The Darkness Within Read Online Free Page A

tomorrow, Mr. R.” Shannon draped her arm over my shoulder and practically shoved me down the hall. As soon as we got to the stairwell, she turned to me with a big grin on her face. “So, how was the meeting with Lover Boy?”
    “The message wasn’t from Ethan. It was from Dylan. He used a spell to make it look like it was from Ethan.”
    “Oh, he can go and mess with your head like that, but he gets all over my case for—”
    “Shannon, focus please.”
    “Right. Sorry. Go on.”
    We exited the stairwell and paused. Our classes were in opposite directions. I lowered my voice. “Dylan thinks something’s up with Ethan.”
    “Well, yeah. The guy can’t get a hold on his magic.” She shrugged. “He just needs more practice. Dylan is such a worrier. Don’t let him get to you.”
    Maybe she was right. Maybe that was why Ethan was acting so strange. He was just having trouble adjusting to the magic inside him. “There’s more.” I swallowed hard. “I think Dylan may have feelings for me.”
    Shannon’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “What?” She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the bathroom. I was spending a lot of my morning in bathrooms. “What did he do? What did he say? Tell me everything.”
    “It’s not a big deal. We were talking about Ethan, and Dylan reached for my hand. I think he’s worried about me, too. Like he thinks whatever is going on with Ethan is going to hurt me.”
    “Whoa. I haven’t seen him show interest in anyone in a long time. And considering,” she paused and lowered her voice, “what you did to Ben, I’m surprised he’d feel that way about you.”
    “You and me both.” I lowered my head, staring at my sneakers. “He should hate me.” Killing his brother gave him every right to.
    “Sam, it wasn’t totally your fault. Nora made you into a monster.”
    I put my hand up to stop her. “Don’t. I don’t want to talk about it. We should get to class.”
    “What about Dylan? How are you going to handle him?”
    “I’m not. I’m with Ethan. He knows that. Whatever he’s feeling for me, it’ll pass.” I hoped.
    I left Shannon to check her makeup. Ethan was already in sculpture and talking to Beth. I was afraid she’d told him about the bathroom incident, but Ethan smiled the second he saw me. He wasn’t upset, which meant Beth hadn’t said a word. Yet.
    “How was English?” Ethan kissed the side of my head and moved closer to me at the table.
    “Fine.”
    Beth stared at me, waiting for me to say something. Like I’d talkto Ethan about Dylan while she was listening in. I twisted in my seat so my profile was to her and I was completely focusing on Ethan.
    “Want to spin some clay together?” Ethan wagged his eyebrows. I would’ve laughed, but the truth was, having our hands intertwined while shaping the clay was beyond romantic.
    “Definitely.”
    Ms. Matthews turned on some music. It was her new thing. She said we should let the music wash over us and allow us to be more creative. She was seriously the coolest teacher here—next to Mr. Ryan. Ethan and I left Beth sitting alone at the table and walked over to the clay station.
    “Joint project?” Ms. Matthews asked, raising a brow. “Trying to see what your chemistry will come up with?”
    Ethan smiled. “That’s what the music is telling us to do.” Ms. Matthews ate up anything Ethan said. He had a way of making every teacher in the building fall in love with him, though it was definitely easier for him to work the magic of his baby blues on the female teachers.
    “Well then, I can’t wait to see what you come up with.” She smiled and walked over to a group by the kiln.
    I bumped Ethan’s shoulder with mine. “You do realize you flirt with every female teacher here.”
    “Only when it gets me more time with you.” He wrapped one arm around my waist, hooking his thumb through my belt loop. If we hadn’t been in a classroom, I would’ve lost it right there. The boy could seriously