Page 6 of The 13th Daughter (The Witches of New Salem #1)

Chapter Five

I drummed my fingers against the wood surface of the chemistry table and watched the clock.

Would the last bell never ring? With each second my agitation grew.

I would see Ethan soon. Maybe. Just the thought of his smile caused the butterflies in my stomach to start flying up into my throat.

The anticipation of seeing him again had my hands sweating and my breath coming out in short gasps.

I still couldn't believe he'd asked me out on a date.

It was usually the other way around. Guys couldn't believe I'd asked them out.

What was different about Ethan? Why did I feel so nervous?

This was new territory for me. I wasn't sure I liked it, but at the same time, I loved the way he made me feel. I felt extremely confused.

I really wished Kay was here. Or maybe not.

The fact that she and Ethan were both MIA today worried me, if only just a little.

Sure, he'd seen Kay at her worst and while she'd been mortified, that wouldn't stop her if she decided to go after him.

Kay could be a bit of a barracuda when it came to getting what she wanted.

I know she thought Ethan was gorgeous, but then who in their right mind wouldn't?

What would I do if she made a move on him?

I'd kill her. I loved her, yeah, and she was my best friend, but that didn't mean I wouldn't commit an extreme act of violence if she so much as looked sideways at him.

Damn. When did I get so possessive? I didn't even have a right to be possessive. It was only a date.

He'd gone to the meeting last night. Alone. What if he and Kay had started talking and he discovered he liked her more than me? Kay was beautiful, sure, but she was also funny and always knew just what to say. How could Ethan resist that when no one else had ever been able to?

I'd kill her.

I'd tried to calm my nerves all day, but when lunch rolled around with still no signs of them, I'd started to imagine all sorts of things.

Billy and Jeff were suspiciously absent too.

What if Kay had broken up with Billy last night?

He'd get drunk and Jeff would have kept him company, chugging away.

That could very well be why they weren't here today.

I'd all but convinced myself I should just go home by the time the last bell finally rang.

What if he decided to stand me up? His smoky gray eyes flashed through my mind.

Ethan didn't like drunken girls, I reminded myself.

He preferred redheads. Those were his words.

Damn, why was I so paranoid? I was a catch, dammit! And I so wanted Ethan to catch me.

I found a note taped to my locker.

Meet me at Lucy's – E.

My eyebrows shot up. He had time to put a note on my locker, but not to meet me?

I started to fume. Here I was torturing myself all day and he puts a note on my locker?

I shoved my books into the locker and shut the door.

I winced at the pain that shot through my arm with that simple movement.

I'd taken some Motrin earlier, but it didn't seem to be helping much.

Lucy's Café was only a five minute walk from the school.

When I opened the door, I stopped. The place was packed, not an empty table to be found, and everyone was pouring over papers laid out in front of them.

As soon as I stepped in, everyone looked up, like they'd been expecting me. The word ambush flashed in my mind.

Nonsense, I told myself. People were just hungry today, myself included. Still, their stares made me feel very weird and extremely uncomfortable.

I frowned when I spotted Jeff and Billy at one of the booths. Then I saw Mr. Mason. Crap. What were they doing here after skipping school? Mr. Mason would totally bust them.

I hurried over and sank down beside Jeff. He flashed me a tired smile. "What are you two doing here?" I whispered. "Mr. Mason..."

"It's cool," Billy interrupted me. "Mr. Mason knows why we weren't at school today." He rubbed bloodshot eyes. "We've been up most of the night."

"Why?" I asked and my drunken theory popped into my head.

"We're working on something with the Senior Coven," he sighed. "No one can seem to make this stupid spell work."

Spell? I just barely managed to keep my eyes from rolling.

"Where's Kay?" I asked. If they were writing spells, she should have been here.

"Probably asleep by now," Billy said wryly. "Ethan took her home a while ago."

Ethan took her home? What if...stop! Don't jump to conclusions.

"What are you guys working on?" I asked to distract myself. She was so dead.

"A truth spell." Jeff rolled his shoulders. He looked in serious need of sleep, but so did everyone else. I looked around the café again and saw the exhaustion on all their faces. What was so important about a stupid truth spell? It wasn't even a hard one as far as spells went.

"That's all?" I laughed. "Those are easy."

Billy shot me a dirty look. "And how would you know? You don't believe in this 'nonsense' remember?"

"Are you forgetting that I grew up with parents and a sister who did? Emily could write those things in her sleep. She used to bounce ideas off me all the time."

"Wait, Emily talked to you about this stuff?" Billy eyed me speculatively. Heads tilted towards us. People seemed to be listening all of a sudden. Or was I just being paranoid?

"Sure," I nodded and frowned. Why was everyone paying so much attention to our conversation?

"Hmm," Billy mused. "So how would Emily have solved this problem?"

"Depends on what kind of truth you're looking for and the person you're trying to get the truth out of." The last one she'd written had been designed to find out if her boyfriend was cheating on her. I smiled at the memory. She'd been livid at the time.

"We're not trying to get the truth out of someone specifically," Billy frowned. "More like trying to find out the truth about someone."

"That could be a little harder." People were openly staring at me now. I fidgeted.

"Yeah, we know," Billy said with a sour expression. "We've written this thing at least a hundred times and no one can make it work."

"Well, you're looking for the truth so you want to work with an Element that's grounded in stability.

" Emily used to go back and forth with that.

It was crucial, she'd said, to use the right Element.

"Probably Earth. It's ever changing, but always essentially stays the same.

The truth is simple, but can expand and grow as it evolves just like the earth does.

It's the lies that we build around the truth that are complex. "

Jeff and Billy both looked at me like I'd suddenly sprouted horns.

"What?" I asked. "I picked stuff up."

"Okay, Earth magic," Billy nodded. "What else would you do?"

"Focus it around an object representing the truth you seek. I don't know, a tree maybe?"

"A tree?" Jeff asked skeptically.

"Sure. Trees are constant, surviving thousands of years."

"Something like tree of wisdom, tree of knowledge, give us the truth we seek?" Billy frowned, pen poised on his notepad.

I laughed. He glared at me. "Sorry," I said. "Couldn't help it."

"Alright, smartass, let's see you come up with something better."

I suppressed another laugh at the blush on his cheeks. Jeff grinned at him.

I thought about Emily and how she would have worded it. The lines came easily to mind.

"Tree of wisdom, tree of knowledge,

leaves of truth, leaves of change,

I call upon thee to bend your branches unto me

and listen as I speak.

Show me now the truth of which we seek."

"Shit," Billy whispered. His eyes were wide with shock as he stared at me. No wait, he was staring behind me. Everyone in the café was staring behind me. I turned to look. Something flickered at the very edge of my field of vision. I followed it with my eyes. What was it?

"CJ!" Billy's voice held a bit of desperation. He reached out to take hold of my hand. I let out a shriek of pain. He'd grabbed my bandaged wrist instead and pulled hard to get my attention. Bursts of agony raced up and down my arm, centering in the bones of my wrist.

"Dammit, Billy, let go!" Jeff pried his fingers away from me. "Are you okay?"

I let out a hiss and cradled my arm to my chest. Hell no, I wasn't okay.

"CJ, I'm sorry," Billy whispered, still looking behind me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I whispered. Damn, but my arm hurt.

"That's a good question," Ethan glared down at Billy. I hadn't noticed him come up to our table.

"I am sorry. I didn't know you'd hurt your arm," Billy apologized, his eyes never leaving Ethan.

"It's fine," I told him absently. Why was he staring at Ethan like he'd just grown another head? And what was that shadow thing I'd seen? I frowned and looked behind me again, but there was nothing there now.

"What happened?" Jeff signaled to the waitress. He asked for some ice in a towel for my arm which immediately distracted me. Wow. Jeff being considerate? What was up with that?

"Nothing," I replied. "It's not a big deal."

Ethan stared at my lips and his eyes narrowed. Did my lip really quiver when I lied? I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth to still any movement.

"It is a big deal." Ethan sat down across from me. "You look ready to throw up from the pain."

I did feel ready to hurl, but I didn't want to talk about it. "It's fine."

"You are such a little liar, Cassie Jayne Bishop," he glared at me.

"I said its fine," I snapped. "Just leave it alone."

"Fine," he growled.

"You know, CJ, for a girl who doesn't believe in witchcraft, you're pretty good at it," Billy tried to change the subject. His eyes moved back and forth between me and Ethan as we glared at each other.

"He's right, honey," Lucy Marrow, the owner, told me as she personally delivered my make-shift ice pack. "You're a natural. Why don't you come and check out one of the meetings?"