Hey there! If you're still following this story, I want to thank you for sticking around.
I'll be honest—it's been challenging to update this lately, especially when it feels like my work is going out into the void. I was really excited about this chapter, but I kept hesitating, worried that it might not hit the mark.
But it's finally here, and I really hope you enjoy it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts—whether you loved it, hated it, or anything in between. Your feedback means a lot to me!
Chapter Three
"And it's times like these.
And it's days like these."
- Lapsley
It had been two days, and Jazmine was still sore from her legendary birthday party.
Cindy and Alyx had planned the perfect night, right down to the playlist, leaving her and the crowd no choice but to dance like crazy all night.
That is, until Ruckus and WPD showed up at seven in the morning, demanding they end the party and go the hell home.
Outside of kissing Vince, who'd been pretty peeved once she'd returned to the party with Huey, the night hadn't been nearly as fun as she'd wanted it to be. Not only had Vince left before she could even explain that nothing happened with Huey, she'd also ruined the whole witch thing before it'd even started!
She'd been so out of it, she hadn't bothered arguing with Huey like she normally would have. Instead, she wandered over to Cindy and Alyx's side, struggling not to cry her eyes out as they danced the night away, not daring to think about what had happened, not for too long anyway.
Worst of all, she had no clue what she'd done wrong to begin with!
The Regime hadn't bothered to explain anything, nor had Leilani or Katherine, which only confused her more.
On top of that, the family connection she'd been craving with her biological parents had been snatched away from her in seconds.
She'd feigned exhaustion when Alyx and Cindy stopped by to check on her, thinking her sour mood was about Vince dropping her like a bad habit.
But sadly, boy-drama was no longer the center of her universe.
Now, she had real drama to worry about, like why her biological parents left, what had happened all those years ago, why Thaddeus had murdered them...
Which was the worst.
She'd had no idea this summer would be so...depressing.
Her whole life had gone to shit in two days. Two!
Jazmine's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door handle jiggling downstairs. She could hear the out-of-sync footsteps of her parents as they rushed into the house, fussing about something in low voices.
She sighed, even more annoyed now that they were back.
"We're home, honey!" She heard her dad yell from downstairs. "Come down here! We've got something exciting to show you!"
Jazmine rolled her eyes and flopped back onto her bed.
She could care less what they wanted to give her. What she wanted was an explanation!
Why hadn't they at least sent a quick text on her birthday? Were things so bad they'd decided to ignore the daughter they'd chosen to adopt?
And speaking of that….
When the hell were they going to tell her about that? Did they seriously think they'd take it to their graves without her finding out?
"Honey!" She heard her mother call her. "Get downstairs, now! We don't have a lot of time! I have a flight in a few hours!"
Her parents couldn't be serious.
They were the ones getting a divorce, not her.
It wasn't like she was the one who'd missed their birthdays.
And that wasn't all, either.
Before she could even lift her head, her parents were arguing again.
"This is what I mean, Tom! You always want to compromise! Be a man for once and lay down the law!"
"Of course, Sarah! Blame me for wanting to be a decent husband. Blame me for respecting my partner and our marriage, unlike you!"
"Unlike me?! I'm not the one who stepped out on our marriage!"
"Doesn't mean you didn't try. You're clearly mad I beat you to it."
"What did you just say?"
"You heard me-"
"HEY!" Jazmine's voice clamored around the large house.
Her parents stopped arguing and stared at her.
"Ruining my birthday wasn't enough? You had to come and ruin my peace of mind too?" She shook her head, staring at them. "Do I even matter to you guys anymore?"
"Of course you do, honey…." Her dad frowned, awkwardly rubbing his shoulder. "No matter what happens between us, you're always our first priority. You know that, don't you?"
Her mom nodded. "We're very sorry we missed your birthday, Jazmine. And…that we didn't get around to calling you. We just got wrapped up in some stuff?" Sarah smiled brightly, trying to disguise the tension by shifting the mood. "We promise to make it up to you."
"Why?" Jazmine's glare intensified as she stepped forward, her eyes darting wildly between them. "What else are you two sorry for? Anything else slip your mind before you forgot my birthday?"
"Now, I know you're upset about your birthday, but let's be clear here!" Her mother's voice took a no-nonsense tone. "This behavior is unacceptable, Jazmine Marie Dubois, and it will not be tolerated in this house! Do you understand me?"
"Don't you mean Jazmine Marie Arceneaux?" Jazmine shot back, her words cutting like a knife.
Sarah drew back with a gasp, tears spilling from her eyes.
"I sure am glad I found my adoption papers the other day." Jazmine continued as she clasped her hands together, her voice cool and dismissive. "If I hadn't, I never would've known the truth. It's obvious you two weren't ever planning on telling me."
"We were going to tell you eventually." Her dad reached for her, sighing sadly when she recoiled. "It's not as cut and dry as you're making it seem."
"Then, make it cut and dry, Dad!" She yelled, her voice rising with every word. "How is lying to me about my identity not simple?! Either I'm your kid or I'm not!"
"Jazmine, we are your parents." Sarah said, easing closer to her . "Just hear us out! Let us explain!"
"Explain what?" Jazmine crossed her arms. "How you two are big, fat liars?"
"Jazmine!" Her mother gasped. "Language!"
"Hell no!" Jazmine shot back, suddenly feeling the world's anger radiate through her skin. "Fuck decent language! You two are the problem here, not me! You lied to me about everything!"
"Honey, please..." Her father held her angry mother back while she wrestled against him, about ready to confront Jazmine with an open palmed smack. "Your parents-"
"Are dead!" Jazmine screamed again, choking back a sob. "My biological parents are fucking dead, and my adoptive parents couldn't even send a message on Facebook to wish me a happy birthday! They couldn't text or call, but they managed to make a post about how wonderful and lovely I am. Saying all sorts of nice things when they never even show it!"
"Jazmine…" Her mother sighed, shaking her head. "You are wonderful and lovely to us. We never meant to hurt you in all of this."
"Was I just some accessory to your perfect marriage?" Jazmine narrowed her eyes again, backing away from them. "What?" She laughed bitterly. "Now that it's over, you're throwing me out? Wiping your hands clean of me and moving away?"
"Who said anything about throwing you out?" Her dad shook his head. "Honey, we're not going anywhere, and neither are you."
"Jazmine, please." Her mom came closer, extending her arms. "Let's just talk this out once you calm down."
"I don't need to calm down!" Jazmine whipped past the wall, doing her best to keep away from her father, who was trailing close behind her. "I need answers! From you and from Dad! I know he worked on their case, I saw the court documents! The articles too!"
"Jazmine…" Her father froze as he gripped the back of the couch. "Just drop it, please. We're not doing this today."
"Whatever." Jazmine grumbled, starting to head up the stairs. "You don't care. You probably never did."
"Your mother and I do care about you." Her dad stood with her mother at the bottom of the stairs, pointing at her as he began to lose his cool. "Everything we do is for you! Do you even know where you'd be if we hadn't stepped in? Because let me tell you, it wasn-"
"Tom, don't!" Her mother cautioned, silently pleading with him before turning back to Jazmine. "Just come and see what we got you for your birthday, things will make more sense after that. I promise."
"I'd much rather hear about my parents, thanks." Jazmine frowned, folding her arms as she stared from the top step. "That's the normal thing to do when your kid brings up their adoption. You answer the tough questions you should've anticipated."
"Honey, I know you have questions about your parents." He paused, sighing. "….and I would give anything to be able to give you those answers, but it's complicated."
He looked at her mother, as if pleading with her to back him up on the subject.
"It's not something we can talk about." He paused as he glanced at Jazmine, meeting her gaze. "Not now, not ever."
"So basically, you're telling me you won't." Jazmine felt the hot, itchy tears fall down her cheeks. "That's what this boils down to, right?"
"Honey-"
"You won't ever tell me about my parents, not even if you know the truth." Jazmine's vision blurred as the tears continued to roll down, blurring her vision. "Because regardless of what you're telling me, you don't like who they are, do you?"
"Jazmine, no! That's not what I said!" Her father's voice was soft. "Just take a deep breath, honey. Calm down."
"Which means you don't even like who I am." She sniffled, turning to run towards her room. "You probably never did."
"You know that's not true." Tom called after her, trying to reason with her. "Everything I've done has been to keep you safe. Deep down, I think you know that."
Jazmine bit back a snort as she kept walking. She'd had enough of their broken promises.
"For now, let's focus on celebrating!" Her mother still forced a cheerful smile, gesturing towards the door. "I think you'll feel a lot better once you come outside!"
"No, I won't, so just drop it, already!" Jazmine whirled around, her eyes hard as she threw up her hands. "You two are never gonna tell me the truth! You're just gonna keep throwing crap at me to make yourselves feel better, just like you always do!"
"We just want to make things right." Her father said. "Let's start with us celebrating your birthday today, doing something fun. And then, we can get through this….as a family."
"We're not a family." Jazmine frowned. "So whatever you have out there can go right back where it came from! I don't want it!"
"That is it!" Sarah made her way up the stairs. "Get your ass down here now before I drag you down myself!"
"Ughhhhh!" Jazmine threw up her hands, sighing loudly as she rolled her eyes at her mother. "I'm so sick of living here! I can't wait until I turn eighteen! And then I can-"
She paused, looking down at the small, green electrical currents on her hands, shooting across them like small cobwebs.
She glanced up, then down again, her mouth hanging open as she investigated their living room. "What did I just do?"
Both her parents were frozen in place, their faces red, their eyes narrow. Completely still, not moving an inch.
"Mom?" Her eyes widened. "Dad?"
She kept her eyes trained on their bodies, unsure of what to do next.
But she had a bad feeling that whatever it was, would be extremely hard to fix.
Caesar still wouldn't let it go.
"Whatever you did with Jazmine that night worked like a charm." Caesar grinned, staring at the daily news with Huey. "I'm impressed. You got Vince out the way fast."
Huey just rolled his eyes.
He still wasn't sure how Jazmine made it back from the woods the other night. It was part of the reason he kept glancing back at her house.
He was seriously starting to worry.
"Vince was pissed too!" Caesar laughed. "Cindy said he didn't even call after he left Jazmine's party."
"That has nothing to do with me." Huey shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "You've morphed into the male version of Cindy. Since when are you into gossip?"
"I'm into helping people find happiness." Caesar shrugged. "If you got off your ass and headed across the street, you could ask Jazmine out yourself. Then you could have something similar to what Cindy and I share. A happy and healthy relationship."
"Healthy is debatable." Huey shot him a look. "Besides, getting with a white woman like Cindy isn't hard." He smirked. "You're a professional gigolo. It's what you do best."
"Hey!" Caesar frowned, lifting to his feet. "I am not a gigolo!"
"Huh." Huey went into the kitchen to grab some water. "Could've fooled me. Dating the rich white girl? Accepting her gifts? All in exchange for giving her the impression that she's in a loving, devoted relationship? Would that not make you, in fact, a gigolo?"
"I freeload with everyone!" Caesar argued. "Not just Cindy's parents!"
"Exactly." Huey shook his head at his friend. "That's why I called you a professional gigolo."
Riley chimed in from his spot at the table. "Aye, you do be doin' that gigohoe shit." He sketched something else on a sheet of paper. "I saw you pimping yourself out for free meals like a bitch for a whole year!"
"Blame inflation." Caesar shrugged. "Since Mr. Freeman refuses to feed me anymore, I had to get creative."
"And won't ever feed your narrow behind again!" Granddad yelled from his "mancave" in the basement. "Shoot, ya ass has been eating me outta a house and home for six years straight! You better stick to being a gigagrow, gigaso, hell….whatever ya'll's nappy-headed asses call it…tryna run up my goddamn grocery bill in this economy. Wasn't like that back in my day-"
Huey just tuned him out his, glancing down at whatever Riley was working on.
His eyes fell on the portrait he'd drawn of an interracial couple holding a small baby in their arms. The sun seemed to shine just for them, as if they were fulfilling some grand purpose.
He leaned closer, inspecting it.
"This is different." Huey stared at it, his eyes drawn to the small lifelike details. "I like it."
"Me too, nigga!" Riley grinned, still hard at work. "They gon' love it at the art institute program, too! My teacher promised me a full ride to the University of Chicago if I keep it up, and ian tryna turn down free money, ya heard?"
"You must be taking a break from being a real nigga thing, then." Caesar smirked, wolfing an entire sandwich down like their granddad hadn't just banned him from the fridge. "Isn't doing a summer program for art the exact opposite of being a 'real nigga'? Just sayin'."
"Shut up, punk!" Riley held up his middle finger and scowled. "Imma always be a real nigga, nigga! Don't play!"
"I'm glad you're taking this seriously." Huey shrugged, staring at the drawing again. "What you're doing is dope, man. I'm proud of you."
"Whatever, bitch!" Riley smirked at his brother, smiling to himself. "You niggas been knew I was killing this art shit."
Huey shook his head at his brother and walked back into the living room with Caesar, who was busy looking across the street from their window.
"Your fine ass girlfriend got a car." He chuckled, pressing his face against the glass. "It's nice, too. Tom and Sarah got her a BMW."
"That's whassup." Riley nodded from his seat. "Her fine ass should not be walking. She'll still have to see yo ugly asses everyday, but hey, that makes things easier for me. We all know she gon' chose the good lookin' Freeman brother eventually."
"Riley, shut up!" Huey barked, rolling his eyes again before picking up his game controller.
"Damn, nigga!" Riley snickered, continuing to work on his portrait. "Don't get mad at me! It ain't my fault Jazzy ain't give yo ass nun last night!"
Huey threw a book upside his head, hitting him hard.
"OW!"
"See?" Caesar snickered. "Even Riley can tell that you like her."
"Hell yeah Huey likes her ass!" Riley laughed. "If he didn't, he woulda left ha ass to die out there!"
"When have I ever left anyone to die, Riley?" Huey glared at him.
"You know what I mean, nigga!" Riley shot back. "Yo ass only went out there cuz' she looks like Bianca Lawson's fine ass! And we all know you gotta thang for her fine ass! "
"Damn!" Caesar glanced out the window, as if Jazmine would come right over and explain it to them herself. "She does favor her now that you mention it. She looks like the innocent version of her though, like Pretty Little Liars, Queen Sugar Bianca Lawson."
"You watch Pretty Little Liars?" Huey raised a brow.
Riley crinkled his brow as well, taking his eyes off his sketch to stare at them. "Nigga what the fuck is Queen Sugar?"
"I don't watch them often." Caesar shrugged. "They're more of a means to an end if you catch my drift. Cindy likes it, so I've learned to love it. Perfect background noise after a good fifteen minutes."
"Yeahhhhh boy!" Riley grinned. "That's how you do it, nigga! "
"Gross." Huey went back to his game. "Anyways, back to Jazmine, I don't see the resemblance, and I don't like her."
Both boys stopped what they were doing and stared at him, shaking their heads as they started laughing.
"Don't say we didn't warn you." Caesar shrugged, finally walking over to pick up his controller. "Because you do like her. I can tell."
"I don't-"
Huey paused when he noticed the presence of a spirit, climbing out the corner of the wall.
It was dressed in old clothing from several centuries ago. A tall, dark-skinned, man with an arrogant, haughty attitude, the energy coming off him in strong, overwhelming waves.
Another man was with him as well, quickly sneaking past him before he could get a good glimpse.
"Huey!" Riley said his name loudly, glaring at him with a strange expression. "Nigga what is you lookin' at? You don't hear me callin' you, nigga?"
He ignored him and glanced again, frowning at the corner he'd seen them emerge from.
But they were gone.
"Okay." Jazmine told herself, lifting her hands again. "So they're frozen. No big deal. I'll just lift my hands, and they'll go back to normal."
She raised her hands, then pushed them out.
Nothing happened, not even a wiggle.
She sank to the floor with a groan.
Her parents had been frozen for half an hour, and nothing she'd tried was working.
Jazmine lifted to her feet and stretched, murmuring to herself. "Okay, Jazmine, think. What activated your powers?"
Hell, what had activated them? She remembered storming out of her room, shoving something out of her way, how pissed she'd been….
"Oh shit!" She hopped up, staring down at her hands. "Okay, Jazmine. Get angry."
Jazmine nearly laughed at how ridiculous she sounded, but she had no doubt it would work.
After all, Julian had warned her that her emotions could control her powers.
"Try again." Something in the distance whispered. "Believe it, and it's yours."
"Gee, thanks." She snorted. "Because believing helped me so much at the ceremony!"
Her annoyance worked wonders.
Small green beams of light shot out of her hands in small flickers, moving in and out of her palms.
She closed her eyes and aimed at her parents, letting the anger fly free until the air shifted and she heard them gasp, yelling loudly again.
"We're not talking about this right now, Jazmine!" Her dad's eyes hardened. "You're coming outside to see what we got you, and that's final!"
He paused, snapping as he rushed upstairs. "Just let me get my camera first."
Jazmine glanced down at her plain crewneck and denim shorts.
She definitely didn't want this plastered all over the internet.
She lifted her hands and froze them again, sighing with satisfaction as she headed outside, deciding that having powers wasn't too bad.
It wasn't bad at all.
Some people never changed.
"Oh my God, it's talking to me!" Jazmine squealed as she stood outside of the gleaming white car. "Is that a panoramic sunroof? And the red leather seats I wanted with the crazy stereo system that I asked for?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, not caring if the whole neighborhood could hear. "Oh. My. Gosshhhhhhhh! Ihaveacar, I have a car, I have a CAR!"
She circled around it again, still shaking her head in disbelief before starting up again. "I can't believe I finally have my very own-"
"Hey!" Huey snapped his fingers. "Enough with the yelling! We get it. You have a car. Congrats." He rolled his eyes. "Can you bring it down a few decibels?"
"Huey." Jazmine jolted, obviously surprised to see him standing across the street.
"It's bad enough you're so loud." He leaned against his porch, secretly finding her wide-eyed expression amusing. "Lord forbid someone robs you around here."
"I just got my car unlike you." She rolled her eyes. "Excuse me for being excited like a normal human being."
"I'm not opposed to you being excited." He smirked. "Just pointing out that you're loud. And missing shoes. Again. Wouldn't want you to pick up a tapeworm this summer."
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "I can do whatever I want in my driveway." She gave him the finger before doing a shooing motion with her hand. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Nah." He made it a point to sit on the stairs, not disappointed when she loudly groaned and folded her arms. "I'm good here in my driveway, actually."
He watched, waiting to see what she'd do. She looked good mad. Not threatening in the slightest.
"Fine." She muttered after a few minutes, already heading back to her door. "I'll leave." She flipped him off again, a soft smile on her face despite the gesture. "See you later, Freeman."
"As long as you're not screaming, Dubois." He shrugged before pulling out his keys, nodding at her. "Happy Belated, by the way."
She just stared at him, blinking for a moment, before snapping her fingers and rushing down to the end of her driveway.
"Jazmine?" He paused, raising a brow. "What are you doing?"
"This won't take long." She said. "I just have a question."
"Well, can it wait?" He glanced at his watch. "I have plans."
"I just said it won't take long." She glanced up at him, suddenly a whole lot prettier than he remembered her being. "I just have a question. It's about that stuff you're doing with your newsletter blog."
He ignored Caesar and Riley cheering in the background, relieved that he was actually talking to Jazmine instead of arguing with her.
"What about it?" He raised a brow, even more surprised when she lost her peppy attitude and stood taller, her shoulders squared.
"A friend of mine found out she was adopted the other day." Jazmine examined a nail and blew on it like she was talking to him about the weather. "She also discovered her father had been working on her adoptive parents' murder case with a bunch of other lawyers. Since you've been solving cases left and right around here, I was wondering if you had any advice for how to solve hers? She's kind of at a dead-end here."
"Honestly, this isn't a hard case to crack." He shrugged. "She should talk to him about it. Her dad worked on the case, right? So if he lied to her about it, he'll probably fess up if she pushes him enough. She'll just have to get creative."
"But he doesn't ever want to talk about it." Jazmine shook her head. "He told her he can't give her any more details than what she has."
"Then, she should find the key to his law office and look through the files herself." He rolled his eyes, starting towards his car. "Again, not hard."
"Not easy." Jazmine countered as she lifted her hand then nervously shoved it into her pocket. "Things aren't like how they used to be. Somebody would have to hack his computer to review the case, remember?"
Something told him to pay closer attention to her instead of zoning out and staring at her face. Once he did, he noticed the spirit of a woman, lingering near her front door, possibly the spirit that had impersonated Jazmine earlier.
"Um, okay?" He dragged his eyes back to a fidgeting Jazmine, noting that the woman was gone. "You can have her email the case over to me."
"Um, no?" Jazmine shook her head again. "I promised her I'd keep it a secret!"
"Well, clearly, you broke that promise." He snorted. "Matter of fact, since your parents are home, you can have your dad look it up."
The ghost was back again, silently pointing at her front door, as if asking him to see something.
"Better yet." He casually came up with the perfect excuse to head over. "I'll do it."
His neighbor suddenly jumped into the middle of the street, her hands on his chest.
"No!" Jazmine kept her hands out, dropping them when she realized they were pushing against his pecs. "My dad can't know about this! Seriously, Huey, don't! Just go home!"
But Huey's eyes were on the ghost and its frantic movements.
He walked up the driveway, past Jazmine, and towards the door.
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind." He squinted when the unlocked door didn't budge. "Your dad has helped a lot with my cases."
Jazmine's jaw dropped. "He has?"
"Yep." He shrugged. "Tom and I still talk from time to time. He's not that bad."
Huey tried the door again, his eyes widening when the door tugged shut as soon as Jazmine scrunched up her nose.
He looked back when he heard her gasp. "You saw that too?"
"Saw what?" She glared at him, trying to pull him away from the house. "Huey...what are you doing?"
But he just ignored her, continuing to tug at the door.
"He'd be down to fix things if he knew the situation." He tried again, pulling the door open and watching as the door slammed shut, again. "Especially for a friend of yours."
His eyes widened when Jazmine straight plastered herself against the door, breathing heavily. "Huey, seriously! Now is not a good time!"
"You know, you've been hella weird the past few days." He paused before pushing past her. "I'm not sure what's with you these days, but believe me, I'm gonna get to the bottom of it."
"What's 'with me'?" She put her hands on his chest again in a feeble attempt to push him backwards. "Huey, you're the one who's breaking and entering!"
"Hands off." Huey rolled his eyes as she dropped her hands to her side. "I'm so sorry I saved your ass three times in a row, but enough is enough."
"What are you talking about?" Her eyebrows drew together. "I only saw you once this week!"
He ignored her, easing towards Tom in the living room and nodding when he finally eased through the threshold. "Mr. Dubois! Jazmine needs a favor. Would you mind…."
He looked at Tom and Sarah, standing fully erect. They weren't moving, they weren't breathing, as a matter of fact, nothing was, even the ceiling fan was frozen, the blur of the blades still completely visible even though it wasn't moving.
Jazmine eased closer, her voice calm and low. "I told you now wasn't a good time."
He blinked, then wiped his eyes and blinked again.
"They." He couldn't even get the words out, not even when the ghost had made its way up the banister and vanished, as if her job there was done. "What the fuck?"
Jazmine didn't seem as surprised as he was. "Huey, don't freak out, okay? I can explain."
"Don't freak out." He repeated the words with a blank stare, shaking his head. "Jazmine, what the hell did you do? Did you freeze your parents?"
"It was an accident!" Jazmine defended, crossing her arms. "Well, it was the first time…."
"You froze your parents more than once?!" He wheezed, staring from them to her. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"I said I could explain!" She hissed. "If you could just give me a minute…."
"Nope." He backed away from her, muttering as he rushed to the door. "I'm getting the hell up outta here."
"Huey, stop!" She held up her hand as soon as he pried the door open, causing the door to slam shut. "Just-"
"Holdup, you're the reason I couldn't get in here a few minutes ago?" He shouted, glancing between her hand and the door as everything began to dawn on him. "And I bet you had to be in the woods for something important the other night. Something related to all this."
"Well…." She trailed off, sighing. "Huey, I-"
"Explain it to someone else." He glared at her. "I'm out."
Leave it to him to be attracted to a supernatural….whatever she was.
Just as he opened the door, the lights began to flicker back and forth. She slowly lifted her hands yet again, jumping when the door slammed hard, nearly breaking the hinges.
"Jazmine, you don't wanna do this." He held up his hands, walking backwards slowly. "I'm just trying to go back home to Riley and Granddad. Do you really wanna do this to them?"
"I'm not going to hurt you, alright?" Jazmine's voice was calm. "Just come to my room before they unfreeze. I'll explain everything. I promise."
But he wasn't listening to her.
Instead, he was listening to the whisper in his ear. The sound of a voice he could trust.
His eyes darted around, searching for what was talking to him, but for the first time in his life, he couldn't see the spirit that was speaking to him.
"She's telling the truth." It said. "Please, help her. She needs you."
He felt a pressure near him, then a cold gust of wind whooshing past, and then, the spirit was gone, having done what it needed to do.
"Fine." He shrugged his shoulders, heading up the stairs ahead of her. He turned around midway, staring down at Jazmine's hands. "Just...control whatever you've got going. Okay?"
"Okay." Jazmine tucked her hands into her pockets, obviously relieved he wasn't as suspicious of her. "Fine."
Huey walked into her room, his eyes landing on the spell book sitting on her desk.
He turned to her, waiting, wondering if it was too late to stop what was coming.
Already knowing that, sadly, it was.
All things considered, Huey was taking things pretty well.
"So in short." He repeated what she'd spent thirty whole minutes explaining to him. "You're a witch with weak powers, your parents hid you from a demon named Thaddeus, you think he killed them, but you're not sure why, so you want answers."
She blinked. "And-"
"You freeze people." He raised a brow. "And close doors. And go running into the woods with two ghost guides, who promised your parents they'd keep you out of this until they find the chosen one….if the chosen one isn't dead, already..."
"Yes." Jazmine nodded, still amazed herself. "That's pretty much what happened."
"So if they think Thaddeus murdered them, you're in the clear for the modern-day Witch trials." He pointed out, shaking his head up and down. "Since your powers are supposed to be weak, you're not the chosen one, meaning no one is coming after you if you leave this alone."
Huey shot her a look and then shrugged when she glared at him.
"Don't get mad at me. I'm just sayin'. You have a good out. Take it."
"And I'm just saying that I have the right to know, Huey!" Jazmine leaned forward, frowning at him. "Are you serious right now?!"
Some revolutionary, he was! How could he ask her not to go after the person who did this? How could he tell her not to use her powers for the greater good?"
"Look." Huey turned around to face her head on, staring up at her from his seat at her desk. "Your parents gave their lives to make sure you lived. If something happened to you, all of that would be in vain."
She glared at him. "I am not gonna die, Huey! You just don't wanna do it."
"I really don't." He leaned in, glaring back at her. "You wanna double check to see if some demon guy murdered them? Fine. Just ask yourself if it's worth your life. Because that's probably what you'll give up when the time comes."
"Stop being dramatic, Huey." Jazmine rolled her eyes, trying to keep the fear down. "I'll be fine."
Huey shook his head, sighing. "You won't."
She didn't need him. She could easily go off and handle this on her own. Hell, she could freeze her dad and find the passcode to his laptop if she wanted.
But that was the thing. She didn't really want to.
"You can't do this on your own." Huey snorted. "Do yourself and everyone else in this world a favor." He shook his head, staring at her. "Leave it alone."
Jazmine watched the way he gazed at her, the way he seemed to know what she was thinking before she did.
Not shying away from his gaze, she lifted from her spot on the bed, her arms behind her back as she paced in front of him.
"I can't." She stopped and lifted her chin, saying the one thing she knew would get him on her side. "I know how bad it sounds, but you have to understand where I'm coming from."
"Jazmine-"
"I know how much you can't stand me." Jazmine held up a hand, continuing her rant. "But I also know you'd do anything to help someone in need." She softened her gaze, dropping her voice to that sweet, precious squeal that used to do him in when they were kids. "Please, Huey. I'm begging you."
He sighed, staring at her.
Checkmate.
"Cut the bullshit, Jazmine."
Or not.
He rolled his eyes, turning his back to her for a moment, almost as if he was listening to something speak.
It was weird. She could've sworn she was hearing something too. It sounded similar to white noise, like the staticky crescendo of a radio station not quite on the right signal, not exactly quiet, but not exactly audible either.
"Now." Huey leaned back in her chair again, stretching his long, lean legs out, his biceps curling perfectly.
She sighed, continuing to enjoy the view until he cleared his throat, glaring at her.
"This is exactly why I don't trust you can handle yourself." He shook his head. "You still don't pay attention."
"Sorry." She winced, not lying completely. "I zoned out, okay? I won't do it again! Honest."
"No, you won't." Huey pushed himself forward, about to stand up. "Because I'm out. Things have been weird enough as it is, and you're about to make things ten times worst."
"Huey, wait!" She shoved him back into his seat, gripping his hands into hers before he could retaliate. Her voice was desperate, her eyes were watering, but she didn't care. She planted her eyes on his, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Just look me in the eye, Huey. Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't do the same thing. Tell me you wouldn't investigate this if it were your parents."
"It's not the same, Jazmine." He glared at her. "You know that."
"But if it were?" She shot back, not shying away from his gaze. "If it were could you honestly tell me you wouldn't do the same thing? Because if the answer is yes, then I'll drop it. Really."
Huey was quiet, which meant he was getting back on board, already drumming up a few ideas in his head. So if she kept talking…..
"But if the answer is no." She kept her eyes on his. "Then, you should have no problem helping me. It's only right. It's nothing you haven't done before, minus the supernatural part of course."
"For starters..." He narrowed his eyes. "Tell me why you should be sticking your nose into this mess."
She released him and went back to pacing, moving her hands as she spoke.
"I don't trust The Regime." Jazmine admitted, not caring if they were listening or not. "They don't even know what happened to that Kelsey girl, or what happened to all those people sixteen years ago, but they claim to be these powerful ancient beings." She shook her head, sighing. "I don't think they know what they're doing. I don't think they can help at all."
Huey just stared at her, obviously confused.
"Exactly." She kept ranting. "You ask for some basic guidelines and they're all like, 'Noooooo. Rules badddddd. Rules destroyyyyy.' Like, what sense does that even make?"
"Jazmine focus. Now….wait." Huey raised a brow, staring up at her again. "Sixteen years ago?"
He immediately opened her laptop, typing in something that made it unlock before she could protest.
"Yes." She said in a monotone voice. "By all means. Just open up my personal laptop whenever you want. No biggie. Not a total invasion of my privacy or anything like that."
"Sorry." Huey shrugged. "It's just…there's this unsolved case I've been trying to crack." He typed something else into the search engine, somehow pulling up his research with a click of a button. "That case outlines several murders, murders dated sixteen years back. I've gotten a few names, but they all led me nowhere. A few eyewitnesses believe that a group of people, witches, were targeted and shipped off to Arizona in record speed before they were killed."
Jazmine gasped and reached over to read the rest, accidentally brushing past his shoulder.
It happened before she could blink, like a memory she hadn't even had yet, until it grew stronger, slowly becoming clearer until it played like a short movie in her head.
"Where is she?" The man asked Julian, his pupils blood red. "Where is the baby?!"
"I'm not sayin' shit, Thaddeus!" Julian snarled back, glaring at him in the cavern. "I'd rather die than risk something happening to her. So I suggest you get on with your dumbass plan."
He smirked, loudly chuckling at him with empty eyes.
"Be careful what you wish for, Julian." Thaddeus said, inching closer. "I don't like asking twice."
She gasped again, examining her surroundings as she glanced up at a visibly worried Huey.
"Jazmine!" Huey was still shaking her back and forth. "What happened? You zoned out for a minute."
Jazmine shook her head, frowning. "It's something new. Visions of the past, I think."
"Well." He stared at her, smirking as if he had a secret of his own. "Did you see anything useful?"
"I saw my biological dad in those caves." She nodded, pointing at one of the photos he'd pulled up. "There was some man there with him. He had red eyes, and he was asking him where I was. His name was Thaddeus."
Huey didn't seem startled at all. He just kept asking questions. "Anything else?"
"He looked….soulless….evil." Jazmine sighed. "My dad…my…. biological dad wouldn't tell him anything. Said he'd rather die than tell him where I was."
Huey kept typing, nodding to himself. "And you still want to go through with this? Even if it means seeing and hearing things you're not ready for? Maybe even having to defend yourself if it comes down to it?"
"I am." Jazmine sucked in a shaky breath. "I can't let Thaddeus get away with what he did. Once we figure out what happened, we can find the chosen one. Then, they can defeat Thaddeus once and for all. Before he does this to another group of kids down the line."
Huey just stared at her.
"I don't think that's realistic, but okay." Huey shrugged. "And after that?"
"After that, we can go our separate ways and move on." Jazmine stared at the photo of the cave, thinking to herself. "I can still get date Vince if we move fast enough, get him to trust me again and make him my boyfriend by the end of the summer."
"Well, okay then." He nodded, lifting to his feet. "Let's get started."
"With what?" Her eyes widened. "Where do we even start?"
"We start with sneaking out tonight." He smirked when she jolted backwards, like he knew the effect his voice had on her. "And feel free to drop the innocent act any time. I've watched you sneak out for years, now. You'll be just fine."
"You've been watching me?" Jazmine smirked, leaning on her bedpost. "Did you at least enjoy the show?"
"Whatever." Huey rolled his eyes and playfully brushed past her, moving towards the window near her bed. "Just be ready to roll tonight." He said. "I can hack into Tom's files real quick, so you can get some peace of mind about your parents. If anything seems off, we can go from there."
She got lost in his eyes for a second too long, so he cleared his throat, effectively breaking the spell. It had only been ten seconds, and she was already crushing on him again. Staring at Huey made her feel like Vince didn't even matter.
Even though he absolutely did matter. And he was absolutely the one that she wanted.
Right?
No matter how fine Huey had gotten over the years, no matter how easy this conversation felt, no matter if this was the first time in for years they hadn't snapped at each other, this was business.
And after this, everything would go back to the way it was before.
Jazmine managed to smile as casually as possible, watching as he lifted her window. "Thanks, Huey."
"I should be the one thanking you." He admitted. "This case has been extra difficult. I'm honestly curious what happened to them myself." He looked out into the distance for a moment, sighing again. "It makes sense that some supernatural shit is involved. Especially when you get into the details."
She raised a brow at that, her eyes widening again.
"I'll fill you in on the way." He jingled his keys. "I'll drive." He stared down at her hands. "No telling what other powers will surface while we're out on the road. I'd rather not find out while you're behind the wheel, if possible. No offense."
"None taken." Jazmine nodded, a faint smile on her lips. "I appreciate you for not treating me like a weirdo...and for offering to help me with all this. It's really sweet of you, Huey. Seriously."
He laughed.
"Oh, you're still a weirdo." He smirked, leaping out her window just in time for her parents to unfreeze and start shouting again. "I just don't treat you any differently. There's a very clear distinction."
"Whatever!" Jazmine hissed, leaning on her windowpane to stare at him. "See you tonight?"
"See you tonight." He waved, smirking. "10:00 PM sharp, right?"
"Right." Jazmine nodded. "I'll be there."
For some reason, she couldn't wait.
Thanks for reading!