~ Jeff ~

            Frustration drove me to Gran's library.  The intrusion of three new people into the house put my plans of going up to the attic to start working on my potions.  I needed to find a good mix so that I could get the kids at the school to loosen their tongues just a bit.  Not enough for them to notice, but enough for me to get a good idea of what they're doing and how.  I can't stop what I can't figure out.  I needed them to trust me.

            Gran always had a fire going in the library during the winter.  She never lets it go out.  They do occasionally get some rough storms up here that knocks the power out and having it premade helps keep at least one room in the house warm until the power comes back on.  I needed the feel the heat of the fire after being cold all day. 

            Seems I wasn't the only one with that idea either.  Jeff sat camped out in front of the hearth reading a book.  He looked very absorbed in whatever book he'd found. 

            "What are you doing in here?" I demanded, my voice sharper than I'd intended, but I needed some alone time to figure a couple things out. 

            "Reading."

            He never looked up from his book, which caused my frown to turn into an outright scowl. 

            "Go read somewhere else," I told him.

            "I'm cold."  He finally looked up at me and again I was struck by how blue those eyes of his were.  They weren't sky blue, but more of a cerulean blue.  "This is the first time I've begun to feel warm since we got here, so no offense, but I am not leaving."

            That I could understand.  I hated being cold.  I plopped down on one of the overstuffed cushy chairs Gran has in front of the fireplace.  "Not used to the cold?"

            "No, it never gets this cold in North Carolina."  He went back to his book and I stared into the fire.  It was warmer in here than normal, I realize.  Maybe his Element was Fire?  Not that I was gonna ask him, mind you.  I didn't want to start small talk I had no interest in finishing.

            I bet his Element was Fire though.  There were five Elements in witchcraft:  Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit.  Spirit binds the first four together.  Myself, I played a little with them all.  Dad told me once it was very unusual to be able to communicate with all of them, but that just means I get more mojo out of my spelling.  My Element was Earth.  I'm grounded just like the Earth.  I change, but essentially stay the same.  With me, you get what you see. I didn't try to play games or make pretenses out of who I am. 

            Well, normally at least.  I refused to count my current Stepfordville role.

            "What are you working on?"

            I blinked and looked at Jeff.  He was still reading.  I'd hoped he wasn't one of those people who needed to talk when in a room with another person.  There went that hope.

            "Stuff."  I told him and hoped he'd take the hint to shut up.

            He shrugged.   "Sometimes it helps to figure 'stuff' out if you talk about it.  I might actually be able to help with whatever spell you're working on."

            "How do you know I'm working on a spell?"

            He shut his book and turned to look at me.  "That is your Book of Shadows you are trying to shred with your fingers?"

            I looked down at my poor book and sure enough, my fingers were twisting the soft leather raggedly.  I ran soothing fingers over the soft leather.  Poor thing had seen a lot of twisting the last six months.  The old girl always held up though.

            "It's a potion," I finally told him.  "I'm working on something I can take to make people tell me the truth.  I can't use a truth spell because they'd figure it out.  That kind of magic leaves traces, but if I use a potion on myself, there's very little to trace back."

            "I'm pretty good with that kind of stuff.  If you don't mind showing me, I can try to help."

            "Why would you want to?" I asked him bluntly.  He didn't know me, so why offer to help me?

            He sighed and I could hear all the frustration I was feeling in that sigh.  "Look, I need something to take my mind off of everything that's going on right now.  I shouldn't have come here, but I let CJ talk me into it and now I just need to find some way to survive the next few days."

            "She said you'd been shot?"  I remembered her saying it was her fault too.

            "Yeah, that's why she wouldn't let me stay home by myself.  I'm still recovering.  I just got out of the clinic last week and then my parents had to go out of town on business and well, I ended up here."

            "How'd you get shot?"

            He blew a brown lock of hair out of his eyes.  "It's a long story."

            "I'm not going anywhere."  Wow.  This had to be by far the longest conversation I'd had in months with anyone.  There was something about Jeff that just made a person want to talk to him.  I didn't like it.

            "It all starts with the girl upstairs," he said. 

            "It's always about a girl," I laughed. 

            He smiled, really smiled, and I could see why cute didn't do him justice.  His smile radiated warmth out of his face and it made a person want to smile all day. 

            "In this case, it started with two girls really.  CJ and Kay.  They were best friends, well are still best friends I guess.  I'm not sure CJ can forgive her for trying to kill her, though."

            "What?" I squawked.  Her best friend tried to kill her? I'd be peeved too.

            "Let me start at the beginning. Our Coven's ancestors originally came from Salem Massachusetts.  We had a Coven there in the day, but members of it turned against each other and then sacrificed other members to save themselves.  Our ancestors pretty much put a curse on them, the curse of the thirteenth daughter.  When she was born, she'd be the vessel for their revenge.  So they packed up what they had left and moved to North Carolina where they founded New Salem."

            "Oh, I've heard of that place," I murmured.  "It's a town full of nothing but witches.  The whole town makes up the Coven, right?"

            Jeff nodded and continued.  "Right. The whole purpose of the town was to get revenge on the people who betrayed them in Salem.  They planned and they waited and they schemed.  There was a slight problem though.   CJ and Kay were born on the same day.  Same minute of the same hour really, so they couldn't really say which one of them was the thirteenth daughter.  They had to wait until the day of the ritual to be certain."

            "I knew what was going on.  You see in order for the curse to work, CJ had to die.  I couldn't tell her.  I made a biding oath and it wouldn't let me tell her." 

            I heard the agony in his voice.  This guy really had it bad for the girl upstairs, but she seemed to be into the mountain of yumminess instead.  I felt bad for him.

            "So I pretended to go along with them and made plans on an escape route.  The night of CJ's birthday, the night of the ritual, I tried to help her.  I got shot trying to protect her from them."

            "You took a bullet for her?"  Dude really had it bad.

            "Yeah, not that it matters," he said bitterly.  "All she sees is Ethan."  He spat the name out like it tasted of liver or something just as gross. 

            "If you like her that much, then why aren't you fighting for her?" I asked him.  

            "Oh, I am," he said.  "I wouldn't be here otherwise.  I haven't given up hope yet."

            I took pity on the guy.  "Well, if all she can see is Ethan, let's give her a reason to look at something else."

            "What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

            I smiled wickedly.  "What makes a girl notice a guy more than anything else in the world?"

            He shrugged, but he looked curious.

            "Interest in another girl."

            "But I'm not interested in another girl."

            Oye, but he was dense.  "Yes, you are.  You are going to be interested in me."

            His eyes widened and then we began to scheme.