Changeling
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“Why did you call Morgan sis?” Matt asked. My stomach fell. I didn’t know if I was ready to deal with Kithic knowing we were half siblings.
Killian grinned broadly and stretched his arm across the back of my chair. “Oh, you know—Morgan and I, we’re kindred spirits.”
Startled I caught Killian’s eye, and he winked.
“You and Morgan?” Robbie looked at me questioningly, and when I shrugged, he gave me one of his skeptical half smiles. “Whatever you say…”
“Can I borrow your phone? I was supposed to call Eileen,” I asked Bree. She took out her tiny red cell phone and handed it to me. I got up and moved ten feet away.
I punched in Hunter’s phone number from memory. Crap! His phone was busy. Get call waiting, I thought. I’d have to try him again later.
“Hey, I know what,” Killian was saying as I returned to the table. “I found a pub over at Nortonville. What say we adjourn there?” Nortonville was slightly bigger town about twenty minutes away.
“Ooh, yeah,” said Raven at once.
“I’m up for it,” Bree said, glancing at her watch. It wasn’t eight yet. She looked at Robbie, and he nodded at her.
In the end everyone but Alisa, who asked to be dropped off at home, claiming that she needed to cram for geometry test, piled into three cars and drove over to Nortonville. I was in front, with Matt’s white pickup and Breezy, Bree’s BMW, behind me. Jenna, Ethan, and Sharon were laughing in the backseat of my car. Next to me, Killian was humming cheerfully and keeping time by hitting his knee with his palm.
My brain was already in the pub, trying to plan a way to get closer to Killian. If Killian started drinking, maybe he would let something slip. Maybe then it would be easier to talk to him about Ciaran, ask him to get Ciaran to come to Widow’s Vale. Tonight was the night to get him to open up. Eoife had made sense last night, but right now Suzanna Mears lay in a coma. Every time I thought of Imbolic and the remaining members that could be hurt before then, I felt sick. Time was all too short.
“Turn down this road,” Killian directed.
“Oh, this is old Highway 60,” I realized. “We’re not quite in Nortonville. We come down this road to get to the mall.”
Killian shrugged. “Up there.” He pointed. “There it is.”
When Killian had said “pub,” I had pictured a pub-like restaurant, maybe with and Olde English theme. But this was an actual bar. It was called the Twilite, and it looked like a converted Dairy Queen with it’s windows painted over and red light bulbs blinking out front.
The three cars parked, and we gathered in the cold night air. “So, Killian,” said Jenna. “How do we plan to get in? We are all underage.”
“Not a problem,” Killian said lightly. “Leave it to me.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Sharon and Ethan having a whispered conference. In the end Sharon sighed, and they joined us by the bar’s door. It was a Tuesday, so there were only a few other cars in the lot. The battered pink door opened, and a big guy leaned out to look at us.
“Yeah?”
Here’s where we get bounced, I thought, but Killian looked at the guy and said quietly, “There are nine of us.”
The man frowned and glanced at us. Killian waited patiently, and when the bouncer looked back at Killian, he seemed confused for a moment. “Right, nine,” he said finally, as if from a distance.
Killian smiled broadly, clapped the bouncer on the back, and strode into the bar. The rest of us followed him like baby ducks. Inside it was dark and smelled like spilled beer and sawdust and fried food. With my mage sight I could see clearly at once, but Bree and Robbie hesitated next to me. I touched Bree’s arm lightly, and she followed me deeper into Twilite.
“And another Jell-O shot for me and my friend!” Killian called loudly. The waitress smiled and nodded and headed to the bar. It was ten-thirty, and the Twilite had picked up a lot.
“This place isn’t so bad,” Bree said loudly into my ear. Music was streaming from the old-fashioned jukebox that Killian kept feeding with quarters. By now we were all used to the noise and the dim light and the flickering of a TV that was mounted high in one corner. There were two pool tables in an alcove in the back, and a group of townies was playing and getting progressively louder.
I nodded in agreement. “It looks like a dive from outside.” This felt similar to being with Killian in that club in New York, except this place was smaller, much less cool, and much less crowded. And of course, this place wasn’t packed with blood witches. And Hunter and I were no longer together… Oh, Goddess, don’t go down that road, I told myself. Still, the festive air that surrounded my half brother had caught up to us in the Twilite, and once again we were all laughing until our faces hurt, even me. The fact that most of us were drinking, underage or not, wasn’t hurting.
“Hey, are you all right?” Bree spoke into my ear again, struggling to be heard over the music but still quiet enough so the whole pub wouldn’t hear. “I know it must be hard for you, being out but not having Hunter anymore.”
I nodded. I was grateful for Bree’s concern, but this didn’t seem like the time or place to talk about it. “It’s hard,” I agreed. “Thanks for asking. I’m okay, though.”
“If you need to talk…” Robbie came up behind Bree and kissed her cheek. She giggles, and suddenly I felt very single. Bree gave me one last concerned look, and I smiled to show her I was okay.
“Sip?” Bree asked Robbie, holding out her screwdriver.
He shook his head, half smiling. “No—some of us have to be able to drive.” Bree was being extremely friendly to him, pressing close and talking in his ear. I looked around the table, feeling like everyone here was my good friend, that we could celebrate Wicca together. Not having Hunter with me, being a single girl among all the couples—I missed what I’d had with Hunter more than I could say. But still, having a group of friends I loved helped ease the pain inside me, just a little.