The Promise (The Coven Series) (8 page)

“I’m
sure she is, but no, you can’t sneak in.
 
You need to respect the laws and traditions of our past.”
 
She pulled on her ceremonial gown.
 
It shimmered in the light as if a thousand
tiny diamonds were woven into the silvery white material.
 
I jumped off the bed to touch it.
 
I’d never seen it before.
 
It was tiny and delicate, barely reaching mid
thigh.
 
Two thin straps held it up around
her neck and I was glad she’d kept her hair up.
 
It made the dress look even more fragile and Emily all but sparkled in
it.

“It’s
beautiful,” I whispered and fingered the soft material.
 

“This
is part of our history, too,” she told me while she fastened her silver locket
around her neck.
  
“This is the original
gown Sara Bishop wore when she became a part of the Coven in Massachusetts.”

I
gave her a crazy look.
 
Sara Bishop?
 
She’d lived in like the 1690’s.
 
“It’s too short.
 
Didn’t they wear stuff that covered
everything?”

She
grinned.
 
“Usually, but this is
different.
 
Witches wore things a little
more risqué when they worked their magic.”

I
gave her a look of total disbelief.
 
I
was not going to fall for that crap.

“I
swear, CJ, it’s hers,” she promised with a wink.
 
“Magic.”

“There’s
no such thing as magic,” I grouched, mad that she’d try and trick me.

She
laughed and kissed the top of my head.
 
“So how do I look?”

“Beautiful,”
I told her, unable to stay mad at her for long.
 
She really was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen and tonight,
tonight she looked like a goddess descending from the stars.
 

“Thank
you,” she said and fingered the locket.
 
“Do you know why I’m wearing this?”

I
shook my head.

“So
you really will be with me.”
 
She leaned
down and pulled me into a hug.
  
The
heart shaped locket held a picture of both of us.
 
“I have an idea.”
 
She went into the bathroom and came out with
a pair of scissors.
 
She snipped a piece
of each of our hair and put it into the locket.
 
“I want you there
too,
little sister, and this
way, I’ll have a piece of you with me.”

Her
sapphire eyes had glowed with happiness when she’d left the house.
 
She’d been just as excited as Megan.
 
Emily had truly loved everything about the
Coven, so why had she warned me to stay away from it?
 
It made no more sense to me now than it had
all those years ago.
 
I’d seen the same
desperation in her eyes that I’d seen in Dad’s.
 
What had caused her to change her mind?
 
It was a mystery I needed to solve and soon.

“Can
you not stay put for five minutes?”

I
looked up into a pair of flashing storm clouds.
 
Ethan glared down at me, a picnic basket in one hand.
 
I swallowed.
 
Picnic basket?

“I
had to pick up our food,” he growled and sat down next to me.
 
His shirt stretched tight over his muscles
and his jeans looked poured on.
 
Did he
have to look so yummy?
  
“Then I come out
to find you gone.
 
I have been looking
for you for the last twenty minutes.
 
How
do you move so fast in those heels?”

I
glanced at my favorite black Jimmy Chou’s.
 
They’d cost me a small fortune, but the three inch black heels were more
than worth it.
 

“Do
not start on my shoes.
 
You’re in enough trouble
as it is.
 
I didn’t really appreciate the
attitude so I left,” I told him, aware of his arm brushing mine as he pulled
out the Styrofoam containers. My stomach rumbled at the smell of hamburgers.
 
I was really hungry.
 
Dad claimed my stomach was a bottomless pit
and I had to agree with him.
 
When I
opened the one he handed me to reveal my favorite burger off the menu, made
just the way I liked it, I almost started salivating.
 
Lucy’s had the best bacon cheese burgers in
the state.
 
Her burgers had even been
featured on that show about diners on the Food Network.

“Attitude?”
he asked, puzzled.

“I
didn’t appreciate getting hauled out of there like a naughty child.”

He
took a bite of his burger and his eyes crossed.
 
“Good God, what’s in this?
 
I’ve
never tasted anything so good.”

“It’s
a secret recipe.
 
Lucy won’t tell
anyone.
 
Next, I did not appreciate you
leaving a note on my locker while you were off with my best friend.”
 
Did my voice get just a wee bit loud at
that?
 
He was lucky I wasn’t shouting.

“I
took her home because she is your best friend,” he snapped.
 
“She was dead on her feet and I didn’t think
you’d appreciate it if she fell asleep driving home and was in an accident,
especially considering what happened to your sister.”

Oh.
 
I cast a quick peek up at him and saw him
glaring down at me.
 
He’d taken her home
because of me?
   
Wait, I didn’t tell him
how Emily had died.

“How
do you know what happened to my sister?”

“I
asked Billy.”
 
He grabbed a fry and
paused, watching me dip my own in blue cheese sauce.
 
“What’s that?”

I
held it out for him to sniff and laughed when his face screwed up in
disgust.
 

I
popped the fry in my mouth.
 
“Blue cheese.
 
It’s an
acquired taste.”

“If you say so.”
 
He
eyed me with open curiosity as I savored the taste.
 
“Billy said you took Emily’s death really
hard.
 
I was only trying to make sure you
didn’t have to go through that again.”

Crap.
 
He had to go and remind me what a nice guy he
was.
 
“I’m sorry,” I muttered.
 
“I jumped to conclusions.
 
Kay…”

“…is
Kay,” he interrupted me.
 
“She’s not
you.”

“She’s
beautiful,” I whispered, not looking at him.
 
“Every guy we know wants her.”
 
My
paranoia was getting the best of me.
 
I
had never doubted myself before, but Ethan made me think crazy things, feel
insane things, and I felt like I was losing my mind.

He
sighed.
 
“Have you not ever looked at
yourself, Cassie?
 
You’re just as
beautiful as she is.”
 
He reached out and
wrapped a lock of my hair around his finger.
 
“Your hair reminds me of the sunset and your eyes fascinate me.
 
I’ve never seen such a blend of gold and
yellow.
 
They’re not brown, not really,
unless you get good and mad.
 
No, they
look more like honey.”
 
His other hand
came up and cupped my cheek.
 
“Your skin
is the softest alabaster and as smooth as silk.
 
You’re gorgeous, Cassie Jayne Bishop.”

Is
that what he really saw when he looked at me?
 
No one had ever said anything so beautiful to me in my entire life.
 
He made me feel special.
 

He
let go of me and tweaked my nose.
 
“Now
eat your food before it gets cold.
 
Lucy
said it was your favorite.”

Flustered,
I tried to pick my burger up with both hands, forgetting one was injured until
pain lanced through it.
 
“
Oww
!”
I cried out, not expecting
the sharp pain.
 

Ethan
picked up my hand and pulled it gently to him.
 
Before I could stop him, he started to unwrap it.
 
His breath hissed out when he saw the finger
shaped bruises.
 
“Is this why you didn’t
want me to walk you home?” he demanded, his eyes black with fury.

“No!”
I said quickly and tried to pull my hand away, but he held firm.
 
His fingertip traced the bruises from
beginning to end.
 

“Why
didn’t you want me to walk you home then, Cassie, and don’t use Kay as an
excuse.”

“Since
Emily’s death, my dad drinks a lot,” I told him.
 
“When I got home yesterday, I heard him and
Mom fighting.
 
I went to visit Emily long
enough for their fight to cool down.
 
I
figured Dad would be drunk by the time I got home and I didn’t want you to see
that.”

“Does
he hurt you every time he gets drunk?” he
asked,
his
voice low and hard.

“NO!
 
Dad’s never laid a finger on either me or
Mom.”

Ethan
stared pointedly at my wrist.
 
“Did he do
this?”

“Yes,
but he didn’t mean to.”

Ethan
gave me a look I’d seen on countless people’s faces on TV when they heard
others say they stayed with an abusive husband or boyfriend because they loved
them even if they hurt them sometimes.
  
I was not one of those people.

“I’m
not stupid and I’m not making excuses for him.
 
Yesterday was the first time he’s ever done something like this.
 
We were talking about Emily and the Coven
meeting last night.
 
Something scared him
and he grabbed my hand, not thinking.
 
He
forbade me to ever go near the Coven.
 
His eyes were crazy.
 
My going
frightened him so much, something snapped in him.
 
He didn’t even know he was hurting me until I
told him.
 
Dad didn’t mean to do this,
Ethan. ”

“He
doesn’t want you to go to the Coven meetings?’

I
shook my head.

“Well,
at least you’re not lying to me.”
 
He
started to re-bandage my hand.

I
frowned.

“You
lip’s not quivering, Cassie,” he explained with a laugh.
 
“And I’m sorry too.
 
I didn’t stop to think what you might have
thought about me escorting another girl home when you and I were supposed to be
on a date.”

“Thank
you.”
 
He apologized?
 
Wow.
 

“So,
what’s your favorite color?”

“Huh?”
I blinked at the abrupt change of topic.
 

“Your
favorite color, Cassie,” he laughed.
 
“I’m trying to get to know you.”

“Red,”
I said.
 
His eyes sparkled at me.
 
He knew how much he rattled me.

“The
color of passion,” he murmured and eyed my hair.
 
My face flamed to match the color of my
hair.
 

“What
about you?
 
You grew up in Virginia?” I
quickly changed the line of questioning to something I was more comfortable
with.
   

He
grinned ruefully at me and winked.
 
“Falls Church.
 
It’s a great place.”

“Then
why did you come here?”

“Because
my dad thought it would be good for me to learn about his side of the
family.
 
He met my mom in college and she
was never a part of the town or the Coven.
 
She wouldn’t even let us visit Granddad here.
 
He had to come to us, so we rarely saw him.”

“Your
mom doesn’t believe in any of it either?” I asked and tried to eat my burger
one handed.
 
It was simply too big to
hold with one hand.
 
Ethan laughed at my
failed attempt and took the burger from me.
 
He held it up for me to take a couple bites.
 

“My
mom was raised to be a good Catholic girl and to her, witchcraft was evil,” he
told me and put my burger back down.
 
“Dad, on the other hand, thought I should have the option of learning
about my heritage.
  
The Coven is very
important to him so I thought I should at least give it a try for him.”

Mom’s
words came back to me about owing it to myself to find out why Emily loved the
Coven so much.
 
Ethan’s words echoed
hers.
 
It was important to his dad so
he’d try it.
 
Maybe Mom was right.
 
Maybe I should at least think about seeing
what it was about.
 

I’d
promised Emily I wouldn’t go near it.
 
How could I break my promise to her?
   

“What
are you thinking?” Ethan asked me.
 
“I
can never tell what you’re thinking.”

“Nothing,”
I shook my head.
 
“Do you believe in it?”