Witch Clans

Part 34

Katie opened her eyes and looked around her room. The white walls, the wooden bookcase, the small desk in a corner, the poster of New York that covered an entire wall. Suddenly, she froze. This wasn't her room. This wasn't even her house, she was sure of it. And it was much too tidy to be Lucy's. She suddenly heard the faint sound of breathing behind her. Slowly, she turned around. Fast asleep, one arm hanging over the edge of the bed, lying flat on his stomach, was Luke. His face was turned away from her, and some it was covered by his hair, but it was undoubtedly him. She pulled the covers up instinctively. She had thought her situation was complicated before... Now it was even worse. She yanked the covers away and began pulling on her clothes.

"Wha-? What's going on?" Luke asked, waking with a start.

"I'm in the worse trouble imaginable, is what's going on..." Katie said without looking at him.

She had just pulled on her shirt when her phone rang.

"Oh, God..."

She turned around.

"Not a sound, okay?"

Not waiting for his answer, she picked it up. It was Lucy.

"Lucy, hey, I-"

"Where are you?! Gideon called me, he says you're late!"

Katie frowned. It was Saturday... Then, it hit her.

"Oh, sugar, Dad's birthday!"

"Yeah, your brother mentioned that about ten times."

"... Holy cauldrons... okay. If he calls again, tell him I'm on my way right now."

"Okay."

"Thank you so much for covering for me!"

"No problem, but what happened to you? You never spend the nig-"

Katie knew exactly what she was going to ask next, so she quickly said:

"I have to run, I'll talk to you later, bye."

She hung up and pulled on her shoes.

"Is everything okay?"

"... I have to go," Katie said without answering his question, because she had no idea how to. "I... sorry, I..."

Luke shook his head.

"No, it's... it's fine."

She pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"... Are you all right?" he asked, leaning forwards.

"Yes... yes, I'm fine..."

Half of her was better than fine, the rest was horrified at what had happened because of what it might cause if their families found out.

"Listen..." she said. "As... as great as it was last night..."

"Let me guess. It can't happen again." he said.

Katie nodded. He sighed, pain in his eyes.

"You're probably right... we should just lay low for a while. Maybe we can talk to our parents later."

Katie didn't feel quite as optimistic.

"Maybe," she said, though she wasn't sure she believed it.

He got to his feet and pulled on his own jeans and shoes on. Then, he walked her to the door. Katie slung her bag over her shoulder. She looked up at him as she reached the threshold.

"Sorry for putting you in this position... I didn't mean to," he said.

"I know... I don't think either of us were expecting things to turn out that way... but they did, so we just have to deal with it, I suppose."