Page 27 of Stalked

God, he’s so arrogant.

“I’ll reach out to you when I’m ready to see you again, Okay?” I said.

“Mercy—”

I balled my hands into fists, feeling the muscles in my hands strain. “Stop!” I said sharply. “I realize this wasn’t part of your plan. I was supposed to accept your story and blindly follow you down whatever path that was meant for me. To fall back right into your arms, right? Well, maybe the Mercy in the seventeenth century would have done that, but that’s not me. My own mother attacked me for a magical power I didn’t even realize I had, and then left for dead in a car accident by someone who supposedly knows and cares for me.”

He visibly flinched, but I couldn’t care less if I was hurting him.

I continued, “I’ve also been stalked, chased through a forest, and given a centuries-old story about being a witch. Don’t expect me to trust the very person who did most of those terrifying things to me.”

I knew it must have been hard for him to understand, but he needed to know the only way I would ever trust him was if he listened to me and did what I asked onmyterms.

Caleb licked his lips. “You don’t want me to touch you? Fine. I don’t want you to ever fear me. But it’s my job to protect you. So, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Get out of my room, Caleb! And knock down thisstupidbarrier!” I pointed to the window. “Please climb down the tree outside my window, so you don’t wake Lily. I’ll ask her how to take those powers away from my mom tomorrow morning. I don’t know how much she knows about what I can do, but I’d rather have family help over someone I just met.”

Why did I let him touch me?And how the hell did this escalate so fast?

He let out a frustrated growl. “You’re just overwhelmed. I get it. Get some rest, and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I watched as he waved his hands in the air, and the blue light dissipated. I narrowed my eyes as he walked over to my nightstand, picked up my phone, fiddled with it, punched the keyboard a few times, and set it down.

“Now you have my number, and I have yours. Ask for Leah when you get to the asylum. She’ll show you how to take your powers back,” he scoffed and padded across the room to the window, opening it up. “Lily doesn’t know anything about your magic, Mercy. Not like I do. She won’t be able to help you.”

The idea of Lily being a witch was still blowing my mind. An actual witch. I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. But she still would be a good resource for how this all worked, and I trusted her more than Caleb.

“Listen, Mercy, that shield in the hospital will prevent you from using magic. That means you won’t be able to pull the powers back into your body without the facility lowering the shield.” He looked down like he was in pain. “Be careful. Your mom may not be able to use her powers on you inside that place, but she’s very manipulative. Don’t trust anything she says.”

He shot me one last glance, then crawled through the open window, disappearing without another word. I gasped and ran to look down the side of the house. Caleb couldn’t have made that jump without getting hurt. When I peered over the ledge, he was already running into the forest by our home, unharmed.

Right…he’s immortal.

I sat down slowly on my bed, still trying to make sense of all the information he had given me, then eyed my nightstand drawer. Opening it, I spotted the knife I had kept in there for protection shortly after the attack. Lily hadn’t taken it out.

I pulled it out of the drawer, closed my eyes tightly, bracing for the pain, and made a tiny slit right at the center of my palm. I winced and opened my eyes to look at the wound. After twenty seconds or so, I saw my skin seal shut. The pain subsided immediately, and my jaw dropped.

Oh, my God.

I sat dumbfounded. This was really happening.

I glanced at my phone?—it was almost one in the morning. I needed rest if I was going to face my mother the next day and make her tell me what she knew. I need to know, with complete certainty, that everything Caleb said was the truth. If it was, perhaps she would have a change of heart and willingly give me back my magic, especially if she knew it would kill her if she didn’t.

CHAPTER 9

AS I CLASPEDthe necklace around my neck, I took one last look in the mirror. I didn’t think I would be ready to face my mom for a while, but I knew I needed to.

Lily was already in the kitchen when I walked downstairs. She smiled and took a sip of her coffee. Her buttered toast was half-eaten, and my stomach clenched painfully at the thought of eating.

“That necklace looks good on you,” she said, then studied me for a moment, her voice taking an even softer tone as she asked, “Mercy, what’s wrong?”

My face paled at the thought of bringing up last night’s visitor. I sucked in a breath before answering her. “Caleb trapped me in my room last night after you went to bed,” I said. “He’s the one who chased me at the cove.”

Her eyes grew wide.

“I’m okay, despite him forcing me to listen to this long tale about what I am and where I came from.”

“Oh, shit,” she cursed, clasping her hand over her mouth. “You … you sure Caleb didn’t hurt you?”

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