Witch - By Fiona Horne Page 0,53

blood.

‘What does that mean?’ I asked, pointing at the symbol.

‘It’s a voodoo symbol. It means protection,’ she said and opened the lid. An odd, musky scent emanated from the box. She withdrew a small black pouch and handed it to me.

‘This is a protection amulet. Inside is wolf hair and snakeskin. Do not open the bag. You need to place it near where Bryce sleeps, and in order for it to work he mustn’t know.’

I felt panicked at the responsibility. She thought something bad was going to happen to Bryce, and it was my job to put this smelly bag near where he slept?

‘Don’t worry, Vania.’ Brenda smiled and placed her hand over mine. ‘It’s good I received a warning. Danger can be averted this way.’

The others were tidying up when we came out. The big rug was rolled back over the star, and the tables and chairs were back in their usual places.

Like nothing had ever happened.

I stumbled a little in the darkness later on my way to Bryce’s house. We’d planned to meet there so we could go to Cassidy’s beach party together.

It had been a mission to sneak out of my bedroom window after my parents had gone to bed. Not being allowed to fully close the door had meant I’d had to be completely silent and couldn’t turn on the light. I’d caught one of my legs on a rosebush on the way down, but it seemed worth it when I was standing outside under the faint light of the blooming crescent moon. There was no way I was missing the party. It was going to be just me and Bryce. The twins had said their mother would know if they lied about going, and Dean had said he needed to stay home and keep his dad company. Although I thought they were all just making excuses because they wanted me to have some alone time with Bryce on my birthday. You didn’t have to be massively psychic to pick that up.

I walked quickly down the road away from home. I’d never snuck out like this before, and I did feel bad. But those feelings of doubt went away as I approached Bryce’s house. The French doors of his bedroom were open, the light was on inside.

I tapped on the doors. Bryce was sitting on his bed reading a book. I fingered the amulet in my pocket. I’d wrapped plastic around it, because it really did smell funny.

‘Hey,’ I said quietly and smiled. He looked up.

‘Hey! Took you a while!’ He grinned. ‘No need to whisper – my parents are out.’

‘Oh, cool.’ I relaxed and sat on the bed next to him. ‘What are you reading?’

He showed me the cover. ‘Ghost Hunting.’

‘I didn’t think you needed to go hunting for ghosts,’ I said. ‘I thought they came looking for you.’

‘Yeah, but you can never do too much research,’ he said. He snapped the book shut and stood up.

‘Let’s get out of here. I’ll get my jacket.’

He seemed completely relaxed that no one else from our coven was coming. I was a bundle of nerves. I shook my head. I needed to keep this all in perspective.

He started rummaging around in his wardrobe. This was my chance to hide the amulet. I debated for a second on whether to take the plastic off, but decided to keep it on to stop the smell and stuck it under his mattress as far as I could. I was still bent over when he walked out of the closet.

‘Are you okay?’

‘Sure!’ I straightened up quickly and made a show of shifting from one foot to the other with my arms above my head. ‘Just stretching out my back. I’m a bit stiff from sitting on the floor at the cafe.’

‘Yeah, me too – you nearly broke my back when you jumped on me.’ He laughed and squeezed both my shoulders in a mini massage.

‘Mmmm, that feels good,’ I blurted out.

I could have stayed there all night, but after a few minutes he stopped massaging and gave me a brotherly pat on the back. ‘Let’s go,’ he said.

To say I was disappointed would have been a massive understatement.

I could see a small fire at the end of the beach. As we got closer, I could also see empty beer cans scattered around. I was shocked to see it was just Cassidy and Matt by the fire. Cassidy got up and stumbled over to us as we entered the circle of firelight.