Tracey’s father sat back in his chair and looked between us. “Is this about that girl again?”
Axel had been my father’s right-hand man, and now he was mine. I gritted my teeth in annoyance. “Yes, her name is Jade.”
His dark brows rose up his dark chocolate forehead. “Humans are finicky creatures. She will not handle our secret well.”
Tracey looked down at her plate as her mother wrapped her cream arms around Tracey’s waist. “They aren’t children anymore, Axel. They can handle a lot more than we give them credit for.”
I would have loved to hear what my father would have said about the situation but fortunately, I had put him in his grave a few years prior. He wouldn’t have liked any of this just as much as Axel didn’t. But it wasn’t any of Axel’s business. I didn’t need Axel’s permission to do anything inmypack.
Chapter 12
Jade Rivers
Sunlight streamed through my bedroom window and pierced my eyes through my eyelids. I kicked the blankets off of my legs and stretched. I didn’t feel as sick this morning as I had in the last week. My eyes burned though and that wasn’t normal. The light coming in through the window was a lot brighter than it had been on previous mornings. I blinked my eyes several times in hopes that it would stop the pain.
I rubbed my fists into my eyes but it just made it worse. My legs maneuvered me to the bathroom even though I couldn’t see. Sleeping in my contacts was a usual thing, but they weren’t agreeing with me today. I kept the lights off as I pulled my eyelids open and scraped the plastic lens off of my eyeballs. I leaned against the counter and finally opened my eyes. The burning was gone but something was different. The room looked like the lights were dimmed. But we didn’t have dimmable lighting in the bathrooms and I hadn’t turned the lights on either.
I squeezed my eyes shut before I opened them again and again. Nothing changed. I ripped the bedroom door open and I could see in perfect clarity. Even better than I had with my contacts in.
Was this a side effect of the drug? Did it somehow mutate and cure my partial blindness? This could be a good thing. I shook my head. Nothing about Rafe was a good thing, including the drug he had given me without my consent.
But then the doorbell rang and my ears were flooded with intense pain from the sound. What was happening to me?
I pulled a sweatshirt from the top of my dresser and hoped I wouldn’t smell anything that would make me throw up again. I didn’t bother with changing out of my leggings from the night before and pulled my long blonde hair into a bun on the top of my head. As I galloped down the stairs, I could hear something tapping against the ground outside. It wasn’t until I yanked the front door open that I realized it was Tracey tapping her foot on the front doorstep. My eyes zeroed in on the sandals she was wearing. They seemed extra sparkly. In fact, everything seemed to be brighter, clearer, and just plain vibrant. Her mustard-colored sweater seemed to glow.
The smell of Tracey didn’t revolt me either. She smelled of fresh-cut grass and something floral. I hadn’t noticed it before. “Did you get a new perfume?”
She frowned and lifted her arm for a sniff. “No, I don’t think so. Why? Do I smell funny?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, everything has smelled funny lately. You’re the first thing that smellsnormal.”
She smiled at me and pushed her way past me into the foyer. “How have you been feeling?”
“I’ve had better days.”
I followed her down the hall and to the kitchen. She put her backpack in the center of the white island. The sound of the zipper was almost too loud. I winced. She dug around in the bag for a minute before she pulled a Mason Jar from its depths.
Inside of the jar was a greenish, brown muck. It looked to be as thick as peanut butter. Just the sight of it made my stomach roll. “What’s that?”
She smiled at me like she had finally gotten my friendship back and things were back to the way they were before I was drugged. But they weren’t and they never would be. I didn’t know if I could even trust her. The only reason she was here was because I needed to get my parents off my back. She slid the jar across the countertop and then dug a spoon out of the drawer in front of her.
“This will help you feel better. You need to eat a spoonful of this every morning until it’s gone.”
I was too afraid to open it. I had a feeling the smell was worse than its appearance. A few seconds ticked away and Tracey realized I wasn’t going to open it. I could have sworn a twinkle lit up in her eye as she slid the jar back toward herself and popped the top. I cringed as I waited for the scent to hit my nose.
No smell came from the open jar. I peered at it suspiciously. How odd. Maybe Tracey’s grandmother really was a witch. The spoon moved through the mixture easily as I scooped some up. The mixture was heavy on my tongue but didn’t have a taste. It was hard to swallow it down but after it was completely gone from my mouth, I realized all the sensitivities I was having to light and sound were gone.
Yep, Tracey’s grandma was definitely a witch.
Chapter 13
Jade Rivers
It was easy to forgive Tracey. Everything she did was selfless and I should have seen that from the start when she didn’t get smashed when we went out together. She always made sure I was in her sights and she never left without me or without telling me where she was going. I never felt uneasy when I was with her. She was the kind of friend that I had taken advantage of and now that I thought about it… I realized how much I didn’t deserve her before. She had always helped me and put me first and I had never done the same for her. Tracey was the kind of friend I wanted to be.
So what happened with Rafe made everything all the weirder. I couldn’t understand the connection of family friends because my parents had never had anyone close to them like that. They had moved on from high school and didn’t bring any of their friends with them. Their journey of infertility alienated them from many people along the way. I was pretty certain I didn’t even have godparents, which was fine. I preferred to do things alone. So understanding the loyalty that came with family or even family friends was foreign to me. I hadn’t even had a best friend growing up. I didn’t go to dance class or have extracurricular activities to keep me busy. I usually stayed glued to my parents with a book in my hand. I didn’t mind it… but it did get lonely at times.
But Tracey had swooped me up under her protective wing and hadn’t let me go since freshman year. I called her my friend loosely, but out of all of the people I could count on… She was the only one.
