The Darkness Within (21 page)

Ethan rested his hand on mine. “We should call Gloria and Jackson. There’s no way we’ll be back in time for work.”

We were missing a lot of work these past two days. “I hate leaving them hanging again. What if we lose our jobs over this? It’s not like we can tell them the truth. I mean, imagine Gloria’s face if I tell her, ‘Sorry, we can’t come to work today because our car is driving us to the source of this evil magic that tried to kill us.’ She’d fire us on the spot for lying to her. Only we wouldn’t be lying.”

“We could do a spell to make her think you have the day off,” Shannon suggested.

I shook my head. “Spells aren’t the answer for everything.”

She shrugged. “I can’t say I agree. I haven’t found a situation a spell couldn’t fix.”

How about this one with Ethan?
But I couldn’t say that. “I’m not doing a spell on Gloria. End of story.”

“Fine.” Shannon let out a long sigh. “Tell her Ethan’s still sick and you had a relapse.”

That wasn’t bad, but we were on the highway now and even with
the windows up, the noise outside would give us away. Gloria would never believe we were home sick. “She’s going to hear the other cars out there.”

Shannon smiled and wagged her eyebrows. “Not if we cast a silencing spell around the car. See, magic cures all.” She turned around, no doubt feeling happy for winning the debate. As much as I didn’t want to admit magic was the answer, this time it really seemed to be.

“Go ahead and do it,” I said. It was easier to let Shannon cast the spell since she already knew it.

“Happy to.” Her voice was so sweet I think it gave me a cavity. I waited for her to say the spell was cast before I took out my cell and dialed Gloria.

“Do you want me to do it?” Ethan asked. “I know you hate to lie.”

True, but I’d had plenty of practice lately. “It’s okay. Besides, she thought you were worse off than I was anyway. It makes more sense for me to call.” The diner phone rang six times before Gloria picked up. Not a good sign. It meant they were busy.

“Pocono Diner, this is Gloria speaking. What can I do for you?”

“Gloria, it’s Sam.”

Shannon turned around and glared at me. Oh, right. I was supposed to sound sick. I coughed a few times.

“Samantha, you don’t sound good. Don’t tell me that boy got you sick again.”

“I think I’m having a relapse. I thought I was feeling better yesterday when I stopped by the diner, but I might have overdone it.”

“I’d say so, with the way you were running around doing everything around here. I’ve never seen anyone move that fast.”

“Yeah, the fever made me act really weird. That’s why I’m calling. I wanted to make sure you and Jackson are feeling okay. I’d feel terrible if I got either of you sick.”

“Sugar, we’re fine. Don’t you worry about us. How’s Ethan doing today? Any better?”

“No. Worse, actually. I don’t think either of us will be able to come to work.”

“Now, don’t you even think of doing anything like that. You stay
home and get some rest. I’ll send Jackson by the next time we have a lull in the crowd. He’ll bring you both some soup.”

“No! Really, that’s not necessary. Ethan’s mom made enough soup for both of us. She sent some over a few minutes ago.” Gloria and Jackson had no idea Ethan and I lived together. When Gloria hired us, I told her I didn’t have all my identification or even a bank account since we’d just moved. She agreed to pay us both in cash for the time being, and she’d continued to do so ever since. Ethan and I hadn’t filled out a single form, which meant Gloria didn’t even have the fake PO address I used for school.

“Okay, then. If you’re sure you have everything you need, we’ll leave you be. But if you need anything, you call me, okay? Ethan, too.”

“Thanks, Gloria. You’re the best.” I coughed again, realizing I hadn’t in a while.

“Take care, Samantha.” Gloria hung up. My chest tightened. She was so good to us, and we were lying to her. I hated it.

Ethan rubbed my shoulder. “You did the right thing.”

“Then why do I feel like the worst person on the planet?”

He kissed my cheek, and I felt a little better. I was doing this for Ethan, and lying to Gloria was better for her, too. She didn’t need to be wrapped up in all this magic.

We drove for hours. Dylan kept watching the gas gauge. Luckily, Ethan had filled the tank earlier in the week. Otherwise we would’ve been running on fumes by now. The car showed no signs of slowing down. None of us felt up to small talk. What did you say when you knew you were on your way to face some evil that had already tried to kill you twice?

Ethan rested his head on the back of the seat and wrapped his arm around me. I tugged on my seat belt, loosening it enough to snuggle into Ethan’s side. If I closed my eyes, I could almost pretend things were back to normal. Almost. I must have relaxed at some point because, before I knew it, I was asleep.

Someone shook me lightly. I opened my eyes to see Dylan. “You snore. Just in case you were wondering.”

“Great. Thanks.” I didn’t know what else to say to that. “We stopped.”

“Yeah. I got the car to pull over.”

“Why? How? What’s wrong?” I sat up, and my movement woke Ethan.

“Are we here?” He had his sexy I-just-woke-up voice.

“No. Dylan stopped the car.”

“Why?” He was fully awake now.

“Would you two chill? We’ve been driving for hours, and Shannon and I got hungry. She went into the mini-mart to get some sandwiches.”

“How will the car pick up on the trail again?” I couldn’t believe they’d stopped for food. Sure, Ethan and I had fallen asleep, but we hadn’t messed with the spell.

“We only paused the spell. We’re still on the trail. The mini-mart is on the way.” He cocked his head to the side. “Would you trust me? It’s no different than hitting pause on your DVR.”

That didn’t make me feel better, but I let it go. What was done was done. Shannon came back to the car holding a bag and a tray with four coffees. Bless her! I really needed a caffeine jolt right now.

“Oh, thank God you two are awake.” She slid into her seat, handing the bag to Dylan. “You guys are perfect for each other. You both snore loud enough to wake the dead.”

Ethan and I couldn’t help smiling at each other. Neither of us knew the other snored. Apparently because we did it together.

“Who wants Italian and who wants roast beef?” Dylan asked, holding out two subs.

“Roast beef,” Ethan and I both said.

“Sickening,” Shannon mumbled. “It’s like you two share a brain.”

Ethan squeezed my leg before taking the sandwiches from Dylan.

“Everyone get strapped in before we get the spell going again,” Dylan said.

Shannon buckled up and passed our coffees back to us. Luckily, the back doors had cup holders. There wasn’t much this car didn’t have. Thank God Ethan had kept it when we ran away. It was the one luxury we had left.

With everything secured, Shannon resumed the spell, and the car shot out of the parking lot.

“Couldn’t you have told the car to observe the speed limits on the
way?” I asked. “If a cop tries to pull us over, it’s going to be hard to explain that it was speeding on its own.”

“Ha-ha.” Shannon took a big bite of her Italian hero. It amazed me how relaxed she was around us. In school she always tried to act so perfect all the time. I knew it was probably left over from her brief reign as the popular bitch of the school, but I liked her a lot better this way. I could even tolerate her sarcasm better.

Sirens blared behind us. We were going to find out how a cop reacted to this spell after all.

22

“D
AMN
it!” Dylan smacked the steering wheel, which he’d been forgetting to hold. I could only imagine what the cop thought of us as he pulled up in the lane to our left. Dylan had both hands on his hoagie. Just great. It probably looked like he was eating and steering with his knees on top of speeding. We were so getting a ticket. Maybe two.

“Drop the spell,” I said, lightly kicking the back of Shannon’s seat. She mumbled, hiding her face behind her sandwich so the cop didn’t think she was cursing him out on top of the number of other offenses we’d already tallied up. The car began to slow and Dylan grabbed the wheel, pulling over to the side of the road.

“Switch seats with me,” Shannon said, undoing her seat belt and tugging on Dylan’s arm.

“What? Why?”

“Just do it!” She undid his seat belt. Dylan grunted and struggled to get over the middle console at the same time Shannon was trying to. If we weren’t totally about to get busted, it would’ve been funny. Shannon was clicking her seat belt when the cop tapped on her window. She hit the window button and even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew she was flashing her smile at Officer Going-to-Bust-Our-Asses.

“License and registration.”

“Officer, did I do something wrong?” Shannon’s innocent school-girl act was over the top.

He leaned down, shining the flashlight into the car. “You weren’t driving a minute ago.”

“Yes, I was.” Her voice was serious now.

“No, I saw
him
.” He pointed the flashlight at Dylan.

“I’m sorry, Officer, but you must be mistaken.” Shannon’s voice was scaring me now. What was she doing? “This is my car, and I’ve been driving very safely, obeying every traffic law. You pulled me over because you think I’m pretty and want to ask for my phone number.”

Oh, good Lord! She was going to get us arrested! I squeezed Ethan’s hand and prayed for a miracle, like Shannon shutting her mouth for once.

The cop bent down so his face was level with Shannon’s. “I just wanted to say that I think you’re very pretty and I’d be honored if you’d give me your phone number so I could call you sometime.”

Oh gross! The guy was like forty. Ethan nudged me and pointed to the cop’s face. He had a dazed expression, which could only mean one thing—Shannon had cast a spell on him.

“I’d love to give you my phone number, but unfortunately, I’m a minor. I wouldn’t want a handsome police officer like yourself to get in trouble because of me.” She ran her finger down the side of his face.

I gagged. Her magic wasn’t the most powerful thing about Shannon. Apparently her stomach was made of steel because I was ready to spew my roast beef.

“I understand. Here’s my card. You give me a call when you turn eighteen.”

“I’ll do that.” Shannon put the window up. The cop stood there dazed for another minute before he finally turned and walked back to his car.

“Are you crazy?” I sat forward and smacked her arm.

“I saved our asses. You’re welcome.” She turned away and added, “And once again, magic solves everything.”

“Just put the spell back up,” Dylan said. “And this time, add a line about obeying traffic laws.”

I wanted to throw it in her face that I was right, but I really didn’t want a war with Shannon, so I kept my mouth shut.

We didn’t talk for a while after we got going again. The spell was much more under control. No more dangerous speeds or almost running off the road. I knew Ethan was doing his best to stay calm, but it felt like every mile we got closer to finding the source of the dark magic that attacked us made him jumpier. I took advantage of any break in his tension, no matter how small.

“Don’t worry about me,” he whispered, kissing my ear. “I’m fine.”

“You’ve been okay for a while now, you know that? I think you’re getting a better handle on the magic. It’s not controlling you anymore.” I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince him or me.

“Yeah. I think I can handle this. At least until we find this Mirabella and she gets the dark magic out of me for good.”

If she was willing to help us. I couldn’t help feeling like it was her magic that had attacked us. It had certainly felt dark, and it looked an awful lot like the green magic that had snaked out of Ethan when he tapped into the curse Nora had placed on him. Dylan had said he’d been like Ethan. It would make sense that the dark magic Mirabella took from Dylan looked exactly like Ethan’s. That didn’t comfort me because what would we do if the one witch who could help us wanted us dead?

“Whoa.” Shannon gripped the steering wheel like she was trying to fight the spell on the car. “I know this place.” Her voice was full of panic.

“What’s wrong? Where are we?” It was too hard to see. The streetlights had disappeared about two miles back, and the moon wasn’t bright enough to light up the area. How in the world did Shannon recognize anything in this darkness?

“I’ve been here, or I’ve at least seen it.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure which, but I have a really bad feeling.”

“We’ve all seen this,” Dylan said, his nose pressed against the window. “Part of it, at least. These are the woods we saw in the image at the merry-go-round.”

Dylan was right. We’d made it. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Relieved? Terrified? Shannon was obviously terrified by it, and that
didn’t sit well with me. Ethan squeezed my hand. “Hopefully, this will all be over soon.”

I forced a smile and nodded, hoping the car was too dark for him to see the fear in my eyes. Shannon’s panic wasn’t helping either.