Page 93 of Forbidden Magic
“Then I guess it must be true.” He raises his palms nonchalantly, but his eyes are dark, and he hops to his feet.
“This is all a big game to you. Seducing my sister. Seducing me. What? You figured we would make great notches on Cole Desirys’ golden bedpost?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” He shoves his things in his bag in a hurry.
“Just admit it. I need to know what happened that night. It’s not like you would get in trouble for it anyway, so just brag about it to me like I’m sure you did to your buddies.”
“I got piss drunk on Halloween and passed out. I’d love to play the villain in every one of your faux-dramas, but I didn’t touch your sister.”
“Stop lying! I saw it with my own eyes.”
He almost runs out of class, and the urgency in his movements throws me for a loop. I thought he’d gloat, but this isn’t the face of a guy who’s happy showing off his conquests.
This is the face of a man who has something to hide.
36
Cat Got Your Tongue
Ifollow Cole into the forest. My breaths and footsteps are muffled by a silence spell, but I still almost lose him in the cold evening, the fog placing itself exactly where he needs, the birds quiet on his path.
The deeper I get into the woods, the more certain I am that this isn’t about Allie.
When I get to a meadow on the north side of the Fall’s cliffs, a thick shadow stands in front of me, not unlike the one that chased me down to the falls party. It hisses, its tendrils licking my skin.
Instead of running scared, I examine the apparition.
There’s enough light to glimpse its edges, and resembles a black mirror.
I push a bit of infernal magic forward. The shadow purrs, and a thousand black orbs of smoke arrange into the form of a cat.
Like I’ve suddenly stepped through glass, the woods around me are no longer foggy. A big black tiger with reflective blue irises and hirsute fur is scratching its side against a tree.
Cole pets its back with a sigh. “I knew you were fearless. I didn’t know you were stupid.” He reaches for me, and his fingers miss me by an inch.
I jump backwards, my nostrils flaring. I let my powers build, the fire charring through my cells. “You have a demon familiar.”
And it explains everything. The raven. The shadow. The attacks. Cole hasn’t been doing all that by himself. He’s had help.
Holly. Lydia. Cole is at the root of the cancer festering in Dark Falls.
“Yes. She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” His amiable features are wiped away by a calculated glare. It feels as though he’s actually asking.
I curl my hands into fists. He’s playing with me, taunting me, and I won’t give him the satisfaction. “Allie’s not a mean, hare-brained girl. I don’t know how you did it, how you got her under your spell, but I’ll find out what you did to her and when I do…”
“Will you let me talk?”
And I hate myself, because I want to hear what he has to say. I want to know why, but most of all, my heart is weeping for a reasonable explanation.
“It was you all along. The beast. The shadow. You summoned that demon to slaughter us all.”
His lips press in a hard line.
All my hopes that this might not be as dire as I think are erased by the cruel curve of his mouth. “Mortals shouldn’t be allowed here.”
The vindication nearly floors me.
I arch a sarcastic brow, calling him out for being the hypocrite that he is. “Even me?”
