“No. Why?”

“She’s MIA, too. Again,” Beth grumbled.

“You can wing it until I get back. I have faith in you,” I said, hanging up the phone.

“What?” Jared asked.

“Beth said Kim hasn’t been around. She doesn’t know where she is. Kim’s been doing that a lot lately,” I said with a frown.

Jared squirmed in his seat, and then looked away.

“Jared?” I asked in an accusatory tone. He didn’t look at me. “Do you know anything about that?”

Jared didn’t meet my eyes for several moments, and then finally turned to face me. After a long puff of air, he took a deep breath, and then intertwined his fingers. His expression was exactly as it as the night he told me the truth.

I looked at him from under my brows. “Is it bad?”

Jared shook his head. “It’s dangerous. I won’t lie to you, so please let it go.”

“We’re talking about Kim, right? Lanky, goofy Kim?”

“Let it go, Nina.”

My knee bounced up and down as I made the decision, but it had already been made. I was only stalling. Jared looked away again with a sigh, knowing what would happen next.

He closed his eyes, and with one last effort he begged. “Don’t….”

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the edge of my seat, preparing myself for what he would say. Jared had told me more unbelievable truths in the last two years than even I could believe, and I had seen most of it with my own eyes. Regardless, Kim had been keeping something from me—something Jared knew, and I didn't—I had to ask.

“Jared?” He stiffened the second I uttered his name. Although knowing the truth had never been comforting before, I couldn’t stop myself. “What do you know about Kim?”

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Witch

“That’s not actually his secret to tell,” Kim said, strolling into the waiting room.

It took me a moment to process that she was really there, and that I hadn’t conjured her from my wild imagination.

Kim paused for a moment to acknowledge Jared. When he nodded in her direction, she took a seat next to me. She was in a white t-shirt and jeans, sporting black and white checkered Vans, and smelled of cigarettes. Her big, brown eyes didn’t falter. She didn’t seem nervous or out of place at all.

“What on earth are you doing here, Kim?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I could ask you the same question.”

“So go ahead. You seem to know all the right questions to ask, anyway,” I said, defiant.

“Kim’s just here to help,” Jared said.

“Help how? How did she know?” I looked at Kim, then. “How did you know to come?”