"Is she mad at you or something?" I ventured.
Running a hand though his hair, he sighed and said, "I guess. She told me I should be glad because now I could spend the ball with the person I really wanted."
He looked down at me. "I guess she meant you."
There were people all around us, but suddenly I felt like we were totally alone. And in that moment I swore I could feel something shift between us. Some spark flared that hadn't been there before, at least not on his part.
He looked away again, back toward the door, and then smiled at me.
"Well, it seems a shame not to show off that dress. Wanna dance?"
"Sure," I said, going for the most casual tone possible, but my heart was beating so hard I was afraid he'd actually be able to see it. A lot of my chest was on display, after all.
He pulled me onto the dance floor, one hand warm on my waist, the other holding my hand high at shoulder level. I was scared to death that I would trip on my dress or step on his feet, but thanks to Archer, we glided across the ballroom.
"You can dance?" I asked.
He looked down at me with a smile. "A few years ago, Casnoff decided to teach a formal dancing class. Attendance was mandatory."
"I could've used that."
"Nah, you're doing fine. Just hold on to me."
I'd never been given better instructions. There was no band or sound system that I could see, just dreamy music that seemed to float in from everywhere and nowhere. My fingers rested lightly on Archer's shoulder as we spun around the room. We danced near the spot where I'd left Jenna. I looked for her, but I couldn't see her. I wondered if she had gone back up to the room, and felt a little guilty. But then Archer's hand tightened on my waist, and Jenna slid completely from my mind.
I looked up to see him studying me intensely with an expression I'd never seen before. Well, one he'd never directed at me before.
"She was right," he murmured.
"About what?" I said, and my voice didn't even sound like mine. It was low and breathy.
"I did want to spend the ball with you."
I felt like a thousand sparklers had just gone off inside me. The smile that began to spread across my face actually made my face hurt, and for the first time I didn't care if he saw it.
I knew I didn't have a crush on Archer anymore.
I was in love with him.
His face lowered, and my heart stopped. "Sophie--"
But before he could finish, a scream pierced the air.
The music stopped abruptly. Nearly everyone turned to see Elodie rushing back into the ballroom, a green silk robe flapping around her pale legs, and a look of horror on her face.
"It's Anna!" she was screaming. "It's happened again! I . . . Oh God, I think she's dead."
CHAPTER 26
Anna wasn't dead, thank God. They'd found her sprawled in the hallway just in front of her room. Elodie said Anna had gone to get her some tea from the kitchen. When she hadn't come back, Elodie had been worried and went to look for her.
That's when she'd discovered her, facedown in the hall, a puddle of tea and her own blood soaking into the thick cream-colored rug. Just like Holly, just like Chaston, she had two small holes in her neck, but her wrists weren't cut.
Cal had gotten to her in time, and by the time Mrs. Casnoff came running up the stairs, Anna was sitting up, her head lolling against Cal's shoulder.
Just like Chaston, she couldn't say who had attacked her.
Jenna had been back in our room, and seemed totally unaware of what had happened to Anna.
But she'd been right down the hall.
Sometime around midnight, Mrs. Casnoff had come to get her. They hadn't come back.
I lay awake in my bed, still in my dress, long into the night. Luckily, Alice and I had decided not to meet tonight, so I didn't have to worry about her sleeping spell suddenly taking hold.
Around three, I finally fell asleep, but I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning from nightmares. I saw Jenna, her mouth stained with blood, and Anna at her feet. I saw Archer and Elodie dancing, only Elodie was pale, her lips blue and her eyes staring as her dress clutched around her like a snake. And strangest of all, I saw Alice in the cemetery, clutching the iron fence while three men in black descended upon her, silver knives raised high.
I woke up as the first rays of sunlight swept across the floor.
I felt disoriented. My mouth was dry and sticky, like I'd spent the night eating lint. There was also a low, hollow ringing sound. At first I thought it was just in my ears. Then I realized it was the bell on top of the house, the bell that usually called us to classes. Why was it ringing this early in the morning?
Then last night came back to me in a rush. I looked over to Jenna's bed, but it was still empty.
I pushed myself out of bed and stuck my head out the door. Several girls were already dressed and headed down the stairs. I saw Nausicaa and called out to her, "Hey! What's going on?"
"Assembly," she answered. "You'd better get dressed."
I shut the door and shimmied out of my gown. It became a pillowcase again as soon as it hit the floor. I set some sort of land-speed record for getting dressed, and decided to just leave my hair up in the chignon I'd worn last night. It was a lot messier now, and half of it was falling around my face, but I figured no one would care.
We all met in the ballroom, which had been transformed back into the room we all knew, complete with mismatched tables. As I sat at a table near the back, I looked up and noticed a lone fairy light high on the ceiling. It bumped gently against a corner, like it was trying to find a way out.
All the teachers had gathered on the dais up front, except for Byron.
Mrs. Casnoff looked tired and older than I'd ever seen her. I noticed with a shock that her hair wasn't in its usual complicated bun, but was caught in a sloppy knot at the back of her neck.
Archer and Elodie were sitting up front and to the left of me. Elodie looked pale, and there were still tears streaking down her face. Archer had his arm around her, his lips moving in the hair at her temple. Then, like he knew I was watching them, he turned and looked at me. I dropped my eyes, my hands fisted in my skirt.
After Anna and Jenna, I'd nearly forgotten about me and Archer, but now our encounter from last night came flying back at me, slamming into my heart.
Thankfully, Mrs. Casnoff stood up and raised her hands for silence, so
I could turn my eyes to her and not Archer.
"Students," she began, "as I'm sure you know, there was another attack last night. Miss Gilroy is going to be all right, but as this is the third attack in less than a year, we obviously have had to take some drastic measures. As I'm sure you've all noticed, Lord Byron is not here. Nor is
Miss Talbot. Until the Council can get to the bottom of these attacks, vampires are no longer welcome at Hecate."
My heart sank as everyone around me burst into applause. I thought of
Jenna, how happy she'd been last night in her pink dress, and felt tears prick my eyes. Where had they taken her?
Mrs. Casnoff said a few more things, mostly about being careful and aware of our surroundings, and that we couldn't drop our guard until we knew for sure what had happened, but I barely heard her. It was true that
Jenna had been back up in our room when Anna was attacked, but I'd seen
Jenna after she came back from a feeding at the infirmary. She was always worn out and almost drugged. Last night, when Casnoff came to get her, she'd just looked scared.
I didn't realize that the assembly was over until a shapeshifter boy stepped on my toes, getting out of his seat.
Numb, I stood, only to hear Mrs. Casnoff say, "Sophie, Elodie, please wait a moment."
I turned back. Elodie looked as confused as I felt.
"If the two of you would kindly go to my office."
Archer gave Elodie's arm a quick squeeze before leaving. His eyes met mine as he passed me. He gave me a smile, and I tried to smile back.
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Whatever had happened between me and Archer last night had been a freak incident, one I knew would just be easier to pretend had never happened. He was clearly with Elodie, and I couldn't blame him. Not only was she gorgeous, but now all her friends were gone. What kind of jerk would break up with a girl the day after her best friend had had nearly all her blood drained?
Not that it was a situation that came up often, I guess.
Elodie and I walked to Mrs. Casnoff's office, our shoulders brushing in the narrow hallways.
"I'm really sorry," I started, but Elodie cut me off with a glacial stare.
"What, that your best buddy nearly killed another one of my friends, or that you tried to kill me with my own dress?"
I was too tired to even give my crappy lying skills a shot. "The spell wasn't supposed to hurt you. It was just going to turn your dress a different color when you put it on."
Elodie was silent, and when I glanced over at her, I saw that she was watching me with an appraising look. "That was some pretty powerful magic," she said. "And while I don't appreciate nearly being strangled by clothes, it might be a cool spell to learn."
"I'll teach it to you if you'll teach me the curse you put on my dummy," I offered.
Before she could reply, Mrs. Casnoff ushered us into her cramped office. "Come along, ladies."
Once Elodie and I were seated in the tiny chairs, Mrs. Casnoff moved behind her desk. "I'm sure you both know why I wanted to speak with you."
She sighed as she sat down. If it had been anyone else, I would've said she flopped into the chair, but Mrs. Casnoff was way too formal to flop. It was more like a graceful collapse.
"I'm sure it's occurred to you that all these attacks have been exclusively on members of your coven, girls."
Confused, I said, "Oh, I'm not a member of their coven."
Now Mrs. Casnoff looked puzzled. She glanced over at Elodie, who I now noticed was looking anywhere but at either of us.
"You joined Sophia to your coven without her knowledge?" Mrs.
Casnoff asked.
"What?" I yelped. "How is that even possible?"
Elodie blew out a long breath that ruffled her bangs. "Look, we didn't have a choice," she said, still looking down at her lap. It was weird to see
Elodie so subdued. Normally she would have rolled her eyes a bunch of times and said something dripping with contempt.
But now she looked downright guilty.
"We needed her," Elodie said to Mrs. Casnoff, her tone pleading. "She wouldn't join with us willingly, so we did the joining ritual without her."
Mrs. Casnoff was glaring at Elodie. "And what did you use in place of her blood?"
"I snuck into her room and took some hair from her brush," Elodie muttered. "But we didn't think it had even worked. There was just this big black puff of smoke when we threw her hair in the fire. That's not supposed to happen."
"Oh my God!" I exploded. "You can't just do something like that! I can't believe I felt bad about putting that stupid bone in your dress."
Mrs. Casnoff's glare swung back to me. "You did what?" she asked in a voice so frosty, I was sure I was about to be flash-frozen like a wooly mammoth.
Elodie saw her chance. "That's right! She's the one who nearly killed me last night by putting a charmed bone in my dress!"
"Only because you put a curse on my dress," I fired back.
"Only because you're trying to steal my boyfriend!"
That was apparently the last straw for Mrs. Casnoff.
"Girls!" she yelled, standing up and slamming both of her hands on the desk. "The time for bickering about dresses and boys is over. Two of your sisters were severely injured, and another is dead."
"But . . . you've fixed it," Elodie said softly. "You kicked out the vampires."
Mrs. Casnoff sat down in her chair and rubbed a hand over her.
"We can't be sure that Jenna or Byron was responsible. Both claim their innocence, and last night neither showed signs of having recently fed."
I thought of the picture in the book about L'Occhio di Dio, the one with the witch drained of blood, and Alice saying that The Eye saw me, even here.
"Mrs. Casnoff," I ventured, "do you think . . . Do you think it's possible that L'Occhio di Dio has gotten into the school?"
"Why would you even think that?" Elodie asked, but Mrs. Casnoff held up her hand.
"It's just that I saw this picture of a witch they had killed, and she had two holes in her neck and hardly any blood, just like Holly and Chaston and
Anna. I mean, maybe it's possible--"
Mrs. Casnoff interrupted. "I've also seen that illustration, Sophia, but there is no way L'Occhio di Dio could infiltrate Hecate. There are simply too many protection spells. And even if they could somehow get past those, what would they do? Hide out on this tiny island for months waiting until they could sneak into the school?" She shook her head. "It doesn't make sense."
"Unless they were already in the school," I said.
Mrs. Casnoff raised her eyebrows. "What, as a teacher? Or a student?
Impossible."
"But--"
Mrs. Casnoff's voice was gentle, and her eyes were sad as she said, "Sophia, I know you don't want to believe that Jenna is responsible for this.
None of us do. But I'm afraid that at this time, it's the most plausible explanation. Jenna is being transported to Council headquarters now, and she'll have a chance to plead her case. But you have to accept that she may be guilty."
My chest tightened at the thought of Jenna, scared and alone, on her way to London, where she'd probably be staked. Maybe even by my own dad.
Reaching across the desk to pat my hand, Mrs. Casnoff said, "I am sorry." She looked over at Elodie. "I'm sorry for both of you. But perhaps this will give you an opportunity to put aside your differences for now. After all, you're the only members of your coven left here." She looked back at me and gave a wry smile. "Whether you like it or not. Now, I'm excusing the two of you from classes today. Until we get the results of the Council's inquiry, I want you to keep a close eye on each other. Understood?"
We both mumbled yes and then shuffled out of Mrs. Casnoff's office.
I spent the rest of my day in my room. Without Jenna, it felt big and lonely, and it was all I could do not to cry when I looked at her stuffed lion, whom we'd named Bram as a joke, and all her books. They hadn't let her take anything with her.
I stayed in bed through dinner. Sometime after night had fallen, I heard a soft knock on my door, and Archer saying, "Sophie? You in there?"
But I didn't answer, and after a while, I heard him walk away.
I lay awake until midnight, when the soft green glow of Alice's spell crept through my windows.
Throwing off my covers, I jumped to my feet, eager to get out of this house and into the sky, and wanting to tell Alice everything that had happened.
I didn't even bother being quiet on the stairs as I walked to the front door. My hand had just turned the knob when I heard a voice hiss, "Busted!"
My heart in my mouth, I turned around and saw Elodie standing at the foot of the stairs, her arms crossed, and a smirk on her face.
CHAPTER 27
"I knew it," she said, louder now. "I knew you were up to something.
When Mrs. Casnoff finds out you've been doing a spell on the whole school, you're going to join your little leech friend in London."
I was still frozen at the door, the knob half turned in my hand. Of all the people to catch me sneaking out, why did it have to be the one person who hated me the most? I stood there thinking of something to say that would keep her from running to Mrs. Casnoff right then and there.
Then I remembered the look on her face when she'd asked me about the bone spell, and an idea occurred to me. I just hoped Alice would go with it.
"Okay, you caught me." I tried smiling sheepishly, but probably just looked deranged, because Elodie moved back a step as I came closer.
"Since my magic was
going so badly--no thanks to you--I've been taking, um, private lessons from one of the ghosts here."
Elodie rolled her eyes. "Oh, please," she said. "A magic tutor? Who happens to be a ghost? You must think I'm completely brain dead."
Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you really meeting out there? A guy?
Because if it's Archer--"
"There is nothing going on between me and Archer," I said, which wasn't technically a lie. I mean, I was pretty sure I was in love with the guy, and I think he might've kissed me at the ball if Elodie hadn't rushed in, but it's not like we were meeting for secret trysts in the woods. No matter how much I wished that might have been true.
Now I smiled at Elodie and held out my hand. "You wanna learn some awesome magic? Come with me."
Just as I'd hoped, the thought of learning new magic was too seductive for Elodie to pass up.
"Fine," she said. "But if this is some trick that ends up getting me killed, I'm so haunting your ass."
Alice must've known Elodie was coming, because there were two brooms waiting outside.
Elodie's eyes widened like a kid's on Christmas morning. "You ride brooms?"
I just smiled and hopped on. "Come on," I told her, repeating Alice's words to me. "Be traditional for once."
Then we were riding through the night, the cold, clear air burning our lungs. Overhead, the stars sparkled in the inky sky. I could hear Elodie laughing next to me, and I looked over at her, our eyes meeting in the first smile we'd ever shared.
After we landed in the cemetery, I introduced Elodie to Alice, leaving out the part where Alice was my great-grandmother, and introducing Elodie as a "member of my coven."
Alice gave me a sideways glance at that, but she didn't say anything.
"So. What sorts of magic do you two do out here in Creepyville?"
Elodie asked.
"A number of things," Alice replied. In the moonlight, her skin looked like porcelain and her cheeks were rosy. Even her eyes seemed brighter. I wondered if she had some sort of beauty spell. If so, I really hoped we'd learn that one next.
"Sophie has mastered summoning objects," Alice continued, "and she is currently working on a transportation spell."
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