Duplicity (Spellbound #2)

by Nikki Jefford

“Max, you shouldn’t have,” Shay said as Max handed her the massive arrangement Tuesday morning.

  Lee grinned from ear to ear. “Well done, Max.”

  Shay balanced the flowers between her arm and body as she rummaged through her locker. “How am I going to fit these inside?”

  “Um, I think you’re supposed to carry them around,” Lee said, fighting back a laugh.

  Shay stopped rummaging. “All day?”

  “Yep.”

  “Max!” Shay said, swinging toward him.

  He grinned and shrugged. “What? It’s Valentine’s Day.”

  “Pain in the rear is what it is,” Shay grumbled, but her cheeks had turned a rosy hue. “Want to hold onto them for me till the end of the day?” Shay asked Lee.

  “Not a chance,” Lee said. “Those are your flowers.”

  Max clucked his tongue. “Anyway, Lee’s going to need her hands free for whatever gifts Raj plans to shower on her.”

  Lee blushed. They were already going out to dinner. She didn’t expect Raj to shower her with presents. “I don’t need flowers,” she said.

  “Remember last Valentine’s?” Shay asked Max. “I’ll never forget Raj coming over all secretive wanting to commission a luck amulet for some girl he was sweet on. I admit, it took me three tries, but eventually I guessed right.”

  “As I recall, you weren’t entirely impressed by his choice.” Lee folded her arms over her chest.

  “Not initially,” Shay admitted. “But then I got to know you.”

  It wasn’t till after Lee assumed control of Stacey Morehouse’s body that she had an opportunity to bond with Shay Baxter and Max Curry. Somewhere along the way, they’d gone from being Raj’s friends to her friends, too. Sometimes it saddened Lee to see her former best friend Thea walk by, oblivious to the fact that Graylee Perez wasn’t really dead, but no good could come from trying to explain things to a normal. Besides, Lee was happier than she’d ever been. There was something to be said for friends who knew exactly who she was. Best of all, she could discuss magic. Now that she and Shay were allies, they even worked on spells together.

  Shay glanced at her watch and frowned. “I hope Raj doesn’t plan on avoiding us all week.”

  “He’ll come around,” Lee said.

  “Well, he better hurry up.”

  Lee waved good-bye to Shay and Max. She hadn’t taken two steps down the hall when Raj appeared by her side. She was so happy to see him that she didn’t notice his hands were empty at first. Not like she cared. Not really.

  “Raj.” Lee smiled.

  He fell into step beside her. A grim frown marred his face.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “We need to talk.”

  The warning bell echoed through the halls. Lee swore she could hear it wail down the corridors at the other end of the school. “Meet you after class?” Lee asked.

  Raj studied her face a moment, then nodded. He walked her to the door of first period and turned around.

  Lee paused in front of the threshold and glanced back as Raj stalked away. She spun on her heel and followed him. Each open doorway she passed gave her a view into classrooms filled with students. The hallway was emptying fast. “Raj!”

  Raj looked over his shoulder and came to a stop. “What are you doing? You’re going to be late for class.”

  “Come on,” she said, nodding toward the double doors on their right.

  Raj followed her to the sidewalk. As they turned the corner leading to the student parking lot, the final bell rang. Lee made her way to Raj’s car and leaned against the door. “What’s going on?”

  “It could have waited till after class,” Raj said.

  Lee lifted a brow. “Really? It didn’t seem like it.”

  A car pulled into an empty spot three spaces over and Hart Hensley jumped out with an enormous bear balloon and several hearts floating after him as he ran into school. Raj followed his movements with a blank stare.

  “Okay, McKenna, what’s on your mind? You know I can’t read it.” Lee smiled at her own jest.

  When Raj trained the same grave look on her, she began to worry.

  “Lee… I’ve done something terrible.”

  “You went back to the magic shop and tried to take Adrian on without me.”

  Raj looked at her like she was nuts.

  “No? Then what?”

  “I kissed Gray.”

  The information passed through Lee like a damp chill. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I can see how that would happen.”

  “You can?” Raj’s mouth hung open.

  “I mean, yeah. She talks like me. She looks like me… technically speaking, she is me. I totally get the confusion.”

  Raj tilted his head. “You do?”

  “No, Raj!” Lee didn’t expect to scream. “We are completely separate entities. I’m not entirely convinced she’s an authentic copy of me. What I do know is who I am—Graylee Perez in Stacey Morehouse’s body. I was the one you helped when I was trapped inside Charlene’s body. I was the one who stole the council leaders’ pendants with you. I’m the one you’ve been going out with these past eight months. I’ve been here all along, Raj, not dormant in some netherworld waiting to be activated at the stroke of three.”

  Raj shoved his hands inside his pockets. “You’re right. What I did was a mistake. It was unfair to both you and Gray.”

  “Unfair to Gray!” This wasn’t happening and on Valentine’s Day. Tears begged for release, but the rage she felt blocked them. “Gray isn’t a person. She’s a copy. There can be only one me and I’m her. Right here. Me!”

  Drama in the school parking lot. Luckily, the students of McKinley High were in class, missing the show.

  “Gray’s a person.”

  Raj did not just say that. Lee stopped pacing abruptly. The arms she had waved through the air like wings now landed on her hips. “Exactly whose side are you on?”

  Raj pulled a hand out of his pocket and ran it through his hair. “I thought we were all on the same side.”

  “Yeah? Well, that was before you went and kissed Gray.”

  Now Raj’s face was turning red. “I said I was sorry.”

  “Maybe if Charlene makes it to town you can kiss her, too.”

  “Lee!” Raj called, but she was already storming away and, to make certain he didn’t follow her, she vanished.

  When Lee called Mr. Morehouse, she didn’t explain why she suddenly wanted to leave school, having left home not an hour earlier. Her tears prompted him to drop everything and rush to McKinley High and pick her up.

  “Stacey, what’s the matter?”

  The name Stacey brought on a fresh bout of sobbing. Lee no longer had the privacy of blubbering while invisible—not that she’d been able to erase her sobs as she waited for Mr. Morehouse on the opposite end of school.

  “Stace?”

  Lee needed to stop her sniveling. Mr. Morehouse was idling in the student pickup lane in front of the main office and all she wanted to do was put McKinley far behind her.

  Stacey Morehouse. That’s who Raj saw when he looked at her. Now here was Gray to remind him of the girl he’d really fallen for. Lee was just as much a replication of herself as Gray.

  Lee sucked in. “It’s nothing. Raj and I had a fight.”

  Mr. Morehouse had the good sense to look surprised. While old Stacey had been through a parade of boyfriends, new Stacey—Lee—was sweet on one boy and they never fought, never argued, not even over the little things like what movie they should rent.

  “Sweetie, I’m sorry.”

  “And on Valentine’s, of all days!” Lee put her head in her hands.

  Mr. Morehouse patted her lightly. Lee uncovered her face. “Can we please go now?”

  “Of course.” Mr. Morehouse removed his hand and put the car in drive. “What happened?” he asked once they were on the road.

  If Lee told him that Raj had kissed another girl, Mr. Morehouse would never forgive him.
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  “It’s stupid,” she said instead.

  “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

  “Would it be all right if I went over to Ms. Perez’s? I’d like to talk to her.”

  Mr. Morehouse cleared his throat. “You can confide in me, too, you know.”

  Lee forced a smile. “I know, Daddy. I just really want to talk to another woman right now.”

  “Sure, honey, of course.”

  Her tears stopped abruptly. Lee sat up. “Actually, I’d really like to talk to someone my own age—like Charlene. I might feel better if I spoke with Charlene.” She might feel better if she tore her hair out and stuffed it down the mouth that had dared kiss her boyfriend.

  “Do you want me to stick around?”

  “Sure, I won’t be long. Maybe I’ll ask Charlene to take a walk around the block to chat.”

  Mr. Morehouse smiled. “That’s nice of you to make friends with Marney’s daughter. It doesn’t seem like she has very many.”

  And she was about to lose another. Lee had to stop herself from attacking Gray the moment after Mom yelled, “come in.” Mom and Gray sat at the kitchen table, heads together, looking over a large text. While Mr. Morehouse gave Mom a kiss, Gray slipped the book under the table into her lap. It could only mean one thing: they had been looking through a spell book.

  Lee ground her teeth.

  “Skipping school again?” Gray asked. She had on burgundy tights, tweed shorts, and a thick sweater. Lee couldn’t wear stuff like that anymore. It didn’t look good on her frame.

  Mr. Morehouse forced a laugh. “I think this one is ready to finish high school and head off to college already.”

  “Stacey, is everything all right?” Mom’s forehead wrinkled.

  Lee squared her shoulders. “Everything’s great. Charlene, can I have a word? Outside,” Lee added when Gray looked toward the stairs.

  “Sure.”

  The moment they were outside, Gray said, “actually, I’m glad you’re here. We need to talk.”

  Lee unclenched her jaw long enough to say, “Raj already told me.”

  “Really? I thought he wasn’t going to.”

  Lee didn’t have to see her own aura to know it had turned charcoal black. “So the two of you considered keeping it to yourselves, thought you’d sneak around behind my back and that would make everything okay.”

  “Sneak around… oh. I thought you were talking about something else.” Gray walked over to the kissing tree; that’s what Lee had named it after her first kiss with Raj.

  Lee tried not to grumble as she followed Gray over. “Now what?”

  “What?”

  “What did you think I was referring to?”

  “Something else. I think we ought to address the kiss first, though.” Gray leaned her back against the tree trunk as though she didn’t have a care in the world. “Look, Raj is sorry. I’m sorry. I think we need to move on. Water under the bridge. Meditate over it. Isn’t that your thing now?”

  “Meditate? You kissed my boyfriend.”

  “Yeah, well, I kissed him under this tree and I kissed him in his car—same as you—and for me that happened last week. Imagine having Stacey Morehouse come at you this way ten months ago.”

  Lee folded her arms over her chest. “Right, I’m the one being unreasonable.”

  Gray glared at her. “You’re the lucky one. You get to have my life.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Lee said, stomping her foot. “It’s worse than dealing with Charlene.”

  Gray’s eyes flared. “I can’t believe you just said that.” She pushed away from the tree and took off down the drive.

  Fine, let her storm off. No, that wasn’t fair. Lee should be the one storming away and she most definitely was not the one who should be made to feel guilty.

  Gray had ruined Valentine’s Day when she of all people should have understood how much it meant to her to have an actual boyfriend to take her to dinner.

  Chapter Twenty

  As the restaurants around town filled with the sappy smiles of happy couples, Gray approached Kent’s forlorn shopping district in the center of town. There were as many For Rent signs as shop fronts. Clearly, she was in need of a sanity check because she pulled the Beetle up in front of Montez’s Magic Shoppe. Then again, she wasn’t feeling particularly sane at the moment.

  Gray was the victim in this upside-down reality and had been since the moment she woke up in France, yet Lee was determined to portray her as the bad guy.

  Lee could stay at home pouting over her missed dinner reservation all she wanted; Gray had more important things to worry about. She was going to save the day and then she was out of there. Sayonara! A world beyond Kent awaited her.

  Gray quickly finger-combed her unruly hair. Now that Charlene wasn’t keeping tabs on her, she let it wave naturally past her shoulders rather than run a straightening iron through it.

  The familiar sound of the bell tinkled as Gray entered the shop.

  Gray met Adrian’s eye almost instantly. It sent a shiver down her spine, but she wasn’t afraid. He was crouched between three young boys. Though his gaze was intense, Adrian just as quickly returned his attention to the small audience around him. “If you don’t pull the lever back, then it’s not going to snap.”

  The youngest of the boys, maybe seven years old, watched Adrian pull back a spring on what looked like a stick of Juicy Fruit gum and stuff it inside its package.

  “Can I see?”

  Adrian handed him the pack. The boy immediately turned to one of his friends and asked, “Want a piece of gum?”

  The boy shook his head.

  “Come on, take a piece of gum. Are you scared or something?”

  “I’ll take a piece,” the third boy said. He pulled the stick of gum slowly until a small metal bar, like the kind on a mouse trap, snapped over his finger. He shrugged. “Didn’t hurt.”

  The friend who’d refused to pull the stick before now said, “let me try!”

  “Boys,” Adrian said with a chuckle. “It’s time to go.” He stood up and met Gray’s eye again. This time she looked away and began studying the display on the other side of the shop. Adrian had certainly swept up in a hurry.

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I’m closing, that’s why.”

  “But my mom said we could stay here till she’s done at the bookstore.”

  Adrian gestured to the door. “Too bad.”

  They grumbled on their way out. Gray smiled once they were gone. “I didn’t mean to interrupt playtime.”

  Adrian’s eyes narrowed. Now that the boys were gone, an unnerving quiet settled over the shop. Gray turned to the nearest display and studied a pink crystal at eye level. As she reached out to touch it, Adrian appeared at her side. She wasn’t sure what he’d done was humanly possible. But then, he wasn’t entirely human.

  “Careful, I just got everything back in order.”

  Gray rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re still trying to use a magic shop as a cover. The jig is up, Adrian. We all know why you’re in town.”

  Adrian grinned. “It is possible to have interests beyond vengeance.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  The wounded look on his face was replaced so quickly, Gray was sure she’d imagined it. “Where’s your backup?” he asked.

  “No backup. Just me.”

  “I would have thought you’d all be enjoying a cozy little threesome tonight over spaghetti and soda pop.”

  “I have more important things to do,” Gray said.

  “Such as?”

  Her eyes twinkled. “Revenge. Are you in?”

  A grin spread over Adrian’s face. He bowed majestically, rose, and said, “Adrian the Avenger, at your service.”

  “Excellent.”

  “But first answer me this…” Adrian disappeared momentarily then reappeared behind Gray.

  “Hey!” Gray’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute. Did you just… teleport?”

  Adria
n grinned. “I did, indeed.”

  “No way! How?”

  Adrian drew a finger across his lips. “It’s a secret.”

  “Do it again.”

  Adrian flashed Gray a grin just before disappearing and reappearing at the back of the shop. He bowed as Gray applauded.

  “Seriously, how are you doing that?”

  “My lips are sealed.”

  Sealed and gone, as Adrian vanished yet again. Gray held her breath, looking around the shop to see where he’d reappear. She fought back a gasp when he appeared directly in front of her, so close their breath mingled. Adrian looked down at her. She hadn’t realized how tall he was.

  Gray swallowed. “You were saying?”

  Adrian smiled. “Answer me this: Who? When? Where and how?”

  He was close, much too close, but Gray refused to back down. Adrian needed to believe they were allies and she couldn’t let him intimidate her. This wasn’t really revenge. It was just a decoy.

  All right, fine. Maybe it was vengeance. But it was all in pursuit of the greater good.

  “Nolan Knapp.” Her lips curled back as she said the name. The truth was ugly, but it was also the most believable thing in the world. “The when is going to be the tricky part,” Gray said as Adrian set out candles and a bowl of water on the checkout stand. “He’s not likely to venture far from home thanks to your spell.”

  “He’s a teenage warlock. He’ll test the waters eventually. And speaking of…” The four candles and incense lit up at once. Adrian leaned into the water bowl as though he meant to take a sip. “It looks like he’s in a bedroom—his own presumably.”

  Gray took her time leaning over the bowl. The image’s lasting power was a testament to Adrian’s powers. The scene inside the bowl didn’t waver and disappear the way it had for Raj. Gray glanced down. The action figures were still displayed on Nolan’s dresser.

  Gray pushed away from the counter. “That’s his room.”

  The candles went out simultaneously. “What did he do to you?”

  Gray blinked rapidly and shook her head. Her eyes went out of focus as she stared beyond Adrian’s shoulder. “You never asked why.”

  “I’m asking now.”

  Again she shook her head.

  The frown deepened on Adrian’s face as he studied her. Suddenly he broke into a smile and nodded his head toward the middle of the shop. “The trick to teleportation is to visualize where you want to be.” No sooner had he finished speaking than he appeared dead center in the store.