Bait

by Kasi Blake

Half an hour into Keisha’s phony surprise party and Bay-Lee was in the corner alone. Nick was late. Worried about him, she waited impatiently, searching the crowd for his face. She hoped he hadn’t found another border monster. The party was in the library, the only room big enough to hold all the students. It seemed everyone was there... except for Nick. At least Keisha was enjoying herself. Dancing on a table top, the girl showed the other students her best moves.

  Mike stopped next to Bay-Lee. “This isn’t going to work.” He grinned sheepishly. “I would have said so before, but no one listens to me. The bad guy probably has a list of birthdays already.”

  “That’s why we’re throwing a party,” she explained. “Since the bad guy has to be someone living here on school grounds, they know about the party. They’re wondering if they were wrong about the date. The only way to know for sure is to check her files, and we changed them.” She frowned at him while rubbing her bottom lip. “It might take a while to create a wraith. Maybe it will attack in an hour or two.”

  Their gazes went to Keisha. Grinding her hips to the music, Keisha did a seductive dance on the table while boys gathered around. She dropped to her knees, bent forward, and banged her head to the music. Her hair flew up and down, slapping the table top several times. She stood again and danced in a slow, provocative circle. Her skin glowed, radiant under the bright library lighting. She was in her element with every eye in the room on her.

  Keisha finished her dance. She held a hand out. One of the boys took it and helped her off the table. She placed a high-heeled shoe on a chair and stepped down. Once her feet were on the ground she headed straight for Mike and Bay-Lee. Standing between them, she dazzled them with a happy smile. “I wish it could be my birthday every day. If I’d known it was this much fun, I would have had one last year. This is awesome.”

  “Don’t forget why we’re doing this,” Bay-Lee said. “Keep your eyes open.”

  Keisha asked Mike, “Did you get me a present?”

  He looked dumbfounded. “It isn’t really your birthday.”

  “We have to make it look real. Authenticity, sweetie. That’s what we’re going for.”

  Bay-Lee hissed at them to be quiet and gestured to the approaching teacher. Maxx swept across the floor in his flowing cape. She wondered if he slept in the thing. In his hands was a rectangular shaped present wrapped in beautiful purple paper with silver stars and a colorful explosion of ribbons. He handed the gift to Keisha. “Happy birthday. I hope you like it.”

  Her eyes sparkled with excitement and greed. “Can I open it now?”

  “Please do.” Maxx’s gaze bounced between the birthday girl and Bay-Lee.

  Keisha ripped into the wrapping paper like a rabid animal. Scraps of pretty paper littered the floor near her feet. She tore open the box and pulled out a dagger. It was bigger and sharper than Bay-Lee’s knife with pretty jewels instead of an engraved design. Bay-Lee experienced a tingle of jealousy. Maybe she should have volunteered to say it was her birthday.

  Keisha threw herself into the teacher’s arms for a quick hug. “Thank you! I love it.”

  “Use it well, my dear.”

  “Oh, before I forget, Bay-Lee wants to learn the pick-pocket thing,” Keisha said, distracted by the shiny object in her hands. “Can you teach her like you taught me?”

  Maxx seemed pleased to hear a student wanted to learn something extra. Puffing out his chest, he spoke to Bay-Lee. “It’s like magic. A bit of distraction and a little slight of hand, anyone can do it. You just need to practice.”

  The teacher showed her a quarter in the palm of his left hand. “The most important thing about magic is to draw and fixate your audience where you want them. For example, you see this quarter?”

  She nodded.

  He closed his fingers around it and lifted the fist to his mouth. Her unblinking gaze stayed with the hand until he told her his secret. “You are looking where I want you to look right now, following the action, but notice my other hand.”

  She quickly checked it out. Maxx was pulling his other hand away from his belt with a quarter inside of it. “Other magicians move the quarter from one hand to the other. I use two different quarters. While you are staring at my fist, I am fetching the second quarter. I appear to be blowing on my fist as part of the act, but I actually suck the quarter into my mouth. Then I do this.”

  Maxx reached out with his right hand and pretended to pluck the quarter from her ear. While she was busy staring at that hand, he spit the quarter from his mouth and it fell into his open hand near his belt. It seemed so obvious the second time around. She frowned and said, “Show me again.”

  Maxx repeated the trick, but this time he did it faster. Even though she knew what to look for, she still missed it. He was good. Smug smile, he said, “My mom bought me a magic set when I was seven. I’ve had years of practice. Just remember, distract and use fast hands. Practice makes perfect, and illusion is everything.”

  He lifted his hand and flashed her bracelet in front of her face. While she’d been distracted by the magic trick, he’d somehow taken the bracelet off her wrist.

  Keisha and Mike drifted away. Maxx took advantage of the moment by bending forward to whisper in Bay-Lee’s ear. “Have you found the bad guy yet?”

  “We have a plan.”

  “Is it dangerous?”

  Bay-Lee opened her mouth to tell him to mind his own business, but she didn’t get the chance to say a word. Nick was there by her side. He slid an arm around her waist and glared at the teacher. “Maxx, would you mind giving us some privacy?”

  Maxx lifted a hand. A flame shot from his palm. Smoke enveloped him. When it dissipated, he was gone. A round of applause from watching students momentarily drowned out voices. Bay-Lee searched the crowd, wondering where he’d disappeared to, but Nick didn’t seem to care. He was probably used to the eccentric teacher’s antics. Pressing lips to her cheek beneath her ear, he whispered, “Dance with me.”

  It was a softly spoken command.

  “But everyone will see.”

  “I don’t care. Let them think what they want to think. I’m tired of worrying about it.”

  She willingly stepped into his arms and melted against him. His hands pressed against her back. He held her, gentle but strong. She felt safe. They didn’t say a word to each other for half the song. Then she remembered the meeting she’d skipped with Van. Looking up at Nick, she asked, “Was Van okay with me not visiting his office today?”

  “I took care of it, told him you were fine.”

  “And that was enough for him?” Strange because she’d gotten the feeling he had wanted to discuss something important. That was part of the reason she wanted to avoid him for as long as possible. He wasn’t happy she was dating Nick and probably wanted to interfere. “Did he give you a hard time?”

  Nick’s fingers combed through her hair on one side. “Don’t worry about him. Let’s concentrate on stopping the wraiths.”

  She forgot to breathe. “You know?”

  “That you, Mike, and Keisha are playing chicken with a wraith? Yes, I know. Mike told me. The question is why didn’t you let me in on it?”

  Her jaw tightened. She had known they couldn’t trust Mike to keep his mouth shut. She stopped dancing and Nick’s arms fell away, leaving her body feeling cold and abandoned. “If you want to talk about telling the truth, why didn’t you tell me you were seeing the ghost of your dead cousin?”

  He nodded, sober expression. “Fair enough. We both kept a secret. Question is what do we do about it now?”

  “We trap the wraith, send it after its master, and prevent anyone else from being killed.”

  “And how are we going to do that? What’s the plan?”

  “I found a spell to release the wraith. Remember? More than anything the wraith wants to kill its master, so we’re going to let it.”

  “I guess i
t might work.” Nick sighed. “But I don’t like the sound of any of this. What happens to Keisha if you can’t stop the thing in time? She could get killed, or it could decide to kill you instead.”

  “There are three of us, four now counting you. We can do it.” She put her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. The side of her face rested against his chest. “We have to do this because if we don’t, you’re going to die.”

  “I know.” His voice was barely audible.

  “My birthday is coming up too,” she said. “If you die, I’ll be right behind you.”

  He grabbed her shoulders in a semi-vicious grip and pushed her back so he could see her face. “Don’t say that. I won’t let anything happen to you. Not tonight. Not ever.”

  “Then help us catch the wraith.”

  Jordan appeared next to them, the green-eyed monster glowing in her eyes. “Mind if I cut in?” Without waiting for permission she pushed Bay-Lee to the side and took her place in Nick’s arms.

  Jealousy erupted in Bay-Lee’s heart. It killed her that she couldn’t do anything to stop Jordan, not without telling the truth about Van and how they weren’t related. Nick winked at her over Jordan’s shoulder. It was enough to make her smile.