“I’m coming with you,” she said.
I blinked at her, surprised by her decision. Then I shook my head. “No way. I won’t put anyone else in danger,” I said.
“You’re not going to be able to rescue anyone if you’re dead,” Jasmine said bluntly. “You may be an überwitch and all, but even you can’t take all of them on if they catch you alone. And if they take you out, then the rest of us are toast. Face it. You need us just as much as we need you.”
I began to argue with her, but then Sascha took a step toward me and put her hands on her hips. “I’m in too.”
Then it was Jinx’s turn to stand up. “We’ll be your backup.”
Before Emory could chime in too, I cut her off. “Someone has to stay here to watch the others and continue the training if something goes wrong.” Emory was a little younger than the rest of us, so it made sense to me that she would stay behind. Besides, if she did have to give the others bad news, I could trust her to be able to handle it.
The others looked resigned in their decisions to come, and although I hated to admit it, my going alone might not have been the best thing for Fallon. Someone would need to get him out of whatever mess he had gotten himself into while I tried to hold off our enemies.
“All right. You can come, but everyone else stays put,” I said. “And you three do whatever I say. No buts. We’ve seen what the Parrishables are capable of.”
“What if they find us here while you’re gone?” Emory asked.
“That won’t happen,” I said, turning to look at her. I hadn’t told them why the cabin was our best bet for safe hiding. Mostly because I hadn’t felt it was important to bring up until now. “This place is sort of enchanted.”
“What are you talking about?”
No point in keeping it a secret anymore. “My mom told me a long time ago that this cabin was bewitched to be invisible to the outside world.”
“Invisible? Like no one can see us?” Sascha asked, her eyes growing big.
“More like, whenever anyone comes looking for us, they’ll get redirected so they won’t end up here. Not exactly invisible, but they won’t be able to see us if they can’t find the place,” I explained.
“Did they do that because of the Parrishables?”
“Not sure. Don’t even know who cast the original spell,” I said, shrugging. “So I don’t think we have to worry about any crazy mountain men anytime soon.”
“How does it work?” Jasmine asked. “I mean, we found it, so it can’t be impossible.”
“I think it has something to do with knowing that the cabin itself exists and your intentions or something. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid, so I knew where to go. And I brought you all with me. Now that I’ve brought you here, you’ll always be able to find it again,” I said. I was reminded of my mom again, and this time I smiled. “My mom used to love the fact that it was impossible for Dad’s work to contact him while he was here on vacation. The phone calls just never went through.”
“Weird,” Jinx said. “But it makes me feel a lot safer being here now that I know.”
The others nodded.
“Hate to break this up, but time’s a-wasting,” Jasmine said, pointing at the watch that was still suspended in the air. “And the longer we leave Fallon out there, the farther we’ll have to go to find him.”
I nodded in agreement and then stood up. “I’m ready if you are.”
“Are you sure?” Jasmine asked, surveying my getup from head to toe. Looking down at my dark couture outfit topped off with a pair of black studded pumps, I wondered what she was talking about.
“What? You can’t fight in heels?” I asked finally.
Jasmine shook her head at me and started to walk out the door. “Just don’t come crying to me when you wipe out.”
“They can double as weapons you know,” I joked, before snatching the watch out of the air and clutching it tightly.
Chapter Fourteen
Jasmine sat shotgun and held on to the timepiece, guiding me on where to go. We’d been driving about a half hour when we were instructed to turn off the highway and pull into a town that looked familiar to me. Yet it wasn’t until I saw the buildings looming ahead that I knew why.
“Fallon ran away to… the mall?” I asked incredulously.
“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me,” Jasmine said before reluctantly directing me to enter the giant parking lot.
I pulled up to a spot about thirty feet away from the entrance to the Orange Hill Mall and let the engine die before stepping outside. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to enjoy the quality of air down here in the valley.
God, I love the smell of retail in the afternoon.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this—because, hello? We’re at a mall—but what was Fallon thinking?” I said.
Jasmine led the way since she still had the watch, and I began to strut toward the big revolving doors. I was vaguely aware of people around me; my eyes focused on the most heavenly place I’d ever known. It was like seeing a mirage in the desert. I just couldn’t keep away, even though I knew it wasn’t as innocent as it looked.
“I’m not sure Fallon was thinking,” Sascha cut in. Since we’d left the car, her eyes had grown big as she took in all the stores in front of us.
“In a way, it was actually quite smart,” Jinx said thoughtfully.
“How do you figure?” I asked, not sure where she was going with the comment.
“Well, it’s less likely that anyone’s going to attack us here, in front of all these people,” she said, pointing to the hundreds of shoppers we’d already passed on our way in. “I mean, they wouldn’t be that stupid, would they?”
“We’re talking about mass murderers with magical powers here,” I answered. “I doubt they’re worried about being seen.”
As we walked across the threshold, we passed a group of guys who looked like they were around our age. The four of them surveyed the four of us in a not-so-subtle way and then gave nods of approval. Sascha let out a girlie giggle, at which Jasmine promptly groaned. Thankfully, our admirers headed into the nearest store and left us to do what we came here to do. Sascha looked after them longingly before speeding to catch up with us.
We weaved in and out of people as we tried to stay on course with where the watch was guiding us. Finally it brought us to the entrance of one of the busiest stores in the mall, the minute and hour hands both pointing us inside. As we walked in, we avoided the gaggles of girls all desperate to find something to make them look either skinnier or curvier in specific areas.
“Whoa, guys,” Jasmine said, stopping short just inside the doors. I glanced at the watch, and saw that the metal hands were now spinning around the clock frantically.
I looked around. “He’s gotta be here,” I said. “Let’s split up and try to find him as quickly as possible.”
I followed a group of girls onto an escalator to my right and watched the others take off in opposite directions as I headed to the second floor. At the top, I sped off to cover as much ground as I could. The floor wasn’t huge by any standards, but going through the whole store would take time we didn’t have. I started to rush through the maze of jeans and hoodies, looking for the one person I didn’t want to see and yet had to find.
I took a corner too quickly and immediately ran into something. I staggered backward and nearly fell, but before I did, a hand reached out, catching me underneath the arms and depositing me back onto my feet.
“Whoa,” a guy’s voice said. “You okay?”
I adjusted my jumper and then looked up at the person who’d saved me the embarrassment of having to admit to Jasmine that she might have been right about the heels. And then I saw him.
To put it bluntly: he was beautiful.
And not just in an easy-on-the-eyes sort of way. But in an international-male-model kind of way. His hair was so black it was almost blue, and it spiked up in the middle with just a hint of bad boy to its tips. As my gaze shifted to his eyes, I nearly gasped.