by Cady Vance
“Shit, Holly.” Laura jumped up and threw her arms around me. I buried my face in her t-shirt, and a dam broke somewhere inside me. Tears inked out of my eyes, down my face and into the cotton. I heaved out choking sobs, my arms tightening around her neck.
We sat there like that for a few moments before my sobs turned to sniffles and I slowly pulled away. I snatched a napkin off the table and blew my nose, then another to wipe the wet streaks off my cheeks.
“Thanks.” I leaned back in the chair when Astral jumped into my lap. He buried his face in my shirt and purred. I nuzzled his head with my knuckles. Somehow, it relaxed me.
Laura moved back over to the other side of the table and met my eyes. They were watery and red, and she rubbed her fists across them, like she’d been crying herself. Then, I noticed the damp spots on her cheeks.
“Anything I can do to help?”
The chair creaked under me as I shifted. “Yeah, I got a lead. From that guy I looked for in Boston today.”
She raised her eyebrows. “What kind of lead?”
I took a deep breath and told her everything.
Once I’d spilled, I waited in silence for her to judge me. I knew what I would have thought about myself if I’d been her, but she just quirked a smile and cocked her head.
“You might just end up pulling this off after all.” She grinned. “Want me to go with you to scope out that building?”
I nodded. “Yeah. But only if you’re up for it. I don’t know what we'd be heading into. That shaman could be there. And I need his blood.”
“Consider me along for the ride,” she said.
“You aren’t going to tell me how much I suck for doing that to my neighbor?”
She glanced through the kitchen curtains at the darkness hovering outside. “I’ve been conning people for money this last year. I don’t need money. You know that, and you’ve never once asked me why I do it. You’ve never looked down on me.” Her smile faded. “This might not be the greatest situation, and sure it’s going to hurt the guy, but we’ll banish the spirit after it has its fill, before it can do any sort of super lasting damage. I can tell you've been beating yourself up about this, but you don’t need to.” She leaned on her elbows. “You know you could have asked me. I would have let the spirit feed on me.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you.”
A beat passed before she met my eyes again. “Do you remember when I got that F on a math test in fifth grade?”
I nodded.
“I was freaking out and afraid to tell my dad. I was positive he’d hate me or something. Think I was stupid.” She fiddled with the jagged ends of her hair. “I came over here crying because I thought your mom wasn’t home. And when I saw her, I thought she’d yell at me just like my dad would.”
“But instead she gave you ice cream.”
“My favorite flavor. Strawberry.”
“She kept it in the house just for you,” I added, feeling a smile on my face for the first time since I’d found Mom. “I hate strawberry ice cream.”
“And then she sat me down and showed me how to make sense of math,” she said.
“You’ve been making straight A’s in everything ever since then.” I laughed. “You make me look like a bad student.”
“She’s like a mom to me, too, you know,” Laura said. “I miss her. I want her back. Maybe not as much as you do, but I want her back, too.”
I hadn’t ever thought about it before, and I wanted to kick myself for being so self-involved that I hadn’t noticed, that I’d never realized how much of a mother my mom was to Laura, too.
Another knock sounded at the door.
“That’s Nathan.” I pushed up from the table. “He’s going to help us tonight.”
Laura nodded, a lightness lifting her expression. “Help us or help you?”
I ignored her, answered the door and let him in. He grinned at me, and I gave him a small smile, leading them both into my bedroom. I didn’t want to have to sit in the living room by Mom’s chair and talk around her, like she wasn’t even there. Because I knew she wasn’t.
Nathan and Laura sunk onto my bed and waited for me to start.
“Okay, you guys. The spirit attacks have gotten worse for Megan and Jason. And I have a plan.” I picked up the rune book and held it in the air to show them. “There are three spirits that need banishing tonight if we count Mr. Baker, even though I haven’t been able to get ahold of him. And we have two shamans who will be pretty pissed if we get involved again.” I started pacing the floor, my bare feet brushing the brown carpet. “Now, I don’t give a rat’s ass what they threatened to do to us.” I stopped and saw the skepticism on Laura’s face. “Okay, maybe that’s a lie. I’m kind of freaked out about it. But people are dying in this town. I’ve known Jason all my life. We need to do something about this. I want to wait until Anthony Lombardi and the Congress meet so they can come busting in to save the day for the rest of the town. I just can’t wait that long for Jason and Megan.”
Laura raised her hand, a move she would never do in real school. “Yeah, I'm right there with you, but they have a tendency of showing up when we go somewhere. I’m kinda thinking they know when we mark out their runes.”
“I’ve thought about this.” I leaned against the wall. “And I think you’re right.”
“Can you guys banish spirits without marking out the runes?” Nathan asked.
“No,” Laura and I both answered, our voices ringing together.
“But,” I said, “we can have someone, say someone named Nathan, watching their house. And if they head our way, Laura and I can get out of there before they see us.” Nathan smiled at me but I held up my hand. “You have to promise you’re okay with this and that you won’t do anything crazy.”
“I practically have the ‘R’ engraved on my shirt to prove my loyalty.” It was actually a Polo logo.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Robin wasn’t exactly the epitome of caution.”
“Okay guys. Enough with your Batman obsession,” Laura said. “This is a decent plan, but what if the shamans try to go into the houses? I don't think Megan and Jason could handle those guys.”
“If they’re being snoopy and sitting outside, we’ll call the cops. It's about time those guys got caught for doing something.” I paused and crossed my arms over my chest, feeling pretty good about my plan. “And, just in case they show up before we can get out of there, I've found a nice little spell to help us sneak away undetected.”
Laura sat up straight, hair falling in her eyes. “You found something. The trunk.”
Laura knew all about the trunk and my quest to find out what was in it. For years, we’d been guessing what secrets were hidden inside. We’d always thought there were runes or spells my mom hadn’t taught us. But I'd had no idea how extensive they’d be. Or how important.
I knocked my knuckles against the thick cover. “Yep. I found a rune called Shadow with a little note in the margins saying it conceals. Now, I’m not sure it will actually conceal us, but I thought we could try it out right now before we leave. If it works like I hope, then we can use it tonight in an emergency.”
Nathan’s full-on grin captured his face. “You mean, you think you can turn yourself invisible?”
“Maybe.” My fingers tightened around the book in hope. “Like I said, I'm not sure. I’ve never done it before, and the book doesn’t go into detail about what it does. But conceal sounds like invisible, right?”
“Totally.” Laura clapped her hands together. “Let’s find out.”
“Great. Let me go get my backpack.”
When I returned to my bedroom with my supplies, Laura and Nathan had their heads together, whispering in sharp hisses about something. Laura heard me drop my bag on the floor and looked up and shut her mouth.
Odd. I was curious about what was going on, but I just let it go. Laura would let me in on it later. I was a whole lot more curious about whether or not this spell would work.
&
nbsp; After I held my backpack upside down and let the contents spill to the floor, I turned the spell book to the right page. Laura jumped off the bed and sat down on the floor next to me, gazing open-mouthed at the crinkly paper.
The paper had a blue stamp next to the rune so I grabbed a blue candle. For protection—that was a good sign. Then, I went through my regular spell motions. Lighting the candle, drawing the rune, pricking my thumb and dripping the blood onto the paper.
Then, I sat there for a moment, wondering what I should do next. Did I need to choose something to conceal? And if so, how did I mark it as the object to hide?
Laura squealed, and I jumped, sending the paper flying into the air. I grabbed it and looked up to see her eyes round and mouth opened in a big O.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, even though I knew nothing could be wrong if she looked that happy.
She reached out, and her fingers brushed my arm. “I can’t see you!”
Nathan reached a hand toward me, too, and his fingers grazed my face. Heat flamed my cheeks, and I was glad he couldn't see the red threading up my neck. “Me either. It’s like…I can tell something is there. But I can’t really. It’s like this weird mixture of light and shadow. If I didn't know you were there, I would have no idea.”
I glanced down at myself, seeing my jean-clad legs crossed under me. “I can see myself just fine.”
“Trust me,” Laura said. “We can’t see you. There’s some crazy trick of the light going on or something. When you move, I see shadows, but that’s it.”
I let her words sink in. I was invisible. No one could see me, at least not in any sort of true form. Maybe helping Megan and Jason would work after all. If the shamans couldn’t see us, they couldn’t hurt us.
“Okay, looks like this experiment is a success.” I held the parchment over the flame. “I’m coming back now. Let's hope this is how to get me visible again.”
When the flame licked the paper, I felt a light tingling. I hadn’t noticed the change before, too distracted by Laura’s squealing and Nathan’s fingers. But it had been there. Subtle. And sweet. It was the kind of magic I was used to. The kind I’d done with my mom. Not like the magic I'd done earlier today.
"So weird,” Laura said. “It was like a cloud rolled out of the way, and there you were.”
“That’s one seriously cool spell.” Nathan stood and helped me up from the floor. His fingers closed around mine, and I didn’t want to let go. But if he knew what I'd done, I didn’t think he’d be so quick to tell me how cool my spells were. I wondered if he’d even be willing to help me tonight. Because without a doubt, Nathan was one of the Good Guys. And I could never see him summoning a spirit into someone’s bedroom.
“You guys ready to go?” I looked back and forth between them. Laura nodded, determination in the set of her jaw.
“Can I talk to you for a minute before we head out?” Nathan asked, his hand touching my elbow. I nodded and turned slightly away, still feeling guilty about what I'd done and what he’d think about me if he knew. I thought he wouldn’t notice me pulling away, but I could tell by the way his face fell he did.
Laura shuffled by us and grabbed my backpack from the floor. “I’ll just head to the car…”
When Laura was out of sight, Nathan turned to me, his green eyes roaming across my face. My heart sped up, and memories of kissing in the rain flashed through my mind. His sweet, soft lips. After everything that had happened today, I just wanted to feel his arms wrapped tight around me. It was like he was a magnetic force, and being close to him made the world tilt right again.
“Holly.” He tugged a stray strand of my long brown hair. “Something wrong?”
“Yes,” I said, voice barely above a whisper.
“What is it?” he asked. “You can tell me, you know.”
“I know.” I looked up at how he towered over me and tried to read his eyes for a sign he wouldn’t hate me if I told him everything else about me. About conning our classmates. About summoning the spirit. “I’m just not a good person.”
His eyes softened, and he took a step closer to me again. My entire body sighed. “Yes, you are.” His fingers touched my chin. “Whatever it is, stop beating yourself up about it. You’re going through so much right now. There’s no reason for you to make it harder on yourself. Trust me, we all have skeletons in our closets.”
The way he said it made me believe him, like he really did know how I felt, like I really should stop making myself feel the guilt that clamped around my wrists like chains. Like he had his own skeleton in a closet. For some reason, that made me step closer to him.
His head dipped low, and his lips met mine. Flames travelled from my lips, to my heart, to my toes. The bitter chill of the past few hours melted away. I leaned into the kiss, feeling the hard planes of his chest under my fingers. He pulled me closer, hands pressed on my lower back. I released my tight hold on pain and fear, lost myself in the two of us, and for a moment, let myself forget everything else in the world.
CHAPTER 23
While Nathan was on his way to see if the shamans were home, Laura and I waited in my truck a few streets over from Megan’s house. Her three-story canary yellow home was closer to my place than Jason’s. Plus, she’d managed to keep her family away all night so far, and she’d left a key under the front mat so we could go in alone. It was better for us to take care of a spirit loose in the house with no one else around.
“Holly, can I ask you a question?” Laura flicked my Wonder Woman toy hanging from the rearview mirror.
“Sure, what’s up?” I asked, turning down the volume of the radio.
“I checked your backpack for supplies while you and Nathan were inside…doing whatever you were doing, and I found this.” She held up an envelope to let the streetlamps shine on it.
“The foreclosure notice.” Cold seeped into my veins, and I huddled further into my hoodie.
Laura drummed her fingers against the window. “Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad? I know you don’t want charity, you’ve made that clear, but I always thought you guys had some money. I could have helped you.”
I leaned my cheek against the cool window glass that felt both soothing and biting, kind of like the past twenty-fours. “I don’t know. I thought I could take care of things myself. I’m just not very good at the bill paying it turns out. I had no idea how much was involved. Do you know how many different kinds of bills there are?”
“No, not really,” she said softly, but then her voice turned hard. “All this time you’ve been giving me half of that money we get from people. I seriously wish you’d told me about this.”
“I’m sorry.”
She punched me in the arm, but it didn’t hurt. That was just Laura’s way of showing she cared. “No, I’m sorry. Listen, this will all be over soon, but I want you to take what I’d normally get from our cases tonight, okay?”
I looked at her, opened my mouth to argue, but knew I couldn’t afford to. If Mom and I wanted to keep our house, I needed that money. “Okay.”
“Good.” Laura nodded. “So, what’s going on with you and Nathan? From what he told me, he seems really into you. And I saw the way you looked at him.”
He’s been talking to Laura about me?
Laura opened the glove compartment and brought out an old bag of snacks while I thought about those words. Into me. Nathan was really into me. The bag rustled when she snaked her hand into the crinkly plastic and pulled out a handful of greasy potato chips.
“He read aloud to Mom. I guess I’m sort of falling for him. You think I should tell him about the cons?” I clicked the side of my phone to see if I’d accidentally missed his call to update us. “I’ve been thinking about it, but I’m scared he’ll hate me.”
“He won't hate you,” Laura said. “Trust me.”
Something in the tone of her voice caught my attention, and I eyed her as she seemingly avoided my gaze. “What were you guys talking about in there? The whole whisperin
g thing?”
Laura munched on some more chips before tossing the bag back inside the glove compartment. “I tutored him last year. For math.”
“Seriously?” I blinked. She’d never mentioned this to me before.
“Yeah, he didn’t want me telling anyone because his dad was being really weird about it. He’s this super math god who wants his son to be a genius. Nathan is smart, but not so much with the math.”
“And so…you guys were having an intense conversation about math tonight.”
“In a way.” Laura met my gaze and grinned. “Everyone has a secret. You have yours. He has his, and I was telling him he should share. You both should.”
I let my head drop back against the headrest so I could stare at the ceiling. She was right, and I hated that she was. Maybe this Nathan thing had the potential to actually be something. But if I wanted it to be, and I knew I did, I needed to tell him about the cons. It was only fair to let him know what he was getting into. But I wondered what secrets he could possibly have. About math?
I noticed Laura was staring out the front windshield, eyes distant. “Any new developments with Brent?”
“How did you know I liked him?” She laughed and shook her head. “Nevermind. Look who I’m asking.”
“I saw you checking out his butt,” I said. “You’re just way too obvious when you think a guy’s hot.”
“Brent Ackers is sooo hot.” She sighed and propped up her sneakers on the front dash. “But he’s been weird ever since that night.”
“I’m sorry. That sucks.”
“Eh.” She shrugged. “I don’t really blame him. I’d probably go distant, too. What happened the first night we hung out? He watched me do super weird magic, and oh yeah, he got kidnapped. And let’s not forget the whole knife-on-throat incident.” She twirled her nose ring. “Honestly, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere near me either.”
