It was three in the morning and I was going out of my skin.
I flipped on the light on the stove’s hood the next time I passed by it. I didn’t need any light to see by. The moon gave me enough, and my vision was good at night, but the dark house left me feeling uneasy. Or maybe I was just uneasy.
Footsteps sounded upstairs. So much for not waking anyone up.
A minute later, Claudia walked into the room. “You okay?”
“Nightmare.”
“No fun.”
“No.” I stopped my pacing and leaned against to counter to watch her.
Claudia got a glass of milk, and sat at the table. She took a long drink of milk before she spoke. “I think we could’ve been good friends, you know. If we’d gotten the chance.”
“Yeah?” That was surprising. I didn’t think I knew her well enough to know that.
“Yeah. I mean, our moms are pretty similar.”
This was something I wanted to hear more about. I knew pretty much nothing about my mom’s sister. They didn’t really talk. “Where is your mom?” I asked as I sat down at the table.
Claudia shrugged. “My mom and Luciana didn’t get along. There was a lot of tension there, and Mom…well, she’s a little more hippie than anything else. About three years ago, she said she’d had enough. She and my dad were leaving the compound for good. My dad couldn’t really stick around if she was leaving, even if he wanted to. He wasn’t part of the coven. They asked us to go with them. But I was seventeen. I wanted to stay. I felt like I needed to stay. So I did. Raphael wanted to go, but he wouldn’t leave me here…so here I am, wondering if I made the wrong decision. Sometimes I want to call her to come back and get me, but I feel like that would be giving up. I set out to fix things here, and I’m not leaving until I do.”
She sounded like me. Stubborn to the end. “And the guy? You’re supposed to be marrying someone?” She’d mentioned it at Rosa’s house, but only enough to spark my curiosity.
She groaned. “He’s a classic douchebag.”
I snort-laughed.
“What?” She asked.
“You just always sound so proper.”
She giggled. “Yeah. I guess. But that’s he best way to describe him.” She leaned toward me. “He spends hours in front of the mirror. Hours. To make sure that his hair is spiking just the right way. He orders his mother around. ‘Get me a glass of water.’ ‘I’m hungry. Make me a sandwich.’” She scoffed in disgust. “And that’s what I’d have to deal with for the rest of my life?” She leaned back in the chair. “No, thank you.”
I laughed. “You know, I think you’re right. We would’ve really liked each other. I hope we still can be friends. Helps that we’re family, too.”
She grinned. “You know, I was thinking that it’s a good thing you found Dastien. I hear that Daniel kisses like a lizard.”
I shuddered. “Gross. Yeah, Meredith may have mentioned something about that.”
Her smile faded. “I’m glad you were able to break that spell. How did you do it?”
“I’m still not sure.” I thought for a second. “It was pure desperation and a bunch of willpower. I just had to break the curse or else my friend would’ve died.”
I started fixing another sandwich. “I wish I had more answers. I’m just going to hope that everything works out okay.” I set down my knife. “So, I think tomorrow I’m going to ask some tough questions. I want to get to know some more of the coven members. Do you think you could take me around?”
“Of course.”
“Luciana’s in with a really bad Were, and it spells big time trouble. This nightmare…I don’t know if it was all this talk with Rosa or the confrontation with Luciana or if it was some kind of premonition, but if I mess this up, things will get ugly. I need your help.”
“Anything you need. I was the one who forced you to come here. I knew things were going down and I didn’t know what else to do.”
I shook my head. “As much as I hate being away from Dastien, I think I was meant to be here.”
She was quiet for a second. “May I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“How did you know Dastien was the one for you?”
Not exactly the question I’d expected. “I just knew. We had a rough patch right after I changed. We kind of danced around the idea of each other. Well, I was dancing around the idea of him, and he was avoiding me because I was adjusting to being a Were. To be fair, I was annoyed at him for biting me. And there was drama with his ex, but it ended up that none of that mattered. When it’s right, it’s right.” I paused. Something told me that she wasn’t just asking me to dig. There was something in her tone that made me wonder if there was a guy she wanted to be matched with. “Who is he?”