Under A Blood Moon (Elemental Enchanters) (3 page)

The girls walked to one of the empty wooden picnic tables and sat down.

Melissa stubbed out her cigarette in the flimsy aluminum ashtray. “So, what happened on
Days of Our Lives
?”

Ava rolled her eyes. Melissa always compared Ava and
Thomas’ss relationship to the soap opera. “He’s still mad at me.”

“Still?” Gillian
checked her reflection in a compact mirror. She had to make sure everything was perfect. “That was like weeks ago.”

Ava nodded.
“Yep.”

“You should just give it up already. Making him suffer, y’know?” Melissa rolled her green eyes as she lit a cigarette.

Ava crossed her arms in front of her.

“If she’s not ready, she’s not ready,” Gillian said and then coughed. “And, can you wait five minutes before lighting another
one of those things?” She reapplied red lipstick and pursed her lips together as if she were going to kiss the mirror.

Melissa
batted her eyelashes, mocking Gillian. “We can’t all be perfect and sweet like you.”

“I didn’t say I was perfect.”

“Well, I know you’re no longer a virgin.”

Gillian blushed and looked away.

Melissa wrapped an arm around her. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, G. Though, you never did give us details—.”

“
Have you guys told your parents about your powers?” Ava cut her off, saving Gillian from having to talk about her private love life.

“I think my mom knows,”
Gillian said. “Especially since she’s been blocking me.”

“Yeah, I told my parents when it happened,” Melissa said. “I was so excited. I thought they’d never develop.
”

“How would yours develop if you’re adopted?” Gillian asked.

“Because when they adopted me, Savina linked our blood together,” Melissa answered. “Have you told your dad, Ava?”

She
shook her head.

“You’re gonna have to eventually.
Maybe you’ll finally learn what kind of Enchanter your mom was.”

Ava shifted uncomfortably. She hated talking about her mom.
Luckily, for her, the guys came back with burgers, fries, drinks, and a salad for Melissa, who was vegetarian.

“Eww, there’s little bits of Thomas on my salad.”
Melissa grimaced.

Ava
watched her remove bacon bits from her salad, and then laughed.

“What are you talking about?” Thomas
asked.

She picked up the bowl and pointed to the bacon. “See? Little bits of you.”

Everyone laughed, but Thomas looked completely confused.

“How is it that you got this far in school? There’s bacon on my salad. Bacon comes from a
pig. Little bits of Thomas. Get it?” She turned to Lance who couldn’t keep a straight face. “How many times does his head get hit in football practice?”

“
I’m not a pig.”

Ava
bit back a laugh.

Thomas shook his head and engulfed a large bite of his double patty hamburger
. Ketchup and mayonnaise stuck to his chin before he wiped it away. Ava never understood why he had to inhale his food like it was his last meal.

“Oh, Ava, I brought
On the Road
for you,” Jeremy said. “I just finished it last night.”

“Thanks. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Did you know Hunter S. Thompson probably wouldn’t have written
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
had it not been for this book?” Jeremy leaned forward, the way he always did when he was excited to talk about something he loved. His eager topaz eyes pierced through his rimless rectangular glasses.

“No, I didn’t.”

He shook his head like it was the most amazing fact. Ava grinned. She was close to Jeremy since she felt they were the outcasts in the group. No one else read as much as they did, and no one else surely talked about books for hours like they did. She would never forget when Jeremy fell severely ill with a lung disease when they were ten. Ava read to him every day while he was bedridden. Jeremy had always told her if it wasn’t for that, he probably wouldn’t love books as much as he did.

The girls at school never really drooled over Jeremy, but Ava assumed it was because he kept himself hidden behind a book. Like
her, he didn’t like a lot of attention. His sandy blond hair parted down the middle and fell on either side of his head, like an upside-down bowl. If Gillian wasn’t playing with her own hair, she was sure to be playing with his. His frame was smaller than Lance and Thomas, but he still had muscles.

“Oh
, look who’s walking this way,” Thomas announced after finishing his last bite of his second burger.

They all turned their heads to see Kristen Miller,
an average-height girl with bushy brown hair and a plain face. She walked up the sidewalk with a chubby boy who held her hand. Ava exchanged exasperated looks with Gillian and Jeremy. They knew Thomas and Melissa were going to tease Kristen. She hated it when they did this. She didn’t know why they needed to feel superior.

“Her hair looks like she teased the hell out of it. I should give her fashion advice,” Melissa said.

“Hey, Kristen.” Thomas flashed his famous sexy smile as Kristen walked by.

“Leave her alone,” Ava warned under her breath.

Kristen’s face immediately reddened. She and the guy stopped at their table. “Hi.”

Melissa lit a cigarette. “Is that your boyfriend?”

“Yes.” Her brown beady eyes lit in eagerness.

“Wow. That’s incredible. It’s like a match made in heaven.”

Kristen smiled. “Thank you. We just started going out this summer.”

Thomas
sucked the last of his drink and then made that annoying slurping sound with his straw. Ava swiped the empty cup from him. “So, Brent is it?” he asked.

“Brett,” he responded, his blue eyes glaring.

“Yeah. We’re looking for another player for our team, y’know?”

“You are?”

“Yeah.”

Ava kicked Thomas under the table
, but he ignored it. She wished they would stop.

“Isn’t it too late to join football?”

“No. Lance and I could totally get you in.”

“What position? I tried out for the center.”

“Oh yeah, we can talk to Coach about adding you.” Lance joined in the conversation.

Thomas snickered.
“Well, it won’t be center. We need someone to wash our jock straps.”

“I thought they needed a base
for the cheerleader’s pyramids.” Lance laughed.

“Kristen could do that!”

Thomas, Melissa, and Lance laughed hysterically.

Kristen’s face fell
, and Ava knew she was about to cry while Brett just glared and urged her to start moving.

“Why do you have to be so mean?
” Gillian said. “Like you three are so much better.”

Melissa blew smoke in the air. “Oh come on, that was funny.”

Ava shook her head. “No it wasn’t. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

“Whatever. I’m sure they won’t even give what we said a second thought,” Thomas said.

“They’ll be thinking of this constantly.”

“Lighten up, will you?” Melissa asked.

“Come on, let’s go throw the football,” Thomas suggested as he stood from the table and walked away with the guys.

Melissa turned to Gillian. “You know what you should do?”

“
You’re going to make me apologize, aren’t you?”

“No. Just, you know, use your ability.”

Ava dropped her jaw. “She shouldn’t do that.”

“I agree, Melissa. It doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

“Why not? Why do you always have to follow the rules? Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Gillian pursed her lips together, contemplating.

“Don’t do it, Gillian. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Will I get in trouble?” s
he asked, ignoring Ava.

Melissa flicked ashes in the ashtray.
“From who? It won’t hurt anything. Besides, you should see if it works on anyone besides your mom and me.”

Gillian thought about it for a moment. “Okay.” She stood and jogged to catch up to Brett and Kristen.

“Why do you always do that?” Ava asked.

“Do what?”

“You know what. You always make her do things, and she always listens to you. Why can’t you just let her be?”

“It’s not bad. She should live a little.” She took a puff of the cigarette and exhaled.

“I don’t think manipulating someone into doing what you want is living.”

“For Gillian it is. She never does anything. It’s like she’s begging to come out of her shell.”

“It could turn ugly.”

“Stop being so paranoid.”

Ava stared at her
defiantly, and clenched her teeth. A lazy breeze blew, slightly cooling her, and she relaxed. She fiddled with the plastic lid on her empty water bottle and wondered what Peter was doing. Then chastised herself because she shouldn’t be thinking about him so much when she had a boyfriend.

A few minutes later, Gillian rejoined them. She had a suspicious smile. “Well, they’re no longer mad at us.”

“What happened?” Ava asked.

“It was amazing. I was able to control both their minds at the same time. At first, they didn’t want to talk to me, but then I told them they needed to hear what I had to say, and they stopped and turned around.” Gillian sped through her words. “I just sent messages to their minds or something. I guess that’s how it works.”

Ava clumsily lost her grip on the bottle and it rolled across the table. She was shocked. Of course, she’d heard of Enchanters being able to do this, but it was uncanny to think her best friend could control a mind. “What were the messages?”

“Just that nothing happened between us and them. Afterward, they smiled at me as if it was the first time they saw me tonight. It was so weird.”

“That’s my girl.” Melissa wrapped her arm around Gillian and pulled her into a hug.

Gillian smiled like a kid who
had just earned an A on a test.

Ava eyed her speculatively.
But she knew she didn’t have to worry. Gillian was smart and conscientious. However, she wondered if Melissa would try to convince her to use her ability more than needed.

“Let’s go swimming,” Melissa suggested.

Though Ava was glad to finally leave and try her ability again, she didn’t like the knowing look Melissa suddenly shot her.

As
Thomas drove to the outer part of the city, the stars above blazed into view. Ava usually liked to poke her head out a little to feel the warm breeze through her hair. But tonight, she only stared out the window, twirling her ring around her finger.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Thomas said.

It was hard to tell if he meant it since he was handing apologies out quite often. But she didn’t want to argue anymore. “It’s fine.”

“I’ll understand if you want to wait.
It’s not right for me to force you.”

He sounded so sincere it took Ava a second to respond. “Thanks.”
Little pieces of the Thomas she knew before that stupid night emerged, but it was becoming rare. And she still felt guilty for thinking about Peter so much.

Thomas
pulled into the driveway of Melissa’s brown split-level ranch house. Little round lights lined the sidewalk to the front door. Ava climbed out of the Jeep, and they went inside the house without knocking. Her parents had always treated all of them as if they were their own children.

Cailin Rollins greeted them with hugs and a warm smile. “Hey, Ava.
If I had known y’all were comin’, I would have baked you somethin’,” she said through her thick Southern accent. Ava had to bend slightly to hug Melissa’s petite mom. Her honey blond hair was cropped and Ava noticed crow’s feet near her smiling brown eyes.

A lavender scent wafted
by as Ava pulled away. “You don’t always have to bake us something.”

“Though anytime you wanna make some of those chocolate chip cookies, I won’t mind,” Thomas
said.

Mrs. Rollins smiled and playfully patted his shoulder.

“We’re going swimming.” Melissa corralled everyone through the sliding glass doors to the pool.

“Okay, y’all be careful
. Your Daddy and I are going to bed.”

“Goodnight.
Love you!” Melissa called then closed the door.

Thomas
shed his shirt, revealing his smooth chest, and slipped off his flip-flops. He ran from a corner and cannonballed into the water, splashing Ava and Melissa. Lance followed. Jeremy and Gillian sat at the patio table. Ava and Melissa held hands and jumped in together.