The Shadow Stealer (Silver Moon Saga Book 3) (20 page)

Chapter Thirty-five

I stepped quietly into Rafe’s bedroom, not wanting to disturb him in case he’d fallen asleep, only to find him sprawled out in bed with Bo nuzzling his neck. Bo’s purrs filled the room, and my boyfriend wore a peaceful expression on his face as he slowly pet the cat. “Seriously?” I put my hands on my hips. “Should I give you guys a moment?”

As if he could understand me, Bo pressed his head against Rafe, his purrs increasing in volume. Rafe chuckled as I began growling. “There’s enough of me to share. Since I’m so huge and all, right?” He patted the spot next to him on the bed, and I came around, sitting down and showing him the bottle. After sitting up—which Bo complained about with a loud meow—Rafe lifted his shirt and I applied the liquid. It did the same fizzing thing as last time, and I sat back, satisfied that it had worked.

“How do you feel? And tell me the truth, Rafe. Don’t pretend you’re okay if you’re not.”

Rafe settled back down, Bo resuming his place once more as I watched enviously. I swore the cat threw me a smug look, too, before shoving his face against Rafe’s neck. Grr! That should be
me
snuggling up to my boyfriend!

“I feel…” he started, before pausing with a small frown on his face. “Sore. And tired. Like I just went a week without sleep.”

“You need to rest.” I leaned over and kissed him on the lips. When I pulled away a few moments later, he grinned up at me, his eyes sparkling with humor. “What?” I asked, suspicious.

“That’s your idea of rest?”

I scowled. “No, that was my goodbye kiss, because I have to go.” Rafe’s grin quickly faded away. “You know I would stay if I could—god, I hate leaving you—but if Mom and I don’t catch the next bus, I’m going to be in a load of trouble. Forget two weeks; Dad will ground me for the rest of my life!”

Rafe struggled into a sitting position once more. “Let me just grab my keys and I’ll drive you—”

“No!” I put my hand on his chest and gently pushed him back down. “Didn’t you hear me? We’re going to take the bus.” I tried to give him a bright smile, but I was certain I ended up looking like I had a stomach ache. “It’ll be a chance for me and Mom to catch up on everything.”

Rafe nodded. “You’re right, it will. I know you’re worried about letting her in again, and I completely understand why, but there’s still so much she needs to tell you. And if she can help you keep Silver Moon
and
the demon away, then…”

“I need her,” I finished. “I need her around, and I need her in my life.” I dropped my eyes, staring at the blankets gathered around his waist. “I just don’t know what I’ll do if she leaves me again.”

His hand circled around mine, entwining our fingers together. “You’ll be fine. You’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for, Gabi. And besides,” he continued, “you have me. You’ll always have me.”

Instead of answering, I kissed him long and hard.

A few minutes later, Rafe broke away with a reluctant chuckle. “She’s still in the next room, isn’t she?”

“Yep. Watching TV and waiting for us to…” I couldn’t even finish that sentence without blushing. To distract myself, I checked the wound again. The scar had faded from red to a pale pink, now looking like an old injury.
Like what it
should
look like, two months later,
I thought. The swelling had gone down, and his skin felt cooler when I touched it. Rafe’s breath hitched in his throat as my fingers trailed across his stomach, and I laughed softly. I really wasn’t helping matters by touching him like that, but I couldn’t help myself. After nearly losing him, and then watching him struggle for two months—

Damn. It was taking all of my self-control to
not
throw myself at him.

Mom
, I reminded myself.
Mom is in the next room. Behave yourself, Gabi.

“Mom said this was demon magic,” I said, dragging my eyes from the scar to his face so I could see his reaction. Surprise warred with disbelief.

“Demon magic? Nina wouldn’t use a spell that came from demons.”

“She would if Collins was her master.”

Rafe’s mouth parted open, too shocked to speak.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” I nodded. “That’s gotta be it, right? Mom
saw
Collins casting demon magic, Nina used demon magic on you… Who else could have taught her something like that? But holy crap, Rafe, are there
any
Silver Moon hunters who are actually decent people and kill demons instead of fraternizing with them? Besides you guys, I mean.”

“I have no idea,” he said, his face a mixture of anger and disgust.

“But maybe Nina didn’t know.” I hated that I was defending her, after everything she did, but I had a feeling I was right. “Maybe he tricked her and told her it was dark magic.”

“That’s possible,” he admitted slowly. “I just can’t believe none of us realized this sooner! He couldn’t have Phil, Evan, or Kain because their parents all said no, so he went for Nina. She was an orphan, and she probably felt flattered by all the attention.”

Another disturbing thought occurred to me. “Do you think she told him about what I can do? Before she attacked me, I mean.”

“If she did, he wouldn’t have let you go the other day when he saw you,” Rafe said, always the voice of reason. But he was right. Collins would have snatched me up immediately, looking for revenge after the loss of his apprentice.

And, you know, to dissect me.

“Can I…” I tightened my grip on his hand. “Can I tell Mom about what we think Collins did to your parents? You can say no if you want. But she might know something that could help us…”

He fell silent, mulling over my request. “If your mom has information, then we need to hear it. So go ahead, tell her everything. I don’t mind.” Rafe wrapped his other arm around my waist and pulled me in for a hug. I was careful to avoid squeezing him too hard. “But thank you for asking me first.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered against his chest. “You’ve been through so much already. It would kill me if I hurt you, too.”

“You could never.”

I leaned in to kiss him again, but I accidentally squished Bo in the process, and he yowled in protest. Startled, I jerked away while Rafe began laughing. “Stupid cat,” I snapped.

“Aww, don’t be mean to Bo.”

“I feel like he’s watching us,” I grumbled. “Like a chaperone. Or a really jealous…cat-boyfriend?”

Rafe laughed harder. “A cat-boyfriend?” As if to emphasize my point, Bo shot me a dirty look before rubbing his nose against Rafe’s.
Oh my god, these two!

“Okay, that’s my cue to leave. You guys obviously need to be alone.” I slid off the bed but Rafe caught me by the wrist before I could walk away.

“Wait.”

I paused. “What’s wrong?”

“Will you go to prom with me?” he asked in a rush, his cheeks turning pink.

My mouth dropped open. “You didn’t just ask me that, did you?”

“Um, maybe?” he said nervously. “I figured I should ask you now, in my weakened state, so you would feel too guilty to say no.”

If my jaw fell any further, it would hit the floor. “Do you really think I’d say no?” I threw my free hand in the air. “I know I hate dances, but it’s the freaking prom, Rafe! And I’m your freaking girlfriend! I’ll have you know Penny and I already started looking for dresses, and we found a couple that will make your head explode.” I laughed wickedly as his blush deepened. “So, yes, I’ll go to the prom with you, you big dummy.”

“You are so evil,” he mumbled.

“I know!” I said before I flounced out of the room, still laughing.

“Everything okay?” Mom asked. Color had returned to her face, and she was sitting on the couch, her posture relaxed. I was glad to see her looking better, although she was holding her hand in an awkward position, like it hurt her. Should I have used the fizzing stuff on her? But when she noticed me staring at her hand, she rested it on her lap and flashed me a smile, her way of telling me not to worry about it.

“Yeah.” I waved a hand dismissively in answer to her question. “Rafe just asked me to go to prom with him, and for some reason he thought I was going to say no.”

“Prom…” Mom sighed wistfully, and I gave her a surprised look. She’d never been a girly-girl—in fact, growing up, I’d almost never seen her in dresses or skirts, and she never wore makeup—and yet there was something about the word “prom” that transformed her into a gleeful teenager. “Have you looked for dresses yet?”

“Me and Penny started. I haven’t made my choice yet, though.”

She smiled dreamily. “I can’t wait to see you all dressed up. You’re going to look gorgeous.”

Her excitement was contagious, and a matching smile blossomed on my face. “Hell yeah.” As much as I wanted to stand around and discuss prom with her, I knew we had to go. Casting one last, longing look at Rafe’s bedroom—I would give just about anything to stay and continue teasing him, I really would—I said, “Let’s go.”

Chapter Thirty-six

Throughout the bus ride I kept glancing at my phone in case Rafe called to say he needed me, but I should have known better. The boy could be bleeding out of his ears and he would say nothing because he wouldn’t want to interrupt my time with Mom. I did believe Mom when she said Rafe was going to be fine, but I still hated the thought of him home alone. After a moment’s hesitation, I tapped a quick message to Evan, asking him to come home soon.

He responded quickly:
Is everything okay?

My mom discovered a piece of the spell you and Kain missed still inside Rafe.

Evan:
@#)$(*#@$*)(@#$!!!!

(Seriously, that’s what his text read.)

My fingers flew over my phone as I reassured Evan that Mom used magic to remove the spell completely.
He’s recovering, but someone should be with him.

And you want that someone to be me?
Evan wrote back.
Isn’t this a perfect opportunity to dress up as a sexy nurse and “take care of him”?

The problem with texting Evan was I couldn’t cut him off midsentence to tell him what an idiot he was. Fuming, I waited a few minutes before typing back:
I’m grounded.

Oh. That explains a lot. Next train leaves in an hour.

Relief washed over me like a warm summer breeze. I knew Evan would come through. He said the stupidest things ever, but when it came down to it, he was a good guy. Sure, he made dumb choices, but didn’t we all?

The bus pulled up to our stop and Mom and I disembarked. If she’d been annoyed with me texting the entire bus ride, she hadn’t let me know. I still wanted to talk, but could we really discuss demons and spells on the bus?

“We have some time before Dad comes home,” I told her as we walked home. “And Chloe was going to her friend Tori’s house. So we can talk without worrying about them overhearing anything.”

“Did you ever…think about telling them what you can do?”

I shot her an incredulous look. “You’re kidding, right? ‘Hey Dad, guess what me and Rafe did today? We cut a demon’s head off! And afterwards, I healed a giant gaping wound in Rafe’s chest, just for fun!’” I skirted around an icy patch on the sidewalk before continuing. “How well do you think that would have gone over with him? And forget Chloe. She wouldn’t have believed me. I mean, she did see a demon and all—”

“What?” Mom’s eyebrows rose.

“Oh, not like that. Not like how we can See them.” I filled her in on what had happened with Davenport. “I asked Evan to erase her memories. It was pretty traumatic, and I didn’t want her living with that stuff.” We’d reached my house, and I paused before mounting the porch steps. “Do you think that was the wrong thing to do?”

“No, I don’t,” she said without hesitation. “You’re right; that was an awful thing for someone to go through, and she’s better off forgetting it. I didn’t want this life for either of you girls, Gabi. I was so glad when neither one of you took after me, in terms of magic. I’m sorry you have the Sight, though.”

“I’m not.” I said that so fiercely that Mom looked at me in surprise. “No, really, I’m not. Without it, I never would have met Rafe that night.”

“Oh yes. The demon with the soda in his crotch,” Mom said, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “Rafe told me all about it this morning.”

“Oh, Crotch Soda Boy,” I said fondly. “Did he tell you about Fishface and Hornboy? Boneless and Charlotte?”

“A little bit, but I’d like to hear it from you, too.”

I unlocked the front door and let myself in, dropping my bag by the foot of the stairs. “Let’s raid the fridge first. This is going to be a long conversation, and I’m hungry.” We went into the kitchen. I opened the fridge and was rummaging around when I heard Mom gasp. “What’s the matter?” I straightened up quickly, afraid she’d seen something from my past—namely, a demon with a soda in its crotch—in the yard.

Mom was looking out the window, her face pale. “T-The garden. I couldn’t see it last night; it was too dark. But…” She cleared her throat. “It’s still there.”

“Of course it’s still there.” I joined her at the window. “I couldn’t let it die. I loved it too much.
We
loved it too much,” I amended.

Wordlessly, Mom drifted to the back door and let herself outside.
It’s a good thing I hadn’t taken my coat off yet,
I thought ruefully, following her.

It’d snowed last week, and I’d been lazy about shoveling (because really, who else but me went into the garden?), so we had to tread carefully. I had cleared off the bench, though, and that’s where Mom went, sitting down to survey the garden.

“It looks better in the spring,” I said, wringing my gloved hands together. What the hell? What was I so nervous about?

I wanted her approval, I realized. I wanted her to see the love and care I’d poured into the garden for seven years, despite her leaving. I wanted her to know how much it still meant to me.

“I bet it does,” Mom said, smiling. “You planted more roses, I can see.”

“And a vegetable patch.” I pointed excitedly. “I had pumpkins last year! We made pie and carved them and everything. I want to do more. Beans, lettuce, tomatoes…” I ticked off the vegetables on my fingers, blushing when I saw Mom watching me closely.

“You really love this, don’t you?”

“I do.” Here I hesitated, wondering if I should admit my dream, something I hadn’t told anyone, not even Rafe. Brushing my hair out of my face, I spoke more to the ground than her when I said, “I want to open my own nursery someday.”

“I think that’s a great idea.”

Surprise jolted through me like a spark. “You think so?”

“Of course! Why shouldn’t you do something you love?”

“Because…” I kicked at a small patch of snow with my boot. “I don’t know the first thing about running a business. I can grow a few flowers back here, but what the hell do I know about everything else?” I didn’t bother to mention that I did only so-so in school, and math was one of my worst subjects.

“Hey.” Mom patted the seat next to her and I sat down. She placed her hand on my shoulder, and her touch felt familiar. Like home. “No one is born an expert. You go to school to learn these things. Life is full of risks and the unknown. You can’t give up before you even try, Gabi.” She squeezed my shoulder before letting go. “Just promise me you’ll think about it.”

I breathed in deeply before answering. Two minutes into our conversation, and she was already handing me important advice. “Okay. I will.”

Mom smiled. “Good. I’m not saying you have to run upstairs and start researching colleges right now. Just keep it in the back of your mind, okay? You’re actually lucky, you know; most people go to school without knowing what they want to do.”

“Not Rafe,” I said automatically. “He wants to play baseball. And now he can because you helped him.” I leaned closer to her. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that, Mom. How’s your hand, by the way?”

Her hands were resting in her jacket’s pockets, and at my question, she shoved them farther inside. “It’s fine. I barely feel the pain. You’re a good nurse.”

At those words, I remembered Evan’s stupid text message and blushed. I turned my head away, pretending I was interested in studying the way the snow coated the branches of our pear tree at the edge of the yard.

“Besides, it’s about time I did something right for once.” Even without seeing her face, I could hear the bitterness in her voice.

I kept my eyes averted. “Mom, that’s not tr—”

“No. Don’t make excuses for me. I screwed up, and I screwed up, and I screwed up. I’m really good at that, you know.” Mom’s voice shook, but I still refused to look at her. It was like, the moment I turned, the spell would break and we’d go back to discussing lighter topics, like college.

“I just… I wish you’d come home sooner,” I said. “So much was left up to chance and now I can’t stop thinking about you leaving. Again.” Tears blurred my vision, and I was glad I was looking away so she couldn’t see them.

“Sweetheart.” Her voice was low and plaintive. “Gabi, honey, that’s not going to happen. I’m not going to leave you again, not like before. After I summoned the demon, I had to. I did it to protect you, your sister, and your father. It was a mistake, I see that now. I should have stayed and told you what happened when you were old enough to handle the truth. You obviously took after me, inheriting the Sight. I should have been here, helping you through all of that.”

She shifted closer to me, and I turned to look at her. Like me, her eyes were shining with tears, and I knew at that moment that she meant every word that she was saying. “I’m here now, Gabi, and I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

And even though my brain told my heart not to listen to her, I did.

I listened, and I believed her.