Chapter 20

Jensen was bloodied and bruised from a fight he’d had with Ian. He told me that, for as long as he could remember, they had powers. They never knew anyone else who did, so they had been teaching themselves with books and the internet their whole lives. Ian had become obsessed with growing his powers. The more they learned, the more he craved. It was a vicious cycle that Jensen, the weaker of the two, had been caught up in. Jensen admitted he had been helping Ian, just like Ian had told me. But when Ian killed the first goat, Jensen realized what a wrong turn they had taken and tried to stop Ian. It was Jensen stopping the rituals that had the police stumped.

Unfortunately, with the supernatural powers Ian was gaining from being possessed by the demon, Jensen was no match for Ian. I asked him why Ian didn’t just kill him to get him out of the way and Jensen told me that Ian figured if I wouldn’t take Tracy as bait, I’d most likely come for him. Sadly, he was probably right. We found Ian’s sacrificial knives and grimoire in the same sack he had put Tracy in. I could only read a few pages before I had to put it down. It was full of nothing but evil, twisted spells and incantations and of course a fully detailed and outlined description of all of the rituals he had done in the woods and what he planned to do with Tracy, or me.

Once the trees that had bound Ian to the ground had retracted their roots, still leaving the large branch pinning him to the ground, I had Tracy use Ian’s cell phone to call the cops. I didn’t have enough time to ask Jensen any more questions. Steven, Jodi and I ran back to my car before the police showed up. Tracy told them that she and Jensen had been kidnapped by Ian. She told the cops that he was the one committing all of the animal sacrifices in the woods and that he planned to kill them next, but as she was trying to run away after he cut her ties, a lightning bolt struck a tree and knocked him to the ground, crushing him. Sadly, he was still alive.

Tracy and Jensen’s injuries were minor and Ian was placed in custody at the local hospital. Once he is well enough to be moved, he’ll be placed at the Juvenile Detention Center until he turns eighteen. Then it’s on to big boy jail for ten to fifteen years. It seems a rather light punishment to me, but since no one was killed and he’s still a minor, that’s how it goes. Their mother didn’t take it too well, but she was happy to find out that both boys were alive. She’s handling the rest as best as anyone could expect of her.

Everyone except me is insisting on going through with my birthday party tonight. Since, as Jodi pointed out, we didn’t have anything to do with last night’s events it would be weird to cancel now. Jensen asked if he could come. I told him no. I’m not sure I want to see him again.

I drove to Jodi’s house in my witch costume, full green face make-up on, complete with a hooknose and two hairy warts.

“Now that’s attractive,” Steven said as he opened my car door. It was another time where I deeply regretted that he was gay. He was dressed in motorcycle boots, dark blue jeans, a tight black shirt and black leather biker jacket. Each piece of clothing was carefully selected to highlight his muscular build and height. Two grey horns were expertly affixed to his forehead, looking like they had burst from his skull. He was the sexiest demon minion I had ever seen. But after seeing the animal in the forest and looking into Ian’s black eyes, the appeal of his costume didn’t have quite the same effect it would have three weeks ago.

“Thanks,” I said, rolling my eyes and getting out of the car after parking in front of Jodi’s house. She had made sure, as the guest of honor, that there would be a front row parking spot saved for me. I grabbed my hat from the back seat and pulled it on, adjusting it in the reflection of the car window before taking Steven’s arm.

The house was packed to capacity with so many bodies and faces that I really didn’t think there was anyway that I could possibly know everyone here, even though they all seemed to know me. Jodi hugged me tightly, wishing me a happy birthday. She was dressed as a witch too, her simple black dress accessorized with red and white stripped tights in contrast to my orange and black ones.

“Oh, you have to meet my cousin Miguel!” Steven said excitedly and reached behind him and grabbed a boy and swung him around to face me. “Miguel, this is my other best friend, Shayna.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” he smiled and held out his right hand. As I reached to take his hand, a jolt of electricity jumped between us, strong enough that everyone saw the spark. We both jumped, startled, and Miguel laughed

“Nice to meet you….” I said carefully, the spark making me look at him more closely than I had before. A strange feeling came over me and I turned to look over my shoulder, keeping a tight grip on Miguel’s hand. I spotted Tracy across the room and waved her over with my free hand. “You need to meet someone,” I told Miguel. Tracy made it over to us, careful not to snag anyone’s costume, and smiled up at me. “Tracy, this is Steven’s cousin, Miguel.” I let go of Miguel and watched his face go slack with shock. He blinked stupidly at Tracy, who in turn giggled at him.

“Oh my god…” I heard Jodi whisper just before she grabbed my arm and turned me towards her. “Are you kidding me?”

“Nope,” I said, trying not to laugh. “It’s been two weeks, a much more standard amount of time for a spell to work, don’t you think?”

“Wait, what’s happening?” Steven asked, confusion looking strange on his devilishly made up face.

“Come on, we’ll get drinks and I’ll explain it,” Jodi said, pulling him away.

I watched them go, taking my sense of safety with them. There were too many bodies here, I tried to be grateful they weren’t touching me, but it still felt like they were. I squeezed through the crowd into the front hall until I was back at the front door again and slipped outside. There was a bench off to the side on the front porch and I sat. I wasn’t altogether surprised to see Jensen standing on the sidewalk, hands in his pockets. I expected to feel angry or annoyed, but I felt nothing.

He nodded at me, keeping his chin down, looking appropriately cowed. I crossed my right leg over my left, settling my hands in my lap. The freezing temperatures had disappeared with the demon after we banished it. I was glad I didn’t have to hunch against the cold air; it would’ve taken what little dignity I had left.

“There is one thing I still don’t understand,” I said just loud enough for him to hear. “I don’t get why he took Michelle that night, in Malibu.”

“I found where he was keeping Tracy and managed to get her out. When he couldn’t find us, he went after Michelle,” Jensen said, his face lit with strange shadows under the street light.

“So she was just a replacement?”

“Yeah. Just someone else you knew.”

“Someone he thought I’d rescue.” I said quietly. “So I take it he eventually found you?”

“Yeah, that thing,” Jensen paused and closed his eyes, gathering himself. “That animal thing.”

“The hell hound,” I offered and he nodded.

“He sent that thing to find us.”

“But Tracy… Shouldn’t that have upset her more than she is?”

“I think maybe Tracy has learned to block out unpleasant things.”

“You’re probably right,” I said sadly. Jensen scuffed his toe on the sidewalk, still not looking at me. “So it was because of your brother that you learned to put up those shields, right?”

“Yep,” he said casually, glancing up. “That’s why it took him so long to find me and Tracy once I got her away. He tried to compel me to come back, but with these shields I could fight it.”

“Compel you?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

“A spell,” he sighed, “another goddamn spell. He tried it on you but it didn’t work. I told him it wouldn’t.”

“Actually,” I said slowly, thinking of the night I’d taken my pentagram off. I had the urge to get out of the house and go somewhere, anywhere. To Ian apparently.

“Actually what?” he prompted.

“It almost worked. There was a day where I felt something pulling at me. I just didn’t know what it was.” I don’t know why I didn’t tell him about my pentagram, but for some reason I felt like keeping that a secret.

“Thank God,” he said quietly.

“There’s just one more thing.” Since he was in a sharing mood I decided to press my luck. “If it was you interrupting the rituals all those times, why didn’t you just go to the police?”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why? Because he’s you’re brother?” I asked sarcastically.

“No, I mean I actually couldn’t. Since I had started that first spell with him he had me bound, but because we didn’t finish it he didn’t have complete control over me.” He paused, but I could tell he wasn’t finished. “He is my brother. I was trying to get through to him. But then he figured out what you were, at least he thought he did and that’s when we got into that fight.”

“Not much of a fight.” I muttered.

“Well, he was stronger than me, the whole possessed by a demon thing.”

“True. I still don’t understand why you didn’t just go to the police.”

“I thought I could get through to him before he kidnapped Tracy. I don’t know why I didn’t go to the police then. I just went after them. Instincts I guess. Then when I found her he had that hell hound thing after us, we had to hide.”

“Yeah, I think I understand.” But I didn’t understand how he could’ve helped Ian that very first night of the animal sacrifice. Even if he did change his mind when Ian killed the first goat. What the hell did he think Ian was planning on doing with the goats? I closed my eyes and shook my head. It had been a hard couple of days and I just didn’t have anything left in me. I didn’t want to ask anymore questions.

“Can I sit with you?” he asked in a quiet voice. I stared at him a moment. We didn’t come across too many people with natural abilities in our small town. Did I really want to alienate him? But could I trust him? I just wasn’t ready yet. I flared my shields and pushed him away. He sighed before turning and getting back into his car.

I had called Deb earlier that evening and told her that I needed to start working with her on a regular basis to get better control of my growing powers. I’m meeting with her for the first time tomorrow. All three of us have more powers now than we had just a week ago, but they had faded from what they were just yesterday. I couldn’t call fire to my hand like I did last night and I couldn’t call a vortex like I had, but the three of us were still connected more strongly now than we ever have been. I worry about our growing abilities, mine more than theirs, but I’ll deal with it as it comes. I just hope the rest of the school year will be less eventful than the last month has been.