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“I have more than alarm bells,” Raven says with a roll of her eyes. “I literally see and feel the bad vibes coming off that dude. It’s something beyond what I feel when someone just isn’t nice or whatever. With him, it’s scary.”
Nessa walks around the counter and pulls both of her girls into a tight embrace. She kisses them both on the cheek and sighs, “You girls be safe, and let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I’ll do my best to cast a circle of protection over all of you and try my hardest to keep you all safe, but some things like this are stronger than magic so don’t be afraid to ask for help. Understood?”
“Yes, mama,” they both chime in unison.
“A soul like that isn’t one to mess around with, but all you can do is be there for Emily as best you can. Be her friend and make sure she knows you’re still going to be there when she needs you. Watch over her. Unfortunately, you can’t very well make her not have feelings for him. That is the beauty of love. We can’t do a damn thing about it when someone falls for the wrong person. You love who you love in this world.”
Raven’s heart tugs at her mother’s last words. You love who you love and you can’t do a damn thing about it.
Her cheeks flush a scarlet red as her thoughts immediately flash to Callie Meadow’s face. Ducking out of her mother’s embrace she is out the door in seconds, leaving behind her mother and sister gaping after her.
She is on her bike and down the road before they can call her back. She isn’t ready to have that conversation with them. She knows they will love her and stand by her no matter what, but she just isn’t ready for them to know.
This town doesn’t treat outsiders very kindly and Raven’s family already has a strike against them for not being Christian. She can only imagine what having a girl who likes other girls a little too much in the family would mean for them.
As she is contemplating all the harassment they might encounter, she sees a figure coming into focus down the road from her. Is she a mirage? Is she Raven’s thoughts coming to life before her eyes?
No. It is just really her.
Callie is currently walking down the road right toward her.
Callie knew there was a reason she felt like taking the scenic route today.
Raven Kearney is headed right to her and she knows the girl has a direct window to Emily as a part of her inner circle. If Callie can’t make Emily listen, perhaps she can make her friends listen. As Raven comes closer, Callie raises her hand in a wave and the girl slows to a stop.
“Hi,” Raven speaks quietly.
Callie smiles at her, “Hey, you’re Raven, right?”
“Yeah,” Raven answers with a beautiful bright light shining in her eyes.
“Aren’t you friends with Emily?”
Something in Raven’s face falls at the mention of Emily and she starts to ride away, but Callie reaches for her hand. There’s a jolt and the girl looks like she’s lost for a moment, eyes vacant and wide. Callie feels electricity shoot through her core. Raven seems to come back to Earth and their eyes lock. It’s like Raven can see right through her.
“I-I’m sorry. I have to go,” Raven says as she turns her bike around and is gone before Callie can even protest.
She has never experienced anything like that in her entire life. Completely stunned, Callie continues her walk home almost in a daze. She doesn’t know what happened when she touched Raven, but something clearly passed between them. Something big. Important.
It made Callie feel some things that she hadn’t even intended to feel, but she knows are there just under the surface. Raven is beautiful and seems so sweet, but that alone shouldn’t make Callie want to touch her again just to feel her skin.
With every step she takes toward her ostentatious home in the woods, she cannot tear her mind away from Raven. She knows her parents would never speak to her again if they knew the things she was thinking about another girl, but that only makes her smile and dig deeper into this budding fantasy.
I wonder what it would feel like to kiss her lips, she wonders, sending a warm tingle through her whole body.
I wonder what it would feel like to run my fingers through her long black hair, she indulges with a smile.
Where is all of this coming from? She doesn’t even know the girl, but she feels like she needs to.
As her parents two story colonial comes into view, Callie walks up the long drive too wrapped up in thoughts of Raven to even notice the cherry red car parked under the old oak trees out back. She doesn’t see the dark figure pressed against the side of the house. She doesn’t notice the draft of cool air coming in from her ajar bedroom window.
Callie is so in her head over the things that Raven made her feel in that instant of touch that she doesn’t notice any of the signs that could have warned her.
Don’t go in the house alone.
Don’t go up the stairs.
Don’t close your bedroom door.
