Cursed

Maybe not as bad as you, but sometimes I have to stop it. Okay? Pain stops it for a little while, but then it all comes back. Hate. Love. Lust.”

“I thought Cromwell taught you how to control it?”

Phoebe snorted. “Yeah, sure. You know, I used to be able to get away from it at home, but I don’t even have that anymore. Geez, it sucks. Why am I even telling you this? You don’t know anything. You’re not even gifted.”

Whatever sympathy I felt for her started to slip away. “Just use the damn bathroom.”

“You don’t know anything. The accident?” She tossed the thick mane of hair over her shoulder, laughing. “That wasn’t an accident.”

My stomach clenched. A strange buzzing filled my ears. “What?”

“Don’t be so dumb about it. They wanted Olivia. Not you. Not your family. So they went for it. No one knew she’d bring your ass back. I guess that screwed up their plans, huh?”

Her words hung between us. Everything else in the world came to a standstill. I felt hot, then cold.

Surely I had misheard her.

She pointed at me. “You should see the look on your face.”

“How do you know this?”

“Come on, it’s obvious. None of our parents wanted us, or any of the other gifted. But yours didn’t want to give her up.” She glanced down at her drink, frowning. “My cup is, like, empty.”

I wanted to shake her. “Phoebe, do you know who caused the accident?”

Phoebe lifted her head slowly. Some of the beer-fog faded from her face. “I really have no clue what I’m talking about. I don’t even have to pee anymore.”

My mouth hit the ground. “Phoebe—”

“I’m done here.” She held up her hand. “Your freaking emotions are choking the crap out of me.”

I started toward her, but she dipped around me. “Please. You can’t tell me something like that and then walk away!”

“Look, I’m drunk. I don’t even know what I’m talking about.” She started down the dark path. Then she darted into the bushes, disappearing from view.

There was no way I was letting this drop. She obviously knew something. I rushed after her, hoping I picked the right bushes to squeeze past. Anger clawed through me. How could she say something like that, and then say she didn’t know what she was talking about?

The further I went, the more the thin branches snapped at my hair and my clothing, but I caught sight of her slender figure rounding a tree.

“Phoebe!” I yelled, knocking a branch out of my face.

Thick underbrush made it hard to follow, and I wondered how Phoebe had gotten so far ahead in heels. I tripped more than once.

And then I was lost.

I stopped, hugging my elbows as I scanned the darkness. I couldn’t even hear any of the kids anymore or see the bonfire. All that surrounded me were shadows. A shiver tip-toed over my skin. “Phoebe!” My voice cracked as my stomach hollowed.

Picking up my pace, I pushed through prickly bushes that grabbed at my tights. One of the branches snagged my hair again. I yanked to the side, losing a few strands of hair in the process. My heart tumbled over itself as I sucked in air.

“Crap,” I whispered.

The shadows seemed to laugh at me.

Shivering, I started walking again. All around me, twigs snapped as things scurried along in the darkness. Pretty sure I was about to be eaten by a bear, I started running. The ground suddenly sloped upward in front of me. Stumbling, I fell on my knees. Pain shot down my shins, causing me to cry out.

The noise startled whatever was in the trees. Branches shook and leaves fell around me as birds—

bats?—took to the sky, wings flapping.

Heart racing, I climbed to my feet and trudged up the slight hill. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw the highway Hayden and I had come down. Now I just needed to figure out if I should go left or right. I scoured the road for a sign, finally spotting a small green one I recognized.

Wheeling around, I headed right. When I got back to the party, I was going to find Phoebe, whip off my gloves and choke her. But right now I hugged myself and barreled down the side of the road. Cold air whipped against me, and I found myself wanting to be near Hayden. He always put off such wondrous heat, warming more than just my skin. Surrounded by the night and all alone, I could admit to myself that I was attracted to Hayden— like really, ridiculously attracted to him. A pointless attraction, but it didn’t change how I felt.

Had Hayden even realized I was missing?

I forged ahead, relieved to see the shapes of cars parked at the entrance of the cornfield a ways up the road. A brutal gust of wind cut through my clothes, and once again, I pictured my hands wrapping around Phoebe’s throat.

One of the cars parked on the side of the road flipped on their high beams, momentarily blinding me. I stumbled back a step, shielding my eyes against the intense light. Over the rushing wind, I heard the engine kick on, purring to life. It sounded nothing like the hunk of metal I used to drive.

I lowered my arm as the car pulled onto the road. A sliver of moonlight snuck out from the clouds, glittering off the car’s black, glossy surface. Something about the vehicle triggered a memory, but it was too dark to really make out anything other than it was a coupe of some sort.

The car slowed down as I started walking faster. Watching it out of the corner of my eye, I realized the windows must’ve been tinted, like the Porsches in the Cromwell’s garage. Black, two-door cars…

Without warning, the car sped up and veered to the right—toward me. Panic rooted me to the spot. I couldn’t move—couldn’t breathe as the car bore down on me.

Chapter 15

Instinct propelled me into action. I sprang to the side, narrowly avoiding the bumper as the car flew past me, kicking up loose gravel. My footing felt off. I toppled backward, sliding down the incline. There was a screech as the car swerved back onto the road and roared down the highway.

I lay there, sprawled in the itchy grass, my heart pounding as I stared up at the cloudy, dark sky. It took several deep breaths to drag air into my lungs.

Numbly, I sat up and checked myself over. My legs curled inward, still working. I climbed to my knees and stood. The car was long gone, but my heart still thundered against my ribs.

I started walking toward the parked cars, reeling from what’d just happened. It could’ve been accident. Kids were drinking. It was dark and they probably hadn’t expected anyone to be walking along the highway.

It couldn’t be that someone had intentionally tried to run me over.

Every part of my body was shaking by the time I rounded the cars and spotted the glow of the bonfire.

I hugged my arms close, but shudders racked my body.

Small clusters of kids hung out around the cars, laughing and having a good time. They were completely oblivious to me stumbling past them, didn’t know what’d happened on the highway.

“Ember!”

I turned at the sound of Hayden’s voice. He came out of the thick shadows surrounding the cornfield, the baseball hat sitting low on his forehead. I stared, unable to respond.

He grasped my arms. “Ember, where’ve you been? I saw you leave with Phoebe, but then she came back without you. Are you okay?”

“She left me in the woods.” My voice was hoarse, shaky. “I got lost.”

His grip tightened. “She did what?”