Ink (Book 1 of the Ink Series)

Goodbye

I came to a stop outside of the gates of Henry Park vowing I would never step foot in there again. I took a quick glance back before I took off across the sand. I had to find Karsen.

It was late. Really late. And I knew Dad would be close to calling the cops if I failed to show my mug soon. I didn't know if Karsen would go back to my house after what she had just been through. I was certain of very little actually.

I tore past a group of drunken men, jumped over a huge log and then shimmied in between the boulders. My lack of clothing making it effortless to slip right through. As soon as my feet hit the sand on the other side, I screamed. And so did Karsen. She was curled up by the boulders.

"What are you doing?" I asked, helping her up.

"I didn't want to go back to your house without you. So I stayed here and waited. I thought you were dead," she panted, looking me over. Her wig was at her feet, no longer of any kind of importance to her.

"Well, I'm not dead," I pointed out, waving a hand at her. Her expression was dark and bothered. It showed all over her face just how upset she was. Her eyebrows were drawn together and her eyes were full of tears.

"You need to explain to me what you got yourself into," she told me.

I half expected something like this to be coming out of her mouth. I was just scared of how to handle it. If I knew how to handle such a thing I probably wouldn't have any problem. But I didn't.

"I'm not into anything. That's the very last time I will ever step foot over there again. Believe me." I stared off, hoping that was enough to suit Karsen. Hoping she would just leave it alone. She took hold of my shoulder, tugging me back to her. Dragging my mind away from the ocean and back to her face.

"What do you want me to say, Karsen?" I grumbled, letting out a loud sigh. Any way I saw it, I looked like the biggest idiot.

"I want you to tell me what's going on. What do you know?" She scaled one of the boulders, I followed after her. The breeze wafting off the ocean, making me chilly. I was sitting outside with hardly any clothes on. I brought my knees up, hugging them in place.

"He's a witch."

"I thought men were called warlocks? And holy shit!" she shrieked, gripping my arm as she panted like a pregnant woman in a Lamaze class.

I pulled away. "So just like that, you believe me?"

Karsen sighed. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself. And felt it. That man, the one chanting all the alien crap, I felt connected to him. I was under some spell. How could I not believe it?" she rattled with no sign of stopping.

"But don't worry anymore about it because we are putting this behind us. So starting now, let's not speak about it," I said, trying to steer clear of any further conversation. But Karsen wasn't buying that.

"We. As in Kidd, too?" She smacked her palm into her forehead hard. "He's a wiccan?" All these expressions Karsen was using were nothing but confusing to me. I didn't know anything about their world or what to call them. So I had settled on witch. Just like Slade. He didn't argue the word, so it seemed fitting enough.

"All of them. Slade, Kidd, Oz, Lucy and that boyfriend of hers. I didn't know, honest. Slade told me later. Although, the first indication should have been this stupid tattoo." I thrust my wrist out. Karsen rested her fingers on it.

"What does a stupid black heart have to do with anything?"

"This was the first warning something was not right with Slade. It never came off. And it wasn't a heart at first. It was a phone number. And right before my eyes he changed it. And then he even used it to communicate with me after I was attacked. I'm an idiot," I said, letting out a long, weary sigh.