Brooke was busy detailing her vision while I brushed my teeth in the locker room after class. I’d had an unfortunate incident with black licorice. How could anything taste that bad? Thank goodness I’d stashed a toothbrush in my PE locker. While Brooke explained the ritual where Tab would likely endure any number of painful and degenerative effects, Ashlee and Sydnee Southern walked in.
Ever since we’d broken into their house a few months ago to evict an evil spirit who was haunting them—completely trashing their father’s gazillion-dollar mansion and reducing a stunning grand piano to kindling in the process—we tried to steer clear of the Southern Belles. So far, we’d been doing a bang-up job of it. We never really talked to them anyway. Why start now?
But they seemed more than determined to strike up a conversation. I caught on to that fact when they cornered us and said, “We want to talk to you.”
“O-okay,” I said, needing badly to rinse toothpaste out of my mouth. But I didn’t want to be rude. Or give them an excuse to slam my head into the sink like people did in the movies.
Brooklyn stepped beside me—strength in numbers—and crossed her arms over her chest. Sadly, the Southern twins were about a foot taller than us. And they were very flexible. I appreciated Brooke’s bravado, but if push came to shove, we would not be the ones doing the shoving. We might get in a gentle nudge here and there.
“You left this at our house.” Ashlee, or quite possibly Sydnee, produced a gold pendant of a mother and father with a child in their arms.
I gasped and snatched it out of her hand, eyeing it lovingly. I turned it over and read the word Forever on the back. It was the necklace Glitch gave me on the tenth anniversary of my parents’ disappearance. The one I hadn’t seen since … the night we broke into their house. Realization dawned. There was only one place they could have found it. In their own living room.
Playing it cool, I examined it, cleared my throat, then passed it back to them. It was evidence of our wrongdoing. “That’s not mine.”
Sydnee stepped closer. Or possibly Ashlee. They really needed name tags.
“We know what you did.”
I looked at the notebook in her hands, the one with the name Ashlee on it, and took it from there. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ashlee.”
“And even if she did,” Brooke said, planting her fists on her hips, “which she doesn’t, because why would she since there’s no way she possibly could, that’s no reason to get all up in her face.”
Not one of her better comebacks, but it worked. They both relaxed and Sydnee offered me the necklace again.
“We appreciate what you did for us.”
I took a mental step back. That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. Taking the necklace warily, I cradled the cool metal in my hand, then glanced back with my brows furrowed in confusion.
“The ghost,” Ashlee clarified. “We know what you did for us, and we appreciate it.”
Brooke looked over at me. Discomfort prickled along my skin. I shifted, not sure what to say.
“We thought—” Ashlee started to say something, then stopped. She averted her gaze, seeming embarrassed.
“We thought it was our grandmother,” Sydnee finished.
“The ghost,” Ashlee said, taking her turn to clarify.
But I already knew that. Poltergeists were nasty, manipulative things. It had somehow convinced the girls it was their grandmother, which was disturbing on so many levels.
I decided to fess up. No sense in trying to deny it now. “Sorry about the piano.”
Ashlee grinned. “Are you kidding? That got us out of piano lessons for weeks.”
“Your house is really nice,” Brooklyn said, doing a 180. She dropped her hands to her side. “Most mansions are, I guess.”
“Yeah, it’s okay, if you like that sort of thing,” Sydnee said, lifting one shoulder. She had yet to crack a smile like her sister. “Our dad built it for our mom. Lot of good it did him.”
My mouth thinned in empathy. “I’m so sorry about that. It must have been really hard to go through.”
Sydnee examined her nails, but Ashlee, the more outgoing of the two, said, “Our mom’s crazy for leaving Dad. Seriously, who gives up everything to run off with an investment broker?”
“Dad’s not perfect,” Sydnee said, “but really? An investment broker? I don’t even know what that means.”
I never knew the guy, or their mom, frankly, but I had to admit, it surprised me. It shocked the whole town. Quite the scandal. “Well, thank you for this.” I clutched the necklace tighter and went back to the sink to spit before I started gagging.
They followed me. And Brooke followed them.
“There’s more,” Ash said, biting her lip as though uncertain.
Curious now, I rinsed, wiped my mouth, then looked at the clock on my phone. Even if we sprinted, we’d never make fifth hour before the tardy bell. It was too much to hope another fight would detain the teacher long enough for me to sneak in again. I gave the twins my full attention. “What’s up?”
“We also know what you are.”
Brooklyn stilled beside me.
“Really?” I asked, a lighthearted laugh escaping me. “Besides a girl?”
“Yes,” Syd said. “And what Ash should have said is, we know what you can do.”
“Okay.”
Ash stepped closer again. “There’s something weird going on.”
Syd looked around, then lowered her voice. “Something strange.”
I stared cautiously as they closed the distance between us. “I’m getting that.”
Inching back to my side, Brooke asked, “What do you mean by strange?”
“A lot of the kids are behaving oddly,” Ash said. “Including Syd’s boyfriend, Isaac. That’s why we’re here. We thought you could maybe touch him.”
Isaac had been at the party that night. I remembered seeing him with a group of friends along the tree line, barely visible in the low light. One of the few people there I could’ve called friend, he’d smiled at me and waved.
“You’re dating Isaac Johnson?” Brooke asked, beaming with enthusiasm and suddenly tight with the Southern Belles. “That is so sweet. I bet you guys make the cutest cou—”
“Really, Brooke?” I stopped her midstream. She could go on for days.
“I’m just saying.” She frowned at me, then did the phone sign to Syd and mouthed the words call me.
Syd grinned at last, a shy smile that crept sweetly across her face.
I smiled too, then asked, “How do you know what I can do?”
They exchanged furtive glances; then Ash said, “It told us. The thing in our house. It told us what you are, what Cameron is, and what Jared is.” Her eyes rounded a little. “Please don’t tell him we know. We won’t tell anyone.”
“We swear.” Syd nodded, her eyes pleading.
“I promise I won’t tell him. But he’s a good guy. He won’t hurt you just for knowing what he is.” Their expressions were less than convinced, so I asked, “What is it exactly you’re worried about?”
“Isaac is acting strange. He’s been acting strange for a couple of days. I think,” Syd said, her voice lowering to a whisper, “I think something happened at the Clearing Friday night. I think he’s being bullied.”
Brooke and I both blinked and waited for the punch line. It never came.
“Wait,” Brooke said at last, “you can’t be serious.”
“Isaac Johnson?” I raised my brows, hoping to give them a clue. “The biggest defensive lineman ever to grace the halls of Riley High? That Isaac Johnson?”
“And he’s being bullied?”
They nodded in unison.
“We know how it sounds,” Syd said. “But he’s not the only one. There are more. Almost every member of the football team in OA is acting strange. Like they’re scared of someone.”
“Or something,” Ash added. “Ever since that night.”
To be in OA, or organized athletic
s, a student had to play at least one sport. Since football was over, the team still got together every day and worked out. And that wasn’t all they did. They still partied together. Half the team had to have been at that party. All I remembered was letter jacket after letter jacket.
“Has he said anything? Mentioned any names?” Brooke asked. “Talked about the party?”
“No. That’s the other strange part. He just said he doesn’t really remember the party. And now he won’t talk about it at all.”
Brooke and I eyed each other.
Syd wrapped her arms around her waist. “That’s why we thought you could touch him. You could do your thing.”
“Um, I don’t really have a thing.”
“That’s not what that ghost told us,” Ashlee said. “Not in words so much, but in images while we slept.”
Sydnee nodded. “It showed us things. About you. About Jared. We never dreamed it was possible until we saw the camera footage.”
That brought all thoughts to a screeching halt. “Camera footage?” I asked. As realization dawned on what she had to be referring to, my pulse quickened with a mixture of fear and denial.
“Don’t worry,” Syd said. “We told Dad the recorder malfunctioned.”
“But it didn’t.” A grin slid across Ashlee’s pretty face. “We saw everything. We saw what you did.”
“It was amazing.”
“Thanks.” I glanced at Brooke. She was still at the wide-eyed-denial stage. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? That you knew? That was two months ago.”
Ash smirked. “We were waiting for the right moment.” She got an evil twinkle in her eyes. “Like now.”
My jaw fell open before I caught it. “So, this is blackmail.”
“Absolutely,” Syd said. “Or, well, technically it’s extortion. Same difference.”
Ash blinked her long lashes and gazed at me from behind a pout. “You did ruin my very favorite piano.”
“You just said…” When Ash’s face morphed into that same kind of evil, I gave in. “Fine, I’ll give it a shot, but my visions aren’t really that reliable. I may or may not get something.”
“That’s okay,” Syd said, taking what she could get. “We just want you to try.”
I set my jaw. “And I swear, if I come out of this suicidal, I’m coming back to haunt you.”
“Deal,” Ash said.
THE SOUTHERN BELLE
Brooke piled her plate high with salad for lunch while I went for a more modest version, and Glitch and Cameron went for pizza. Shocker.
“You suck,” Cameron said to Glitch as he swiped at his pants. He sat next to Brooke with a scowl lining his face.
“No more than you,” Glitch said.
“What did you do?” Brooke let the suspicion in her expression filter into her voice. We knew Glitch too well.
“He spilled his water on me.”
Glitch chuckled. “Think you’ll survive?”
Clicking her tongue in disappointment, Brooke looked at me. “Boys are impossible.” She looked around. “Oh, the school paper’s out. I’m going to get us one.”
Everyone around us was reading the school newspaper, or at least looking at the pictures. While Brooke went to get us each a copy, I munched on crunchy green stuff with dressing. It was really the dressing I was after. Bacon ranch. Pretty much anything with bacon in it would earn the Lorelei McAlister seal of approval.
“Thanks,” I said when Brooke handed me a paper.
She passed one to Glitch, then asked me, “Okay, what do you think?”
“About the newsletter?”
“No. That’s just a ploy to make us look normal.” She held one up to Cameron, breaking his eye contact with Glitch. Cameron snatched it out of her hands and leaned back to glare at the paper instead of at the crazy boy who thought he could take Cameron on and live to see another day.
“Oh.” I nodded. “Good idea.”
“The Southerns,” she said. “What do you think?”
I picked up my paper as well, going for nonchalance. Like a spy might. “I think we need to check out their story,” I said, casting suspicious glances all about me. Like a spy might. “Have you noticed any strange behavior? I mean, stranger than usual?”
Brooke opened her newsletter and spoke from behind it. “Isn’t that what we’ve been talking about?”
“That’s true,” I said.
“We’ll just have to keep a close eye on things. Cameron and Jared said that they’d been sensing something for the last few days. Maybe Isaac saw something at the party.”
“Exactly.” I spared a glance over the top of my paper. “Something otherworldly. And suddenly that new guy shows up who’s really tall.”
She looked over hers as well. “Do you think they’re connected?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Tall guys and odd things are often connected here.”
Glitch finished up his pizza, then picked up his paper as well. Speaking from behind it, he said, “You guys look ridiculous. I was going to speak up sooner, but then what would I have to tell my grandchildren?”
He was right. We put our papers down, but I kept up the suspicious glances. They were fun. And I was hoping beyond hope that Jared would just happen to walk in.
Cameron was busy watching us from over his paper, his brows knitting like he was worried about us.
“Can you even read?” Glitch asked him.
Glitch had apparently become suicidal a while back, taking up the dangerous habit of taunting Cameron. He had to be suicidal to do such a stupid thing. There had been a tension between the boys ever since that Boy Scouts camping trip they went on together in the second grade. We just hadn’t known about the tension between them until a few weeks ago.
When Glitch got back from that trip, he was different. I couldn’t imagine what had happened on the camping trip that would cause Glitch to become clinically depressed in the second grade, but that was exactly what happened. I’d tried numerous times to find out, to try to get him to open up, but he refused to talk about it.
I’d only recently found out Cameron had anything to do with it, that he was on the camping trip as well. But Glitch knew how strong Cameron was, how indestructible. I could tell he was afraid of Cameron. Who could blame him? But lately he’d taken up the pastime of goading him, egging him on, practically begging him to start a fight. A fight he would be lucky to survive, though he’d probably be in a vegetative state the rest of his life.
And it was all about a girl.
I sighed in wonder. Glitch had feelings for Brooklyn, another fact I’d only recently discovered. I’d had no idea how he felt about her, that he had feelings for her at all other than friendship, until Cameron started paying attention to her. Now, it was all we could do to keep Glitch under control. Cameron could kill him with his pinkie, and he knew that better than anyone.
Brooke kneed me under the table and nodded toward Cameron. He’d stilled. He was looking past me, and when I turned, I realized he was staring at the new guy. He seemed to have made some friends. He was sitting at a table with some of the jocks, but they weren’t laughing or joking or even talking. They were just sitting there. All broody like.
Then the new guy’s gaze slid over to us and landed right on Cameron. The look on his face was one of glib amusement.
“What is going on with him, Cameron?” I asked.
But he didn’t answer. He just stared, his gaze calculating.
“He looks like a Neanderthal,” Glitch said. Then he turned back to Cameron. “You guys have to be related.”
Before anyone realized what he was going to do, Cameron grabbed Glitch by the front of his jacket and pulled him to his feet with one hand. Or, well, about six inches above his feet.
Glitch tried to fight him, but Cameron was nephilim. Which meant really tall. Really strong. And really fast.
“What do you know about it Glitch?” he said, the contempt in his voice evident in every syllable. “Did you learn nothing on tha
t camping trip?”
“Cameron,” I said, my voice a harsh whisper, trying not to draw any attention from the teachers on duty. “Put him down this instant.”
Brooklyn took a hold of one of Cameron’s arms and was trying to pull him off Glitch. She would have had more luck trying to punch a hole in a cinder block wall with her fist.
Unfortunately, the only person in Riley’s Switch who stood a chance against Cameron was not there, and Glitch’s dark, coppery skin was turning a disturbing shade of red.
“Cameron!” I repeated a little louder.
“Excuse me.”
We all turned and saw Ashlee Southern standing there, tray in hand, a shy reverence sparkling in her eyes.
“May I join you?”
Glitch was making these awful choking sounds that didn’t so much stop when Cameron dropped him as become more guttural. Cameron didn’t give him another thought as he turned to us, his brows raised as though asking us if Ashlee could join us. As though he hadn’t been choking one of our best friends nigh to death.
I was the first to gather my wits. “Of course, Ashlee. Sit down.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything important,” she said as she put her tray next to Glitch’s.
I couldn’t help but notice the sympathetic glances she kept casting his way. Maybe she was worried about him, which was only natural. His wheezing did seem to be growing louder. Brooke placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shoved it away. It was so unlike him.
She gasped, taken aback, but decided to turn her wrath on Cameron. “What the heck was that about?” she asked him.
Cameron continued to direct his scowl at Glitch. “It was about the fact that Blue-Spider doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.”
Cameron remembered Glitch’s real name only as a barb.
Glitch scoffed. “Why would anything I have to say bother you?” he asked, his voice hoarse. He looked over at the new guy, who was taking a singular interest in what was going on at our table. “Unless there’s something about this guy you aren’t telling us.”
Cameron seemed to calm then. “Just keep him away from Lor.”
“Then there is something you’re not telling us,” Brooke said, her eyes round with apprehension. “What is it?”
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