Evanescent - By Addison Moore Page 0,26

beating. I should know—you did it to me.” She hawks a fresh one into my eye before bolting out of the room.

Shit.

I pull my shirt up and wipe the spit off my face. It’s not the first time she’s hurled a live one at me. The way she spits on a regular basis, you’d think she were part camel—part devil is more like it. I know better than to incite the witch that lives inside her, but she caught me on the wrong night.

What the hell was she babbling about—walk of shame? I snag my phone and send Laken a text.

Hey beautiful. I need you.

All night long I wait for Laken to respond, but my phone lays silent.

4

In the Belly of the Fire

Laken

On Wednesday, the shadowed evergreens stretch like skyscrapers at this late hour under a cobalt sky. It’s a magical night—a night for dreamers, for lovers—not for quasi-Satanic rituals like the one I’m about to partake in. It goes against the entire principle of what this pristine beauty was designed for. Typical Counts behaving like morons.

It’s just minutes before the bizarre ritual, that Flynn compared to a Girl Scout meeting, and I pace nervously outside of Austen House.

“You have to hurry, or we’ll be late,” Jen hisses while trying to herd me toward the demonic thicket.

“No one said anything about those haunted woods,” I say, snatching my wrist from my apparently deranged sister.

Jen’s blonde hair whips around like a white flame as she tries to secure her grasp over me.

“You’re going to be late. And, trust me, they hate it when you’re late to these kinds of things.”

“Have you done this?” My body seizes in the cold night air. “I mean, are you a member?” If sweet, innocent Jen managed to pass initiation, I’d feel a hell of a lot better.

“No, I chickened out.” She sinks a frown before successfully snatching me by the wrist. “But that was because I believed the only thing I needed was Blaine. I was too afraid if I went through with it, he might see me as a strong, independent woman and leave me.”

“God, Jen, you make no sense whatsoever.” Everything is off kilter with her. The entire world revolves on a separate revolution in her head. “Just what the hell is wrong with being strong and independent?”

“Nothing.” Flames light up in her eyes, and I’m thrown for a moment only to realize the house lights were just turned on from behind.

The hint of a thumbnail moon lingers up above like the barely-there smile of the Cheshire cat. The woods pulsate in the distance like a heartbeat, and the wind calls my name in whispers like a lover who’s already damned.

A chill runs through me. The arctic breeze whips around my bare ankles and stiffens me from moving along with her.

I should have known better than to let Jen dress me for the evening. This ridiculous silver gown with the goddess sleeves—paired with heels dipped in multicolored glitter is better suited for Halloween. I didn’t dress this way when I was four, I don’t know how I let her talk me into dressing like this now. Nothing Jen suggests ever turns out to be a good idea.

“Look, I know for a fact Fallon and Carter will be there,” she says, easing me onto the cobblestoned path. “Kresley and Grayson, too!” She shouts their names as if they were some kind of a grand social prize that I should automatically flock to. Little does she know those silicon sisters are hardly a selling point.

“Okay.” I take a deep breath. “Let’s go,” I say, following her down the dark winding road. The forest approaches, large and looming. Its branches extend like knives, the dark trunks press against the purple night like corrugated cutouts.

We crest the hill, and to my surprise, we head away from the woods. Oddly, this does little to quell my nerves.

“Where are we going?” A whole new panic sets in as we approach a series of boulders washed a pale blue from the moonlight.

The granite gleams as the boulders warble in and out of existence like water. An unnatural shimmer glosses the air as Jen pulls me through the stones, and we emerge through a tunnel where a bright orange fire with long baroque tongues extends to greet us.

“Don’t be afraid.” Her voice resonates like the hum of a motor.

A series of walls appear as an expansive space takes shape around us. The fire bleeds out in an enormous circle as if