Burned

Chapter Twenty-One

The rest of Saturday was boring. I put the Amulet back on and waited for Dara to come home. That had been a solid three hours of boredom. Then, her and I watch The Office. Watching TV with Dara offered me a distraction that was much needed. Then, we had dinner, which had been mundane. Mom talked about her day, then turned it over to Dara and I. I made up something and Dara said she hung out with Gemma.

Then, we went back upstairs to resume watching Netflix. That lasted until eleven o'clock and Dara said she had to go to sleep. I talked her into staying for one more episode, but that episode was two parts, so she ended up staying for another hour and a half. Unfortunately, she did leave and I was left alone except my thoughts. Phantom tried to keep me company, but not even he could keep the dark thoughts from coming back. 

It kept me up, which meant it kept Phantom up. 

Eventually, sleep forced itself on me, but I was grateful. I didn't remember my dreams, which was probably a good thing. I had a feeling they had been about Erik and Daniel. I had both the opposite and equal reactions when thinking about them. I didn't want to think about either of them, but when I did I felt both joy and sadness. Why was that? 

When I finally woke up, I had three missed calls. They were all from Ivelyn. Crap, the Coven meeting was today. I scrolled through the messaged from the group chat as I got ready. Basically, Mir's Volleyball thing had ended early, so she would be there. Ivelyn was spamming me because I was late. 

It took me fifteen minutes to get ready before I left. I felt better with the Amulet back on. I hadn't had it off long, only an hour or so, but in that short time, I felt scared and vulnerable. I couldn't help but connect those feelings with the absence of the Amulet. Maybe Phantom had been right, I relied and depended on the Amulet. But what was so bad about that? 

He probably didn't understand the Amulet. It wasn't like he had ever worn it. Gran, my mom, and Dolls had all worn the Amulet and they were fine. I had to trust in that, not a paranoid Familiar. He meant well, but he didn't know everything. He was just a cat after all. 

I drove calmly to Ivelyn's. I was already late, so what if I was a few more minutes late. It wasn't worth the traffic ticket I would get if I was pulled over. Ivelyn drove fast because money was nothing to her. I had to save my money for college. It seemed so far away, but it was nearing on the end of my Sophomore year. Soon, I would be a Junior and everyone knew that was the year of planning for college. 

You wouldn't want to plan all of that your Senior year. No, Senior year was all about cutting your loose ends and partying. It was about enjoying the last year of being a minor, being in high school, and being a kid. After High School, people were going to scatter and grow up. The years of us being all friends were less each day. I hated to think about the future, but I wondered if all of us would remain friends. 

This time, when I pulled up to Ivelyn's I saw more than one car. I saw Kate's car and Mir's. I still didn't see Erik's car or motorcycle, but maybe he was running late too. I took my time getting out of my car and walking up to Ivelyn's front door. I kept hoping Erik would pull in the driveway and we would have a few moments to talk privately. I didn't know what to say or do when I saw him next. 

Inside, the smell of sweets nearly knocked me down. As I proceeded inside, I passed through the kitchen. There were all sorts of pastries. There were mini-cakes, pies, eclairs, and French Macarons. I recognized most of them as French pastries. These were all desserts Gran had made. Ivelyn walked into the kitchen, a red apron tied around her slim waist. 

"What's

"I made some of the desserts that Gran gave me recipes for. They probably taste like crap, but I was thinking about her and this happened." She gestured wildly towards the counters full of pastries. The oven timer went off and Ivelyn rushed to it. I stared incredulously as she pulled out another tray full of sweets.