Page 8 of These Unhallowed Halls (Equinox Seasons Duet #2)

Five-When Two Paths Meet, Follow Where The Wind Takes Your Feet

Temps

“C ome on! It’ll be fun. Don’t you want to have some fun for once?

” Lizzie stood in front of me as I sat on my bed, glaring at her as she held her hands up to her chest, begging me to go to that stupid carnival.

“We’ll go together and get popcorn and shit.

Please . The parental units are nowhere in sight, thank gods, and I need to have some fun.

We cut the bonfire short last night, too. So, you know, you owe me.”

“Uh!” I gaped at Lizzie, my mouth wide open, before I snapped it shut and leveled her with another glare. “You were the one who said we could leave!”

“I was being nice, and you know it.”

With a sigh, Lizzie pushed up from the floor, where she’d actually been kneeling to really drive the point home, and stomped over to her bed.

As she crossed one leg under her, she folded her arms, managing to lift the subtle curves of her breasts, which were already way too visible in the tank top she’d decided to change into.

“Temps, we need to go have some fun. Studying isn’t the only reason we’re here. We’ve never been able to interact with other witches. You know some will be there. The flyers were all over the school. This is the perfect opportunity to actually forge some connections with our classmates.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, mirroring her arm cross as I huddled down into the thick, black sweater I’d put on. It was knitted with massive, chunky yarn, and I loved it. It was also exactly what I wore for nights in , ones when I knew I wouldn’t be dealing with people for the rest of the day.

“Don’t you squint at me. Yes, I know I hardly care about being buddy-buddy with anyone, but these are witches.

The odds they’re cooler than the dumbass townies we usually meet are astounding.

And besides,” she eyed me all the harder, leaning in to make her point, “it’s just a carnival, Temps.

It’s not like I’m taking you to a rave.”

“You’re not trying to take me to a rave because you have before, and it failed miserably.”

Throwing myself back on the bed, I stared up at the ceiling, kicking off the slippers I’d thrown on and hoping that Lizzie would just drop it. But a moment later, the bed was dipping as she hopped in, towering over me on all fours.

Shit .

Having Lizzie on top of me like this made every nerve in my body hum with white-hot energy.

I could feel the blush starting in my cheeks, the smell of her dark, spicy perfume hitting me as her braid swung down over her shoulder.

Lizzie’s hazel eyes were a masterpiece this close up, all flecks of greens and blues and browns, and my breath caught in my chest.

“If you don’t come with me, I’m going to drag you to the witchy sex club I want to try out instead.”

My eyes flared wide as the shock of her words hit me hard. I was speechless for a moment, my mouth hanging open again, and I could hear my pulse in my ears, clear as day.

“You wouldn’t,” I managed to eke out.

“I would, Temps. In a damn heartbeat.”

It was a standoff for several beats, the two of us staring at each other and waiting for the other to blink.

A tiny voice in my head—one I always tried to ignore and push to the furthest reaches of my mind—piped up with the comment that going to a sex club with Lizzie would be a dream come true. But I shut that down quickly.

What would you even do there? You have no idea what sex or kink are supposed to be like. You’re the most vanilla, untouched bookworm on the earth .

Lizzie cocked a brow, seeming to read my indecision and annoyingly impossible to deny curiosity. I chewed on my lip, my stare breaking from hers as I sighed.

“Fine.”

“Yay!” She bounced me on the bed as she celebrated, a massive grin on her face, and then, before I could stop her, Lizzie was leaning down, planting a featherlight and hummingbird-quick peck on my cheek. “Get changed. There’s no way you’re going to a carnival in your homebody clothes.”

She was scampering across the room in a flash, getting herself ready with the last few touches since she’d already changed into a black, leather miniskirt and a mesh tank top with a black bra beneath it.

She looked like something right out of a Killstar ad—hot, goth, and signalling questionable morals.

It took me way too long to get moving, frozen in the bed and still speechless because Lizzie had deigned to kiss me, even if it was just on the cheek.

Still, I’d agreed to this, so I needed to get ready, regardless of being trapped in the definition of bi panic—a likely truth about myself that I refused to acknowledge.

Not with my mother and years of homophobic classmates haunting me.

I sighed again, pushing myself up off the mattress.

I still hadn’t started getting ready, and Lizzie was already onto the black lipstick and fretting over which earrings she wanted to wear.

The sweater I wore certainly wasn’t cutting it if I was going to be going to a carnival with my undeniably attractive stepsister, so I wandered over to my closet at last to find something to wear in my collection of modest, no-frills attire.

Again—and unsurprisingly—I stood there, not moving or making a decision as I looked over my clothes. I hated all of them. I always had, but they were cheap, covered me up, and a majority had been given to me by my mother. Aside from that comfort sweater, I didn’t pick any of these out really.

I didn’t know how, which sounded pathetic. But I wasn’t sure what I liked.

“Are you going to stare at your clothes until they magically pop off the hangers and dress you all by themselves?”

Dropping my head, I grumbled only loud enough for Lizzie to just make out. “I don’t know what to wear. I…I don’t have stuff like you.”

There was a beat, just one, and then Lizzie was at my side, draping her arm over my shoulder. “Oh, hun. I can help, and we’re basically the same size. You could wear something of mine?”

I whipped my face to her, gaping at Lizzie as she smirked at me. “You want me to wear something of yours ? Are you nuts? I don’t have the… assets to pull that off.”

“Oh, sweet, sweet stepsister of mine,” Lizzie pulled me along after her toward her closet, “I beg to differ.”

“L izzie, are you sure about this? I feel—”

She yanked away my hand as I pulled down at the black miniskirt she’d put me in. It was the twelfth time at least that I’d been caught doing it.

“You look fabulous. Stop fidgeting.”

Her classic smile hit me, and my cheeks warmed despite the crisp autumn air.

We’d determined that the carnival wasn’t too far of a walk, at least by college student standards, so we were crossing through the dimly lit streets of the Old Downtown portion of Rockport.

I was exceedingly grateful that I persuaded Lizzie to let me wear a flannel over the black tank top she’d grabbed for me, especially considering it was tight as hell and showed the barest sliver of my midriff.

I’d also been graciously allowed tights beneath the skirt, which I was happy about, even if they did have a few strategic holes in them.

“How much further? I’m freezing.”

I glanced around us, eyeing the dark streets and alleyways for any sign of danger. It was just my luck that some psycho would come popping out of the shadows to mug us or worse.

“A few more minutes, freeze baby.”

We walked in companionable silence for a few more moments, and I did my best to resist the urge to pull down the skirt with each step. At least I had my comfort boots to make me feel a bit better. Lizzie had said they actually went perfect with the outfit.

“I think it’s going to rain. We should hurry up. I won’t see those curls sacrificed to the water gods.”

Lizzie had taken the time to actually curl my hair a bit, which was damn hard considering the stuff had a mind of its own. Wavy it could be, but not in any sort of smooth, uniform style.

Pulling me along after her, we rushed down the streets toward the glowing lights that we could start to see poking out through the gaps between buildings.

We zigged and zagged through the alleys to get there as quickly as we could, and then Lizzie pulled up short as we passed by a building that was stuck in the back of the street, seemingly purposefully out of sight.

There was a single, glowing neon sign over the door that read, “The Knotted Broomstick.”

“What? Why are you stopping?”

Snorting to herself, Lizzie shook her head as she chuckled. “Well, would you look at that. It’s the sex club I was threatening you with.”

My stomach sank, and I stepped backward instinctively, my eyes as wide as saucers, no doubt. “Lizzie, did you—did you do this on purpose?!”

I was still shaking my head as I backed up, eyeing Lizzie with horror. She turned around, though, also shaking her head.

“No! It’s just a funny coincidence. You need to—Temps!”

Flinging out her hand, Lizzie’s eyes went wide, and I was a few seconds too late in realizing that she was telling me to stop walking. Instead, I plowed right into someone behind me, making us both grunt as I stumbled and began to pitch toward the ground, face-first.

“Shit!”

All I could see was the asphalt coming up to greet me when a hand wrapped around my bicep and pulled me back onto my feet, saving me from making a total ass out of myself.

“Professor?”

My pulse was still racing when I heard Lizzie, and it just got worse as I swallowed hard and began to turn around, seeing the impressive blue eyes of Professor Harkert locked onto me.

He let go of my arm since I was capable of standing on my own at this point and stared between me and Lizzie, his brows down in a deep furrow.

Oh fuck.

“Ms. Montgomery, Ms. Chamberlain, what are you doing outside this particular building?”

Wait, did that mean he knew about this place? Lizzie’s sex club? Okay, that wasn’t totally impossible. It was more than likely that word about a place like this got around town. Hell, he might have even needed to keep students away in the past.

“What are you doing by it, teach?”

I turned over my shoulder to glare at Lizzie. I could kill her right now, and all she did was just smirk at me before focusing on our professor again.

Harkert cleared his throat, and when I looked back at him, he shook his head, his jaw tight. “I assure you both that I am not entering. I am on my way to the carnival. And you?”

“I couldn’t convince Temps to go, so yeah, we’re headed to the carnival, too.”

“Lizzie!” Rushing up to her, I glared, wishing that for once my stepsister would actually listen to my chastising, but that was as likely as it raining gold.

“I see.”

I couldn’t keep myself from turning toward Harkert again, shaking my head as I raised a hand, feeling like I needed to defend myself.

But as I fumbled all over myself, I noticed our professor look over my outfit, and it wasn’t utter disapproval that lingered in his eyes.

Was that—Nope, absolutely not. Don’t even kid yourself, Temps.

I also noticed that he wasn’t wearing his glasses at the moment, his body covered by a black suit jacket and matching pants.

A deep maroon shirt poked out from underneath, the top buttons undone.

He was gorgeous anyway, that had been the entire problem, but like this, with this air of confidence and ease about him, my core was practically weeping for him.

Kill me. Just end it now. I can’t take this.

“Well, if you’re going to the carnival, why don’t we all go in together. We can sit as a group and chat before things get started?”

Was Lizzie’s plan to mortify me into an early grave? Because she was doing an excellent job.

“You don’t have to say yes,” I blurted out. “Lizzie has a habit of making herself right at home with anyone. You know, inviting herself into everything .”

The last few words were spoken through gritted teeth, and Lizzie shot me a withering look. I nearly buckled under the weight of it, but she wiped it off quickly, flicking her attention to Harkert as she reached for my hand and squeezed tightly.

“I know how to make any gathering more fun is all. So how ‘bout it?”

Harkert stared at us, his eyes only briefly flicking toward the sign over our heads, like he didn’t believe for a moment that we had been planning to go to the carnival.

His narrowed eyes were accompanied by rolling his lips into a stern line, and I felt so stupid for eyeballing his mouth way more than I should have.

Sucking in a deep breath through his nose, Professor Harkert turned sideways and gestured down the street toward the sounds of music and bright lights filling up the otherwise quiet part of Rockport.

“After you.”