Entangled (Spellbound #1)

Chapter 3

Raj revved the engine one last time then eased up when Gray was a good thirty feet away. It was a damn waste of gas, but it helped ease the pounding in his chest. Gray had spooked him good. He'd never dreamt he'd need a protection spell on his car. Its rundown exterior—not to mention the fact that it belonged to him—had always been protection enough.

Till now.

Not that Gray would ever hide in Raj's backseat again. No, that thought now landed somewhere in the realm of fantasy and fantasies had a way of never coming true.

Raj pulled his Zippo out of his jeans pocket and flipped it open and closed, watching Gray get inside a vehicle with Thea Johnston. He glanced at the shoelace she'd dropped and wound it slowly around his knuckle.

Raj wanted Graylee Perez. Hell. He wanted her more than her invisibility spell. Chances of getting either were somewhere in the ballpark of nil.

Raj loosened his fist and shook the shoestring off his hand onto the empty seat beside him. He drove straight home without thinking. If he'd been thinking he would have hit the arcades or gone to a matinee at the cinema and snuck into two more flicks before the night was out.

If he knew Gray's invisibility spell he wouldn't have to pay for the matinee to begin with.

But no, not thinking had brought him directly home.

Home, bitter home.

His father had found them a rundown shack in Shitsville. A former tenant had ripped out all the carpeting and never replaced it. Plywood stairs met Raj just inside the door, ascending into the gloom overhead. A narrow hallway to the right led into their scrap of kitchen—a room that never smelled of anything nice. No more of Mom's curries or homemade naan bread.

"Raj, that you?"

Raj lifted a finger and the front door shut behind him. With hollow steps he entered the kitchen. Inside, his dad sat at a foldout table for two sipping from his bottomless cocktail. It was hard to breathe through all the smoke. The ashtray on the table was already full, a book of matches tossed beside it.

His dad coughed before asking, "How was school?"

Raj shrugged. "Same old."

"You stay out of trouble?"

"Yep."

His dad finished the last of his whiskey or brandy or whatever the hell he was drinking and scooted back. He traveled three steps to the kitchen sink and poured himself a glass of water. When his finger touched the glass the liquid turned amber.

"I think I'll go hang out with Shay," Raj said.

His dad gave him a hard stare. "Be back by ten."

Raj didn't answer as he headed for the front door. The man had no business telling him what to do.

* * *

Shay was playing the flute when Raj tapped at her door and walked into her room. Her fingers kept moving, her breath a continual stream producing a tune that haunted and hypnotized Raj at the same time. He lowered himself to the carpet, leaned against the wall, and watched Shay's head sway with the instrument.

Once she finished the song Raj clapped. "Bravo."

Shay tossed the flute onto her bed. "I'm bored with that thing."

Raj fought back a laugh. "It took you what? Three days to master the flute?"

Shay mastered instruments the way linguists mastered languages.

"I'm not sure what's next. Maybe the sax?" Shay glanced toward the ceiling thoughtfully as she spoke. "Unless I got some snakes to accompany me."

"I think you'll need some new sheet music for that. You don't see serpents swaying to the classical beat. And I'm sure your mom would just love having a cobra take residence in your room."