Evanescent by Addison Moore

my shirt up and wipe the spit off my
face. It’s not the first time she’s hurled a live one at me. The
way she spits on a regular basis, you’d think she were part
camel—part devil is more like it. I know better than to incite the
witch that lives inside her, but she caught me on the wrong
night.
    What the hell was she babbling about— walk
of shame ? I snag my phone and send Laken a text.
    Hey beautiful. I need you.
    All night long I wait for Laken to respond,
but my phone lays silent.
     

4
In the Belly of the Fire
    Laken

     
    On Wednesday, the shadowed evergreens stretch like
skyscrapers at this late hour under a cobalt sky. It’s a magical
night—a night for dreamers, for lovers—not for quasi-Satanic
rituals like the one I’m about to partake in. It goes against the
entire principle of what this pristine beauty was designed for.
Typical Counts behaving like morons.
    It’s just minutes before the bizarre ritual,
that Flynn compared to a Girl Scout meeting, and I pace nervously
outside of Austen House.
    “You have to hurry, or we’ll be late,” Jen
hisses while trying to herd me toward the demonic thicket.
    “No one said anything about those haunted
woods,” I say, snatching my wrist from my apparently deranged
sister.
    Jen’s blonde hair whips around like a white
flame as she tries to secure her grasp over me.
    “You’re going to be late. And, trust me,
they hate it when you’re late to these kinds of things.”
    “Have you done this?” My body seizes in the
cold night air. “I mean, are you a member?” If sweet, innocent Jen
managed to pass initiation, I’d feel a hell of a lot better.
    “No, I chickened out.” She sinks a frown
before successfully snatching me by the wrist. “But that was
because I believed the only thing I needed was Blaine. I was too
afraid if I went through with it, he might see me as a strong,
independent woman and leave me.”
    “God, Jen, you make no sense whatsoever.”
Everything is off kilter with her. The entire world revolves on a
separate revolution in her head. “Just what the hell is wrong with
being strong and independent?”
    “Nothing.” Flames light up in her eyes, and
I’m thrown for a moment only to realize the house lights were just
turned on from behind.
    The hint of a thumbnail moon lingers up
above like the barely-there smile of the Cheshire cat. The woods
pulsate in the distance like a heartbeat, and the wind calls my
name in whispers like a lover who’s already damned.
    A chill runs through me. The arctic breeze
whips around my bare ankles and stiffens me from moving along with
her.
    I should have known better than to let Jen
dress me for the evening. This ridiculous silver gown with the
goddess sleeves—paired with heels dipped in multicolored glitter is
better suited for Halloween. I didn’t dress this way when I was
four, I don’t know how I let her talk me into dressing like this
now. Nothing Jen suggests ever turns out to be a good idea.
    “Look, I know for a fact Fallon and Carter
will be there,” she says, easing me onto the cobblestoned path.
“Kresley and Grayson, too!” She shouts their names as if they were
some kind of a grand social prize that I should automatically flock
to. Little does she know those silicon sisters are hardly a selling
point.
    “Okay.” I take a deep breath. “Let’s go,” I
say, following her down the dark winding road. The forest
approaches, large and looming. Its branches extend like knives, the
dark trunks press against the purple night like corrugated
cutouts.
    We crest the hill, and to my surprise, we
head away from the woods. Oddly, this does little to quell my
nerves.
    “Where are we going?” A whole new panic sets
in as we approach a series of boulders washed a pale blue from the
moonlight.
    The granite gleams as the boulders warble in
and out of existence like water. An unnatural shimmer glosses the
air as Jen pulls me through the stones, and we emerge through a
tunnel where a bright