The Departed (18 page)

“They probably just think you’re getting back at him for Tom’s party,” Megan said, and then clamped her mouth shut. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“That’s okay, and I’m sure you’re right.”

I grabbed my purse, gave Cass a hug. “Your stepmum asked Kade to leave, and I really need to go with him.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but Megan interrupted. “I completely understand. If it was Milo, I’d do the same. You two have a good night.”

“I could talk to my stepmum and see if she’d reconsider,” Cass said, already heading for the door.

“You know what—I think it’s time for us to go, especially considering Laria is here. Let’s face it, who knows what else she’ll pull if I stay.”

Cass’s eyes went wide.

“Let us at least walk you out,” Megan said, beating me to the door.

I nodded and followed behind them, relieved things were okay between us.

The party had resumed, and aside from a few gawkers, no one paid us much attention.

Outside, Kade was talking to Johan, with Tom, Shane, Cait, Milo and Richie nearby.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Johan nodded at something Kade said. Kade put his hand out and Johan took it.

“Thank God,” Megan said under her breath.

I couldn’t agree more.

Dana walked up to Kade and he turned around. He frowned at her, and she slapped him across the face.

Oh shit. I rushed toward them.

“What about us?” she said, shrieking.

“There is no us, Dana,” Kade said, sounding exhausted. “There never was.”

“That’s not what you said the night of Tom’s party.”

I cleared my throat and she turned around, her gaze shifting slowly over me. “She wants Johan, anyway. We all saw them practically shagging on the dance floor before you busted them.”

My cheeks grew hot as others gathered around us.

“You fucking asshole,” Dana yelled.

People filed out onto the yard, obviously wanting to get a glimpse of the train wreck.

Dana was pounding on Kade’s chest, and screeching like a banshee, tears streaming down her face.

Johan stepped between them and held Dana at bay.

In that moment, all the anger, frustration, and jealousy I’d felt toward Dana hit me hard. I wanted to rip her eyes out.

“I can’t believe you want that freak!” she screamed.

“Dana, get the hell out,” Cass said, furious. “These are my friends and they were invited, you weren’t.”

Dana turned to her buddies, almost like she expected them to do something.

“I left my purse inside,” one of them said.

“Well, go get it,” Megan replied, pointing toward the house.

“Okay. Jesus,” she said with a sneer. “You don’t have to be such a bitch.”

I glanced up and I saw the faces of the others amongst the crowd of school friends. I blinked a few times, but those faces didn’t shift or change back. When I glanced at Dana, I saw Laria’s features juxtaposed over hers.

Kade’s fingers slid around mine. “Are you ready?”

I nodded.

“I can’t believe you want the cutter over me,” Dana said, her voice odd. All my friends heard it because they had the same shocked expressions on their faces.

An unexplainable rage rushed through me. I didn’t even remember moving, but the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of Dana and I punched her hard.

Dana lifted her hand to hit me back, but I caught her wrist.

“You touch me and I’ll kill you.” The words came from me, but they didn’t sound like me.

Dana’s eyes widened. “Whatever…
bitch.
”

I had never touched anyone before, and yet I lost my mind in that moment as I saw red.

Chapter 19

Kade lay on my bed beside me, his fingers lazily drawing circles on my arm. It had been too long since we’d last just relaxed together. I could have stayed like this forever. The past weeks had been traumatic for our relationship, and I could feel him holding onto me with both hands, especially after tonight’s nightmare.

Having the shoe on the other foot, so to speak, definitely put things in perspective. Now I knew firsthand what Kade had experienced, because tonight when I’d been dancing, I’d been with Kade, not Johan.

I was just so happy Kade was able to talk to Johan before we’d left, but I was still stewing about Dana’s outburst.

Kade was bothered by it, too. His thoughts were so chaotic.

Poor Cass, Megan, and Cait. Little had they realized what havoc I would cause in their lives when they had befriended me.

I knew with all that was happening, I shouldn’t involve anyone else, but I needed Kade’s strength more than ever. And as much as Laria was trying to come between us, I knew that we were meant to be together.

“You sure Miss A is asleep?” Kade said, pulling me closer.

“Trust me, she sleeps like the dead.”

His eyes widened. “That’s hardly reassuring considering…”

I smiled, glad he still had a sense of humor.

I pressed my lips against his jaw, kissing a pathway down his neck, the pulse there quickening.

His hands were at my back, unzipping my dress. “I’ve missed you, Riley.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” It had been weeks since the day he’d taken my virginity, and I wanted him, needed to feel his hands on my body, touch his body in turn, and experience the shared excitement that seemed to vibrate through my very core.

I unbuttoned his shirt, and pushed it off his shoulders. He sat up and slid it off, and helped me off with my dress.

There was a heavy-lidded look to his eyes I recognized that made the blood in my veins simmer.

I unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his jeans, and slid the zipper down. I pressed a kiss against his chiseled abdomen, the muscles there clenching beneath my lips.

With a little growl, he flipped me onto my back, and as I stared up into those beautiful eyes, all my concerns and fears evaporated.

My arms slid around his neck and I lifted my head for a kiss.

He didn’t disappoint, kissing me softly at first, but then with a fiery need that matched my own.

***

I rested my head against Kade’s shoulder and fought to catch my breath. I felt exhilarated, and I marveled at how naturally our bodies fit together, how we had moved together so perfectly.

A long finger slid along my spine, upward, along the base of my neck, and then back down again, over the curve of my hip.

I smiled, happy and relaxed for the first time in weeks. I was finally able to just let everything go. “What’s so funny?” he asked, arching a brow, a soft smile on his lips.

“I’m happy and content,” I said.

He kissed my shoulder, and wound a lock of my hair around his finger. “I am, too.”

I noticed two of the fingers on his right hand were cut.

“You’re hurt.”

His brows lifted. “That’s what I get for punching my best friend in the face.”

“You know, if we make it through this, we’ll make it through anything.”

I put my hand up to his and he wove his fingers through mine, and kissed the top of my hand. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Do you remember a few weeks ago when you told me about a dream you’d had where we were in the castle looking for a book?” I recalled how shocked I’d been when he’d told me, especially since Ian and I had broken into the castle weeks before to find Laria’s journal.

He nodded. “Yes.”

“That actually happened. We—the two of us—were looking for a journal.”

His eyes narrowed as he watched me. “I don’t understand.”

Maybe now hadn’t been the time to talk about his past life as Ian. “What if I told you that you and Ian were the same person? That it was me and Ian who looked for the journal.”

“But you said that you and Ian hung out this summer after you moved here. If I’m supposed to be him…”

“I don’t understand how it works, exactly…I just know what Ian told me and what I’ve been told by Anne Marie.”

“Anne Marie who is now dead? Did she tell you this when she was alive?”

I chewed on my lip. Why the hell had I opened my big mouth? I knew this could go sideways on me fast…and I was slowly leaning toward the point of no return.

“That’s a lot to wrap the brain around.”

It was. I knew that. “Even a lot of your mannerisms are the same,” I said, reaching for the drawer in my nightstand where I had stashed the pictures I had drawn of Ian and Kade. The one of Kade had been crushed in my fist when I’d first heard about him and Dana. I had kept it in a book to straighten it out and it had helped, but it still seemed pretty obvious I had intentionally crumpled it. “I drew this picture one night. Just look at your expressions. Even the way you’re sitting.”

His gaze shifted back and forth between the pictures. “Look at the way he’s looking at you.” It was funny, because he actually sounded jealous.

“We always had a close connection, but now it makes even more sense.”

“He told you that he was me?”

“Yes, after he died. He has come to me in my dreams. I keep seeing a life we had experienced together when Laria was alive.” Even hearing myself say it aloud made me cringe. As I kept talking about that lifetime, what I had seen, and how Laria had been, he listened intently.

He asked me a good twenty questions about Ian, and not once did he make me feel like I was crazy.

“It actually makes sense,” he finally said. “I know it sounds strange.”

I laughed, because nothing sounded strange to me any longer.

“I’ve always been so drawn to the pictures of him and his family. More so than any other of my other descendants’ pictures.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, grateful he now knew everything.

His phone rang, and he glanced at the screen. “I didn’t realize how late it was.” He gave me a kiss, and started getting dressed.

I did the same, and walked him to the front door.

“Will you go to Inverness with me and my family tomorrow?” he asked, one hand on the door handle. “We’re meeting family up there for my cousin’s tenth birthday.”

“I wish I could, but I have a homework assignment I need to get finished.” I knew if I showed up in class without it, Mr. Monahan would keep me after school for detention, and that’s the last thing I needed right now.

“I’ll help you with the assignment on the way.”

It was pretty clear that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Plus, I could think of worse things than hanging out with his family for the afternoon.

***

Maddy was unusually quiet on the drive to Inverness the next day. She was playing a game on her iPod, while watching me under lowered lids. She’d been acting a little shady and I didn’t like it.

Cait was quiet and obviously hung over. She wore sunglasses and the sun wasn’t even out.

The silence in the car allowed me to finish my homework. As promised, Kade helped me.

When we got to the pizza parlor, the place was slammed with people. Kade’s extended family was very nice, but I was bothered by Maddy’s cool demeanor toward me. When she slid away to the arcade, I excused myself and found her playing a video game.

“What’s up, Maddy?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Not much.”

“You’ve been quiet today. Is something wrong?”

“Not really,” she said defensively.

Her video game ended. She took a deep breath and turned to look at me. “Hanway says Laria is possessing you.”

Hearing those words out of anyone’s mouth was disconcerting, but it was especially horrifying coming out of a twelve-year-old’s mouth. Particularly a psychic twelve-year-old.

“Possessing me?”

“Remember the football game, and how Laria and those hooded guys came after you? You were possessed then. Do you have moments where you have a tough time remembering…”

“Yeah…”

“Again, possessed.” She took a deep breath, released it. “What about your dreams?”

“I’m having the same dream every night.”

“About a past life you had with Ian…and the witch, right?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

She glanced over her shoulder, and looked around, like she was terrified to even be caught talking to me. “I’m afraid for you, Riley. I mean, I’m
really
afraid. This isn’t good. She’s so dangerous, and Hanway says she could end up killing you if she wants to.”

Is that what Laria wanted? I wondered. Did she really want to kill me, or did she just want to make me suffer? Now that I’d been experiencing life as Margot, and what I had been to Ian in that lifetime, it made sense that she was trying to finish the job she had started back then…but would she know my dreams? Would she have figured out that past life link to Ian, or was she just mad at me for helping Ian cross over? Or was it a combination of everything?

“She won’t kill me,” I said, hoping to ease her fears.

“Hanway said he watched you walking in the cemetery night before last.”

Hanway was losing it, because I hadn’t been walking in the cemetery.

“You wore an orange T-shirt and black pants.”

My mind raced. I had worn my dad’s old ratty orange Harley T-shirt and a pair of black yoga pants. How the hell had Hanway known that, especially since he never left the castle?

But you could clearly see the cemetery from the castle.

I felt the blood drain from my face. Come to think of it, I had woken up that following morning and was mystified why the bottom of my yoga pants had been damp.

“You need to focus more on protecting yourself against spirits.”

“I’m protecting myself. I’ve followed the books I’ve read to the letter.”

“It’s not enough. You need to do more…because she’s gotten into your head.”

I saw Kade approach. “The pizzas are ready.”

“Good, I’m starved,” Maddy said, and glanced at me. “You coming?”

I picked at my pizza and tried to engage with Kade’s family as much as possible, but I couldn’t get what Maddy had said out of my mind, especially about me walking through the cemetery at night. Shane was crashing in my room. Wouldn’t he have heard me leave, or was Laria somehow manipulating him too?

I couldn’t put anything past her.