Page 313 of Evil Hearts

I hear the others laughing in the background and I roll my eyes.

“I’m good, but thanks.”

“Okay, well, I guess we’ll talk tomorrow. Feel better!”

“Have fun.”

I end the call and drop my phone on the table. How crazy am I that I’m lying to my friends over some stupid spell? I huff out an annoyed sound, then shake my head and go to my room. Themorning always comes too soon, and being tired tomorrow isn’t worth all this nonsense.

I lie in bed and stare at the ceiling, watching the shadows move each time a car passes by. No matter how hard I try, I can’t sleep. It’s a little after eleven now, and I get antsier and antsier with each minute that passes. What’s the harm in trying? I’m already awake. I’d be awake even if I didn’t do it. So, I may as well try it, right?

Having all I desire, as Madame Zella said, is tempting. Too tempting. So tempting that I’m crawling out of bed and wondering how close to midnight I need to get this done for it to work. I read over the instructions again and it just says shortly before midnight. I don’t know what that means. What amount of time is “shortly”? If it isn’t specific, it can’t matter too much, right?

Once in my kitchen, I put my hands on my hips and stare at all the stuff, then out the window. It’s pitch black out there, other than the full moon up in the sky.

“Fuck it,” I mutter, grabbing everything and going out the back door. I use my elbow to flip on the floodlight. It’ll need to be off while I do this, but I’ll keep it on while I set everything up.

I lay each item out on the picnic table in the way the instructions say.

One mirror facing up with the moon in its reflection, while the other faces down. Not sure what that’s for, but whatever.

The candle is at twelve o’clock, amethyst at six, rose quartz at seven, and obsidian at ten. The water is in a glass dish in the middle, while the rose petals and feather are in a bag because I don’t want them to fly away. Not before I need them. I sit on the bench, telling myself how stupid this all is, yet I’m still doing it.

Twenty minutes until twelve seems like “shortly,” so I light the candle before going inside to shut off the light. When I return, I lay the feather in the three o’clock spot and sprinkle the petals over the entire spread, then repeat the words written on the paper.

“By my will and heart’s fire, bring forth all that I desire.”

I repeat it seven times, as it says to do on the paper. Then I wait. I wait and wait. I watch the petals flutter away in the wind, and eventually the feather gets carried away, too. A short time later, the candle blows out from a gust, and I’m basked in complete darkness, which sucks because now I have no idea what time it is. At least with the light of the candle, I could see my watch, but I can’t turn the light on my phone because it says nothing, but moonlight is allowed. So I sit some more, twiddling my thumbs, until I feel enough time has passed. Hopefully I’m not wrong. I pick up the mirror that is face down and bring it inside with me. Everything else stays where it is. It’s to remain there for a full day. The mirror in my hand comes up with me to my room and is placed under my pillow. It better not break in the middle of the night and slice open my arm.

Feeling pretty stupid over the entire thing, I plug my phone in to charge, flick off my bedside lamp, and turn over to go to sleep. Only to be woken up a short time later by someone in my bed.

Chapter Three

When I rollover in my sleep, I gasp when I feel something warm on the other side. No one lives with me, I don’t have any pets, and no one has a key.

I jerk upright, scurrying out of bed and flicking on the lamp.

But the bed is empty.

My heart pounds as I look from corner to corner to find the person who was in bed with me. I know I felt someone. They were warm and definitely there. Could it have been a dream? If so, that’s the most vivid dream I’ve ever had.

Blinking a few times, I glance out the window and see it’s still dark out. I look at the clock next. I’ve only been sleeping for three hours. I run a hand through my hair and take a trip to the bathroom—since I’m awake, I may as well.

As I walk down the hall to the bathroom, I swear I feel someone watching me. I stop in the doorway of the bathroom and look over my shoulder, but all that’s there is the dark hallway, the faint glow of yellow light spilling out of my bedroom and into the hall.

I reach into the bathroom to flip on the light, do my business, wash my hands, and turn the light off as I walk out of the room to go back to bed. For my own peace of mind, I check round the side of my bed and under it. Nothing is there. Obviously it was just a dream, so I get back into bed, shut off the light, andgo back to sleep. I shove my hands under my pillow, and that’s when I notice the mirror still there. It’s supposed to be there all night, so I leave it be, close my eyes and go back to sleep.

So pretty

So sweet

So mine.

I jerk away, my heart pounding again as I reach for the light. I look around my room, noting I’m still alone. Looking at the clock, I was asleep for only twenty minutes. What the fuck is going on? For the first time, fear crawls up my spine over what I did. I felt stupid about it, but now… what if I did something very wrong? I don’t know anything about otherworldly things. Demons. Ghosts. Who knows what else? What if it’s all real? What if I just attached some demonic being to myself and it’s going to feed off my soul for the rest of my days? What if it possesses me and destroys other people’s lives? Makes my friends hate me? Fuck, why didn’t I consider any of this before I did it?

“You’re being stupid, Ethan. This shit isn’t real.”

I huff an annoyed sound, shut off the light, and fall back into my bed.

---