Read Online Phantom Eyes (Witch Eyes) by Scott Tracey - Free Book Online Page B

all, which would have surprised me, but then again Jason had turned around and walked out of the room as soon as he’d realized I wasn’t alone. Jade and I were left to fend for ourselves for the rest of the night, which was fine between us.
    There was a living room down the hall from my room, one of three nearly identical rooms I’d found in the house, but this one had a fireplace and a working television, so we holed up in there. Jade had come prepared and brought movies—comedies about teenagers coming of age in stupid ways, which were some of my favorites.
    We were halfway through the second movie and a bowl of microwave popcorn when Jade paused the movie and turned to me with serious eyes. “I know you don’t want to talk about—”
    “No.”
    “Braden, come on,” she pleaded. “You should know he hasn’t gone home since … well, since that night.” She spoke quickly, like she expected me to cut her off. But I didn’t say anything at all. Every time I got some distance from Trey, any time I thought I could clear my head from what was going on around me, there were flashes. Images in my head. Catherine’s smirk, the detachment in her eyes. Purple motes of darkness. And then John. On the ground. Empty.
    I nodded, because that was all I could trust myself to do.
    “Trey wants me to leave,” she added, and my head snapped up, staring at her. “He even called the school to see how many credits I had. To see if I could graduate a semester early.”
    Jade might be leaving? I hate that my first thoughts were selfish, but they were what they were. What am I going to do without her? We weren’t the closest of friends, but she was always there for me in a way no one else ever had been. If anything, Jade and I were so close because our friendship was normal. What I could do, and who her family was, had very little to do with why we wanted to hang out together.
    My heart lurched in my chest, and I had to duck my head down again. But it would be safer for her if she did. Trey was right, this town wasn’t safe for any of us.
    “When I leave, I don’t think I’ll ever come back,” Jade said quietly, going to stand over by the window. “I mean, I’ll miss it a little, but I’ve never wanted any of this. I don’t want to have kids just so they can play a starring role in Bigotry part two. I’d rather go off and be fabulous somewhere far from here. My aunt did that, did I ever tell you about that?”
    I shook my head.
    “She lives in New York. She’s this crazy artist, which is weird because she and my mom look so much alike, but they’re totally different. Anyway, she ran away after high school. She comes to visit every so often, but whenever she’s with mom, it’s always strained.”
    I looked at the movie on the screen, paused just moments before the big reveal, where the heroine’s whole world was to be ripped out from underneath her. My stomach soured and I flicked the television off. “Done with that,” I said under my breath. And I was.
    Jade followed me back into my room, crawling onto the other side of my bed when I flopped down. We stared at the ceiling, not each other. “Maybe—” she hesitated. “Maybe we could go.” Her words picked up speed as she warmed up to the idea in her head. “Together. New York’s a big city, we could start over. No crazy parents, no demons leering at us from across the room. I’ll take my diploma early, and you can always finish school there.”
    “Come on, be serious.”
    Jade rolled over and lay flat on her stomach. She turned her head towards me, hair falling in her eyes. “You turn eighteen in a few months, right? My mom might try to drag me back, but she’d have to find us first.”
    Her hand slid over mine, squeezing once. I sighed, closing my eyes. I knew this was just a momentary whim of Jade’s, but I couldn’t help but wonder what i f ? I’d come to Belle Dam without knowing anyone and look how that had turned out. What if I had someone