The Darkness Within by Kelly Hashway Page A

loves him, so get over it. This crush you have on her is ridiculous. She doesn’t feel the same way, and hell if I’m going to let you hurt her like you hurt Mindy.”
    Seeing Shannon stick up for me was surreal. She really had become my friend over the past month. But did she actually think Dylan would hurt me? That I’d end up like Mindy?
    “Stop! Both of you. This isn’t helping.” I turned to Shannon. “Dylan doesn’t like me. It was a misunderstanding.”
    Dylan cocked his head to the side and took a sharp breath. “You think I—”
    “No.” I waved my hands in front of me. “I was wrong. When we were talking in the bathroom yesterday, I thought maybe you had feelings for me. It was stupid, but when you reached for my hand…I don’t know. I guess I jumped to the wrong conclusion. But I don’t think that anymore. You’re still mad at me about Ben. I get that, and I appreciate that you’re being nice to Ethan and me after everything we’ve been through.”
    “I’m not mad at you about Ben.” He lowered his eyes. “Do you want to know the truth about Ben and me?”
    I thought I’d just found out the truth. About how Ben took Dylan away and helped him find his way back from the dark magic.
    “I hated Ben.” Dylan met my eyes again. “He took away the one thing I ever loved.”
    “Mindy.” Her name came off my lips as a whisper.
    “He didn’t love her. She was a plaything to him. Someone to have a little fun with and buy him stuff. I loved her, but she was blindly in love with Ben. She could’ve had me. Just me. But she wouldn’t give him up.” Dylan’s fists clenched. “I tried to tell Ben I’d fallen for Mindy. He told me it was only a crush, that I only wanted her because I envied what he had with her. He wouldn’t listen. So I went to Mindy. She didn’t listen, either.”
    “Dylan, I’m so sorry.” I reached for him, but he pulled back.
    “I did the only thing I could think of. I tapped into the dark magic I’d stopped using at Ben’s insistence. I tried to change her heart. Make her love me and forget about Ben.”
    “But her heart stopped,” I finished for him.
    Dylan nodded. “I hated Ben from that moment on. I wished I’d killed him instead.”

10

    H E couldn’t mean that. He couldn’t be happy his brother was dead. Even if he did blame Ben for losing Mindy, it didn’t add up.
    “So,” he smiled at me, “you did me a favor, really.”
    “Don’t say that.” I barely recognized this person. He wasn’t the same Dylan I’d come to know. “You’re not happy about Ben. I remember how you reacted when I told you what I’d done to him. You were beside yourself, Dylan. I don’t know why you think you need to put on this act right now, but it’s just Shannon and me. You don’t have to pretend.”
    “I’m not pretending.” His voice was loud. He ran his hands through his platinum-blond hair and turned around, avoiding my eyes. “Yes, I was upset. He was my brother. But he and I didn’t exactly have the best relationship. We were dating the same girl.”
    “No, Ben was dating Mindy. You were just screwing around with her on the side.” Typical Shannon, calling it as she saw it. I glared at her. She was so not helping. “What?” She shrugged like she couldn’t figure out why I was upset with her.
    “She’s not wrong.” Dylan turned toward us again. “I’d been using dark magic, and it changed me. I wasn’t the same person I am now or was before it. Dark magic is dangerous, Sam. That’s why I want to bind Ethan’s powers. I don’t want him to end up the way I did. I really did wish Ben dead after I killed Mindy. I almost killed him myself.” He looked to Shannon.
    Understanding hit me like a sucker punch. “No way. Shannon helped you?”
    “Why is that so unbelievable?” She crossed her arms, looking offended.
    “It’s just that you two have been at each other’s throats lately. I can’t picture you getting through something that huge