Summer Cursed

Chapter Seven

Before I went to bed, I sent a text to Liam with what Isaac and I had discussed. The next morning, he hadn’t yet responded, so I continued researching my mark. I was about to give up after an hour when something caught my eye.

My heart stopped as I zoomed in on the image of an ancient portrait of a man. His black hair fell to his shoulders, and the artist had made the white streak running down the middle appear to sparkle with the light of the moon behind him. His eyes—one light brown and the other bright blue—twinkled with humor as he posed in the typical stoic fashion for the artist.

“What the ever-loving fuck,” I said, hitting the button to print it before picking up my phone.

A knock sounded at the door stopping me from making my phone call. I put my phone back on the table and moved to open the door… too distracted by what I’d seen to ask who it was first. The only thing I saw was a bat headed toward my face.

“Ember? Ember, can you hear me?”

The voice was familiar, pleasant, but I couldn’t answer it. Everything was blurry and dark. My face hurt, especially the left side of my jaw.

“She’s coming around,” said another voice. This one irked me, and I tried even harder to open my eyes.

“Oh, Ember, you can do it. Open your eyes.” This time I recognized it was Stella. She sounded scared, her hand stroking the right side of my face as she spoke.

“Happened?” I asked, my voice raspy and weak.

“It looks like someone broke your face,” the other voice—Liam—said.

My hand went to my abused cheek. “Feels like it.”

They helped me up and guided me to the couch. Stella ran into the kitchen and returned with a frozen steak. “Da fuck?” I asked as best I could through a broken jaw.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve seen it in movies. Just hold it to your face.”

“What movies do you watch?” Liam asked on a laugh.

She rolled her eyes at him. “That doesn’t matter. She should have healed by now and she hasn’t.”

She wasn’t wrong. Regardless of how long I’d been lying there, my injuries should have healed themselves within minutes.

“Bane,” I muttered. Liam nodded when I showed him a mark on my arm. It was sore and a little red indicating someone had injected me with something.

“Bane?” Stella’s face scrunched up as she stared at me. “Like the guy from Batman?”

A laugh slipped from me, and I groaned in pain. “You ‘splain,” I said the best I could to Liam.

He was looking at Stella with a slight smile on his face. She blushed and averted her eyes when she noticed. I stared at her. Did she have the hots for Liam? She glanced in my direction, and I widened my eyes. She narrowed hers as she shook her head.

Liam cleared his throat to remind us he was there. From his expression, he’d apparently found our silent conversation amusing. Stella smiled. “Sorry about that. Please explain what Bane means.”

He told her everything from the beginning up to the laced chocolates. “And that brings us to today,” he finished, gesturing in my direction.

“Oh, Em,” Stella cried, tears flowing down her perfect cheeks. She’d always reminded me of a porcelain doll. She was practically the same size as one and was definitely as fragile.

All healed up, I rose to grab her a tissue. That’s when I noticed it. “No. No. Fuck, no,” I cried as I frantically ran around the house.

“Ember? What’s happened?” Stella asked.

“My fucking laptop is gone, that’s what has happened.” I faced Liam. He hadn’t moved an inch. “Did you do this?”

“Does it look like I could hide a laptop on my person?” he asked, holding up his arms as he slowly turned in a circle.

“Don’t be a smartass. Did you set this up?”

“Why would I?”