Chameleon (Supernaturals) (2 page)

Russ dropped the package into my lap. It was so heavy it nearly knocked the wind out of me.

I pulled the bow off the box and stuck it on his head. “Should I be scared?

Russ’s eyes were full of mischief so I quickly tore away the wrapping paper. I laughed when I saw what it was. “A ten-pound bag of Jell-O?”

Russ handed me a piece of folded up paper. I accepted it but gasped when I realized I was looking at a picture I’d drawn back in the fourth grade. It was of Russ and me swimming in a pool of red Jell-O. The words at the top said “My Birthday Wish.”

“Where did you get this?”

“I’ll never tell,” Russ said. “But tonight, Miss Webber, you are getting your birthday wish.”

“No way!” I yelled almost loud enough to wake my parents.

Russ hopped up suddenly. “Get dressed,” he said. As he disappeared out my bedroom window he called back in a whisper, “Don’t forget your swimsuit.”

. . . . .

“You are a freaking genius!” I squealed when we broke into Brad Halloway’s back yard. Or, more specifically, his big, super nice pool.

It was genius because Brad Halloway sucks. His dad owns the plastics factory that keeps the tiny town of Carmine, Pennsylvania—the town in which I live—alive. That means he’s the only rich man in town and the boss of nearly half of our fifteen hundred residents. Somehow Brad thinks this entitles him to be a total douche bag. If anyone deserves to have their family’s pool gelatinized it’s him.

“Okay, so maybe you’re only a genius in theory,” I told Russ once I began pouring the Jell-O powder into the pool. It was one of those fancy heated pools with a rock waterfall and a slide. It was massive. My ten-pound gift bag didn’t seem all that impressive anymore.

“You’d need like five hundred pounds of this stuff to make this pool solid.”

Russ stuck his hand in the stream of pinkish dust that was spilling from the bag and caught a handful. “Where’s the trust? This is industrial-strength Jell-O.”

“Even still. It’s barely going to be enough to turn the water red.”

“Just make sure you spread it out, Doubty McDoubterson,” Russ said and gave me a shove toward the deep end.

I started pouring the Jell-O all around the edge of the pool and didn’t even get half way around before I was out. “You see?” I called across the water in a whisper. “It’s not even turning red. It’s barely pink.”

“Ah, but you’re forgetting I still have this.”

Russ held up the tiny handful of powder he’d collected. He made a show of holding the Jell-O up to his mouth and whispering something to it—most likely begging it not to make him look bad. Then he held his palm flat and blew the dust out over the pool. The tiny granules sprinkled across the top of the water and dissolved instantly.

“That’s it?” I was completely unimpressed. “You are such a moron.”

Russ frowned, insulted. “I can’t believe you have that little faith in me. Go get the skimmer and start stirring.”

It seemed pointless to me but I grabbed the skimmer anyway. I gasped when I started stirring and found the water already getting thicker.

“Told you so.” Russ smiled smugly.

“I don’t get it. This shouldn’t be working.”

“Maybe the Jell-O knew my birthday present would be totally lame if it didn’t work.”

After a few minutes the pool was completely jelled so Russ stripped down to his swim trunks and sat on the edge of the pool. Slowly, he stuck his feet into the goopy mixture and frowned. “This feels pretty nasty.”

I stuck my feet over the side of the pool and wrinkled my nose. “Slimy.”

“And sticky,” Russ complained.

“At least it’s warm.”

“Yeah,” Russ said, fighting a laugh. “That’s why I picked this pool. It’s the only heated one in town.”

“How very insightful of you. I thought you picked it because Brad is a prick.”

“Happy coincidence.” Russ gave me an innocent shrug. “And I swear I don’t know anything about his big pool party on Saturday.”

We had a good laugh and then I swirled my feet around once more. “It kind of tickles.”

“It’s gross. You sure you want to go all the way in?”

“Of course!” I said. “It’s not every day your best friend magically fulfills one of your life-long wishes.”

I couldn’t understand the look I got from Russ just then, but he stared at me long enough to make me feel nervous. “What if I could?”

“Could what?”

“Magically make all your wishes come true.”

I laughed at the thought. “Yeah, that’s all I’d need. I’m spoiled enough as it is. Besides, if wishes came true every day they wouldn’t be magical anymore. Nope, once in a lifetime’s good enough for me. Now come on, I’ll race you to the other end!”

. . . . .

As sticky, and slimy, and even kind of, well, extremely disgusting as it was, swimming in a giant pool of Jell-O was seriously one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life. But it was definitely a one-time thing, and after about fifteen minutes I was more than ready to call it quits. I climbed out of the pool and was so sticky that the thought of wrapping myself in a towel was too unappealing despite how cold it was outside.

“Let’s rinse off in the hot tub,” Russ suggested.

“Ooh, good idea.”

I didn’t wait for Russ. I practically dove into the hot tub and scrubbed my hair beneath the water. Once the slimy coating was washed off my skin I sat back and enjoyed the heat and bubbles.

I closed my eyes and sighed. “We should make spa hopping a weekly occurrence.”

Of course, I quickly changed my mind when Russ slipped into the water with me and I nearly reached out to touch him.

Seriously, what was wrong with me lately? It’s not like I was surprised by the way he looks without a shirt on. We’d spent most of the summer at the lake together. I knew he kept in shape. So why did I suddenly wish he hadn’t sat all the way across the hot tub from me? Why did I have a desire to climb in his lap and lean against his bare chest?

I felt myself starting to blush so I closed my eyes again and tried to pretend he wasn’t there. “Seriously Russ, you’ve outdone yourself this year. Thank you. Best birthday present ever.”

“Really? So then I didn’t need to get you this?”

I opened my eyes and Russ handed me another present. This one was just as beautifully wrapped but smaller and way, way lighter. “What’s this for?”

“You didn’t think I was only going to give you a bag of Jell-O for your birthday did you? I’m way smoother than that.”

“You gave me a lot more than just a bag of Jell-O and you know it.”

Russ shrugged like it was no big deal even though we both knew it was. “Yeah, well, now I’m giving you that so shut up and open it.”

“Yes, sir,” I teased with a mock salute and happily tore off the wrapping.

I was surprised to find a rectangular box covered in black crushed velvet. It was too big to hold a ring or a bracelet, but it was definitely a jewelry box.

“Russell Alexander Devereaux what did you do?”

I was only teasing. I fully expected to open the box and find, knowing Russ, a lock of his hair that I was supposed to treasure for eternity or something like that.

When I looked up I saw a flash of insecurity in his all too confident eyes. “Just open it,” he said. He tried to sound playful but his voice shook the slightest bit and he couldn’t fool me.

Suddenly afraid to look, I swallowed back a lump in my throat and pulled open the box. “Russ!” I gasped.

The necklace was absolutely breathtaking. It was Victorian-style—with turquoise beads sown intricately into silver chains. A large turquoise crystal cut into the shape of a teardrop dangled delicately from the center. It looked like it was hundreds of years old and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Do you like it? It’s been handed down in my family for generations.”

“Very funny.”

When I looked up there wasn’t a hint of play anywhere in Russ’s expression. It may have been the first time I’d ever seen him one hundred percent serious.

“Dad gave it to my mom when they got married,” Russ said. “After she took off and left it behind, he told me he’d never be able to give it to another woman so he gave it to me.”

My face went white. “I can’t accept this.”

I tried to hand him the box and he pushed it back at me. “I told Dad I wanted to give it to you, and he agreed that I should.”

“But it was your mother’s. It’s an heirloom. This should stay in your family.”

“You’ve been my best friend since we were riding tricycles and making mud pies. I want you to have it.”

I looked down at the necklace again and my eyes burned. “I—I don’t know what to say. Thank you, Russ.”

As I stared at the jewelry, awestruck, Russ crossed the hot tub to sit next to me. And I mean like
right
next to me. His closeness made me shiver.

“Dani, there’s something I have to talk to you about.”

My head snapped up. First the private birthday celebration, then the necklace, and now the soft tone in his voice? None of this was right. None of this was like Russ.

Call me crazy, but it felt like he was about to cross a boundary he’d never dared breech before. He’d never even seemed like he’d wanted to, but right now he was all up in my personal space like nobody’s business.

Russ took my hand, and before I had any time to analyze that action, I was overcome with a strange sensation. The hand holding mine was warm, more warm than any hand had a right to be. It felt like it was sending fire through my body.

“Dani?” Russ asked suddenly. “Is everything okay? You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I’m fine,” I said, though my breath was ragged. Something was definitely off, but I couldn’t tell what exactly was happening to me.

I put my hands to my head so Russ wouldn’t have the chance to be offended that I’d ripped my fingers from his. “It’s just a headache. I haven’t been feeling all that well for the last couple weeks, but I’m okay.”

“A couple
weeks
? Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?”

“Because it hasn’t been that bad. I’m fine, I promise. I’m already feeling better.” That wasn’t completely true, but I plastered a smile on my face anyway. “Now, what were you saying? You wanted to tell me something?”

Russ seemed to remember himself and took a deep breath. “You’re my best friend,” he said.

It sounded like the beginning of a rehearsed speech. That meant this was serious news.

“Duh….” My voice betrayed how nervous I was.

Russ shifted uneasily next to me and continued. “Because you’re my best friend, there’s something I can’t hide from you anymore. But before I tell you what it is, you have to promise you’re not going to freak out.”

I sucked in a breath.
“He is!”
my brain screamed at me.
“He’s making a move!”

Was I ready for that? If he told me he wanted more than friendship could I give it to him? Could I kiss him and keep a straight face? Could he? Terror seized my chest making me unable to breathe. And yet…maybe it wasn’t fear causing my pulse to race. I couldn’t deny the things I’d been feeling lately. Still. I had no idea how to respond.

“Um....”

Russ took my hand again, and I did my best to ignore the strange connection between us. I wondered if he felt it too.

“Dani, I…”

Love you…

I waited with wide eyes, holding my breath for Russ to spit it out. He looked completely terrified. Which, lets just say, is not a look you often see on Russ Devereaux.

It was surprisingly nice that he was drawing this out because the suspense was making me realize just how much I wanted to hear him say it. Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe it would be perfect. I mean he was my best friend. Who better than him to be my first boyfriend?

“You…?” I prompted.

Russ broke into a sweat. I don’t think it was from the heat of the water. He took a deep breath and blurted, “DaniI’mawarlock.”

“Huh?” I had no idea what he’d just said, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t, “Dani I’m in love with you and want to be more than just your friend from now on.”

“I’m a…w a r l o c k,” he said again—very slowly this time.

Okay, definitely not,
Dani, I’m in love with you and want to be more than just your friend from now on.

Was he joking? Or did he just chicken out? Because the panic I saw in his eyes a minute ago was completely real. But, “I’m a warlock?”

Seriously, WTF?

There was literally no way I could respond to such a statement. Like no
possible
way. I know because I sat there for a really long time trying to come up with a reaction and simply couldn’t. Eventually Russ just had to start talking again.

“Supernatural beings, like the kind you read about in books—witches, vampires, werewolves—they’re real. I’m one of them. I’m a warlock, Dani. I have magic. My dad too.”