Wish (20 page)

She trusted me to do the right thing, I knew it. And I was
barely sixteen years old. Ha!

      I slid past Nana and she touched my shoulder lightly on
the way out. Under her fingers, my tattoo kicked with life. “There’s a lot at
stake, Sydney. Please be careful.”

I didn’t look at her. “Yeah. I kind of got that.”

I opened the door.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

      I slipped into the hallway. Keith lunged for my arm and
the door to my mom’s room closed behind me. Magic hissed and jumped from my
arms. I glanced behind me. The stone door disappeared. The wall looked bleak,
ominous. The two of us stood alone in the empty hallway.

      Keith’s fingers pressed into my flesh and I pulled back
from him.

“Woah. Ouch, that hurts,” I said in my grouchiest voice.

      He didn’t answer or let go of my arm. His fingers
pressed in deeper.

      “Keith, you’re hurting me.”

      He said nothing, but started to travel, dragging me
behind him still clutching my arm tight. I tried to resist, but since he was
almost twice the size of me it was an exercise in futility.

      “Keith? What’s going on? Where’re we going?”

      His head snapped back and he looked down on me with the
blackest, meanest eyes I’d ever seen. “I’m taking you out of here.” Then he
sneered and an image of my father’s face transposed over his. I yelped as his
face grotesquely morphed into a grin and I tried to get away, but I might as
well have been handcuffed to him. I couldn’t get free.

      I yelped in fear and blinked and then Keith’s face was
smiling at me again, the face I’d known most of my life, but his smile was
different. Sinister. For a moment, an image of another man, and then another
passed across his features. I watched in horror as his face contorted and
changed and then went back to normal.

He dragged me through the narrow stone hallways and I felt
the sorrow singing from the stones, as if they were watching, convinced of my
doom. God. I almost wished I were in the forest again. I’d take trees over this.

      “Don’t be afraid, Sydney. I’m taking you from the
Institute. You won’t be stuck inside here, don’t worry. This is for the best.
We’re going to get rid of your curse.”

He leered at my necklace as he pulled me along, down the
hallway. “You’re too weak to handle your powers anyhow. Even your mother didn’t
think you could handle them. You’re better off without them. Everything will go
back to normal once you give them to me. You’ll be happier.”

      My fingers automatically went up to protect the jewels
around my neck and he stopped pulling me but didn’t let me go.

“You’re not Keith,” I spit out. “And you have no idea what is
best for me.”

      His face softened and then I saw the boy I’d known
since I was a kid smiling reassuringly at me.

“It’s okay, Sydney. It’s me.”

I wanted to tackle him with a hug.

“Just me.” His familiar soft mouth grinned at me, the same
half grin I knew and loved. He brushed a stray bang from his eyes. ”It’s me.
Me. I’m the one who has always understood you. I dreamed of you. I dream of you
still. I’m sick of pretending, Sydney. I want you to know I’ve always been
there for you. I’m your Sentry. I was born to protect you. I’ve lied for you.
I’d do anything for you. Anything.”

He pulled me a little closer and I let him. My Keith.

“We belong together. We’re destined to be more than friends.
You know that as well as I do. But. We can’t. Not if you hold onto to the
necklace. I want you to get rid of it. I need you to. So I can be with you.
Forget your powers, they’ll keep us apart. You don’t need powers. You need me.
Choose me. As more than a friend.”

      I frowned and stiffened as he tugged me even closer.
Keith didn’t talk like that.

“You’ve never, ever said we were anything but friends.”

      I remembered my promise to Stevie that we would never
try to date him. I ignored the tiny part of me that wanted to believe, forget
we’d ever said that. Crushing on Keith was not in the books.

      He looked hurt. “Come on Sydney. I assumed you knew how
I really felt.”

      He took my hand. “How I really feel.” His fingers were
warm, as they caressed mine and he leaned in right against me. My stomach
tickled and for a moment, I held my breath as he leaned in closer. I was about
to be kissed. For real. By my best friend Keith. And the thing was, in the
middle of all the craziness, I wanted him to do it. I really wanted to kiss
him.  His face came nearer to mine and I inhaled his familiar scent and closed
my eyes. I stopped breathing. Keith was about to kiss me. I waited and then his
lips finally pressed against mine.

I jerked. They were cold. Cold and uninviting. Evil. I wanted
to spit, wipe the feeling away. I pulled from him, frantically rubbing my mouth
with the back of my hand.

      He laughed. “Come on Sydney. It’s me. Your best friend.
You know you wanted that. Now give us, give me the necklace. I’ll pass it along
to the ones who understand powers. I don’t want them for me. I just want you
and me to be two normal teenagers with all this hocus pocus stuff behind us. No
witch stuff.”

      I looked around the hallway for assistance. Empty walls
grieved with me but did nothing to help. I wondered what was I was supposed to
do. I wanted someone to rescue me, to tell me what to do, tell me who to trust.
No one appeared.

      “I wish someone would help me,” I whispered.

      “Come on, let’s go, we’re almost outside,” Keith said
pulled me behind him. He took a step and held out his other hand. “Come on Sydney.
It’s me. I’ll help you. You wished for me, didn’t you?”

My heart skipped a beat. I’d wished for help. Keith was back.
He held me and beamed his normal smile. “Your Mom was wrong. Give me the
necklace and it will make everything better. Hand it over and I’ll make all of
this go away. Your mom can go home anytime she wants to. Everything will go
back to normal. She can leave, but only if you give me the necklace.”

I thought of all the times I’d relied on Keith. My other
rock. He never lied to me. I’d only heard him lie once, my whole life, and that
was to protect me. He’d never do anything to hurt me. I frowned. Well, except
maybe-dating skanky Jenny Truman without telling me.

I wanted to trust him. I’d even wanted him to kiss me. It was
cold because of the castle, the walls. They were cold. It was ambiance. Not
him. Not Keith.

“Mom can leave if I give you the necklace?” I asked.

“I promise. And you know me. I don’t lie.” He smiled, not
looking concerned. A few steps from us loomed the heavy doors where I’d entered
the Institute. Magic sat at the door, staring at me, his blueish cat eyes
yellowed in the dim light and glowing, forcing me to focus, think.

“Keith?” I said. “Remember what you gave me at my birthday
party? “

“Of course I do. The necklace,” he answered smoothly. He gave
my hands a gentle squeeze and glanced at the door with a chipper smile on his
normally solemn face. “You can give it back. I’ll get you something else to
replace it.”

“No,” I reminded him. “The other thing you gave me.”

He turned back to me. Confused.

“The shirt,” I said softly. “It said “Road kill,” on it.”

“Oh yeah. Ha. Ha.” He chuckled. “How could I forget the Road
kill shirt?” He chuckled again. Too merry for my Keith.

I broke away from him and clasped my hands behind my back so
he couldn’t grab them. “Easy. You never gave me the shirt. You gave it to Stevie.”
I took a step away from him. “You’re not Keith. My Mom won’t be able to get out
if I give you my powers. She’ll be stuck here and so will Nana.”

“My Keith would never agree to help the SHIELDERS and do this
to my family.”

A flash of rage rippled across the boyish features. I knew
for sure then. It wasn’t Keith who’d kissed me. Keith wasn’t capable of being
so dark. Or cold.

He grabbed for me again. He or whatever he was. I scrambled
away from him, running for the door.

“You’re not Keith.”

He grabbed me roughly and I struggled to free myself. “All
right. Let’s cut the games. That necklace doesn’t belong to you. Give it to me.
Now.” He growled a menacing snarl. “If you don’t, I’ll hurt everyone you care
about. Your powers are nothing compared to ours.” He let out a roar of anger.
          I kicked him in the shins and he roared again and then I heard a
cat’s hiss and squeal. I twisted around.

Keith held Magic above his head. A surge of anger sparked in
my stomach. “If you don’t give me your powers right now, I will kill this cat.”

I whimpered out loud and closed my eyes.
Keith,
I
thought as hard as I could. I tried to reach inside his mind, inside of him. 
Keith.
Be strong. Chase them out. Come back to me. Keith.
I concentrated with
everything I had and then I opened my eyes.

Keith staggered. He lowered Magic down from the air and
calmly stroked Magic’s fur.

“Keith?” I asked with relief. “Is that you? Are you okay?”

He grinned grotesquely and then he winked.

“I warned you. You had your chance,” he growled. His eyes
flashed with a glassy and unfamiliar glare. He lifted Magic higher and shouted
in a language I didn’t understand. Magic squawked and then was a crack, and an
explosion of blue light. Magic went limp in his arms.

Lifeless.

Magic wasn’t moving.

“Magic,” I yelled.

Furious, I lifted my hand to Keith, channeling my negative
energy to the end of my bitten down nails. A surge of anger so dark I’d never
known it existed. A crackle of light flashed from my hand.

Keith’s eyes opened wide as the energy hit him. I watched my
friend crumple to the ground.  

He his mouth opened. His eyes returned to their normal color.
And then they closed.

“Oh my God.” I rushed forward, kneeling down, reaching for
Keith’s hand. It hung limply in mine. Beside him Magic lay, still and lifeless.

      “Keith? Open your eyes.”

I gazed around the hallway, avoiding Magic’s still body,
searching for help. Around me it stayed eerily silent. Then there was a whoosh
of air and behind me the front door of the castle opened. A figure in a hooded
cloak stepped toward me. Thank God.

I was about to rush forward to Nana, but then I gasped. The
figure was not Nana. Under the hood was my father. In his real form. 

He looked older than the photo’s I’d seen of him, but without
a doubt, the man in front of me was my mom’s power sucking husband. In the
flesh. Or whatever he was.

I wanted to leap up and punch him in the stomach but I didn’t
dare move from Keith’s side.

      “You have to give the necklace to Keith.” My dad
narrowed his eyes at me and lifted one brow, just like older version of Cody.
“Or I’m afraid, he’ll die.”

      From the ground, Keith groaned and rolled to his side.
“Sydney,” he gasped. “No. Don’t listen to him. Don’t give me the necklace. I
won’t be able to keep them out of my head if you hand it over. I’ll give it to
them.”

      I closed my eyes in relief and fear. Keith wasn’t dead.
Or possessed by SHEILDERS any more. Right now he was okay and they still needed
him alive.

They didn’t have him right then. And I needed him more. 

I concentrated on an image of my mom’s face. Please Mom, I
thought. I can’t do this alone. I need you. Help me. I wish you’d give me help.

I opened my eyes. But I was still alone. Terrified.

“Your mother can’t help you,” my Dad said with a laugh. He
glanced down at Keith. “We’ll finish him if you don’t hand over the necklace.”

Keith struggled to sit up.

“Hand the necklace to him, or he has no purpose, no use to
us. He’ll be a failure. Just like your mother. We’ll destroy him.”

And then as if he couldn’t resist it, he added more.

“You can’t handle the responsibility of powers. You’re weak
and afraid. Also just like your mother.”

It was a pretty stupid mistake. I mean. Come on. It’s one
thing when I’m the one who’s pissed off at my mom, or thinks she’s a screw up.
But he had no right. Not any more.

“Screw it. If I’m going to be a witch, I’m going to be a kick
ass witch.”

This was so not how I imagined sixteen. 

“You can do it.” Keith groaned as he sat up. I looked down at
Keith and giggled in shock, gripping sanity by my fingernails. And they were
chewed off.