Wicked Sense (46 page)

“At least Mona can’t burn on a stake,” I say, thinking out loud.

The two most important women in my life look at me with
disdain i
n their eyes.

Sisters, indeed.

“Drake,”
Mona
says with a grave voice. “Shut up.”

The sun plays hide-and-seek behind the buildings while Drake drives
us to Boulder’s house
.
I had forgotten about it. The sun, I mean. I’m even wearing short sleeves. The scar Jane
’s knife left
on my arm is almost gone.

Before we go to
Boulder’s,
we stop
at the
7-E
leven for paper plates.

“What about Jane?”
Drake asks when we’re back in the car.

I ha
te it that Jane is permanently o
n our minds.
“I’m not sure,” I say. “She must be burned from the gym fire, and I’m pretty sure she can’t heal herself.”

He shakes his head. “No, I mean, what is she going to do?”

I shrug. “I know Connor is looking for her. Remember, Connor believes Jane is after
Brianna
, not Mona.”

“But Mona is in danger,” he says.

“She is, but I gave her a few little
somethings
she can use to defend herself.
I’ll
perform
morning cleanse and shielding rituals on her—when I’m sure her magic will not get out of control.
Also, Mona
has
started to sense magical energy. She can only feel it when
a
Sister is close, but with her power she could even have a stronger sensibility than I do.”

“How is she?”

“She’s
your
sister,” I say.

“Now she’s yours too,” he replies.

I’m taken aback
, until I realize he’s not implying I’m family. He means she’s my
Sister
, capital S.

I
chuckle
. “You two
still didn’t have a
talk
, did you?”

“The last one didn’t go well
.” H
e doesn’t smile.

“She
feels
guilty about the earthquake. I told her
she shouldn’t:
it wasn’t her fault, and
nobody died
. Pain supported me.”

“Is
Pain
out of the hospital
already
? And is she a Knowing now?”

“Well, technically, s
he’s been
a Knowing
for some time,” I tell him. “Anyway, I think Pain and I convinced Mona.”
I glance at him.
“You’re taking this pretty well.”

“What can I do?
I’ve seen enough to accept it.” He shows me a crooked smile.

S
omething
else must be said
. “Drake, you
’ve
got to understand: this will never go away.”

He looks at me, serious.

“
There might come a day when the Mothers come knocking.”

Drake puts on a brave face. “We’ll deal with it.”

“That’s not all.
Mona’s
magic
al
abilities
will increase. It’ll
take a while for her to use magic
,
at least in a controlled and
discreet way. Things will get weirder and weirder.”

“I seriously doubt that,” he says.

“Be warned. So far Mona showed Allure and this fire immunity I’ve never seen before. She doesn’t play by the old rules. She might have more than two Charms. Unheard-of powers. And things can get nasty.”

His eyes flicker between the road and me. “What do you mean?”

There’s no easy way t
o say it. “Jane is not the only
rogue Sister. We know others
are
out there, hidden. She m
ight even belong to a renegade c
oven.
I mean, her bike, her houses—someone probably pays for that. And she wouldn’t learn N
ight magic by herself. A Night c
oven
must be supporting
her
.
”

“But they already knew about the Singularity, right? What changed?”

“The earthquake. They knew
of
her. Now they know what she can do.
And
Jane might tell them who she is.
”

Drake
goes
silent
. I respect his privacy
.
I just stare at him while he drives. Not even his
somber
expression can
mask
his good looks.

Pushing all the trouble aside, I smile, just happy to be
with him
. Looking outside, I notice the city.
It kind of sparkles in the sun
.

Seattle is not such a bad place after all.

I love the irregular, patched-up sidewalks, the always-wet alleyways. The ever-present
greenery
. The unique vibe and the positive attitude.

I love that the city can be mellow or rock and roll.

I even love the gra
y skies that make the sunny day
s
—like today—much more special.

And I love it all even more because Drake is here.

“D-man, you’re here! And you brought the wife!” Sean
speaks
and
chuckles at the same time.
I wonder if he’s a witch
.
Maybe
that’s his special Charm.

Forget about magic
. I came here to have fun.
The
last month had the record of “w
eirdest moments of my life” toppled over and over. I
crave
some normalcy.

Sean
takes the bag with paper plates from my hand and
leads us to the backyard through the side of the house. The windows have plastic cover
s
, a common sight in the city trying to rebuild itself.

Boulder and Priscilla are o
n the
deck
. Judging by her body language, not as a couple.

“Hey! Welcome to our small
barbecue
gathering!” Boulder says aloud. “We’re lighting a fire in homage of the fire in school. Clever, huh?”

“Not as much as you
’d
think,” Priscilla says.

“Oh come on, the school burned
. L
et’s burn some meat,” he replies, giving her a one-armed hug.

“Let’s
cook
the meat
, not burn it, please,” I say.

Priscilla is not amused.
She pushes Boulder’s arm away.
“It’s not a
ll fun and games, you know? My d
ad mentioned they’ll probably spread us
among
the other schools in the district while they rebuild
Greenwood
High. We may end up in different schools.”

“Thank you, mood killer,” Sean says. He
brings us
a beer and
a
soda, and gives me the latter. “Here’s your kid’s drink.” He looks at Skye.

“I’ll take the grown-up drink,” Skye says. Sean hands her the beer can, and I can see that
with that line
,
she earned his
everlasting
respect.

Boulder turns to Skye, “How do you like it, Skye? Medium-rare good enough for you?”

“I’m a vegetarian,” she says. I can almost feel Sean’s disappointment.

Boulder arches
his eyebrows. “Really? Well, D-M
an here is crap
-
tarian
. But you still make
a good couple.
”

He’s clearly a few beers ahead of the rest of us. He puts a hand on my shoulder
,
as a big brother would do.
“You with a girlfriend, Drake…
I always believed you’d grow into a man.”

I’m speechless by his backhanded compliment. His eyes show some pride. Or maybe it’s too
much
alcohol. Of course, he’s not done.

“I still
do,” he deadpans, slapping
me hard on the
back
.
Sean laughs.

Wiping laug
h
ing tears from his face,
Boulder continues, “Now, seriously, I’m glad. Hey, we could double
-
date.
Are you
up to it
,
Priscilla?”

This is unexpected. We all stop to look at Priscilla.

S
he
gazes
at her soda for a while
,
and
then she answers. “Sorry, gorgeous. I promised myself I’d
date all the guys in the world—and
I already did you.”

Boulder’s smile is gone for a second, but comes back soon, this time softer.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really like your decision. But I’m understanding. I can wait. So
how
about I’m the first one on your second go-round?”

We all stare back at Priscilla. Who blushes. The Predator
blushes
.

This is one of the most awkward moments ever.
Thankfully, m
y girlfriend restores order.
Skye
grabs my arm with both hands and
moves
closer to me. “Sorry, Boulder, but Drake and I need a date for ourselves.” She stares into my eyes. “Our first date.”

I like the sound of that.
And her eyes. The blue i
n her eyes is the exact same
color
of the
cloudless
sky above. I need to ask her what this shade is called. Maybe later. Now I have a more pressing question.
“Are we finally going on a date? A
real
date?”

“And I
give you my word
this one will have a happy ending,” she
whispers to me
, her voice full of promise, her
blue
eyes full of mischief.

Excuse me while I kiss Skye.

---

Having just one name on the cover is deceptive. Many people were involved in the creation of WICKED SENSE, and I’d like to thank them.

I’m forever grateful to the Writers in The Rain: Angela
Orlowski-Peart
, Suma
Subramaniam
, Eileen
Riccio
, Martina Elise Dalton, and Brenda
Beem
. Your friendship, expertise, and advice have changed my life. Reading your novels has been an absolute pleasure. Here’s to many more fries- and commas-filled Thursday nights.

Destiny Makers and
Wanatribe
: you are some of the most generous and talented people I’ve ever met.

Thanks to graphic designer Martina Elise Dalton for the perfect cover. To Grammar-Hero Alyssa Linn Palmer, the line editor of this book. And to Eagle-Eyed Amanda
Shofner
, copyeditor.

Great friends and great readers Carlos,
Flavia
, Jose, and
Lucio
: I couldn’t have done it without your support.

My family and in-laws: thank you for never looking at me funny when I said I wanted to write.

My loving and patient kids: thanks for putting up with my long hours at the computer. You’re my own fantasy world.

Jana aka Wonder Wife: I didn’t know the meaning of “love” or “life” until I met you. Thanks for teaching me.

Thank you for reading this book. Writing a novel is a blast, but no easy task. Knowing that you got a few hours of entertainment out of this story makes it all worth it.

I’d like to invite you to sign up for the non-
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I hope you enjoyed reading WICKED SENSE. Please let your friends know about it! I’d appreciate if you took a moment to leave a review at any of the major book websites to inform other readers’ decisions. If you do, please email me at
[email protected]
with a link to the review. I’d like to thank you personally.