Faithless

Chapter Seventeen

Jasmina hadn't had the opportunity to spend time with just Aiden on his own before, so she didn't really know what to expect. She already knew he was laid back and didn't really have any care in the world, but she had no idea how much he loved to go bowling until he dragged her down to the local arcade where they had a bowling alley built in on the first floor. It wasn't even open this time of the morning but Aiden had a word with the manager and somehow they managed to get in without too much fuss.

They played three games and Aiden thrashed her at every single one. Jasmina pouted and declared he was a cheat before they moved on to the rest of the arcade. Jasmina hadn't been to an arcade before and had no idea how addictive the games could be. Within an hour she had earned five hundred tickets which she spent on two bracelets that she wore with pride. Jasmina tried out the claw machines and jumped for joy when she won a teddy bear all by herself, without Aiden's offer to 'help'. They ordered a portion of doughnuts and Aiden declared that the day had only just begun and they had a lot more stuff to tick off the list. 

They were barely two hours into the day and Jasmina was already feeling queasy from eating too much, but she did her best to ignore it. Their next stop was a game of crazy golf. Jasmina was surprised when she actually turned out to be pretty good, much to Aiden's dismay. He did his best to convince her that the highest number of strokes was the winner but Jasmina wasn't having any of it.

The weather was still fairly cold and the pair ended up racing up and down the path while they thought of their next plan. Jasmina had lived in Blue Hollow for her whole life and she had no idea there was so much to do in this town. The crazy golf place had a slush puppy machine so Aiden brought them a large mixed one each and Jasmina gulped it down, turning her tongue and lips blue. She couldn't remember the last time she had had this much fun with anyone and even with everything going on, she finally felt like a teenage girl, more so than she ever had before. 

Next on Aiden's list of stupid things for them to do was to get a tattoo. Jasmina had her reservations, the main one being her age, but Aiden wasn't listening to any of it. He convinced her to get the artist to believe she was over eighteen and together they picked out a robin which Jasmina had tattooed on her ankle. While they were there, Jasmina noticed all the different pictures of different piercings, and she couldn't help but think about how she had always wanted her ears pierced. A short conversation with Aiden and Jasmina was talked into having her lobes, her helix and her belly button pierced, all in one sitting. Aiden grinned mischievously as they walked away from the shop with a very shaky Jasmina. 

Their tour of the town carried on until around five in the afternoon when it started to get dark. Jasmina had probably had the best day in her life so far and as much as she didn't want to cut it short, she knew in the back of her mind that she had some decision making to do. Not to mention they both knew that the others would be sending out a search party with bloodhounds by now.

"We can just make a run for it." Aiden offered, starting up the bike ready for them to get going. Jasmina just smiled at that idea.

"As tempting as that is, no. I have made some other decisions though." Jasmina smiled. Aiden just raised an eyebrow, sitting up on the bike to look at Jasmina better.

"And what decisions are they?" Aiden asked, genuinely interested.

"I'm still not sold on the coven idea, but I understand the safety thing, and let's face it, today alone has been better than any day I've ever spent with my real family." Jasmina explained. Aiden just smiled, waiting for her to continue. "So, I've decided I want to leave home. I've managed to compel a couple people now and if that's what I need to do to get my dad on board then that is fine, but I want to try a more human approach first. So, I'm going to go home either tonight or maybe tomorrow and I'm going to convince him to let me go after my exams. Then I'll either stay with you guys and join up, or if you don't mind having me around for a while, I'll start looking at trying to find my own way." Jasmina finished, smiling brightly at her own plan. 

"Sounds like a perfect plan to me. I'll probably keep your hair down and your socks up if you want to keep your dad calm when you go home though." Aiden pointed out with a laugh. Jasmina just rolled her eyes and got on the back of the bike. Together they rode back to the house and Jasmina felt like a weight had been lifted the second she had said her plan out loud.

Cam must have heard the bike when the pair pulled up because he opened the door, but he didn’t step outside. He looked at Jasmina for just a second to make sure she was okay, then he walked away. Jasmina just frowned, trying to hide how much it really bothered her.

Once they were inside Jasmina headed up to her room and checked her phone. Once again she had plenty of missed calls and messages, mostly from her dad, but some from Candice too. She answered them all, being as vague as possible with her dad. That was one phone call she didn’t want to answer just yet. She still hadn't decided exactly how to go about speaking to him.

“Hey.” Cam said from the doorway. He was leaning on it slightly as he looked to Jasmina.

“Hey.” She mumbled back, packing her things up into her bag.

“You're going again already?” He frowned, stepping inside and sitting down on the bed next to Jasmina.

“No I just… Well I need to go back soon, so I may as well get ready to go while I’m up here.” She shrugged. Jasmina couldn’t help but notice how close Cam was sitting to her. She felt like all her senses were on overdrive, and not in a normal lovesick way, but in a more magical way. It was like her powers were kicking it up a gear or something.

“Look, about last night. I didn’t mean for it to sound like I don’t care about you, because I do. It’s just… I don’t want to push you into anything. You’ve got enough on your plate, I was just trying to wait for you to decide what you wanted.” He frowned, looking down at the floor. “I really screwed that up, huh?”

“Wasn’t just that though was it? You don’t trust me with your brother, or to stay out of your head, even though you can’t help but try and screw up my mind.” She muttered, bitterly.

“With Aiden it's just complicated, it’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just him. He not trustworthy in any way, you’ll see what I mean when you really get to know him, and as for the mind reading thing, I don’t care if you're in my mind, I have nothing to hide from you anyway, and it might actually help if you have something to concentrate on.”

“And the part where you were in my dreams? What about that?”

“That part, I wouldn’t blame you for not forgiving me for. But I swear to you, if I had realised what it was doing to you, I wouldn’t have done it. I was just trying to ease you into this life. But I guess everyone is right about that power.” He muttered, shaking his head.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s this legend, about how witches and warlocks began.”

“Aiden told me about it earlier.”

“Well did he tell you the part where the first warlock who turned to the dark side was a dream walker?”

“So? What’s the big deal?”

“The easiest way to drive someone to insanity is through lack of sleep. If you're waking up every night because of violent nightmares, you’re not going to be able to get that much needed sleep.” Cam explained. “That’s exactly what he did, and it’s what I’m expected to do. Dad is convinced I’m going to end up like the legend with this power, and I already have.”

“You didn’t drive me completely insane. Not yet. And you did help last night, it’s just my visions are stronger.” Jasmina frowned. “I get what you were trying to do in the beginning, and your heart was in the right place, but you didn’t have any right to do that.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I know you are. Which makes you different from the warlock in the silly little fairy tale your dad told you, to keep you in line.” Jasmina shrugged. Cam just smirked.

“Don’t let him hear you say that.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t”