Kiss Me at Midnight

Part 10

"Oh, hey babe." Henry smiled at me, the gun held tightly in his hands. Jay was lying on the ground, completely still.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I shouted. "What the hell is going on?"

"You're just in time for the main event." His cool, who-cares attitude was completely out of character for him. I was absolutely terrified. This was not the Henry I knew.

"Henry, please, put the gun down." I begged. "This isn't like you. You aren't a killer!"

Instead of coming to his senses and doing as I asked, he simply laughed. But his laugh was far darker and more devious than the one I was used to. His arm held strong, his grip on the gun tightening.

"Where is it?" he asked. "Where's the locket?"

My heart sank. If he knew about the locket, this wasn't just a coincidence. This was no family spat between and uncle and a nephew. There was something much more complicated and scary happening here. I pulled the tarnished locket out from my jacket and looked down at it.

"Now hand it over." He demanded. I paused, staring at him.

"I don't understand." I breathed. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm doing this for my family. I'm doing this for my future. I'm doing this for us." He spewed, reaching his hand out for the locket. "Give me the damn locket, Brenna."

My fingers clutched at the locket, my resolve forming. I looked down at Jay, who I noticed was breathing. A relieved sigh left my mouth, and I turned back to my boyfriend.

"No, Henry. You haven't explained anything. If you want this locket, I need answers. Why are you doing this?" I asked. "He's your uncle, for god's sake."

"No, he's not." Henry rolled his eyes. "About two years ago, I found out I was adopted. My parents had hidden that little detail. But my birth mother found me, and she told me everything. I was stolen as a baby and adopted in secret. My real name is Riley Caste, and I am a direct descendant of the witch who put the curse on the Ravencrests."

Nausea swelled within me as I absorbed the words he spoke. My mind tried to rationalize it all- I was dreaming, I was delusional, this was all a hallucination... but my heart knew it was true.

"Every generation of my family spent their lives looking for the item that could break the curse." He continued. "The original witch had done something terrible- she'd cursed an innocent person... Mary."

Jay stirred, and Henry kicked him violently in the stomach. I gasped in shock. A tiny groan echoed around us, and I could only stare in horror. My heart burned in both heartache and anger. Jay went still yet again.

"By cursing Mary, she had accidentally cursed herself. She broke a fundamental rule of witchcraft, and her punishment was to join Mary, stuck in the world between worlds. My birth mother was sick and close to dying. She'd used the last of her magic to find me. I was instructed on how to use my powers, and given all the knowledge she had about the item- it was small, and was used to pay the debt of the original curse. It wasn't much to go on, but I had one weapon that none of my ancestors used- technology. I got a job at the museum, hoping I would have access to databases that might contain the information I needed. But I was smarter than my mother. Rather than toil aimlessly on my own as she and my ancestors had, I knew I needed to find Will and Mary. If I could befriend them, I could get them to share their knowledge. They would even help me." He raised his eyebrows, smiling like some cocky idiot. "When Ravencrest Manor reopened, I knew it was my chance. I was sneaking around upstairs at the party that night, when I heard you talking to Will. It was fate. The girl I loved could also see the ghost I needed to find. I did not, however, expect that I'd be competing with him for your affections." He looked annoyed. He sat down on a headstone behind him, but did not drop the gun or point it away from Jay.