Kelly Hashway: The Monster Within

“Is that guy seriously in the kitchen? My kitchen? Where I work every day?”

“Forget about him. Ethan, you have to tell me what happened. How did you bring me back? I know you went to the coven. I’ve met all of them. I know it was witchcraft that brought me back. So there’s no reason to try to hide this anymore, to try to protect me from the truth. I can handle it.” I squeezed his hand in mine. “Please, tell me which members of the coven helped you.”

“I didn’t go to a coven, Sam. I went to one person. A witch someone from school knew.”

“Who was it?” My fingers tightened around his.

“This girl. I don’t know her name because she never told me.”

A girl. So it was Rebecca. It had to be. Ethan knew Shannon from school. He would’ve named her if that was who had helped him.

“Rebecca,” I said. “Her name is Rebecca. Or at least it was.” “What do you mean was?” He lifted his head slightly to see me better.

“I killed her, Ethan. Just like I told you. My body can’t maintain itself. I get weak, and I need to feed off the life of others. I really did kill that guy from the gas station. And Trevor. They were accidents. I didn’t mean to do it. My body takes over, and I can’t stop it. I’m a prisoner to this thing that takes over when the life is draining out of me.” I started crying. “Please, don’t hate me. It’s not my fault. I didn’t ask to be this way. I don’t want to be this way.” I buried my head in his leg, sobbing huge tears.

He slowly sat up. “Sam, I—”

“Before you say anything, there’s something you need to know.” I looked up at him, afraid to see the expression on his face. Afraid he’d never look at me the same again. “Dylan was right. You died tonight, and I had to get a witch to bring you back. Nora helped me. But now you’re going to be like me. You’ll have to kill people to stay alive. I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t lose you. I couldn’t let you stay dead.”

He stared past me, not saying a word.

“Ethan, please say something. Please, don’t hate me.”

“You’re Nora?”

“What?” I turned to see Nora, now standing behind me.

“Hello, Ethan. Nice to see you again.”

“Again?” I looked at Ethan. “You know her?”

“She’s the witch who brought you back.”

NO. That couldn’t be true. Ethan was confused. He’d just come back to life, and he was confused. When I came back everything seemed different, off. That was all this was, Ethan not being able to make sense of things.

But Nora knew him. How would she know him if she wasn’t the one who’d helped him bring me back?

Ethan sat up on the counter, and I backed up next to him, facing Nora.

“You dyed your hair,” Ethan said. “Was that so I wouldn’t recognize you?”

“Is it true?” My voice cracked. “Did you bring me back?”

“Oh, Sam. It was too easy to trick you. To make you believe Dylan and the rest of the coven were the bad guys, the ones who were trying to kill you.” She stepped closer, and Ethan slid off the counter, so he was blocking me.

“Don’t come near her,” he said, sounding more alert.

“Always trying to save her, aren’t you, Ethan? You were so desperate when I met you. All serious and heartbroken.”

I glanced at Shannon, still imprisoned in the corner. She shook her head at me, and even though she couldn’t talk, I knew what she was thinking. I was an idiot. I’d been played by Nora. For once, I agreed with Shannon.

“Why did you do it?” I asked. “Why did you lie? You could’ve told me you were the one who brought me back.”

“Told you I was the one who used black magic? I was the one the coven threw out? You wouldn’t have trusted me.”

She was right. I would’ve been afraid of her at the very least. “What else did you lie about?”

“See, that’s the beauty of it. I barely had to lie. You already know most of the story. Just substitute my name for Dylan’s—and in a few places Shannon’s—and you’ve got it.” She smiled, obviously proud of herself.

“She poisoned you against us, Sam,” Dylan said. He was on his feet now and looking a little better, but he was still trapped by the salt. “She told you we were trying to kill you, but we never were. We didn’t like that you were alive and killing people. That much was true, but we never tried to kill you. The fact that you came back like this is her fault.”

“How?” I stared at Nora, my supposed friend. I wanted to hear it from her.

“Dying for love—it’s romantic, don’t you think?” Nora smirked as she circled around Ethan and me.

“I didn’t die for love. I died of cancer.”

“You did. Yes.” Nora stepped in front of Ethan. “But he didn’t.”

That’s right. Ethan had exchanged his life for mine.

“Did you know that by helping her bring me back, I was stealing life away from you?” I asked him.

Ethan turned away. He’d known. He’d willingly given his life for mine.

Tears spilled down my cheeks, and my body shook with anger. “How could you do that to me? After everything I’ve been through. You were the only good thing in my life. The one thing I clung to while I was fighting to stay alive just one more day! I loved you! How could you bring me back, knowing it would kill you? Knowing you’d leave me here alone?” I pounded his chest with my fists. I’d never been this angry with him, but this was unforgiveable. No wonder he’d refused to tell me the truth. He knew part of me would hate him for this, for making me watch him die.

“Sam.” He choked back tears and wrapped his arms around me. “I would’ve died on the spot to bring you back. You’re everything to me. You didn’t deserve to die so young.”

I pulled away from him, feeling the bile in my stomach rising. “I’m nothing without you, Ethan. You know that.”

“I can’t apologize for what I did. Your life means more to me than my own. I’d do it all over again if I had to.”

Nora clapped, like she was enjoying the show. “Do you want to know my favorite part?” Nora asked with a huge smile.

This was going to be bad in an earth-shattering sort of way. I was sure of it.

“You never would’ve had a taste for human life if I hadn’t given you some of your boyfriend’s.”

Ethan whirled around to face Nora. “That’s why you needed my blood? You said it was to transfer my life force to Sam.”

Nora laughed. “The spell did that on its own. I needed Sam to do a favor for me. In exchange for giving her back her life.”

“A favor?” Of course. “The coven. You wanted revenge on them for kicking you out. So what? You made me into this zombie, witch-killing monster just so you could get back at them for shunning you?”

“They did more than shun me. They took away a power I wasn’t willing to live without. Sure, I’m powerful on my own. But as a coven, we had the ability to do much bigger spells. Ones that would’ve made us invincible.” She walked over to Shannon and grabbed her face, squeezing it in her hand. “But these goody-goodies wouldn’t hear of messing with black magic like that.” She let go of Shannon’s face. “I almost had this one convinced. I even showed her that spell to make every student at that pathetic school bend to her will. But she was mad about some teacher not paying enough attention to her, so she refused to go along with my plan to convince the others.”

Mr. Ryan. He’d stopped Shannon from turning into what Nora had become. He’d saved her by not giving in to all her obvious come-ons. He really was a good teacher.

Nora brought her hand back and slapped Shannon across the face. A big red handprint smeared the blood on her cheek. Nora had slapped the gash she’d cut into Shannon’s face earlier.