Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,100

I was still picking up thoughts, and I realized that she was referring to the Nell situation.

“No,” I replied. “My parents—well, I know Michael told you how protective they are. Now you know the biggest reason. They worry about people finding out about my gift and taking advantage of me.” I made a wry face. “If they find out about tonight, they won’t let me out of the house for the next century.”

Michael reached across the space between our chairs and took my hand. His parents exchanged glances.

“We can discuss that later,” Luke said. “What I’m more concerned with right now is where Nell went after she left you. And Amber, how are you doing?”

Amber hadn’t said a word during the entire conversation. Her eyes had widened at my revelation, and she had let the blanket fall from around her shoulders. Now, in response to Luke’s question, she nodded slowly. “I’m not so cold and shaky anymore. Thanks.” She turned to Michael and me. “I didn’t say this before, but thank you for being there tonight. It sounds so silly and stupid, but you saved my life, I know you did. Even if the knife wasn’t there—I swear she had it. It was the same athame that she used each time before, but she only drew the sacred circle with it then.”

“You used that word before—athame? What’s that?”

Amber closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “It’s a knife. A-a witch’s knife. But we never used it for anything —Marica said we had to—” She flushed red and dropped her chin.

“I think, if you feel up to it, you should probably start from the beginning and tell us everything, Amber. Tas and I only know what she’s heard from you and Nell, and that’s pretty sketchy,” Michael said.

Amber drew in a deep breath. “I can tell you what’s happened since Nell started talking to me. That was right after school began this year. But she and the other girls…” she trailed off, and then she squared her shoulders.

“Okay. I’ll tell you what I know.”

Amber swallowed hard as she met my eyes.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that they told me so many times how important it was to keep everything quiet. Marica—that’s Ms. Lacusta—she said it was very dangerous to tell anyone what happened when we met.”

“Wait.” Marly held up one finger, her eyebrows pulled together over astounded eyes. “Ms. Lacusta—a teacher is involved in this?”

Amber’s eyes slid to me. “I thought you would know that.”

“I suspected. Nell seems to be a little, um, obsessed with our Chemistry teacher,” I explained to Luke and Marly.

“Okay. Hmm. Go on, Amber,” Marly nodded.

I could tell that it was extremely difficult for Amber to share all of this with us. The rule of secrecy must have been pounded into all of them, both by Nell and Ms. Lacusta. But Amber was beginning to trust us—that much I could feel—and trusting us made it all easier.

“It was right after school began. Maybe the second or third week—I don’t know. It was just the same for me—I hated school, I hated being there. And then one day I was at my locker, and Nell came over to talk with me. I was—shocked, and kind of suspicious. She’d been leaving me alone since we left junior high. I really just wanted to get through the rest of high school without more problems. You remember how it used to be.” Amber pointed at Michael.

He nodded at her. “I do. Nell made your life miserable.”

“Yeah. And so I didn’t really trust anything she said or did. Even though she was very nice to me that day at my locker—and she kept on being nice, I didn’t want anything to do with her. She invited me to eat with her friends at lunch, but I figured that was the trap—you know, I’d go there, and then they’d all pretend Nell hasn’t asked me and use it to make fun of me.

“So then one day, Nell showed up at my house after school. She was standing there on the porch, and when I answered the door, she said she needed to talk to me. I still didn’t trust her, especially because my mom wasn’t home, and I didn’t want her in the house with me alone. So I went out onto the porch and just stood there, and Nell—she apologized. For everything. She told me that when she was younger, she never knew how much her actions had hurt other people.