Free Witch & Wizard 04 - The Kiss by James Patterson

appreciation whatsoever of the arts. The One took power because of people like Matthias Bloom.”
    Whit rakes his hands through his hair in frustration. “And he’s got The Book of Truths , so people are listening to him. What are we supposed to do?”
    “The solution is simple,” Mrs. Highsmith crows. “Do what The One did.”
    “What?” I say. “Scare them into submission? That’s exactly what Bloom’s doing.”
    “I don’t mean scare them, dearie. I mean charm them.”
    I look from Mrs. H. to my parents to Whit, nodding. She’s right. The One was a dictator, but it was the people who raised him up.
    “But we don’t want power,” I say. “Ruling is pretty much the worst thing ever.”
    “Worse than school?” Dad asks, and he laughs when I nod. It wasn’t so long ago that I was just a girl doing whatever she could to cut class, and I guess some things never change.
    “So don’t seek power,” Mom says. “But if you want to help the City, find a way to make the people listen. Find a way to win them back.”
    “You already have the three of us,” my dad says, putting his arms around me and Whit.
    “And we count for more .” Mrs. Highsmith winks.
    “We love you guys,” I say, grateful for the millionth time that we’d been able to bring them back from Shadowland. “But we should go. I have to get ready to go out.”
    Whit gapes at me. “I can’t believe you’re going to the party when everything around us is falling apart.”
    “Like you played in a foolball game the day after the kidnappings?” I counter. “We all need ways to let loose, and we can’t fix it all tonight.”
    “I heartily agree with Wisteria,” Mrs. Highsmith chimes in. “Now, what about this Heath chappie, dear?” she asks pointedly, as if she can see exactly how my heart pounds inside my chest at the mention of his name. “You haven’t said a single word about him. Why is that?”
    “I…” I flush tomato red and chew my lip to shreds, but I still can’t give her a straight answer. I don’t think I know myself.

Chapter 20
    Wisty
    THIS SHOULDN’T BE that awkward, right? Just a simple party. It’s just friends. And friends of friends. Everyone knows everyone here….
    But no one knows Heath, so they’re all staring.
    “Let’s, um, go over to the corner so we can talk.”
    But we don’t talk, because now that I’ve finally admitted to myself that I might really like him, I don’t know where to start.
    “Nice shoes,” he says, nodding at my shiny silver pumps.
    “Thanks.” I smile. But they shredded my heels so much on the way here I have to take them off. Heath watches me slip them off, amused, but holds back any obnoxious commentary. “Nice club, right?” I say, and he nods.
    We look at the DJ booth and at the red disco ball. We stare for long minutes at the floor tiles or the gum stuck to the walls… just not at each other.
    Awk. Ward.
    I’m about to call it quits and just head home, but then Heath looks at me with that familiar spark, that electricity that I’ve been missing all night.
    “Look,” he says. “We’re making this too hard. Let’s just dance.”
    Earlier today, I thought I was going to play a little more hard to get. But right now, I know that dancing is what I need.
    I start swaying back and forth, bouncing to the beat, loosening up with the occasional hip shake. The same rhythmic movements over and over, just like what everyone else is doing.
    But Heath’s doing a lot more than the rest of us. Like his Demon tearing apart the foolball field, it seems like everything he does has to be a thousand times more… electric. Powerful. Maybe even… perfect.
    While other people bob like lapping waves, he’s liquid motion. His whole body seems to writhe, but he doesn’t look stupid. He looks incredible. He merges styles, swaying to the lulls and shaking to the pickups. It’s like he anticipates the musical shifts before they happen, and his body responds instantly.
    I’m kind of