Starbound (14 page)

There was something close to pity reflecting in her eyes. “You’re losing me,” she said.

I pulled the black and white scarf closer around my neck. A chill had made a permanent home inside my chest, prickling my heart. “Tell me about it. Imagine how I feel.”

How could I explain what I barely understood myself? But it was one puzzle I was determined to solve.

Something was going on, and I was going to get to the bottom of it, so help me God.

Chapter 14

Seth

Christ. What a mess.

How the hell did Kat keep getting her memory back?

I had to believe, after the second time, that it was most certainly not Zeke and everything to do with this retched curse. There was the slimmest possibility that Zeke was blowing smoke up my ass and he never actually did the spells accurately, but I trusted Zeke. He knew how dire this situation was and what she meant to me.

Kat tore out of my arms after an impressive body-slam—though in the moment, seeing her hit Elena full-force had made my chest tighten. I didn’t have any other choice but to let her go. For one, the staff was making their way through the crowd, and I didn’t want Kat to end up with a detention. The two of them might start another royal rumble being shut up together for a Saturday. Second, it felt way too good having her in my arms, and that was cause for alarm.

The heat from her body was still imprinted on mine, and the desire to go after her was immense. My heart felt heavy as a swift bout of anger rose inside me at the injustice of the cards we’d both been dealt.

This sucked.

Zeke had finally released Elena, who was spitting silver daggers at me.

How the hell had I ended up in this dilemma? Better yet, how was I going to get out of it? I not only had to deal with Kat and her returned memory, I also had a pissed-off healer, who put me on her I’m-going-to-make-your-life-miserable radar.

Shoving my hands through my hair, I knew that the time had come. I had to tell Kat everything; there really wasn’t another way around it. Her parents were just going to have to deal with it, because I was done with the games. I was done hurting her for the price of her safety. This was our last year together, and when we parted ways at graduation, I didn’t want it to be on bad terms. I wasn’t so delusional that I thought we would remain friends after high school. That would have been dreadfully hard, but pleasant to avoid any awkwardness on visits home would be preferable.

What I wouldn’t give to use something or someone as a punching bag.

Katia

I had no idea how long I sat in my car just staring out at the rocky formations of South Dakota. Patches of grass grew between the crevices, clashing against the rusty rocks. An hour, maybe two, passed—it didn’t really matter, just as long as I was left alone. I played with my magick for a little bit, calling it to the surface, the tingles vibrating at my fingertips. Taking comfort in the feelings it enticed. I didn’t really understand my powers. They were somewhat of a mystery to me. What was so great about being freakishly good at puzzles? Right now I wished I had the ability to banish someone to Siberia.

That is where I would send Seth right this second.

I was so unbelievably angry at him. He made me crazy. Everything I’d been brought up to believe about love and starbound was a crock of poop. Seth wasn’t supposed to push me away. He was supposed to be ridiculously in love with me. We should have been drawn to each other, captivated, lured to just be near one another. It might not make sense or sound rational, but for the first time I realized what I’d been searching for—Seth.

Being so close to him but just out of my reach had left a hole inside me.

FML
.

Love blows.

Glancing at the dashboard clock in my car, I came to the conclusion that sitting here, wallowing in my self-pity, was a waste of time. It gave me no answers, no results, no reprieve from the betrayal and pain I was feeling. School was out and Seth had the day off from Eddy’s, which meant that he and shitbrick were probably hanging out somewhere.

I had come out here to the cliffs with the mindset to blow off steam, but I found myself just as tangled and livid as I had been when I decided to play hooky for the rest of the day. If anything, I had stewed in my anger, working myself up into a tizzy. Putting the Jetta into drive, I went on the hunt for the object of my wrath.

I found them chillin’ on a dirt road not far from where the clearing was. It was a given that dumb and dumber would be together. Zeke and Seth were as thick as thieves. They were sitting on the back of Seth’s truck, looking better for wear, but even on a bad day Seth looked mouthwatering.

His jeans were ripped, and the wind picked up pieces of his dark hair. I tried not to think about how yum-o-tastic he was and focused on getting answers. Zeke looked like a surfer boy on a cool summer night.

They both glanced up at the same time as my little Jetta pulled into view. My sticky palms gripped the steering wheel. Nerves clawed at my belly, and seeing them, I got pissed off all over again. I was anxious to learn what they were hiding, and being edgy made me mad. They’d better have an extraordinary reason for why the two of them conspired and took my memories—twice. The circle I had once been a part of would have never used magick on each other—not in harm—not for kicks—not to besmirch.

I shut the car door behind me and tucked my windblown hair behind my ears. They both eyed me warily, feet dangling off the end of the truck bed. Smart boys.

“Uh-oh,” I heard Zeke mumble under his breath. “Dude, you are in serious shit.”

Seth popped him in the leg.

I marched up to the truck, driven by stress and anger, not a pleasant combination. “Get ready to check his vital signs,” I said to Zeke.

“Why?” Zeke asked, brows raised.

I thought it was pretty obvious. “’Cuz I am going to kill him.”

Zeke laughed.

Seth frowned. “This isn’t funny.”

“The hell it isn’t,” Zeke replied with sparkling blue eyes.

I put my hands on my hips and gave Zeke a dry glare. “I wouldn’t be laughing; you cast the spell.”

Zeke’s smile fell. “Right. I forgot that teeny, tiny detail.”

“Lucky for you, I didn’t,” Seth told him. “If am I going down, then so are you, my friend.”

Zeke looked from me to Seth and shook his golden head. “I am not sure how close of friends we are going to be after this.”

I was tired of their stalling banter. “As much as I hate to break up the bromance, I am still very much pissed.”

Seth jumped off the bed of the truck, all six foot two of him towered in front of me. “Kats, it was for your own good.”

If I had a penny for every time someone has said that to me. Craning my neck, I looked up at him. “Twice! Twice, Seth. You care so much that you had Zeke wipe my memories twice?”

He scratched the back of his head. “Well, when you say it like that it sounds bad.”

Zeke snickered.

“Zeke!” we both bellowed in unison.

“Gives us a minute, would you, Zeke?” I demanded more than asked. “I am not taking any chances of you messing with my mind a third time. I’ll deal with you later.”

He leaped down and stopped where I stood. “Katia, you have to know that I would never hurt you.” There was a plea in his soft eyes.

“Maybe,” I conceded. “Right now I am not sure of anything, least of all who my friends are.”

Hurt crossed his face. “I really am sorry. I never should have listened to the jackass. Don’t go too hard on him. He had damn good reasons. Whatever comes out of his mouth, I am telling you that he cares about you.”

I stood my ground, masking my emotions, which were pinging all over the place. “I find that hard to believe right now, Zeke.”

He snuck a quick glance out of the corner of his eye at Seth, who was now leaning on the side of his black truck. “I swear it on a blood oath, on the moon goddess. He loves you, Katia. Like honest to God loves you, and he would do anything to protect you.”

It was much harder to hide the doubt and surprise from my face, or deny that my heart was pounding in triple-time. I angled my head. “Protect me from what?” I whispered, because it seemed like Zeke didn’t want Seth to hear us.

“It’s not for me to say, and he is already going to kick my ass to China for saying this much.”

“Well, someone better start talking,” I grumbled.

He tossed me a brief grin. “That bastard has no idea how lucky he is to have you. You’re one badass chick.”

My lips twitched. “Thanks, I think.”

“Anytime. Oh and, Katia.” He smirked and raised his hand like a boy scout. “I promise never to play in your head again.”

“I’m holding you to that, Zeke.”

He took off toward his Impala, and I waited for the purr of the engine before I turned to Seth.

“So I am guessing it is my turn,” he said, eyeing me.

I strolled right up and socked him in the gut. He made an
oomph
noise in the back of his throat, but I didn’t get the doubled-over results I was looking for. It was disappointing

“I guess I deserve that.” There was just the slightest touch of amusement in his voice.

“You guess?” I shrilled.

“Can we talk about this rationally?” he tried to reason.

Then before I could object, he had his hands on my waist, lifting me up on the back of this truck. I tried to not notice the muscles that flexed in his arms. The truck bounced under his weight as he heaved himself up beside me. I let out a long irritated sigh. “What’s going on, Seth?”

He scratched his chin. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

My eyes narrowed.

He held up both of his hands, and a twinkle lit his green eyes. “Just don’t hit me again.”

I felt the corner of my mouth lift, dissipating some of my anger. “Well, at least you are admitting that something
is
going on.”

“You have no idea,” he said after a few moments.

“I will if you tell me.”

Seth was quiet, his shoulders unnaturally tense. “I was really hoping I would never have to.”

I shifted on the metal bed, turning toward him with my body. “Why?” I asked heatedly. “I don’t understand. Is it because of what we are to each other?”
Starbound.

A breeze blew through, messing his already tousled dark hair. “That’s part of it. A big part of it,” he admitted.

“How long have you known that we are—” My insides were tight. Just thinking about what he was to me made me go mushy and starry-eyed.

The setting sun gleamed on his striking features—the curve of his jaw with tiny stubbles, the exotic color of his eyes. All of him seemed more intense and dangerous out here in the middle of nowhere. “Forever.”

My breath caught.

“I grew up with the forewarnings of the curse. Instead of nursery rhymes, I got stories of our families’ curse.”

“Curse,” I echoed. This was definitely going to go to a dark place. Pressure squeezed in my lungs.

“We’re cursed,” he stated matter-of-factly.

I didn’t know what to say. What he was suggesting sounded so farfetched. And why wasn’t he having a meltdown? I was on the verge of a full-on freak-out.
Cursed?
But I was a nixie, and I knew better than to think the impossible wasn’t possible. I might be ticked off at Seth, but I knew he didn’t lie. Not about something this gargantuan.

“Do you remember the first time we saw each other?” he asked.

A smile tugged at my lips. “How could I forget?”

“We were four, and I saw you playing in the park with these big curls bouncing as you raced across the monkey bars. I knew who you were before you told me your name. I felt it in my blood. It recognized you as mine. And I thought to myself,
That’s the girl who is going to kill me
?
She’s not that scary
.” He chuckled under his breath. “Little did I know…”

I met his eyes, my heart warming at the memory. “I told you my name and you pushed me down. You told me you hated me and to stay away from you.”

His eyes smiled, crinkling in the corners. “I did. I was scared of you. And then every day I went to the park to see if you would show up. On the days you came, I watched you from inside the wooden fort. Even at four I was drawn to you. Eventually I realized that you were just a girl, and it wasn’t your fault any more than it was mine that you were born a Montgomery.”

“So this curse…it’s because of our bloodlines?” I asked, trying to follow the dotted lines.

He nodded, a glint of regret reflecting in eyes darker than the bottom of the sea. “It only happens once a century. One of each line is born, destined to repeat history. The curse prevents us from being together. As long as we don’t complete the sacred vow the curse stays dormant, but if we do…and the curse is activated…it will kill you.”

I felt like I’d been dropped kicked in the gut, and then kicked again when I was down. On a loud gasp, I hugged my stomach. He was talking about our deaths, and all I could think was,
did that mean that Seth really did want me
? Even years ago, when I thought he was the biggest asshole on the planet, had that been to protect me? Was that why we had drifted apart? A handful of unanswered questions tumbled through my head.

His fingers were under my chin, lifting my face. Eyes like liquid emeralds stared at me with powerful emotion. “I won’t let that happen, Kats. Not to you. I refuse to watch you die.”

Heat zipped through my veins. A crack of lightning struck the sky behind us. We sat thigh to thigh, his hand now cupping my cheek. The thrill of his touch was far stronger than anything I’d ever felt before.

“You have the most amazing eyes. They remind me of starlight.” His voice was soft and seductive.

I swallowed, and my legs stopped swinging. “What are we going to do, Seth?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

He broke down the details that surrounded the curse, filling me in on the origin. I listened to the seductive lull of his voice. It didn’t matter that he was talking about our deaths, or how we had to be careful and keep our distance. His voice was hypnotic, pulling me. His hand fell away from my cheek while he was reciting the curse word for word, and I immediately missed the contact. It ended with, “There is nothing we can do, Kats. It is set in stone, written in the stars; the curse is unbreakable.”