If Sophie hadn’t used my magic in her body,” Elodie summed up, “she would’ve been dead like, ten times by now.”
Okay, it was only twice, I grumbled inside.
Elodie ignored me. “And no,” she said, raising my hand to cut off Jenna’s next question. “I can’t possess anyone else. Trust me, I’ve been trying to get inside Lara Casnoff ever since we got here. Which…sounds really wrong.”
I felt my shoulders shrug. “Anyway, you looked like you were about to eat your own lip, and that’s totally gross, so I figured I oughta swoop in and put your mind at ease. Last night, when I was trying my hardest to possess anyone who’s not this freak, I overheard the Casnoffs talking. Apparently, turning a vampire into a demon seems like an awesome idea, so that’s why you’re here. No staking on the agenda.”
Usling Elodie as a spy hadn’t even occurred to me. Oh my God, this is perfect! I shouted. Well, mentally shouted. Of course! They can’t see you unless you want them to; you can go anywhere in the school, and-
Jeez, not so loud, she interrupted. I’m in your head, so use your inside inside voice.
Elodie went to brush my hair out of my eyes, muttering, “God, how does she live like this?”
If you promise to stop taking over whenever you feel like it, I promise to get a hot oil treatment, I replied, and she snorted.
Jenna folded her arms tightly across her chest. “So, what-you’re like, helping us now?”
My eyes rolled. “No, I’m on Team Take Over The World With A Demon Army. Of course I’m helping you. Mostly so that whenever this is over, Sophie can get back to important stuff. Like how to unbind me from her.
Operation Nancy Drew Goes To Hex Hall starts today!
Rachel HawkinsAt this time, all students are to report to the greenhouse.”
Scowling, I waved my arm through the spell. It swirled like smoke before dissolving. “Freaking drama queen,” I muttered. “How hard would it have been to announce that last night? Or to just do the voice thing?
I sat down on my bed, trying to catch my breath, as Jenna opened the door. The Vandy stood there, glaring at us, and my heart plummeted. They knew. They’d sensed magic happening in here, and now they’d sent the Vandy to come collect us.
I sat there, trying not to pant in terror, while Jenna openly trembled.
“You were told to report to the greenhouse,” the Vandy said, her eyes going back and forth between us. “Now, get your skinny butts down there.”
You know when you have the most inappropriate reaction to something ever? I was so happy that we weren’t being hauled off to be murdered that I burst out laughing. I mean, big, loud, honking laughter. Jenna shot me a panicked look as the Vandy’s scowl got even darker. “What’s so funny, Miss Mercer?”
I stood up on wobbly legs and did my best to stop cracking up. “Sorry, it’s just, um…”
“You said ‘butts,’” Jenna blurted out. “And Sophie’s got a really immature sense of humor.”
“Right,” I said, seizing on that. “Butts. Ha ha!”
I think if the Vandy could have murdered us right then and there, she probably would have. Instead she just thrust one finger toward the staircase and said, “Move it.”
We scrambled from the room.
Okay, so we have a ghost-spy.”
“A ghost-spy who can do magic,” Jenna added.
I nodded. “Even better. Which means that maybe the playing field is leveled after all.”
Jenna squeezed my hand, and I was actually feeling kind of optimistic as we approached the greenhouse. I mean, I wasn’t going to start skipping or anything (mostly because I was afraid I’d slip in all the muck), but all in all, I felt worlds better.
Through the glass walls of the greenhouse, I could see most of the other students standing in a circle, and I was in a good enough mood to joke to Jenna, “Ooh, wonder if we’re gonna play Duck, Duck, Demon.
I can tell you what The Eye wanted with Sophie,” Archer spoke up. He was grinning, but his voice was tight with pain. “We heard she was particularly skilled at Chutes and Ladders, and since The Eye holds a Chutes and Ladders tournament every summer-“ His voice broke on a cry of pain as Lara twisted her fingers, and the glowing threads of magic around him burned white hot for a moment. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming.
“Archer Cross is not only a member of L’Occhio di Dio, but he’s also a traitor to his people,” Lara said, moving to stand closer to him. “He represents the greatest threat any of us can ever face. Which is why he’ll be so very useful to us.”
Jenna slipped her hand in mine and squeezed my fingers as Lara said, “Today, we’ll be using Mr. Cross for practice.
Blindly, I ran to Archer, who was sitting on one of the thick mats we’d used in Defense. His elbows rested on his raised knees, and he had his head in his hands. I knelt in front of him, awkwardly wrapping my arms around his neck. He uncurled himself, pulling me to him. For a long time, we held each other, my hands fisted in his hair; his, stroking my back.
“I’m okay,” he said at last. “I know that’s hard to believe, but nothing hurts. I mean, except for my mind and soul, but those were always a little broken.” Gently, we disentangled ourselves and rose to our feet. “Your magic is awesome, man,” he said to Cal, who I just realized was standing at the edge of the mat, next to Jenna. “Although I have to say, now that you’ve brought me back from the edge of death-what, like, hundreds of times?-I’m starting to feel like our relationship is a little unbalanced.”
“You can buy me a burger when we get out of here,” Cal said, and as usual, I had no idea if he was joking or not.
I’m sorry,” I said turning to him. His clear hazel eyes met mine, and a tiny bit of humor flickered there.
“You say that a lot.”
Tugging at my Defense uniform (which was even uglier than I remembered; bright blue stretchy cotton was not a good look on anyone), I gave a little laugh. “Yeah, well, I feel it a lot.” Especially where you’re concerned, I wanted to add.
Cal didn’t say anything to that, and after a moment, started walking toward the house. I waited a few seconds before following. There was so much I wanted to say to him, but I didn’t even know where to start. Cal, I think I love you, but I’m maybe not in love with you, even though kissing you was pretty boss was maybe one approach.
Or: Cal, I love Archer, but my feelings for you are all confused because you are both awesome and smoking hot, and we’re already technically engaged to be married, which adds to the giant pot of boiling emotions and hormones I’ve become.
Okay, maybe don’t say boiling…
“You okay?”
“Huh?” I blinked, surprised to see we’d come to the front of the house. Cal was standing with one foot on the bottom porch step, staring at me.
“You have this weird look on your face,” he said. “Like you’re doing really complicated math in your head.”
I couldn’t help a little snort of laughter. “I was, in a manner of speaking.” As I moved past him and into the house, I resolved to talk to Cal like a mature grown-up person.
Eventually.
For now, I gave him a little wave and ran away to my room.
Okay, well, that sucks. But, Soph, guess what I saw today.”
I flopped across my mattress, toeing my sneakers off. “We’re on a cursed island surrounded by killer fog, and ruled by two crazy-ass witches. I really can’t begin to guess, Jen.”
“Lara, coming out of the cellar,” she said, blowing her pink stripe off her forehead. “And looking super secretive and suspicious. Well, I mean, more super secretive and suspicious than usual.”
Ah, the cellar. A dank, creepy place full of magical artifacts that had a tendency to move around. Archer and I had spent an awful lot of quality time down there last year.
It was always a shock for me to suddenly become Elodie. I couldn’t imagine how weird it must feel for the people watching it happen. But Jenna went with it. “Could you open the door using your magic?”
“Of course,” Elodie scoffed. Sitting up, she went to toss my hair, but my fingers just got hopelessly ensnarled. “Oh, for the love of God,” she muttered, trying to untwist the strands from a ring I wore.
There was a knock at the door, and I could feel Elodie about to swoosh on out, when Archer said, “Mercer? You in there?”
Go on, I told Elodie, but she didn’t budge. Thankfully, Jenna opened the door and immediately said, “Sophie’s here, but Elodie’s possessing her right now.”
“In that case, I’ll wait out here,” he said.
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