Unfaithful (12 page)

“What, do I have to eat another brownie?” he asked with a sneer.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? I’ve got a better idea,” Layla said. “You’ll do sit-ups, dunking into the water tank. You’re already wet anyway.”

“What? Are you crazy? You must have eaten too many edibles.”

“You can’t say no. Those are the rules. Or aren’t you sure you can do it?” She shot Ron a challenging look, but he was already grabbing the back of his shirt. The whole group cheered as he pulled it off without taking his eyes off Layla’s. He sat on the edge of the tank and Jarret and Preston held his legs down.

Drake appeared at my side, watching them. “That Ron guy reminds me a lot of myself when I was his age.”

“Yeah, you seem barely older than him.”

“I wasn’t talking about my appearance,” he said.

“I wasn’t either.”

Drake laughed and slapped me on the stomach.

“GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!” The whole group cheered Ron on as he dunked his torso into the water and resurfaced. One, two, three . . . ten times. When he was done he popped up, shook his wet hair, and let out a battle cry as the other boys pulled him out and the girls cheered.

From time to time Connor raised a hand to his head. Though he hadn’t admitted it to his friends, the impact had been brutal.

The girls all opted for the dare, refusing to bare their sins. One was told to do a belly dance on the edge of the tank. Another had to kiss everyone present. When she tried to refuse, the others threatened to throw her into the water, so she had no choice but to agree to the long round of kisses.

Then it was Connor’s turn. He chose truth but then refused to answer the question. When Ron complained that his dare had been the hardest, they decided to force Connor to do it too. He stumbled to the edge of the tank and took off his glasses, determined to look brave, but when he saw his reflection in the black mirror of water he tried to get out of it.

The others barred his way. “Don’t be a wuss! Just do five!”

All at once a sinister shudder ran over me. I looked at Drake and we exchanged a long look. He’d felt it too. We turned around. Behind us stood a Witch.

“Kreeshna,” Drake murmured, a flame in his eyes.

The Witch had dark skin and long hair in a braid that hung over her right shoulder. A smaller braid wound around her forehead like a diadem. Her black eyes glittered like a cobra’s and for a second her pupils narrowed to slits, strengthening the impression. She vanished and reappeared behind the kids.

I heard Drake snort and gripped his arm. He seemed on the verge of attacking. An eerie whisper drifted to us on the wind; the Witch was murmuring her dark litany into the kids’ ears, planting the seed of evil in those willing to listen to her.

She stopped behind Layla. “Come on, what are you waiting for? Push him down!” the girl was saying.

“What? No! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Connor protested, but it was no use. “Wait! I’m not feeling so good.”

“Don’t listen to him, it’s just another trick,” Layla shot back.

“Down! Down! Down!
Down! Down! Down
!” The kids cheered as they dunked him.

“One!”

Connor struggled, panicking. He re-emerged and attempted to take a deep breath but before he could they pushed him back in, counting the dunks.

“Two!”

“Down! Down! Down!”

“Three!”

“Down! Down! Down!”

 “Wait, guys! Stop!” Adam shouted in alarm.

Everyone froze. Connor had stopped struggling. I glanced at Drake and was worried to see he couldn’t take his eyes off the Witch.

“Fuck! Get him out of there, quick!” Jarret ordered.

“Connor! Connor, can you hear me?” Adam ran to him.

“He’s just kidding again,” Layla said.

“Shut up!” Adam snapped. “He’s not breathing! Maybe he hit his head when he fell from the roof. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Oh my God! You mean he’s really dead?” Audrey whimpered. No one replied. They all stood there, petrified, staring as Adam tried to resuscitate Connor.

He gave up and looked at his friends. “He’s dead.”

A wail of dismay rose from the group.

“What have we done?” Paige grabbed her hair.

Audrey covered her mouth and stared at her friend’s corpse in shock. “It can’t be. He can’t be dead.”

“But he is. And now we’ve got to decide what to do.”

Behind Layla, the Witch smiled and continued to whisper into the girl’s ear, her eyes on Drake’s face the whole time.

A sudden warmth rose in me. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. When I opened them again I was at the center of the group. Connor was standing at my side and his motionless body lay on the ground.

Connor looked around in fright. His friends were panicking. When he saw his body he froze, backed up, and looked at me. “Go away,” he whispered.

“Connor, listen—” I said in an effort to reassure him, but he took off across the fields. Drake materialized in front of him. The boy jumped and changed direction but Drake foresaw his every move. He took on Connor’s appearance and when Connor saw him he let out a scream and tumbled backwards. I approached him as he scrambled away across the ground.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, trying to put him at ease.

“You sure the same goes for him?” Connor asked, lifting his chin at Drake. My brother’s shaved head gave him a threatening air.

Drake snorted, finding it funny. “You should be more worried about your friends.”

“What do you mean?” Connor shot to his feet and ran to the middle of the group where they were having a heated debate.

“We’ve got to hide him,” Layla was saying. “Let’s bury him somewhere.”

“No!” Connor was shocked. “What are they doing? Are they out of their minds?” He walked around them, shouting to get their attention, but it was no use—they couldn’t see or hear him.

Everyone froze. “Did you guys hear that?” They’d heard him. How was that possible? The Witch smiled. She must have let Connor’s voice reach his friends. To scare them, maybe, or—more likely—to defy me, after reading my mind, as all Witches were capable of doing.

 “It was Connor! I’m sure of it!” Layla exclaimed. “He’s going to curse us. He’s going to curse all of us! We’ve got to burn the body!”

“Are you insane?” Adam said. “We’ve got to call the police. Maybe there’s still time to help him.”

“No!” Ron said. “No police. They’d find my brother’s weed. I can’t bring the cops here. I’d be fucked. He’s dead. There’s nothing more they can do for him now. Layla’s right—we’ve got to hide him.”

Evil breathed more of its poison into the girl’s soul.
You’ll go to jail because of what you’ve done. No one will ever talk to you again . . .

“I don’t want to go to jail,” Layla murmured in a tiny voice.

You’re better off hiding him. You can just say he disappeared. No one will ever find him . . .

“We’ll say he disappeared,” the girl repeated, under the Witch’s sway. “It’ll work as long as we all tell the exact same story.”

“That bitch!” Unaware that she was under the influence of evil, Connor could barely keep himself from rushing at her.

“Connor.” I rested a hand on his shoulder and used my powers to calm him. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not your problem any more. Don’t worry about it.”

“How can I not worry? They’re talking about my
body
!”

“It’s not your body any more. All that matters now is your soul, your essence. That’s all you’ll need in the place I’m taking you. I’m here to guide you to the other side.”

Connor swallowed, curious. “It’s just that—I thought she was my friend. How can she be saying this stuff?”

“She’s scared and weak. There are times in life when you need to make decisions. Those who are strong can make them on their own and resist the temptation placed before them. Those who are weaker, on the other hand, decide to give in to it. You made the right choice. You should be happy because you’re coming with me.”

“But Layla won’t?”

I clenched my jaw. The girl’s soul had already been poisoned. “No. She won’t belong to our world.”

“Hold on.” Connor shuddered. “Who’s that woman?”

In his current form, I could sense how strong his emotions were. He felt fear, but also fascination. The Witch gazed at him and smiled.

“She’s here for the girl, not for you.”

“Is she going to kill her?” he asked, worried.

“No, but she’ll slowly take her soul. When Layla’s time comes, no one like me will be there for her.”

“So could she take mine too?” he asked, frightened.

“No, I wouldn’t allow it. The fate of your soul has already been determined. Layla could still resist—there’s always time to redeem oneself until the soul leaves the body. At that point, nothing more can be done. If her soul is corrupt, evil will claim it.”

“We’ve got to warn her! Layla, don’t listen to her!”

“It’s too late. Only she can decide whether to listen to evil or renounce it. Each of us is fully in command of our choices, just like you were. It’s called free will.”

“But that woman’s influencing her! She’s
making
her say all those things!” he protested.

“Not exactly. She’s putting options in front of her, sowing the seeds of doubt, pushing her to follow the path of least resistance. It’s called temptation. Layla could resist but she’s choosing not to. Temptation is an evil that humans don’t often recognize.”

Connor looked at his friend and sighed in resignation.

“Now we need to go.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“You have no choice. I’m here for you, to show you the way. I need to carry out my mission. Not even I have a choice. Besides, if I left, sooner or later darkness would come to claim your soul—and you wouldn’t want that to happen. I don’t want it to either. I need to help you pass on. That way you’ll be safe.”

“What about my parents? I don’t want to leave them. I’m not ready yet.” Connor was distraught. I could sense it.

“You don’t belong to this world any more. You feel confused right now because you’re trapped between two worlds. Where you’re going, your soul will be at peace.”

“But . . . will I see them again?”

I flinched. That question was the one that worried me more than any other: not seeing Gemma again once she died. But Connor wasn’t condemned to solitude like I was. He wasn’t a Subterranean but a mortal soul that would soon have life eternal. I swallowed and looked him in the eye to reassure him. “Yes. One day, when the time comes, you’ll see them again.”

He smiled at me, turned to look at his friends one last time, and then took the hand I was holding out to him. “Goodbye,” he whispered, and disappeared.

His soul was at peace.

I sighed and looked around for Drake, but my smile soon vanished because he wasn’t there—and neither was
she
. In the distance, a bolt of lightning lit up the sky.

“Damn it!” Drake was under the Witch’s influence.

I materialized behind them, clenching my fists. I had to move with extreme caution or it would be the end of Drake. She had pushed him against a tree and demolished his defenses, and was now using his own power against him by taking on the guise of another woman. Drake seemed so entranced by her that I instantly realized what had happened: the Witch had taken on the appearance of the fiancée Drake had lost and he’d surrendered control of his mind to her.

I stared in alarm at the sight of the Witch’s serpent. It had slithered up to its mistress’s neck and was hissing into Drake’s face, poised to attack.

“Drake!” I shouted. The Witch turned toward me, her eyes two black pools, her face a mask of rage. She raised a hand to the sky and brought it down. A bolt of lightning shot toward me, but I deflected it onto a nearby tree that exploded in a million sparks.

The explosion snapped Drake out of his trance. Freed from the Witch’s spell, he struck her just as she was hurling another bolt of lightning. The movement distracted me and I didn’t see it in time. It zoomed straight toward me, blinding me, but Drake instantly appeared at my side, held out his hand, and raised a shield. The thunderbolt crashed against it, dispersing its energy. We were safe behind the barrier, but blue and white beams of electrical energy darted back and forth over it like anxiously pacing animals ready to pounce.