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“I’ve been working undercover at The Illuminating Horror House of Truth for the past year or so, trying to get a vibe on what the demons are up to, and why they want you so badly.” He cracks his knuckles against the side of his leg, keeping his other hand positioned on my leg. “That’s why, when Carter showed up, I had to pretend I was on his side. My cover would’ve been blown if I didn’t.”
I can tell he’s being truthful about that, but it doesn’t explain much. Like how, in all of Mystic Willow Bay, did he convince the demons he was friends with them? Or why he didn’t seem worried when he tried to force me into the demon’s arms.
“But what if the demon had hurt me?” I utter quietly. “I mean, you just handed me over to him.”
This is all getting too overwhelming.
My eyes stay glued to him, but my mind drifts toward the door.
Run!
“He couldn’t have hurt you,” Hunter swears, a passionate fire blazing in his eyes as he wraps his fingers around my knee. “When demons try to drink from you, they die, because you’re protected by some sort of shield. That’s why I told him I’d gotten the shield down—I knew he’d try to drink from you and die.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I would never let anyone or anything hurt you.”
“That’s not true.” Tears prick my eyes as the truth squashes my chest.
My parents aren’t my parents. Ryleigh isn’t my sister. I’m not just a witch. Hunter isn’t my best friend. I’m completely alone in this world.
“You’re hurting me now.”
“Eva …” he starts with empathy in his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, me, too.” I trace the heart patterns on my comforter, a house warming gift from Ryleigh. When I think about her role in all this, my heart pierces with blinding pain.
While I love my parents and everything, I’ve never been super close to them. But Ryleigh and I … I always felt like we had a sisterly connection. I guess I was wrong.
“What about Ryleigh?”
“What about her?” Hesitancy laces his tone.
I peer up at him, but clouds have moved over the moonlight and the room has grown too dark to see him clearly. “Just how big of a role did she play in all this? And what about her death? Was that part of it, also? Do you guys know how she really died and just aren’t telling me?”
He shakes his head with zero indecision. “Ryleigh’s death is an unsolved case. But before she died, she’d been working a few cases.” He scratches the side of his neck, fidgeting. “Including the one I’m working on with the demons. There is suspicion that her death wasn’t an accident.”
“But the police said it was.”
“The police aren’t part of the society, and therefore, don’t have access to the same info and magical technology we do.”
“Which makes them clueless?”
He nods. “More or less.”
My mouth sinks into a frown. “Kind of like me, I guess.”
“Eva …” he starts, putting his other hand on my knee.
I swat both his hands away and spring to my feet. The second I stand upright, the room whirls around dizzily, the aftereffects of the sleep spell continuing to course through my bloodstream.
And just like that, it all crashes over me like a violent, powerful spell. I think about my parents, who aren’t really my parents. Ryleigh, who I thought was my sister. I’d been so upset when she died, and had been working so hard on that spell to bring her back. And while I still care for her enough that I don’t want her dead, my heart weeps over the fact that, even in her death, she never bothered to tell me the truth.
And then Hunter … My best friend Hunter … His betrayal might just hurt the most.
Hurt and anger current through my body as reality downpours over me. Slowly, I start to accept the truth. That almost everyone I’ve ever cared about has been lying to me.
That’s why I finally turn and run.
Chapter Eleven
“Eva!” Hunter shouts, but I’m already barreling out the door and down the hallway.
All the lights are off in the house, which I find odd. Peyton is a vampire and frequently goes out at night, but Opal isn’t much of a party girl and usually chills at home during the evenings.
Could something have happened to her? Did Hunter maybe do something to her?
The last thought leaves me feeling guilty, mostly because the trust spell is telling me to turn off my stupid thoughts and quit being ridiculous.
When I hear Hunter’s footsteps sound after me, I focus back on running away from him. But by the time I reach the top of the stairway, he’s hot on my heels.
I take each step two by two, and by some divine miracle, I manage to make it to the bottom without eating shit. (I seriously have issues with stairs.)
“You need to calm down,” Hunter demands as he chases after me. “And don’t you dare step foot outside.”
I make a mad dash straight for the door, more for show than anything. Deep down, I don’t know what to do or where to go—who to trust.
“Why? What’re you going to do to me if I do?” I grab the doorknob, flip on the light, and glance back to look at him. “Come on; fess up and tell me how you’re going to punish me if I disobey. Because the old Hunter would’ve just come outside with me.” I allow my gaze to deliberately move up and down him. “I’m guessing this new, weird, Goth Hunter might not let me get away with so much.”
He stops at the bottom of the stairs, gripping the banister. “What does how I dress have anything to do with this?”
“Because you look different,” I state.
When he squirms, another crack ruptures across my heart.
“This is how you look when you’re not around me, isn’t it? You dressed like this tonight because you knew you were going to have to tell me the truth.”
He wets his lips with his tongue, his lips parting as he starts to speak, but I talk over him.
“Do I even know the real you?”
He nods, but the movement isn’t steady. “You know me probably better than anyone …” He rubs his lips together, hesitating. “But truthfully, a lot of people don’t know the real me.”
I stare at him, wondering—and I mean, really wondering—if I can even be in love with him. Is it even possible to love someone you don’t really know?
“Look, I know this is hard to take in”—he dares a step off the final step—“but I need you to stay in this house … It’s important that you do.”
My fingers wrap tighter around the doorknob. “Why?”
He takes another step toward me, the floorboards creaking under his weight. “Because it’s dangerous out there.”
“Why now?” I wonder.
“Why did it all of a sudden become so dangerous? Just because the demons took my sister?”
He shakes his head as he reduces the space between us even more. “That’s not the full reason.”
My heart pounds in my chest as he nears me. “Then tell me the full reason.”
“I don’t know the full reason yet.” He’s within arm’s reach now. “What I do know is that someone told the demons where your sister’s body was, and how you were trying to revive her. They knew how to get to you, which means someone close to you is a traitor.”
I want to say, like you, but the contract promise already revealed that he didn’t out Ryleigh’s location.
“Please just stay with me.” He sticks out his hand for me to take, his eyes silently begging me to listen to him.
Every instinct is urging me to slip my fingers through his. That while he’s lied to me, I can feel in my veins that he’s worried about me and just wants to protect me.
I step forward and start to reach for him, when Opal comes bursting down the stairs with her wings out.
“Hunter, we have a huge problem. The demons might know a way to get Eva to …” Her eyes widen as her gaze lands on me. “Oh, crap.”
“Wait …” I put two and two together and back away. “She’s part of this, too?”
“I was going to tell you. I was just waiting for the right time.” Hunter moves toward me with his arms extended.
I jump back, reach behind me, and throw open the door.
The wind howls and sends leaves and fog billowing around me and into the foyer. My hair whips around my face and goose bumps dot my arms.
“No!” Hunter cries, lunging toward me with his gaze trained over my shoulder at the outside.
I trip backward to get away from him and stumble over the threshold, almost going down. However, my back smacks against a rock-solid surface.
I stiffen and spin around, only to come face-to-face with the dark-haired, red-eyed demon I made the deal with.
“Eva, run!” Hunter shouts, snagging ahold of the hem of my shirt.
