Hush (Witches & Warlocks Book 2) Read Free Page B

touching me. “But we’re gonna have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
    I don’t have anything to say, so I stay quiet. I’d love to find a quiet place in his arms right now, lay my head against his chest and let his warmth make me feel better, his arms wrapped around me keeping me safe. As if he could read my thoughts, he opens his arms to me and I step right in, pressing my body to his. He rubs his hand over my back and up into my hair.
    “You’re lucky you’re alive. You realize that, right?” There’s something heavy in Noah’s voice. I nod against his chest. “By all rights, Daya, Lucy, and Albert should have ordered your execution at the summit.” He’s told me this before. After I killed all those people, there was this trial, a summit, to discover what exactly happened. For whatever reason, they decided to train me, not kill me. “You’re going to have to do a better job at hiding that you have access to dark magic.” I pull out of his arms and nod my understanding. There’s a light breeze at my back, chilly with the first touch of autumn, and goosebumps break out over my skin.
    An old man ambles passed us, his hunched shoulders flinching with every new step he takes. He pauses as my eyes land on him. The goosebumps race up my arms and down my legs and I can’t help but shiver as he turns to face me. His eyes are big, dark, and empty. Swirling pits of nothingness. His skin hangs from his face in dried out tatters and his cheekbones - like, literally, the bones - shine in the sun like bleached rock.
    “Zoe…” He says my name and his voice is distorted and seems to come from everywhere and nowhere. “I saw what you did. I see what you are.”
    Noah pulls me back into his arms, wrapping one around my shoulder and hugging me tight. “Don’t look,” he says as he leads me off in the direction of the car.
    The remnant - ‘cause that’s what he is, a hollow remnant, a demon - follows us, calling my name, shrieking horrible things at the back of our heads. Noah whispers reassurances to me, keeps me steady even though my entire body is trembling.
    “You can hide from the truth, Zoe,” the remnant says as Noah ushers me into his car. It presses its freakshow face against the glass and his hands leave big streaking smudges down the window.  “But you can’t hide from what you are.”
     

Chapter Three
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    We don’t talk much on the car ride back to Windsor Manor. I guess that’s ok. Guilt is twisting its way through my stomach and I’m so frustrated with myself that I’m not sure I’d be very easy to talk to. I’m so torn. On one hand, I want to understand my dark magic because understanding it would make it easier to ignore. Know thy enemy and all that, right?
    But it’s more than that, my dark magic isn’t really my enemy, it’s part of me . Doesn’t the whole quote suggest I should also know myself? I wrack my brain, distracted for a moment by my desire to remember the quote. It’s from Sun Tzu’s Art of War, I think. The gist of it is something along the lines of needing to understand the enemy as well as yourself in order to succeed.
    But if the only way to understand my dark magic is to use it, well, I’m not interested. Not if it ends up with me hurting someone. And certainly not if it ends up with me liking it when I hurt someone. ‘Cause let’s be honest. There was a part of me that enjoyed doing what I did to Todd.
    “You feeling ok?” Noah squeezes my knee and glances at me.
    “No.”
    “Accidents are going to happen…” He doesn’t finish his sentence and I don’t know if that’s because he’s busy judging me for the latest ‘accident’ or because he’s hoping I’ll speak up.
    I make an exasperated sound in the back of my throat. Accidents. Accidents are things like spilling something on the counter or forgetting where you put your keys. Accidents don’t end up with people bleeding in a coffee shop.
    Noah glances at me.