Spectral (6 page)

“Are you with the mob?” I asked.

He twisted his eyebrows and shook his head. “The mob?”

“Wait—did you say you’ll do
whatever
I ask of you?”

He looked at me and groaned. “Yes. That’s what I said.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Then let me go right now.”

His face looked pained. “I just want to help—”

“Right now!”

The bubble popped and I stumbled backwards. The music grew loud again. Everyone resumed moving as if nothing had happened.

Taylor placed her hand on my back. “Hey, girl, you okay?”

My heart thundered in my ears, threatening to explode. I stared trance-like at the space where Roman once stood, but he’d completely vanished with the bubble, like a breath of fog blown away by a harsh, sudden wind.

Chapter Nine

After getting the third degree from Aunt Eva about the day’s events and somehow answering her questions—or should I say, interrogation—to her satisfaction, I excused myself to my room. I closed and locked the door, pressing my head against it a minute. My shoulders slumped as if heavy buckets of rocks sat on them. I dropped my bag and slid to the floor beside my bed. Somehow that day I’d managed to find an alien-like book I wasn’t sure what to make of, hurt a great guy’s feelings, and discovered another was far more than I’d expected.

It was too much information to sort through. Roman had said he was my guardian. But what was he guarding me
from
? I brooded over how he could have created the bubble surrounding us—and then freeze everyone else—like a force field or something. I thought about all the running and moving my family had done for as long as I could remember. I both hoped and worried at the same time that maybe it was over now. One part of me hoped, yearned for a normal existence. The other part of me, the one that worried, fixated that
normal
wasn’t a word in my vocabulary and now that someone found us, perhaps only the worst was yet to come.

I considered going downstairs and fessing up to my parents about what happened and then start the inevitable panic of packing and moving to some other isolated location. I didn’t know who Roman really was, and that scared me. Maybe taking off was a good idea after all.

But if Roman was part of my family’s tormenters, then why was I still alive and why did he let me go? If he were there to hurt me, he had every opportunity to, but didn’t. Besides, if I told my parents and we took off I’d still never know anything. They sure as hell wouldn’t tell me. I wondered what kind of magic he pulled off. It was like he conjured a kind of spell or something.
Conjuration
…I bolted upright. I remembered reading the same word from the odd book on ancient witchcraft.

My eyes shifted to my bag beside me on the floor. My stomach lurched as I reached for it and carefully lifted the flap, peering inside. The old book sat there, unmoving. I reached in, jerked it out, and tossed it onto the floor. Nothing. I sighed with relief. The snake coiled around the dagger looked as cheap and harmless as a dollar store trinket.

When I opened the crumbling book, I fanned through the decaying pages and an odor crept into my nostrils like smog off a swamp. The thought of what I’d find written on the pages electrified me. Both exciting and terrifying at the same time—like going down a roller coaster. I took a deep breath. On several pages were drawings. People sat around a table holding hands, glowing spheres, and caldrons emitting steam surrounded them. Typical folklore stuff. But then, as one page fanned by, I caught a glimpse of a girl holding a golden dagger.

A girl. Holding a dagger. With a snake on it.

I slammed the book shut, needing air. I rushed to my window and opened it, inhaling deeply, trying unsuccessfully to slow my heart rate. The backyard bloomed full of lush trees and an orange tree showed the promise of yielding tons of fruit soon. I knew I wouldn’t be around to see them grow. I could only imagine what it would be like to pick an orange from
this
yard. What I wouldn’t give for just one day of normalcy. But that wasn’t my life. I wound the handle on the window, closing it.

I glanced back at the book and balled my hands into fists. I didn’t want to live in denial any more. My parents had subjected me to a shroud of naivety my whole life.

I dropped to my knees in front of the book, scanning through the pages until I found the one with the girl holding the snake dagger again. My hands trembled but I kept it open. The girl’s raven colored hair hung around her shoulders as she held the golden dagger above her head, pointing it up to a dark and star-filled sky. Encircling her stood a large group of intense looking people holding hands. A lightning bolt shot from the sky onto the pointed blade of the dagger, and the girl stared directly ahead as if through the page.

Straight at me.

My heart raced, pulsating in my ears, but I gripped my hands on the book tighter as I read the words written below the picture.

Once in every one thousand years, a celestial event occurs. A child is born during a total lunar eclipse that happens to coincide with the full moon of the summer solstice. This child will bear an identifying mark.

I swallowed. Hard. I was born during that unusual occurrence. I’d heard about it my whole life. My gaze leapt back down to the page.

Upon quickening on the child’s seventeenth birthday at midnight, this child will become a witch. Henceforth, said witch will inhabit all endowments of each member in the coven and any witch thereafter who dares attempt to use their powers against her. Consequently, such event begets becoming the most powerful witch of the millennium.

I pinched my eyes tight, feeling my heart racing again. I shuddered but re-opened them and continued.

Furthermore, the witch will enhance the endowment of each member of the coven, bringing immense power and blessings to the coven overall. This witch is so named the Spectral.

Wait a second here. My throat went dry and I drew in a ragged breath.
I’m a witch?
I didn’t know how that was possible when I felt so powerless against everything in my life. My mind raced, and I recalled that according to the book I wasn’t a witch until my seventeenth birthday at midnight.
Midnight—right
. Seriously though, it was like all the oddest things always happened at the scariest time of day. Until then, I figured I’d be a pre-witch or an almost witch.

A knock sounded at my door, and the doorknob twisted. I shoved the book under my bed, thankful I’d remembered to lock the door.

Jayden’s sweet, smiling face peered up at me on the other side of the door. The trace of freckles that danced across his cheeks, more prominent now as the warm May sun had been shining on him.

“Hiya,” he said, grinning. He was always so happy to see me. Right then I wished he were older so I could share this with him. It was too much to bear on my own, and the feeling of carrying rocks on my shoulders now felt like boulders. But Jayden oozed innocence and I wanted him to stay that way.

“Hi, monkey. What ‘cha up to?”

“Not much. Mom said to tell you it’s dinner time.” He thrust his thumb toward the stairwell.

I couldn’t face Aunt Eva and Uncle Boris, or anybody for that matter. I mean, I’d just finished reading the most amazing yet disturbing information.

About me. Being a Spectral. The millennium Spectral.

A lump formed in my throat. I couldn’t face anybody. They’d read it all over my face.

“I’m not feeling good, Buddy.”

“You got the flu?” He stretched his hand up and touched my cheek. “You’re not hot, though.”

“No, just a bad headache,” I leaned my head against the door frame.

“I’ll bring your dinner up here.” He smiled. “Is that okay, Jewels?”

“That would be awesome, Jayden, thanks.”

“Harrison, remember?” He flashed a toothy grin.

I tweaked his nose. “You’ll always be Jayden to me.”

I sat at the desk in my room, head in my hands, thinking. And thinking.

Soon, a rap sounded out on my door and Grandma Raine came in with a heaping plate of lasagna.

“Oh, Grandma, I can’t eat all that.” I shook my head as she laid the plate down in front of me with a glass of water.

Her face held a gentle expression as she passed me the fork from my plate. “Just eat as much as you want.” She leaned against the desk, facing me.

“Okay, thanks.”

“Is there anything on your mind you want to talk about, Jewel? You don’t seem like yourself lately.”

“Just school and homework,” I lied, not daring to bring up the Spectral topic. I mean, if they wanted me to know, they’d have told me right? I reasoned. I ate a forkful of lasagna and realized how hungry I was. I downed some more.

Grandma smiled. “We’re planning a big birthday party for you this year—”

I almost choked and started coughing. Grandma handed me the glass of water.

“Oh yeah?” I managed.

“Sure. Turning seventeen is a special birthday.”

You’re not kidding.

“I’m sure you’re tired of all the moving and everything but I just want you to know that things should settle down soon.”

“Did the police catch the bad guys or something?” I asked, going with the common theory that we were trying to evade criminals.

“On your birthday, you’ll move one more time,” she said, ignoring my question. “But this time we’ll all move together.”

My stomach twisted. “
Again
, Grandma?” I dropped my head in my hands. I knew it was inevitable but still, even
I
didn’t expect to move again so soon.

“We’re going to go back to live with our family.” She looked away out the window as if pondering her words, then back at me again. “We have a very big extended family, you know. And they’re looking forward to meeting you.”

My head began pounding and the blood drained from my face. If what I read in the book was true, once I’d been through my quickening, becoming all Spectral and all, their
own
powers would become strengthened. I was
sure
they looked forward to meeting me. I couldn’t say I felt the same. Becoming a witch and belonging to a coven wasn’t exactly my idea of normal.

Grandma squeezed her hand around my shoulder. “Then you won’t have to worry anymore.”

The tension began peeling away from my body. The longer she held her hand on me, the more relaxed I became, until it was as though I’d taken too much medicine like Gravol, or one of those red concoctions my mother had given me a couple times.

I remembered all the times Grandma was around and how whenever she was near me, and touched me, my worries seem to wash away. Maybe since Grandma Raine was a part of my family, then she was a witch too. One with an endowment.
The ability to calm
, I mused. My eyes grew heavy until I couldn’t think anymore and Grandma lifted her hand off me and helped me up from the desk chair.

I flopped into bed and tugged the comforter around me, grateful for my comatose state, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Until I heard a knock at my window.

***

Startled, I bolted upright. I checked the clock and it read 3:08 a.m. Then it came again—another rap at the window. Being on the second floor, I didn’t understand how that was possible.
A branch?
I jumped up and walked to the window, rubbing my eyes. Roman stood in front of the window, a pensive look on his face.

My breath caught. I opened my mouth to scream but instead clasped my hand over it. I didn’t want my family to come charging in. I edged near the window and Roman waved.

I unlocked the window and turned the lever, opening it just an inch. Willow hopped on the ledge and meowed. I shooed her away.

“What’re you doing?” I asked in a whisper. “Can you fly too?”

Roman pointed to the ladder he stood on, which I’d not noticed until then. “Flying’s not my strong suit. A ladder, ya know? I’m not a levitator.”

“Well, what are you exactly—besides stalkerazzi, that is. And what do you want?” I threw my hands up. I wasn’t sure what to make of the whole situation that had gone down earlier and now here he was knocking at my window at three in the morning.

“Can I come in?”

I wagged my head in disbelief. “Seriously?”

Roman’s expression remained fixed, letting me know he was totally serious.

“I dunno. No. What if someone hears and comes to check on me.”

“I think I can handle that situation.” He smirked.

“Just a little freezing action?” I chided, shaking my head remembering how he froze everyone in the bar earlier.

“Something like that. But I promise to be quiet. So?” He put on a sad puppy-dog face.

I grumbled but opened the window enough for him to fit through. I was more than a little curious to hear what he was going to say.

Roman climbed in and sat on the floor, his back to the wall.

“So, dish,” I said, plunking to the floor in front of him, legs crossed. “What was all that about earlier? What
are
you?”

“I’m your guardian.” He looked sideways at me, and a smile crept across his face. “I thought I mentioned that.”

“Guardian? From what? What is that supposed to mean?”

“All your life you’ve been moving right?”

“Right…”

“Don’t you ever wonder why?”

I rolled my eyes. “Duh…well yeah.”

“But you’ve never
really
thought about it?” He lay on his side, stretching out. He looked so hot in his dark blue hipster jeans and black Metallica t-shirt but somehow I forced my eyes back to his face. Not that that made it any easier to concentrate. I ran my fingers through my messy hair self-consciously.

“You look great,” he said as if sensing how I felt.

“Of course I’ve thought about it,” I said. “I’ve thought about it every day all my life. It’s pretty much
all
I think about.”

He lifted a brow. “And what have your parents told you?”

I shrugged. “Not a lot. Criminals after us. Witness protection program—you know, your average run of the mill, family kinda stuff.” I rolled my eyes and lay down on the floor on my stomach beside him. I wasn’t sure if the tingling sensation inside me was something I enjoyed or feared. I reminded myself that maybe it should be fear, but still he
did
let me go when I asked him. “Why did you let me go today?” I asked, unable to resist.

He lowered his gaze, until his eyes met mine. “Because you said that’s what you wanted.”

“How does that work, exactly? I say I want pizza and you conjure it up for me?”

His lip curled up with amusement. “Maybe if you ask real nice, I could drive to Pizza Hut and get us one. But no, it doesn’t work like that. I said I was your guardian, not your slave.” He rolled his eyes. “I don’t conjure either.”