“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Aislin protests. “In fact, I think it’s a really stupid idea.”
“We’ll be fine,” Alex assures her. “I really don’t think Stephan will be there.”
Aislin shakes her head. “That’s not what I’m worried about. I don’t think he’ll be there either.” She pauses, glancing back and forth between us. “What I’m worried about is you two being alone together in an empty house … you’ve already been pushing the boundaries and I’m worried you’re going to end up killing each other here soon.”
“Wow. Way to put it out there,” I say sarcastically.
“Sorry,” she tells me unapologetically. “But I have to be blunt because it’s serious stuff, you know.”
“We’ll be fine.” Alex rolls his eyes and again I wonder if something has changed between us since he seems so convinced he’ll be able to stay away from me. “We won’t do anything we wouldn’t do here.” He presses back a smile as he pretends to examine the sword.
Aislin sighs. “Fine, but please hurry.”
We nod and then head out the door.
***
For most of the drive, we’re quiet, the sparks heating the longer we’re in trapped in the confinements of the car, but they only seem to bother me. Alex seems fully comfortable being in the car with me, driving down the road with the music blasting. Eventually he turns down a side road that goes up into the foothills of the mountains. Not too far up the road, he makes a sudden veer to the left, dipping my old Mazda I used to drive to school into the trees and bushes.
I press my hand to the dashboard, bracing myself against the bumps. “What are you doing?”
He kills the headlights as he slows the car to a stop and everything around us gets taken out by night. “I didn’t want to pull up the driveway, just in case someone is there.”
“You know this doesn’t have four-wheel drive, right?”
“It made it, didn’t it?” There’s humor in his voice.
I don’t say anything further as we get out of the car and hike up the dirt hill. I can barely see anything around me and wish that Aislin’s night vision spell was a permanent thing. But I notice that I do a lot less stumbling than I used to, probably because I’m a Keeper now.
When we approach the top of the hill, Alex hunkers down behind a bush, and puts his arm in front of me, signaling for me to stay behind him as he assesses the situation.
“I knew no one would be here,” he mutters after getting a good look at the dark house in the distance. He stands back up and steps out of the trees and onto a gravel path that leads to a three-story home, but that’s about all I can see. At the front door, he takes a key from under a glass mushroom and unlocks the door.
As I stepped inside the foyer, he retrieves a flashlight out of his back pocket and beams the light around. “It stinks in here,” he murmurs, fanning his hand in front of his face. “Like feet.”
I plug my nose. “And like someone forgot to take out the garbage, but I’m guessing that’s a good sign that no one’s been here in a while.”
He nods. “Welcome to my home,” he mutters under his breath as he starts for the spiral staircase in front of us.
We climb up the stairs and go into a room with black and purple walls, dark blue carpet, and a massive canopy bed decorated with vines and curtains.
“Whose room is this?” I take in the posters on the wall, the decorations, the clutter, signs that someone actually had a life in here and it makes me a bit sad.
He sweeps the flashlight around to room. “It’s Aislin’s.”
I’m so confused. “But it’s so… so… awesome. And not frilly and pink.”
He opens the closet door. “You have to understand something about Aislin. She’s not who she appears to be on the outside. She has a darker side to her.” He sets the flashlight down on the floor, aiming it up at the ceiling, and then grabs a box from the top shelf. “Most witches do have a darker side…but my father trained her to be the girl she is on the outside so people wouldn’t see her as a threat.” He peers inside the box and then puts it away. “He controlled her a lot.”
He starts rummaging around in the closet while I wander around the room. I see a photo on top of the dresser of Aislin and Laylen, sitting on a porch swing, smiling and happy, something that doesn’t exist at the moment and my heart knots in my chest.
“What are you looking for?” I go back into the closet and move up behind Alex.
He yanks a box decorated with black and purple glitter off the top closet shelf and lifts the lid. “For this.” Inside the box, are bags of herbs, a collection of candles and crystals, beads, necklaces, and other strange items that have to be Wicca stuff.
“Aislin’s spell stuff?” I pick up a necklace with a rose pendant.
“Yeah, I figured we could pick it up while we were here,” he says.
I put the necklace back in the box. “It’s a good idea. We have been using her magic a lot.”
He nods, then we leave Aislin’s room with the box, crossing the hallway into an office area with shelves for walls that are crammed with old books, a large desk in the corner, and antique furniture.
“Please tell me you know where the Foreseer book is,” I say in a hopeful expression.
He shakes his head, crushing my hope into a thousand pieces. So we start looking, working our way from bottom to top, until we’re up to our elbows in books. Alex has the flashlight between us, so there was just enough light that we could see the title of the cover.
“I love books,” I admit when the silence between us starts to make me restless.
“I know,” he says, peeking inside a book.
“How?”
“Because you loved them when you were younger.” He quickly clears his throat as if he’s said something wrong.
“What else did I like when I was younger?” I ask, adding the book in my hand to the stack beside me.
His eyes travel from the book to me. “You drove me crazy sometimes.” There’s a sparkle in his eyes.
I roll my eyes. “I did not.”
He nods with certainty, putting the book on top of a stack and then collecting another one. “You were always such a daredevil and it drove me nuts keeping you out of trouble.”
“Then why did you?” I crisscross my legs.