Reaper by Emily Goodwin Read Free Book Online Page A

passenger door of the Camaro for me before he got in. I fiddled with his iPod all the way to the bookstore, growing more nervous the closer we got.
    Hand in hand, we walked in. I paused in the doorway.
    “What if they don’t like me?” I whispered to Ethan. He laughed before he saw the worry in my eyes.
    “Annie, I don’t think anyone could not like you,” he promised. “And if they don’t, then, oh well.” He shrugged. “It won’t be the end of the world.”
    “It might be!”
    “Stop,” he told me. “Just go. You’re gonna make yourself even more nervous thinking about it. You’ll be fine.”
    I let out a breath. “I know. Come with me?”
    He shook his head. “I won’t fit in. Go, have fun. I’ll be over there, ok?” he said and pointed to the café. I nodded and walked forward, spotting Sage standing in front of a table, with her back turned to the semi-circle of chairs she had set up. I watched her speak in a hushed voice to the woman next to her. Both were wearing long, flowy dresses and gemstone necklaces; they confirmed my suspicions of stereotypically dressed Wiccans. I smiled when Sage caught my eye; she returned it and motioned for me to sit. I took a seat at the end of the half-circle and looked around as I waited. More 'witches’ started to slowly filter in, some dressed like   Sage and her friend, but most were wearing normal, everyday clothes. Ten minutes slowly passed before the two women turned around.
    “Hello everyone and welcome. I’m Sage and this is Rayne.” She pointed to her partner. “I see many familiar faces and a few new ones. Let’s start by introducing ourselves. You can use your Coven name, if you’d like. Why don’t we share who we are and a bit about ourselves?” Her voice was smooth and relaxing. I liked listening to her talk.
    I mentally went over and over what I was going to say but was still anxious when it came my turn to talk. “Hi, I’m Anora, and I just moved here from New York.” Damn, it sounded better in my head.
    “Welcome.” Sage smiled broadly. “How do you like it here?”
    “It’s definitely different, but I really like it here,” I answered honestly.
    “Wonderful.”
    After the introductions were finished, Sage and Rayne spoke about magical herbs and some sort of celebration for the Spring Equinox, which was coming up soon. My mind started to drift and I was getting bored when I noticed a group of three of the coven members starting at me and whispering. They saw me looking and diverted their eyes right away. My cheeks turned red. What could they be saying? Even as I stared intently on Sage, I could see them out of the corner of my eye. Now one was pointing! I couldn’t resist; I looked back at them.
    Two girls sat on either side of a tall, sort of chubby sandy blonde young man. One of the girls had sort, medium brown hair and a half a dozen piercings in each ear. The other was incredibly pale and had bright red hair. She caught my gaze and smiled.
    Sage and Rayne finished their little presentation and said it was now time for us to mingle. Crap. I hate awkward situations like this. Almost everyone seemed to know each other. Just when I was standing to leave, the brunette with the piercings wandered over.
    “Anora, right?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Hi, I’m René. And these are my friends, Jane and Keith.” She waved at the two she was sitting with. “Do you want to sit with us?” She smiled hopefully.
    “Sure.” I followed her back to her friends. “Hi,” I said quietly.
    “Hey. I’m Keith.” He smiled. He was impeccably well dressed and put together.
    “And I’m Jane,” the redhead said.
    “Anora,” I introduced.
    “Hey,” Keith said suddenly. “Want to sit in the café and get away from these hippy wannabes?”
    The girls nodded enthusiastically. They looked at me.
    “I was thinking the same thing,” I confessed.
    “So,” René began once we were sitting around a round, tall table. “You’re new.”
    “Yeah,” I