The Monster Within (17 page)

Her smile widened. “George Peterson, you are the best man I know.”

The scene darkened, like someone dimming the lights. Everything went black again, and Ethan’s voice filled my ears. I was sure he’d been talking this whole time, but I couldn’t hear him over the vision playing in my mind.

“Yes, she collapsed. She has some burns on her legs from coffee she spilled, and she might have hit her head on the floor. She’s not responding.”

“Ethan,” I said, beginning to see his outline. “Hang up the phone. I’m fine.”

He dropped the phone and held my face in his hands, looking me over. “What happened?”

“I fainted, I think. I’m okay now, though.” Physically, I
was
fine, other than the few burns. Emotionally, I was a wreck. George Peterson had been a good man, and now he’d never get to take his wife on that trip to the Bahamas. Disgust and pain tore through my insides. How much longer could I handle fooling everyone? How much longer could I allow myself to live at the expense of others?

Ethan helped me sit up. “Take it easy. The paramedics are on their way.”

“I don’t need the paramedics.” There wasn’t anything they could do for me.

He shook his head, not believing me. “People don’t faint for no reason.”

Gloria’s eyes widened, and she leaned down and whispered in my ear, “You’re not pregnant, are you?”

I pulled back. “What? No!”

“What?” Ethan asked.

I wasn’t about to tell him what she’d said. If I did,
he
’d faint. “Nothing. Now can you guys give me some room? I’d like to get off the floor. The coffee is soaking into my shorts.”

Ethan insisted on holding my arm while I stood up, but Gloria backed away. Jackson was watching from the door of the kitchen.

“Seriously, guys, I’m fine. A little clumsy and maybe dehydrated from this heat, but I’ll be okay.”

Gloria insisted I sit down at the counter and drink some water before I even attempted to start working. Ethan made me promise to let the paramedics look at me before I sent them away.

The whole process took an hour. One long, humiliating hour. I knew what was wrong with me, and it wasn’t anything modern medicine could fix. I was relieved when the paramedics left and I was cleared to work. At least waiting on tables would take my mind off things for a little while.

“Samantha, your
friend
was here.” By the way Gloria said friend, I knew she was talking about Nora.

“Ugh, please tell me I missed her. That would be the only good thing to come out of this very embarrassing afternoon.”

“Yes, you missed her, but she asked me to give you this.” Gloria handed me a white envelope.

I wrinkled my brow, wondering if Nora had actually paid me all the tips she’d stiffed me on.

I took the envelope. “Thanks.”

“Finish that water before you start taking orders, got it?”

“Yes, Gloria.” I took another sip to satisfy her, and then I opened the envelope. Inside was a yellow Post-it note.

Meet me out back
.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I
LOOKED
around, making sure Nora wasn’t lurking by the bathroom or by the door. I didn’t see her anywhere. I stared at the note some more, not even sure why I was considering meeting her. She’d been nothing but a pain in my ass since I met her. She owed me tip money, and she’d gotten me in trouble with Gloria.

So why did I want to see what she had to say?

I know what you are
.

If she really had left me that note, I had a reason to go meet her. I couldn’t risk having another person tell my secret. Nora was at the diner every day. She could easily tell Ethan about me. She could ruin my life. I couldn’t let her do that. I had to at least talk to her and see what she knew or what she thought she knew.

“Gloria?” I stuffed the envelope in my purse and put it back behind the counter.

“You feeling all right?” she asked.

“Yeah, much better, but I was wondering if you could cover for me for another minute or two. I’d like to get some fresh air before I get to my tables.”

She eyed me, trying to figure out if I was really okay or if I was faking.

“Seriously, I’m good. I just want to get some fresh air. It’s a little stuffy in here from the crowd.”

“Okay. Ten minutes. And if you’re a second late, I’m coming out after you.”

“Thanks.” I squeezed her forearm. “Oh, and could you not tell Ethan? He’ll just worry, and I’m really fine.”

She nodded. “Ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes.” I looked toward the kitchen to make sure Ethan wasn’t coming out. Satisfied I was clear to go, I made my way to the back door. No one ever went back there. It led to Gloria’s office, and customers weren’t allowed back there, even though the office was always locked tight.

I slipped outside, relieved to feel a slight breeze on my cheeks. I needed that after the heat in the diner. Gloria had the air conditioning running, but with the heat coming from the kitchen, the heat of the coffee pot, and the body heat from all the customers, it felt like a sauna.

I looked around for Nora, but I didn’t see her. Was this a joke? She could’ve been messing with me, seeing what she could get me to do. I still wasn’t convinced the previous note—the one under her coffee cup—had been from her. After Dylan gave me his name and number on a yellow Post-it, I kind of thought he was the one leaving me all the notes.

“Hey.” Nora stepped out from the shadows. “I’m surprised you actually came.”

“That makes two of us.” I crossed my arms, letting her know I wasn’t in the mood to socialize or play nice. “Well, I’m here, so what do you want? I have to get back to work.”

“I want to know where your necklace is.” She motioned to my bare neck.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Are you not wearing it because I said I wanted it? You don’t trust me or something?”

I scoffed. “No, I don’t trust you, but that’s not why I’m not wearing it.” While she stared at me, plotting her next move, I thought back to the night my necklace was stolen. It was just hours after Nora tried to buy the necklace. Why hadn’t I put it together before?
She
was the one who took it.
She
broke into the cottage that night.

I had to go on the offensive. Let her know I wasn’t afraid of her. “I know you took it. I don’t know how you managed to break in while I was showering, but I’m sure it was you.”

She shook her head and looked at me like I was a complete moron. “Why would I be asking you about it now if I had it?”

Normally that would’ve been a good question. It made sense. But I didn’t trust her at all. It could’ve been a trick. Something to throw me off.

She stepped closer. “Look, maybe I should’ve mentioned this before, but
I
gave you that necklace.”

“What? How can you expect me to believe that?”

“I was trying to protect you from yourself. I know what’s going on with you. What you’re doing to stay alive.”

I froze. She knew. Really knew. Now that made two people. Nora and Dylan. “You left the necklace in my locker? But then why did you ask for it back that day at the diner?”

“I thought I’d gotten it wrong. That you weren’t the girl the spirits were telling me to protect.”

“Spirits?” My first thought was that she was crazy. Spirits communicated with her? Then again, I could drain the life from people just by touching them. If that was possible, then why not this?

“I’m a witch.” She said it like it was the most normal thing. Like she was telling me she was a cheerleader—except
that
I would’ve had a more difficult time believing.

“So, you do spells?”

“Yes, like the one on your necklace. It’s a protection spell.”

“What was it protecting me from?”

“Yourself. Like I said.”

I had to find out exactly how much she knew, so I knew what I was up against. “What do you mean?”

“You came back from the dead, right?”

“How—”

She held up her hand. “Witch, remember? The spirits communicate with me. They told me what happened to you and what you’ve been doing to people. Did you really think you were that good at covering your tracks? The police would’ve pinned all those deaths on you if I hadn’t used magic to erase your fingerprints from all the victims and crime scenes. The spirits have been letting me know when you take a life and where to find the body.”

“So, you gave me the necklace to stop me from hurting people.” A wave of nausea swept over me. This whole time I’d been snippy with Nora, trying to get her to go away, and she was trying to help me. She was the reason I wasn’t in jail for murder. Could I really have been that wrong about her?

“Yes.”

“But why? It’s not like I was nice to you.”

“I wasn’t very nice to you either, but I had to make sure you were
her
. The one I’m supposed to help.”

“I still don’t understand.” My whole world had been flipped upside down. Nora wasn’t the enemy, or even a nasty girl too cheap to leave a tip or pay her bill. She was a witch, and she wanted to help me. “Why would you do this for me?”

She shrugged. “I felt sorry for you. You didn’t ask for this to happen, and since I have the ability to help you, I thought I should.”

She’d put a protection spell on the necklace for me. That was why I’d felt so good when I was wearing it. Why I didn’t have any attacks when it was on me. “It was strange, but I felt really possessive of the necklace when I got it. Like I knew it was supposed to be with me.”

“Because it was. I bet you even felt compelled to put it on as soon as you saw it.”

“I did. Then I didn’t want to take it off. It was always so warm against my skin.”

She nodded. “A side effect of the spell.”

“I guess I should thank you.”

She waved me off.

“And I should apologize for letting the necklace get stolen. Someone broke into my house and took it while I was in the shower.”

“Yeah, you said that already.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Have you noticed anyone hanging around you, following you maybe?”

I knew she was trying to help me, but this was still weird for me. I had gone from really disliking this girl to wanting to spill my guts to her. I hesitated, not sure if I should mention Dylan.

She sighed, getting impatient. “Look, do you want my help or not?”

“Yes. It’s just that I don’t know you. This is a lot to take in all at once.”

“You think it was easy for me to decide to help someone who,” she lowered her voice even though we were the only two people out here, “is killing people to keep herself alive?”

My breath caught in my throat. When she put it that way, I felt like an idiot. She was a witch, and she was willing to help me. I should’ve been kissing her feet.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. And there
is
someone who’s been following me.”

“Have you talked to him?”

“Yes, but not much. He broke into my house, more than once, and he keeps showing up wherever I am. The diner, the river.”

“What did he say to you?” Her tone was completely serious. She wasn’t happy I had talked to Dylan.

“Um, he said he needed to talk to me, but every time I saw him, we were interrupted. He got into a fight with my boyfriend, too. Ethan won’t let Dylan anywhere near me. In fact, when we saw him at the diner, Ethan drove all around the place to make sure Dylan had left and wasn’t going to jump out at me or anything.”

She was clenching her fists now.

“What?”

“You know his name? I thought you didn’t really get to talk to him.”

“I didn’t. He gave me a note. A yellow Post-it note, like the ones you left for me.” I purposely used the plural to see if she’d own up to the note under her coffee cup.

“What did the note say?”

Damn, she’d avoided my trap. “It had his name and phone number.”

“Do you still have it?”

“No. Ethan tore it up.”

She nodded. “Good. Don’t call him. Don’t talk to him.”

“Wait. Why are you so sure Dylan is a threat to me?”

“He’s got platinum-blond hair, right? Skinny guy?”

“Do you know him?” Nora didn’t seem like the social type. How would she know Dylan?

“He’s like me. Only he doesn’t use his magic for good.”

“He’s a witch?” My knees felt weak, like they were going to give under the weight of all this information being thrown at me.

“Yes, and not one you want to mess with. We need to protect you.” She paced as she talked.

“Can you make a new necklace?” If I had another one, I could live a normal life, be like everyone else—except for the coming back from the dead thing.

“I can…” She paused, and I knew there was a “but” coming. “But it will take time.”

“How much time?”

“More than you have. You’ll need to feed again before then, maybe even a few times.”

Feed
. That was an awful way to look at it, but it proved she knew all about my secret. “I don’t want to hurt any more innocent people.”

“I might have a solution.” She leaned in close. “What if I told you I knew some bad people? Bad witches who need to be stopped before a lot of people get hurt?”

“Bad witches like Dylan?”

“Yes.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You want me to kill them?” She couldn’t be serious.

“Better them than an innocent child, right?”

“But if they’re witches, couldn’t they overpower me? Use a spell or something?”

“Leave that to me. I’ll make sure they can’t use magic on you.”

I shook my head, having a really hard time accepting all of this. Nora seemed to have everything planned out for me, but I was still full of questions. “I can’t control when the urge comes over me. How will we work this out?”

“Take this.” She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a cell phone.

“Your phone?”

“Your
phone. It’s a prepaid one. I have my number programmed on speed dial. It’s the only number in there. When you start to feel an attack coming on, call me. Immediately. Don’t hesitate, or we may be too late.”

I held the phone in my hand and stared at it like it was a bomb. How had she done all this?

“Don’t tell anyone you have the phone. Not even your boyfriend. He’ll ask questions, and he shouldn’t know we’re working together. He wouldn’t understand. Not yet at least.”