by Kelli Kimble
“Right. And they can’t find mates at Lowry?”
“They know all the Anubian girls at Lowry. At least, most of them. Anu said they’re just casting a wide net, is all.”
“Hey,” I said. I would’ve snapped my fingers, but they were too slick with burger grease. “I have an idea. At Alpha Nu, they keep talking about how the freshmen have to plan and host an event for the existing members. Maybe we should plan a joint party. Alpha Nu and your fraternity, together. Like a mixer?”
Jacob sat back; his expression guarded. “You would do that for me?”
“For you? Of course, I would do it for you. But don’t you see? This would be mutually beneficial. I need to impress them if I want that position on the board. And this could be just the thing.” My brain started running a mile a minute, thinking of potential themes.
“It’s got to be big. Grand. Knock their socks off stuff,” I said.
“A masquerade party,” he said.
“Not just any masquerade. It’s got to be perfect. Special. What do you think?”
“I don’t know, you’re the one with all the ideas. I’ll do whatever jobs you give me, but I’ll leave all the fancy details to you.”
“Terrific.”
When we’d finished, he drove me back to campus and escorted me up to my room. I had my hand on the doorknob as he tilted his head.
“What’s that?”
I paused and listened. There was a soft mewling sound coming from inside the room. Had Siggie gone and gotten a kitten? I opened the door just as she blew her nose like a foghorn into her handkerchief. She was on her bed, sitting on her bottom but with her legs curled to her chest and her free arm wrapped around her knees. When she saw me in the doorway, she shoved the handkerchief under her pillow.
“Oh, hi.”
“Siggie,” I said, stepping further into the room. “What’s the matter?” Jacob closed the door and stepped up behind me.
“It’s n-n-nothing,” she said.
“It doesn’t seem like nothing,” he said. He sat beside her on the bed, producing a clean handkerchief and offering it to her. “You’re among friends, you know.”
“Now I am,” she said. She barely managed to suppress a wail before burying her face in the handkerchief.
“Oh, Siggie. Was it her? Trixie? Again?”
“Who?” Jacob asked.
“This girl has been bothering Siggie since her first night here. Because of her teeth.”
Jacob repeated my own routine. “You mean teeth like these?” He used his pointer fingers to hitch up his lip in a grimace.
Siggie raised her head just enough to look at Jacob. Her eyes widened and then squinted. “How is it that both of you have teeth like me?” she asked.
Jacob shrugged and dropped his arms, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. “Runs in my family, I guess. Not that I’m related to Iris. At least, not in any recent generations.”
It was an effort not to elbow him in the ribs.
“Hey, listen. I know I’ve only just met you, but I’m a terrific judge of character. A girl like you is worth a million of this Trixie girl.”
Siggie started to calm down. “You think so?”
“I know so. And let me tell you, people like her always get their comeuppance. Don’t you agree, Iris?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Jacob’s right. Even Patty told us she’s worthless.”
“Do you like parties?” Jacob asked.
“Sure,” she made a final swipe over her face with Jacob’s hankie. “Who doesn’t?”
“Iris and I have an idea for a party. Would you like to help?”
“Of course! What do you need me to do?”
Jacob began outlining the plans we’d discussed at the diner. Siggie’s face changed from splotchy and upset to interested and alert. I moved to the window and looked out. It was starting to get dark. A girl was walking on the sidewalk below. Someone called out to her and she turned. Trixie.
My fingers clenched into a fist. I wanted Trixie to suffer as she’d made Siggie suffer. Siggie would’ve never done anything to her. Okay, maybe that first night Siggie had laughed at some inopportune moments. But that was nothing compared to the way Trixie had been treating Siggie. I turned to Siggie and Jacob. They were at Siggie’s desk, heads bent over a piece of paper as they discussed party ideas. As I went to look, I bumped a stack of books underneath her desk. I bent to right the pile and a piece of paper fell out. I picked it up and was tucking it back inside, but something about the official look of it made me look closer.
It was a drop notice. Siggie had dropped her British literature class. I frowned. “Hey,” I said, holding the paper out for them to look at. “Did you drop your British lit class?”
Siggie’s face flushed. “Um, yeah.”
Frustration was building inside me as I brandished the paper at her. “Isn’t that the class you have with Trixie?”
“Not anymore.” She stretched her lips into a fake smile and tried to make a joke. “I dropped it.”
“You can’t just run away from her.” My voice was shaking, and I slapped the paper onto the desk to hide that my hand was trembling, too.
Jacob shook his head, but I couldn’t stop.
“Didn’t we talk about how you have to handle her?”
Siggie sat hard into her desk chair. “I know.”
“Then why did you drop?”
“Iris,” Jacob had moved to my side and was gripping my elbow. I hadn’t seen him move through the tunnel vision I had for Siggie.
“No,” I shook my arm free. “She’s letting that girl intimidate her. We both know the consequences of that.”
“It wasn’t just Trixie. Not since she convinced the rest of the class to hate me.”
I sucked in a breath and stomped from the room. How could she be letting this girl treat her this way? I stalked up and down the hall several times before Jacob came out and glared at me.
“I hope you’re happy,” he said. “That poor girl has been tormented and manipulated by a bully, and now her best friend is treating her to a helping of the same. She’s crying.”
The anger popped and I sagged against him. “I . . . I didn’t mean to upset her.”
He leaned his cheek on the top of my head and wrapped his arms around me. “I know.”
Movement further down the hall had me jumping away from him as if Mother had entered the room. Jacob pushed his hands back into his pockets.
I lowered my eyes to the floor. “I feel like I need to do something. Something that maybe isn’t the right thing to do.” I snuck a look at him through my eyelashes. “This Trixie girl. She’s worse than the waitress. She isn’t waiting for someone to put her out of her misery. She is the misery.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” He hooked a finger under my chin and lifted so that I had to look him in the eye. “Are you talking about guiding this girl?”
“Maybe just scaring her is enough. Like the sheriff.”
He tilted my face to the side and back. “Don’t lie to me. Or yourself. You want her dead.”
“I know better than to guide her. Mr. Anu would be on us so fast —”
“Us? What’s this ‘us’ business?”
“You’re going to come with me, right? The two of us, scaring her. The way we did with Sheriff Stone.”
He dropped his hand. “I don’t know, Iris. Anu warned us about using our alternate forms. This is an unnecessary risk.”
Just then, I spied Trixie and another girl further down the hall over Jacob’s shoulder. Trixie giggled and crouched on the floor. She was holding something.
“Don’t turn around,” I whispered. Jacob had his back to them, and he was blocking most of their view of me. Trixie jerked her hand, releasing a scent of ozone and lighter fluid. She held a flame to something in her other hand, then she shoved it under the door she was closest to.
My door.
“Oh, no,” I said. I pushed Jacob aside and took three steps towards
Trixie. But she and her accomplice were already running from the scene, laughing in that way that says you don’t care who sees your joy. A loud bang nearly bowled me over. Then another, and another. It reverberated in my chest, and I clapped my hands over my ears. I couldn’t think what to do; I needed the sound to stop. I shrank to the ground as the pops and bangs overcame me, and then a more alarming sound: Siggie’s terrified screams.
Jacob tore past me, yanking off his jacket. He opened the door and, impossibly, the sound got louder. He disappeared into the room. There was a metallic clank and the banging dimmed, and then after a few dozen more bangs, the sound fizzled away.
Well, the banging fizzled away. The screams didn’t stop. I lurched to my feet, felt the sudden ease of my skirt as a side seam tore from the force of my motion. I stumbled into the room. Jacob had an arm around Siggie’s shoulders, and he was shushing her, telling her that she was safe now and it was over. A thick cloud of smoke hung, smelling of sulfur and metal. I opened the window and then went to Siggie’s other side.
“Siggie? Hey, you’re all right now. It’s over.” Over her head, I locked eyes with Jacob. He nodded. Just once. But it was enough.
“What’s going on in here? Are you two causing trouble?” The resident assistant crowded into the room, pushing past a few other residents who stood open-mouthed in the doorway.
“We didn’t do anything,” I said.
“I’m going to have to call your parents. What’s this?” She touched our trash can with the tip of her slippered foot. It was upside down, in the middle of the room.
“Someone pushed fireworks under the door,” Jacob said. “I was in the hallway and heard Siggie screaming, and of course the popping. I came in and threw the wastebasket over it so that nobody would get hurt.”
I haven’t encountered the RA too much, but I can see why Siggie’s father thought she was incompetent. She put her hands on her hips and regarded Jacob, one over-plucked eyebrow raised, and her mouth open just enough that Mother would have told her to stop gawping.
“Is that so,” she finally said. From anyone else, it would’ve been a question. She made it a statement.
“Yes, that’s what happened,” I said. Siggie was staring at the RA like she’d seen a ghost.
“She gonna be okay?” she asked, gesturing at Siggie.
“Are you hurt, Siggie?” I asked. Siggie brushed her hands over her arms and torso, evidently not sure if she was injured or not.
“I think she’s okay. Just upset, is all,” Jacob supplied.
“Why would anyone put fireworks under your door? What have you two been stirring up?”
Other girls from the floor — humans, lingering in the doorway tittered, then scattered when the RA turned to look at them.
“Nothing,” Siggie said.
“We saw —,” Jacob said.
“Nothing,” Siggie said, cutting him off. “Jacob and Iris were in the hall and they didn’t see anything.” She grasped my hand and clenched it. She didn’t want to report Trixie.
“I need to check the floor. For damages.” She bent to turn over the trash can, but then pulled away. “Any chance something in there is still going to explode?”
Jacob shook his head. “No. I think they all went off.”
She turned it over and stubbed her slipper through the charred bits of paper and ash. It made a sound like when you get a grain of sand in your teeth and chew on it. I cringed.
“Huh. I guess it looks okay. If you don’t know who did it I’m not going to call campus security. Unless you changed your mind?”
I wanted to give a firm stomp right on the in-step of her right fuzzy pink slipper. It didn’t matter whether we knew who did it or not; it was a question of her wanting to get back to whatever she’d been doing when the fireworks started.
“No, ma’am,” Jacob said. “I think Siggie just wants some peace and quiet.”
“You should be moving along, too, young man. There aren’t supposed to be male visitors in the dorm rooms.” She eyed the torn seam of my skirt. “And you should dress more suitably for gentleman callers.”
Siggie let out a tiny chuff. There had not been a single instance of her enforcing the no-boys rule, though we’d both observed many infractions on the floor.
“Of course,” he said. “Maybe you could sit with Siggie for a moment, while Iris and I fetch something from my car?”
“Uh, okay,” the RA said.
“No, no. I’m fine,” Siggie said. “I can stay here by myself. You go with him, Iris.”
The RA surveyed the room one more time, gave an irritated harrumph, and left. The gawkers in the hallway had fallen away now that there was nothing more to see. Jacob stood, keeping one hand on her shoulder to keep her steady. “She’ll be back in a few minutes, Siggie. Okay? Everything is okay.”
“It was really nice to meet you, Jacob,” she said.
“Don’t be silly. The pleasure was all mine.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze before releasing. She listed slightly to the side but stayed mostly upright. I offered her a sympathetic look as I trailed after Jacob out the door.
When we reached the car, he held the door open for me.
“I thought you were leaving?”
“Get in. Just for a minute.”
I slid into the car. He got in and turned on the radio.
“I’ll be back at midnight,” he said. He kept his eyes out the front of his car. I could almost hear the bones in his hands grinding, he was gripping the steering wheel so hard. “Find out where this Trixie person lives. She’s going to get a scare tonight.”
“Really?”
“Really. Can you meet me out here at midnight?”
I smiled. “I knew there was a reason my soul was attached to yours.”
“That’s a yes, then?”
“That is a solid one hundred percent yes.”
“Great.” He hopped back out of the car and helped me out, planting a firm kiss on my lips as he guided me to stand beside the car. “See you then.”
Chapter 11
At a quarter to twelve, I slid out of bed and went to stand over Siggie. She was sleeping on her back, with one arm flung up over her head. She whimpered, and her lips pulled down into a frown. She’s probably dreaming about Trixie. Well, Trixie’s about to get hers.
I slid my robe on over my nightgown and put on a pair of slippers. The door squeaked as I eased it open, but I knew Siggie would sleep through it. She always slept through my late-night trips to the ladies’ room.
The soles of my slippers scuffed over the linoleum as I headed to the stairwell. The hallway was lit with only half of the lights, and all seemed quiet. I eased down the stairs and to the door. It opened easily but it would lock behind me. I looked around and spotted a small rock. I nestled it into the door frame, placing it so that the door would appear shut but wouldn’t be able to shut far enough to engage the lock. Satisfied that it would work, I went out into the cool night air. It washed over me, and I took a deep, clean breath. I hadn’t realized how the smell of the fireworks had continued to hang in the air even with the window open in our room.
Kal’s car was parked at the curb, and the shadow of Jacob was inside. He raised his hand, and I hurried to the car and got in. Only then did I realize that he’d already taken his alternate form, even though it made sitting in the car somewhat awkward. It was foreign to look at him, covered in fur, with his face elongated and his nails sharpened to claws. The pull of my attraction to him increased in pressure.
He nodded and exited, leaving me the privacy to take my clothes off before assuming my own alternate form. The car lurched when he put his back to the door and leaned against it.
My hands shook as I removed my nightgown. Changing my form was still new and exciting. But adrenaline was also running through me. Was I really only out to scare Trixie? What if someone else saw us? Closing my eyes, I recognized the sensation of destiny. What was about to happen was part of the plan.
Once nude, fully a
ssuming my alternate form took less than a minute. I shook my head and neck as I stretched, enjoying the freedom of the form for just a moment. I exited the car. Jacob looked across the hood at me and raised his face to the moonlight to let out one keening howl. It tickled my ears and throat, and I joined him for a single note. Then I dashed off in the direction of Trixie’s dorm. Jacob followed behind.
We kept to the shadows and the shrubbery where possible. Soon Trixie’s dorm loomed up out of the shadows. We crept to the front door and tried it. Locked. Undeterred, I turned and led Jacob around to the side of the building, where I knew a lesser-used entrance was located. It was also locked, but it had a weak frame. Jacob yanked once on the knob, hard. He pulled the bolt straight through the door jamb, splintering the weak wood.
The noise it made hadn’t been loud, but we paused and waited to see if any lights went on or if there was movement. After five minutes of standing still, listening with intent ears, we were satisfied. We moved into the dorm, the toes on our claws clicking over the hard floor. The lights here were also dimmed by half. I moved ahead of Jacob and looked for Trixie’s room number. It was 123, so it would be on the first floor. There was a sign for rooms 100 through 140 and an arrow pointing to the right and I turned to follow it.
Her room was at the end of a dead-end hallway. A window at chest height looked out over a wooded gully. It was cracked open, letting the scent of balsam in when the breeze blew. The door was recessed, and I stared at it, half hidden in the shadow of the corner. A poster of The Beatles was scotch-taped to it. Someone had drawn hearts around Paul’s head with tiny arrows through them. I didn’t like looking at the poster. It made Trixie seem normal and harmless even though she wasn’t. I slashed a claw through Paul’s face. Jacob reached around me and rapped his knuckles against the wood. He pulled me to the side of the door so that if someone opened it, they would have to lean into the hallway to see me. He hid on the other side.
I listened hard. Two distinct people were in the room breathing in a soft, easy rhythm. The rhythm of sleep. Annoyed, I knocked again. Louder this time.
