“What about others? Are there more like him? Whom did he tell about us?” It was obvious Sophie’s mother was still wary, as were the others.
“That’s another thing that’s interesting,” Nicholas responded, casually draping his arm over my shoulders. “Apparently, they’re not like us in the sense that we tend to live in groups and instinctually attract others of our type. Each Hunter works alone, and is unaware of the existence of any others outside his immediate family. So, no. There was no one for him to ‘tell’ except his father, and I was listening in on that conversation. Justin never mentioned the girls by name, and adamantly refused when his father asked him.” He cast a sideways glance in my direction. “It was one of the reasons I agreed to help him, actually.”
“And how can you be sure he’s telling the truth?” Ana’s eyes had narrowed, and her lips were firm. Why was she so bothered? Obviously this was all good news.
But for the first time, Nicholas appeared caught off guard. He looked around sheepishly for a moment, and then lowered his eyes. “Well, some of it I heard and saw for myself, and the rest… Well, I needed to know what I was facing. I didn’t want any surprises. So I put him under the auferolies spell and questioned him.”
A shocked gasp rose from the room. “The auferolies spell!?” Ana exclaimed. “That is some very advanced magic for anyone, even someone as gifted as you obviously seem to be. It is not a spell we take lightly, and one that is strictly forbidden in the practice of good magic! Who would teach this to you? And why would you think it was permissible to do?”
His body stiffened beside me, and his green eyes flashed. “As I told you before, I’ve learned much from many,” Nicholas replied. His voice was strong, and he surveyed the group in open defiance. “I wasn’t raised with your beliefs, with your rules regarding the proper use of magic. You have your methods, I have mine. I needed the truth, so I got it.”
“But, to take away another’s will…to manipulate the mind in an unnatural manner and without even consulting the group first—” Aunt Cleo was aghast, as if she’d never heard of such an abomination.
“You are not my coven, and I don’t answer to you,” he replied calmly. Then he gave a deep sigh and sat up straight, his jaw tense. “Look, it’s not like I was doing it because it was a Tuesday afternoon and I was looking for some kicks. I needed to protect, not only my own life, but his as well. Sometimes the ends justify the means.”
I gazed around the room, trying to read everyone’s expression. Why all the hostility toward Nicholas? Why were they so intent on pinning him in a corner when all he had ever tried to do was help us? Including saving my life! You’d think that would at least warrant a little appreciation… a little respect. But no. Instead they were cross-examining him like he was on trial.
As I carefully studied each face, I suddenly became aware of something. How had I not seen it before? It was trivial, really—a mere detail. And silly to even notice at a time such as this. But interesting, nonetheless. Every one of them had the same glittery, ice-like eyes. Whether they were green like Nicholas’s, aqua like Ana’s, coffee-brown like Jackson’s, or hazel like Cleopatra’s…all of them twinkled with a shiny reflective glaze, like tiny crushed diamonds imbedded in the iris. It gave them a surreal look that was—fittingly—magical. For the first time it really hit me…I was in the presence of the supernatural. Normal rules no longer applied.
“Yes, we understand your reasoning, Nicholas,” Ana continued. “And no one is questioning your motives. But your methods cause some alarm when it involves mind manipulation of the innocent—”
“Speaking of mind manipulation… What about his memory?” Nicholas interrupted. “As you can imagine, the guy is a mess. What are you going to do about that? I can’t do long-term memory charms. I max out at about a day. And besides,” he added with a touch of resentment, “I wouldn’t want to ruffle any more feathers.”
There was another buzz amongst the group, but this time it sounded different…confused.
“Yes, that is another cause for concern at the moment,” Ana admitted.
“Why?”
“Because,” she began, “our spells are not intended to be used to remove the memory of extended periods of time. A few minutes usually…a couple of hours at the most. Trying to remove much more than that can lead to disastrous results. The subject is likely to lose the memory of significant portions of his or her life, or their identity altogether—”
“A wizard once used an unauthorized charm on his wife to erase a week’s worth of memories,” Cleo interrupted. “The woman went insane and committed suicide not long after—but not without trying to kill him first.”
“Well, what other choice do we have?” Nicholas asked. “He certainly can’t be allowed to carry on knowing what he knows…knowing who we are. Remembering the torture of these past weeks…that alone will drive him insane.”
The others exchanged looks. “We’ll need to discuss the best course of action before we proceed,” Ana said. “When will the Hunter be strong enough to return here?”
“His name is Justin,” I interjected. Everyone looked at me with surprise, but I didn’t care. I was tired of them referring to him as though he was some sort of thing.
“Of course,” Ana said. “When will Justin be well enough to travel?”
“Soon. Maybe within a few days or so…a week at the latest. I need to make sure he is strong enough first. He nearly died the last time we shimmered. I’m going back to check on him tonight.”
Ana pursed her lips and nodded. “Please keep us informed on his progress. And please, do not keep us waiting next time.”
“Yes ma’am,” Nicholas replied politely. It still irked me the way she seemed to talk down to him. After all he had done for me…for all of us.
“Calista, sweetheart, why don’t you and Nicholas enjoy what is left of the day? The others and I need to discuss some things which will surely bore you to tears.” She smiled, and for a second she seemed like the same ol’ Ana again. Maybe I was reading too much into her brusque attitude toward Nicholas. We were all under a lot of stress.
“Sure,” I agreed, and Nicholas and I stood to leave. I gave her a quick hug on our way out the door and breathed in the familiar scent of jasmine and vanilla….and a sense of something else.
Ana didn’t trust him.
Chapter 9. See Me
Once outside, Nicholas reached for my hand. “Let’s go down to the beach and take a walk to the pier,” he suggested.
I nodded.
“You didn’t tell them everything, did you?” I said when we reached the sand.
“No.”
“Will you tell me?”
He stared straight ahead. “I don’t know.”
“Why not?”
“Because there are things…some things that are better left unsaid.”
We headed down the shore holding hands. The sounds of the waves crashed furiously in the background, but not loud enough to drown out Sophie’s voice in my head.
“Hey, Cal—whatcha doing?” it chirped.
“I’m with Nicholas…we’re walking on the beach,” I thought back to her.
“Oooh how romantic,” her voice sighed.
“I take it you two are doing okay then?” This time it was Lily.
“Yes, so far. Just came back from giving Ana and the coven the 411 on the Justin situation.”
“When do we get the 411 on what happened?” Sophie asked.
“Soon. I’m seeing Justin tonight. I’ll fill you in after.”
“You’d better—” Lily’s thought was cut off by Nicholas’s amused chuckle.
“What’re you thinking about so seriously?” he asked with a smile that made his eyes sparkle.
“Gotta go…I’ll be in touch later,” I sent off a final thought to Sophie and Lily before returning my attention to Nicholas. “Nothing, just thinking about everything, I guess.”
He stopped walking and pulled me to him. “Are you okay?” he aske
d quietly.
I leaned against him. “Yeah…fine. Really.”
“Just fine?” He looked down at me, and I felt myself melting under his gaze. “Well, let’s see if we can improve on that some, shall we?”
He pulled me closer, and I breathed in the light musky aroma that was unique only to him…the most intoxicating scent that could weaken my strangest resolve.
I shivered as Nicholas lowered his face to mine, pausing a few tortuous millimeters from my lips. His lush eyelashes tickled my cheekbone, and I could feel his sweet breath. I closed my eyes, parted my lips, and waited for his kiss…my spine tingling with anticipation. Our bodies were almost one, and he fastened his warm, steely arms around my waist.
But he didn’t kiss me.
“Calista,” His voice was barely a whisper. “You know that everything is going to be okay, don’t you? You trust me, right?”
“I trust you,” I whispered back. The magnetic force of his voice pulled me in deeper and deeper. Of course I trusted him. How could I not? I’d never felt more confident than when I was standing near him. And I’d never felt safer than when I was by his side, wrapped in his arms. “I know everything will be okay…as long as we are together.”
Then Nicholas tilted his chin down the slightest bit and kissed me. The familiar feel of his love…natural, euphoric…enveloped me at once. This was where I belonged. With him. He was my life. My true home.
I didn’t even notice the light sprinkle of rain as it fell on us, nor would I have cared if I had. Wrapped in Nicholas’s arms, feeling our souls merge, nothing, nothing else mattered.
“We need to go back now,” he finally whispered.
“Says who? I like it here just fine.” I pouted and pulled him back. He let out a soft groan and kissed me some more, clenching my hair at the nape of my neck.
Abruptly, I pulled away. “Okay, now we can go,” I said, and he chuckled under his breath. “What do you need to do?” I asked.
He sighed and looked at me with longing. “Well, for starters, I need to say hi to my mother. She thinks I’ve been travelling with friends for the winter break. Plus, I want to see Max.” Nicholas’s eyes lit up at his dog’s name.
“Does your mother even know you’re back here in Crystal Cove?” I asked, confused.
He nodded. “I returned the night of your school dance. Shortly before you left for the evening…”
“Wait a minute—” A memory slowly surfaced. “Did you try to see me that night? Before the dance? I heard my name being called. I went to the cliffs but no one was there.”
He smiled. “Well, I didn’t say it out loud, but I was pleasantly surprised to see you come outside. I was down on the beach thinking, trying to figure out a way to see you and tell you the truth about me…who I was. I was down there for quite a while, just thinking about you. You must have picked up on it somehow.”
“It sounded like someone calling my name.”
“I never said it out loud, though,” he said again, sounding slightly perplexed. “I wonder if you somehow just felt me calling for you…”
We’d started walking slowly back up the beach toward our homes, our fingers tightly entwined.
“Yeah, that’s what it sorta seemed like. It wasn’t a distinct voice I heard…just the knowledge in my mind that I was being called.”
“Amazing,” he murmured, then glanced down at me. “But not nearly as amazing as you looked standing up on the cliff that night. Like an angelic goddess from a dream.”
I felt my face grow warm. “But I didn’t see you! It was so foggy I couldn’t even see ten feet in front of me. How could you have…?”
“Calista, after all you have seen and heard, do you really find it so incredible that some silly thick air would be unable to obscure my vision of you?” His voice was teasing.
I smiled. “Nah, I guess not.” Then, a bit wistfully, “I wish I could do some of the stuff that you and the others are able to do. My powers feel so…pathetic next to yours sometimes. Like I’m only a pretend witch.”
He abruptly stopped and turned to me, again wrapping one arm around the small of my back, while the other gently wiped some raindrops from my cheek. “You really have no idea how amazing you are, do you? How strong, powerful…naturally gifted. And I’m not just talking about magic, either.” He shook his head. “I have never before seen someone fight so hard to save someone who had nearly killed them. Yeah, he was cursed, but still. And you did it without the slightest bit of malice or resentment. The others…they cared, but it was you who made the stand. I’d never seen anything quite as beautiful as when I read your heart that day at Ana’s house. It literally shook me to my core. I knew then and there, whatever the cost may be, even if it was my own life, I would help you save your friend. Someone who, I might add, I was more than happy to kill only moments before. If that’s not some powerful magic, then I don’t know what is.”
I was stunned by his words. That morning at Ana’s, when he seemed to be looking at me so cold and hard…he was actually impressed?
“And if it wasn’t for you,” Nicholas continued, “we would never have been able to find Justin in the first place. It was your Empath and Seeing that led me to him. None of the others could have done it. He is alive today because of you.”
“And you,” I whispered.
Then he glanced down at me almost shyly. “And you got me to feel things I didn’t know I could feel,” he said, his voice noticeably lower. “I thought I was alone. That I’d always be alone. I’m not used to opening up to people, and I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping people away my whole life. It’s just been safer that way. But somehow, you knocked down all my walls and all my defenses, just by being you. I want you in my life. I want you to know everything about me, and I want to know everything about you. You make me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt before.”
My heart filled to overflowing at his words. I smiled, and wiped a small tear from my eye. “You do the same for me. You see me. No one ever really saw me before you did.”
“Then they are blind,” he whispered hoarsely. He lowered his head and gently kissed me.
Nicholas and I had only known each other for a short while, but more and more, with every passing moment, I felt like we’d been together for a lifetime. As if somehow, we’d always been.
“So you’re staying at your mom’s now?” I asked as we continued walking. “For how long?” I knew he could shimmer to me in the blink of an eye from anywhere in the world, but I liked the idea of having him close. Right now I needed that.
“Well, that’s the thing…I’ll be staying out here for a while. Mom doesn’t mind having me around now that I’m older and she doesn’t need to feel guilty for leaving me alone. Also, she has a readymade ‘handsome escort’, as she likes to say, at her disposal.”
My heart leapt at these unexpected words. Nicholas was here, and he wasn’t going anywhere. Then I had the most bizarre thought. It was weird the way I felt like I had known him forever. But there were still so many things I didn’t know…
“Um…so do you go to school or are you done already?” I asked with an embarrassed grin. I couldn’t believe I actually had no idea how old he was, as if it even mattered.
“I still go; I’m a senior. I’ll be starting at St. Morgan’s with you next week, actually, and finishing up there.”
A senior? In high school? Impossible! He didn’t look old, but he was just so not like a regular high school guy!
“You seem surprised,” he chuckled. “How old did you think I was?”
I was at a loss for words. I hadn’t thought much about his age, just that he felt perfect for me. If it wasn’t illegal, I wouldn’t have cared if he was fifty.
“I dunno…around my age I guess,” I mumbled.
“I’ll be eighteen on May twenty fifth. Gemini,” he added with a wink.
“Seventeen on April thirtieth—Taurus.” I smiled back.
“We should check and see if our signs are compatible,
‘cause if they’re not, maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
“Oh, be quiet!” I laughed and nudged him playfully. I didn’t need some silly astrologist to tell me what I already knew.
…That Nicholas and I were meant for each other.
*****
Nicholas was coming sometime around midnight to take me to see Justin. I’d had no problem staying awake the night before, but now my lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me. I knew there was no way I’d be able to stay awake that late, and gave up trying around six o’clock. My dad looked at me strangely when I told him I was going to turn in early, since he’d been under the impression I had slept through half the day already.
“You feelin’ awright? You comin’ down with somthin’?” He looked at me with affectionate concern.
“I’m okay, Dad. Just have a headache is all.”
I threw on a night shirt and crawled under the covers, a contented smile on my face, knowing the next thing I’d see would be Nicholas’s face when he came to get me.
It was almost two in the morning when I felt the light tickle of his fingertips stroking my bare arms, and his soft lips kissing mine. I opened my eyes to flickering candlelight and a vision of Nicholas, hovering over me exactly as he had the night of my abduction to the Isle. However, unlike before, this time I was alone in my bed. I instinctively wrapped my arms around him and pulled him down so he was lying on top of me.
My world began spinning, as it did whenever we connected. He kissed me softly, his sweet taste sending the familiar flurry of warmth to my stomach and chest. I ran my hands through his thick silky hair, and traced the well-defined muscles under his loose sweater with my fingertips. Once again I had the overwhelming desire to take it off him, and when his hands lightly snaked over the sides of my ribcage, I wanted to ditch my nightshirt as well.
“You drive me insane, do you know that?” he murmured in my ear, and lifted one of my knees up beside his body. “It’s impossible to think clearly around you. You’re like a drug…”