And Emily had been the one to convince Nikki to take shots with her and also to approach the guys in the first place.
Although, Emily had been wise enough to eventually leave the guys alone and go on her merry way. But Nikki . . . well, not so much.
Emily’s eyes grew as round as saucers as understanding dawned on her. Nikki had a boyfriend at the time—who was publicly humiliated because Emily and Nikki did this in front of everyone. The boyfriend burst into tears when Nikki dragged her new boy toy off to one of the bedrooms.
That boyfriend was Michael.
Emily had totally forgotten that part.
The entire football team—and several cheerleaders—made fun of him for weeks afterward. His entire reputation went to hell because of it.
Emily hadn’t even bothered to learn his name at the time. After all, he hadn’t been of any importance to her . . .
Apparently, she’d been wrong. Her own brother had been offended and humiliated. Not directly by her, but definitely as a result of her actions that night in Drake’s father’s mansion, and that had started this bad blood between them.
How was she supposed to apologize for something she did a year before? No, that was the wrong question. She had no problem saying sorry. She had a problem with thinking Michael would believe her.
I mean, he’s obviously developed a personal vendetta against me. It all made sense now. The desire to out her. The drive to want to make her suffer. Even looking for something where there was no obvious evidence. He wanted her to be an Owl because he wanted her gone. Dead and gone.
Emily couldn’t even remember specifics of that night. Most of the night was a blur to her, but from the fierce fire in Michael’s eyes, she could tell it was still very much fresh to him.
Emily hated herself in that moment. How could she have done that to him? Her brother?
You didn’t know, Selena offered, but it wasn’t enough.
Emily knew she shouldn’t treat people with such disregard.
You’re a different person now, Selena countered. You’re a better person now.
Am I? “Michael, I’m—”
“Don’t!” Michael cut her off. “Don’t even dare.” His voice sounded choked. His eyes all blurred up with tears.
“Let’s just do this and get it done,” Michael said after a moment. He puffed out a couple of breaths before looking back at her. The plastic smile was back on his face, but there were traces of hurt in his eyes.
Emily had never felt this much longing before. She longed to hug him. She longed to make him feel better. She longed to scrub the memory of her error from his mind. Yet, she could do none of these. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she had no such ability, and she didn’t think Michael would appreciate being touched, especially by her.
This was not the last of it, anyhow. They would revisit this issue, especially when they weren’t trying to escape the Alfreds.
Biting her tongue—literally—Emily said, “Walk me through the plan again.”
Michael obliged. The trickiest part of the plan was going outside to engage the Alfreds. Michael was supposed to cast the confundus spell as Emily talked with the three just before they restarted bombarding the barrier with magic.
Emily didn’t want to ask Michael if he was capable of such a level of magic. She knew he’d only say yes, and her reticence would not do anything to improve their relationship. So she simply nodded that she was ready and decided to put her faith in him. It was the least she could do after what she’d done to him.
Michael led her outside. The safest place to be was the porch. According to Aunt Anastacia, that was where the internal barrier began.
The Alfreds were laughing about something. All hunched over the Land Rover’s hood, munching on burgers and fries and drinking from large cups of what looked like soda. Just enough sugar and carbs to replenish their energy.
The moment Michael and Emily stepped into the light, Alice looked up at them. “Well, look who it is,” said the vampire girl. A feisty look on her face. “The warlock brother and the Owl sister. This is going to be fun!”
Emily glanced at Marion, who looked wary. “Did you know?” she asked. “That we’re siblings?”
Chandler and Alice both glanced at Marion.
Marion clearly didn’t like the attention cast on him, but he didn’t shy away from answering. “Yes, I did.”
Emily would have asked him why he hadn’t told her, but then he would have replied that they weren’t friends, so he wasn’t obligated to tell her anything. Which was valid. Or he would have told her that he assumed she already knew Michael was her brother.
So Emily asked the next question that popped into her head. “Why are you doing this?” Of course, it was a dumb question, seeing how Chandler had all but told her their full-blown manifesto. World domination and the whole shebang, but, hey, this wasn’t about asking intelligent questions. This was about keeping them preoccupied.
Alice growled and slid off the Land Rover. “How many times are we going over this?” she asked, rolling her eyes as she marched up to the house. “We are doing this because we want to—”
“Okay!” Emily cut in before the girl could say the Na-Ma word. She hoped Alice didn’t catch on to the reason she’d cut her short. “But why kill us?”
Alice paused and looked at Emily as though she’d said something stupid. “Um, because that’s the only way it works . . . duh?”
Obnoxious little brat.
Emily’s gaze slid past her to Marion. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Don’t listen to her, Marion,” Alice retorted without looking back. Her face had turned dark. Fire lit up her eyes. Sparks filled her hands. Her rage was coming on.
Emily thought it weird that her words should have any effect on Marion. Why else would Alice feel the need to contradict her? Emily decided to try again.
“You
