“Come on, Holly,” Andre said, and it took Holly a while to process that someone was speaking to her. “We need to head back.”
Holly glanced at Andre for an instant before nodding in agreement. She would have more time to mourn alone if she left now.
In silence, they left the headquarters of the Speirs family, and it wasn’t until a few seconds after their departure when they began to speak.
“I’m sorry about what happened to your parents,” Andre said softy. “To my aunt and uncle.”
“Jason should have done something,” Holly replied, still too shocked to properly cry. “He let what William did interfere with what was right.”
Andre stopped dead in her tracks. “I wish,” she began, “that I had the opportunity to talk to them again before their deaths.”
Holly didn’t fully register the meaning behind Andre’s words until a few seconds later. After all, she had only reconnected with her cousin last summer at Witchcraft Academy; before that summer, Andre did her best to ignore her mother’s side of the family for four years. It hadn’t dawned on Holly until now that Andre’s last encounter with her parents had been six and a half years ago on Andre’s eleventh birthday before Max had passed away. After all, Andre didn’t formally visit Holly in Marywood until last August, and by that time, Henri had already taken her parents hostage.
“You couldn’t have known this would happen,” Holly pointed out.
“If I hadn’t been so stupid,” Andre continued. “If Arizona hadn’t—”
Before Andre finished her sentence, she began to move at a faster pace. Holly could tell her cousin’s saddened mood became clouded with anger, and she raced to catch up to Andre.
“Andre, stop!” Holly commanded. “Whatever you’re thinking about doing, it’s not worth it!”
“You have no idea,” said Andre suddenly before stopping once again. “You’re coming with me.”
“Where to?” questioned Holly as Andre grabbed her arm and pulled her along.
“We’re paying Arizona a visit,” Andre replied.
Holly gulped, knowing this interaction could only end horribly.
Once again, she found herself in the familiar hallway where the room that belonged to the Russian clique was located. Only once had she been down that hallway, and that was to visit Tatiana.
Andre knocked twice on the door impatiently, and it was Kat who answered.
“Andre,” Kat greeted, surprised. “What brings you here?”
“I don’t have time for your bullshit, Kat,” Andre growled. “I need to talk to Arizona.”
“What for?”
Instead of responding to Kat, Andre pushed her aside and stepped into the room with Holly trailing behind her.
Holly instantly noticed Tatiana, who shot her a questioning glance. Shrugging in response, Holly also saw Arizona, who looked just as confused, as well as the rest of the living Russian clique members.
Arizona’s eyes instantly met Andre’s, and she began to make her way towards them. “Andre, what’s the matter?” she questioned.
“Do you have a private place where we can talk?” Andre asked in a surprisingly calm voice.
Shrugging, Arizona began to make her way towards the bedroom that was reserved for the chaperones, and Andre continued to pull Holly along.
After shutting the door behind them, Arizona turned around and said, “What’s wrong, and why did you bring Holly along?”
Holly watched in surprise when Andre suddenly grabbed Arizona’s shoulders in response and slammed her into a wall.
Arizona squealed in fear and pain as she stammered, “W-what’s gotten into you?”
“You thought I would be happier if I forgot about my mother’s side of the family, didn’t you?” Andre began to say. “Let me ask you this. Do you think I’m happy?”
Arizona glanced between Andre and Holly. “No, but you let Holly into your life again! Obviously—”
“Holly has nothing to do with why I’m angry!” Andre spat. “You know, Henri sent Holly a package today. Do you know what was contained in that package?”
Arizona shook her head.
“The chopped-up corpses of her parents,” Andre continued, tightening her grip on Arizona. “If anything, your logic made me feel more guilt than happiness that I was never able to resurrect my relationship with them!”
Holly couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Only once had she seen this side of Andre, and that was with Dimitri. Never had she seen Andre act like this towards another mortal magic user.
“I’m sor—” Arizona’s voice broke as a piercing scream replaced her words.
For a moment, Holly froze. Andre was torturing her own supposed best friend with magic, and Holly wasn’t sure what to do. Frantically, she glanced at the door, realizing the others in the main room could very well hear Arizona’s screams.
“Andre, stop!” Holly commanded.
Andre broke her concentration and met Holly’s gaze. “Holly, one would think you’d enjoy—”
“The others in the living room can probably hear her,” Holly said. “And I don’t enjoy seeing this! This side of you—the one that is consumed by anger and rage—I don’t like any of it!”
Andre’s expression softened as she let go of Arizona. “Our friendship is over,” she said to Arizona as she took what Holly said to heart. “Come, Holly; let’s get out of here.”
Holly complied, and she rushed Andre out of the bedroom and living room and into the hallway. After the door was closed, she turned to Andre and said, “Shit, Andre. I thought you were going to kill her.”
“To be honest, I had every intention of doing so,” Andre admitted. “Thanks for speaking up when you did. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have left her alive.”
Holly didn’t say anything else as she began to make her way back to the Eternal Division room.
~~~
Rebekah: Munich, Germany
With Holly gone, Rebekah took it upon herself to go to the ICW courtyard. Since no one but Courtney was in the room, she wanted to see others that were around her age and get some fresh air in the meantime.
Yet when she entered the courtyard, she was surprised to find that a crowd had gathered in the center of it, and in the middle were Jamie and Julie, obviously in a verbal fight.
Curiously, Rebekah went over to the group in order to hear what was going on.
“You probably told Holly to cheat for you, didn’t you?” Julie accused. “I mean, how else would she score two more points than Marie, therefore putting Eternal Division ahead of Les Fleurs Cramoisies once again? We were tied before that happened!”
“I did no such thing!” Jamie fired back. “Perhaps Holly is just smarter than Marie!”
Jamie is defending Holly, Rebekah noted, remembering what Jamie had said about Holly while they were all watching the trivia portion. Jamie has never done that before, and I never expected her to do so now.
“I know how you operate, Jamie, and how you will do everything in your power to beat us,” Julie said. With that being said, she left the group and moved towards the edge of the courtyard.
Jamie, on the other hand, moved in the opposite direction towards a gate that led out of the ICW facility altogether. As she opened it and exited the facility, Rebekah curiously followed behind her. Despite still being mad at Jamie over what had happened with Jake, Rebekah knew Jamie didn’t coax Holly to cheat for her.
It didn’t take long for Rebekah to find Jamie, and when she did, Jamie was huddling in a corner and leaning up against a wall, lighting what appeared to be a joint.
“Jamie!” Rebekah snapped, mortified that Jamie would try such a thing. “What are you doing?”
Surprised, Jamie dropped the joint and quickly put it out. “Rebekah,” she gasped. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“How long,” Rebekah questioned, not buying Jamie’s comment, “have you been smoking marijuana?”
Jamie then burst into tears. “You have no idea,” s
he sobbed. “Since November, everything has been going to shit, and I don’t know how to make it stop! My clique’s been falling apart, Jake doesn’t want me, and now, Julie is accusing us of cheating, which we didn’t do, and…”
“How is Eternal Division falling apart?” Rebekah questioned, even though she paid particular attention to what Jamie had said about Jake. Jake doesn’t want her, she thought. That’s right. He never wanted her.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t notice it,” said Jamie. “Obviously, having you, Holly, and Mandy around sets things on the edge.”
Ouch, thought Rebekah, but she chose not to say anything.
“Teri’s been distancing herself from me as well ever since Jeffery rejected her,” Jamie continued, “and I feel as if Sabrina and Sam are not as close to me as they used to be.”
“I didn’t notice this,” said Rebekah.
“I’m surprised. Didn’t you notice I had no one visit me?” Jamie questioned.
Rebekah had noticed that, but she didn’t think much of it. Perhaps I should have been more curious.
“My mom was out touring, my dad had to stay in Marywood because of his job, and Stephanie was too busy with school,” Jamie explained. “Therefore, I extended my offer to some of the people from school. No one wanted to come, not even Hannah Jones or Ariana Campbell!”
This didn’t surprise Rebekah, for Jamie wasn’t the most well-liked among their peers.
“I’ve been doing this for a while now,” said Jamie, referring to the marijuana. “It helps me cope with all of this shit And honestly, it’s not as bad as the media says it is.”
“Jamie, if Jason finds out that you smuggled marijuana into the ICW facility, he’s going to disqualify us,” said Rebekah. “What you did is illegal.”
“He’ll do more than that, Rebekah,” said Jamie. “He’ll kick me out. He’ll kick all of us out, even those who knew nothing about this. That’s what disqualification entails.”
Rebekah knew the real reason why Eternal Division was chosen, but she also knew Jason would have a very hard time explaining why he was keeping some of the members of Eternal Division in Munich and sending the rest home.
“Please don’t tell him,” Jamie pleaded. “If you do, then Julie would have truly gotten her wish.”
“Julie doesn’t know, does she?”
Jamie shook her head. “Are you insane? Why would I tell her, considering the fact that I haven’t told anyone else?”
Rebekah shrugged, seeing the fear in Jamie’s eyes. As much as she hated Jamie for the incident with Jake, her heart still broke for the Eternal Division leader. She knew what it was like to feel like everything was falling apart around her without being able to do anything about it.
“I won’t say anything,” Rebekah declared.
Jamie’s face brightened as she flung her arms around Rebekah. “Thank you,” she said. “And for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry that I made a move on Jake like that.”
Rebekah forced herself to hug Jamie back, shocked that Jamie apologized at all. Out of all of the things Jamie should apologize for, Rebekah didn’t expect that incident to be one of them.
After the embrace broke, Rebekah left Jamie and made her way back into the ICW facility. By that time, she was sure Holly would be back by now, and if there was one person that she should tell about this, it was Holly. Even though this concerned Jamie, Rebekah knew Holly would keep this a secret if Rebekah asked her to.
She made her way back inside and carefully maneuvered through the hallways in search of the Eternal Division room. After finding it, she entered the room, only to find Courtney sitting on the couch.
“Is Holly back yet?” questioned Rebekah.
Courtney barely glanced in Rebekah’s direction. “Yeah, she is. Andre’s not back, though,” she replied. “You should talk to Holly. She’ll explain to you what happened.”
She’ll explain to you what happened, echoed Rebekah’s mind as she made her way towards their shared bedroom. What does Courtney mean by that?
Holly was in shambles when Rebekah found her in their mutual bedroom. As expected, she was alone, and Rebekah temporarily forgot about Jamie’s marijuana use.
Holly glanced at Rebekah with her tear-soaked face, and Rebekah finally realized what Courtney’s statement meant.
“Holly, what’s wrong?” questioned Rebekah with concern as she sat on her bed.
“They’re dead,” Holly sobbed. “He killed them.”
“Who’s dead?”
“My parents,” Holly clarified. “Henri killed them.”
Rebekah took a moment to process this. “How do you know?”
“That was what the package was. Their chopped-up corpses. He sent them to me anonymously.”
“Holly, I’m so sorry.”
“But that’s not the half of it.” Holly dried her eyes. “Andre’s…changed. I don’t know if it has anything to do with her past or if it’s a recent adaptation, but when she gets filled with anger, she…you saw what she did to Dimitri.”
Rebekah remembered that incident clearly and how Andre killed him. “Did she go after Kat this time?”
“No,” Holly shook her head. “Arizona. The other Russian chaperone. The one who was supposed to be her best friend.”
“Why?”
“Arizona’s never particularly liked me for some reason, and she also had planted the idea in Andre’s head that Andre would only be truly happy if she let go of her mother’s side of the family. That as well as the stories Arizona spun about me was why Andre had ignored me all those years,” Holly explained. “As a consequence, Andre hadn’t spoken to my parents since her eleventh birthday before her mother’s death—six and a half years ago. Andre also saw the corpses of my parents, her aunt and uncle, and all of that hit her kind of hard. She blamed Arizona for that, which I can understand because it is partially Arizona’s fault, and she almost killed her. I was the one who stopped her from doing so, and then, she ended their friendship.”
“Where is she now?” questioned Rebekah.
Holly shrugged. “I don’t know. She didn’t return?”
Rebekah shook her head. “That’s what Courtney told me.”
“Crap,” Holly swore as she leaped off her bed. “We need to find her.”
In the other room, they heard a door slam shut and two voices talk in hushed tones.
“I think she’s back,” Rebekah noted as she slid off her bed.
Holly opened the door slightly and peered outside. “She is,” said Holly with relief as she opened the door fully. “Where were you?” she called as she left the bedroom.
Rebekah followed, closing the door behind her. Telling Holly about Jamie’s marijuana use could wait.
“I had to be alone for a while,” Andre said to Holly. “You know, think things over.”
“Holly told me what happened,” Courtney said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Andre snapped. “Better.”
“Should I ask Arizona if you’re okay?” inquired Courtney.
Andre glared at Courtney but didn’t respond. To Holly, she said, “Are you doing okay?”
Holly nodded.
Rebekah tugged on Holly’s arm, pulling her back into the bedroom after the interaction was over.
“Rebekah, what is it?” Holly asked, annoyed. “I was—”
“I actually came to tell you something, and now that your incident appears to be resolved, this would be an ideal time,” Rebekah explained.
“What is it?”
“I went to the courtyard today, and Jamie and Julie were fighting,” said Rebekah. “Julie accused Jamie of telling you to cheat on the trivia portion.”
“What? Why would she…?”
“I don’t know.” Rebekah shrugged. “However, when the fighting was over, Jamie temporarily left the ICW facility, so I followed her.”
“You did what?!” Holly shrieked. “Rebekah, you can’t! Not without protection!”
“She didn’t go fa
r,” said Rebekah as justification. “I caught her today and found out she smokes marijuana.”
“So, she smuggled it in?” Holly asked for clarification. “Once Jason finds out—”
“We’re not going to tell him,” Rebekah said.
“Why not?” questioned Holly.
“Jason would disqualify us. Disqualification means being sent home,” Rebekah said.
“Jason wouldn’t send us home, Rebekah,” Holly said. “Just the others.”
“And how would he be able to explain the reason why we get to stay here and not the others?” Rebekah questioned. “It would be better for him and for us if we told no one.”
Holly sighed in frustration. “Fine. I won’t tell him.”
Rebekah smiled slightly. “Thanks.”
Just then, Holly’s expression became pained as she seemed to recall something. “Your birthday’s on Wednesday,” she realized.
Rebekah nodded as her smile vanished. “Why?”
“Your Other Part will be able to reach your mind that day and see through your eyes,” Holly explained. “Which means we can’t discuss anything important that day lest it gets back to Henri.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Andre: Munich, Germany
W
hile the humans quietly finished up their Christmas celebrations in their rooms before bed, the dining hall was transformed into a Yule celebration for the magic users. Though they had shed any religious affiliation they held centuries ago, certain Pagan holidays were still rooted deep within their culture.
Andre never once liked this time of year, her first real taste of Christmas bringing back memories she would rather keep buried. Of course, Yule represented something entirely different, but her mother never cared for any of the holidays, and as such, Andre found it difficult to distinguish between the two holidays.
And of course, alcohol was served to those who were eighteen and older—of which Andre and Holly were the only ones who were not—though even if Andre was of legal age, she made a promise a long time ago to never drink. She witnessed firsthand how destructive alcohol could be—and she nearly died from it herself at age twelve—that she wanted no part of it.
Bleeding Misery (Threatening Souls Book 2) Page 28
