The Oath (6 page)

For the next hour, I forgot how much trouble he could be for me, forgot how cute he was, and concentrated on the experiment. Xavier seemed content to do the same. I could hear people softly cursing around the room, but neither he nor I spoke. We conferred with our notes and adjusted a few things here or there, but by the time the hour was up, we’d produced the bubbly blue liquid that was required. It was an acid that only ate nonorganic material. Mr. Simon came by and dropped a small slice of bacon fat into a petri dish and poured a little of our mixture into it. Nothing happened. That was good. He then took a small piece of rubber and placed it into another petri dish. The acid began to bubble and foam as soon as it hit the compound.  He grinned at us like a kid on Christmas morning after checking our equations and calculations.

“I knew you’d be able to do it, Ms. James.”

“Xavier did help,” I told him grudgingly. “Two of his equations worked better than mine did.”

“Well done, Mr. McGregor,” he said and beamed at Xavier.

Xavier nodded and gave me a wink when Mr. Simon moved on to test the next table. The groans told me Bethany had not managed to get the equations right. I grinned.

“It’s not nice to take joy in others’ failures,” Xavier told me calmly.

My head snapped up, and those onyx eyes were full of something that made me feel guilty. How could he do that? No one had ever been able to make me feel guilty about anything, not even when I used black magic. My gran and my dad both frowned on it, but they didn’t forbid it.

“You’re very much like a rose, you know. You’re beautiful, but you have thorns,” he murmured. “The question now becomes are you going to let those thorns become poisonous?”

“How do you know they aren’t already?”

“I wouldn’t be here if they were.”

My breath whooshed out as those black eyes swirled, and I lost focus. I felt like I was drowning, and my stomach heaved. My fingers clutched the table, and I fought to look away, but I couldn’t.

“You don’t have to make that choice, my little Rose.”

“It’s already been made,” I gasped. He knew. Curse the Fates, how did he know?

“Then change it.” His face became hard, unbending like stone. Then he looked away.

The earth re-centered itself, and my vision cleared. The room came back into focus, and I had to blink several times. What in Hades’ name was he?

“Breathe, Melinda,” he whispered into my ear, and I shuddered at the sensation of his lips against my flesh. I’d never felt anything like it before. I wasn’t a virgin, but I’d only slept with one guy in my seventeen years. Never had I experienced the raw sensations rolling through me with just the touch of those feathery soft lips. It scared me.

The bell rang and I jumped up, flushed and flustered. Xavier laughed softly and made a show of putting my books into my bookbag before handing it to me. He winked at me and waltzed out of the room, leaving me very unsteady, both physically and emotionally. Who and what in the hell was he?

“You okay, Melinda?” Mandy asked when I didn’t move.

“Yeah, fine,” I sighed. “Just thinking that boy is way more trouble than he’s worth.”

She laughed. “Yeah, but what boy isn’t?”

I smiled. “True.”

“Come on, let’s go eat, I’m starved.” She and her little group jostled me along with them out the door and toward the lunch room.

Chapter Nine

~ Lunch ~

The lunchroom at Westover Academy was exactly like lunchrooms around the world. There was the proverbial lunch line, but instead of questionable mystery meat, there was a wide variety of food that looked not only edible, but yummy. Dozens of tables were scattered around the room and filled with chattering students laughing and talking louder than they should. 

I eyeballed the greasy cheeseburger with something akin to lust, but after seeing the Blonde Brigade all opt for healthy choices, I bit my lip and asked for a salad and a fruit bowl. Diet Pepsi completed my lunch. I only hoped I’d be able to choke the drink down. Diet soda was foul and should never ever be consumed by anyone. 

Mandy led us to a table in the center of the room. No one had touched it. I assumed it was the Special Table for only the Mega Elite as Jenny had called them. Mandy was flanked by her two flunkies, Lori and Madison. Both were blonde. Lori was the shortest of the three and had hazel eyes. She immediately pulled out her phone and started texting. Madison rolled her eyes and stabbed at her salad. Sebastian came over next and took one of the seats next to me.  He slurped at his Coke and dug into his fries. My eyes envied the cheeseburger on his plate.

“That is disgusting, Bas.” Mandy grimaced. “How can you eat that?”

“Like this.” He popped a fry in his mouth and chewed slowly, making sounds of pleasure.

“You are so gross!”

“It’s a guy thing, Mandy,” Brandon laughed as he sat down on the other side of me. 

I looked at him, startled. Brandon was part of their group? He must have joined after Jenny died. I don’t remember her talking about him at all.

“So what was going on with you and Xavier earlier in class?” Brandon asked me. “It seemed pretty intense.”

Mr. Nosy was way too observant. “Nothing, really. He asked about my science project, and we got into a debate about the robotics aspect of it. He’s smarter than he looks.”

“A debate about science?” He gave me a skeptical look. 

“Well, that and other things. Xavier has a very high opinion of himself.”

Sebastian laughed. “He just wants in your pants.”

“He’s not getting in them.”

“You’re very refreshing,” he said and smiled at me. “Not at all like the other girls around here.”

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t know,” he mused. “Let me think about it, and I’ll text you.”

“Where’s Wes?” Brandon asked around a mouthful of burger. 

Wes would be the guy who’d leered at me yesterday. He’d creeped Jenny out too.

“He pissed off Mrs. Eames in second period, and she’s making him spend lunch with her going over whatever he’s supposed to be reading,” Mandy answered. “I definitely won’t miss that old bat when we graduate. She’s evil.”

I picked at my salad, dreading the taste. I didn’t do rabbit food. I really, really wanted that cheeseburger. 

“Here,” Brandon laughed and plopped half his burger down on my plate. “I think you need this more than I do.”

I stared from the salad to the burger and back again. What was more important at this moment? Being a Stepford child or appeasing the protests in my stomach by wolfing down the greasy yummy goodness that stared back at me?

My stomach won, hands down.

“Oh my God, that is soooo good!” I sighed after three large mouthfuls. 

All three girls stared at me like I’d just grown horns and a tail. They could piss off for all I cared. The burger had my name on it, and it was going down.

“I have an extremely high metabolism,” I told them after wolfing down the burger and confiscating Brandon’s Dr. Pepper. “I have to eat a lot of proteins and carbs or I get sick.”

“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” Madison asked. 

“All you guys got salads, and then I figured I could at least try it too. Go with the flow and all that nonsense.”

Sebastian threw an arm around me. “You’re going to fit right in, Melinda.”

“About time we got another super-nerd,” Brandon said with a wink at me. “Super-hot, super-nerd.” Sebastian grinned. “So what’s this I hear about you having a date tonight?”

“How do you know that?”

“I overheard you telling Xavier this morning,” Brandon told me, looking abashed.

“He’s a friend visiting for the week,” I said carefully. “He asked if I’d show him around town, and I told him I would. We’re going to a movie after.”

“I thought you just moved here?” Mandy’s eyes narrowed.

“My Gran lives here. That’s who I’m staying with. I visited her every summer, so I’m pretty familiar with the area.”

“How did we never meet?” Sebastian frowned. “I thought I knew all the girls around here.”

That would be because I’d always made a point of avoiding the locals like the plague. They were not very interesting to begin with, and I’d seen no reason to make friends with boring people.

“I guess I spent more time cooped up with books than I did hanging out,” I said instead. Kinda the truth.

“Learning how to do magic?” Mandy leaned forward.

Here we go. I wondered how long it would take them to ask me about being a witch.

“Sometimes, sure. I’m a science geek too, remember? I spent just as much time reading books on physics and robotics as I did learning to do magic.”

“Sometimes it can be just as hard to learn magic as it can be to understand quantum physics,” Brandon sighed.

“I thought you didn’t believe in magic?” I asked him. “You did say I was insane.”

“I never said I didn’t believe in it, only that I thought you were insane. What I should have said is that you’re insane for openly admitting you’re a witch.”

“Why is that insane? I’ve never hidden what I am. This is the twenty-first century you know. It’s not like people go around screaming ‘burn the witch!’ They’ll either accept me or they won’t. It doesn’t really bother me one way or another.”

“Can you prove that you’re a witch?” Lori spoke up for the first time since we sat down. Her blue eyes were intense and burned with the same darkness that Mandy’s did. Dark witches. I hated dark witches.

Though, I might be on the road to becoming one myself. I did tend to use a lot of dark magic these days. It really was about choices. I could do the same thing with white magic that I could with dark magic. It was just easier with dark magic. I’d been opting for the easy button for a long time. The thought didn’t sit well. It typically didn’t bother me, but Xavier’s soul gaze, as I’d dubbed it, made me rethink a lot of stuff.

“Why would I want to prove it?” I asked, staring her directly in the eyes. One thing I’d learned from Dad is you never, ever let a dark witch think you’re the least bit hesitant or afraid. They used it against you.

“If you want to join our Coven, then you need to prove yourself,” Madison told me.

“First, you’re assuming I don’t already have a Coven, and second, you’re assuming that I’d want to join yours anyway. Why should I?”

They all seemed taken aback, everyone except for Sebastian. He just grinned down at me like a loon. “That’s it, you and I are so gonna be friends.”

“What?” I asked, startled.

“I thought about getting into your pants,” he told me, “but then I changed my mind the more you talked. You and I are gonna be friends instead.”

“I’m not sure if you insulted me or not.”

He laughed. “It’s a compliment, trust me. I’ve never met anyone with the balls to stand up to the Three B’s before.”

“The Three B’s?”

“The Three Bitches,” Mandy said icily with a smile to match.

I smiled one of my own smiles. Madison and Lori flinched a little. “Well, you’ve just met the Queen Bitch, so again, why would I want to join your little Coven?”

“For the same reason every witch wants a Coven,” Brandon spoke up quietly. “Comfort, security, fellowship. We need to help one another.”

None of them were real witches, born with the gift of Witchcraft in their veins. They were playing with fire, but staring into Brandon’s eyes, I could see that he meant what he said. There was a possibility, a slight possibility, that he knew nothing about their dark magic. There wasn’t any darkness in his eyes. They were clear and honest. Maybe there was a chance I could save him from becoming like the others.

They were all staring at me expectantly. This was why I was here, this was what I’d worked for, so why did it bother me so much now that I was about to really put my plan into action? Xavier’s dark eyes invaded my mind, and I pushed them away. I would do this.

“Earth and Fire,

I summon thee

to do my bidding.”

The Elements flowed into me, and I closed my eyes at the feeling. Every time I felt them, it was like being touched by something holy. It was a gift to be able to feel this. Not everyone could. My dad told me it was rare for anyone to actually feel the Elements the way I did. I loved it.

Opening my blue eyes, I knew they were brighter, almost glowing with the power of the Elements coursing through me. I looked around and nodded. Concentrating, I sent heat into every liquid in the room. They started to bubble and fizz as their temperature rose. People were shouting as the carbonated drinks exploded and foamed over like a shaken pop can. Next, I felt the strength of Earth center me. I laid my hands on the table and focused only on our table. It started to tremble and then shake as the earth beneath it churned. I created a mini-earthquake for the Mega Elite.

“Fire and Earth,

I thank thee for thy service

and release thee from my bidding.”

I stood up and released the Elements. Everyone in the room gaped at me. I smiled down at the Three B’s, now covered in exploded pop. “Good enough for you?”

I picked up my bookbag and calmly walked out of the lunchroom.

That should do it.

Chapter Ten

~ Christmas Surprise ~

December 25, 2012