Blood Witch_ Book Three - Cate Tiernan [30]
“What’s up, Morgan?” Matt asked. He stood in front of me, his face shuttered and remote, his hands in his pockets.
I took a deep breath, then decided just to get right into it. “I saw you and Raven yesterday,” I stated baldly. “In Butler’s Ferry park.”
Matt’s black eyes went wide, and he stared at me. “Uh . . . what are you talking about?”
“Come on,” I said patiently. I pulled him over to one side of the hallway so we could talk without being overheard by the occasional wandering student. I lowered my voice. “I mean, I saw you yesterday, with Raven, in the park. I know she’s trying to get you to join her coven. I know you’re fooling around with her.”
“I’m not fooling around with her!” Matt insisted.
I didn’t even answer. I just raised my eyebrows.
His gaze fell to the floor. “I mean, it hasn’t gotten that far,” he mumbled, finally giving in. “Jesus, I don’t know what to do.”
I shrugged. “Break up with Jenna if you want to go out with Raven,” I said.
“But I don’t want to go out with Raven,” Matt said. “I don’t want to join her coven. The thing is . . . I’ve always thought she was kind of hot, you know?” He shook his head as if to clear it. “Why am I even telling you this?”
A couple of freshman girls passed us. Though they were only two years younger, they seemed a world apart from me. They were a world apart. They belonged to the world of school and homework and boys. Mary K.’s world. Not mine.
“Why does she want you to join their coven?” I asked.
“I guess they need more people,” Matt answered. He sounded miserable. “A bunch of people started coming, but they all dropped out or were kicked out. A lot of them didn’t take it seriously.”
“But why you?” I pressed.
He sniffed. “I don’t think it’s really me. I mean, I’m nobody. I’m just a warm body.”
“You’re also part of our coven,” I muttered. Part of me wanted to console him, but the other part wanted to wring his neck. “So what are you going to do?” I asked. I crossed my arms and tried not to look too judgmental.
“I don’t know.”
I sighed. “Maybe you should talk to Cal about this,” I suggested. “Maybe he could help you clarify your thoughts.”
Matt didn’t look so sure. “Maybe,” he said doubtfully. “I’ll think about it.” He glanced up at me. “Are you going to tell Jenna?”
“No.” I shook my head. “But she’s not stupid. She knows something’s wrong.”
He laughed distantly. “Yeah. We’ve been going out for four years. We know each other so well. But we’re not even eighteen yet.” With that, he pushed himself off the wall and headed off to his class—without so much as even a backward glance.
I watched him leave, thinking about what he’d said. Did he mean he had gotten tied up with Jenna too early and wanted to date other people? As I pondered it, a short rhyme popped into my mind. I repeated the words quietly.
“Help him see the way to go
Help him know the truth to show
He is not the hunter here
Nor yet should he be the deer.”
I shook my head and headed to my own class. What did it mean? I wondered. Who knew? These things didn’t come with instructions and commentary.
That afternoon when Mary K. and I got home from school, there was a gray car parked in front of our house. I didn’t think anything of it—people parked in front of our house all the time. It was probably one of my mother’s clients. So I just followed my sister up the walkway.
“Morgan!”
I wheeled at that voice. Hunter Niall was getting out of the car.
“Who’s the dish?” Mary K. asked, arching an eyebrow.
I glared at her. “Go inside,” I commanded, my heart kicking up a beat. “I’ll deal with it.”
Mary K. grinned at me. “Ooh. I can’t wait to hear all about this.” She pounded up the porch steps, stomped the ice off her Doc Martens, and went inside.
“Hello, Morgan,” Hunter said, approaching me. How did he manage to make a simple greeting sound menacing? I wondered. His cold seemed to have gotten worse, too. His nose was red, and his voice was very nasal.