Reborn (Shadow Falls: After Dark #1)(24)

Oh, bullcrappy! Had someone paid blood for her time?

Chapter Seven

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Della muttered under her breath, standing in the midst of the other students and trying to ignore the low-grade headache throbbing at the back of her head. She’d been going to skip out on campmate hour, had even started toward the woods to take a long walk and read the obituary still tucked in her pocket. She didn’t care about breaking the never-enforced rule, but at the last moment she turned around and came back to the dining hall.

Good thing she wasn’t a cat.

Chris’s little be-there request had to mean someone wanted to spend an hour with her, didn’t it? And if so, who? Steve wasn’t here. She considered it could possibly be Chase, but why? What would his objective be? Yes, she needed to have a powwow with him, but it wasn’t one he should be looking forward to, or know about. She recalled thinking it was strange that he took the picture of her uncle. Sure, he claimed it had simply fallen out of her backpack, but that story lacked credibility. Especially when she was dang certain she’d crossed his path before.

Della heard two people walking up behind her. So her hearing was back, huh? And she recognized the footfalls, too.

“Hey,” Kylie said, stopping on one side of her and Miranda on the other.

Della glanced at Kylie. “How was the picnic?”

“Good,” Kylie said, always keeping it vague when it came to her and Lucas’s relationship. “He’s supposed to meet me here,” she said, looking around.

“Have you seen Perry yet?” Miranda asked, tucking her loose blond hair with streaks of pink, green, and black behind her ear. Della never quite understood Miranda’s crazy hair, but it seemed to be her trademark, and perhaps her desire to stand out a bit.

“No,” Della said, thinking back on her morning. “I don’t think I saw him at breakfast either. Did you cast a few spells at your witch meeting?”

“No.” Miranda rolled her eyes. “We don’t go around casting spells all the time.”

“Why not?” Della asked. “If I could cast ’em, I’d be doing it all the time.”

Miranda shook her head. “Our motto is to cause no harm.”

“That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.”

“Good thing you’re not a witch,” Miranda said. “Your attitude alone would bring you so much bad karma.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my attitude,” Della insisted.

“Be nice, both of you,” Kylie said, shooting them a stern look.

“Sorry, but I suck at being nice,” Della said, remembering Jenny. She glanced around to see if the girl was there. She wasn’t. But she did spot Chase, standing a few feet from the others looking out into the woods as if he wanted to disappear. As if he didn’t exactly fit in. Della recalled her first week here. If it hadn’t been for Miranda and Kylie, she would’ve been lost. All of a sudden, Chase looked back. His gaze locked with Della’s and held.

She frowned.

He smiled.

Miranda bumped shoulders with Della. “I think he likes you.”

“He shouldn’t,” Della snapped, and looked away.

“Why not?” Perry asked, moving in beside Miranda and slipping his hand around her waist. If the shape-shifter was within arm’s reach of the little witch, he had his arms around her. “He seems like an all-right guy to me. Of course, Steve will kill the vamp if he starts liking you as in ‘liking you.’”

“Steve and I aren’t—” Della stopped talking and groaned when Miranda reached up on her tiptoes and started sucking face with the shape-shifter.

“That’s sweet, isn’t it?” Kylie whispered in her ear.

Della glanced at Kylie and copied Miranda’s trademark overstated eye roll. Kylie snickered.

She had opened her mouth to tell Kylie she was leaving when Chris started talking. Inhaling, she looked up toward the front, and her curiosity returned.

“Welcome,” he said, making it sound like a show. The guy really liked being in the limelight. Since he was from California, she wondered if he’d dipped his toe into acting. He had the looks and personality for it.

“Let’s see what we have first?” His gaze shifted around the crowd.

Della held her breath, hoping she’d been wrong in her assumptions. Don’t let his gaze land on me. Don’t let his gaze land on me.

His gaze landed on her. Damn! Damn! Damn!

He pulled a piece of paper from his stupid hat. Unfolding the paper slowly, as if to add drama, he didn’t even look down before starting to talk. He didn’t have to; he obviously knew what it said. He smiled and paused, just to draw it out.

Good Lord, she wanted to go pinch his ears and make him spill it already.

He finally cleared his throat. “Della Tsang, I, Chris Whitmore, will have one pint of blood donated to our bank to spend an hour with you.”

Chris? Her mouth dropped open. Everyone’s eyes were on her. Oohs and aahs were spouted out of the crowd.

“Oh, shit,” Perry said.

“Shit what?” Lucas asked, walking up beside Kylie.

“Chris just offered a donated pint for Della’s time,” Miranda answered Lucas’s question.

Lucas looked at Della. “I’m not surprised. He’s had a thing for you for like forever. And now that Steve’s spending a lot of time helping the doctor, Chris’s trying to move in.”