Spellbound (Spellbringers Book 1) (3 page)

“Mom, can we go back home?” I
asked.

“No. No way. I’m supposed to meet a
client in twenty minutes at a house that’s thirty minutes away. I’m
already running late.”

“Please.”

“Why?”

“Um, my shirt has a stain on it,” I
lied.

“When you get to school, go to the
ladies room and try to dab it off with a wet paper towel,” she said
irritably.

Great. Just great. As if my life
wasn’t enough of a living hell, I had an entire of day of “Alisa
thinks she’s too cute,” to look forward to. Becky would be sure to
draw everyone’s attention to my fashion faux pas.

I removed a binder from my backpack,
determined to use it as a shield. If I could hold it in front of me
on the way to class, no one would really see what my shirt said.
And then if I slumped down in my desk, or hunched down and crossed
my arms in front of me, maybe that would hide the damning
declaration written across the front of my shirt.
Hopefully.

I slinked into the classroom, slid
into my seat, and prayed for death. Becky entered moments later,
her eyes instantly landing on me. It’s like she had some sort of
Alisa-humiliation-radar.

“Oh, my God, Alisa. Aren’t you just
Too Cute today?” she squealed. “I’ll bet everyone is going to think
you’re Too Cute, and do you know why? Because it says it right
there on your shirt.” The laughter from a half dozen students
accompanied the punchline of her unfunny joke.

Rachel stepped in front of Becky,
interrupting her. “Can you help me talk to Coach Patrice after
school? If there’s money in the budget, we really need to push for
new uniforms.”

Distracted, Becky took her seat. She
ranted about the current cheerleading uniforms, complaining about
every aspect from the skirt length to the color. Rachel caught my
eye and winked at me. She’d done it on purpose. She’d deliberately
distracted Becky and kept her off my back at least temporarily.
Rachel was my new favorite person. She was a lifesaver.

Just as I began to retreat behind my
textbook, I heard a voice I’d often heard in my dreams.

“Hi, Alisa. Did you have a good
weekend?” Jace asked.

What should I say? I couldn’t remember
how to talk. “Yeah, you?” I finally managed to squeak out. Not the
most brilliant and longwinded of speeches, but at least it was
something.

“All right, people,” Mrs. Hanks said,
slamming the classroom door behind her as she entered. “This isn’t
a coffee shop, Evan. Get rid of the drink immediately. Becky, don’t
stop talking on my account. By all means, finish your
conversation.”

The class quickly settled down. When
it came to bringing a classroom full of unruly students to order,
Mrs. Hanks was masterful.

***

As I set out across the field toward
home, it was easy to ignore the heat in favor of fantasizing about
Jace. I’d only known him for a few days, but he’d already spoken to
me twice.

Halfway across the field, I spotted
Jace. He was with his brother again. Or at least that’s what I
thought at first glance. I hung back, watching as Jace and his
brother circled each other. This time, their stances were more
menacing. It didn’t look like they were messing around—not this
time. I moved forward, slowly approaching, and after a couple of
yards, I realized this guy wasn’t the same man I’d seen last
week.

The man’s clothing was tattered, his
hair matted. It was difficult to determine his age, but he was
definitely an adult—he was at least a head taller than Jace. He was
so filthy, he looked like he’d been camping out in the woods for
days or even weeks.

The man lunged forward with a snarl
and Jace leapt to the side, barely avoiding his grasp. A shriek
escaped my throat as I stumbled back a step.

Jace looked over his shoulder. His
eyes went wide. “Don’t come any closer.”

I took another step back and tripped
over my own feet. The attacker took advantage of the brief
distraction caused by my startled cry. He flew toward Jace and
pinned him to the ground. The man clenched his hand around Jace’s
throat. Jace struggled for about a minute, and then stopped
moving.

Paralyzed, I stared at the scene
before me, unable to react. Thoughts darted through my mind and for
one rational moment, I considered calling 911. The attacker didn’t
seem to care what I did. In fact, he barely acknowledged me at all.
Without considering the consequences of my actions, I sprinted
forward and swung my heavy backpack at the man’s face. I hit him
dead on, and he turned his attention to me for a second or two. His
blood-red eyes bore into mine and I recoiled.

The red-eyed man was distracted enough
to release his death grip, allowing Jace to escape. He scrambled
away from his attacker and leapt to his feet. They faced off once
again. Jace crouched low and sprang toward the man. The attacker
bared his teeth and darted out of the way. A ball of fire appeared
in the palm of his hand, and he hurled it at Jace. Palms up, Jace
raised his hands and the fireball sizzled into nothing.

In a fraction of a second, Jace
disappeared and abruptly reappeared behind his attacker, just like
he’d done last week when he was messing around with his brother.
With supernatural speed, he jumped at the man and hooked his arm
around his neck. He wrenched the man’s head to the side. The
red-eyed attacker slumped to the ground. Swiping his hand across
his sweaty forehead and breathing heavily, Jace leaned forward, his
hands on his knees. He glanced up at me, as if suddenly remembering
I was still there.

We stared at each other for a moment.
Jace walked over to me and asked, “Are you okay?”

I nodded.

“We need to get out of here in case
there are more of them,” he said, gesturing toward the lifeless
body on the ground a few feet away from us. I flinched. Jace walked
back and forth through the tall grass, scrutinizing the area
closely. He bent down and picked up a textbook.

“Let’s go,” he said. When I didn’t
move, he walked over to me and took my hand. I pulled it away. It
was all too much. The attack. The fire. All of it. I couldn’t
believe what I’d just seen. My hands shook spastically, and within
seconds, tremors spread through my body as shock faded to
terror.

“Come on, Alisa. You’re safe with me.
I promise.” He lifted my book bag from the ground and began walking
away.

Staring at the bag dangling from his
shoulder, I irrationally wondered whether or not it was a crime
weapon and if my limited participation made me an accomplice to a
murder. I questioned the wisdom of not having called the
police.

“Should I call 911?” I asked stupidly.
“I’m sure you won’t be in trouble. He attacked you first. I’m a
witness.”

He turned back to look at me. “Alisa,
that thing back there isn’t dead. You can’t kill a Hunter that
easily. He’s just stunned. There could be more of them, so we
should get out of here.”

“What’s a Hunter?” I stammered, my
teeth chattering. Tears came, but I fought them back. I’d cried
enough in front of my classmates. I wouldn’t cry in front of
Jace.

He seemed reluctant to answer. “Um,
it’s hard to explain. You saved my life, though. Come on. My mom
can explain this much better than I can.”

“Your mom?”

“We’ll go back to my house. Is that
okay?”

His house? No. After what I’d seen, I
just wanted to go home. I glanced away, my gaze falling on the
red-eyed man. I could either follow Jace, or walk home by myself.
What if Jace was right and the Hunter wasn’t dead? Would he awaken
and follow me home? Obviously, I was no match for the red-eyed man,
so I decided to take my chances with Jace.

We left the field and took a shortcut
through the woods. When we approached the rear border of one of the
newer subdivisions in town, Jace helped me over the low fence
enclosing his backyard. We stepped through the back door and into
his kitchen.

“Mom. Hey, are you home?” he
bellowed.

“Jace, you’d better have a good reason
for yelling like that in the house,” a voice called out. A
beautiful woman with caramel skin and curly, ebony hair came into
the room. “Oh,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t realize you’d brought a
friend.” Her eyes widened and a flash of recognition lit up her
eyes, but only for a second.

“This is Alisa. I was walking home and
she…well. Yeah. She saved me from a Hunter,” Jace said.

His mother gasped, swaying on her
feet. So much for breaking the news gently, I thought. In a rush,
Jace relayed a garbled version of events, and I wondered how she
would be able to make sense of such a confusing recount. When he
got to the part about me hitting the Hunter with my bag, his mother
put her hand on her heart and flashed me a tearful
half-smile.

“Jace, thank God you’re safe.” She
pulled him close. “I couldn’t bear to lose another son. Alisa,” she
cried, releasing Jace and pulling me into a hug. “Thank
you.”

As I stood in an
unfamiliar kitchen locked in the embrace of a woman I’d just met, I
was adrift in a fog of confusion. These people spoke of Hunters and
weird, supernatural abilities as if they were perfectly
commonplace. Who were they, and more importantly,
what
were
they?

“Jace.” A deep, icy voice drifted in
from the kitchen doorway.

Mrs. Alexander released me and I
turned around. It was the same man I’d seen last week—the guy I
assumed was Jace’s older brother. I wondered how long he’d been
standing there listening in on the conversation. His eyes caught
mine, and the look he gave me was searching and uncomfortable. I
blushed and looked down at my feet.

“Dad will be home soon. I think we
should wait for him to get here before we say anything else, don’t
you?”

I dared another glance at Jace’s older
brother. He would have been extremely attractive with his tall,
muscular frame, and rich, chocolate skin, had it not been for his
cold and off-putting demeanor. I shivered as my eyes met his
again.

“She saved my life,
Bryce,” Jace argued. “She saw my magic firsthand. We owe her
some
explanation.”

“She hit the Hunter with a book bag.
Big deal. Why don’t we tell her all our family secrets, then?”
Bryce crossed his arms in front of him and glared at his younger
brother. Thick muscles bulged from his snug-fitting black t-shirt.
He looked only slightly less intimidating than the red-eyed man
who’d nearly killed Jace.

“She battled a Hunter, which, for all
of your training, you’ve never done,” Jace snapped. Bryce’s
expression turned murderous.

“Go ahead and mock me if you’d like.
At least I’ve never had to depend on a human to protect me,” Bryce
spat, advancing on his brother.

“How do you know she isn’t the one
we’ve been looking for?” Jace shouted.

“If she was the Innocent, the Hunter
would have gone after her instead of you, moron,” Bryce said. “She
has no magic.” He motioned toward me dismissively.

“She has something...” Jace said in my
defense.

“Enough,” Mrs. Alexander said firmly.
“I’ll decide who stays and for how long. I’m the adult here,
remember?”

I finally worked up enough nerve to
speak. “Um, Mrs. Alexander? I should probably leave now. I have
homework and…” I trailed off, sounding as stupid as I felt. I
didn’t do well with new people, especially a whole room
full.

Jace’s mother took pity on me. She put
her arm around my shoulders maternally and said, “I’m sure this has
all been very upsetting and confusing, dear. We’ll give you a ride
home, but could I ask one favor? Could you come over and have
dinner with us tomorrow? I promise we’ll explain everything to you
then. In the meantime, I would be very grateful if you could keep
all of this to yourself.”

I nodded in agreement, thankful to be
going home at last. My relief was short-lived, however, when Bryce
grabbed a set of car keys and said, “Toss the human in the truck,
and let’s go.” I felt like a piece of meat.

“Bryce, that’s no way to treat our new
friend,” she said. “If I find out you…”

“Whatever,” he mumbled, striding
toward the front door. I followed the two brothers outside to a
pickup truck. Smashed in between the two of them, we rode to my
house in near silence. Jace tried to fiddle with the radio, but one
nasty comment from his older brother had him sitting back in his
seat and looking out the passenger side window.

The silence was broken occasionally
when I was forced to offer directions. I prayed Bryce would have
other plans the next day. I couldn’t imagine sitting across the
kitchen table from him. I’d never met a more unpleasant and
unlikable man in my life and I hated him instinctively. His
darkness permeated the small cab of the pickup truck and I was
close to tears by the time we pulled into my driveway.

I went upstairs and fell into bed, not
bothering to change clothes or eat dinner. I had to fight back the
urge to laugh when I remembered the promise I’d made to Mrs.
Alexander. It was an easy promise to keep. If I told anyone what
I’d witnessed, I would be locked away in a mental institution. My
family already thought I was crazy.