Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) (18 page)

He didn’t bring up Demi but I knew that
was something he was going to have to deal with on his own. I doubted he wanted
to talk about what he couldn’t fix. He apologized about a thousand times for
leaving me at Doc’s but we both knew the attack wasn’t his fault. I told him so
but there was only so much I could say. One of the biggest things we had in
common was taking on every problem as our own. I guess that came with the Alpha
and Beta territory though.

We weren’t instantly as close as we
used to be but it was a huge start. After that, I tried to sleep but the
physical pain prevented me from doing so. Luckily I didn’t have to pack because
I had everything I needed at the beach house.

Instead I stared up at the ceiling and
thought of the past few days. It seemed everything had been changing and it all
went back to one thing, Kira. I wondered if anyone new coming into our lives
would’ve given us the shake-up we needed or if it was just her. Either way it
didn’t matter. All that mattered was that last night I was fighting for my life
with my best friend at my side. It felt too good to be true but when it came to
Kira, I knew it was real.

Here in
Trent
’s car I gave up my usual spot in the
passenger seat for Max because he tended to get carsick on long rides. I looked
over at Kira sitting in the seat next to me.
Logan
was in the back row sprawled out so we
had the middle seats to ourselves. I thought again about how she had saved my
and my uncle’s life last night. I hadn’t realized I was staring at her until
she said “What?”

I blinked. “Nothing, I was thinking I
should thank you.”

She turned her head down, embarrassed.
“Oh, I really didn’t do anything. I was just at the right place at the right
time but I’m glad you and Doc are ok.”

“Me too.”
I said and turned back around in my
seat.

Max had on some oldies station and I
wanted to somehow remove my own ears.
Trent
called out to me. “We should stop to
get gas, know of any cheap stations along the way, Jay?”

“There’s a rest stop in about 40
minutes, we can pick up snacks and stuff while you get gas. Can we make it till
then?”

“Yeah, the tank should last. Can one of
you guys call someone in Will’s car to let them know?”

Max raised his hand, a phone already in
it. “I’ll do it.”

At the rest stop
Logan
, Brandon, Max and I were on snack duty
for our cars. The girls went to the bathroom together and Will and Trent filled
up the tanks.

Inside, there were a few tiny shops
with junk food and drinks, a few fast food restaurants, stores with tourist
merchandise and a coffee cart.
Brandon
held up a shirt with a pink flamingo
wearing sunglasses on it that said
Florida
across the top. “
Logan
, this would fit in perfect with your
collection.”

Logan
smacked him on the back of the head.
“Shut up. Let’s get food.”

We headed over to a junk food store. I
grabbed a few different flavors of chips, two boxes of chocolate chip cookies,
a trail mix, and some soda cans. I was sure there was food at my house on the
beach but what could I say? Werewolves liked to eat. The girls came in a short
time later and peered through the magazines and books.

Kira announced “I’m going to get a
coffee. I’ll meet you guys in a few.”

Annabella turned to her “Want me to
wait with you in line?”

“Nah, I’m good. If you guys are gone,
I’ll head out to the car.”

Annabella pulled her arm “Oh, wait Kira
can I borrow your phone, I want to call Teresa to see how the remodel is going.
I forgot to charge mine last night.”

A few seconds later Kira handed her
phone over. “Here you go. I’ll meet up with you in a little.”

“Thanks girl.” Annabella replied,
already dialing Teresa.

Everyone piled all of their stuff at
the cash register and left me to pay and carry it all, which was fine. I used
my father’s money for everything. He encouraged me to spend all I wanted, live
off of his money and not even hold a job as long as I was in school and oh
yeah, going to walk in his footsteps someday. Apparently freedom could be
bought. I grabbed the bags of junk food and magazines.

I noticed Kira still in line and headed
over to her.

I debated whether getting coffee was
actually worth waiting in this ridiculous line but my brain kept screaming
“Yes.” So I waited.

Unfortunately my paranoia had yet to
subside and I felt like I was being watched. I turned around for what felt like
the thousandth time when I noticed eyes peeking over a magazine looking right
at me, for real. I turned back around and discreetly got out a mirror from my
bag. I pretended to fix some make-up but turned the mirror towards the watcher.
It was a man and he had put the magazine down and began moving closer to me. I
turned back around but he paused, fiddling with a phone.

He wore a burgundy, silk button down
shirt and tailored black pants. I don’t know how I knew but I knew that
something was going on and I couldn’t take my chances. I got out of line and began
to walk blindly toward the exit. I turned once more and the man and I locked
eyes and he nodded. I began to run but a wooden fruit stand combusted in front
of me, blocking my exit. “Wait” he shouted into my mind “Please I just want to
talk to you.”

Yep, speaking into my mind and self
destructing fruit stands definitely equals a warlock. Crap. I jumped out of the
way of the oranges and continued running.

I ran straight into Jay and the bags
fell out of his hands. “Kira, what are you doing. What’s wrong?”

I pushed at him. “We have to go, now.”
I pleaded with him with my eyes.

“Ok but this is the southbound exit, we
need to go to the one on the other side. Let me just get this stuff. ” He
leaned down to pick up the bags but I pushed him again.

“No, we don’t have time. Come with me
now.”

He must have understood that I wasn’t
kidding because he followed me out the exit and we ran through the lot of
parked cars. I found a silver Corolla near the middle. It wouldn’t be that fast
but it was a popular car and it would take a while for someone to figure out it
was missing. I spelled the doors open. I hoped in.

Jay turned to me, eyes blazing “What
are you doing?”

“Jay, you need to trust me. I’m getting
in this car and if you trust me, you’ll get in too.”

He got in and as soon as he shut his
door I spelled the engine on and flew out of the parking lot. I could feel the
rage coming off of Jay before he shouted “You’re not human.”

I didn’t even turn to look at him. I
just got onto the highway and drove like a crazy person. The black cat was out
of the bag. “No, I’m a witch but it’s not what you think.”

“Are you kidding me right now? Is this
some sort of kidnapping attempt? If so, you should know my father won’t pay you
a dime or get involved in your war.”

“No. Jay, I’m so sorry but I needed to
get out of there. I’m on the run and I need to get away.”

“From what, water?
Are you going to melt?”

“No, from other witches, look there’s
no time to explain but you need to call everyone and tell them to head out
without us.”

“Or what, you’re going to turn them
into ingredients for your next potion?”

“No. Jay
listen
to me-”

“Listen to some witch? Not going to
happen.”

I’d had enough and I started yelling.
“I’m not out to hurt you or anyone else. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you but I’m on
the run from others of my kind. One just showed up at the rest stop.”

He yelled back “Oh right, you’re a good
witch, I’m sure people are after you because you’re innocent.”

“Oh and you’re so innocent? Is that why
you were injured and then attacked again last night?” I bit my lip hard and
calmed my voice or I’d be driving us off the road soon. “If you or anyone of
the rest of them needed my help, I would be there in a heartbeat. You’re not
exactly human either Jay so stop being a hypocrite and help me.”

His eyes sparked at that.

I looked back to the road. Luckily it
was mostly empty. “Do you want your friends to be safe or not?”

His voice was beyond suspicious when he
asked “Do you?”

“Of course I do. They’re my friends too
and I don’t know how long that man has been following me. I don’t want anyone
else to get hurt because of me. My phone is with Annabella so either pick up
your damn phone or hand it to me so I can do it myself.”

Our eyes locked but before I had to
look back at the road, Jay looked away first, growling. He picked up the phone
and dialed
Trent
. “
Trent
, you need to leave now. Tell Will
too”….”Just do it.”
“Because I said so.
I’ll meet you
back at my beach house…this isn’t a frickin’ joke, man. This is” he hesitated
“an order. You guys leave the rest stop now and make sure you’re not followed.
I’ll explain later. Bye.” He hung up. “Happy?”

“Yes, thank you. Do you see if anyone
is following us right now?”

“I didn’t do it for you and no, not
that I’ve noticed.”

“It doesn’t matter he might be able to
track down the car eventually, we have to get out of it.”

“What and steal another one?”

“No, whatever I use magic on might be
traceable depending on how good he is. We’ll have to jump out and walk as far
as we can until we are safe enough for
Trent
to pick you up. After that I’ll call a
cab and leave.”

“Not until you explain who you are and
what you’re doing here.”

“I don’t owe you anything, Jay.”

He turned to me “You owe my uncle.”

My whole body sagged “Yes, I do. I’d
like to explain to him too, I think I can trust him. In any case, I think he
already knows.”

“Well that’s news to me” he grumbled.

“Then I definitely can trust him.” I
said snidely.

He folded his arms. “I’m just sorry he
trusted you.”

His words stabbed me like knives. My
balloon of self-righteousness popped and deflated. “I understand that and I
really am sorry to put you, any of you in danger. I thought I was safe. If I’d
have known this would happen, I wouldn’t have come. I’m sorry.”

He didn’t say anything.

We sat in silence until I said “As soon
as I can, I’m going to spell the car to keep going until it runs out of gas,
it’ll pull over to a shoulder on its own and it’ll sense the flow of traffic to
slow down or stop at appropriate times. As soon as we find somewhere to jump
to, we’ll have to jump out.”

“That’s not possible.” He said,
disbelievingly.

“I’ve done it before. It’s going to be
fine.”

He blew out a breath and his voice was
hard and cold as he said, “Whatever. Just tell me when to jump out.”

“I have to find a turn so no one sees
us. Let me ask you something, can Max or Mena delete footage from security
cameras?”

He faced the windshield, his voice like
ice. “Probably, why can’t you just use your magic on them?”

I pushed on, unable to do anything
about the complete distrust Jay displayed. I’d deserved it after all. “I could
but I’m too far away now and again I don’t want it to be traced back to me. If
you call them to take care of it, it would help both of us. No one needs to
know we stole the car. I’ll magic our past and future fingerprints off of the
car now.”

He nodded once and took out his phone
again. “Shit”

I looked to him as I wiped the prints
with a small charm. “What?”

“My phone’s dead.”

“Right, ok, we’ll call them as soon as
we can…There’s a turn up here, you ready to go. Make sure to roll on the
grass.”

“I got it.” He said bitterly.

“Ok” I set the spell up and sparks flew
from my fingers into the car.

Jay stiffened as he watched me but
didn’t say a word.

“One” Jay opened the passenger door.
“Two” I
brought my whole body over to his side. “Three” we
both jumped out as the car went tight around a corner.

We jumped onto the grass
and rolled down the hill into the expanse of trees. I ignored the pain from
random branches and rocks stabbing into me on the way down. At the bottom I
grabbed hold of a branch to try and slow my momentum. It was either that or
plow
straight into a tree.

When Kira’s body neared
mine, I grabbed onto her to help her stop. My grip on the branch slipped and
Kira and I rolled until I was able to pull her over to me. We landed tangled in
a heap one inch from the bark of a tree. My head dropped and we lay there
breathing heavily. I tried not to think about the very person on top of me and
failed.