Unfaithful (48 page)

I winced at the memory this scene brought to my mind. Blushing, I looked down, embarrassed. Ginevra sensually brought her lips close to Simon’s without touching them, lingered a moment, and then nimbly inverted their positions, slamming him against the wall. “What makes you think I was off guard?” she whispered in response to his provocation.

Being able to read Simon’s thoughts in order to know exactly when to strike was definitely an advantage for her. I shook my head as Simon smiled at her stubbornness; he clearly liked this aspect of her. “You never give up, do you?” He smiled against her lips, amused by their little game.

For Ginevra everything inevitably became an endless challenge, a competition in which she couldn’t stand the idea of losing. Maybe it was part of her nature as a Witch. It was nice to see them together, but the more I watched them, the more I missed Evan. Though it had only been a few minutes since I’d last seen him, it felt like hours.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting kind of hungry.” I hoped one of them would take me up on the proposal. My eyes rested on Ginevra, who was quick to accept.

Simon shot me a glance and smiled. “You really have a Witch’s appetite, Gemma,” he teased.

Head down, I followed them upstairs. “It’s the pool,” I explained, feeling awkward. “Swimming makes me hungry.”

The next two hours flew by so fast I almost didn’t feel their weight on my heart. Simon and Ginevra were good company and our mutual affection was unconditional. Even so, Drake’s absence was still keenly felt in every corner of the house. They all missed him, I was sure of it. Whenever one of us happened to mention his name a sad silence instantly filled the room.

Evan’s lighthearted voice shook me from my thoughts. “Did you guys miss me?” I smiled. “Not much, it would seem,” he said sarcastically, looking at the table that was covered with a cornucopia of leftovers. I threw my arms around his neck. “I guess somebody was celebrating without me,” he teased, rubbing his nose against mine.

“What?” I exclaimed. “We would never celebrate without you.” I shot a glance at Simon and Ginevra, urging them to back me up.

“Of course not!” Ginevra said as she popped another morsel into her mouth and chewed with delight. “How could you think such a thing?” Evan laughed and I kissed him as the others silently turned to go.

“Oookay, looks like we should leave you two alone,” Ginevra said.

“No need,” I was quick to reply.

Evan smiled and I noticed him wink at her.

“Someone doesn’t agree with you, Gemma. Please, Evan. Spare me the details!” she groaned, pulling Simon by the hand. “At least wait until I’ve left the room!”

Evan laughed and turned to face me. Finally we were alone again. “It felt like an eternity,” he said, gazing at me tenderly. I was in danger of melting whenever he looked at me that way. He almost seemed like another person compared to the last time I’d seen him. “Sorry I kept you waiting. It took longer than expected.”

“You found it!” I cried with relief, noticing his dog tag was back in its place.

Evan didn’t seem to understand. “Found what?” he asked, gently resting his lips on my neck.

“Your dog tag,” I said.

“I never took it off,” he whispered casually, his mouth making its way up toward my chin.

“Yes you did,” I insisted. “You weren’t wearing it by the pool.” Evan froze and looked at me, frowning. “You said you’d left it up in your room,” I reminded him, baffled as to why he looked so bewildered.

His eyes wavered in alarm as the truth began to dawn on me. “I don’t remember saying that,” he replied, standing stock-still and staring at me as if he were hoping to hear me say I was wrong. “Gemma, I’ve been gone for hours, you know that.” He almost seemed to be trying to convince me it was true.

“No, you were—So, by the pool—” I put my hand to my mouth and felt my body turn ice cold with shock as I watched the rage grow in Evan’s eyes. Hatred glinted in them.

“He came back,” he snarled, tensing his muscles.

My hands trembled. “What—You mean it was Drake?” I whispered, horrified by the thought of our encounter. Evan fixed me with a wary gaze and I sensed his anger growing by the second. My body felt trapped in a block of ice.

It hadn’t been Evan.

“What did he do to you?” he growled, his tone so harsh it made me flinch. “What did he do to you, Gemma?!” he repeated, raising his voice. A black fire burned in his eyes.

“I don’t think you want to know,” I barely murmured.

“Yes I do,” he insisted through clenched teeth. “Did he touch you?”

I looked away and closed my eyes, unable to answer. Evan growled and slammed his fist into the cement wall. It cracked beneath his knuckles as I stood there, petrified. The look on his face told me there was no doubt about it: this time he wouldn’t hold back.

“Evan—”

“He’s crossed the line. It’s not going to happen a second time,” he said, his tone implacable.

“Evan!” Ginevra shouted, racing into the room. She stopped in front of us and looked him in the eye. “I need to talk to you.”

“Not right now,” he snapped.

“It’s important. You need to listen to me. Drake is the least of our problems right now,” she insisted. She’d read in our minds what had happened, but she didn’t care; it seemed what she had to say was far more important. Finally Evan straightened up and paid attention. “The vial with the poison.” Ginevra’s tone was as grave as the look in her eyes. “It’s missing. I can’t find it anywhere, Evan!”

Her brother’s face paled instantly.

“He was here!” Ginevra exclaimed. A cold shiver ran down my body. The Executioner sent to kill me had been in this house. “I don’t know how he managed to get into my room without me noticing it,” Ginevra said.

“Are you sure about all this?” Evan asked in alarm. “When was the last time you saw it?”

“I don’t know, it’s been too long. Since I gave you the poison to use on Faust, I guess. I haven’t even thought about it since!” Ginevra cried in panic.

“But it was empty. You put the only drop of it onto the dagger—I saw you do it,” Evan said, thinking.

“Evan, you’re underestimating how potent it is. You have no idea how little it takes to kill a Subterranean.”

“You should have destroyed it then!” he yelled. He fell silent for a long moment, lost in thought. “We don’t know whether the Executioner came back after the last time or if he’d taken the poison even before that. We can’t know if he intends to attack. We have to stay alert.”

Simon nodded as he walked into the room. “Think you have a plan?” he asked.

Evan stood motionless for a moment before answering. “Something doesn’t make sense. Too much time has passed since the last time he tried to kill Gemma.” He continued to shake his head, processing the information.

“Maybe he wants to catch us off guard,” Simon suggested.

Evan didn’t seem convinced. “No. He’s sly. He knows we’ll never let down our defenses. He must have a plan.” Evan’s eyes narrowed to slits as if trying to see our enemy’s intentions. “He has something in mind, but I won’t let him get away with it. We need to stay alert and wait for him to make his move.” A sudden spark ignited in his eyes. “When that happens we’ll be here waiting for him.”

“We don’t even know who we’re up against, Evan,” Ginevra cautioned, “or even worse, what his power is.”

Evan gave her a hard look. “I think I have an idea,” he murmured to himself.

A frozen silence fell among us. I stared at Evan in shock, trying to decipher his expression. He came to me as if I’d called him, pulled me against his chest, and covered my head with his hand. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

A cold shiver raced over my skin because deep down I knew it wasn’t true.

I went to bed early and fell asleep without realizing it as the trees outside scratched at my window with their branches and the stormy wind howled like an angry wolf.

“Gemma . . .”

A voice echoed in my head, whispering in the silence of the night. I flinched. There was no way it could be morning already.

“Shh, don’t worry. It’s me,” he whispered tenderly.

“Evan,” I mumbled, my eyes still closed. I noticed him next to me and bolted upright in bed. “Evan, what is it?” I asked in alarm, wondering what could have happened to make him wake me up in the middle of the night. I blinked several times to allow my eyes to adjust and looked out the window where darkness reigned over the silent night. It had stopped snowing. “It’s not morning yet,” I said.

“Get dressed,” he ordered, his voice kind.

Trying to understand, I looked into his eyes so he could see my concern, but he smiled reassuringly. “Are we going somewhere?” I asked, puzzled, continuing to look at the darkness outside the window.

Another smile spread across his face—this time a sweeter one. “Trust me,” he whispered, never taking his eyes off me. “There’s something you have to see.”

I got out of bed and did as he’d told me to. “We’re going out the window?” I asked in surprise when Evan opened it.

“As always.” He smiled at me, but I still wasn’t completely convinced of his proposal. It wasn’t the first time we’d snuck out in the middle of the night, but when we’d done it before things had been different. Death hadn’t been hunting me and we could count on Drake to replace me. Circumstances had changed.

“My folks might wake up! What if they notice I’m gone?”

He smiled disarmingly at my reluctance. “Why so worried all of a sudden? Come on, Gemma. We’ve done worse.” I couldn’t disagree. “I’ve already visited your parents. They won’t wake up before dawn. I made sure of it.”

I couldn’t find any other objections to make, so I joined Evan at the windowsill. He cradled me in his flexed arms and a moment later we landed gracefully on the walk below. I didn’t even feel us touch the ground. He must have defied gravity by controlling the air so it would waft us down. The only thing I felt was the cold wind stinging my cheeks.

The blizzard had subsided, leaving the yard blanketed with snow. The pure white mantle over everything was a beautiful sight. In the car I noticed two pairs of ice skates on the back seat—one pair small, the other almost twice as large—and instantly realized Evan’s intentions. I stiffened in my seat as he glanced at me with a smile.

I thought of the Olympic Oval in front of the school. Every year when the temperature dropped it was filled with water that froze into a skating rink. What was he thinking? “It’s three in the morning!” I said. “They’ll think we’ve lost our minds!”

“There’s nobody where we’re going,” he said, careful not to tell me more.

I was wrong; the car turned in the opposite direction from the school. I tried to pry more information out of him but gave up after a while and waited in silence to see where he was taking me. We continued toward the woods, away from Lake Placid and the city lights.

The darkness gradually swallowed us up as the car wound its way through the trees, the headlights casting a solid beam of light in front of us. A moment later I thought I glimpsed a soft glow deep in the woods, but it immediately faded. I leaned closer to the window, curious, trying to figure out where Evan was taking me and what had emitted that silvery light. He continued to steal glances at me, grinning the whole time because of my reaction.

The car stopped in the middle of nowhere and Evan opened my door. I looked around in bewilderment, daunted by the darkness. “Evan, what—” I stammered, unable to see anything.

His laughter rang through the night and his tone grew gentle. “Ready?” he whispered behind my ear. With a delicate touch, he lifted my chin.

As I stared at the dark leaves overhead, a silvery sparkle winked on. Slowly, the thick canopy came to life as hundreds of twinkling, luminous points appeared.

I was no longer sure if I was awake or dreaming. My eyes were dazzled by the incredible display. Like an infinitely large, delightful cave filled with fireflies, the forest had lit up all around us, thousands of brilliant specks shining through the treetops. From their pure white glow I could see they were tiny spheres of light. There were so many of them they banished the night, tiny little stars floating in the trees as though the heavens had descended and hidden there to watch us.