Page 19 of The 13th Daughter (The Witches of New Salem #1)

"Are you okay?" I asked, alarmed. He was starting to turn blue.

It looked like something was choking the life out of him.

I ran over to pound him on the back, but he waved me off.

He stopped trying to talk and his face slowly turned back to its normal tan shade.

Well, almost normal. He looked a little pasty.

"I can't!" he whispered hoarsely. "I want to tell you, but I can't! They made sure of it."

"Who? The Coven?"

He nodded.

Now how in the world...well crap. A binding spell.

"They bound your words?"

Again he could only nod.

I sat down, defeated, and lay back to stare up at the wood beams in the makeshift roof.

I'd counted on Jeff being able to tell me the truth, but that idea had gone out the window faster than the handbags in a Vera Wang clearance sale.

A binding spell literally wouldn't let him speak the words he'd been forbidden to voice.

It'd kill him first. Emily had told me about those types of spells.

She hated what they could do. He really couldn't tell me a damn thing.

Now what the hell was I supposed to do?

"I'm sorry, CJ," he said miserably. "If I could..."

"I know," I told him. And I knew he would tell me. He wanted to tell me about the curse, but he'd been forbidden. Wait, maybe... "Can you write it down on paper?"

"I don't know," he frowned and pulled out a notebook. He started to write. The paper flamed up in his hands and burned his fingers. "OUCH!"

"Okay, there goes plan B." The curse was off limits. No talking and no writing. Where did that leave me? The book. He might be able to say something about that if I didn't ask anything about the curse.

"Jeff, is there a book at the Hall protected by wards?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said and fell down beside me. "We're not supposed to go near it. Why?"

So maybe the binding spell was limited to the curse.

"Emily's diary said she'd found the answers in the book, but that it was heavily warded. I need to get my hands on it."

"Not gonna happen, CJ." He rolled over to face me. "No one can get near that thing, not even Kay."

"She's tried?" I asked, surprised.

"Of course she has," he snorted. "She almost set her hair on fire the last time she attempted to break the wards."

"Wards can do that?" I frowned. Not what I wanted to hear.

He sighed. "CJ, wards are dangerous. They can cause some really nasty stuff to happen."

It was my turn to sigh. I needed to play catch up fast. Where were the Cliff Notes version when you needed them? I propped myself up on one arm so I could look at him. "I have to get my hands on that book. Will you help me?"

He face blanched and stared at me in horror.

"Please, Jeff. I can't do it by myself and I don't trust anyone else to help me." It was wrong, I knew it was wrong, but I played on his feelings for me. Jeff liked me. A lot. It was so very wrong. "You're all I have. Please."

His face softened. "I can try."

"Thank you," I whispered. I was so going to hell for this.

He nodded and sat up, rubbing his hands together. "Damn, but it's cold."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I'm freezing. It's not like we can light a fire up here or something."

I felt a little shock of electricity filter through me and then the air warmed, bathing us both in its heat. I shot up into a sitting position. It wasn't just warm. I was warm. Toasty even.

"Damn," Jeff croaked.

My sentiments exactly.

"You haven't even gone through the Rite of Initiation to be tested by the Elements yet," Jeff shook his head, amazed. "They respond to you. They deemed you worthy without the test?"

I felt dizzy. I didn't want this. I wanted everything to go back to normal. But it wouldn't. I knew that deep down. I should have listened and ran from the initiation when my instincts told me to run. But I hadn't. Instead, I let the Elements in.

"I didn't do that!" I tried to deny the truth. "I didn't even call on an Element."

"You did, CJ. You said Fire. That's all it took."

Shit, shit, shit!

"CJ, how long has this been going on? Since the Elements greeted you at Meg's initiation?"

"A bit longer than that," I hedged.

"How long is a bit?"

"As long as I can remember," I told him sheepishly. I chanced a look at his face.

"Years?" he glared. "Years? Really?"

"I didn't know what it meant. I always explained it away. I never wanted any of this. I didn't believe in it."

"I know," he sighed. "You can't explain it away now, though, huh?"

"No."

"When was the first time you remembered something like this happening?" he asked curiously.

"Do you remember when we were six and we had that big black out?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "Billy was at my house. Screamed like a girl when the lights went out." He shot me a look. "No offense."

"Yeah, well I did scream like a girl," I laughed. "I was upstairs by myself. Dad yelled for me to stay where I was, he'd come get me. I remember stomping my foot and yelling that I wanted the lights to come back on right now and they...did."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that. Dad couldn't figure out how your house had lights when no one else's did. You guys didn't have a generator back then."

"Freaked Mom and Dad out to no end," I grinned. "Now I know why."

"Yeah, you're a freak of nature all right," he grinned.

"Hey!" I shoved him and laughed.

He smile faded. "You really like him don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," I admitted.

"Just be careful. Ethan is more than he seems. Don't trust him."

"I wish you could tell me why." I stood up and walked to the window. The woods spread out before me, their colors dimmed by the early morning fog. I didn't trust Ethan. I wanted to, so very much, but I didn't. I just wished I knew why.

"So do I, CJ, so do I," Jeff muttered behind me.

"Do you have anything I can read on beginning witchcraft?" I asked him at last. "I feel so behind. I need to know this stuff if I'm going to get through those wards."

"Yeah, you can borrow all my books. I'll even raid Mom and Dad's books, but I don't think you can get through them, CJ. I wish you wouldn't try. You could get yourself killed."

"I know," I told him. "So, can you take me to the Hall to get a look at this book?"

He looked violently alarmed.

"From a distance," I assured him. "I promise I won't try to get near it."

"That's...that's..."

"Are you going to tell me about the curse?"

"You know I can't," he growled.

"Then I need that book and it's going to require some recon work. Are you up for it, Double-O-Seven?"

"Don't you mean Neighbor Boy?" he quirked an eyebrow.

I looked at him nonplussed. Now how did he know about that?

"You think I don't know what you and Emily called me?" he laughed.

"But how?"

"You guys used to sit on your back porch and talk all the time. Your voices carried."

"You eavesdropped on us?" I screeched.

"Oh yeah," he nodded. "All the time."

"You...you...you..."

"Come on, let's get going," he laughed. "We should probably get to the Hall while it's still early. There won't be many people there and we stand a better chance of getting a look at the book. From a distance," he warned.

My lips pursed, but I followed him down the ladder. He was so going to pay for that.

But after I saw the book.