The Book of Lost Souls (15 page)

Tara shook her head. Slowly, and with her chin raised in defiance, Tara eased backward into the restaurant’s doorway. Like Ivy, Tara was also trying to seem tough, but the only person she’d fooled was herself. Tara’s wide eyes betrayed her. Tara looked as scared as Ivy felt.

CHAPTER 17

Ivy waved as Shayde pulled away from the curb in front of Nick’s house. She wasn’t sure if she was glad Shayde had left or not. At least werewolf ears wouldn’t be listening, but her best friend was her comfort zone, too.
 

She smiled nervously at Nick, unsure of what to say.

“Ivy…” He paused, as though speaking hurt him somehow, then rubbed a hand through his hair. “Geez, where do I begin?”

They came to rest on his front porch, each taking a seat on the top step, Devlin lying on the step below them. It was dark now, except for the sliver of light the moon provided.
 

Ivy sighed. This wasn’t easy. How could she be certain he wasn’t playing her? “What do you
really
want with me, Nick? Is it me or the books?”

“Does it matter?” he asked, his voice terse. “If I said it was you, would you believe me? Would you give up this fascination with Dean?”
 

Nick’s response wasn’t what she’d expected.
Would
she believe him?
Would
she give up the chance to date Dean after dreaming about it for so long?
 

“Didn’t think so,” Nick said somberly. He stood and fumbled with his car keys. “Come on, I’ll take you home. I know you’ve had a really bad day. Let’s not make it worse, okay?”

She wanted to say something, anything, but the lump in her throat wouldn’t let her talk so she nodded. Today
had
been pretty awful, and she could see it had been bad for him, too. Maybe he was telling the truth. Could she take that chance? Maybe not just yet. She needed more time to sort everything out.

Although Nick lived just a few minutes away Ivy thought the silence between them felt like hours. Every once in a while Devlin whined or squeaked his toy, although even he seemed to understand something wasn’t right and finally curled up on the back seat. Nick pulled into the driveway. The front porch light shone brightly, while the house itself remained dark. With late fall approaching and the first frost already on the ground, the only sound was the wind making the barren tree limbs creak as they rubbed against each other.
 

Nick left the motor running. “Ivy,” he said, touching her hand as she started to get out. She slid back into the passenger seat. “I understand. I really do. It’s about you. Not the books. Never has been, although I do want them, yes. I’ll explain if you’ll go out with me again. If you’re not seeing Dean.”

The lump in her throat returned and Ivy swallowed hard, forcing it back down. She nodded, not knowing exactly what she was nodding to. Yes, she’d go out with him? Yes, she believed that his interest was strictly about her? This time, he didn’t stop her as she got out and pushed the seat forward to allow Devlin to jump down.
 

Closing the car door sounded so loud, so final. Nick put the car in reverse and backed down the driveway. She had to say something. She couldn’t let him go like this. “Nick!”
 

He stopped, but didn’t pull forward. “I can’t wait for you forever, Ivy. Even if you’re worth it.”

She watched the Mustang’s taillights until it rounded the corner and vanished from sight. Devlin whined and she bent down to stroke his fur. “I don’t know what I’m going to do either, Dev. No idea at all.”

She entered the house as quietly as possible, careful to keep Devlin’s leash from jangling as she returned it to the hook by the door. She fully expected her mother to be furious at her for storming out of the house.
 

“How was your date?” Her mother wanted to know. From the shakiness of her voice in the darkened living room, Ivy thought this question sounded like small talk in preparation for the real topic of discussion.

“It went okay,” Ivy lied softly.

“Do you want to talk?” Her mother’s voice still had a quiver to it, like she’d been doing some crying of her own and Ivy wasn’t sure if that meant she was in deeper trouble or not.
 

Ivy’s heart felt like dead weight falling into the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t meant to hurt her mother. Not intentionally. Her mother needed her, counted on her. Ivy always felt she had to be strong for the both of them. She took a seat in the chair across from the sofa. The light from the porch gave off just enough light to outline her mother’s features.
 

“I’m sorry Mom.”

“Me too, Ivy. I shouldn’t expect you to understand.” The table lamp switched on with an indifferent wave of her hand. She looked at Ivy for a moment, then shut her eyes as though to recall, or possibly block out a memory.

“You were young. You didn’t know him very well. To you, your father was the greatest person on Earth, full of surprises and wonderful magic. He did things no one else could do—not a witch nor wizard nor demon. He could cast complex spells in seconds, and I swear he could do them without uttering a single word or a moment’s concentration. You look like me, Ivy. But your powers are more like his. You were starting to do strange things before he left. It wasn’t normal for such a young witch to have the kind of magic you did. We talked about it many nights after you were asleep.”
 

Her mother gave a small choked laugh. “Well,
I
talked about it. He insisted he was just a pretty clever wizard and you had inherited nothing more than that.”

“But his parents were a normal witch and wizard, right?” Ivy asked in earnest.

“Your dad never met your grandfather. He barely remembered his own mother. She died when he was young. He only remembered that she was a beautiful and kind witch.”

Ivy let out a small sigh of relief. She hadn’t wanted to hear she was related to a dark Kindred of any sort. “So it’s probably some fluke, right? I’m not a dark witch or something...
freaky
, am I? I didn’t inherit anything... evil?” Tears had started to spill, and Ivy wiped at them furiously and drew herself up. She wouldn’t cry. Not in front of her mother who’d cried enough for both of them over the last nine years since her father had been gone.

“You’re a
gift
, Ivy. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. Yes, you are different, but you couldn’t be a dark witch if you tried. Your heart is too good. I’m sorry for worrying so much. I probably worry more because of just how special you really are.”

Ivy managed an uncomfortable smile. “Mom, why did you name me Ivy?”

Her mother sighed and turned her head with her own bittersweet smile, remembering. “Your father’s idea. I wanted Rose, after your grandmother. So we compromised and named you Ivy Rose. Good thing, because your father seemed so insistent. He believed if we named you after one of the most powerful plants known to witches it would bring you luck and keep you safe as you grew older.”

“In the book I found,” Ivy said, “There are stars marked next to Nightshade and Wolfsbane.”

Her mother nodded. “Hanna and I were pregnant at the same time. She thought Ivy was such a cute name, she borrowed
Magic for the Garden
and after your father, of all people, suggested a few names, Hanna decided on Shayde and Bane. But she never marked it with stars. I did that. Pregnancy hormones, I suppose. Hanna and I were just so excited to be sharing that part of our lives together.”

A sudden horrible thought occurred to Ivy, and she wanted to be alone. Without telling her mother about the other two books, there wasn’t anything else to ask, anyway. “Mom, if it’s okay, I’m going to bed now.”

“I think we could both use a good night’s sleep.” Her mother got to her feet and followed Ivy toward the stairs.

“And Mom? Thanks.” Ivy hurried up the stairs.

“For what?” her mother called after her.

“For not grounding me after I stormed out of here tonight,” she called back.

“If you don’t catch Spike soon, I just might,” her Mother said, trying to sound authoritative.
 

Later, as Ivy opened
The Rise of the Dark Curse
, she wondered if her mother would still have thought she wasn’t a dark witch. The black tendrils of mist swirling out of the book did not deter her this time. This time, she didn’t feel nearly as afraid. Ivy turned the pages, curiously noting how the drawings shifted and moved about. Spiders scurried up the margins, spinning webs around letters. Bulges appeared from behind the pages as though something, or someone was on the verge of escaping from them. People shifted and turned to stare at her. Words whispered up from the musty pages.

She knows... she sees...

Devlin, let out a low grumble. She supposed he’d had enough of her magic for one evening.

“Five minutes,” she promised him. “Remind me.”

He lay down to watch her.

The Rise of the Dark Curse
had a lot of dark secrets. But Ivy knew the answer to one of them—her father had absolutely been the one to take the books from Helen Skinner and bury them in the graveyard. Had the books affected him, too? Were they what turned him? If he was the dark wizard everyone thought, then why had he gone and left them behind?

What was stranger yet was that someone had strategically left the other two books for
her
to find.

CHAPTER 18

When Ivy arrived at her locker the next morning, she found Shayde waiting for her. Shayde was leaning against the locker, arms folded tightly around her books. She gave Ivy a rather lackluster smile. In all the years they’d been friends, this meant one thing: Shayde wanted to talk and was very uncomfortable about it. After dwelling over her dad’s involvement half the night, this wasn’t the conversation Ivy planned on having.

“Uh-oh,” Ivy said. “I know that look.”

Shayde hung her head. “Don’t kill me for this, okay?”

Ivy opened her locker with a quick charm. “Promise. I won’t even turn you in Malibu Zombie like I did Tara. Witch’s honor.”

The joke only got another small smile from Shayde. “And that’s the other thing I want to talk about. You’d never have hexed Tara like you did if it wasn’t for that book you keep carrying around. Get rid of it! This whole thing is really creeping me out.”

“And have someone else find it? Or worse, know I’ve hidden it? No way! Someone meant for me to have this book. That guy who was there in the graveyard wanted
me
to find it.”

Shayde cringed a little. “You’re scaring me, you know that? Listen, I’ll help you. Whatever it takes to put this whole thing behind you and get rid of that book. I’m just afraid it has to be real soon. I swear, if I see you getting any weirder, it’s intervention time, 'kay?”

Ivy smiled. Shayde was a true friend. Always had been. Ivy stuffed her jacket into her locker. “Sure.”

“There’s more,” Shayde said, sheepishly. “I want to talk about you and Nick.”

Ivy shook her head. “Shayde, just drop it.”

Shayde raised her eyes to Ivy’s. “When are you going to stop doing this to yourself?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Pretending you don’t feel anything for Nick. Pretending you’re over the hurt when your dad left.”

Ivy frowned. “I AM over it. And I don’t think that way about Nick.” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Alright. He’s cute, but that’s all. Nothing else.”

Shayde was determined to get the most use out of whatever soapbox she’d gotten up on today. “No. You’re not over it! And how could you be? You loved your dad more than almost anyone else in this world. He felt the same about you, Ivy. At one time, he did. You don’t just get over that, and it’s affecting the way you think about Nick.”

Ivy started to walk away. She’d had enough of this. “I don’t want to get into this, Shayde. We’ll be late.”

Shayde wasn’t deterred. She blocked Ivy from leaving. “I’m your friend, and before you sabotage yourself, I’m going to tell you this and
you’re
going to listen!”

Ivy sighed heavily.
 

“Everyone can see it except you. There’s definite chemistry between you and Nick. You won’t give him a chance all because of this foolishness that his dad and yours were friends—”

“That’s not the whole reason,” Ivy interrupted.

“And because you’re afraid to
feel
, Ivy. You’re afraid to fall for someone. You’re afraid to take a chance.”

Ivy blinked. “That’s, not true. I’m taking a chance on Dean. I like Dean.”

Shayde tapped her foot, clearly irritated.
 

Good,
Ivy thought.
We’re bonding. A real share the experience kind of thing.

“Are you even listening to yourself? You know perfectly well Dean will go back to Tara. You know that all you really want is a few days, maybe a kiss or two. You’re just trying to see where you fit in—”

“Jeez, you sound like my mother.”

“Oh! I forgot! Little Miss Stubborn. So determined to prove she can’t be wrong. Well, you’re wrong about Dean. You’re wrong about your feelings toward Nick. Speaking of...”

If Ivy hadn’t been ready to walk away before, she was now. Only one problem. Her feet wouldn’t move. Sauntering down the hallway was Nick.

“I’m interrupting again, aren’t I?” he asked.

Shayde shook her head. “Nope. Actually, it’s
good
timing.” She gave Ivy a long stare before heading off to class.

“Nick, look, I’m really late. I’d like to talk about last night, but I’ve gotta get going,” Ivy hooked a thumb over her shoulder.
 

“Sure. Hey, you okay?” he asked.

Ivy nodded. “Yeah, it’s Shayde. She...never mind. It’s not important.”

“Hey, Ivy,” Dean called out behind them.
 

Ivy wanted to groan. This whole morning couldn’t get much more awkward.

Dean gave Nick a brief, dismissive nod. The muscles in Nick’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t budge. Dean shrugged as if to say,
suit yourself,
and turned to Ivy. “You want to get together later?” He flashed one of his winning smiles, then stole a sideways glance at Nick. “Unless you’ve got other plans.”