Page 17 of The 13th Daughter
"There's no such thing as magic," I grouched, mad that she'd try and trick me.
She laughed and kissed the top of my head. "So how do I look?"
"Beautiful," I told her, unable to stay mad at her for long. She really was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen and tonight, tonight she looked like a goddess descending from the stars.
"Thank you," she said and fingered the locket. "Do you know why I'm wearing this?"
I shook my head.
"So you really will be with me." She leaned down and pulled me into a hug. The heart shaped locket held a picture of both of us. "I have an idea." She went into the bathroom and came out with a pair of scissors. She snipped a piece of each of our hair and put it into the locket. "I want you there too, little sister, and this way, I'll have a piece of you with me."
Her sapphire eyes had glowed with happiness when she'd left the house. She'd been just as excited as Megan. Emily had truly loved everything about the Coven, so why had she warned me to stay away from it? It made no more sense to me now than it hadall those years ago. I'd seen the same desperation in her eyes that I'd seen in Dad's. What had caused her to change her mind? It was a mystery I needed to solve and soon.
"Can you not stay put for five minutes?"
I looked up into a pair of flashing storm clouds. Ethan glared down at me, a picnic basket in one hand. I swallowed. Picnic basket?
"I had to pick up our food," he growled and sat down next to me. His shirt stretched tight over his muscles and his jeans looked poured on. Did he have to look so yummy? "Then I come out to find you gone. I have been looking for you for the last twenty minutes. How do you move so fast in those heels?"
I glanced at my favorite black Jimmy Chou's. They'd cost me a small fortune, but the three inch black heels were more than worth it.
"Do not start on my shoes. You're in enough trouble as it is. I didn't really appreciate the attitude so I left," I told him, aware of his arm brushing mine as he pulled out the Styrofoam containers. My stomach rumbled at the smell of hamburgers. I was really hungry. Dad claimed my stomach was a bottomless pit and I had to agree with him. When I opened the one he handed me to reveal my favorite burger off the menu, made just the way I liked it, I almost started salivating. Lucy's had the best bacon cheese burgers in the state. Her burgers had even been featured on that show about diners on the Food Network.
"Attitude?" he asked, puzzled.
"I didn't appreciate getting hauled out of there like a naughty child."
He took a bite of his burger and his eyes crossed. "Good God, what's in this? I've never tasted anything so good."
"It's a secret recipe. Lucy won't tell anyone. Next, I did not appreciate you leaving a note on my locker while you were offwith my best friend." Did my voice get just a wee bit loud at that? He was lucky I wasn't shouting.
"I took her home because she is your best friend," he snapped. "She was dead on her feet and I didn't think you'd appreciate it if she fell asleep driving home and was in an accident, especially considering what happened to your sister."
Oh. I cast a quick peek up at him and saw him glaring down at me. He'd taken her home because of me? Wait, I didn't tell him how Emily had died.
"How do you know what happened to my sister?"
"I asked Billy." He grabbed a fry and paused, watching me dip my own in blue cheese sauce. "What's that?"
I held it out for him to sniff and laughed when his face screwed up in disgust.
I popped the fry in my mouth. "Blue cheese. It's an acquired taste."
"If you say so." He eyed me with open curiosity as I savored the taste. "Billy said you took Emily's death really hard. I was only trying to make sure you didn't have to go through that again."
Crap. He had to go and remind me what a nice guy he was. "I'm sorry," I muttered. "I jumped to conclusions. Kay..."
"...is Kay," he interrupted me. "She's not you."
"She's beautiful," I whispered, not looking at him. "Every guy we know wants her." My paranoia was getting the best of me. I had never doubted myself before, but Ethan made me think crazy things, feel insane things, and I felt like I was losing my mind.
He sighed. "Have you not ever looked at yourself, Cassie? You're just as beautiful as she is." He reached out and wrapped a lock of my hair around his finger. "Your hair reminds me of the sunset and your eyes fascinate me. I've never seen such a blend of gold and yellow. They're not brown, not really, unlessyou get good and mad. No, they look more like honey." His other hand came up and cupped my cheek. "Your skin is the softest alabaster and as smooth as silk. You're gorgeous, Cassie Jayne Bishop."
Is that what he really saw when he looked at me? No one had ever said anything so beautiful to me in my entire life. He made me feel special.
He let go of me and tweaked my nose. "Now eat your food before it gets cold. Lucy said it was your favorite."
Flustered, I tried to pick my burger up with both hands, forgetting one was injured until pain lanced through it. "Oww!" I cried out, not expecting the sharp pain.
