Charade (Heven and Hell #2)(79)
Author: Cambria Hebert

“I should go see him.” She got up from the table.

“Gemma’s with him. He needs to get some sleep.” She still seemed torn so I said, “I told Mrs. Britt he must have caught whatever Kimber had.”

“If Gemma’s with him, I guess he’ll be okay.” She sighed and sat back down.

“She made him drink some nasty drink. He complained like a girl.”

Heven laughed. “You two are getting along better.”

“He’s not so bad.” I got up and snagged her hand. “Come on; let’s get some food before it’s all gone.”

After we filled our plates at the buffet overflowing with Italian goodness, we sat back down and began eating. “I’ve been thinking,” I said, leaning closer to her and lowering my voice. “What if we went after the scroll?”

Heven blinked. “We have no idea where it is.”

“Hecate probably took it to Hell with her.”

“You want to go to Hell?” She dropped her fork in her plate of pasta.

“I want that scroll back.” I didn’t go into the whole life debt thing, but I realized that it was something she probably already thought of.

“He wanted me to open it,” Heven whispered, her voice far away.

“Who?”

“The Dream Walker. He doesn’t know how to open it and he thinks I can.”

I glanced at the necklace hanging around her neck. The key that opened the scroll.

Of course! “So they haven’t gotten it open.” A smile spread across my face.

Heven smiled back. “You really think we could get it back?”

“Oh, I’m going to get it back, baby.” I said it with renewed energy and attacked my pasta.

“Might be worth a shot,” she said, digging into her food as well.

I didn’t want to spoil the mood with my thoughts, so I kept it to myself.

Getting that scroll back was our only shot.

Heven

By the time I fell asleep that night, Kimber was still a no-show. I was saved earlier when we got back from explaining why she wasn’t here because once I opened the door to the room, Mrs. Britt assumed Kimber was inside, marked us both off on her sheet and kept moving. But that was hours ago and now I was beginning to think that maybe she wasn’t coming back. I wondered how I would explain her absence tomorrow when we got on the bus for the airport, but then I remembered that I didn’t have to. Kimber and I weren’t friends anymore. She betrayed me. Because of her the Treasure Map was gone, Cole was hurt and people were in danger. I didn’t sleep well, tossing and turning, unable to find a comfortable position that didn’t hurt my back. I was lying in the dark, thinking about getting some pain reliever from my bag, when I heard the lock on the door click. My entire body tensed and I lay as still as possible, listening. The door creaked open and then swung closed. A shadow swept across the wall as the person moved farther into the room.

I sat up and switched on the lamp.

Kimber stopped sneaking toward her bed.

“You’re back,” I said.

“Yep.” She didn’t turn around to face me, but her shoulders tensed the minute I spoke.

“You’re a witch now?”

She shrugged. She didn’t have to say anything, the black cloud around her said it all.

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” I spat.

She turned, her face livid. “Me? What about you?”

“I’m not working with Hecate.”

Kimber tossed her red hair over her shoulder. “She’s been honest with me. She’s taught me stuff.”

“Like how to betray your friends?”

She jerked like I slapped her. “You stopped being my friend the day you slept with Cole!”

This time I jerked. “Slept with Cole?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t play stupid with me. I know.”

I laughed. “You don’t know anything.”

For the first time, her confidence wavered. “I saw you.”

“I don’t know what you saw, but it wasn’t me sleeping with him.”

“So he wasn’t at your house a few weeks ago in the middle of the night?”

I thought back to that night he came by, half drunk. “You were there too?”

Kimber turned smug, like she caught me. “Of course. I was with Cole; then he ran off and I followed him… right to you.”

“If you had told me you saw us, I could have explained.”

“Spare me your lies, Heven.” She went across the room to her bags.

“He’s my brother.”

Kimber stopped in her tracks and looked at me. “You’re lying.”

I shook my head. “He couldn’t say anything because his mom isn’t handling it all very well and she doesn’t want anyone to know.”

Kimber didn’t say anything, but sank down into a nearby chair. I pulled the blankets up over me, covering my legs. “My dad is his dad. Gran kind of freaked the first time she saw him and had a DNA test ran without anyone knowing. That night you came out to the house and we were on the porch hugging? That was the night that she told us.”

“Sam knows,” Kimber said.

“Yeah, he was there when Gran told us.”

She looked up at me. “You didn’t sleep with him.”

“No. I would never have done that to you.” I let the unspoken accusation come through in my words.

“You still lied to me,” she said coldly.

“I couldn’t tell you about Cole. He asked me not to.”

“I’m not talking about Cole.”

I shoved the covers back and stood, angry. “Yeah?” I spat. “You’re right. I didn’t tell you that my boyfriend turned out to be a hellhound and his crazy old roommate is the one who messed up my face. I didn’t tell you that an angel came to us and asked us to return a sacred document where it belonged. Sorry for my omission, Kimber, but none of that was about you and it was dangerous! I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“A sacred document?”

“Yeah, you know that thing you helped Hecate steal?”

“She said it belonged to her.”

“Of course she did. I guess I wasn’t the only one who lied.” I began gathering up a few things to shove in my bag.

Kimber rushed across the room and grabbed my wrist. “It wasn’t hers?”

“Of course it wasn’t!” I yelled. “But now she has it and innocent people are going to die!”