Spell Book & Scandal

Chapter Seven

The train lets us off near the Timbers stadium, and I glance around nervously. The sun has set while we were heading into the city, and the street around us feels sort of sketchy and a little too abandoned, but I forget to be scared when Jeremiah grabs my hand. "Come on," he says, tugging me down a side street that is lined with old houses from the same era as the one I live in. Only about half the street lights on the block are lit, and the entire street has a gloomy, mysterious air. Like most parts of Portland, the street smells like a bizarre mix of food trucks, smoke, and urine; I've never been anywhere else, so I don't know if that's what cities usually smell like, or it it's just another thing that makes Portland...Portland. Miah lets go of me once we step onto the narrow sidewalk, since we have to walk single file to pick our way over cracks in the pavement and monstrous tree roots, but I keep hoping that maybe he'll reach back to me and touch my fingers again.

Get it together, Shelby. If you keep this up, he'll think you're some romantic, clingy sap. I stumble on a divot in the sidewalk, and Miah looks back over his shoulder.

"Sorry about the sidewalk. You'll get used to it."

My heart speeds up a little at his words; does he mean I'll get used to it because he wants me to come back to wherever it is we're going with him again? I shrug and watch my feet. "Not so bad," I say, even as I stub my toe on a tree root, and I wince.

"We're almost there," Miah says as he turns down a cross street and starts leading me up a steep hill. The houses have given way to empty lots and chain link fences, and I hurry to keep up with Miah, but he seems totally unfazed by the eerie, sketchy feeling of the street. My eyes swing back and forth, watching for cracks in the pavement, creepy people, and oncoming traffic, and I try to call up my mental map of Portland to see if I can figure out where we're going. Dad took me and Christina to a Timber's game a few years ago, but I'm about as athletic as a cabbage and Christina was more interested in flirting with the guy at the concession stand, so we haven't been back, and my mental map is pretty fuzzy. I feel like the zoo is around here somewhere, but I could be wrong; Kels usually wants to spend time at the flea market and craft stands down by the river whenever we come downtown, and we don't venture into many of the other neighborhoods that often.

We turn off the street onto a narrow footpath through the trees, and I hang back for a second. There aren't any lights ahead of us, and the woods look like a great place for all kinds of evil things to happen. "You're sure this is safe?" I ask, my voice shaking a little bit.

Jeremiah smiles at me. "I promise. I've been coming here all summer, and nobody's ever gotten hurt."

I swallow, looking at the dark path, and then I glance behind me at the deserted street. My eyes catch the corner of the moon, rising over the skyline, and something about that celestial sparkle makes me feel a little better. Turning back to Miah, I square my shoulders and try to look confident. "Then let's do this!"

Miah grins. "You're going to love it. Becca—" He trails off awkwardly, not meeting my eyes, and then he clears his throat. "Ladies first?"

I move ahead of him, watching my feet carefully to make sure I'm still walking on the dark path, but my heart has fallen into my shoes. Of course he brought Becca wherever he's taking me; they've been together forever. I try to squelch the niggling worry that he's just using me to pass the time until he and Becca get back together, since that's inevitably what happens every time they break up, and I bite my lip, suddenly feeling ridiculous. Maybe he just wants me for my spells, and when he realizes I can't scribe worth anything, he'll act like he was never interested in me in the first place.