Cursed

Chapter 14

Sometime later, I sat surrounded by kids who looked familiar from the hallways at school and a few with whom I may’ve exchanged an entire sentence. Someone had shoved a red plastic cup in my hand as we’d arrived—cheap keg beer that tasted as bad as it smelled—but I drank it, anyway. Slowly.

Cory appeared thrilled to see me when he arrived from the dance, dressed in a full-out tux. He looked so silly, dressed so formally among the corn and battered lawn chairs. Thankfully, Hayden had thought ahead and grabbed a blanket. That’s where I stayed, my legs curled under me and a cup of crappy beer in my hand.

And I was having fun.

Once the kids grew bored with the dance, they arrived by truckloads. Girls still wore their pretty dresses, but most of the boys had changed. When I’d downed my first cup of beer, I refused a second. I was such a lightweight, and I was content watching Hayden interact with other people—outsiders. It fascinated me.

He was a natural. Charming and funny, and God, all the half-naked girls flocked to him, just wanting to talk to him, be next to him. The guys, well, that seemed a totally different story. They kept their distance, treating him with the kind of esteem that usually resulted from an innate fear. Even though Hayden mingled, he never roamed too far from where I sat, almost like he’d appointed himself my guardian or something. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel flattered, but I also felt sort of bad. Was I keeping him from his friends?

Apparently, Gabe thought so.

“It’s good to see him out,” He dropped down on my blanket out of nowhere, still wearing his dress shirt, although he’d changed into jeans. A girl with brown hair and a god-awful purple dress that clung to her body waited nearby. “He’s been up your butt since you got here.”

I frowned.

“Not that it’s not a nice butt to be up, but I mean, come on! What’s he getting from spending so much time with you?”

My frown slipped into a scowl.

“Definitely not getting some, so what’s the deal, Ember? What have you guys been up to?”

“Nothing that’s any of your business.”

Gabe tipped his head back and laughed. “You don’t like me, do you?”

I thought that was a stupid question. “You don’t like me.”

“True.” He laughed again, and then stood. A second later, Phoebe stood in his place. I sighed.

“Nice gloves,” she said.

I glanced down at them. “Sorry. Hayden grabbed them.”

“Did he?” She swayed to the left, a plastic cup dangling from her fingertips. “How nice of him, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Phoebe took a step to the right, stopped, and then giggled as she bent at the waist. God only knows what the group of guys saw from their vantage point behind her.

I rolled my eyes, but Phoebe just shrugged. “Anyway, like I was saying. How nice of Hayden. You think he’s like some great white knight, huh? But he’s more like the black knight. Boy got damages. Yeah, he does.”

My brows slowly inched up my forehead, the longer she talked. I wondered how many times she’d refilled her plastic cup.

“I bet he hasn’t told you why he got kicked out of his parent’s house, has he? Of course not,” she slurred. “You don’t know him like I do.”

“Maybe you should stop drinking,” I suggested.

“I have to pee,” she announced to no one in particular.

“Good for you.”

“You’re supposed to come with, Ember. Girls don’t let girls pee in the cornfield alone.” She laughed and pointed the cup at me. I jerked back, narrowly missing a waterfall of beer. “Not that you’d know. I bet you didn’t get invited to a lot of parties.”

I looked around for Hayden, finding him with Gabe and a couple guys I didn’t know. I noted he kept glancing over at us, but I was pretty sure he hadn’t heard Phoebe. And I didn’t want to bother him.

“Are you coming or not?” She hiccupped and covered her mouth. “Ugh, I think I just puked in my mouth a little.”

“Oh, that’s gross.”

She giggled. “Yeah, it is.”

I’d rather run around the party naked than take her to go pee, but a sense of girl-duty rose inside me. I shoved it down. It came back hard. The girl could barely walk straight. There was a good chance she’d get lost.

Not such a bad outcome.

“Ember…?”

Groaning, I stood. “Let’s go.”

Phoebe stumbled in front of me, but she made it to the edge of the cornfield. The further we ventured, the more the shadows consumed the fiery glow from the bonfire. I looked around, only able to make out the shapes of trees and bushes.

I shivered. “Is this good enough for you?”

“Sure. Whatever.” Phoebe sat back. Well, she fell backwards, but managed to carry it off with the kind of grace I’d never have. Her dress rode up her legs, revealing several thin slices cut across her inner thighs. They were perfect straight lines, three of them, one after the other. Fresh wounds.

I squinted. There were more across her thighs. Some were older—pink fading into thin white lines next to the three angry cuts that bruised around the edges.

Even in her drunken state, she realized I knew. Slowly, she tugged her dress down and smirked.

“Judge me. I don’t care.”

“I’m not judging you. Phoebe, you—”

“You don’t know what it’s like to always feel everyone.” She slowly stood. “Being an empath sucks.

Maybe not as bad as you, but sometimes I have to stop it. Okay? Pain stops it for a little while, but then it all comes back. Hate. Love. Lust.”

“I thought Cromwell taught you how to control it?”

Phoebe snorted. “Yeah, sure. You know, I used to be able to get away from it at home, but I don’t even have that anymore. Geez, it sucks. Why am I even telling you this? You don’t know anything. You’re not even gifted.”

Whatever sympathy I felt for her started to slip away. “Just use the damn bathroom.”

“You don’t know anything. The accident?” She tossed the thick mane of hair over her shoulder, laughing. “That wasn’t an accident.”

My stomach clenched. A strange buzzing filled my ears. “What?”

“Don’t be so dumb about it. They wanted Olivia. Not you. Not your family. So they went for it. No one knew she’d bring your ass back. I guess that screwed up their plans, huh?”

Her words hung between us. Everything else in the world came to a standstill. I felt hot, then cold.

Surely I had misheard her.

She pointed at me. “You should see the look on your face.”

“How do you know this?”

“Come on, it’s obvious. None of our parents wanted us, or any of the other gifted. But yours didn’t want to give her up.” She glanced down at her drink, frowning. “My cup is, like, empty.”

I wanted to shake her. “Phoebe, do you know who caused the accident?”

Phoebe lifted her head slowly. Some of the beer-fog faded from her face. “I really have no clue what I’m talking about. I don’t even have to pee anymore.”

My mouth hit the ground. “Phoebe—”

“I’m done here.” She held up her hand. “Your freaking emotions are choking the crap out of me.”

I started toward her, but she dipped around me. “Please. You can’t tell me something like that and then walk away!”

“Look, I’m drunk. I don’t even know what I’m talking about.” She started down the dark path. Then she darted into the bushes, disappearing from view.

There was no way I was letting this drop. She obviously knew something. I rushed after her, hoping I picked the right bushes to squeeze past. Anger clawed through me. How could she say something like that, and then say she didn’t know what she was talking about?

The further I went, the more the thin branches snapped at my hair and my clothing, but I caught sight of her slender figure rounding a tree.

“Phoebe!” I yelled, knocking a branch out of my face.

Thick underbrush made it hard to follow, and I wondered how Phoebe had gotten so far ahead in heels. I tripped more than once.

And then I was lost.

I stopped, hugging my elbows as I scanned the darkness. I couldn’t even hear any of the kids anymore or see the bonfire. All that surrounded me were shadows. A shiver tip-toed over my skin. “Phoebe!” My voice cracked as my stomach hollowed.

Picking up my pace, I pushed through prickly bushes that grabbed at my tights. One of the branches snagged my hair again. I yanked to the side, losing a few strands of hair in the process. My heart tumbled over itself as I sucked in air.

“Crap,” I whispered.

The shadows seemed to laugh at me.

Shivering, I started walking again. All around me, twigs snapped as things scurried along in the darkness. Pretty sure I was about to be eaten by a bear, I started running. The ground suddenly sloped upward in front of me. Stumbling, I fell on my knees. Pain shot down my shins, causing me to cry out.

The noise startled whatever was in the trees. Branches shook and leaves fell around me as birds—

bats?—took to the sky, wings flapping.

Heart racing, I climbed to my feet and trudged up the slight hill. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw the highway Hayden and I had come down. Now I just needed to figure out if I should go left or right. I scoured the road for a sign, finally spotting a small green one I recognized.

Wheeling around, I headed right. When I got back to the party, I was going to find Phoebe, whip off my gloves and choke her. But right now I hugged myself and barreled down the side of the road. Cold air whipped against me, and I found myself wanting to be near Hayden. He always put off such wondrous heat, warming more than just my skin. Surrounded by the night and all alone, I could admit to myself that I was attracted to Hayden—like really, ridiculously attracted to him. A pointless attraction, but it didn’t change how I felt.

Had Hayden even realized I was missing?

I forged ahead, relieved to see the shapes of cars parked at the entrance of the cornfield a ways up the road. A brutal gust of wind cut through my clothes, and once again, I pictured my hands wrapping around Phoebe’s throat.

One of the cars parked on the side of the road flipped on their high beams, momentarily blinding me. I stumbled back a step, shielding my eyes against the intense light. Over the rushing wind, I heard the engine kick on, purring to life. It sounded nothing like the hunk of metal I used to drive.

I lowered my arm as the car pulled onto the road. A sliver of moonlight snuck out from the clouds, glittering off the car’s black, glossy surface. Something about the vehicle triggered a memory, but it was too dark to really make out anything other than it was a coupe of some sort.

The car slowed down as I started walking faster. Watching it out of the corner of my eye, I realized the windows must’ve been tinted, like the Porsches in the Cromwell’s garage. Black, two-door cars…

Without warning, the car sped up and veered to the right—toward me. Panic rooted me to the spot. I couldn’t move—couldn’t breathe as the car bore down on me.