Something Witchy This Way Comes (23 page)

“We’ll be in touch.” Fawn smiled, looking more relaxed than I’d ever seen her. Maybe she was trying a new way to soothe me, since using her powers on me only pissed me off.

“I have to go. Hayden’s waiting for me.”

“Oh.” She glanced at Mr. Linton. “I thought you told him we no longer needed him.”

“I did.” I felt the need to explain why they’d still see us together. “But we’re sort of involved now.”

We were, but not in the way they’d take it. My talent at playing with shades of the truth alarmed me slightly. It didn’t feel like
me
. Being deceptive wasn’t something I’d ever be comfortable with. But if I wanted to live to see my eighteenth birthday, I’d have to get used to it.

“Then he may have found out about us anyway?” Mr. Linton raised a brow.

“Oh, yeah. That.” Of course their spy would tell them that I’d let Hayden in on our secret. “They involved Hayden when they kidnapped me. I didn’t want Hayden going all Terminator on them. He’d get hurt. So I warned him. Don’t worry. He’ll probably dump me soon anyway. And with his reputation, if he spills, no one will believe him.”

I grinned and threw my purse over my shoulder.

“Tessa?” Mr. Linton said as I got to the door. I looked over my shoulder, wishing I’d moved faster. “We’d like to show you Headquarters, have you meet the rest of us.”

“I don’t know…”

Fawn chuckled softly. “We’re not going to kidnap you. But you’ve spent a good deal of time with them and we think it should be balanced. What do you say? Sunday?”

Oh, how could I get out of this?

“I’m sure your buddies will be right behind us, so it’s not as if we’d hurt you, even if we wanted to,” Linton said.

“I suppose,” I said for lack of an excuse. It’s not like I could reject them so early in the game. That could put me in danger even sooner.

“Tessa,” Fawn began. “Sometimes it’s difficult to tell what’s going on and who to trust. They were smart to have someone young and attractive contact you and make you feel comfortable. My guess is that they set up the kidnapping, so that Chait would look like the good guy when he got mad at them.”

They made a good point.

“If they did a decent job of presenting themselves, that’s all it means. That they’ve shown you exactly what they want you to see.” Linton stood and leaned over his desk, his palms on the surface. “You can’t always judge a book by its cover, right? Don’t let a pretty face sway you into making a huge mistake.”

I nodded and slipped out the door before they pushed me for a time on Sunday. They’d call or text me, but at least I’d have time to think about my answer before then.

Chapter Twenty

Hayden

Tessa spotted me and headed toward my car, her hand outstretched and holding a letter. “Here you go. I read it. Looks good. And I personally shredded most of your file. Too bad I didn’t have time to study it. Looked like fascinating reading.”

“Smart ass.” I took a moment to read the letter before starting the car. Tessa was right. The letter looked good. Damn good. “I was thinking we should use the gym at my house, instead of the karate studio. I feel guilty taking up space when someone could be renting it. Not to mention the fact that we’re more vulnerable in a public place.”

Right. I’d been kidnapped outside the studio. “Your house has its own gym? Of course it does. It’s like ten times the size of a normal house.” And those abs… “Will we have enough privacy though? We can’t have anyone walking in.”

“If we close and lock the doors.” I winked at her. “Or we could go to my room where there’s a comfortable bed. Plenty of privacy there. We could work on wrestling.”

She punched my shoulder. “I didn’t mean it that way. We have to
talk
, remember?”

“In that case, doesn’t look like we have time to practice today. We’ll go to my place. When we’re done with our chat, we’ll eat before you go to work.”

She nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

* * * *

Tessa procrastinated, setting a trophy down then picking up another. It had only been twenty seconds since we’d arrived at my guesthouse. I grew impatient anyway. And anxious. Since they no longer needed me to guard Tessa, was she planning to stop tutoring me? Perhaps she’d lost interest in learning self-defense. If she had, I wouldn’t have much of an excuse to spend time with her.

I
really
wanted that excuse.

“Tessa, spit it out already.”

She set the trophy down and pivoted to face me. “I want to do that experiment again. You know, when I asked you to cover your eyes and get the keys?”

Not what I was expecting. But if her strange research sped things up, I was game. “Sure. Whatever.” I grabbed my keys from the hook by the door and dropped them on the dining room table. Familiar with the routine, I turned around, closed my eyes and reached behind me.

“Hold on.” The keys jingled. “One more second.” I wasn’t sure what she was doing but decided to humor her by waiting patiently. “Okay, find the keys,” she said.

It was too easy. The keys practically found me. I opened my eyes and held them out. “Now what?”

In her hand sat her cell phone. “I’m trying to figure out a way to tell you, so you don’t freak.” Her front teeth scraped her bottom lip. “When we did this the other day…”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not writing a story about a girl who was blindfolded and kidnapped or whatever I told you.” She took a deep breath. “It was a test to see if you could move the keys with your mind.”

I laughed. She was messing with me. “And what did you discover?”

“You’re a sorcerer, like me.” She stood stiff, as though awaiting my reaction.

It had to be a joke, but she wasn’t smiling. “Why would you say that?”

“Friday, we were leaving the library and you reached for your backpack. It jumped at you, Hayden. I thought maybe I’d imagined it. Later, when I asked you to find the keys with your eyes closed and they glided over the table without you touching them, that was my proof.” Tessa pressed her lips into a fine line and gazed at the phone in her palm.

My heart drummed in my chest. “You’re kidding, right?”

“See for yourself.” She cued her phone and handed it to me.

I pushed play and watched myself. Despite the crappy resolution, I couldn’t mistake the image of me in the same clothes I wore right then, standing near the table I was currently leaning against. On the screen, the keys came to me on their own. I played it again. Then again. And again. When I’d had enough, I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat refused to perform. I leaned a hip into the table and stared at the phone.

“It’s not a trick. I took it two minutes ago and didn’t have time to do any magic on it, not that I could do that sort of thing anyway. That’s you, doing something that you’re not supposed to be able to do. Unless you’re like me. Which you clearly are.”

I returned her phone. “That’s insane. And impossible.”

“No more impossible than
me
doing those things.” Tessa stuffed her cell back in her purse and spent the next few minutes convincing me. She had me turn around and I’d tell her what she hid behind her back. First picture that popped into my head. It took a few times before I was convinced.

I had magical powers. Holy freakin’ crap.

“And you know what I learned today?” she asked, plopping into a nearby chair.

“Is it bigger than what I just learned?” I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading wider.

“Maybe. We can live for hundreds of years. And it isn’t only seeing into minds, we’re physically superior to normal people.”

“Nice.” Then my smile faded. Everything would change now. My stepfather was the least of my problems. Not that he was much of a problem anymore — not to me anyway. He was still married to my mom though, and there was no telling what he did to her behind closed doors or where he snuck out to late at night.

There were much bigger fish waiting to swallow me whole. Soon, Phillips and Linton would come to me. Chait and David would vie for my loyalty as well. Decisions would have to be made. I didn’t want Tessa to worry about me though. She had enough going on. “Guess you’re not so special after all,” I said in an effort to hide my worries.

She smiled. “I guess not. Are you escorting me to work?”

“I was planning to.”

“Good. You need to practice blocking your thoughts before we see any of them. Otherwise they’ll know right away. We can do that while we eat. On the way there, I’ll fill you in.”

* * * *

On the way to Delia’s Deli, Tessa updated me on her meeting with Linton and Phillips. I hated the idea of Tessa going off alone with them on Sunday. If I had it my way — and I intended to — I’d make them meet her more publicly where I’d be watching.

Nearer to Delia’s she became stone silent. It was as if she knew I needed a few minutes for everything to sink in.

I spotted the neon Delia’s sign and made a right.

“I know you don’t like Chait,” she said. “Linton and Phillips made me doubt him. But out of all of them, he’s still the one I trust the most.”

“What are you getting at?” I asked, pulling into a parking space.

“As soon as you start practicing, they’ll figure out what you are. I’d rather have a head start and already be using our other powers. Chait can help us with that.”

“No way.” I didn’t trust Pretty Boy any more than Phillips or Linton.

Her eyebrow arched. “Who else then?”

“We’ll practice our abilities by ourselves.”

“Hayden, we don’t have that kind of time and I don’t know everything yet.” She twisted to face me. “Why reinvent the wheel? If we have someone there, one of our kind who knows more, it might go faster.”

“It’s too risky, Tessa.” I slapped the steering wheel and faced her. “I know you think he’s cool. But sometimes the ones you trust aren’t the most trustworthy. Just better actors.”

“Maybe. But he’s still our best shot. Unless you have a better idea, we’re going with Chait.” Her eyes fixed on mine, her mouth set in a hard line.

“Fine. But I don’t like it.” I got out of the car and slammed the door.

Inside, I spotted David right away.

“Don’t forget to keep your distance,” Tessa whispered.

“It’s only been ten minutes since I’ve known. You think I’m already
open
to them?”

She shrugged. “Probably not.”

I watched her disappear into the back of the deli, then I walked over to David. “Mind if I join you?”

“Be my guest.” He smiled, exposing bright white teeth. He didn’t look like the boss. More like he belonged on a surfboard with his short blond hair, t-shirt and jeans. Rena and Chait’s superior, yes — but more likely he took orders from someone else.

Claiming the chair directly across from him, I rested my elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Who runs your group?”

“Jump right in, Hayden. We don’t need pleasantries.” He grinned.

“Not since you gave the okay to kidnap Tessa. Who’s the boss?”

He set his drink to the side. “Rena gave me incorrect information or I would never have approved that.”

“Boss’s name?” I leaned back, arms folded over my chest.

“Jane Doe. Very few people have met her.”

“Jane Doe? Seriously? Does she wear a toe tag?”

He waved a hand. “Hey, I’m not making this up. She’s our leader. She makes contact with certain people, gives the orders and it filters down from there.”

“Do you know anyone who’s met her?” I asked.

“No.”

“No one knows what she looks like? So if she ever ends up dead, when the cops can’t identify her and call her Jane Doe, it’ll fit.”

David chuckled. “Yes. The cappuccinos here are great. Did you want to order something?”

I scooted my chair closer and sat straighter. “How long has she been in control?”

He shook his head and took a sip of his drink. “Only a few years.”

“With your bunch, how does one get control? Knock off the guy in charge?” I asked.

The edges of his mouth curled up. “Sometimes. In this case, her predecessor stepped down and she took over.”

“How many of you guys are there?”

He hesitated, gazing into the liquid in his cup. “In the world? Thousands maybe.”

“Tessa told me your Detector was murdered. He was the only one you had out of thousands?”

“No.” David’s brows furrowed. “He’s the only one
here
. There are a handful of others elsewhere.”

“How many are here with you?”

David sighed and shook his head. “Tessa should be asking me these questions. You’re not even supposed to know about us. When the others hear about this—”

“Trust me. That’s not going to be a problem.” By the time his superiors found out what I knew, I’d be detected by then anyway and it wouldn’t matter.

“Why not?” David asked.

“From what I understand, you guys are pretty strong. As a human, I could get knocked off pretty easily. Why would you worry?”