Raven Ridge (Witches of Sanctuary Book 2) (6 page)

He wraps his arms around my waist, and we stand there like that, swaying in the silence. “I can’t believe you’ve managed to stay awake this long without collapsing from exhaustion.”

“It’s not that late,” I say. “We could still watch a movie or something.”

Reid’s nose nuzzles the spot behind my ear. “You’ve been half asleep out there for the past hour. You need to rest, Willa.”

I turn around, stepping up on the tip of my toes so that we’re nose to nose. “Are you coming with me?”

He grins against my cheek. “May I?”

I let out a laugh. “Why do you even have to ask?”

He shrugs. “What kind of gentleman invites himself into your bed without asking?”

Julien.

The memory catches me off guard. I’d fallen asleep on the couch and Julien took me to my room. I woke up with him in bed next to me. It was innocent, but powerful. Julien and I had been something just a little more than friends. It was my fault for giving Julien that inch of hope, only to rip it away.

Now I would pay for my greed. Julien not only wants my life, but Reid’s as well. Revenge for my weakness.

“Stay with me,” I say, taking Reid’s hand. “I don’t want to be in that big room alone. Not after the past couple days.”

“I suspect Sadie is having the same problem. You know Julien being back is hard on her too, whether she wants to admit it or not.”

“I know. I should invite her to stay more often.” I look up the stairs wondering if I should go to her now, but my eyes involuntarily shut.

“Come on.” Reid kisses my temple, and it’s only then that my eyes shoot back open. “We’ll worry about it tomorrow. You need to sleep.”

I follow him up the stairs into my bedroom. I grab some pajamas and disappear into my bathroom. When I come back out, Reid is sitting on the edge of the bed. He eyes the Braves shirt I wear over my cotton shorts. I warned him last week that if any more of his clothes suspiciously ended up in my laundry basket, I would confiscate them. He put this shirt in my basket on purpose. He holds his hand out toward me. “I want you to know that my good behavior tonight is reflective of my concern for you to finally get a good night’s sleep.” His hand lifts the edge of my t-shirt until he finds the black cotton shorts beneath. He smiles. “And
only
because of that.”

I crawl up the end of the bed to my pillow and roll over. He still sits on the end watching me, shaking his head. “You’re evil.”

I grin back. “I never denied that.”

He walks around the end of the bed and crawls in next to me. I’m already yawning by the time he scoots into my side. I could definitely get used to this arrangement.

A noise erupts behind him and I jump, instantly moving on top of him, protecting him from whatever I expect might come through my door. He moves up on his elbow. “What’s wrong?”

“I heard something.”

Reid leans up to see the door. “What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know. It came from downstairs.”

Then out of nowhere, a dark flash darts into the room and pounces onto the bed. Romeo. I jump, holding my hand over my heart. He slinks up the bed, rubbing my arm as he squeezes himself through it and sits down straight on top of Reid’s chest.

Reid scowls at him. “I thought we had an understanding.”

Romeo moves forward, nuzzling his head against Reid’s cheek. Reid gives in and pets Romeo’s head. “For the record. Catblocking is not cool.”

I pick Romeo up and set him on the end of my bed where he likes to sleep. When I turn around, Reid is staring at me. That’s when I realize I’m still sitting on top of him. I grin.

There a light knock on the door and this time we both jump. The door creaks open to reveal Sadie, giant tears welling in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to bother you, but that room is so big, and it’s empty. I can’t stop thinking about Julien and Zeke.”

Reid holds up his hand. “Don’t say any more. Come in.”

He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and scoots out of the bed. “You can have my spot.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Of course not. I’m going to sleep down here on the floor with my buddy, Romeo.”

Sadie crawls into bed with me as Reid goes to gather blankets and pillows from his bedroom to create his makeshift bed on the floor. We go to sleep like that. All of us staked out in my bedroom. Each of us trying to outlast a memory of a monster.

Chapter 6

Behind the Mask

All Hallows night. I fill the giant cauldron sitting in the window of my bookshop to the brim with peanut butter cups and only peanut butter cups. The sweet smell of the chocolaty treat makes me smile. Too many childhood Halloweens spent sitting alone on a front porch with no costume, no treats, and not a single soul in the world who cared enough to ask why I stayed behind. It makes me thankful for every second here.

It takes ten double size bags to fill the cauldron, but it’s worth it. Trick or Treating in Sanctuary starts in t-minus two hours, and Main Street is a hot spot. No child would be left out at my shop. I spent the morning sprucing up my simple harvest décor to a more maliciously spooky version. The spiders hanging from the ceiling actually dance.

I can’t wait until the kids see what the ghost standing guard behind the counter will do. My black button boots click along the tile floor as I scramble to finish up the last minute touches, and I love it. I trimmed the end of my black dress at my knee so people could see my favorite part of my costume. The Wicked Witch of the West has to have her white and black socks.

The bell above the door rings, and I glance up in time to see Dorothy trot through it. Braids, basket, ruby red slippers and all. Actually, it’s Sadie, but tonight she’s a lost little girl from Kansas. “Hello, my pretty,” I say, flexing my newly painted green fingernails at her.

Sadie grins at me, setting her basket down on the counter. “You’re going to have to put on your wig for me to take you seriously.”

I frown. The wig is hot. I know my spiraling blonde hair is a deterrent to my costume, though. “Okay, fine. Guard my peanut butter cups.”

I hurry into the back room and grab my black wig and put it on underneath my big hat. When I come back out, Abby stands in the middle of the room twirling around in a poofy pink dress and sparkly crown. Like me, she altered her Glinda the Good Witch outfit to make walking around, or rather hiking around, more tolerable. She flinches when she sees me coming. “Geez, Willa. You scared me.”

I grin and try my best wicked witch cackle. “Touch my peanut butter cups and see what happens to you, my dear.”

Then I step around her and see Grady. I involuntarily snort. Grady’s giant figure dressed like the Cowardly Lion is more than my laugh reflex can handle. He has a mane and everything. I lose character almost immediately. “Oh, wow. I can’t believe she talked you into putting that on.”

Grady purses his lips and it makes his painted whiskers scrunch up. “Where’s your boyfriend? At least with him in that ridiculous scarecrow outfit I won’t feel so stupid.”

I point my finger at him. “I don’t have a boyfriend. If you’re referring to the guy who lives down the hall from me, I don’t know. He said he’d meet us here.”

Grady hops up on the counter. “Reid is crazy about you. We all know that. Can’t we stop pretending you two aren’t a couple?”

I grab one of the orange pieces of yarn that makes his lion mane and pull his face down toward me. “It’s the principle of it. He doesn’t get to just assume I’m his girlfriend. Hell, I’d ask him at this point, but I’ve waited so long now, I kind of want to see how long it will take him.”

Grady laughs, pulling his mane away from me and fixing it back in place. “It’ll take him forever. This is Reid Thomas we’re talking about. He barely managed to tell you he liked you.”

“Actually, he kissed me. He didn’t actually say he liked me.”

“Exactly. Put the boy out of his misery.” Grady glances up at the window, his eyes narrowing. “Actually, I think I’m going to put him out of his misery. I can’t believe he backed out.”

The doorbell jingles above Sadie’s head, and she moves out of the way to let Reid in the door. He isn’t the Scarecrow. Definitely
not
the Scarecrow. Reid wears a jet black tux, bow tie and all. His normally unkempt hair is slicked back, perfectly in place. “Hey,” he says, smiling. “Sorry, I’m late.”

“Not that I’m complaining,” I say, trying to keep myself from gaping a little, “because…trust me…I’m not, but what is this?” I motion my hands up and down his perfectly tailored suit.

He beams at me. “I’m James Bond.”

Grady hops off the counter. “You’re supposed to be the Scarecrow.”

Reid snorts. “I’m not five. My sister doesn’t get to pick my costume for me. I’m James Bond.”

Grady holds his hands out, gesturing toward his lion costume. “You could have at least given me the heads up.”

Reid laughs. “You could be a little less whipped. You know you don’t have to do
everything
my sister tells you to do, right?”

Grady shoots me a look like this is all my fault. As if I’m somehow supposed to bat my eyelashes and miraculously make Reid comply with our group costume theme. That isn’t how Reid and I work. Reid is here. He’s smiling that million dollar smile that took me so incredibly long to get out of him. I don’t care what he wears as long as he wears it while holding my hand.

Grady frowns at me when he realizes I’m not going to make some kind of fuss. “I miss Zeke. He would have totally been the Tin Man if Sadie asked him.”

The room suddenly goes quiet. Every cautious eye goes toward Sadie. She sighs. “Guys, it’s okay to talk about Zeke. In fact, I love it when you do.” She walks over and takes Grady’s hand. “Zeke would have totally been the Tin Man, but most likely, if he had gotten wind of Reid’s James Bond plan, he would have bailed last minute and showed up as Dr. No or something.”

“Goldfinger,” Reid says, pulling me to his side. “He would have knocked us in the head with that stupid hat all night.”

Sadie smiles. It’s the biggest smile I’ve seen out of her in a while. “Yeah, you’re probably right. That sounds like him.”

Sera comes through the door carrying a couple more bags of candy. She sets them on the counter. “Did you see the crowd forming out there? It’s going to be a busy night.”

I smile sympathetically at her. “Thank you for covering again.”

“Of course. I suggest you guys wait until after dark to sneak away, though. Make sure people see you in town first.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.” Reid pulls out a vial of blue bubbly liquid from his pocket. “No one is going to miss Wilhelmina tonight.”

“Is that what I think it is?”

It looks like Witchy Whiskey, a potion we take to figure out what color we turn under the moonlight. It’s how I found out Reid is my matching half, because we turn the same color when we drink it.

“Jade cooked it up fresh this morning.” Reid tosses the vial to me and winks. “You can’t be the Wicked Witch without turning yourself green.”

“Are you serious?” Grady’s eyes are round now. “People will freak out if they see Wilhelmina walking around glowing.”

Reid shrugs. “It’s not like they don’t know what she can do.”

Sera leans over the counter, considering Reid’s plan. “It’ll get her noticed. Be careful, though. You have to make sure that when you leave, no one follows you. You don’t want to garner too much attention.”

Reid throws a teasing wink at Grady. “Well, we should have thought about that before dressing Jolly Green Giant up like an over-sized Garfield.”

“I’m a lion, jerk.”

Reid grins at him. “Keep telling yourself that.”

I pop open the top of the vial and drink the liquid quickly. It doesn’t taste any better than the last time I tried it, but it is getting easier to tolerate. “So, what’s the plan, Double Oh Seven?”

“It’s easy. We’re going to bar hop. We have to make an appearance at every place in town, chat, have a drink, make it appear like we’re sticking it out for the long haul of the festivities tonight.”

“And then?”

“And then,” Sadie says, already giggling, “I’m going to tap my ruby red slippers together and make us disappear.”

At first I think she’s kidding, but then she taps the back of her heels together and a puff of smokes comes out. That’s new. I instantly wonder what they’ll do. Reid takes my hand and motions toward the door. “C’mon, let’s all go have dinner at Rooster’s, then we’ll move on from there.”

I take his hand and follow him out on the street. Sera was right. Everyone is out tonight. I’m not sure why Reid thought the glowing green light would be required to catch attention in Sanctuary. The spell hasn’t even taken effect yet and every eye is on us as we make our way down Main Street. “Hey, Grady,” Reid says behind me. Grady glances over at Reid and he smiles. “Meow.”

Grady rolls his eyes and shoves him away, but Reid continues to laugh. Sadie touches my shoulder. Her smile catches me off guard. “I know exactly what you’re thinking.”

My frown is instant. “I was thinking Zeke should be here.”

She takes my hand and squeezes it. “I know.”

“He should be between those two, mediating.” I throw my hands out toward Reid and Grady who wrestle back and forth as they walk.

Sadie laughs. “I’m not sure even Zeke could ever keep those two in line, but he definitely tried.”

I lean in closer to her. “What about Zeke’s sister?”

Sadie’s eyes round. “Who told you about Erika?”

I glance at Reid. “I hear she had a certain fondness for him?”

Sadie’s expression falls flat. “Fondness isn’t the correct term. There is something about the Innocent that attracts the Haunted to us. Zeke to me. Julien to you. Erika…”

Wait a second. Did Sadie think Reid is one of the Innocent? Does she know? She couldn’t know about Reid’s powers. He never told anyone. The only other person who knew was my mother, and she was killed before she could convince Reid to tell anyone else. I keep my face blank.

“Reid was never interested in her,” Sadie says, not finishing her previous thought. “In fact, he was his usual broody Reidish self about it. I don’t know if it was because he knew Erika was one of the Haunted, or if it was because she was Zeke’s little sister, but he wouldn’t even give her the time of day.”

“The Haunted don’t take rejection well,” I say, recalling how Julien’s alter ego instantly took over him one night when I chose Reid over him.

“Especially Erika. She started causing trouble to get Reid’s attention, but nothing worked.”

I smile. I don’t know why. Such a story shouldn’t make me happy, but it does. Reveling in the downfall of a young girl is cruel, but denying the hint of satisfaction at the thought of Reid’s rejection of her would be denying a part of myself that still needs work. The Haunted aren’t the only ones with flaws.

“I have a theory,” Sadie says, her voice barely a whisper.

“A theory about what?”

“Your roommate.”

She does know that Reid is one of the Innocent. That he is my Sun.

I almost trip over the pointy toe of my own boot. I wait for her to continue and she slows down, allowing the distance between our small group to spread. “We were young when it started, barely in middle school. Even then I knew Reid was different. He separated himself from everyone. He didn’t just distance himself from Erika. He didn’t notice any of the girls who took interest in him. It’s like he knew, Willa. Like he knew he was waiting for you.”

I shake my head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Reid looks over his shoulder, that same smile from earlier on his face as he laughs at whatever he and Grady argue about now. Sadie leans in toward me. “I never knew he could smile like that until he smiled at you.”

We reach Rooster’s Diner and Reid holds the door open for us. I wait for him, bringing up the end of the line. I quickly grab his arm and pull him back a step. “Sadie knows,” I say in a quick whisper.

“Knows what?”

I poke his chest. “About you. About us.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. I mentioned Erika, and she started talking about how she has this theory about you and how the Haunted are attracted to the Innocent.”

“Wait. Why were you talking about Erika?”

My mouth suddenly snaps shut. “No reason. I just mentioned her.”

His eyes narrow at me. “Wilhelmina.”

I’m such a horrible liar. “Sadie knows,” I say trying to distract him.

Reid takes a breath and we stand there and watch as everyone takes a seat at the table. “Maybe she does, but as long as she keeps her mouth shut about it for now, it’ll be fine.”

“Why can’t we just tell them?”

“Because I have my own theories, Willa. Trust me. I’ll tell them all when the time is right.”

I glance down, more frustrated than ever. Reid tilts my chin back up. “You trust me, right?”

“Y—”

He kisses me and my heart stops. It’s quick. Too quick. I want more. He places his lips next to my ear and I can feel him smiling. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

He starts to walk away, but I catch his arm. “I’m not jealous.”

His grin is contagious. “I’ve felt the emotion enough in the last six months to know what it looks like.”