
not
just punch. Whether that was courtesy of Kimber or one of the people attending, I had no clue.

Sam laughed at my face and took the cup, setting it beside the fountain. “Spiked?”

“Oh yeah.”

He laughed. “There’s soda over there.” He pointed and I followed him over where there were liters of unopened soda. I opened up a bottle and poured some into two cups.

“I heard she went to rehab in Switzerland,” someone said, coming up behind Sam and me, and I cocked my head to listen.

“I heard she went crazy when he dumped her and spent like twenty grand of her daddy’s money,” someone else said.

“Yeah, it was all on pills and that’s how she ended up in rehab.”

The people behind us laughed and I looked at Sam. He gave me a knowing look. They were talking about Kimber and where she was after the trip to Rome this summer. I knew, of course, rumors were flying about her and Cole, but I had no idea things were this ridiculous.

“Gotta admit, though, she still knows how to throw a party.”

I turned around from the table and looked at the rumor spreaders. They saw it was me and all took on an acute look of constipation. “Heven! Happy Birthday!” one of the girls said. I used to cheer with her. Kimber still cheered with her.

“Thanks,” I said, smiling.

“It was a week ago, right?” she asked.

I nodded, even though technically it was two weeks. I kind of enjoyed watching the discomfort on their faces as they tried to figure out if I overheard them talking about the girl they all thought was still my best friend.

“Well, it was great seeing you guys tonight,” I said, taking Sam’s hand and stepping away as they made room for us to get by. But then I turned back to them and leaned in. “I better go find Kimber. Since she just got out of rehab, I better keep an eye on her around that huge fountain of spiked punch!”

The mouth of the girl I used to cheer with dropped open and I pivoted away. On our way out the door Sam laughed. I grinned. “Ten to one they’re now trying to figure out where this new scar on my face came from.”

“Hey.” He caught my hand and pulled me around. “You’re not self-conscious about that anymore, are you?”

I tilted my head to the side. “No. I don’t care what people think about me anymore. As long as you’re in my corner, everyone else can just go to rehab.”

He grinned and lifted my hand with my new rings, kissing the place where they wrapped around my finger.

“Seriously? This is a public place. You’re grossing everyone else out,” said a sarcastic and familiar voice from behind. I looked around Sam and saw Riley lounging against the deck railing.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.