Page 54 of The Secret Life of a Witch

“An unidentifiable creature?” I feel numb. Dead inside. The desire to run for the door is getting less controllable. “You said the members found me in a demon’s lair … Why was I there?”

“No one knows for sure … And normally, the members don’t just take creatures from lairs …” He lightly skims his knuckles across my knee, eliciting both tingles and goose bumps to sprout across my flesh. “But when they realized you weren’t fully demon, they couldn’t just leave you there.”

“Why not?” I ask, bitterness dripping from my tone. I think about my stupid gift and wonder if it plays a part in any of this. “Is there some sort of rule in the handbook forbidding you guys from doing it?”

He shakes his head. “No, I have no idea why they did it. All I know is that they took you away from there, said there was something about your power that the demons wanted, and that we needed to do everything in our power not to let that happen. I was too young to remember it, but I’ve heard all the stories … about how demons kept showing up to try to get ahold of you. But whenever they tried to drink from you, they died, like Carter did. They must have caught on to this, because their efforts to get ahold of you have gone down over the years … until they got to Ryleigh.

“For whatever reason, they want you to go underground. If I’d realized that to begin with”—his jaw clenches—“I never would have let us go looking for her. I should’ve known something was up, but I was too distracted by other stuff.”

“What other stuff?”

He shrugs, looking worried and distant. “Stuff I’m not supposed to be distracted by.”

Girlfriend stuff?The question pops into my mind out of habit, but I dropkick it far, far away where I can hopefully never reach it again.

How can I still have feelings for him? Am I that messed up? After all, he’s lied to me from day one, and he’s definitely still lying to me about some stuff. At least, according to the trust spell. The damn thing’s going too bonkers right now, and it makes sorting through truths and lies incredibly difficult.

Still, I work to make some sense out of everything, recalling how the demon at Evan’s place told me not to go to The Illuminating Horror House of Truth, the entrance to the underground. Supposedly, anyway. So, if Hunter is telling the truth about demons wanting me, wouldn’t the demon I made the deal with want me to go there?

The trust spell rushes through my veins at an unnerving level, and the crack in my heart deepens.

Run, Eva. Get the hell out of here.

He turns his head toward me and splays his fingers across my knee, as if sensing the direction of my thoughts. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“That I don’t trust you,” I answer honestly, my knee twitching under his touch for very conflicting reasons. “I know for a fact that you’re not being truthful about everything. And a lot of the stuff you said doesn’t add up. Like, for instance, why did Carter act like you were friends?”

“I’ve been working undercover at The Illuminating Horror House of Truth for the past year or so, trying to get a vibe on what the demons are up to, and why they want you so badly.” He cracks his knuckles against the side of his leg, keeping his other hand positioned on my leg. “That’s why, when Carter showed up, I had to pretend I was on his side. My cover would’ve been blown if I didn’t.”

I can tell he’s being truthful about that, but it doesn’t explain much. Like how, in all of Mystic Willow Bay, did he convince the demons he was friends with them? Or why he didn’t seem worried when he tried to force me into the demon’s arms.

“But what if the demon had hurt me?” I utter quietly. “I mean, you just handed me over to him.”

This is all getting too overwhelming.

My eyes stay glued to him, but my mind drifts toward the door.

Run!

“He couldn’t have hurt you,” Hunter swears, a passionate fire blazing in his eyes as he wraps his fingers around my knee. “When demons try to drink from you, they die, because you’re protected by some sort of shield. That’s why I told him I’d gotten the shield down—I knew he’d try to drink from you and die.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I would never let anyone or anything hurt you.”

“That’s not true.” Tears prick my eyes as the truth squashes my chest.

My parents aren’t my parents. Ryleigh isn’t my sister. I’m not just a witch. Hunter isn’t my best friend. I’m completely alone in this world.

“You’re hurting me now.”

“Eva …” he starts with empathy in his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, me, too.” I trace the heart patterns on my comforter, a house warming gift from Ryleigh. When I think about her role in all this, my heart pierces with blinding pain.

While I love my parents and everything, I’ve never been super close to them. But Ryleigh and I … I always felt like we had a sisterly connection. I guess I was wrong.

“What about Ryleigh?”

“What about her?” Hesitancy laces his tone.

I peer up at him, but clouds have moved over the moonlight and the room has grown too dark to see him clearly. “Just how big of a role did she play in all this? And what about her death? Was that part of it, also? Do you guys know how she really died and just aren’t telling me?”

---