Shadows by Amy Meredith

‘But, yeah, I know Belinda. We’ve hung out a few times.’
    Jess smirked at him. ‘You did a little hanging out with Megan too, didn’t you?’
    Luke opened his mouth to answer, but Eve couldn’t take it any more.
    ‘What are you two talking about?’ she burst out. ‘I just told you I dissolved somebody by shooting lightning out of my fingers! Who cares about Luke’s busy love life?’
    They both looked at her in surprise. And then Jesspatted her hand like she was a toddler having a tantrum or something.
    ‘Calm down, Eve. Just listen.’ She glanced up at Luke. ‘This is what I wanted to tell you – Belinda also talked about smoke. Demons turning into smoke!’
    Eve felt panic rising in her gut. ‘So what? You think I’m a demon that turns people into smoke?’
    ‘No, Belinda said the demons turn into smoke ,’ Jess said.
    ‘That’s bizarre,’ Luke put in. ‘Because a couple of days ago, this woman came by the rectory looking for my dad. She was practically hysterical. And she was talking about a demon trying to take her soul. I’m pretty sure she said something about smoke too.’
    ‘Am I a demon?’ Eve cried. ‘You guys are freaking me out!’
    ‘No one is saying you’re a demon,’ Luke told her. ‘But listen: I was doing some research online, and I found out that Deepdene used to be called Demon dene. The name changed about a hundred years ago.’
    ‘Our town was named after demons?’ Jess exclaimed.
    ‘I don’t know,’ Luke answered. ‘I just think it’s interesting that in a place that used to be called Demondene, people are freaking out about demons.’
    ‘Why were you researching the history of Deepdene?’ Eve asked.
    ‘I wasn’t, exactly,’ Luke said. ‘I was trying to find out more about your powers. I said I was going to help, remember?’
    ‘I certainly don’t remember that,’ Jess cut in. ‘Did I miss something?’
    ‘Yeah, I never got to tell you,’ Eve said. ‘Luke kinda saw me—’
    ‘She shot sparks at me because I got her mad,’ Luke interrupted with a grin. ‘And then she set a piece of paper on fire. Plus, she was drinking water in the school library.’
    Eve rolled her eyes.
    ‘You made her mad?’ Jess sounded outraged. ‘What did you do?’
    ‘Nothing,’ Luke said. ‘I teased her about how she always needs to look perfect.’
    He thinks I’m pretty , Eve suddenly remembered. That day in the library he’d said something about her being able to do more than look pretty.
    ‘Girls don’t like to be teased,’ Jess scolded. ‘How can you be such a player and not know a basic thing like that?’
    ‘I do now,’ Luke said.
    ‘Yeah, only because I sparked you,’ Eve grumbled. ‘Can we get back to the part where I’m a killer? Because you guys don’t seem too upset about it.’
    ‘That’s what I’m trying to tell you,’ Luke said. ‘I said I’d help you figure out your powers, so I looked online for anything about sparks coming from someone’s fingers or people being able to start fires. I got a ton of hits. One of them was about Deepdene. Demondene, actually. There are legends about a witch, the Demondene Witch, who could produce fire from her fingertips.’
    ‘I’m a witch now?’ Eve exclaimed.
    ‘They would have called anybody with supernatural powers a witch back then,’ Luke reassured her.
    ‘You’re definitely not a witch,’ Jess said firmly. ‘Although your hair is looking a little Halloweeny.’ She gently loosened Eve’s hair from the impromptu bun, and smoothed it out with her fingers. She pulled a little bottle of leave-in conditioner out of her bag and began working a few drops of it into Eve’s still-somewhat-frizzy curls.
    ‘What else did it say about this so-called witch?’ Eve asked.
    ‘Not much more than that,’ Luke told her. ‘It was just a little bit of an article about local legends. But I foundout there’s a whole book on the Demondene W—uh, non-witch woman with powers.’
    ‘We need that