The Gramm Curse (The Night Watchmen Series) (15 page)

“Yeah,” I say with a half-hearted smile. She needs to hear it. I know she’s trying her best to be what I need right now and I don’t want her to feel like it’s her fault she can’t pull me completely from my funk.

She stares at me for a moment, searching my face, and then goes back to her vanity table. She sprays herself with perfume, and then sprays me. I nearly gag from the extra three sprays she gives herself before putting it back on the table.

“You spray any more of that on yourself and you’ll shrivel up into a fruity flower,” I say through a small coughing fit. She stops, smiles, and then sprays herself once more. I shake my head. “You’re too much.”

She opens her mouth, but then a knock sounds at her door and her dad, Jonathon, pokes his head in. “It’s time, girls.” He shuts the door, and I can feel my pulse beating in my neck. Since when did time move so quickly?

Katie takes a deep breath, smoothes her black, knee-high skirt out, and says, “Let’s go.”

I follow her downstairs and out the front door, and then hop in the backseat with her. Eliza, Katie’s mom, offers us gum. I take it. Maybe mint will help settle my nerves.

“Here we go!” her dad says. He puts the car in gear and takes off, leaving our little neighborhood in Roessleville behind. I have to clutch my seatbelt to keep from looking back, to keep from checking the driveway for my parents’ car.

The small town disappears behind a blur of bright yellows and oranges. The trees are turning with the season. Eliza’s phone rings twice, and both times my heart forgets how to work and stutters. My fingers find my mouth, but my nails are chewed down so low I have nothing but the nail beds left.

She lifts the phone to her ear and says, “Hello, Maddock. Any news?”

I feel like I’m suspended by only my fingertips with each and every word she speaks into the phone. Jonathon glances over at her, searching her face. Katie looks up from her phone and over at me.

Say something!

“That’s good news then, right?” Eliza says. She looks back at Jonathon and raises her brows, nodding just a little. I wonder if he’s in her thoughts, if he knows the news before I do. “Okay. We'll let her know. Thank you, Maddock.” She hangs up and turns in her seat to look at me. I’m a statue coming to life with anticipation. “Maddock says they’ve picked up their trail. Elite Watchmen are on it now. We should have word soon that they’ve found them,” Eliza says, her smile growing with every word. I smile too as the sick feeling in my stomach lightens a little. They’re going to be okay. They’re going to be found, and this will all just be a mere memory.

Katie grabs my hand and squeezes, smiling at me. “See?”

“Now you girls can get on stage and make us proud without a doubt in your mind,” Jonathon says, peering at me through the rearview mirror. “Mary and Russell are two of the best Watchmen in our Coven. It was probably just a misunderstanding.”

“Yeah,” I say, nodding with his words. He’s right. A misunderstanding. That’s all.

“Do you have any preference to what side of the affinity bond you want to be on?” he asks.

I’m still thinking about my parents when Katie nudges me. He’s talking to me. “Oh me? Well, I’ve always loved the thought of being a Hunter,” I admit. I know it’s not often that a female is a Hunter, but when they are, they’re fierce. I’ve been repressed by my fear for so long that being the polar opposite seems attractive. Being fierce and independent seems freeing.

“That’s a surprise,” Eliza says, sounding amused. “I thought you’d want to follow Katie.” I don’t like the judgment I hear in her tone, or the way she looks down at her hands with her brows raised in disdain.

My words jumble. “I do, I mean…but I don’t know. I just…”

“She’s going to be a kick-ass Hunter,” Katie says in my defense. She quirks her brows at me. She loves going against her mother.

Eliza inhales sharply and spins around in her seat, catching Katie’s eye wiggling. “Katie Rose Coccia, you watch your language and wipe that grin off your face. Disrespect is unbecoming.” When she’s satisfied Katie’s been put in her place, she turns back around in her seat, clutching her purse on her lap.

Katie rolls her eyes and silently laughs. If they only knew half the things she’s said and done.

Jonathon clears his throat as he turns onto the interstate. “I think wishing to be a Hunter shows true strength,” he says, casting a quick glance to me in the rearview. “Being a Hunter, especially as a female, is rough. Even though our Coven has come a long way since the proclamation, there are still gender issues in the magic world.”

Eliza rubs his leg and looks at him lovingly, and I’m struck by homesickness. I should be riding with my parents right now. I should be having this conversation with them. What am I doing?

“Well, I think the proclamation is stupid,” Katie says, crossing her arms.

“Katie! You should never say such things. It’s heresy,” Eliza says.

“What? I’m serious. Before the Great Battle of the Covens, Hunters and Witches were able to do magic on their own. They didn’t have to be tied to someone for the rest of their lives. They didn’t have to have a
Culling
to tell them
who
they had to fall in love with and make babies with. It’s just so…medieval.”

I want to laugh, or maybe cry. I look at her, and the mischief in her eyes brings out the amber color in them.

“Right?” she asks me.

“I guess so,” I say, peering at her parents from the corner of my eye. They don’t look happy.

“Things are this way to maintain control and to keep our kind abundant. Without this ceremony, our numbers would dwindle,” Eliza says. It’s clear Katie’s treading the edge of Eliza’s patience.

“Not to mention, the old feeling of Witches hating Hunters and vice versa would more than likely strike up again,” Jonathon adds.

“It’s that way with or without the Culling, Dad. A silly rule isn’t going to change the emotions we feel.”

“Kat,” I whisper, giving her the shut up eyes.

She shrugs and looks down at her phone. “Just sayin’.”

“Regardless, these are the rules, and speaking of such opinions will only hinder your future within the Coven,” Eliza spurns. Her tone holds enough warning. “Now, I will hear no more of this talk. Not on a day such as this.” She leans forward and turns the radio on, filling the car with the sounds of opera and ending the conversation.

“Fifteen more miles,” Jonathon says.

I lean my head against the glass and close my eyes, shutting everything out. With every mile we travel, I go deeper into myself. The further I go, the safer I’ll be when the time comes to stand before the Coven.

Evernight
(Night Watchmen, #2)
, is now available for pre-order!

It’ll be released on this year’s Culling! Samhain- October 31st, 2014!

Click here to purchase your copy of
Evernight (Night Watchmen, #2)
from Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00MUBWIB6

For UK readers, please click here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MUBWIB6

Also, stay up-to-date with all my upcoming releases by liking my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/candaceknoebel

You can also find more information on my other novels by checking out my website: https://www.candaceknoebel.com

Candace Knoebel
is the award-winning author of
Born in Flames
-book one in a young adult fantasy trilogy. She discovered in 2009 through lunch breaks and late nights after putting her kids to bed, a world where she could escape the ever-pressing days of an eight to five Purgatory. And an outlet for all the voices residing in her head.

Published by 48fourteen in 2012,
Born in Flames
went on to win Turning the Pages Book of the Year award in February of 2013. In January of 2014, the last book in the trilogy,
From the Embers
, was released, thusly completing the trilogy. She now works on the
Night Watchmen Series
, while guzzling Red Bulls and pretending to be a ninja on Heelys.

You can visit her online at www.candaceknoebel.com

or
https://www.facebook.com/candaceknoebel

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