Unbound (42 page)

“Thanks.”

Ethan was looking at clear quartz crystals. “Here,” he said, extending his hand towards me. I took the quartz. “And put this next to it to magnify the effects.”

“You know you’re stuff,” Madaline said, impressed. She looked at me. “He is a very good match for you.”

I beamed. “I think so too.” The bell on the door dinged, and Madaline went to help the new customer. Remembering that Hunter was in the car, I quickly picked out a few more stones and made a quick sweep past the dried herbs, grabbing a few jars of ones I was running low on.

“I’ll get the car,” Ethan offered since the rain had picked up to a steady fall now. I gave him a quick kiss and put my stuff down on the counter. Madaline hurried over to ring me up.

“Leaving so soon?” she asked.

“Yea, my dog is in the car.”

“I love dogs,” she said as if she was talking to herself. I smiled back in agreeance.

She put the last of my purchase into a brown paper bag. “He really loves you,” she softly spoke and looked into my eyes. I felt my cheeks redden a bit; I knew she was talking about Ethan.

“I hope so.”

She reached out and touched my hand. “I’m being honest, Anora. The feelings I picked up from him very strong.” She continued to gaze into my eyes, but I knew she was looking at something deeper.

The red headed boy that had come in after me asked for Madaline’s help. She rolled her eyes and whispered “love spell” to me before she put on a smile and went to help the poor, desperate fellow.

 
“We won’t stay long,” Ethan told me when we pulled into his driveway, knowing I was eager to go home and sleep. I unbuckled Hunter and followed Ethan into the house. Julia was washing dishes while Sam sat at the table typing on her laptop.

“Hey guys,” I said.

“Hey, Anora.” Julia looked from the soapy water. “I’m so sorry about your friend.”

“Thanks. I think she’s gonna recover. Physically at least.” I tried not to think about it; I didn’t want to cry again.

“Go ahead and sit.” Ethan motioned to the table. “I’ll go get what we need.” He kissed me and went into the study, a room that was kept locked since it was full of defensive charms and weapons.

I sat down opposite Sam. “How are you?” I asked her, figuring I’d try my hand at a conversation. She shrugged one shoulder. Ok, not the response I’d hoped for. I busied myself gushing over Hunter until Ethan came back into the kitchen. I stood to leave when Sam said,

“So, Anora, did you have fun last night?”

Last night…it seemed so long ago, what happened last night? Oh, Harrison’s whole drunk ordeal. But that couldn’t be what she meant. Oh, shit, she probably heard me and Ethan in his bedroom. “Sure,” I said, since I wasn’t sure what she meant.

“Yea, it looked like it.”

She might have heard us, but I know she didn’t see us. I looked at Ethan for help. He shrugged and mouthed “I don’t know”.

“It did?” I asked her.

“Yea. I guess you would have fun when you’re cheating on your boyfriend.” She smiled smugly.

“I’m not cheating on Ethan.” I was too confused to be angry.

“Really? ‘Cuz I saw you with that good looking blonde last night. And you two looked pretty close.”

Oh my God, seriously!? “Oh, yea, we are
really
close,” I said seriously. “I’m sorry Ethan, I should have told you. That good looking blonde and I are so close, one time we spent nine whole months cuddled naked together.”

 
Amusement sparkled in Ethan’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared and he just looked super pissed. I stood and shook my head. “That blonde is my twin brother, Harrison. Seriously Sam, get over yourself. Ethan and I are happy together, why can’t you just be happy for us?” I grabbed Ethan’s hand. He was scowling at Sam, too angry to speak. “See you later, Julia,” I said as I stomped to the front door.

“I’m sorry,” Ethan said as soon as we were outside.

“Why are you sorry? It’s not your fault.”

He set the bag he was carrying down and hugged me. “I know, but today has been a bad day for you, and I, I don’t like that.”

“Whatever, it’s fine. I just want to go home.” I got into the X-Terra. I sighed, making a mental note to check the BOS for an anti-drama spell. I could really use one right now; first Marie and Jill and now Sam. This was getting ridiculous.

We arrived home just after dinner. After filling up on homemade chicken pot pie, Ethan and I went upstairs to lie down. He rubbed my back just like he promised. I was so close to falling asleep when Laney called. I didn’t move to pick up the phone so Ethan answered.

“Hey Laney. Yea, everything’s ok here. She’s sleeping, I’ll tell her to call you later. Ok, night.” He put the phone down and got under the covers with me, wrapping his arms tightly around me. I lazily hooked one arm around him and kissed him lightly on the lips.

Over an hour later I woke up. Ethan was watching TV, with the volume down low so it wouldn’t disturb me. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I felt happy for a brief moment before guilt crashed down on me, flashing pictures of a bruised and battered Leslie in my head. But then something weird happened, something that had never happened before. The guilt briefly disappeared and all I wanted was revenge. As soon as I could blink the guilt was back.

“Morning sunshine.” Ethan smiled at me.

“Shut up,” I teased. “You have no idea how tired I was, well, still am.”

“It’s ok. I did sleep in ‘till twelve-thirty today.”

“Uh, that is so not fair!”

The bedroom door flew opened, revealing Mom. She looked at me sternly; she didn’t think it was appropriate to be in bed with a boy. And I was under the covers with him, even worse. Ooh, and my door was closed. That was three strikes right there.

“Hey Mom,” I said casually, hoping to blow off my bad behavior.

“Out,” she said. I pulled back the covers and sat up. Ethan did too, and he quickly swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Don’t close your door when your boyfriend is here, Anora, you know better than that.”

“Romeo was out.”

“Put him away next time.”

“Fine.”

 
Mom sat down on the foot of the bed. “How was everything at the barn?”

Good, she was going to go easy on me tonight. I told her about the new rules and how Ethan checked everything out. To our surprise, she was happy to have him ‘hunt’ and asked him to come with me every time until the wild dog was caught.

“Of course. Your daughter means a lot to me,” Ethan said, looking from Mom to my eyes. My heart skipped a beat when our eyes met.

Mom looked around my room, the yellow lilies catching her attention. “What pretty flowers. Where did you get them?”

“Ethan got them for me,” I told her, and I know my eyes must have sparkled.

“Oh.” Mom looked a bit surprised. “That was really nice.”

She chatted with us for a bit more and threw in ‘good night, Ethan’ three times. We could take the hint she that thought it was time for him to go. It was only nine-fifteen, but I didn’t mind him leaving early tonight. There was something I wanted to do.

As soon as Mom left, Ethan retrieved the bag he brought and pulled out a handful of stringy dried plants. “Devil’s Shoestring,” he told me and put the roots down on my dresser. “It’ll help keep Ryan and even the Pricolici away. Actually, next time we go to the barn, we can put some around the place.”

I picked up a piece of Devil’s Shoestring. It was brown and flexible. “So I don’t have to do anything to it?”

“Well, burning it will definitely extend its keep-away powers, especially when dealing with spirits. Just make sure to open your window this time.”

I remembered reading about this in the BOS. “This is a pretty powerful protection root, isn’t it?”

Ethan nodded. “It’s not fool proof though, I mean holding a handful of Devil’s Shoestring out in front of you isn’t gonna stop something bad from attacking.”

“Makes sense.” I put the root back down, walked Ethan to the door and slipped out on the back porch.

“I’ll call you later,” he promised, letting my feet hit the cold porch. “Love you.”

“I love you too.” After one more kiss he jogged through the rain to his car. Feeling more awake, I went back upstairs, my head full of thoughts. I picked up a small piece of Devil’s Shoestring and set it on my incense burner. It took me a while to get it smoldering, but once it did the smell was obvious. I hurried to turn on my fan and open my windows.

“Sorry, Ryan.” I wafted smoke around my room. “I promise I’ll find you as soon as this whole mess is over.” I sat on my bed, turning a rather large piece of the root over in my hands. I didn’t understand why now of all times my ghost-seeing powers were acting up. I still felt a little guilty for putting it on the back burner, but the demons were more of a threat. That, and my new powers were so much cooler.

 
The wheels in my head rolled over a good idea, and the thought of Penny feeding the horses in the morning made me put my plan into action. I hooked the dagger onto my belt and decided to go extra protected with more weapons. I fitted a small knife under my pants around my lower leg and attached the leather pouch of throwing stars to my back belt loop. I stuffed a small duffle bag full of salt, crystals and herbs, put on a leather jacket and went downstairs.

“I’m gonna go to Laney’s, she’s still really upset about today.” I smiled innocently at Dad and made sure my eyes looked really sad.

“Ok, sweetie.” He smiled back. “You’re bringing Hunter?”

Crap, I hadn’t thought of an excuse for that, and I was walking him on his leash. “No, he just needs out.”

“Just let him out and I’ll bring him in in a bit.”

“Thanks, Daddy.” I tried not to cringe at the thought of not having my Guardian. Nonetheless, I got in the car and drove to the barn.

Chapter 10 Seek and Destroy

No one was there. The empty parking lot held back nothing but shadows that jumped and shifted with the blowing wind. The cold, damp air sent a chill throughout my entire body. Every fiber of my being told me to get back in the car, drive home, tuck myself under my comfy blankets and go to sleep. With a deep breath I took a step towards the barn. An odd feeling of empowerment washed over me. Another step and I was feeling brave. I slowly opened the door and looked around.

A few horses were laying down, ready for a restful night’s sleep. I tied a piece of Devil’s Shoestring to the front of Mystery, Neptune, Henry and Abra’s stalls and tucked pieces above every door. I went around the back of the barn and scanned the horizon. A loud crack of thunder made me jump. My hand flew up to my chest and I nearly screamed. Ok, I needed to find that bravery again. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I thought of Leslie getting attacked. I wondered how long she lay on the cold, concrete aisle before the ambulance arrived. I thought of Amanda, and the horrifying memories that would always haunt her mind. I opened my eyes hoping to see a Pricolici.
 
Nothing but darkness and fog stood in front of me. Courage surged again and I headed towards the woods.

Drops of rain fell from the sky with so much force that they hurt my cheeks. I wished I’d worn a hat. The pitter-patter of rain on the fallen leaves made it hard to hear if anything was lurking about in the dark forest. My courage faded the deeper in I got. A cloud of breath swirled around in the cold air as I exhaled.

“Just get it together,” I told myself, unsheathing the dagger. I picked up the pace to a jog. I kept running even after I crossed the end of the horse trails. Deciding to stop before I became out of breath, I shouted, “Ok, you stupid demons! Come and get me!” I regretted saying that the moment the words escaped from my lips.

A low growl came from a few feet to my left. I looked, but couldn’t see anything. Coming here alone was a stupid idea. I turned slowly to face my insidious enemy.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
 
I yelled at myself. Lightning flashed across the sky like a strobe light, and in each brief moment of light I could see a huge, black, wolf-like shape looming closer. My heart pounded in my chest. Another boom of thunder rang out above us. With a warning snarl, the Pricolici lunged at me. I threw out my left hand and sent it flying into a tree. It slumped to the ground but was jumping at me again in seconds. This time, I put both hands on the dagger and thrust it up the same time the demon dog collided with me and the blade.