Then stalked forward to take out the one last obstacle between them.
Bane of her life. Ruiner of everything. And now just this: some little dipshit, who whimpered “No no no” the second she pointed a rolling pin at him. “You’re next,” she told him firmly, fiercely, as she climbed onto the stage. Then watched him back away so fast he fumbled over his own feet. He wound up on his ass, scooting away like a kid who’d seen a spider.
“Oh what’s the matter, bro? Is it not so fun when you do it to someone who isn’t weaker than you?” she asked, as he went. And had the satisfaction of seeing his face crease with bitterness and guilt.
Before he scrambled for a comeback. “You weren’t even weak in high school. Look what you did to us,” he spat. But there was no conviction in it.
“I didn’t do anything to you, you lying little weasel.”
“Oh, so being the reason we turned into this doesn’t count?”
“You can’t possibly be claiming that I turned you into assholes,” she said, laughing. Though she didn’t like the sly look on his face. Or the sound of protest Seth made from behind the gag. The one he tried to get off, as Jay grinned even wider.
He showed his fangs, sharper and meaner than Seth’s. “No, I’m not claiming you made us assholes. I’m claiming you made uswerewolves,” he said, and then clearly waited for her face to fall before he continued. “Oh no, did your little boyfriend not tell you? Well, I’m not surprised. I mean, who wants to confess that he got turned into a wolf by his best buddy, and then mauled a bunch ofkids for barely any reason at all? We just wanted to stop by and say sorry to the girl we pulled a mean prank on. And look what he did.”
He lifted his shirt, on the last word.
Showed her a scar, different from any of Seth’s.
This one, quite clearly, had been made by a set of sharp teeth. She could see each separate indentation, obvious enough that you could never mistake it for anything else.
Still, for a second she tried to deny it. She thought of a dozen ways that might have happened, each more plausible than the last. Just as Seth got free of that damned gag and stormed out things she didn’t know how to take.
“You deserved it, you lying fuck, don’t act like you didn’t. Don’t act like you were just gonna say sorry, because we all know you weren’t. You were gonna keep making her life hell, so I did what I had to do. I put you down, and considering this shit show, I was right to do it. Setting a pack of wolves on her—I swear to god when I get my strength back I’m gonna make the night I savaged the fuck out of you look like a goddamn tea party. And this time?I’m gonna do it all on purpose,” he snarled. Like he was doing something good.
But instead it just confirmed her worst fears.
She was the one who had turned Seth into what he was.
Even though the idea seemed impossible, it seemed ridiculous.I wasn’t even a witch then, she tried to protest in her head.It was afterward. It was after all of it that I started baking with Gram. But as soon as she did, she felt the witch part of her laugh.
Wrong, it said.Wrong wrong wrong.
And she saw the series of events in her mind’s eye. The first moment her powers had manifested. Like Carrie, at the prom. Standing there with her cake—her own creation—smeared down her front and all over her hands. Feeling betrayed and helpless and humiliated. But also galvanized. Like if she really wanted to, she could make them all stop laughing.
And she hadn’t. But shehaddone something else. She could see it now, clearly. Her running from the building; Seth runningafter her. The way he had called her name, how she had turned in a fury. Then she’d shoved him away, and as she had she’d called him something.
You’re a fucking beast, Seth Brubaker,she’d yelled.
And apparently that was all it had taken. Just a word she hadn’t meant literally, and a potion on her palms that she hadn’t even known she’d concocted. Then all of this had followed one event after another, until finally here they were. With Seth looking at her, realization dawning about what he’d accidentally confessed. And her standing there, astonished and crestfallen, over what that confession meant.
While in the background Jay sniveled and whined and swore he wouldn’t hurt them again.
Though that, at least, was something she could make sure of.
“You won’t be able to,” she said to him. “Because you are made of my magic, once removed, and I know it now, so I can command you. And I do so now. You and yours may never lift a hand against me or mine again, Jason Kirkpatrick. I bind you to it, by the weight of the spell I cast against your maker.”
And then somehow, above them, thunder rumbled again.
And she knew it was done. She knew it was all over.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
She wanted to say a thousand things to Seth once they were in the relative safety of the Chevy. And she felt pretty sure he wanted to say a thousand things to her. She heard him take a breath, of the kind you did when words were supposed to follow. But no words did.
They flew in almost silence, until they got about halfway back to her home. And even then he only broke it to say, “Stop here a second.”
So she did. She landed the car in a clearing in what looked like the middle of the forest. Then got out when he did—despite not having the slightest idea why he wanted to be here. In fact, for a moment she genuinely wondered if this was some kind of punishment for turning him into a werewolf. Like he was gonna pants her, then leave her stranded somehow. Or maybe worse.
