Dad slid in behind the wheel a second later and started his car up with the push of a button. “You all right?”
“What did they want?” I asked. I could still feel the Devils behind us, like a storm cloud growing on the horizon.
“Tensions are high right now,” Dad answered, echoing what Crowe said last night. “They just wanted me to understand that they know I’m here. A welcome party, if you will.”
“Um. They didn’t look that welcoming.”
“Yeah, well. It’s just a game. I know how to play it, and all I want is for folks to keep to the rules.” Fake casual again. He couldn’t fool me.
“You’re not here just to watch the Devils, though, are you?”
“No, not unless they’re breaking those rules.”
“Dad, of course they are. Everyone knows that.”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Some rules are more important than others.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jem, it’s Syndicate business, and I can’t discuss everything with you. Especially not when you’re still obviously in Crowe Medici’s orbit.”
“Believe whatever you want, Dad,” I said, more harshly than was probably necessary. “It’s not like you actually know me or anything about my life, after all.”
His jaw clenched. He put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot.
I crossed my arms over my chest and said nothing on the drive home. I didn’t want to get between Dad and the Devils anyway. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe I should just stick with a guy like Darek who could understand our world but wouldn’t be fully immersed in it.
Maybe I should just walk away from all of it and teach myself not to care.
Or maybe I should grow wings and fly to the moon. Sadly, that would have been easier.
SIX
ALEX FINALLY TEXTED ME AFTER MY TENSE CHICKEN FAJITA lunch with Dad, which had ended with him kissing me on the forehead and promising he’d catch up with me later before taking off in his shiny car. When I saw her name flash across my screen, I was equal parts relieved and terrified to read the message.
I don’t hate u, u loon. Pissed @ Crowe tho. Like to stuff that bird and hang him above the fireplace. R we still heading over to the property together? Have smthing to tell u. Can’t txt it.
The relief that ran through me was nearly palpable.
I’m glad, I replied. I was worried. Stupid rules. Stupid Crowe. Yes lets go together around 4?
Yup I’ll pick you up.
I showered and dressed, and by the time I came out of my bedroom, Alex was having a cup of coffee in the kitchen with my mom. She’d kindly brought me a frozen latte, since I only drank hot coffee in the mornings.
“Is that what you’re wearing to the festival?” Alex asked.
I glanced down at the outfit I’d picked: black leggings, black motorcycle boots, and a loose-fitting gray V-neck tee. “What’s wrong with this?”
“Show some leg!” Alex said. “Maybe some butt cheek. I mean, it’s the Kindled Festival. It will be crawling with hot, powerful guys.”
Mom sent me a meaningful look. She thought I should tell Alex about Darek, but I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Admitting that I was friends with the enemy seemed like a risk I didn’t need to take—especially now. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I put Darek in danger.
“I think I’m fine on my own, thank you very much,” I said.
“Yes, but Crowe would be jealous if he found you hooking up with another kindled. He would pretend otherwise, of course. Imagine if you hooked up with Katsuya Kitsamura? Crowe would die.”
Katsuya was a Curse King—the vice president of the club, actually. They were based in Minnesota, and he was not only incredibly hot—he was also packed with the arma magic that ran legendary through his family line. I’d met him last year, and nearly choked on my tongue because of both. He had the same power as Gunnar except a lot more of it, and his pale yellow magic was so thick and reeking of sulfur that I’d almost puked on his boots after shaking his hand. He probably thought I was a freak, but that was okay, since the stench kind of put a damper on the attraction.
I laughed. “I don’t think Katsuya and I are meant to be.”
“Certainly not in that outfit,” Alex said.
“I’m not changing.”
Alex frowned. “Fine. I guess that’ll save Katsuya a few more broken bones.”
Crowe had crushed both of his legs with a curse when the Kings rolled into town a few months ago hoping to take over. He’d sent Katsuya to the hospital and the rest of them packing. There were more than a few people who had an ax to grind with the Devils.
“Are we ready, then?” Alex asked.
I grabbed my bag and my coffee. “Oh, one minute. I forgot something.” I took my stuff and scurried down the hallway, guilt beating inside me. But I needed this—I was about to be in a place seething with magic, and I wasn’t going to make it if I didn’t prep ahead. I closed the door to my room and knelt next to my bed, reaching behind the headboard to pull out a bottle of Jack. I poured a generous measure into my frozen latte and snapped the lid back on the cup. After one or two deep pulls that led to a burn in my throat and major brain freeze, I rushed back down the hall. “Ready!”
Alex’s eyes narrowed briefly, but then she smiled and turned to my mom. “Gina, are you coming later?”
Mom folded herself into a kitchen chair, her paper coffee cup clutched between her hands. “I’ll try, but I might have to pull a double. We’re understaffed.”
Alex planted a kiss on Mom’s cheek. “My mom would love to see you.”
Mom smiled. “I’ll see what I can do. Be good, girls.”
“We always are,” Alex sang, and followed me out the door.
“I doubt she’ll come,” I said once we were outside the house.
Alex pulled a pair of large, round sunglasses on over her eyes. “Why?”
I shrugged. “Mom doesn’t really feel like she fits anymore.”
“Well,” Alex said, “I hope she does come, because she belongs there no matter what anyone thinks.”
Hearing that from her warmed me inside—Alex might have disliked certain people, but she never dissed members of our community just because they didn’t have as much power.
We climbed inside Alex’s Range Rover, and when she pressed the starter button, the air-conditioning burst from the vents like a winter wind.
I turned the AC down as Alex backed out of the driveway. I had planned to press her on the something she had said she wanted to share, but she beat me to the punch and asked, “So what’s with the giant scorch mark on the counter?”
UGGGHHH.
I took a long, slow drink from my spiked latte. “I was playing with matches.”
“Well, that’s one way to set a guy’s loins on fire.”
“Oh my God. You said ‘loins.’”
“Seriously, though. After what Crowe did to us, you let him in your house?”
“He drove me home after you ditched me.”
She winced. “I totally did. I’m sorry. I kind of short-circuited. I was so pissed at him.”
“It’s okay. I get it.”
“So he drove you home and set your kitchen on fire. My brother is such a gentleman. You know what I’m going to do? When I get my magic back, that is.”
“I suggest you do nothing.”
“I’m going to give him boils. All over his ass.”
“That might be a bit harsh.”
“Better than that fungus thing he threatened to do to me! Did you see Gunnar’s face afterward?” She shuddered.
“Has Gunnar turned up?”
“Nope. And fungus is nothing compared to what Crowe’s gonna do when he does. At this point I wonder if Gunnar’s just gone into hiding to save that pretty mug of his. Can’t say I blame him.”
We spent the better part of the ride complaining about Crowe and bitching about Katrina and the other girls Crowe had gone out with, and it f
elt ridiculously good. I liked that Alex was on my side. She wasn’t just mad that he’d made me bind her magic—she was also pissed that he’d forced me to cast in front of everyone. “I mean, I know you can, Jem, but it was such a dick move the way he did it.”
I closed my eyes. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to.”
“But you did,” she murmured. “I can’t feel my magic at all. I’ve got nothing, Jem.”
My eyes popped open and I turned to her. She was frowning as she stared through the windshield. “I’m sure it’ll wear off soon,” I said. The guilt was back. “Do you want me to…?”
I wasn’t sure I could undo the binding I’d placed on her, and dread squirmed in my gut at the thought of trying, but for her, I would.
“It’s okay,” she said. “Maybe tomorrow when the formal stuff begins? Tonight I just want to get drunk and party. Don’t need magic for that!”
I grinned, relief sweet on my tongue. “Sounds like a plan.”
The Kindled Festival was taking place this year on two hundred acres that the Medicis owned. It was the same property that the cottage and the Schoolhouse sat on, but the festival would be set up far enough away from both places that no one would wander to them. The grounds were bound on three sides by thick woods with a single one-lane road running through to the old abandoned logging mill at the edge of the Medici land, on the bank of the Sable.
The property would give everyone the privacy they craved and needed to be using so much magic away from the drecks, especially in a town as small as Hawthorne. Drecks might notice an influx of “tourists”—there would be at least four thousand people attending this year, according to Crowe’s mom—but that was all they would notice. For the most part, the kindled coming into town would be sleeping in tents or campers on the property, and those who didn’t care for camping would stay in hotels outside of town.
Lori had done most of the planning for the festival, which meant she’d coordinated all the logistics, and hired a bunch of stronger people—mostly Devils—to do the hard labor for her. Last-minute preparations were still under way when Alex and I arrived. A huge tent had been erected in what would likely be the center of the gathering. The roof rose to a pointed steeple with a Medici banner flapping from a short flagpole. The flag depicted a crow with its wings spread, clutching a human skull with its talons. A gold dagger pierced the skull through the left eye socket.
The Medicis had never been known for their subtlety.
Smaller tents in shades of gray, red, and white dotted the rest of the field as far as the eye could see. Each had its own banner: Some bore family symbols, and others were club logos. I could see the Deathstalker scorpion flying above a tent at the very end of the path right at the edge of the woods, and wondered if Lori had deliberately put them as far from the Devils as she could.
On the south side of the property, also near the tree line, a large fire pit had been built, with benches and chairs circling it. The chairs were empty, but by tonight, people would be fighting for a place to sit. And in case of rain, I was pretty sure either Lori or her brother Boone were ready to use their terra magic to make sure the grounds weren’t hit by a single stray drop.
Somewhere in the maze of tents, metal rang out against metal, followed by a string of curse words. We tracked the sound to a white tent in the far back corner of the field and ducked inside to find Crowe hammering away at a tent support with a massive sledgehammer.
Lori stood over his shoulder supervising. “You have to hit it harder,” she said.
“Ma.” He straightened and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his T-shirt. “If I drive it in any farther, I’ll fucking bury it.”
“Don’t talk back to me.”
Though Crowe’s eyes were hidden behind a dark pair of vintage sunglasses, I could tell he was glaring at her by the deep V of his brow. “I have people for this,” he said, slightly breathless, his shoulders heaving. “And I have shit to do.”
“I do, too,” Lori countered. “Now get back to work. The tent is sagging in the middle.”
I glanced up. The tent looked fine to me.
“If they aren’t secure, they’ll collapse with a puff of wind,” Lori added.
“Can’t you make sure that doesn’t happen?” asked Alex.
Lori put her hands on her hips. “I can’t be everywhere at once!”
“Lori!” someone shouted outside.
“I gotta go. Don’t cause trouble,” she said, pointing a finger at each of her kids before hurrying off to solve whatever problem had arisen.
“So are you two pests gonna behave tonight?” Crowe said casually, the sledgehammer resting on the ground by his boot. Without missing a beat, Alex said, “Why? You planning to threaten us with fungus again?” She dropped her mouth open and clapped a hand over it. “Oh, wait. Or maybe you’ll go full asshole and threaten to have Jemmie bind my magic?” Her hand fell away, revealing a sneer. “Been there, done that.”
“Careful, little sis.” Now his teeth were gritted. “I’ve had a shitty day and if you add more shit to it—”
“You’ll leave scorch marks all over our houses?” she countered.
Crowe glanced at me, and I was glad he was wearing the sunglasses. I was glad I was wearing sunglasses, so I could pretend I wasn’t looking right at him. Secrets were paramount with Crowe, and apparently this had been one he thought we’d silently agreed to keep. I hadn’t told anyone, but somehow everyone seemed to know. Why? Because the scorch mark was evidence I couldn’t hide. That was Crowe’s fault, not mine.
Still, somehow, in some way, I felt like I’d betrayed him.
“Come on,” I said, and grabbed Alex by the arm, dragging her from the tent and into the daylight.
Crowe followed us out. “You’re pissed,” he said. “I get it. But you have no one to blame but yourself. And pulling something like that on Katrina in the first place? That was just shitty.”
Alex set her hands on her hips. Her dark hair, caught by the wind, whipped around her shoulders. She looked fiery and dangerous. I loved her when she was like this, like a storm cloud threatening to rain hell. And I had no doubt she could pull it off, if raining hell was what she wanted.
“Why do you care so much about Katrina’s feelings?” Alex challenged. “She’s just one of four or five you’re stringing along, am I right?”
Crowe ran his tongue along the inside of his bottom lip, and I took a step back.
Sometimes I wondered if there was more behind Crowe and Alex’s animosity, some other discord between sister and brother that I wasn’t privy to, that Alex stoked by defending me. Crowe seemed to have an ongoing feud with everyone right now. Or at least everyone who wasn’t his subordinate. The Devils’ League members were in his good graces because they took his orders without question. Alex and me, not so much.
Finally, Crowe shifted, moving away from his sister, and the friction dissipated. He started to leave, but not before leaning into me and saying, in a low, throaty voice, “You really need her to fight your battles for you?”
Bitterness flared inside me. “This isn’t my battle at all. Who you sleep with has absolutely nothing to do with me.”
For a moment, he was completely still, like his own magic had locked all his muscles and bones into place. “You don’t understand at all,” he finally said, very quietly. And then he left, the sledgehammer hoisted over his shoulder like it weighed nothing at all.
Alex and I ambled through the paths created by the lines of tents. I wasn’t sure where we were headed, but it seemed like Alex was. I caught a glimpse of Katrina coming out of the Niklos tent, wearing a lace tank and looking confident and undeniably gorgeous. It only served to remind me of what had happened at the mall, and how Alex targeted Katrina in part out of loyalty to me.
“Crowe was right—I do let you fight my battles. Does sticking up for me bother you?” I asked, anxiety trickling in and threatening to extinguish the pleasant buzz from my Jack-infused coffee. I tosse
d the empty cup in a trash bin that had been set up next to the path. “I’m sorry if—”
“You don’t have to apologize. I’m just happy you put up with my antics.” She gave my arm a little shove. “And I’d punch the pope if he looked at you funny. You know that.”
More likely, she’d curse him, as long as her magic wasn’t bound. “I do know. I just wish…” I wished I could use my power like she did. I wished for once that every time I was around magic, it didn’t make me feel like I was going insane. I craned my neck, looking for the beer tent. I found it right down the lane, radiating music and magic that hung in the air like a shattered rainbow.
Alex followed the line of my gaze. “You know I’m the biggest partier there is, so I’m not judging, okay? But I’m worried about you. I’m not going to be an asshole about it like Crowe is, but I needed to say that.”
I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t have to look at her—or the magic. “Just to take the edge off.”
“The edge of what, Jem? You’re among family. You belong here.”
I opened my eyes and met her gaze. “Do I?”
“Of course you do. And if you’d actually use your powers like you did last night, you might realize that.” She threw an arm around my shoulders. “If you ever want to practice on me, let me know.”
I should totally take her up on her offer. She’d never laugh at me. Maybe I could even tell her about my weird reaction to magic. But I knew I wouldn’t. As much as I thought about leaving the kindled world, I didn’t want to be pushed out of it. If Alex knew magic made me feel sick, she probably wouldn’t want to go to the Schoolhouse with me. She probably wouldn’t even want to be here with me right now. She’d want to protect me, just like she always did. Maybe, though…
“You know what? Yeah,” I said. “Tomorrow? No promises, but I’ll give it a try—right after I unbind your magic.”