Darker Days

“I’ve spoken to him at length this morning. It’s fascinating—how it all works. I don’t believe it’ll be an issue.” She shook her head, a faraway, fascinated gleam in her eye. “He has amazing control… If it looks like there’s going to be a problem, then come back home.”

“Wouldn’t it just be easier to stay home in the first place? Avoid trouble?”

She backed away a step and folded her arms. “Wouldn’t it have just been easier to study for the history exam?”

Busted.

…

Mom left before we did. I went through her papers, hoping to find something about the leads she mentioned, but all I’d found was a small pink Post It note that said, Stop stalling and go to school!

The first part of the day was basically uneventful. No teacher-student death matches or science room frog corpse fights. There were whispers in the hall about a small scuffle between the mascot of the football team and a linebacker, but they were both tools on their best days. I was betting their inner ass was more to blame for that one than rampaging Sin.

“Okay, let’s go over it again,” I said as we entered the cafeteria for lunch. “Who are you supposed to be?”

This was the fourth time since we’d gotten to school that I’d made him repeat it. I’d managed to avoid most of my friends, but lunch period would be a free-for-all. When we’d stopped at my locker to dump my books, I found three notes asking who the hotness was I was toting around. They’d be all over him like vultures on a corpse the second we sat down.

Lukas sighed. “I’m your cousin and I’m visiting from out of town. We’re moving here, and I was sent ahead to check out the school.”

“Good. And you’re sure people aren’t going to freak out? Start slapping each other silly with plastic trays?” By the time we made it to the cafeteria, lunch was almost over. Suited me just fine. The last thing I needed to deal with was a massive food fight—or worse—a multi-person spork duel.

“It’ll be fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

He kept saying he was fine, but he didn’t look fine. Shoulders rigid and jaw tense, he looked like a guitar string ready to snap. His head tilted now and then as people passed like he was listening to something, and every once in awhile his fingers would curl into a fist until his knuckles turned white. If that was fine, then I was the Easter Bunny in drag.

A few more steps. “No impending explosions?”

“I’m fine,” he snapped. “Being trapped in the box didn’t make me an idiot.”

“Someone’s a touchy Sin this morning,” I muttered, readjusting my backpack. I’d loaded the thing up so I didn’t have to keep stopping by my locker. By the end of the day, I’d be in serious need of a chiropractor. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

We wove through the crowd and settled at my usual table in the front corner of the room. A set of aqua blue eyes bordered by ultra thick lashes pinned me before my butt even hit the seat.

“So, um, Jess. Introductions puh-leese?” Kendra said, eyebrows waggling. She tapped the side of her tray with a neon pink-tipped fingernail while the other hand fluffed her blonde curls. She’d been talking about cutting her hair lately, but it’d never work. She needed it to hide the horns.

Kendra was a novice witch with some seriously bad luck—or lack of skill, as Mom put it. She’d been forbidden from doing magic after a spell went awry and she ended up outfitting herself with a small pair of black horns. She’d been trying to fix the horn on her car… As a lesson, her Mom made her keep them until she could get rid of them on her own. It’d been three weeks now and she still wasn’t any closer.

She bit off the tip of her carrot. “I tried to get your attention all during math. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were avoiding me.”

I shot a quick glance at Lukas. He was watching Kendra with a blank expression. “I wasn’t avoiding you… I was just—”

“Not in a sharing mood, huh?” She pouted. “Can’t say I blame you, but…”

“Down, girl.” I snickered and hitched a thumb sideways in Lukas’ direction. “Lukas is a cl—”

“Hey, Jess.” Garrett Redding thumped his loaded tray on the table, wedging himself between Lukas and me.

“—own,” I fumbled. “Lukas is a total clown…”

Garrett didn’t seem to notice. He stuffed half a cheeseburger into his mouth and chewed noisily. Why did football players have to eat like pigs? He took a long swig from his Pepsi, then swiveled to face Lukas. “Where’d you come from?”

“I’m Jessie’s cousin. From out of town.”

“Lukas is here to check out the school. See how he likes it,” I said, ripping open the bag of Cheetos I’d brought. Steering the conversation away from Lukas was the best thing I could do. I popped a Cheeto into my mouth, and asked, “How’s your mom doing?”

A few weeks ago, Mom and I had tracked down Garrett’s MIA Dad. He’d gone to work one day and never came home. When we finally found him, he was in the burbs of Pennsylvania with his other family. Mrs. Redding had an idea her husband had been cheating—she just never expected to find an entire family. In the end, she was just happy to know the truth. And have proof. The way I’d heard it, Garrett’s dad made a cushy six-figure salary. We’d given Mrs. Redding enough ammo to take him for everything and then some. The whole thing had given me warm squishies.

Garrett nodded and downed the rest of his soda in one gulp. Thumping his chest twice, he let out a yak- worthy burp and said, “Copasetic. She wants to have you guys over for dinner. Ya know, to say thanks.”

“It’s no big. Just doing our job and all that.”

Garrett shrugged. His eyes lingered on mine for a second, like there was something more he wanted to say, but instead, he turned to Lukas. “Where ya from?”

“Yes, Lukas,” Kendra snickered, leaning her elbows on the table. “Where are you from?”

“My family is from Penance originally, but I’ve moved around a lot.”

Huh. From Penance? That was new information. Useful, too, if he was telling the truth. Penance was big on history. I was betting Marnie Phelps—the town clerk—kept records in the basement of Town Hall, along with boxes full of donations from days past. If Lukas didn’t want to share about his past, maybe I could dig up some dirt.

“Looks like you’re not the only new kid in town. Did you get a load of the new chick?” Garrett let out a sharp whistle. “Hawt! Girl’s got a pair that would drive a priest crazy.”

Lukas blinked. “A pair of what?”

Garrettt held both hands in front of his chest and pumped them up and down. “Dude, she’s fappable.”

Kendra groaned and flicked a perfectly manicured finger at him. “Classy. Real classy.”

Lukas closed his eyes and sighed. “It saddens me to bear witness to the decline of the English language.”

“New chick?” I asked in an attempt to side track them.

“There.” Garrett pointed to a gathering crowd across the room as a blonde girl sauntered into the room. “Hottie at twelve o’clock.”

At the other end of the table, Lukas paled. He gripped the edge of his seat and whispered, “She’s one of them.”

The girl was surrounded by what looked like almost every guy in the school. She was at the center, talking and giggling as the crowd hung on each word like she was spouting the formula to end world hunger. Or the cheat codes for Halo.

As if she’d heard Lukas speak, she turned and winked in our direction. The crowd reluctantly parted, and she strode toward us, working the cafeteria floor like it was a runway in Paris.

“How did she get away with wearing that?” Kendra whispered in awe. She’d gotten sent home on the first day of school this year for wearing a skirt that was two inches too short. It was a sore spot.

The girl’s too-tight black sweater dipped to a dangerous V, showing off cleavage that would make a porn