Unbound (21 page)

“Just ignore it,” he said as he slid his hand over my thigh. I didn’t object and ran my hands over his muscular arms. But it rang again, and with a resentful sigh, Ethan sat up to answer it.

“Hello? Yea, I’m fine,” he paused. “Can it wait?” Another pause. “I’ll call you back.” The voice on the other end was a man, and he sounded angry. “Yes, sir,” Ethan said bitterly and hung up. He looked at me apologetically. “It’s my dad; he’s uh, having some sort of crisis. I have to go help him.” I knew that was a variation of the truth but I wasn’t even going to ask.

“Ok. I’ll drive you.”

We drove together in silence. Well, not total silence since Motley Crue was playing, but I was enjoying his calming presence too much to talk. Ethan lived in a two story brick house not too far away from the barn. I put the Prius in park.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” he asked me, turning to unbuckle his seatbelt.

“Uh, just sleeping in and going to the barn. And maybe seeing my friends if they could manage an hour away from their boyfriends.”

“Can I take you out?”

“Sure.” My face lit up. “Where are you taking me?”

“Don’t know. But there will be no mud, blood or mystery, I promise.”

“But what if I like mud and mystery?”

Ethan just smiled and gave me a kiss goodbye. “Call me when you’re done at the barn, and I promise I’ll answer,” he said before he closed the door. I think I smiled the entire way home.

Too excited to sleep, I sat cross legged on my bed and opened the BOS. The first half of the thick journal was filled with information. The second half was filled with spells, potions and charms. I flipped to the latter. My eyes scanned a truth spell. Well, that would be one way to know what was going on with Ethan. No, that would be wrong, I told myself. Anyway, who knew if this would even work?

There were a few pages of spells involving horses. Before the spells was a little paragraph saying that horses are considered the most magical of all animals and because of that, ‘other worldly beings’ are most attracted to them. Luckily they are rarely harmed because those same beings highly respect and fear them. Just being around horses is said to enhance one’s psychic powers.

Well, that explained a lot. I skimmed over the horse protection spells, jotting down in my own journal ingredients I needed to buy. I flipped next to a spell entitled “Boil Water in 30 Seconds”. Curiously I read the spell. The first step was to light three yellow candles, which I had hidden in a big box in my closet. All of Aunt Estelle’s stuff I had shipped to me arrived Wednesday after school. Luckily no one but me was home. I set them on the floor, with each candle representing a corner of a triangle.

 
Next, I had to put a bowl of water in the center. I took Hunter’s stainless steel water bowl and put it in the middle. The final steps were to put both hands over the water and envision energy flowing from the air around you and into the water, heating up the molecules at a very fast rate. I extended my hands and closed my eyes to help me concentrate. I felt a little silly at first but through my closed eyes I started to see flickers of red and purple light energy flowing rapidly around me. I imagined that light shooting down into the bowl. I gasped when I opened my eyes and saw the water bubbling. I dipped my finger in the bowl and quickly pulled it out.

 
“Oh my God,” I said and leaned over the bowl. The water was really boiling.

I put my hands over my mouth and stood up. “This is so cool!” I said to Hunter and Romeo, since they were the only ones in the room. I wanted desperately to call Laney and tell her, but what would I say? I would sound crazy for sure. She would have to see this. I wrapped a shirt around the hot metal bowl and dumped it in the bathroom sink. I turned the cold water on and let it run over the bowl to cool it down before I refilled it and put it back.

On a magical high, I eagerly flipped through the book. Just when I thought this night couldn’t get any better, I found a spell for banishing nightmares. For this to work I needed to put lavender—for peace, calming and help sleeping—basil, bay— both for protection—mugwort—for strength— and Saint John’s Wort to ward off evil spirits in a blue sachet and put it under your pillow.

 
I rooted around through the glass jars of herbs and found what I needed. I didn’t have a real sachet so I put everything in a light blue sock. The last step was to invoke the powers of the plants. It didn’t say how to do that, but I did a similar process as with the water. I held the make-shift sachet up and envisioned energy radiating from the herbs. I put the sock under my pillow. Underneath the nightmare spell was written “just ask your Guardian to watch you”. I wanted to know what a Guardian was.

 
Feeling kinda hokey, and thinking this could be a bad idea, I said, “Guardian, I invoke you, please watch over me and don’t let me have nightmares.” Nothing happened. Maybe it meant a guardian angel, though I don’t think Aunt Estelle belonged to the secret Coven of Guardian Angels. It seemed like an oxymoron somehow.

Feeling very tired now, I got ready for bed, locked Romie safely in his cage and climbed under the covers. Hunter jumped up with me and settled at my side. He hadn’t slept in bed with me for the last few days. Feeling happy from seeing Ethan, absolutely excited from actually doing magic, and safe with my nightmare protection spell and Hunter, I drifted easily to sleep and had a very pleasant dream about Ethan.

***

 
I rode Mystery and brushed the horses in record time. The barn was buzzing with people; Saturdays were the busiest day here. I said bye to five people as I dashed out to my car. I called Ethan to tell him I was on my way home.

“Pick you up in an hour?” he asked.

“Make it two. I need to shower and get dressed.”

“It takes you that long to get ready?”

“Not normally but I want to look good for you.”

“I think you always look good,” he stated, making me smile and my cheeks flush a little.

“You should see me when I first wake up then,” I joked, thinking of myself with bed head and pillow creases all over my face.

“Hmm, I’d like that,” Ethan said and I realized what seeing me in the morning entailed.

“That’s not how I meant it!”

“Sure it’s not,” Ethan laughed. “I’ll be at your house in an hour.”

“Two hours!” I corrected before he could hang up the phone.

I was happy that the weather had turned unseasonable warm because that meant I could wear a short skirt. But that was as far as I’d come in the whole getting dressed part. My makeup was done and my hair was set in curlers. I pulled a dark denim skirt out of my dresser and put it on. I went into my closet to find shoes and a shirt. I decided upon a pair of black biker boots, a very low cut black tank top and a sheer gray, long sleeve shirt to go over it. I fiddled with my bra straps and pulled the shirt down to get a good amount of cleavage showing. I put on silver hoop earrings and matching silver bangle bracelets. Having worn the Coven pendent for so long now, I didn’t want to take it off. I adjusted the cord so it rested right under my collar bone. I took the curlers out and shook my head. My hair poofed way more than I wanted it too, making me wish Marie was here to do it for me. With a little bit of water and hair gel I got it to look more natural and sleek, and not a moment later, the doorbell rang. I ran downstairs to answer it before Dad did.

“You look hot,” Ethan told me with a fiery look in his eye.
 
“It was worth the two hour wait.”

He looked very good himself. Simply dressed in a gray T-shirt and jeans, he was rugged and handsome as always. The cut on his arm had scabbed over and was obviously visible. The bruise had worsened a bit. I waved him in and stood on my tip toes for a kiss. We pulled away just in time because Dad walked into the foyer for an introduction and a short interrogation.

***

“Where did you get that necklace?” Ethan inquired. We had just finished a round of miniature golf, which, by the way, I won. Ethan swore I cheated because I got four holes-in-one. I told him I was just lucky. (“Keep me around and maybe you’ll get lucky!” I told him, not meaning for it to sound the dirty way he took it. I have a bad habit of doing that…)

“My Aunt. Well, Great Aunt technically.”

Ethan’s fingers touched my skin as he picked the pendent up off my chest. “I swear I’ve seen this before. What does it mean?”

“Uh, I don’t know.” I felt bad for lying. “I think it’s good luck.” Ethan’s look got puzzled as he tried to recall where he had seen the weird symbols. I hoped he didn’t remember. He let the pendent drop back onto my chest and his hand fell onto mine. “Want to get something to eat?”

“Of course, I’m starving.”
 
Hand in hand we walked back to the black X-Terra. Ethan opened the door for me again. “You know, I am capable of opening the door myself.”

“Sorry for being polite,” Ethan said sarcastically.

“It’s nice though. No one does that anymore.”

“I try to be different.”

The conversation flowed freely during dinner. Being around Ethan was just so easy and relaxing. I knew we’d only known each other for a short while, but everything felt so
right
. It was as if I’d known him for years, well except that I could tell he was hiding something about himself. I was enjoying today too much to worry about that. And I was hiding something as well, I justified.

“So, what next?” I asked as we walked back to Ethan’s car.

“Don’t know. Want to see a movie?”

“What? On such a beautiful fall day like today?” I grabbed Ethan’s hand. “I have a better idea.” He pulled his hand back causing me to stumble towards him. He wrapped his other arm around me waist and dipped me back for a kiss. He straightened me up and twirled me around, then pulled me back in close. He was so different from any guy I had ever met. I loved it.

“What do you have in mind?” He put his hands on my waist and pulled my hips into his.

“Have you been to Green Lake yet?”

“Never even heard of it.”

“Well, you’re in for a nice surprise then!”

It didn’t take long to get to the State Park. I showed Ethan the best place to park and we got out, walking toward the water holding hands. Today was turning out to be absolutely perfect.

“Why is the water green?” Ethan asked, staring intently at the lake.

“It has something to do with the minerals, I think. Oh, and the lake is meromictic, which means that the top and bottom layers don’t mix. So anything that sinks to the bottom takes forever to decay. I’m not sure if that has anything to do with the color though, but it’s kinda cool, I guess.” I picked up the pace. “I want to take you to Dead Man’s Point before it gets dark.” Ethan looked up at the sky. We didn’t have much daylight left.

“Hang on,” he told me, and jogged off towards the parking lot. He came back a few minutes later carrying a flashlight and his jacket. “Now we don’t have to rush.” He held up the flashlight. “And I thought you might get cold,” he added, almost sounding embarrassed at his thoughtfulness.

We reached Dead Man’s Point at sunset. I pointed to the bacteria reefs. “Isn’t it cool?”

Ethan took my hand and nodded. We walked as close to the water’s edge as possible. Finding a dry spot, Ethan sat and pulled me on his lap. A slight breeze made me involuntarily shiver. Ethan put the jacket around me. The sun was sinking behind us, so that the orange, red and yellow from the sky reflected beautifully off the glass like surface of the water. I rested my head against Ethan’s broad shoulder. I never wanted this day to end.

***

I danced idiotically around my room Monday morning as I got ready for school. I felt like a Disney princess who found her prince charming. My good mood carried on throughout the day. The girls at the lunch table ‘ooo-ed’ and ‘aww-ed’ as I told them about my perfect date with Ethan. My mind was on Ethan all day, so it shouldn’t have shocked me when the bell rang at the end of the day, as time had gone by fast. I hadn’t seen Ethan yesterday, he said he had family issues to deal with, so I was really happy to see him standing by my car. I excitedly ran over to him. His face lit up when he saw me, and after I dropped my bags on the ground he wrapped his arms tightly around me and gave me a very deep, passionate kiss.

“Anora,” he breathed. He had a bruise on his left cheek. It looked like he was in a bar fight. I reached up and gently touched it.

“What happened?”

 
Ethan looked down. I knew what he was going to say. “I can’t-” he began, but cut off suddenly. “I’ll tell you later.” He took hold of both my hands.