The Witch Is Back (29 page)

“The thing about dreams is that they're really there to provide us with insight into the world around us. It's just a matter of how we use the information we're given. People are quick to dismiss the warnings in a dream, because it seems too outlandish or confusing. But often, if you learn to listen to yourself and trust your instincts, you can really utilize all the talents at your disposal. Does that make sense?” Colette asked, looking at me for confirmation.

“Um. Sort of?” I said, not absolutely sure I followed everything she'd said, but getting the gist.

“Let's look at it this way. When you dream, does it often come true in real life or help you to accomplish tasks when you're awake?” she asked me.

That was easy. I'd had dreams of things that had taken place in the past (Bridget's hanging, and more recently, the ones about Sarah Good, Tituba, and Sarah Osborne) as well as ones that had involved my mom in the present.

“Yes,” I responded.

“Okay, well then, chances are, your dreams are more prophetic than problematic,” Colette said. “This means that you can probably trust most of the contents of your dreams as they are, as opposed to trying to piece together the meaning like you would a puzzle.”

I wasn't sure what to do with this info. “So, that would mean that Abby's my
enemy
?” I asked, hating the way it sounded out loud.

“Well, dream-reading isn't an exact science,” Colette said, shrugging. “And this is my first time in one of
your
dreams. I'm not sure if we're looking at a perfect reflection of what's actually happening or if your dream is just a distorted version of reality. This is where you have to search yourself and find the truth within your own heart. What did
you
think the dream meant?”

I took a deep breath, because once I said it, it would be out there forever. And somehow that made it all the more real. Also, I wouldn't be able to ignore it anymore.

“I thought it actually
had
happened,” I admitted quietly. “The next morning, I even checked to see if my feet were dirty from running through the woods. But they weren't, and I still had on my ring.”

“All that tells you is that you weren't actually in the woods,” Colette said. “Not that the rest of it didn't happen.”

“I hate to say it, but it would explain everyone's behavior toward me lately. I wanted to chalk it up to catty-girl syndrome, but it can't just be that,” I said, rubbing my face with my hands. “Did you recognize the spell they were doing?”

Colette shook her head. “No. And I've been thinking about it ever since. But it doesn't even sound familiar.”

“Do you think they're
really
casting against me?” I asked next.

“It's possible,” Colette said, thinking. “Or it could just mean that you can't fully trust those around you right now.”

“Ugh. Not again,” I said, groaning out loud. “I've done this dance before . . . the whole ‘there's a traitor amongst you' crap. What happened to being able to trust your coven members?”

“In a way, that's the beauty of being on your own like me,” Colette said, partly joking. “No one to screw you over.”

“I guess,” I said. “But far fewer people to borrow clothes from.”

“I think my personal style is an acquired taste anyway,” Colette said, chuckling.

“True.” After a few seconds, I grew quiet as I thought about what this all meant. “So if the others have turned against me, then who made them do it?”

“What do you mean?” Colette asked, not following.

“Well, I know my coven and after everything we've been through, we wouldn't betray each other if we could help it,” I said. “Meaning, someone has to be making them do this. Someone who wants me out of the way.”

“Are you saying—” Colette started.

“Yep,” I said, cutting her off. I didn't need to mention Brooklyn's name for Colette to know that's where my head had already gone. “But even if she
is
behind it, what am I supposed to do? The others have made it pretty clear that they don't think Brooklyn's bad. They're not going to believe me.”

Colette shrugged. “Then we get proof,” Colette said. “If Brooklyn's forcing Abby and the others to sneak out at night to plot against you, then we wait until Abby thinks we're asleep . . . and we follow her.”

Except the next couple of nights were completely uneventful.

Directly following the discovery of Colette's dreaming abilities, the two of us had put a spell on the door so that we'd be alerted by a faint buzzing in our bodies if anyone tried to get in or out. That way if Abby left at any point in the night, we'd know about it. We tested the enchantment before going to bed to make sure it was in working order, and only when we were satisfied did we close our eyes. Every morning that we awoke after an uninterrupted night of sleep I became less convinced that I could trust my dreams as being anything more than just that.

If Abby had been acting like her regular self, I might've felt a little bad about doubting her at all. But she and the other Cleri girls were still shunning me, having now taken to eating their meals at a completely different table than the one I sat at. And being that Fallon and Abby were now a package deal, he'd migrated to their side of the dining hall, too. When I'd asked him about it, he'd just said that he'd given up understanding women a long time ago.

As much as I prided myself in being independent and strong, the fact that everyone was deserting me . . . hurt. More than I expected it to. And if I was being honest, more than I
wanted
it to. And even though I knew in my bones that there was a spell behind it, and we weren't best friends to begin with, and that I didn't need
everyone
to like me to survive in this world, it felt awful to know that I was pretty much
alone
in this.

Asher may not have jumped on the “we hate Hadley” bandwagon, but things still weren't back to normal between us. Sure, he
said
he was over our tiff in the hallway, but I could tell he was still annoyed. He was spending more and more time with the guys, and since I wanted to keep the peace, I let him.

I set my whole focus on proving that Brooklyn was trying to ruin my life. I balled up all the feelings I was having about possibly losing my coven and my boyfriend and placed them in a locked box that I would open later. When it was safe. Otherwise I'd shut down completely and evil would win.

Luckily, on the third night, we finally got our big break.

My eyes shot open in the dark as I felt the buzzing begin in my fingers and toes and spread to the rest of my body. Staying still so that Abby wouldn't be alerted to the fact that I was awake, I waited for her to make her move. After a few seconds, light began to fill the darkness as our door was opened wider, and I was briefly able to see Colette lying in the bed across from me. Her face was sans glasses and her eyes were closed. I could see her chest rising and falling underneath the blankets, as if she were in the middle of a deep sleep.

Making almost no noise at all, Abby slipped out of our room, leaving us both alone again in the dark. I counted to ten before slowly sitting up in bed and looking over at the clock.

Three a.m.

The witching hour. So predictable.

As I threw back my covers, Colette did the same, nearly startling me right off of my mattress.

“I didn't think you were awake,” I whispered as our beds lowered to the ground.

“That's good,” she said, putting her glasses on. “That means that Abby believed it, too.”

“So, I guess it's true,” I said, surprisingly unhappy about the fact. Part of me had been hoping that I was wrong. That Asher's sister
wasn't
out to get me. Sometimes it sucked to be right.

“Now we just have to figure out exactly what she's up to,” Colette said.

“Let's get out there then,” I said. “I want to get this thing over with.”

We threw on hoodies and stepped into flip-flops before moving quietly over to the door. Opening it slowly, I peeked out to see if Abby was still around. When I saw the hallway was empty, we hurried out and headed straight for the stairwell at the opposite side of the cabin.

Following the same path I'd taken to sneak out for our Cleri meeting, I gestured for Colette to stay close to me as we pushed open the door to the outside and stepped out into the cool night air. I placed my finger against my lips and pointed to where Abby was just disappearing into the woods. Colette's eyes grew, but she remained quiet and didn't move until I gave her the signal.

When I was sure we were far enough behind Abby to follow her without getting caught, we took off across the grass, staying off the dirt-and-rock pathway to keep from making noise. Just as we were about to enter into the cover of trees, we both heard the sound of a branch breaking and raced to hide. Sliding behind a nearby tree, I watched Colette dive behind a bush to avoid being seen.

A few seconds later, a shadow appeared about three feet away from where I was standing. Only, it was walking
out
of the woods instead of into them, and the silhouette appeared to belong to a guy. I took a step away from my cover to try to get a closer look, but it didn't help. I needed him to turn around so I could see his face.

I wasn't looking to get caught, but I also wasn't convinced that the figure wasn't out here to meet Abby. Turning to Colette, I gestured for her to stay hidden while I made my next move. She looked worried, but remained behind the bush. Trying only to move every time the figure took a step, I made it about five feet before he realized he was being followed and turned to confront me.

“Hadley!” Asher said, his face registering surprise and then changing to confusion. “Hi.”

“What are you doing out here, Asher?” I whispered, not wanting to blow my cover completely, if Abby was still in the area.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said, the smile dropping from his face.

“I asked first.” It was childish, but I knew
I
had a good reason for being out of our room at night. I couldn't think of any excuse he could give that would make a nighttime jaunt without me okay.

Despite the blunt nature of my question, a smile danced its way across Asher's lips. “You are
so
adorable,” Asher said.

This was the blanket response Asher gave me whenever he wanted to avoid having an
actual
conversation. He hid behind a compliment, hoping it would derail me from whatever information I wanted from him. Asher did it all the time when we first met—but that had been mostly to hide the fact that he was a witch. And working with Team Parrish. The tactic had annoyed me then and it hadn't gotten any cuter. “That might be true, but you're not answering my question,” I said, not letting him get out of this one.

“Okay, Had,” he said with a sigh. “But it's really not a big deal.”

“I usually don't like your answers when you start off that way. . . . ,” I warned.

He rolled his eyes at me. “I was just out here with the guys. You know, goofing around.”

“Goofing around—in the middle of the night?” I asked, not believing his excuse one bit. “You couldn't wait until it was light outside? Or goof off with the guys in your room? What could you possibly be doing out here in the woods with a bunch of guys?”

Asher shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “It's guy stuff, Had. I don't ask you what you do with your girlfriends when you hang out.”

“That's because we don't go sneaking off at night, wandering creepily through the woods,” I said. Although as soon as I'd said it, I realized that's exactly what Colette and I were doing. “Speaking of . . . where are the guys? You know, the ones that you're apparently out here with?”

“I don't want to have this argument again, Had,” Asher responded, starting to lose his patience with our conversation. “What are
you
doing out here?”

Uh-oh. I hate it when the tables turn.

My eyes shifted over to the bush where Colette had been hiding.

“Out for a walk,” I said finally. This was technically the truth. “I couldn't sleep. And then I thought I saw someone out here . . . so I came to investigate.”

“Now who's being evasive?” Asher said, crossing his arms.

“I'm telling you the truth,” I said.

“So am I,” he answered.

We were at a standoff. For some reason, neither of us was willing to admit fully why we were there. For a moment, it made me sad to think that there were things we both wanted to keep from the other. But then I began to recall everything I'd ever heard about relationships and tried to remain calm. From what I knew, every relationship changed and morphed. It was just that Asher and I had been in the “honeymoon” phase for so long back home, that it was hard to think of us as transitioning into that place where it wasn't all roses and puppy dogs.

On the other hand, did Asher and I really have to be around each other 24/7 to feel complete? There'd been a time when I believed that a girl didn't need a man in her life to be happy. And even though I loved being with Asher, I knew I could survive without him if I had to. So maybe a little time apart wouldn't kill us.

This was just the natural ebb and flow of a relationship. Sometimes you were hot and heavy, and other times . . .

“Okay,” I said finally, conceding. A girl had to pick her battles, and right now, I needed to get back to mine. “Sorry I freaked out. Go and have fun with the guys.”

“We're finished for the night,” Asher said, softening instantly and taking a step toward me. “Want me to walk you back to your room?”

“It's all right,” I said, appreciating the gesture but needing to get moving. I had no idea where Colette had disappeared to, and Abby was probably long gone by now. I would have to hustle if I was going to find either of them. “I sort of want to finish my walk.”