Tethered 02 - Conjure (21 page)

“Are you nervous about going into work tomorrow?” Callie asked me as she tucked her legs beneath her on my couch.

Kace had to work at the hotel and he’d left Callie with me for the night so I wasn’t alone. His idea, not mine. I knew I didn’t need anyone to stay with me, because I knew nothing would happen. The tether had made me fearless, I guess you could say, at least in the aspect where Hoodoo was concerned.

Some time alone tonight would have been nice, though, simply because those were generally the moments when Theo came to visit with me. After learning what I had about tethers from Admer, Theo was the person I needed to be spending time with tonight, not Callie. But I wasn’t going to harp on the matter.

“A little,” I admitted, taking another sip of the tea she’d made us. I didn’t know what all she’d put in it, but I did know it had lemon and skullcap. I was slightly proud that I knew what skullcap was and its usages now. “Why? What did Kace tell you about him?”

She shook her head. “Not me. Kace told Adam all about his theory on Admer being behind the Hoodoo on you.”

Binks jumped up on the couch and kneaded the cushion between Callie and me, making it more comfy for himself. I reached out and stroked him from head to tail repeatedly. Having a cat was soothing in some ways.

“I don’t think it’s him,” I said.

“Who do you think it is, then?” she asked. She scratched Binks underneath his chin. “He is really creepy. Plus, my mom said he was always the outcast in the group; maybe he’s your jealous enemy.”

“I know he’s kind of odd, but I just don’t think it’s him.”

“Because you think he’s your biological dad?”

I blinked. “How did you know about that?”

She shrugged. “I think we all were wondering if that were true. Even all of our parents were wondering about it once they found out you held the element that would balance our group out. There was always that chance you would have had a repeat element.”

“Huh,” I said, lost in thought. “I never thought about that. What would you guys have done if Fire hadn’t been my element?”

She shrugged. “I don’t really know. I guess we would have just waited around until someone with it came.”

I didn’t speak. I continued to sip my tea, wondering how long they would have had to wait. Would they have waited in this town their entire lives? My guess was they would have. They had the Van Rooyens here to make magick for them, so there was no reason to actively seek out someone with the element of Fire. Everything they needed to keep their lives going was already here.

“Do
you
think he’s your father?” Callie asked, pulling me from my odd thoughts.

I glanced at her over the rim of my tea mug. “Yeah.”

“Really? Have you talked to him about it? Are you planning to?” Her questions came out in rapid succession.

I smiled. “It’s an odd situation. He actually already told me that he was.”

I didn’t know why I was telling her this. Maybe it was because she was nice and incredibly easy to talk to. Whatever the reason, I felt the sudden need to spill my guts to her. To let someone know some of the craziness that had engulfed my life since the night of the red creature.

Callie’s blue eyes widened and she nearly choked on a sip of her tea. “When?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that he told me.”

“Is that why you don’t think it could be him paying the Van Rooyens to conjure up stuff to get you to leave?”

I nodded. “Is that a stupid reason? I mean, I know he’s really odd and I barely know him, but I just don’t think it’s him doing all of it. Why would he have given me a job if he didn’t want me here?”

“So what, were you, like, a secret love child or something? Is that why your mom went away to have you?” Callie asked. “This is like one of those love story books in the cheap bin at the grocery store that were made to be a Lifetime movie!”

I laughed. “Not really.” I tucked my leg beneath me and took another small sip of tea. “Besides, if I was their secret love child, why did my mom give me up for adoption and never come back?”

Callie’s face darkened. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“Are you planning on staying now and getting to know him?” She paused and her eyes widened as she looked directly at me. “Oh, man, that will really make work nerve-racking tomorrow, won’t it?”

I hadn’t thought about staying to get to know Admer yet. Damn, she was good. “I don’t know. I still haven’t made up my mind as far as what I want to do with this house yet or about the initiation either.” I glanced around.

“Well, I have a plan, but I doubt you want to hear it,” Callie said, setting her empty teacup down on the coffee table.

“I’m listening.”

“I think you should stay and enroll in Craven with the rest of us. And then, you and I could be roommates here, in this house, so I don’t have to live at home or get stuck with some horrible roommate at the dorms. You can take all the time you want to decide on the initiation
and
you could get to know your biological father.”

I smirked at her. “That’s a good plan, but I don’t know what I’d even go to school for.”

“Go for business management. That’s what everyone goes for when they’re undecided. Look at Kace.” She shrugged.

“Ha. Funny,” I said. “You’ve been talking to my mom too much, I think.”

“She may or may not have wanted me to mention that little bit to you.”

“Which little bit?” I asked.

“The part about me being your roommate and you enrolling at Craven.”

“Sounds like her. When did she have time to mention that?”

Callie shrugged.

A small smile twisted my lips. I was glad my mom had decided to stop pestering me about coming home and had finally realized I needed to be wherever I was happiest. I tossed the throw pillow I’d had in my lap to the side and stood up to take my mug to the sink.

“So, what do you think about it?” Callie asked, following behind me. “Sound like a good plan?”

“I think if I do that, then everyone will expect me to become initiated right off the bat and it’s a decision I don’t want to be pressured into making.” I rinsed my mug out in the sink and leaned against the counter. There was already enough pressure on my shoulders about it due to the tether.

“Can I ask you why you don’t want to become initiated?”

I dropped my gaze to the tiles of the kitchen floor. “It just seems like a lot to take in all at once…and so
final
.”

She shook her head. “It’s not final; look at your mom. She left when she felt like it and everything was fine. You won’t be trapped here forever if you decide to go through with it.”

“It just feels like I will be. If I leave, then no one can use their magick again.”

“That’s why the Van Rooyens are here.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that your parents are all so eager for you guys to get your magick so they won’t have to use the Van Rooyens’ spells anymore? It’s like they’re going to use you the same way they’ve used them for so many years. Doesn’t that bother you at all?”

“Not really. It’s just the way it is.” She shrugged.

“I don’t want to be used,” I said. “I’d rather have freedom.”

Callie didn’t speak again after that and neither did I. There wasn’t much more to say. We put in a movie to make the silence between us less noticeable and the night passed quickly. After our third movie I must have drifted off, because I woke to the whisper of my name and someone gently shaking me.

“Addison, wake up,” the voice called softly again in a velvety smooth voice.

Theo
.

“Theo?” I called out groggily, opening my eyes.

He was squatting down beside where I’d been lying on the couch.

“Shh…” he scolded and pointed to Callie, who was curled up at the other end of the couch, sleeping.

I nodded and sat up just as he stood and motioned for me to follow him out of the room. I slipped off the couch, staring at Callie the entire time, praying I wouldn’t wake her. Thankfully, she didn’t move. Theo had disappeared up the stairs. I knew exactly where he was going—to the attic.

I crept up the narrow stairs that led to the workroom in the attic. Binks was already at the top, staring down at me. He meowed once and I swore he was telling me to hurry up in cat talk, because he didn’t like the idea of Theo being up there without me.

Theo stood in the center of the room at the table beside my family’s Book of Shadows, organizing more ingredients he’d brought with him. The warmth of his presence hit me stronger than ever before once I entered the room. His body seemed to hum at my nearness and an air of complete concentration radiated from him to me.

This was something new.

I walked to Theo’s side, my eyes skimming over his rugged form. His shoulders were hunched forward, and the defined muscles beneath his gray cotton T-shirt were tight and tense. They grew more so the closer I got to him. Something stirred inside of me, a curiosity of what it would feel like to run my hand across the rippled muscles of his shoulders. I’d always been a shoulder fan; there was nothing better than seeing broad, leanly muscled shoulders on a man.

“Stop,” Theo said. His caramel-colored eyes flicked to mine and bored holes straight through me to my soul.

“Stop, what?”

“Stop staring at me that way and feeling what it is you’re feeling,” he insisted, his jaw tensing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said in a shaky voice. How had he known?

Theo’s eyes racked over the length of me. “Denial doesn’t suit you.”

A heavy feeling entered my stomach. Could he read my mind now? Was this part of the tether?

I continued to stare into the depths of Theo’s eyes. A warm shiver that brought pleasure with it slid through me just before he looked down at the ingredients displayed on the table in front of him. The all-encompassing sensation of complete concentration filled me once again, and I knew without a doubt the emotion was his—as was the warmth of desire that had passed through me seconds before.

I could feel Theo’s emotions now.

A tingling spread across my skin as a sudden rush of adrenaline spiked through my body from this sudden revelation. Theo’s eyes flickered to me once again and a slight smirk twisted his full lips.

“You’ve figured it out now, haven’t you?”

I swallowed hard. My mouth had become incredibly dry. “Figured what out?”

“What the tether is doing.” He shifted his gaze back to a small glass bottle he held in his hand.

I hesitated in answering him. Instead, I watched him open the small bottle and sprinkle some of its lemon-scented herbal contents into the same ivory bowl I’d seen him use several times now.

“And just what exactly is it?” I asked, gripping the edge of the table tightly, worried of the answer I assumed he would give.

“It’s growing stronger. That’s what it does. It tethers us together completely.”

An image of the two of us connected at the hip like Siamese twins flashed through my mind and my knees grew weak. “We aren’t going to become the same person, or something freaky like that, are we?”

A low rumble of a chuckle escaped Theo and amusement ricocheted through me, stemming from him. “Calm down. It won’t be anything like that. At least I hope not.” He glanced at me through his thick, dark lashes, his amusement clearly visible in his eyes.