Requiem by Jamie McGuire Page A

Jared
looked away again with a sigh, knowing what would happen next.
    He closed his eyes, and with one last effort
he begged. “Don’t….”
    My knuckles turned white as I gripped the
edge of my seat, preparing myself for what he would say. Jared had
told me more unbelievable truths in the last two years than even I
could believe, and I had seen most of it with my own eyes.
Regardless, Kim had been keeping something from me—something Jared
knew, and I didn't—I had to ask.
    “ Jared?” He stiffened the
second I uttered his name. Although knowing the truth had never
been comforting before, I couldn’t stop myself. “What do you know
about Kim?”

Chapter Six
    Witch
     
    “ That’s not actually his
secret to tell,” Kim said, strolling into the waiting
room.
    It took me a moment to process that she was
really there, and that I hadn’t conjured her from my wild
imagination.
    Kim paused for a moment to acknowledge
Jared. When he nodded in her direction, she took a seat next to me.
She was in a white t-shirt and jeans, sporting black and white
checkered Vans, and smelled of cigarettes. Her big, brown eyes
didn’t falter. She didn’t seem nervous or out of place at all.
    “ What on earth are you
doing here, Kim?” I asked.
    She shrugged. “I could ask you the same
question.”
    “ So go ahead. You seem to
know all the right questions to ask, anyway,” I said,
defiant.
    “ Kim’s just here to help,”
Jared said.
    “ Help how? How did she
know?” I looked at Kim, then. “How did you know to
come?”
    “ How
did you know?” she asked. She was purposefully goading me, and I
wanted to reach out, lace my fingers around her long neck and shake
her with the tightest grip I could muster.
    “ You’re not funny,” I
snapped.
    Kim grinned, clearly enjoying the fact that
she had me in such a tizzy. “No, but you are.”
    I stood up, crossing my arms. If she
wouldn’t cooperate, I would corner Jared. I pointed at Kim. “How
did she know Ryan was hurt, Jared? How did she get here?”
    “ Plane,” Kim answered
flatly.
    “ Shut up!” I
growled.
    The corners of Jared’s mouth turned up
slightly, but when he felt my temper rising, he straightened his
expression. “Kim is helping us. Finally,” he said, shooting an
annoyed glance in her direction.
    “ Bite me,” Kim said without
emotion, chewing her thumb nail.
    His jaws flitted under his skin. “She has
been keeping an eye on our situation…what?” he said, frowning.
    I stared at him. “I’m just waiting for you
to make sense.”
    Jared returned my expression, and Kim
laughed once. “Welcome to my world. He’s one big riddle book, isn’t
he? He just does it to make himself feel important. He wants you to
drag it out of him.”
    Claire walked in, and stopped in her tracks.
“What is the witch doing here?” she said with venom in her
voice.
    Kim smiled slightly, but her eyes were
devoid of emotion. “Blessed Be. Heard about what happened. Good
job, G.I. Barbie.”
    “ Move aside, Nina,” Claire
said in a frightening, low tone. I was too afraid to move, seeing
that she was poised to pounce.
    Tension in the room had soared to a new
level. The waiting room we occupied was in a wing separate from the
main hall, so it would be very easy for Claire to let some of her
pent up aggression go in Kim’s general direction. Kim didn’t seem
phased in the slightest.
    Jared stood. “Enough.”
    Claire glanced at her
brother. “Does she have to be here?”
    The longer they spoke as if I knew what was
going on, the angrier I became. “What in the hell is going on?” I
yelled.
    “ Sssh!” Claire
hissed.
    “ Are you human?” I asked
Kim.
    Kim paused in thought. “Some days it doesn’t
feel like it, but yes.”
    Jared sat, pulling me to the sofa with him.
Claire sat in the seat next to us, fidgeting with her hijab. Kim
looked at her watch, and then settled into her chair. Suddenly the
air felt very easy, the opposite of just a few moments before, but
it