No Good Witches | ONC √

Hostage Situation

A/N: Okay this is kind of long but it's been a long time and I think it's pretty entertaining and gets really wild near the end so...worth it maybe?

***

Jesse burst out laughing when we got through telling him what happened and I was seriously considering punching him square in his nose.

"Could you please explain to me..." I asked while very deliberately trying to manage my breathing, "What part of any of this mess is funny?"

He shook his head at me. "Probably the part where Mom is going to kill you when she finds out."

The flame of rage burning inside of me was quickly engulfed by fear. "You aren't going to tell her, are you?"

He scoffed, clearly enjoying this situation much more than any sane person with a functioning sense of empathy would and raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm not a snitch...Not unprovoked at least."

I narrowed my eyes at him and tilted my head. "That so? And, uh, how do you think Mom would feel about the fact that your fourteen year old ass was out at a party filled with teen drinking, sexual pressure, and unlicensed magic use?"

His own amusement dried up pretty quickly at that and I understood that he understood exactly what I was implying by only a glance. He knew as well as I did that Mom didn't see layers and nuance to trouble—you were either in it or you weren't. And though Mom had on many occasions regaled her tales of her own underage drinking and promiscuity and wasn't opposed to casting a spell when she knew she could get away with it, she was an A plus student in the school of "Do as I say, not as I do"—and especially not in public.

Long story short, he was in as much shit as I was, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let him forget it.

He grit his teeth and rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

I exchanged a glance with Mallory, who was still holding an inappropriate level of bedroom in her eyes, and then quickly shifted my gaze over to Rebecca, still stood in the door way of the room, straining rather hard to hear our conversation.

I cleared my throat and walked over to her. "My brother? Really?"

She frowned. "I didn't have anyone else to go to, did I?" There was an edge to her voice, but she still spoke in the sing-song cadence of a whine. She grabbed her face. "Well? Did you get it?"

I couldn't help but smile. "Did I get it...who exactly do you think I am, Rebecca?"

And then she was grinning right back. "Oh my god, Cassandra, that's amazing! Can I see?" Her face was all sunshine and rainbows but all I could think about was Mallory and her mouth and the hand she'd tangled in my hair and the one I'd had on her waist and the way she'd asked me "Is this okay?" in that low, buzzing, sexy voice of her's...

"Cass? The Old Stone?"

I blinked. "Right. Yeah, the um..." I pulled it out of my pocket, holding it it up for her to see. It was a jagged, purple crystal that pulsed violet in my hand. The magic leaking from it was so potent that I felt woozy looking at it.

Rebecca swallowed, holding her hands stiffly at her side. "Beautiful. Its—"

"Fuck, is that it?"

It was Jessie looking over my shoulder. I pocketed the Old Stone and swatted the back of his head. "Are you kidding me? Watch your mouth, idiot."

He rubbed his head and looked at me blankly. "Ow."

I rolled my eyes. "Drama queen."

"We probably set off an alarm when you botched that fire summoning spell." We all turned to see Mallory fixing her hair in the mirror of the closet. She ran a finger under her lip, cleaning up the smudged gloss. She straightened and turned to us. "Meaning, we need to get out of here, like, yesterday."