Coven (27 page)

“What is it?” I asked, a feeling a
trepidation passing through me at her odd reaction.

“Oh my gosh!” she said louder, flipping the
necklace over and running her hand over the letter “P” that was
stamped in the back.

“That was already there,” I explained,
wondering if she thought I had it made for her.

“Vance! Come look at this!” she shouted, her
eyes starting to tear up. “Where did you get this, Kenna?”

“I found it downtown at one of the vendor
tables when Jett and Seth took me out to see all the Halloween
stuff going on. I thought it was pretty and that you might like
it.”

“What’s going on?” my dad asked, coming into
the kitchen.

“Kenna found my amulet!” She held it out for
him to see and his eyes widened in amazement.

“Your amulet?” I asked, totally
confused.

“This is mine. Your Grandma Milly gave it to
me on my sixteenth birthday—on the day I found out I was a witch.
Someone later stole it from me—someone who wanted to kill me and
didn’t want the magic wards protecting me. I haven’t seen it
since.” She clutched the stone to her chest, the tears falling in
earnest. “This amulet saved my life in the explosion that killed
all my classmates. I can’t believe you found it!”

My dad was immediately at her side, wrapping
her up in his embrace. “This is a good sign, baby. A really good
sign.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, completely
surprised by this turn of events.

“Well, to quote your great-grandma, you
don’t choose the jewelry, the jewelry chooses you—at least in the
case of a magical amulet. The fact that this has made its way back
to your mom after all these years, and just when we are getting
ready to try reintroducing her powers back to her, I think this
means we are on the right track.”

“I still can’t believe you found this.” My
mom was clearly overwhelmed.

“I can show you where I bought it if you’d
like to go try and find out more about it.”

She nodded. “I’d like that.”

“Why don’t we go into the ritual room?” Dad
suggested. “We can do a purification ritual and clear the stone for
you to wear again. Would you like that?”

Mom nodded, tears still streaming down her
face. “I’d like that. I’d like it a lot.” Moving away from him, she
hugged me tightly. “Thank you, Kenna. You have no idea how much
this means to me.”

“I didn’t know what I was doing. I just saw
it and knew you had to have it.”

“It shows you’re sensitive to your mother
and her needs,” Dad said. “I couldn’t be more proud of you right
now.”

I didn’t feel deserving of their praise, but
I was thrilled they were happy. “I’m glad I could help.”

“Come on,” Dad said, slipping an arm around
each of us. “Let’s go do this.”

Meet me in the gazebo?

I stared at the text from Seth before
glancing at the clock. It was after one in the morning, but I was
still wide-awake—the randomness of finding my mom’s pendant still
puzzling me, plus the excitement of winning our first playoff game.
And then there was the constant bewilderment over what had happened
with the psychic, although I was doing my best to avoid thinking
about it because it made me feel uncomfortable. Instead, I let my
thoughts drift over the game and the events afterward.

I loved cheering and dancing at the games;
and even though I didn’t spend a lot of extra time with the girls
on the squad, except for lunch at Nicolazzo’s, we all seemed to get
along well—with the exception of Megan, of course. I was pretty
sure she outright hated me, but she’d kept her mouth shut for the
most part. I was a good cheerleader and she couldn’t deny that I
was an asset to the team. It didn’t stop her from sending me
glaring looks, though. If looks could kill, I’d be dead, dead,
dead.

Is everything okay?
I texted back,
wondering why he wanted to meet when we’d just spent the evening
together with Jett celebrating with late night pizza at the
restaurant and listening to the jukebox.

Yeah. Just want 2 talk.
That sounded
ominous.

All right. Let me go deactivate the back
fence 4 u
, I replied. Sitting up, I threw the covers back, only
to jump in surprise when there was a flash of light in the darkness
and Dee Dee appeared.

I clutched my chest and smothered my scream.
I couldn’t afford to wake my parents. “Dee Dee. As far as ghost go,
I have to say you’re pretty likable; but you’ve got to stop popping
out at me like that. I swear you’ve taken years off my life in the
last few weeks.”

Smiling, she sat on the end of my bed.
“Sorry. I am simply watching out for you. I did not know you were
awake.”

“It’s okay,” I whispered, not wanting her to
feel badly. I liked this mournful ghost and her sad countenance.
Something about her story captured my heart and I wanted to help
her find peace and happiness—even if all I could offer her was my
friendship.

“Are you going somewhere?” she asked as I
slipped on a pair of shoes.

“Just out back. Seth needs to talk to me
about something.”

“I like him. He is a very handsome young
man.”

Smiling, I nodded. “I would have to
agree.”

“Why do you waste your time with the other
one?”

Glancing at her, my brow creased. “You don’t
approve of Jett?” This surprised me. She’d never spoken derogatory
of him in our past conversations.

She shrugged one shoulder casually. “He’s
fine, but I do not believe he is the right one for you, my
friend.”

“Why?” I was truly curious, but suddenly her
attention was averted.

“Your young man is here.”

“That was fast. He must’ve already been on
his way when he texted.”

“We will speak later,” she replied, resting
her hand on my shoulder and then disappearing, as was often her
fashion.

Using my magic, I quietly snuck out of the
house, making my way to the fence and deactivating the barrier.
“It’s safe,” I whispered in the darkness and immediately Seth
scaled the fence and dropped to his feet in front of me.

“Hey, gorgeous,” he said softly, smiling
with that million dollar smile of his.

“What’s going on?” I asked, still worried
about what might be wrong.

Instead of answering, he simply grabbed my
hand and pulled me toward the gazebo. Once we were safely inside,
he turned to face me.

My nerves ratcheted up when the smile slid
off his face and he stared at me intently. “I apologize for the
surprise visit, but I really need to talk to you—to tell you
something.” He wasn’t helping my racing heart rate, at all.

“Okay?”

Stepping closer, he slid his palm against my
face, cupping it gently. “I don’t want you to give any credence to
that crazy psychic lady. I have no idea what she was talking about,
but I’m positive you will never hurt me.”

Relief poured through me at his words.
“Thank you.” I leaned into his embrace. “That means so much to me.
I could never hurt you.”

“Pick me, Kenna.”

I didn’t need him to clarify his meaning. I
knew exactly what he meant. “I know you’re attracted to Jett, too,
but I want you to know . . . no, I
need
you to
know . . . I’m in love with you.” His eyes searched mine
and I could see the hope and fear in them.

It didn’t matter. I knew what I needed to
say to him. “Seth, I love you, too,” I replied.

A sigh of relief escaped him and he crushed
me against his body, his lips meeting mine with almost frantic
need. The moment they touched me everything inside me felt like it
combusted. My whole form was quivering as his hand drifted lower,
pressing me so tightly against him I thought I might melt inside
him.

Winding my arms around his neck, I hung on
tightly and kissed him back. Because the three of us spent so much
time together, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time kissing either of
them. While there were times they had both kissed me at the same
time, it just seemed awkward to me. I didn’t want to make one or
the other uncomfortable with massive displays of affection, so our
relationship had been reduced to a lot of hand holding and
snuggling. Not that I minded that, but I missed this—the way my
body ignited when Seth kissed me—the way he made me feel like we
were the only two people on the planet.

“I want you so badly I can’t stand it,” he
said against my mouth. “It almost consumes me every time I think of
you. I can’t sleep, I barely eat, all I can think about are all the
ways I can make you mine.”

Something akin to liquid fire raced through
my veins at his words and I pressed my mouth back to his, allowing
him to devour me. I wanted to do as he asked. I wanted to give in
and let him cross whatever lines he wished.

Kissing until we had to stop to catch our
breath, he scooped me off my feet and carried me to one of the
padded benches. Déjà vu washed over me as I remembered the first
time we’d done this together and how hot it had been, even then. It
was nothing compared to now, though. Our short time together had
strengthened our bond even more. I’d never felt so extremely out of
my element before; yet I loved every sensation he caused inside
me.

Raising my hand, I lightly traced over his
features, thinking that fate had indeed been smiling on me when it
brought him into my life. I wasn’t sure how I lived without him
before this, and I definitely didn’t want to live without him,
either.

Kissing my fingers as they passed over his
lips, he continued to gaze lovingly at me. “Be with me. Please.
Just say it’s me and I’ll never leave your side. Ever.”

A groan escaped him as he lowered himself on
top of me, pressing his mouth to mine, once more, before I had a
chance to respond.

Again, passion flared hotly, begging for me
to agree, begging for me to release whatever all these pent up
emotions were inside. I wanted nothing more than to please him and
give him everything he wanted.

Pushing away, my breath was coming in short
gasps as I stared up at him. “I love you so much.”

He sighed and leaned his forehead against
mine. “But?”

“I promised you both I wouldn’t cross any
lines.”

Sighing, he sat up and shakily dragged a
hand through his hair. “You’re in love with him too, aren’t
you?”

Silence filtered between us, and my heart
hurt for him—for me, for us. “I am,” I answered honestly.

He gave a wry chuckle and stood, walking
over to the glass and staring blankly out. “I should’ve never
agreed to this. I knew the whole thing could backfire.”

“You weren’t in love with me then, otherwise
you wouldn’t have agreed.”

Giving an exasperated laugh he turned to
face me. “So what do I do about it now?”

I twisted my hands in my lap nervously. “You
walk away and let him have me—or you stay and fight for what you
want. I’ll respect whatever your choice is. I just need more time.
I’m so sorry.”

Striding toward me, he pulled me into his
embrace, tilting my chin up sharply with his thumb. Heat flared in
his gaze as he stared in my eyes. “Listen to me, Kenna Mangum. I
will never walk away from you.
Never
. I intend to keep
fighting until you belong to me completely. You are mine. I can
wait until you see it.”

He placed another hard kiss against my
mouth, and then he was gone out the door and I watched as he
quickly scaled the wall and disappeared.

I had no idea how long I stood there rubbing
my lips before I finally went out and reactivated the wards. Sleep
wasn’t going to come easily tonight.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Are you having a good time?” Seth asked,
squeezing my hand affectionately as we lagged behind the rest of
the group trying to find their way through the Willis Farm Haunted
Corn Maze in the dark. I was pretty sure the entire football team
and cheer line had showed up for this excursion.

Jett seemed to be having most of his time
occupied by a pouty Megan, who still seemed determined to win him
back, somehow. It didn’t bother me. I knew they needed to work
things out between themselves and come to some kind of resolution.
Every now and then I’d catch him glancing at me apologetically, but
I smiled back, wanting him to know I wasn’t upset.

“Yeah, I’m having a great time. This is an
awesome tradition you have.”

“We’ve all been doing this for years.
October can’t leave without a trip to the Corn Maze.”

“I have no idea how they even cut the corn
so it looks like a big picture from above. That’s incredible to me.
I wouldn’t even know where to start cutting.”

“Pretty impressive thing to say,” he leaned
in closer and lowered his voice, “for a witch. You could probably
make this corn maze blindfolded.”

“That’s beside the point. Magic is all well
and good, but you have to admire the artistry of people who don’t
have it. Think of all the wonderful things that have been built or
sculpted throughout the ages without the use of magic—simply
created by awe-inspired human hands.”

“You’re right. There are some cool
things.”

“Hey Seth! Check this out!” Billy Nash
called out, gesturing for Seth to join them at the head of the
group.

Seth smiled and briefly squeezed my hand
before releasing it. “Be right back.”

Strolling leisurely behind, I smiled as I
watched him shuffle forward through the group. All of a sudden the
sound of a chainsaw roared through the air and everyone began
shrieking and scattering in different directions, caught completely
by surprise.

“Gotcha,” Jett’s hot breath filtered through
my hair against my ear as he wrapped his arm around my waist and
dragged me backward, off the path, several feet into a row of corn,
until we were completely out of sight.

Squealing, I batted at his hands. “Put me
down!” I said with a laugh. “What are you doing?”