Blood Relatives

35. By The Pricking Of My Thumbs

"How do we know if it works?" Zev asked.

"Test it out on Zev." Conner mumbled.

"Wouldn't work." Carmine told him. Even though she'd never really do that to him, she still managed to sound a little disappointed.

"Are you sure?" Zev asked her.

"Well, you are a little evil." she said, giving him a half smile. "But that's more of a personality thing than a werewolf thing."

Zev laughed. "Thanks, I guess."

"We probably should test it out though." Conner said after a minute. "I mean, shouldn't we know for sure?"

"Probably." Zev told him. "You first."

"Yeah, right – I don't have to listen to you."

"It probably won't even hurt."

"Then you do it."

The boys stared at each other for what felt like several minutes. Finally, Zev spoke.

"On three?" he asked.

Conner nodded.

Zev counted down, and Conner closed his eyes. When Zev reached three, they both put their fingers into the water. Surprised, Conner opened his eyes.

"Feels like water." he announced.

"Maybe you didn't bless it right." Zev told him, pulling his hand away and wiping it on his jeans.

"I did it exactly like Carmine told me!" he said.

"I told you guys – it won't work on you." Carmine said again. Didn't anybody listen to her?

"Then how do we know we did it right?" Conner asked cautiously. Like Carmine, he already knew the answer. Carmine sighed.

"You don't have to." Zev told her.

"We have to know." Carmine told him. It was their only real weapon; she couldn't let her friends go off with nothing but plain water.

Carmine walked up casually to the pot. She tried her best not to think about what the stuff had done to Jacqueline freshman year. She tried to forget the screams, and the way her face looked. This wasn't the same, Carmine told herself. She was just going to put the tip of her finger in it for just a second, not take a shower in it. Still, she was breathing hard.

Nervously, she reached out to touch the surface of the water. The reaction was almost instant. She felt a white-hot pain sear through her finger; it almost felt like she'd cut it off. Carmine screamed, jerking her hand away. Tears started to rush to her eyes.

"Are you ok?" Conner asked, rushing over to her. He wrapped her up in a hug, and Carmine didn't even care that Zev was going to tell everyone they were dating for sure now.

"Let me see." Zev told her, already at her side. Slowly, Carmine opened her hand. Zev took it carefully and turned it to get a better look. Her whole finger looked burned; it was bright red and she could already see where blisters were forming.

"Is everything alright?"

"What happened?"

Carmine looked past Conner's shoulder to the kitchen doorway. Her mom and sister were standing there looking worried.

"We heard you scream." Claire said.

"Accident with the stove. It's ok." Zev said automatically. He took a casual step forward, blocking her mom's view.