Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) (19 page)

My breaths got easier as
the weight disappeared. I looked up to see Kira standing over me with her hand
out. “Come on. We have to get going.”

I just looked at her as I
ignored her hand and stood up. “You’re bleeding.” I said as we started walking
into the forest.

She looked down and started
picking off the branches and leaves from her clothes, turning to look at
herself this way and that. It was a shame because she’d looked damn good today.
“Where?” she asked.

I reached out and brought
my thumb to her bleeding eyebrow. “Here.” I said as I brought my thumb in front
of her to show the blood.

“Oh.” She reached up to
feel it for herself. Infinitesimal sparks flew from her hand. The cut closed up
and she wiped off the remaining blood. All that was left was a faint pink scar.
“It’s fine. Let’s keep going.”

“Yeah.”
I said angry all over again. This
girl, who I’d hung out with and allowed around my friends and family was a
frickin’ witch. I trusted her. I told her things. I debated shifting and
leaving her here but I wanted answers.

She looked me over. “Do you
have any cuts I can help with? The ones from yesterday might have opened up
again with our fall just now.”

“I’m fine.” I said curtly.
It was the truth, my body was in serious pain but all of my cuts had closed by
now. My stitches still held my side up good and tight. We were far enough into
the trees that we couldn’t be seen and I exhaled, relieved.

“That’s how I knew you
weren’t totally human.” Kira said.

“You saw my scars healing
too fast?” I should’ve known.

“Yes and when I looked at
them from a different dimensional view I saw them healing through your own
magic.”

“I don’t have magic. I’m
just a werewolf.”

She froze. Shit, had she
not known what I was? “Werewolf?” she spoke the word as if she were tasting it
in her mouth. “You know, that makes sense…You’re all werewolves aren’t you?”

I didn’t answer, kept
walking. The less she knew the better.

“You’re the head of it
then…the um, Alpha, right?”

I kept my voice steady
“What makes you think that?”

“I learned all about
werewolves when I was home-schooled plus I understand animal behavioral
patterns. Everyone refers to you. No one challenges you but me. Although I’ve
seen Demi do so on occasion, in small ways.”

Noticed that, had she?
“Does it matter?”

“No but just so you know I
think you do possess some magic. It must be intrinsic to your kind, the way you
can shift forms isn’t some parlor trick. It’s got to be magic.”

“I don’t know what it is.
You’d have to bring it up to my uncle. I’m sure he’s got a lot of theories on
it. I personally don’t care.”

She cringed at my tone.
“Right… So I have to confess something.”

I turned to her, prepared
for more bad news “What?” “I don’t know where we’re going… exactly.”

I closed my eyes in relief.
“That, I can help with.”

“But how-”

I pointed to myself
“Werewolf. Good sense of direction and all that.”

“Oh” she said perplexed.
She may have studied up on werewolves but I doubt it told her much about us
except for the facts. It was time for some firsthand learning.

I sniffed. We were headed
southbound on the highway before we made the tumble into the woods. The woods
are on the right of the highway so we’re going west now. I sniffed some more
and pointed forward. “If we keep walking this way, we’ll hit civilization in about
eight miles. We can call the pack then”

“The pack?” she repeated
hesitantly.

“Yes.” I said and felt
stupid for letting even more slip. I was on a freaking roll today. I needed to
stop talking.

“Listen, I know you don’t
trust me anymore but I need to-”

“No” I cut her off. “I
don’t trust you anymore.”

She stiffened but stayed
silent. I didn’t try to apologize. I just wanted to get out of here.

We walked down through the forest in
the sweltering heat. I had pulled my shirt up over my ribs, tied a knot and
pulled it under in the back to hold it in place. It helped a little but I was
still jealous of Jay for being able to walk around shirtless without a care in
the world. Worse, it had been hours and I’d had to walk in the heat with Mr. Attitude
in utter silence.

In the absence of conversation, I’d
taken in the scenery. At least it was peaceful and we were somewhat shaded by
the trees. I’d noticed the nature around us was actually quite beautiful, so I
focused on that and nothing else. Especially not Jay’s eight pack abs or
muscled chest. I did not notice those at all. In fact, I hoped he got a
terrible sun burn.

Jay abruptly pulled me out of my day
dreams. “Up ahead” he placed one hand at his forehead to shade his eyes and
with the other hand pointed out over the hill “I can see a little bit of a
town.” He sniffed and pointedly didn’t look at me before continuing on “If I’m
right, there’s civilization up ahead. If we can use a phone we can call the
guys to come get us.”

I nodded, no less than overjoyed
inside, but I didn’t want to show it and said dryly, “good”

He frowned, “You could sound a little
more grateful, you know. You would be lost if weren’t for me.”

I gritted my teeth “Trust me I’m
grateful, I can’t wait to get away from you.”

His head whipped toward my face, his
eyes burning holes into me. “Same.”

I turned away and had to stop myself
from stalking off. I didn’t know where I was going. Instead I kept myself busy
with visions of grandeur in my head where I fashioned a broomstick from one of
the trees and flew off and away from him. Unfortunately they didn’t make me
feel any better.

The next half hour on the way to the
town was worse than I could’ve imagined, we walked up a steep incline to get to
the town and it was all I could do not to slip. As it was, my whole body was
taught and straining to just reach out and punch Jay. If his body language was
any indication, he felt the same toward me.

When we spotted a sign with a large
black scaled fish on it that said “Welcome to
Bridgewater
. Population: 1,593.” I sighed audibly.
The town itself was not very pretty, it had older buildings in need of repair
but at that moment it was my paradise. Fishing seemed to be the main trade and
every shop held that theme from fish n chip restaurants to bait and tackle
shops on every corner.

A few people were out and about most
dressed in shorts and t-shirts. It was clear the people of this town were hard
working and not the frilly or fancy types. In contrast, I noticed something
sparkling brightly in the windows of what seemed to be an antique shop. The
sparkle seemed to be emanating from a wind chime of sorts. Before I could get
closer to check it out, I felt the world slow around me.

One moment I was walking to the shop,
the next Jay had grabbed me around the waist and pulled me hard until my back
was pushed into his bare chest. Before I could react to this, a large cart
whipped past us down the incline of the hill, gaining more speed and running
over everything in its path. If Jay hadn’t grabbed me, I’d have been run over
too.

As time sped up to its normal pace, I
noticed a young boy running after the cart and simultaneously commanding people
to get out of its way.

When I had trouble managing to get a
few breaths in, I noticed the difficulty had more to do with Jay’s tight grip
around me, than my own shock. I coughed and whispered “Jay” I gained another
breath and said louder “Jay” as I tried to pry his hands from me.

Slowly he relaxed his grip but instead
of letting go, he grabbed on to my shoulders and turned me to face him. His
eyes were alight, deep purple in color and filled with a look I couldn’t
decipher. “Kira, are you ok?”

I stared at him, unable to merge the
person before me with the person I wanted to kick in the shins earlier today. I
swallowed “I…I’m fine Jay, just need a second to get my breath back.”

Then, as if he suddenly remembered who
I was, the urgent light in his eyes died away. He dropped his hands instantly,
like touching me had been like touching a hot stove. His whole face changed and
he raised an imperious eyebrow. “Watch where you’re going, will you?”

Stunned, I watched him pull his shirt
on as he walked toward a bar called “Judy’s”. Before I could get a word out, he
turned back to shout “I’m calling
Trent
, try not to get run over while I’m
gone.”

I rolled my eyes and stood there
stupidly, still trying to catch my breath. Eventually I looked around and found
a tree to sit beneath, nearby. I closed my eyes briefly, hoping the rough,
solid bark against my back would steady me somehow and help calm my nerves. It
worked at first but soon my head swam with images. Jay’s eyes filled with might
have been concern, his hands holding me close to his body, the warmth of him
surrounding me, protecting me from being trampled.

I couldn’t push the images and feelings
away, so I opened my eyes. Maybe Jay wasn’t so bad, we just needed to stop
fighting. Mostly, he needed to stop being a prejudiced jerk. I was a witch, he
was a werewolf. It was time he got over it already. I hated it but I knew I
should thank him for saving me, even if it killed me and I would.

Just as I resigned myself to try and
make things better, I heard a horrible keening noise. It was one that could
only be made due to deep pain and sorrow. One of those things your soul just
recognizes and can’t ignore.

I looked to the faces of the people
milling about but couldn’t locate the sound. I got up and finally reached the
entrance sign to Bridgewater. Below it, sat the source of the cries. A young
boy, who I immediately recognized as the one who ran after the cart, was curled
up into a ball, crying into his knees. I approached him and sat next to him.
“Hey, are you all right?”

He looked up, startled but saying
nothing.

“My name’s Kira. Do you mind if I sit
with you.”

He sniffed and I guessed then that he
was about nine or ten years old. He was a really cute kid too, all messy hair
and bright blue eyes. He remained silent except for the tiny sniffles.

I pushed on. “It’s a really beautiful
view from the top of this hill.”

He nodded but didn’t look at me when he
said “Yeah, I like it sometimes.”

“It’s great. So…is everything ok?” He
stared off into the scenery. I thought we might sit there in silence and I was
ok with that. I didn’t want to push him.

He surprised me by speaking up. “I was
building the stand for my mom so she could sell some of her creations.”

I smiled encouragingly, “That’s
amazing, did you build that by yourself?” he talked louder gaining courage and
pride. “I did, all by myself, it took me all year to get the supplies and learn
how to get it right but-but now it’s busted.” His voice cracked on the last
word and he gestured farther down the hill where the cart lay smashed into
several pieces.

I nodded “I see that, I’m sorry about
that.” I didn’t know what else to say so I put my hand around his tiny back and
rubbed in circles.

He sniffed again and wiped his nose on
his sleeve “Not your fault. I didn’t build brakes for it. I came out to the
town square to find the perfect place for it and now it’s ruined. I can’t do
anything right and now my mom….well she has to keep doing what she’s doing and
I can’t let her.” He got a steely look in his eye that he was far too young to
have. “I won’t. ‘Specially cuz Sheriff Evans said if I built it then he would
give her a permit. He promised. ”

This little kid had obviously taken on
the role as the man of his house. I knew I had to help him. I could easily fix
the cart with my magic but that just wasn’t an option right now. Even a simple
charm could alert a coven to me and I didn’t know anything about
Bridgewater
, there could be witches everywhere. I
wanted to help though.

I was trying to think of a better way
when I heard a booming voice behind me “Kira! Kira, what the hell? What the
hell are you doing? I leave you for two minutes and you disappear.”

I look up but hold back a snappy
retort. After all, I decided to try and get along with him now. “Jay, I’m right
here. I’m…sorry I wandered off.” I tried to remind myself that if the situations
were reversed, I’d be mad if he wandered off too. “This awesome kid and I were
just talking.” I turned to the kid. “What’s your name, anyway?”

He looked at Jay, tall and menacing,
and then inched closer to me. At first I thought the kid was trying to shield
himself but then his chest puffed up and he put his hand in front of mine. I
was startled to realize he was trying to protect me. My heart melted. I knew I
had to fix his cart for him. I didn’t care what it would cost me. “I’m Riley.”
He spoke assuredly and without any trace of his earlier tears. “Who are you?”