Revealers by Amanda Marrone

and how fooling around with you could mess that up and stuff.”
    The snake’s eyes pulse. “Well, that’s nothing to get all freaked out about—we’ve been fed that line forever, right?”
    Connor doesn’t say anything, and we sit in silence. The candle in the center pumpkin starts to sputter and burns out. I watch a thin trail of smoke leak out of the heart. I point my hand toward the hole. “Relight. ” A new wick appears and bursts into a tall flame that licks the top of the pumpkin. I smell the burning flesh and whisper, “Lower.” The flame settles down to a tiny flicker and I look up at Connor. “Did she say anything else?”
    “She was just really freaked out that you aren’t taking things as seriously as you should,” he finally says, “and she said dating would only make things worse.”
    “Why did she single me out? What about Dani? What about Sascha? It’s not like they’re all gung-ho like Margo and Z.”
    “I wasn’t fooling around with Dani or Sascha, I was with you. Look, bottom line is my mom takes this way seriously.”
    “Ha, tell me about it!”
    “And, in a way, she’s right.”
    “What?” I sit up, eyebrows raised.
    “It’s just that people need you, and what you do. Just think of what the world would be like if you weren’t—”
    “What? Slicing and dicing nightmares? God, you sound like a greeting card—or one of our mothers!”
    “Come on, Jules, don’t you feel a little bit, you know, proud of what you do?”
    “I don’t know—maybe. But I’m beginning to wonder if your mother cast a spell to brainwash you into buying into the coven crap.”
    Connor pulls me close and buries his face into my neck leaving a trail of kisses until he reaches my mouth. He lingers there, and I kiss him back until he pulls away. “Would I be doing this if I was buying into it all?” he whispers.
    “No.” I smile and kiss him again. “But where does this leave us—sneaking around?” I stand up and walk to the pumpkins. I want him to tell me he got scared, but now he’s ready to fight—but I know that’s not how this is going down. He wouldn’t have brought the ring if he were ready to battle. This ring is to placate me for the time being.
    “Just for a little while. Until everything settles down— until my mom cools off. Don’t you think it’s better than the alternative?”
    “I guess,” I lie, wanting him to stand up to his mother for me. I wave my hand in front of the pumpkins. “Out,” I say, and the candles extinguish at the same time. I turn toward the table and point to the small candle on the table. “You, too.” A small puff of air blows by, snuffing out the candle. I stand there in the dark, my back to Connor, breathing in the smoke. What do I do?
    Concede things aren’t easy to change? Now isn’t the right time to change the way the coven’s been doing things the last couple of hundred years?
    But if we continue—what’s to keep his mom, or my mom for that matter, from finding out?
    I’m sure Helena’s put my mom on alert.
    “Are you willing to risk pissing off your mom to be with me?” I hold my right hand out and wait.
    “We just need to be smart about this, plan things out. Like tonight she’ll be too wrapped up in Margo’s initiation to worry about me. And as long as you’re pretending to be the coven’s number one hunter, she won’t be worrying about you, either.”
    “What if I don’t want to pretend? What if I want us to be together where everyone will see us?”
    Connor comes up behind me, brushes my hair aside, and kisses the nape of my neck. He presses his hips into me, and my heart quickens. “It’s just for a little while, Jules, and after your birthday you’ll have more say about how things are run.” He wraps his arms around me, pulling me close, and then slides one hand under my shirt. His cool hand runs across my stomach, and then skims down just under my waistband, making my knees weak. “I promise we will find a way