Page 128 of Bound By Fury

—Nora

FORTY

“IT’S JUST A DANCE! WE can dress up and—oh! I know the perfect group costume for us!” Daisy waves her hands wildly in the air as she speaks. Beside her Missy stares off toward the maze, her eyes flat.

I can’t bring myself to look at it with her.

Ever since the séance, Missy has been around more. We’ve only talked about it once, on a foggy morning outside the student center.

“God, you’re so annoying,” Missy had grumbled about me like she always does, but I wasn’t in the mood for her attitude.

“Shut up, Missy,” I’d hissed. “Why are you even hanging out with us if you hate us so much?”

“I never said I hate you,” she snapped. “I just said you’re annoying! Because you’re annoying.” She crossed her arms and buried her head against her knees.

“Then go bother your real friends,” I scoff. “No one asked you to be here.”

“Guys,” Sam warned. “Stop.”

“Ugh,” Missy groaned.

I rolled my eyes.

“I don’t have real friends,” she said softly.

Daisy eyed her suspiciously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means my only real friend is dead, and the ones I thought were my friends don’t seem to care. They think I should just get over it and move on already.” Her bloodshot gaze met mine. “You might be the most obnoxious people I’ve ever met, but at least you don’t try to make me pretend to be okay. You don’t want me to be something I’m not.”

My heart gave an uncomfortable squeeze.

“Oh.”

Now we’re on our way across campus to meet up with Sam for lunch on the quad.

“Group costume?”

It’s been a little less than a week since I learned that I’m a Zodiac Witch. That I might even be part of some prophecy. And I haven’t been able to shake the paranoia eating me alive.

My thoughts are consumed by the lore Maureen unveiled. The knowledge that after the attack in the hedge maze, it’s reasonable to assume I’ve been marked by a hunter. That soon I might have to come face-to-face with them, again. That there are other creatures lurking in the dark woods.

I can’t stop wondering about Fiona. Did fruit grow in the place where her body lay bleeding? Or have I been wrong about her all along?

As we pass the dorm building, I notice something perplexing.

Malachi and Lucas tucked beneath the spindled shade of a towering oak. Their heads are huddled together as they speak. I watch them openly, too confused by what I’m seeing to hide it.

Whatever they’re talking about, it must be serious. The back of Malachi’s right hand meets his left palm, adding emphasis as he speaks. When he’s finished, Lucas nods before glancing over his shoulder.

They dap each other up, pulling into a quick embrace. Their faces are somber, but it’s not the same tension like hatred I’ve grown used to. It’s brotherhood, no matter how tenuous. If I squint, I might even say that Malachi has the world’s slightest grin on his face.

The sight of them together makes me uneasy, the feeling both nostalgic for our childhood yet disconcerting after all that’s changed between them.

Like a magnet, they both turn their heads in our direction. Lucas raises his hand, his dimples folding in on both sides. Beside him Malachi looks away like he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t. Like he’s embarrassed to be seen like this.

And for some reason I feel embarrassed to have witnessed it. I shake my head, hiding my blush as I turn back to Daisy just in time to see her bouncing up and down as she says, “We can do Hocus Pocus! Harper, you, Missy, and I can be the Sanderson sisters, and Sam can be Thackery Binx!”

I almost choke on my water. Witches. We could be witches for Halloween.