Reaper (46 page)

I got up and rooted around through my box of candles until I found a light blue taper. I jammed it into a holder and set it on the floor. Buffy, who had been sleeping, got up to see what I was doing. She sniffed at the candle, knocking it over. Realizing that lighting a candle and burning a piece of paper wasn’t going to work with the dog in the room, I left her with Hunter and went onto the turret.

The spell involved writing a letter to your unknown love interest and then burning it. The letter would ‘find the one most fitting to your heart’s desire’. Since I wasn’t sure if it would ‘find’ in a literal sense, I addressed it as so.

“Hi,” I said out loud as I wrote. “My name is Anora. I recently moved to Indiana.” I paused, thinking that maybe the less information, the better. If an actual witch in my coven found this letter, they would know what I was talking about. “I am looking for others like me.” I stopped again, unsure of how to close the letter. Everything I thought up sounded horribly lame and cheesy.
 
“If you get this, please contact me back,” I finally wrote. I read the four simple sentences over. “Good enough,” I mumbled. I attempted to draw the coven symbol on the bottom of the page; it turned out looking like a poorly drawn triple moon with illegible symbols circling around it.

The letter was far from fancy. The left side was fuzzy from being torn from the notebook. My handwriting was loopy and messy; I had a tendency to smoosh my letters together, making some words hard to read. And my drawing was downright embarrassing.

“Oh well,” I said to myself. I picked up the blue candle, scratched the words ‘find other Coven witches’ into the wax, and lit it. A second later, the wind blew out the candle. Frowning, I angled my body to block the breeze. I lit it again. The flame danced wildly…and stayed lit. I closed my eyes and focused on the energy I had inside me. Once I started to feel dizzy, I opened my eyes.

Bracing for the pinch of pain, I plucked a hair from my head, held it up, and envisioned it representing me as well as others from the coven. Placing it and the herbs inside the letter, which I had folded in half, I prayed the spell would work.

“Ok,” I said, looking at the piece of notebook paper in my hand. “Please find another witch in the Coven of Sacred Guardians.” Carefully, I lowered a corner of the letter over the flame. The paper barely made contact before it caught fire. I let it go, telekinetically holding it in the air.

The flames glowed a deep gold with purple embers falling to the floor. The fire burned brighter and I could feel the heat on my skin. The letter curled as it burned, loudly sizzling. And then it was gone.

No ashes, no pieces of charred paper…nothing.

“Uh, ok,” I said, staring at the spot the letter had been. Did the spell work? I stayed on the turret for a while longer, half expecting an answer right away. I cupped a hand around the candle and pulled it close to my chest to protect the flame from being blown out. Slowly, I rose to my feet and descended the stairs.

Since the candle had to burn itself out, I set it on my dresser, safely away from Buffy’s curiosity. Not trusting Romeo to leave the flame alone, I scooped him up and carried him downstairs. Ethan was awake and flipping through channels. Nik made a chicken casserole for lunch. The three of us sat around the kitchen table, awkwardly making small talk. Though I believed Ethan when he said he didn’t mind having a faery as a house guest, it was obvious he wasn’t thrilled about it.

Keith came over in between classes. Nik loved the attention. He showed off his garden magic by reviving my long forgotten potted herbs. Once Keith left, I rode both horses, brought Romeo outside to enjoy the warm air, and impatiently waited for a response to my letter.

I called Laney and my brother; I talked to my best friend and got Harrison’s voice mail. I sent my grandma on my mom’s side an email with tons of pictures of the house. I painted my nails, decided I hated the bright pink color, and took it off. I wasted an hour ordering Renaissance costumes off of eBay. No matter what I did, I couldn’t keep the letter off my mind. I was starting to get nervous. What if the spell went wrong? Who, or more appropriately what, would be able to easily find me?

I sat cross legged on my bed and concentrated on breathing. It took longer than usual to relax my body and even long to relax my mind. I practiced creating orbs and controlling their size, which essentially controlled how much energy they contained.
 
My phone rang, startling me just a bit. I let the orb bob in the air when I got up to grab my phone.

“Hey, Harry,” I said.

“Hey,” he said flatly. “Anything exciting happening?”

“Not at the moment,” I said and turned to face my mirror. I frowned at my reflection and wished I was a shade tanner. “What about you?”

“Meh,” he replied.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” he spat and sighed heavily. “Why did you call?”

“Uh, because we’ve been talking every few days since you came.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“Are you hung over?” I asked accusingly.

“No,” he retorted. “Why do you always ask that?”

“It’s not out of character for you,” I reminded him and backed away from the mirror until I was leaning against my bed. “You’re in a bad mood tonight.”

“Maybe I am.”

I shook my head; Harrison was the moody one out of the two of us. Whatever, I’d let it go…for now. “So,” I started. “I was thinking that maybe for our birthday—” I cut off abruptly when a shadow passed behind me in the mirror. My pulse instantly rose and I felt like I was drowning again.

I whirled around. The orb floated in the air. I rolled my eyes. The ‘shadow’ was cast from my own energy. I held my hand out, palm flat, for a second before closing my fist. The orb shrunk until it extinguished.

“Annie?” Harrison asked impatiently.

“Sorry,” I said and flicked on the lights. “I thought I saw a…oh shit.” The shadow was back, only it wasn’t a shadow anymore. Black mist swirled around me. I looked at the wall behind me; there was nothing there. When I faced the mirror, the mist threatened to swallow me whole. I watched, horrified, as the smoke swirled around my face. I couldn’t breathe. It was suffocating me.

“Annie!” Harrison yelled.

I shook my shelf and looked down at the phone. Suddenly, I could breathe again. Panting from fear, I looked back in the mirror. Red threads of energy crackled throughout the mist, electrifying my hair and shocking my face. It looked so real; it felt so real. You can’t breathe in smoke…
I
couldn’t breathe in smoke.
 
It would kill me.

“Annie!” my twin yelled again. I raised the phone and caught a glimpse of my reflection. It was normal. No swirling black mist threatening to suffocate me.

“I’ll call you back,” I said robotically and hung up the phone. Eyes wide with fear, I rose from the bed and took a step toward the mirror. The mist thickened. I took another step; walking through the shadows. Red lightning flashed above me. If it struck me, I’d be dead. I flattened my clammy palms against my legs.
No
, I stated firmly in my head.
It won’t kill me. It is not real
. I put my hands on the dresser and leaned close to the mirror.

My vision flickered; for a split second I saw myself as I was. I worked on controlling my breathing, in turn controlling my fear. My reflection glowered back at me; my green eyes turned black.

“No,” I whispered. “No.” The mirror shook. Still, I held my gaze. I could feel heat—real heat—coming from inside the mirror. My breathing quickened. Everything inside of me screamed to look away. “No,” I told my own intuition. I wasn’t giving in. None of this was real, and I could fight it.

My hands pressed hard onto the dresser’s surface. The mist circled around me, a maelstrom of dark magic. Suddenly, my reflection reached up and grabbed me. My hair was yanked and my forehead cracked against the mirror. I recoiled, knocking a picture frame off of the dresser. The glass shattered when it hit the hardwood floor. I jumped back and tripped over my own feet.

My body clattered to the ground, glass lodging itself into the thick skin on the palms of my hands. Ignoring the radiating pain, I reached up and felt my head. Hunter burst through the door, making me jump.

“It’s ok,” I told him. My fingers carefully felt my head. “And I’m not suffering a demonic head wound…again,” I breathed.

“Annie?” Ethan called from downstairs.

“It’s ok!” I yelled. “A picture frame fell,” I explained. Thought it was the truth, I felt like I was lying by not sharing
why
the frame fell. “I’ll clean it up. Can you call Buffy?” I asked, thought it was a moot point; the dog didn’t know her name. I pushed myself up, jamming the glass further into my skin, to close the door before Buffy could come in the room and step on the glass.

Hunter’s golden eyes drilled mine. I shook my head and went into the bathroom. I turned the water on and let the cold wash the blood down the drain.

“I saw something,” I told him. “In the mirror. I wasn’t lying when I said that
I
knocked the picture frame off. Oh, shoot, Romie’s loose. Can you make sure he doesn’t get in the glass?” I asked. Hunter cast one last long look at me before turning to protect the little ferret from broken glass.

Telekinesis is better than tweezers when it comes to picking glass from deep inside skin. I washed the cuts and pulled the bottle of faery healing potion from inside my medicine cabinet. It was room temperature, which wasn’t as soothing as when it came from inside the fridge, but in a matter of seconds my hands were feeling better. I wrapped them up in gauze before bringing the garbage can into my room.

As soon as I opened the door, Buffy darted in. I picked up Romeo, switching babysitting jobs with Hunter. He went into the bathroom; Buffy followed and playfully jumped on him. Hunter rolled his eyes and acted annoyed, but I could tell that he secretly enjoyed the company and attention.

With Romeo tucked under my arm, I went into the hall and opened the linen closet. I had to search for my mini dustpan and broom; Nik had rearranged the closest and I didn’t know where anything was. Granted, the way I had things thrown about made little sense, but at least I knew that the dustpan was at the bottom of a pile of old towels. My heart was still beating fast and I couldn’t quite make sense of what had just happened. I could feel the wheels in my head turning, trying to click something into place.

I kissed Romeo and set him on my bed. He started jumping around and flipped right off; I telekinetically caught him and smiled.

“Silly little guy,” I told him and set him down again. “Stay here,” I instructed, though telling him a command was even more useless than telling one to Buffy. I grabbed a handful of raisin flavored ferret treats and scattered them on my bed, hoping it would distract Romie for a while.

 
I picked up the picture frame and started at the photo. It was of Ethan and me at Harrison’s football game last November. It was taken just hours before Ethan was attacked by a demon, a demon that wanted information about me. Ethan took a beating that resulted with him being hospitalized for two days with extensive injuries instead of giving me up. He would do anything to protect me…and I would do anything to protect him, even if that meant pissing him off in the process.

I took the picture out of the frame and set it aside. Carefully, I extracted the piece of glass that was still in the frame. The overhead light bounced off of it. I held it up, turning it from side to side. My face reflected off of the broken glass. There was something familiar about it. Something I couldn’t place and something that was driving me even more crazy than when I forget what I was just about to say.

I dropped the glass in the trash and swept up the tiny shards. I stood and looked at the mirror, thankful that I didn’t knock that over too. Then it hit me: mirrors. Almost every mirror in Clarice’s house was smashed. It was odd, yes, and it was done for a reason.

Mirrors.

I knew how to summon Melcovel.
 

Chapter 18 - Lay it on the Line

I couldn’t sleep. I had tossed and turned all night, casting suspicious glances at my mirror every now and then. Along with feeling paranoid, I obsessively went over everything in my mind. Why did Melcovel want to know about Ethan? Was he merely curious as to why a seemingly normal human ended up with a witch like me? Where had the mysterious girl Harrison had met at the party come from,
truly
come from? Was Keaira going to pop up in Harrison’s life again? What the hell was I supposed to do with the reapers? I couldn’t keep sending them on their merry way, wishing them luck in stumbling upon a dying human being. And the thing that bugged me most of all was not knowing why David wanted Ethan and me to keep my witch status secret when Julia told me that the Order wanted to join forces with my coven.

I rolled over and hugged Hunter. Collectively, I probably got only four hours of sleep. After dragging my butt to the barn to feed the horses, I showered and got dressed, thinking I would feel better if I put some effort into my appearance for a change. I magically curled my hair and put on a long, blue dress. I pulled half my hair up with a metal butterfly clip and looked at my reflection. I held my own gaze for a minute, challenging the mirror. When nothing happened, I brought a book and a blanket outside to lie in the sun. It wasn’t warm enough to put on a bikini and tan, but it was warm enough to enjoy the sun’s rays beating down on my body.