Page 25 of When Storms Awaken

“I am being serious,” I insisted.

“Me too.” He smirked. “Come to Elixir and I’ll give you the rest of your answers.”

“I already told you, I can’t tonight.” I shook my head.

“Yeah…” he started, glancing around at the still lit candles, the charred spot on the carpet, and the crack in the drywall where the door had slammed open. “You guys lookreallybusy.”

“Really busycleaning up.” Tess laughed from the corner chair, slapping her knee.It wasn’t that funny.

Nik took a step closer, my hand clenching into a fist at my side. He tilted his head to the side, bringing his hand up to rest on my shoulder.

“Please come to Elixir, and I promise I will give you the rest of your answers.” His voice was a soft caress. I swallowed hard against the warm look in his eyes.

“You already promised that I would get my answers if we told you what we were doing in here,” I pointed out.

“Has anyone ever told you that you are entirely exhausting?” He breathed. I could smell the faint scent of cinnamon on his breath and felt a warmth pool in my stomach.

“Every. Damn. Day,” Tess chimed in with another laugh.

“If I’m being honest, I cannot handle any more excitement today.” I sighed. “And it’s a school night.”

Nik dropped his hand from my shoulder with a laugh and brushed by me, starting for the door. “And you say you aren’t boring.” He laughed softly. I shot daggers at his back as he grabbed the door handle.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, firecracker,” he said with a smile in his voice.

“And Tess,” I tacked on.

“And Tess,” he conceded with a sigh. Tess waved from the corner chair but didn’t bother to get up.

“And you’ll answer more of my questions?” I asked.

“We’ll see.” He grinned as he quickly slipped out the door and into the night. I turned back towards Tess, my shoulders heavy under the weight of all of this new information.

“One, I cannot believe both you and Nik are witches. Two, you are crazy for not going to Elixir with him”—Tess ticked off on her fingers—“and three, we have to clean up this mess before your mom gets home, or you will be grounded until the end of time.”

“I agree with you on two of those points,” I replied, blowing out the candles on the floor and moving them to the coffee table.

“And who’s to say I didn’t want to go?” she asked innocently. “You didn’t even ask me.”

“Youjust want to meet his cute friend,” I accused.

“So?” She laughed, tossing her hair back. “That’s not a crime.”

I rolled my eyes and finished cleaning up the feather, scrubbing the carpet as best as I could with a cleaning solution. Most of the stain was gone, but I positioned the ottoman just right so that it would take weeks for Mom to find what was left of it. By then, I could blame it on Jake.

“Do you want to stay over tonight?” I asked, “It’s getting late.”

“Let me call the rents, I’m not sure if I’m still on lockdown from that bad grade or not.”

I made my way to the kitchen to put the cleaning supplies away. By the time I made it back Tess had gotten permission from her parents to stay, and we headed up to my room to unpack everything that had happened tonight.

We changed into pajamas and got into bed, turning the lights out as I heard my mom come home downstairs, the front door shutting. I hoped she would be too tired to notice the crack in the drywall, maybe I could patch it tomorrow and she would be none the wiser.

“I can’t believe you were right.” Tess sighed, turning to face me in bed, grabbing a pillow to hold in her arms.

“Me neither.” I laughed in the darkness, barely able to make out her face in the dim light. “I still have so many questions. What kinds of witches are there, other than shape shifters? Why was Nik on the mountain that day? What was with his beardedfriendon the lawn? Why were they both here to begin with?”

“We have to corner him during art class tomorrow,” Tess replied resolutely.

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