Cold Kiss

drag him out to the driveway and into the car.
    Dead weight, the voice in my head supplies, accusing, and I bite my lip hard enough to draw fresh tears so it will go away.
    By the time Danny is flopped in the backseat, unseeing and motionless, we’re both panting, but Rosalie stops me before I climb into the front passenger seat. Olivia’s already inside, staring straight ahead, hands gripping the wheel.
    “Full moon is Monday night,” Rosalie says. Her ruddy cheeks are redder now, and sweat is gleaming on her forehead even in the chilly afternoon air. “I wouldn’t wait, kid.”
    As if. Even I’m not balking anymore. “But how…?”
    “Whatever you did, twist it.” She shrugs, and the wind tosses her hair back. “Do it backward. Think about the spell you created and what you want this spell to do. Think about … giving him some peace. Just … choose your words wisely.”
    The fingertips of my clenched right hand push into the scar on my palm, and I nod. “Thank you.”
    “Hey, it’s nothing, really.” When she shrugs this time, it’s a little helpless-looking. “And good luck.”
    There’s no doubt I’m going to need it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

    “I’M SORRY ROSALIE COULDN’T HELP.”
    Olivia’s tone is wistful by the time we’re back at the apartment, which surprises me. She didn’t have to help me. She could have run screaming the other way, and instead she’s sorry. She’s as delicately made as Gabriel, and she looks a lot like a light breeze would knock her over, but there’s steel in her bones.
    Just like her brother.
    “I know there was probably a sweet boy in there once,” she says, shrugging sadly, “but he’s angry, Wren. He’s angry and confused, and he’s dead . And what’s worse, now he seems to know it.”
    I don’t know what I’m supposed to say except “I’m sorry,” and I’m pretty sure that’s getting old for everyone involved.
    “What exactly did Rosalie say?” Gabriel asks.
    “That there’s a full moon Monday night.” Olivia shrugs and glances at the closed door to Gabriel’s bedroom. “Do you think you can be ready by then?”
    “I don’t have a choice.”
    “I wish I could do something more to help,” she tells me before taking a sighing breath and relaxing. “But for now I’m going to treat myself to a very stiff drink. Or four. And say a prayer of thanks that I wasn’t the one who got the woo-woo powers in my family.”
    When she disappears into the kitchen, Gabriel comes to sit beside me on the sofa. “You want to tell me exactly what happened?”
    “Not really.” I shrug when he glares at me. “I’m tired of talking. I’m tired of thinking, and crying, and worrying, and breathing, if you want the truth. But I meant what I said. On Monday this is all going to be over.”
    “Are you sure?” He sits forward, elbows on his knees, his brow furrowed, and I wish he wasn’t so stupidly beautiful that even in concern he’s gorgeous to look at.
    It doesn’t mean his worrying doesn’t get annoying, though. “Gabriel.”
    “I’m serious,” he protests, gray eyes wide and honest. “What if the spell doesn’t work? What if you can’t come up with a spell at all? What if he—”
    “Gabriel.” Danny never made me as furious as Gabriel sometimes can. “Give me some credit, okay? I mean, I know it was awful and I shouldn’t have done it, but I did figure out how to bring him back in the first place. Just stop, okay? I will take care of this.”
    “I know that. But this is different.”
    “How?”
    “This time you have to get Danny to the graveyard, and he isn’t exactly Mr. Cooperative when he’s awake, if you haven’t noticed. What do you think he’s going to do when you start chanting some spell? Just sit back and wait to die? Again?”
    Damn it. I haven’t thought that far ahead, but then I haven’t really thought much further than the next ten minutes for days. I glance up as Olivia leaves the kitchen and goes into her room, shutting the door firmly behind her.
    “Look, I’ll figure it out,” I snap, pushing up off the sofa. “It’s not your problem anyway.”
    “Wren, I just want to—”
    “Help. I know, I’ve heard.” He flinches, and it’s meaner than I meant to be, but I don’t want to make him any more a part of this than he already is. There are some things you don’t want anyone to see. And I’m beginning to feel like my whole life is one of them.
    “Why do you care so much?” I ask, even though