Page 26 of Blood Magic (Ariel Kimber 3)

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked Tyson rudely.

He couldn’t be upset about next weeks weather report. Right? And surely that’s not what he wanted Julian and I in here to see, what he worried Scary Uncle Quinton would get so upset about.

“Tyson,” I said when he didn’t say anything in response to my question.

He shoved his fingers up and into his hair. He wrenched his hair back from his face in one painful movement.

I winced for him, it looked that painful. He didn’t seem to notice.

“This is bad, girl,” he said as he looked up and straight at me. His dark brown eyes were troubled, almost frantic. “This is so fucking bad. You have no damn idea.”

I rushed across the room on silent feet. When I made it to the couch, I collapsed onto it and beside him. My thigh pressed along the length of his. I leaned into him and rested my head on his shoulder. I wrapped my arm around his lower back and simply sat still, waiting for him. He’d give it to me when he was ready to. I wasn’t about to rush him. I wouldn’t need to, Tyson had a short fuse and it didn’t only apply to his temper.

And I was right not to push him because he didn’t make me wait. What he said when he did open his mouth to explain? It was so unexpected and unbelievable that it had my insides freezing over. I was also conflicted because part of me was relieved by what he told me had happened. The other part of me was baffled and frightened. Not that I would ever share that with him. Or, with any of them. Ever. My babysitters had already instructed me earlier not to share my opinion when it came to our current subject matter. Especially if I shared a different opinion than was popular amongst them. I wasn’t too bent out of shape about this. I would rather not have to argue with them.

“It’s unbelievable,” Ty whispered in disgust. “Uncle Quint is going to fucking lose it on everyone. Every damn body. Do you know what I just saw on the news?”

I shook my head in the negative even though he wasn’t looking at me to see me doing it. My throat was too closed up to speak actual words. I had no idea what was going on because I had no psychic abilities that I was aware of. But I did know that I did not like how he was acting.

“There were Council members,” he said. “On the news and they were walking outside of the goddamn police station and they had that stupid football player with them. The lady was standing outside the police station with her microphone out, interviewing a detective about a case and there they were in the background. They just strolled right on out with Chuck. Like, what the fuck? What the hell did they do to get him out and why in the hell would they do that? This means that not only are they still in town, which we did not know about, but that they’ve been paying attention to the situation going on here with us. We had been told they had gone home. They lied to us, spied on us and now they’ve gone and gotten Chuck released from jail. Who the fuck knows what kind of magic they used for that and on who. Or, what stories they weaved to gain this outcome. It’s fucked, the whole thing is fucked. And now I have to call Uncle Quint and tell him about what I saw. Something, in case you missed it, girl, I have no desire to do.”

My mouth tightened as my stomach dropped. Thinking about Chucky being in the hands of the mysterious and, in my mind, evil Council of Elders didn’t bring me warm and fuzzy feelings. Nothing I had heard about them made me think anything good about them. They sounded like horrible, scary people. After all Chucky had been through because of us I did not want him to have to go through any more. I wanted him to be in a safe, contained environment. One where he wouldn’t ever get anywhere near me or my coven again.

Tyson shifted beside me as he pulled his cell phone out of the back pocket of his dark blue jeans. He tapped his fingertip on the dark screen, bringing his phone to life.

He hesitated before pulling up his contacts list and scrolling down to Uncle Quint’s name. He hit the green button, engaging the phone call and put the phone up to his ear.

He wore a grim, determined look on his face that made me realize just how much he did not want to have to tell his Uncle about what he’d seen on the television.

I didn’t blame him, and I immediately felt sorry for him. Quinton was going to lose his mind and he was going to do it all over Tyson. And I felt bad for him.

Do you know who I didn’t think Quinton would lose his mind all over?

Me.

Therefore, I sat up straight, moving slightly away from Tyson as I did. I reached up and plucked the cell phone out of his fingers.

I put it to my ear just as Quinton growled, “What?” into the phone.

I rolled my eyes, unsurprised by his rudeness.

“Is that really how you answer your phone all of the time?” I asked. “Or, is it just your Nephew you share all that goodness with?”

“Ariel?” he murmured in a soft, sweet voice that was so far from the voice he’d used when he answered the phone that it wasn’t even funny. “Did something happen to your phone? Why are you calling me on Ty’s phone? Did you forget about it and leave it at the house and need me to go and pick it up for you?”

I blinked and thought about my cell phone. I couldn’t even remember when the last time I used it was. Had I left it at the Alexander house? I didn’t think I had. Honestly, I couldn’t think of one time I had even seen the thing while I had stayed there over the last few days. And I hadn’t once used it during our stay at the hospital.

That left, what?

Upstairs on my dresser.

I had gone without a cell phone for most of my life and hadn’t even noticed it’s absence for over a week. That didn’t seem like a normal teenager almost adult thing to do. Then again, neither did being stabbed, unless you lived in a really shitty, gang banger neighborhood.

“No,” I murmured into the phone. “I think my phone is upstairs on the dresser but thank you for offering to go and get it for me. That’s sweet.”

Now that I had that out of the way, I wasn’t sure how to break the news to him.

Tyson’s hand appeared in front of my face and he gestured to his phone at my ear.

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