Paranoia

PARANOIA

(The Witches of Santa Anna, Book Eleven)
by Lauren Barnholdt & Aaron Gorvine
Copyright 2011, Lauren Barnholdt and Aaron
Gorvine, all rights reserved
This book is a
work
of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons,
living or dead, is
entirely coincidental
Chapter One

Natalia

There are shards of glass all over the ground and on the window ledge, so I pull the

sleeve of my shirt down over my hand and brush them away careful y, making sure not to cut myself. Then I slide myself backwards through the window, legs first. It‘s a tight squeeze, and I start to fall , catching myself at the last second.

But I‘m in.

―Graceful,‖ Raine says sarcastically y.

―Shut up,‖ I say, brushing myself off. I‘m careful not to make eye contact with her, just in case she gets any crazy ideas about trying to put a spell on me.

―You can stop avoiding me,‖ she says, ―I don‘t have my necklace.‖

I glance quickly at her neck. She‘s not wearing her butterfly necklace. Since I have mine, it means that technical y, I should be more powerful than she is. It makes me relax, but only a little. Raine is crafty, and she knows a lot more about this world and its rules than I do. Which means that just because she doesn‘t have her necklace, it doesn‘t mean I can trust her, or that she doesn‘t have the ability to hurt me.

Still . I don‘t want her to think I‘m afraid of her, so I force myself to look at her for the briefest of moments. Her long blonde hair hands limp and loose around her face.

There are bruises on her cheeks, and dark circles under her eyes. There‘s a small cut on her top lip, and her eyes have a dead, faraway look in them.

Jesus, Hadley, I think, what the hell did you do?

―Where‘s your necklace?‖ I ask.

―Hadley took it,‖ she says. ―You should watch out for her, Natalia. Going on a road trip with your boyfriend, all alone. I wonder what those two are getting up to.‖

She smiles. Ugh. Even when she‘s al beat up, she‘s being a total bitch. ―Are you going to untie me or what?‖

I cross the room and try to pull the rope off Raine‘s hands, but Hadley must have learned all about rope tying in Girl Scouts for Witches or something, because the knots won‘t budge. I look around the basement for something to help me. There‘s a red toolbox in the corner, and I rummage around in it until I find a small saw.

―Oh, hell no,‖ Raine says when she sees me moving toward her with the saw.

―Can‘t you just find some scissors or something?‖

―Right, like scissors are going to work.‖ I see her body tense up. ―Don‘t be afraid,‖ I tell her, kind of enjoying the fact that she‘s so nervous. ―Nothing bad‘s gonna happen.‖

―Right,‖ she says, ―You have a saw in your hands and nothing bad‘s gonna happen.‖

I put the blade against the rope and start to move it back and forth. The rope frays pretty easily, but I don‘t want Raine to know that. ―Oops!‖ I say.

―What oops?!‖ she yells.

―Just kidding,‖ I say, ―God, stay still .‖ What a baby.

She stays silent as I keep sawing, and when I get to the last thread of rope, I stop.

―In a second you‘re going to be free,‖ I say, ―And when I let you out, if you do anything to me, if you even try to hurt me, I will kick your ass.‖

I‘m trying to sound threatening, and either it works, or Raine just real y wants to get out, because she nods.

Once she‘s free, she stands up slowly, rubbing the two red marks on her wrist.

I‘m about to ask her if they hurt, but obviously they do. So instead I just say,

―You okay?‖

―Whatever,‖ she says, ―I‘m fine.‖

We stand there for a second, looking at each other.

For a moment, I think she‘s going to thank me for letting her out. But she stays silent.

―So now we go find Cam?‖ I ask, reminding her that was the deal.

―Yes,‖ she says. ―Now we go find Cam.‖

She starts up the basement stairs, and I fol ow her.

***

We get to my mom‘s car without incident. Raine hasn‘t shown any signs of trying anything shady, but I know it‘s important not to let my guard down. Yes, she‘s taking me to Cam. At least, I think she is. But there‘s no way she‘s doing it out of the kindness of her heart. Raine has something planned, or she wants something, even if it‘s just to get Cam back into her clutches.

But I have no choice but to trust her. I need to find Cam, especial y after seeing what Hadley did to Raine. Who knows what that girl is capable of. I glance into the backseat, where the iPad Brody gave me is sitting in my bag. I consider taking it out and ask Samara what she thinks about all of this –

desperate times call for desperate measure

– but there‘s no way I can do that with Raine in the car.

―So which way are we going?‖ I ask, putting the key in the ignition.

Raine sighs, then closes her eyes and leans her head back against the seat. ―Get on 95,‖

she says,

―Going north.‖

―Are you sure?‖

―Of course I‘m sure.‖

―Where are we going?‖

―To find Cam. That‘s what you want, right?‖ She pulls down the visor and slides open

the mirror, wincing when she sees her reflection. ―Jesus, Hadley,‖ she whispers.

―You are one crazy bitch.‖

―Where is Cam?‖ I ask, starting the car and pulling it down the street, heading toward 95.

―What town?‖

―I don‘t know.‖

I brake. ―You don‘t know?‖

―I don‘t know exactly,‖ she says, ―But I can feel it.‖

―You can feel it?‖

―Yeah,‖ she says. She‘s rummaging around in the glove compartment now. She pulls out

a tissue and wipes at her face. ―Cam and I are connected.‖

I swallow. Because I can‘t feel Cam, even though I want to.

―Oh, relax,‖ Raine says, when she sees the look on my face. ―This isn‘t the time to get al teen romance angsty. The further they get away from us, the harder it‘s going to be to find them.‖

―Fine,‖ I say. ―But we should probably stop somewhere to get something for your face.‖

The bruises on her cheeks are starting to turn shades of purple, yellow, and blue.

I‘m afraid if anyone sees us, they might call the police. At the very least, we‘ll call attention to ourselves, which I definitely don‘t want.

―I‘m fine.‖

―No, you‘re not. You look horrible.‖

―I‘m fine.‖

―We can‘t drive around with you looking like that,‖ I say. ―Everyone‘s going to think I‘m kidnapping you.‖ I glance at her out of the corner of my eye. ―Unless you want me to bring you back down to the basement.‖

It‘s a bluff, of course. I don‘t know if I‘m strong enough to get her back down to the basement, and even if I could, I wouldn‘t. I need her to take me to Cam.

But when I pull into the Walgreen‘s by Hadley‘s house, Raine doesn‘t fight me on it.

***

Once we‘re inside the drugstore, Raine heads for the makeup aisle, where she immediately starts trying out different shades of foundation on the back of her hand. I pick up a package of antibacterial wipes and throw them into my basket. She‘s going to need to clean out some of her scrapes, especial y the ones on her wrist.

―Can I help you find anything?‖ a salesgirl asks me.

―No, thanks,‖ I say, giving her what I hope is an easy smile. ―I‘m just browsing.‖

―Well , let me know if you need any help,‖ she says, and disappears down toward the

cleaning supplies. I grab a bottle of water that‘s sitting in a cooler on an end cap and add it to the basket.

―Is this my color?‖ Raine asks when I get to the cosmetics section. She holds out her wrist, showing me where she‘s dabbed on some liquid foundation.

―It doesn‘t have to be a perfect match,‖ I say, not real y caring what color she picks. ―It just has to be good enough to cover up some of your bruises.‖ I pull a compact off the bottom shelf. It‘s in a gray plastic case, the kind that‘s filled with thick pancake makeup.

―Eww, no,‖ Raine says when I drop it in the basket.

She reaches in and pull s it back out. ―I‘m not wearing that. It‘s way too thick.‖

I stare at her. ―You‘re kidding, right?‖

―I never kid when it comes to makeup.‖ She wrinkles up her nose, like we‘re two friends shopping for makeup for prom, instead of people who supposedly hold the fate of the world in their hands and want to kill each other.

―Yeah, well , if you‘d seen your face lately, you‘d know that the liquid stuff isn‘t going to cut it.‖

I put the pancake makeup back in the basket. She doesn‘t say anything, just sighs and follows me as I start walking up to the checkout counter.

A couple seconds later, though, she starts whining about how hungry she is.

―I need to stop for something to eat,‖ she says, looking over the display of candy bars and gum.

―Hadley hardly fed me while she held me captive. I probably lost, like, seven pounds.‖

The pimply teenage cashier is giving Raine a weird look. He‘s staring at her bruises as I empty our purchases onto the counter for him to scan.

―Okay,‖ I say to Raine, hoping that agreeing with her will get her to shut up and stop talking. She‘s drawing attention to us, and I don‘t like that. ―We‘ll definitely stop for something to eat.‖ I turn back to the cashier. ―Do you know if this is on sale?‖ I ask, in an effort to distract him from Raine‘s face.

―I don‘t think so,‖ he says. He scans the package of pancake makeup, still staring at Raine.

―Seriously, I cannot believe how starving I am,‖ she‘s saying, ―It‘s even worse than the time I had to lose weight so I could fit into my cheerleading uniform.‖

She shakes her head. ―I told Hadley that I was going to faint if she didn‘t give me

something, but did she listen? Noooo. She‘s lucky that I had plenty to eat right before she kidnapped me.‖

She‘s prattling along, almost talking to herself, but at that last part, she trails off, getting this weird, sort of vacant look in her eyes. It‘s almost like she‘s remembering something, like she‘s thinking about wherever she was before she ended up in Hadley‘s basement. I wonder if she‘s thinking about Cam, how close she came to making him hers. Sparks of jealousy and anger flare through my body.

―Are you okay?‖ the cashier asks, peering at Raine.

―You look like someone beat you up.‖ He looks at me suspiciously.

―She‘s fine,‖ I say. I rummage around in my purse until I find my wallet. I pull out a twenty-dollar bill and hand it to the cashier. Raine should real y be the one paying for this stuff, but I‘m not going to say anything, because I want to get her the hell out of here.

―Yeah,‖ Raine says, ―As fine as I can be for being locked up in a basement.

Oooh, gummy bears.‖ She picks up a package and rips it open.

―She‘s just kidding,‖ I say to the cashier, who looks like he‘s about one second away from dialing 911.

―No, I‘m not,‖ Raine says. She pops a gummy bear into her mouth. ―This bitch named

Hadley kidnapped me, but I‘m going to get her back, don‘t worry.‖ She swallows, and then gets that same far away look in her eye. ―I‘m going to get everyone back,‖ she says quietly.

My mouth drops open. One, because ‗I‘m going to get everyone back‘ is a pretty creepy thing to say, and also because I can‘t believe she‘s talking about this shit in public.

The cashier turns around, probably to head to the backroom or to look for his cell phone so he can call his boss and/or the police.

―Raine!‖ I almost scream, panicked. ―Tel him you‘re kidding!‖

―Oh, relax.‖ She rolls her eyes and eats another gummy bear. ―Hey!‖ she yells at the kid.

He turns around. Her voice gets measured and slow, and she looks him in the eye. ―You are going to forget everything you just heard,‖ she says, ―I‘m fine. I haven‘t been beaten. You are also going to let us out of here with all these things. For free. We already paid. Do you understand?‖

The boy nods, his face slack. The life drains from his eyes, and he starts bagging up our stuff.

―Here you go,‖ he says, sounding robotic. He tears the receipt off the register and hands it to me. ―Have a great day.‖