Sigils and spells, p.58
Sigils & Spells, page 58
Aoibhe’s expression was undiscernible. Finally, she said, “Ravyn wasn’t being rude. But we will leave you be.” She stood, then retrieved her bag and tray. “For now.”
The two of them moved to a table nearby, not speaking until they had gotten situated in their new spots. Ravyn glanced across the cafeteria at Gabe, who had drawn his hoodie lower over his face, but watched them as he stirred his food with a plastic fork. She shivered. “I really wasn’t trying to be rude.”
“I know,” Aoibhe said with a nod. I get the feeling he’s going through something and is taking it out on us. I think he’ll come around.”
Her head shot up and she gawked. “You can’t be serious. You still want to attempt talking to him?”
“Ravyn, don’t give up on people after one try. They may surprise you.”
She glanced back at Gabe, not quite sure about that.
“So…” Aoibhe’s tone changed to one of cheerfulness. “What’s up with Daniel?”
Taken off guard by the abrupt change in conversational direction, Ravyn struggled to find an answer that didn’t sound dumb as her cheeks grew hot. “I don’t know. He was the first student I met on campus.”
Her friend laughed loudly, and Ravyn shivered at the feel of Gabe’s stare on them again. He was watching them, intently. Aoibhe, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to it with her back to him. “I think he likes you.”
“He most definitely does not,” Ravyn denied, aghast.
“Are you kidding me? He beelined to you in class to be close to you, and he gave you his number. He wants you bad.”
Her cheeks grew hotter. She thought she’d meant Gabe liked her. Daniel, well, that was the vibe she was picking up too. Ravyn speared a macaroni noodle and stared at it. “I’ve never had a boyfriend before.”
“You’re lying.” Aoibhe laughed again. “You’re hot. There’s no way.”
She met her gaze. “I’m for real.”
Aoibhe tilted her head to the side, gaze darting to check their immediate surroundings. “A girlfriend then?” Quickly she added, “If you haven’t come out yet, you can feel safe with me. I should probably mention, I’m bi.”
“Thank you for trusting me with that.” She hoped she didn’t come across as the kind of person who might judge anyone for their relationship choices. Love was love, after all. “But, no. No girlfriends either. My family was very strict. It was not allowed.” She still needed to have a conversation with them. More than texts. The idea of the argument that would ensue made her want to vomit. She had never acted out before, and the guilt at causing stress to her family had been eating at her. Yet she didn’t want to face it. Not yet. “I do think Daniel is cute though. It’s only…I don’t want to rush into something just because I can. Ya know?”
With a nod, Aoibhe smiled softly. “He seems pretty enamored. I think he’d be patient. If you are interested, don’t string him along due to uncertainty. Communication is key.”
Seemed Ravyn had a lot of communicating to do lately. “You’re right. New territory has me a little skittish. I’m unused to not knowing what to do, and well…I have no idea how to date.”
“If you try to be good at it, you won’t be. Be his friend, and the only difference would be the kissing and stuff.” Aoibhe giggled. “If it’s meant to be, it will be.”
“How very sage of you.”
“I have a cousin named Sage.”
They spent the remainder of their lunch break laughing and talking, anticipating how their other classes would go. It was too bad they didn’t share any other classes together. Maybe Daniel would be in one of her other ones, and maybe she’d have the courage to call or text him.
*.*.*.*.*
As the phone vibrated with yet another call from her mother, Ravyn entered her dorm room and closed the door. Aoibhe was still in class. Putting this call off any longer would make things worse, and it would already be bad. Ravyn inhaled sharply, closed her eyes, and clutched the phone to her chest, then breathed out and accepted the call. Hesitantly, she held the device to her ear, not daring speakerphone in case it could be overheard in the hall or Aoibhe walk in and overhear something that would be difficult to explain. “Hi, Mom.” The words came out far more meekly than intended. Way to hold firm on her decision.
“Baby, come home. We’ll work through this.”
It wasn’t yelling, at least. No harsh words out of the gate didn’t mean the argument wasn’t preloaded and ready to blow. “I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t? I understand why you’ve avoided my calls, Rae.” The use of her childhood nickname did its job of sucker-punching her right in the gut with guilt. “We didn’t part on good terms.” There was a pause. A loud sigh. “But you’re my daughter. I love you, and I am worried about you being so far from home without having ever dealt with this…affliction.”
“It’s not a disease.”
Her mother’s tone shifted as she snapped, “You’re right. It’s a curse. One that steals every man we love from us. When they find what we are, it seals their doom. Maybe not right away, but not one has survived it. Are you prepared to shift and stand vigil over a loved one’s home knowing the only person who is meant to die is your husband? Your boyfriend?”
Daniel’s smiling face flashed through her mind, and she rolled her eyes. She’d only just met the guy. Love at first sight was for idiots. She liked him, that was all.
Doesn’t mean you want to see him die.
And that was the crux of it. What she couldn’t explain to Aoibhe earlier. She didn’t know how to have a relationship, that much was true. However, having one meant chancing the doom of that person. Supposedly, they didn’t shift for everyone they knew that died. Only significant deaths…and the fathers of their own children, apparently. Which is an odd way of seeing it since every death was significant to somebody. So why did beings like her only shift sometimes?
“Rae, why aren’t you speaking to me? You do understand the gravity of this situation, right? If you shift and foretell the doom of a classmate, you will never forgive yourself.”
Enough. “I had every risk of doing that while living at home as I do being away from it. I can’t run away any time I feel myself getting too close to someone. I want friends. I want lovers.”
“Take lovers. Take as many as you want,” her mother pleaded. “But don’t let them capture your heart. I don’t want you to grieve like I did when we lost your father.”
“You had him for years before anything happened.” She didn’t mean to say it out loud. Really, she didn’t.
Brenda Corvus sucked in a breath. “I never said it would happen immediately. The longer it takes, the worse it will be. Trust me on that.” Allegedly, her mother had tried to keep the secret and break the curse that way. He’d witnessed her shifting, and that was that. A month later, her mother had shifted again while working in the garden…to watch over their own home. She’d tried to warn them, cawing and flying at the windows. Her father had a heart attack while in the shower. Had never heard the ruckus.
“I…” She hung her head as tears that refused to fall free burned her eyes. She hadn’t known her father. Ravyn had been too young to remember any of that night. “I do trust you. I want to live my life, Mom. I can’t keep moving every time I feel attached to people. It’s no way to live.”
Her mother was silent a real long while, though the faint, telling sniffles that drifted through the receiver bespoke of tears. “I love you, Rae. This is hard for me. I don’t want you to hurt like I did. Like I do. I’ve never gotten over your daddy’s death. Not ever.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” She had tried to tell her this for years, but her mother refused to entertain the thought. “He didn’t die because you shifted. You’re an omen, not the cause.”
“You know the story of Apollo cursing Corvus because she meddled in his relationships. It’s a curse. For people we do not love, sure, we’re omens. But we are the cause when it comes to men we love. Apollo made sure of that.”
As much as Ravyn wanted to claim Apollo wasn’t real, none of the ancient gods could be, it was hard to write them off when beings like her family existed. So maybe they did. Maybe they’d died off centuries ago. Who really knew? She had never met another supernatural being, and neither had any of her living family members. Maybe the gods had left this world, or realm, if they did exist. However, Ravyn and her family couldn’t be the only ones…
Right?
CHAPTER 4
Daniel looked down at his phone. Foolishness crept up his spine and made the back of his neck grow warm. It had been two weeks since classes started, and Ravyn had never called or texted. She smiled and teased him in class, but made no effort to see him outside of that. Maybe she wasn’t interested. Maybe he should move on.
Okay, but what if she’s just shy?
He rubbed a hand over his face as he listened to his professor drone on about electrons and neutrons and all that science mumbo jumbo that didn’t seem all that important in the moment, but he knew he needed to snap out of it and pay attention anyway. He had it bad, this crush.
Class wrapped up without him listening to a damned thing. Not a single word. His phone vibrated in his back pocket as he sat down at a picnic table outside the cafeteria with a cheeseburger and fries. His stomach growled as he answered it. “Hey.”
“Sorry I keep missing your calls.” Dylan, his twin brother, sounded off. Something had been up with him for at least a year. It’d started around Halloween then fizzled out. Yet the look in his eyes had been haunted ever since that night. Daniel wished he would confide in him.
“Is it happening again?”
There was a silence, and then, “What do you mean?”
Pain sliced through Daniel at the very concept of lies between them. They’d been close once. He didn’t think the rift had anything to do with his going away for college while Dylan had stayed behind in their hometown. “I mean whatever happened last October. To your bike.” He’d given up seeking answers. Now he only wanted confirmation that history was repeating. It killed him that he didn’t plan on going home this year. Perhaps he should.
“Oh,” he said, “that.” If he thought pretending to have no idea what he’d meant would keep Daniel from pushing, he was wrong. “I told you it was some kids playing a prank. They didn’t do it again after you went back to Maine.”
Daniel didn’t believe him. That realization hurt. “How’s Mom doing?”
“Fine.” Suspicion filled his tone when Dylan asked, “Why wouldn’t she be?”
He sighed. “I don’t know. Hence me asking.” Why the hell was he so guarded about this?
“She’s fine,” he repeated. “Cooked dinner for Penelope last night. The two of them are getting along quite well.” It wasn’t hard to notice the difference in tone once Dylan started talking about his girlfriend. Sometimes, Daniel wondered if meeting Penelope during whatever was going on last Halloween was the thing that had gotten him through. That girl was his brother’s anchor. He could feel it.
If only he would confide in him to tell him what had happened. To tell him if it had continued. Maybe Daniel could help, but he had to know what he was dealing with in order to be useful at all. He’d never felt more useless than this past year being left in the dark to something weighing so heavily on his twin. And their mother knew what it was. She had to know. That night when he’d woken up to find them whispering together in the kitchen…clamming up fast when they realized he was awake.
A mysterious, old tome in their mother’s hands that she’d hidden somewhere in her room before he interrupted their conversation…
“Penelope is great. You found a good one.” While the words felt like small talk in the rift between them, he really did mean it. He liked Penelope a lot.
Dylan chuckled, the first hint of liveliness since the phone call began. “Yeah, she is. I can’t believe I put off asking her out so long. Hey, any lady catching your eye up there on that island?”
Daniel groaned. “One, but I don’t know if the feeling is mutual. She’s running a little hot and cold on me.”
“What do you mean?”
How did he possibly explain this without sounding like he didn’t know how to take a hint? Maybe he was too hopeful. “When I flirt with her, she flirts back. We exchanged numbers, but she hasn’t used it. I tried putting out there that I was willing to meet up to study or whatever—”
Dylan’s bark of laughter made him snap his mouth shut.
“What’s so funny?”
“You doofus.” Dylan laughed harder, then cleared his throat. “If you are going to wait for her to make the first move after using studying as the excuse for the number exchange, she’s never gonna call.” He started laughing again. “How are we related? You’re not even a little bit slick.”
“Hey!” But now Daniel was laughing with him. “I didn’t want to be creepy and pushy, okay?”
“Whatever. You have to be assertive. Make the first move and ask her to dinner, point blank. If she says no, then dial it back and see if her behavior toward you changes. If it does, back off. If she continues to flirt, give it a few weeks and try again. But if she turns you down a second time, move on. If you keep it up past that point, that would be what makes you come off as pushy.”
Maybe he was right. Maybe it was worth a shot.
*.*.*.*.*
Ravyn had always prided herself on her good grades. She’d never had a problem with her attention span before, so why was she having such a difficult time concentrating with Daniel right beside her? He wasn’t purposely distracting her by talking while the dean gave her lecture on Greek mythology—something she was quite personally invested in, given her family lineage. No, what preoccupied her thoughts was the realization she could smell the sandalwood in the soap he had used. She could feel the warmth from his body next to hers in the otherwise chilly classroom. Her awareness of him had grown with each passing day they spent in there.
“Are you cold?” he whispered, and she jumped at the sound.
Get it together, Ravyn, you twit.
She turned to face him when the dean started writing on the whiteboard. “Why?”
He smiled. “You’re shivering.”
When he pointed it out, she noticed that, yeah, she was shivering. “I’ll be okay.” Next time she’d remember to bring her sweater or hoodie. The thin material of her T-shirt obviously wasn’t enough.
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I let you shiver for the last twenty minutes of class.” He unzipped his charcoal gray hoodie, took it off and handed it to her.
Ravyn took it, never breaking eye contact. Why did he have to be so sweet? “Thank you.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you would all pay attention to the lesson and not the gallant display of chivalry in the middle of the room, that would be most appreciated.” The dean’s lips twitched as she tried to hide a smile when she glanced at Daniel and her. “I almost want to say ten points to Gryffindor or something.”
The class erupted into laughter.
“Thank you,” Ravyn whispered when Dean Caelan turned back around and started drawing a family tree for the gods of Olympus. As she wrote the name Apollo, a pit in her stomach knotted up. Family legend attributed their “curse” to that particular god’s wrath, so when his name came up, the Corvus women instinctively reacted to it with caution. Even her, despite not fully believing the god was real. She pulled the jacket on and shuddered, but the warm material calmed her. Daniel’s scent soothed something she didn’t quite understand.
Ravyn had crushes growing up. And sure, she hadn’t been allowed to date or go to dances or anything where she would mingle with the male folk too much. But she had never been so flustered near a guy that butterflies fluttered in her stomach when he first entered a room and said hello. To where the smell of his soap and hint of cologne made her want to crawl closer to him and lay her head on his shoulder or chest.
She had it bad. So bad, in fact, that before she knew it, class had ended and she’d missed at least ten minutes of the lecture. A quick glance at Aoibhe’s notes as she closed her binder assured her that she could ask for the refresher later in their dorm. Slightly annoying though, since this was the part of the lecture she’d been looking most forward to: anything to help her with learning more about her family.
As they made their way into the hall, Daniel stopped her. “Oh crap,” Ravyn said, feeling her cheeks heating up. “I’m so sorry. I forgot about your hoodie.” She scrambled with her bag so she could take it off, but he put a hand on her arm, halting her.
“Give it to me later. Keep it for the rest of your classes.” His gaze drifted to Aoibhe, and like the two of them had formed some sort of telepathic bond, Aoibhe smiled and waved at them.
“I’ve got to run. Talk to you later.”
And there Ravyn was. Abandoned to figure out how to form words with Daniel even though she longed to spend time alone with him as much as she dreaded it. It made zero sense. She turned to face him, and her breath exhaled in a whoosh. He was staring at her as though no one else in that hall existed. His hazel eyes sparkled somehow in the fluorescent lights, and he smiled as he flicked a strand of his light brown hair out of his eyes. He either needed a haircut or was attempting to grow it out; it was in the awkward stage where it wasn’t actually long, but wasn’t quite short.
“So, uh…Ravyn.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Their entire class had exited the hall and the dean passed them with an amused smirk and a wink. “I was wondering if, maybe, you’d like to go out to dinner with me Friday. I know a great Italian place on the mainland. It would have to be a somewhat early dinner, so we could catch the ferry back.”
Somehow, his nervous rambling made him even cuter. “I’d love to.”
“I mean, I get it if you don’t…” He closed his mouth. Opened it. Shut it again. “Wait, did you just say you’d love to?”
