by Ann Aguirre
Just when I was about to question her sense of direction, the rutted track opened to permit a glimpse of an A-frame house nestled amid the trees. Beyond I caught the glint of water. It was a quiet, picturesque place, but my arm felt like I had been stung by a hundred bees, and when I lifted it to the dying light, my skin around the mark was red as blood. Hastily, I jerked my school blazer down as Davina parked.
Right next to Russ’s silver BMW.
As I climbed out of her mom’s beater, she grabbed my left hand and held on until it hurt. “Do you think he’s here with someone?”
Shit. Do I think he’d skip school to cheat on you? Absolutely. Do I want to say that out loud? Nope.
“I have no idea” seemed like the kindest response.
Our footsteps crunched over the weeds and gravel choking the driveway, then we hit the wooden steps to the front deck. Inside, the house was dark, and I couldn’t see much despite the immense windows. Apart from the wood frame on the sides, the front and back seemed to be glass. Davina rummaged for the key in a potted plant and let herself in. Eyes wide, she beckoned me to follow.
The smell hit me at once. She stopped in her tracks, and as one, we tipped our heads back. Russ wasn’t cheating on her. Nor was he breathing. He spun in a slow circle from a noose, hanging from the rafters above. Horror flooded over me like a wave of dark water.
That’s how Kian tried to die. It can’t be a coincidence.
Davina opened her mouth to scream and I dragged her outside; she hunched over and I suspected she would barf, but instead she grabbed her knees and drew in a few shaky breaths. I put my hand on her back, too shocked to know what I should be feeling. A few seconds later, it occurred to me we had to call 911 and I said so. She didn’t argue with me, though it would mean our parents finding out we’d lied about the library.
“You do it,” she said in a thin voice.
“Okay. Go sit in the car. I think we should stay out of the house.”
The 911 operator asked me a number of questions, and I had to ask Davina for the address. At last the dispatcher said she was sending a policeman to our location and we should get in our vehicle and wait. I did that gladly since I had no intention of sitting in the house.
“My grandmother said these things come in threes,” Davina whispered.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“That once the bad spirits woke up and the dying started, it didn’t stop until they took three souls.”
“I hope not.” Over the last few months, I’d learned not to dismiss such things. Hell, if enough people believed it, the worst would come true.
“I think I’m cursed.” Davina hesitated, eyed me with a sharp look. “Or maybe you are. I never had shit like this until I started hanging around with you.”
That’s my worst fear.
Aloud, I said, “You think I gave Brit a flesh-eating virus and hung Russ?”
At that she burst into tears and I spent the next ten minutes hugging her. We were in her mom’s car, crying together, when the state police showed up. There were two of them, looking bored and clearly expecting a high school prank. Old and young, tall and short—it was like whoever paired them up thought opposites made the best partners. The small, portly one stepped forward.
“The young man’s inside?” A nice way of putting it.
I nodded. “We unlocked the door but we didn’t touch anything.”
“Let us check things out and then we’ll be right with you.”
Off they went, but it didn’t take long before they were outside, and the younger one made a call on the radio. Not a trick, officer. This is the real deal, unfortunately. That started half an hour’s worth of questions and then other people arrived, including the county coroner. By that point, Davina and I were on our phones, explaining things to our folks.
To say my dad was displeased? Understatement. “You used to be such a smart girl. What in the world has gotten into you? You lied to me and left the state. What if this boy had been dangerous? You two might’ve found him lying in wait with a gun. If your friend suspected he might be there, why didn’t she tell his parents or the headmaster?”
Because she loves him, I thought. And she didn’t want him to get in trouble if he was just skipping a week of school. She was hoping she could save him.
It took another hour before they let us go, and by that time, a cavalcade of luxury vehicles had started to arrive, Russ’s family, most likely. From Davina’s panicked expression, I could tell she wanted to be gone before she had to face his parents. The state police dismissed us soon after. She got us out of there and back onto the main road, knuckles whitened on the steering wheel.
“I know nobody believes it, but he was different with me. We’d sit out on the deck behind the house and talk.”
“Sounds like you were close,” I said.
“Not at first. In the beginning, he was using me for sex. I knew that. But I just liked him so much … I thought if we spent time together, he might feel the same way.”
“Did he?” Even if her side of the story was only one she was telling herself, it might help if I listened.
“Yeah. Back in June, we’d come out here, have our fun, and he couldn’t wait to bail. But by the end of August? He wanted to stay for hours. We talked and he’d hold me. Sometimes, this summer, we came out here and didn’t hook up at all.”
“Sounds like he cared about you, Davina.”
“Not enough to tell me what was wrong. I didn’t even notice he was sad.”
“It’s not your fault.”
But I had something else on my mind. Come to think it, when Russ paid attention to me, I never noticed that he had any particular interest in more than a captive audience for his lacrosse lectures. It definitely wasn’t like he was hitting on me.
“Actually, when I hung out with Russ, he did act like he was taken.”
She flashed me a sad smile. “Yeah.”
Strange driving down this dark highway, thinking about the Russ I never knew, who played the piano and spent long hours on the lakeshore, cuddled up with Davina. Now I never would meet him, which was too damned bad. An ache rose in my chest, pinioned by dual weights of fear and dread. What if this is my fault? I couldn’t escape that specter, no matter which way I turned. You wanted revenge. Wedderburn offered. You declined. But what if he doesn’t take no for an answer? I’d thought it before, but with two casualties in this secret war, the connection grew harder to ignore.
I’m the common denominator.
I refused to believe it was Kian. Then I remembered saying Russ is such a total waste of oxygen. To the boyfriend who wore death and despair like a pair of black wings, shadows that prowled in his wake. You promised to trust him. But it seemed illogical to ignore the evidence; he and I were the only ones who knew what I said about Russ. Spies, someone listening in? But he said that gel guaranteed privacy. I pondered for a few seconds. Then he must’ve been wrong. Kian wouldn’t kill Russ just because he pissed me off. If my hatred was lethal, Cameron Dean would’ve been the first body on the ground. Still, it was hard not to wonder if Kian was lying … about so many things.
Putting those thoughts aside, I asked, “How much trouble will you be in”
She shrugged. “When I tell my mom he was my boyfriend, she’ll intervene with my dad. They’ll scream at me, hug me, ground me, send me to counseling. Then she’ll spend a week cooking my favorite foods and trying to keep me out of bed.”
“Will it work?”
“Probably not.”
“You’re holding together pretty well right now.”
My arm felt better at least, now that we were headed in the right direction.
“Getting us to back to Boston is my job. After that, I can fall apart.”
“I wish I could drive, but—”
“It’s okay. This was my idea.”
“Still, I’m sorry.”
There was nothing more to say, so Davina drove in pained silence. Every now and then, her breath h
itched, but her eyes were dry as she took us from New Hampshire to Massachusetts and back into the city. She dropped me off first and I hugged her, not knowing what to say. It was almost like we were sisters in sorrow by this point, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she switched schools and chose never to see me again.
“Thanks for coming with me.”
“I wish it hadn’t ended like this.”
She ignored that. “I’ll see you next week.”
Taking that as my cue, I hopped out of the car, in no hurry to climb the stairs to our apartment. If my dad’s response was anything to judge by, parental doomsday awaited.
It was the first time in my life I could remember getting in trouble. First Brittany, now Russ. How do I stop it? Oh God, how do I live with it? A whimper slid out of me as I went up the stairs. After I let myself in, I found both my parents waiting on the lumpy sofa.
“Edith,” my mother said.
Then something happened that I could never have expected. I would’ve been less shocked by another ice age. Both my mom and dad got off the couch and hugged me.
A DEMON, DREAMING
True to her word, Davina didn’t show up at school the rest of the week. The following Monday, Blackbriar issued an official statement that another student, Russell Thomas, had died, but they didn’t release any additional information or disclose that it had been suicide. I didn’t tell and I doubted Davina did either, but the rumor mill got word anyway. The most popular version was that Brittany had been cheating on Cameron with Russ, and when she died, he killed himself in grief.
If Cameron looked bad before, he was a wreck this morning. It looked like he had slept in his uniform and he’d given up eating and bathing. I noticed people circling around him in the hall, as if his funk might be contagious. This is exactly what you asked for, that tiny, insidious voice whispered. I squeezed my eyes shut and rested my head against the cool metal of my locker. My stomach hurt while my pulse pounded out a damning rhythm.
Guilty. Guilty.
The telltale heart refrain stretched my nerves to the breaking point. As the day wore on, the shadow over the school darkened. Mr. Love seemed inappropriately cheerful, whistling in the hallways and beaming broad smiles as if he could lift people’s spirits just by existing. He paused as he spotted me and watched me walk away, the smile fading to a whitened compression of lips. There was something horrible in his eyes, none of the studied and careful concern, more of a dreadful anticipation, like when a storm chaser straps into his van, knowing destruction is imminent.
Or you might be imagining things.
As promised, Nicole Johnson had failed a couple of quizzes, so she was always in his classroom: reading, studying enrichment materials, or doing extra credit. There was nothing overtly wrong with it since he left the door open and she sat at her desk, but Nicole didn’t look right anymore. Her face was pale, eyes blank and circled with rings. It bothered me most that she’d stopped tending her once-shining blond hair, so now it hung in lank strings and she no longer wore her uniform with sexy flair. That’s just not like her. But if I tried to warn anyone, they’d think she was just depressed and nursing a hopeless crush.
“Talk about giving up.” Allison spoke at my shoulder, studying Nicole with disdain. “It’s pathetic and embarrassing to watch.”
“What is?”
“Nic pining over Colin, like she has a shot.”
Like you do with Cameron? With effort I choked the bitchy reply because lately it seemed that every horrible thing I whispered came true in some form. I didn’t want to believe the horror was inside the house, so to speak, but if I was the source of the darkness at Blackbriar, then I had to keep my mouth shut.
“She looks sick,” I said.
“No shit.” With a curl of her perfectly lipsticked mouth, Allison brushed past me and headed to her next class.
But I didn’t mean it as she thought, not that Nicole was disgusting. On closer inspection, she seemed pale and weak, physically ill. Like something’s sucking the life out of her. I was willing to bet Colin Love was the leech draining her dry.
During lunch, I went to the library instead of the cafeteria. Unable to believe I was about to do this, I sighed and typed two words into the search bar: psychic vampires. Each time someone went by I covered my screen, guilty as a sophomore trying to disable the browser locks to look at porn. But I read all kinds of crazy stuff about creatures who fed on energy, not blood, and didn’t have the weaknesses associated with the traditional kind. They seem completely human, but tragedy, discord, and despair follows in their wake. You will know these demons because they are not born of woman and have no navel.
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” I tapped my fingers on the cubbyhole that held the computer I was using.
“What is?” Jen asked.
I jerked, surprised to find her at my shoulder and already reading the screen. Shit. My mind went blank, and I waited for her to head off to everyone how crazy I was.
“You write fic, too?”
I didn’t answer, and her tentative smile widened into a grin. “Come on, it can’t be worse—or weirder—than mine. I have like a hundred and eighty thousand words devoted to Draco.”
“Wow.” The light came on. Obviously I knew about fanfic, and I read it for my favorite pairings, but I’d never written any. “Uhm. Actually this is research.”
“For a story?”
Relief spilled through me, softening my locked shoulders. “You got me. I’ve never done any creative writing and I thought it might help to do some reading first.”
“It’s best to jump in,” Jen advised, perching on the chair next to me. “If you think about it too much, you’ll get nervous. Just make everything up and check your facts later.”
“Okay.”
I wasn’t sure if that was good writing advice, but she seemed really excited, so I put the computer to sleep and followed her out of the library. Break was almost over anyway, and she had a lot to say about my alleged project.
“From what you were looking it, I’m guessing it’s paranormal. I can’t remember if I’ve ever read about psychic vampires, but bloodsuckers were really popular for a while. Do your mind-leeches sparkle?”
I thought of Colin Love and his air of predatory malice. “Nope.”
“That’s probably best if this isn’t fanfic.”
“No, it’s original.” And completely problematic. I can’t take much more. If the opposition was behind this, then they were winning. Honestly, for me, that would be the best possible outcome, because it meant Kian hadn’t betrayed me, and I’d brought the darkness through the deal, not careless, malicious words. It would be easier to bear if that were so. If bad things were happening because of Wedderburn because I wished them true …
I shook my head and gave Jen my full attention.
“If you want me to look at it once you finish, I’ll be happy to. I’m in an online group, but it’d be cool to have a local crit partner, too. We can trade feedback.”
“If I ever do. Right now it feels like there’s no solution to my problem.” That wasn’t what I meant to say; it just came out.
“Oh, are you stuck on the plotting?”
“Definitely.”
“Then tell me your scenario and I’ll see if I can figure it out. I’m really good at this. There’s a professional writer in my group, and I help her sometimes.”
“It’s kind of complicated.”
“Then we can Skype about it tonight.”
Remembering Vi … and Ryu, I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea to confide in Jen, even on a theoretical level.
“Maybe. Hey, there’s Davina. I haven’t seen her since—”
“Yeah.” Her face lost the animation my supposed story had generated. “We should hang out with her.”
I nodded and headed toward the other girl. Though she had always been thin, there was a new air of fragility about her, as if one more blow could break her. The Teflon crew are dropping fast. The impul
se came on too strong to resist; right there in the hall, I hugged Davina and she gave as good as she got.
“Thanks. I didn’t see you at lunch.”
“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t know you were coming back today.”
“I didn’t want to, but my mom said a week was as long as she was giving me for a boyfriend I never introduced to her.”
That’s on Russ.
“I doubt my mom would give me a day, even if she did meet him,” Jen said.
“I need to talk to you two.” I’d never skipped, but we could hide on campus. The grounds were spacious enough that if you didn’t pass the gate, it was impossible to find you before class ended.
“I don’t want to be here anyway,” Davina muttered.
Jen didn’t answer, but she must’ve been curious because she followed me out. There was a steady stream of students walking between buildings, but I didn’t turn toward the Stinkatorium or the science complex. Instead I found us a quiet corner, nestled in the trees, out of sight from the main building. The groundskeeper was working on the other side of the property today, so we had some time. In the distance, I heard the final bell ring.
“So what’s up?” Jen asked.
I took a deep breath. Now I’d find out if they were really my friends. If not, my insanity would hit the fan and splatter all over school by the end of the day. The prospect didn’t even bother me, as things had gotten so screwed up that the idea of people saying mean things seemed like the least horrible consequence.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence, what happened to Russ and Brittany.” With judicious editing, I managed to tell the story without making it sound ridiculous. I concluded, “If you notice, it all started after that new teacher arrived.”
“You think Mr. Love is doing horrible things to students?” Davina sounded skeptical.
“I don’t have any proof,” I said. “But I’m concerned about you two. I mean, if I’m right and he’s taking revenge for someone else, then something bad could happen to you and Davina. In all honesty, Allison and Cam should be worried as well.”
