“Um… sure.”
“Have you forgiven Alex?”
“I…” I trail off, unsure how to respond because I honestly don’t know if I have or not. “I’m not sure… maybe…”
“But you could see yourself doing so?” she asks, sidestepping a lamppost.
I nod and it feels right. “I think one day I could.”
She pauses. “Gemma, I’m sorry for lying to you in the beginning, but I think if you’ll give me another chance, you and I could be friends.”
I start to smile, but then suddenly, something crashes behind us. We spin around, scanning the street, the yards, the trees, for where the noise came from, but there’s nothing nearby.
“Keep your guard up,” Aislin warns as we start walking again.
By the time we reach the cemetery, we’ve both grown edgy and that edginess only amplifies at the sight of the small area dotted with graves and sealed up by an iron gate. Trees shadow the grass and a gravel path runs through the entrance and up the center of it.
“Okay, this is really—”
Another thud from behind us, this time much louder and nearer. Aislin draws a knife out of her purse as we reel around again.
“What the hell?” Aislin lowers her knife. “What are you doing here?”
Aleesa stands beneath the light of the lamppost in pink pajamas, wide eyed and terrified. She opens her mouth and lets out a scream that echoes around us and causes dogs to bark in the distance.
“Stop!” Aislin conceals her hand over Aleesa’s mouth. “Shhh… it’s okay.” After Aleesa settles down, Aislin moves her hand away. “What are you doing here?”
“I saw you leaving from out the window,” Aleesa says. “And I followed you... I wanted to come with you.”
Aislin frowns and snags hold of my arm, steering us away from Aleesa. “What should we do with her?” she whispers.
I shrug. “Take her with us, I guess. I mean, what else are we going to do? Take her back? The sun will be coming up in like an hour and I’m pretty sure we don’t want to be sitting out in the cemetery performing a witch spell when it does.”
“Yeah, I guess so, but still, she’s so jumpy.”
“Yeah, but considering her past that’s understandable.”
Aislin appears guilt-ridden. “Yeah, you’re right.” She waves Aleesa over. “Come on, you can come with us.”
Aleesa’s eyes light up with happiness as she skips toward us and follows us into the cemetery. Aislin tells me we have to find a fresh grave, so we wander around the yard, looking for one and finally find one in the corner of the cemetery beneath a massive oak tree.
Aislin takes some black and red candles out of her bag and places them on the grass in a circle around the grave. “Alright, now we just need to sit in a circle around the candles,” she says, lighting each candle with a lighter.
I take a seat in the cool grass and so do Aislin and Aleesa. Then Aislin sprinkles silver dust over the candles, making the color of the flames turn blood red.
She retrieves her spell book and opens it up. “Okay,” she mutters, placing a red and green leaf in the center of our circle. “Are you guys ready for this?” she asks and must take our silence as a yes, because she takes a deep breath and chats. “EGO dico ut maleena ut orior oriri ortus iterum. EGO dico ut maleena ut orior oriri ortus iterum!” Aislin screams, throwing her head back and elevating her hands above her head.
The candle’s flames shift to yellow with a black center, casting an eerie glow around us, making every shadow seem like it’s closing in on us. Then the flames grow bigger, more powerful, begin to ravel together until there’s one giant flame stretching toward the sky. It takes the form of a woman, who rises above us and opens her hollow eyes.
“EGO dico ut maleena ut orior oriri ortus iterum!” Aislin yells again and the flame woman opens her mouth.
“Die!” she screeches with her mouth aimed at the sky and thunder booms even though there are no clouds in sight.
Aleesa screams as she jumps to her feet in a panic. Aislin’s eyes snap wide as Aleesa sprints off through the cemetery toward the iron gate.
I look from the flaming woman to Aislin, hesitating. “Should I go get her?”
“Yes! Go!” Aislin cries, her hands out to the side, her eyes locked on the flame woman. “I’ll be fine!”
Moments later, I’m on my feet and weaving around the graves as I chase down Aleesa. I lose track of her at one point but then spot her climbing over the fence and I speed up. As I reach the fence myself, I don’t slow down, accelerating and springing up on my toes. With one quick leap, I’m up and over the fence, landing gracefully onto the gravel on the other side. Then I glance from left to right, searching for Aleesa, but she’s nowhere. On a whim, I take off to my right, since it’s the way to the house and I’m hoping she’s headed back there. But as I’m barreling around the corner at full speed, I slam into a rock-hard surface. It almost knocks me to the ground, but I keep my balance and quickly regain my footing. But when I look up and see what I ran into, my heart stops.
A guy, tall, with skin like snow, and eyes as black as the night sky. He’s dressed in black, hair as pale as the moonlight, and he smells like rust and salt. He sizes me up with his dark eyes and then smiles, flashing me his sharp, shiny fangs.
Chapter 21
“Well, what do we have here?” He grins as he stalks toward me. “I think I’ve ran into a bit of luck, haven’t I?”
I start to back away, but he matches my movement, taking a step toward me every time I inch back, as if we’re dancing. He pushes up the sleeves of his shirt and things get a little more frightening as I spot the Mark of Malefiscus branded on the back of his hand.
“Don’t you know that wandering around at night is a dangerous thing? Especially at a place like this.”
I need to do something quick to get myself out of this situation. Foresee my way back to the house? But what kind of person would I be to bail on Aislin like that?
Before I can come up with an answer, the vampire lunges for me. I instinctively lift my leg and kick him right between the legs. The vampire crumples to the ground, and taking advantage of his momentary weakness, I jump for the fence, but his fingers wrap around my ankle and he drags me back to the ground. I stumble forward and smack my head against the iron fence. I see stars all around me.
Focus, Gemma. Foresee your way to Aislin.