Page 229 of Sigils & Spells

A chill swept through him, and he jumped when Ravyn grabbed his wrist and tugged him toward the entrance. “Come on, silly. Let’s dance!”

Daniel turned to look back to where he’d seen the weird red eyes, but nothing remained except a few flittering moths.

*.*.*.*.*

Ravyn couldn’t rememberthe last time she’d had so much fun. Okay, maybe she’d never had fun like this. Daniel spun her around, and laughed when she nearly tripped. They’d discovered early on that she got dizzy easily, but that didn’t stop them from twirling and spinning as much as possible. And though she really could not dance to save her life, she was having a great time anyway.

Daniel hadn’t allowed her to fall. He made sure he was there to catch her when she faltered.

Would he always be?

As that question made her stomach tingle with awareness of him and excitement to see where their relationship would lead, she couldn’t help but wonder how her friend had faired tonight. Aoibhe and Gabe had disappeared some time ago. Whatever the allure Gabe held for Aoibhe, Ravyn wasn’t sure she saw it. Maybe because he absolutely refused to be nice to Daniel or her. To each their own though.

Leaning in as he held her close, Daniel asked, “Are you getting hungry yet?”

Like it had a mind of its own to answer, her stomach rumbled and she put a hand over it. There was no way he would have heard it over the music, but she tilted back and nodded.

Taking her hand, he led her out into the cool night air and she shivered. One thing she didn’t think to bring was a jacket. Not that she would have kept up with it, but it was chilly outside.

Daniel shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She smiled up at him. He was the very picture of chivalry. Surely there was a flaw somewhere, right?

Annoyance at herself clawed its way through her gut. Was she really about to try to find a flaw, an excuse, to not be with him? She knew better.

She also knew she could bring about his demise simply by falling in love with him.

Maybe, if she could convince herselfnotto fall in love with him, they could still date and everything would be okay.

“What are you concentrating so hard on?”

His voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Nothing,” she said a little too quickly. “Wondering what sort of food they will have this late.”

Normally, the little marketplace stayed open all night with a self-service register, but because of the school function, the cafeteria part was supposed to be open until eleven.

“What time is it?” she asked. Her phone was in her dorm. She only had her school I.D. and her debit card slipped into her boot. Though, those had probably moved their way down her leg by now. Ravyn couldn’t tell.

Daniel fished his phone out of his back pocket and looked. “We have fifteen minutes before they stop serving cooked food.” As he put the phone away, he frowned at the trees. He’d been looking at something in that direction earlier when they’d arrived as well.

“What’s over there?”

“Dunno.” He shrugged. “I thought I saw something standing over there earlier, but it’s dumb.”

They started walking toward the cafeteria, which thankfully was not too far of a walk. “How dumb?” Curiosity was practically her middle name. “Not the lady in white again, I hope.” Would Amelia Kasper wander back to her old home, or stick to the side of the road?

“I thought I saw glowing red eyes. Stupid, huh?”

Ravyn bit her lip. They’d covered quite a few figures in class that had that sort of feature. “Maybe you saw a shadow figure,” she teased. “Did you feel an ominous sense of dread?”

“What, like we talked about in class when someone asked if they were the same thing as djinn?” He laughed. “The only thing I felt was stupid for spooking myself over a trick of the light.” They approached the building, and he opened the door for her.

“I don’t think it’s stupid,” she said as she grabbed two trays and handed him one. There wasn’t a line, and they quickly snagged chicken sandwiches and fries before hitting the beverage coolers on the way to the cashier. Since Daniel hadn’t responded to her comment, she added, “We did see a ghost lady the night of our first date. And tonight is Halloween.”

“I still don’t believe that was a ghost, but it was weird.” They sat down and he unwrapped his sandwich, scowling at it as if it were the one causing the strange happenings. “My brother had a dream about dark figures last year around this time and now again this year. I’m wondering if this is the same, only…I’m awake.” His brow furrowed as he thought about it. “Could we be sharing some sort of vision or something?”

Her lips parted. “Did…something bad happen when your brother had those dreams?” Repeating nightmares rang of prophecy.

“Not to us. Someone had been trashing his bike at night and bringing it back. Like, not even stealing it, just using up the gas and bringing it back muddy. And some random people in town died on or after Halloween. But we didn’t know them.”

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