“You want to know what I found out from Ryan?”
“Yes,” I said.
“He says it wasn’t Enid on the video at all. It was some human chick, some strung-out chick who’d shown up at the party just to try to score some free drugs.”
“Well, can we believe that?” I said.
“He said that sometimes girls like that show up, and that they’re supposed to leave them alone, but the other guys were trashed and decided to have some fun with her.”
“Supposed to leave them alone? Who tells them what to do?”
Lev furrowed his brow. “Okay, good point. I didn’t ask that. But it’s important, because it’s why Grayson took the video down. Apparently, Abbadon was all bent out of shape about it.”
“Is that an unreasonable reaction?”
“No,” said Lev. “It’s not. But Ryan said that Grayson took the video down because Abbadon made him do it.”
“Well, okay, but none of this really helps us, does it?”
“No,” said Lev. “Except for the fact that your sister put this girl in Grayson’s room in the first place.”
“What?” I said.
“Yeah, Ryan saw her. The girl was out of it, he said, seriously wasted, and your sister was with her. And then, she got distracted about something, so she quickly took her into Grayson’s room and Ryan heard her say she’d be back for her. Except your sister never did come back, because, well, something happened to her.”
Now, my mind was reeling. “Why would she put this girl in Grayson’s room?”
“Maybe she was leaving her there for him, like a gift-wrapped present.”
“No.” I glared at him. “You don’t know my sister.”
“I think you’re the one who doesn’t know her,” he said. “Whoever she used to be, she changed when she came here.”
I sighed. “Maybe she was trying to help the girl. She said she was going to come back for her, didn’t she? Maybe she was going to help her get home or something.”
“That’s a very nice idea,” said Lev. “I hope you’re right.”
“But you don’t think I am.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Look, I don’t know if there’s anything else we can do here. We should get home.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Lev. “The night is young. The booze is free. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Oh, fine,” I said, laughing. “Have fun, then.”
“Oh, do you want to know the girl’s name?” said Lev.
“Ryan knew that?”
“Oh, yeah. He showed me her profile online,” said Lev. “Her name is Naomi Watson.”
“I’ll look her up,” I said. “See you around.”
“Yeah, see you,” he said. “Be good. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I snorted before leaving the kitchen. I wasn’t sure if there was anything Lev wouldn’t do, except maybe make out with a girl, and I wasn’t in any danger of doing that.
My mind was spinning, trying to make sense of everything I’d learned as I headed for the door. I wound through the rooms, moving between drunken bodies.
Eventually, I emerged into the foyer, where the steps were. I could see the front door.
And someone grabbed me by the arm. “Hey, hold up.”
I tried to shake free, but I couldn’t. I turned around to face Grayson Diablo.
He grinned at me, and it wasn’t a nice grin. “Enid’s sister, right?”
“Let go of me,” I said.
“What are you doing here?” he said. “Rowena said she saw you coming down the steps earlier. Did you go upstairs for some reason?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. “I’m just trying to leave.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Phist says you’re clueless, but for all I know, you’re trying to pick up where your sister left off.” His fingers dug into my upper arm. “Come with me.”
“I’d really rather—”
Sparks of magic dug into my arm, cementing his grasp on me. He yanked me after him, and we went up the steps. He dragged me down the hallway to his room—it was the room that I had thought. He shoved me inside, letting go of me.
I went sprawling on the floor.
He stood in the doorway, leering down at me. “You want to admit it? Make it easier for everyone?”
“Admit what?” I scrambled to my feet, gathering magic into my palms.
He laughed. “Oh, look at you. You did a little spell. How cute is that?”
I raised both my hands, magic arcing off my fingertips.
He twisted his hand casually, and power flew across the room, hitting me in the chest.
I gasped in pain, staggering.
He crossed the room while I was working on choking out a counter spell.
He had a fish tank in the corner, and he used a net to scoop out a fish.
I coughed, recovering, having fought of his magic.
He crushed the fish in his hands and he began to intone something in a guttural language. His voice took on an echoey quality, and his pupils expanded, taking over his irises with nothing but black.
I knew what this was. It required a sacrifice. It was black magic.
Sure, a fish wasn’t going to buy a lot of power, but it wasn’t nothing either.
He opened his mouth and dark smoke poured out of it, heading across the room for me.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I crossed my arms in front of my face, tripping over the words to a protection spell. It was the only one I knew against black magic, and it took a lot out of me. I could feel my energy starting to lag the minute it left my lips.
The smoke surrounded me, but didn’t penetrate the area around my skin. My spell was protecting me.
In the distance, I could hear Grayson laughing. “It’ll wear down your spell, little girl, and then it’ll tear off your fingers and toes. Maybe your nose too. We’ll see.”
I wasn’t sure what to do. It was all I could do to keep this spell going, and it wouldn’t hold forever. I had nothing left for an attack, or another protection spell. I was screwed.
Was this how Enid died?
But no, because Enid had been demonlaced, and if I had access to that sort of power right now—
“When you said you wanted a piece of her ass, I didn’t think you meant it literally,” came another voice—bored, sardonic. Phist.
I recognized his voice? What the hell? And then my spell faltered because I was so pissed off at myself, but it didn’t matter, because the black smoke that was surrounding me was being sucked away.
I turned and Phist was in the doorway, holding out both of his hands, summoning the smoke to him, absorbing it into his palms.
“Phist, what the hell?” said Grayson. “She was upstairs. Rowena saw her. No matter what you think, she played you. She’s just like Enid.”
“Great,” said Phist. “So, when she goes to the administration with her fingers torn off, that won’t set off any red alerts to the Acclasia.”
“Oh, come on—”
“You know that after what happened with Enid, we all have to be careful.” Phist was angry. “And besides, Suther is mine. Didn’t I say I was taking care of her?” He cast a glance at me, delivering the next words while gazing into my eyes. “If anyone’s going to rip off her fingers and toes, it’s going to be me.”
Coldness washed through me, from the roots of my hair to the tips of my toes.
Phist grabbed onto my arm.
I shuddered.
He tugged me backwards and my body collided with his. It was like hitting granite. He was so very solid.
I looked up at him, struggling for breath.
He threw me behind him, at the door. “Go, you idiot.”
I stumbled, tangled up in my feet, falling face first.
Phist was across the room, finger in Grayson’s face. “You come to me next time it has anything to do with her, okay, Diablo?”
“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Mephistopheles,” said Grayso
n, seething.
I got to my feet and hobbled into the hall. I’d landed badly on my ankle. It hurt. I knew a couple spells to take away pain, but I didn’t think I had the energy for one right now.
“They’re not,” said Phist. “It’s not a big deal, it’s just—”
“She’s yours, yeah, I hear you. Whatever.”
Phist stalked out of the room, slamming the door. He bared his teeth at me.
I balled my hands into fists. “What are you looking at?”
“You going to thank me?” His eyes flashed.
“For what?”
“For saving you. What the hell are you doing here?”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened to Enid?” I said. “Did you kill her?”
“Yes,” he hissed, his expression venomous.
It went through me like a hot blade. I gasped. I couldn’t believe how much it hurt to hear him say that.
He took me by the arm again, and he dragged me down the steps. “She was very brave at the end, very noble, you want to hear that? She wouldn’t say a word about those she was trying to protect. But in the end it didn’t matter, because she died anyway.”
I struggled, but he held me fast.
We made it down the steps, and he yanked me across the foyer, people at the party moving out of our way with wide eyes.
Tears stung my eyes. “Why?”
He opened the door and pushed me outside. “It wasn’t on purpose. It just happened.”
“What?” My voice was thick with tears, and I hated myself for being so weak, for being so affected. “You’re just making shit up. I don’t even believe you.”
His jaw twitched. “Go home, Suther. Go back to your aunt and uncle. Leave this place. This is a bad place. Do you even understand that?”
“No,” I said. “I can’t.” My voice broke.
He eyed me. “Grayson Diablo would break you in ways you can’t even imagine, all for the fun of it. Stay away from him. Stay away from this house. I told you that you weren’t my problem anymore, didn’t I? Next time, I’ll let him do whatever he wants to you.”
“I don’t need your protect—”
But he slammed the door in my face before I could even finish the sentence.
* * *
“I told you, you’ve got it bad for him,” said Lev. It was Monday afternoon, and I had spent all morning at my first-year classes before heading to the dining hall for lunch. I had been eating when Lev had sat down next to me, asking questions.
He hadn’t come to see me Sunday, and I hadn’t sought him out. We were both recovering. Him with a regular hangover and me with a magic one. Using all that power the night before when fighting off Grayson had taken it out of me. Countering black magic was hell.
“I don’t have it bad for anyone,” I said into my roast beef sandwich, which wasn’t that good. I was still stuffing it into my face as quick as I could, though, because I was starving. It was hell trying to get my strength back up.
“He admitted that he killed Enid,” said Lev. “That’s not enough for you?”
“There’s more to it,” I said. “I don’t understand it all. Besides, I think he was lying to me.”
Lev laughed. “Are you serious?”
“That stuff he said about Enid protecting people and being noble, it doesn’t jive with everything else. I’m getting the feeling that Enid was doing something bad to the Circle.”
“You’re reaching, sweetheart.”
“Phist called her trash. They’re all worried that I know whatever it was that she knew. I think… I don’t know, maybe Enid found out something, something they want to keep secret, and then she, um, she threatened to tell people about it. I think it has something to do with that girl, Naomi.”
“Come on, where is this coming from?”
“Naomi’s online profile? It’s dead. She hasn’t posted since last May. Guess what the last date is that she posted?”
“The day of the party?” said Lev, understanding dawning in his expression.
“Exactly,” I said. “See, look.” I took out my phone. “She’s got something the day before about Professor Abbadon.” I showed him.
Lev looked over the post, which was a picture of Abbadon raising a glass of beer at the camera. Welcomed by the locals to Westfield, read the status update. “So, she was drinking in town with Professor Abbadon the night before, huh? Well, Abaddon does go out in town sometimes. He even drinks with some of the upperclassmen.”
“She just got to town,” I said. “She meets Abbadon, then she ends up at a Black Circle party, and then she disappears. Enid was trying to get her out of there. This is something.”
“But what?” said Lev.
“Maybe… some kind of black magic,” I said. “Aren’t there really dark, really powerful spells that require human sacrifice?”
“No one does human sacrifice, Suther. It’s forbidden by the Acclasia.”
“Yeah, and Phist said something about the Acclasia having a red alert if Grayson hurt me, because after what happened to Enid, they all needed to be careful.” I stuffed the last piece of my sandwich in my mouth and began attacking my fries.
Lev was thinking about this. He sat back in his chair. “I don’t know. You might be onto something.”
“So, I’m thinking about going to Abbadon with it, see if he remembers Naomi. He’s the faculty sponsor, right? He was able to make Grayson take down the video. He’s got to have some power over them. If he thinks they’re doing human sacrifice, then maybe he could stop them.”
“That’s assuming he’s not involved,” said Lev.
“But last night, he seemed…” I trailed off. Everything I knew about this world was corruption. Why should I think the teachers would be different? “Okay, well, maybe I’ll just go and feel him out. See how he reacts when I mention her name.”
“That sounds crazy dangerous. If he is involved, and he has power from human sacrifice, he could, like, vaporize you. Especially since you’re not even laced.”
“I guess I should wait until I feel better,” I said. “I really need to recharge.”
* * *
When I got back to my dorm after lunch, the door was open.
I pushed it open, annoyed. “We’ve got to have a conversation about breaking and entering.”
Phist was sprawled out on my couch. He had his hair in a bun at the back of his neck, but strands of it were falling in his face. He gazed up at me from beneath his thick, dark lashes. He was wearing a leather jacket and a pair of ripped jeans.
“It’s rude,” I said, shutting the door. “Not only that, it’s a crime. You should call before you come over. When you get to someone’s house, you should knock. If no one answers, you should wait outside.”
“You don’t even have any spells on your door,” he said. “It’s really adorable how trusting you are.”
I glowered at him. “Why are you here?”
“We have a project to do together,” he said. “You, being the inexperienced first year, will benefit from my knowledge and experience.”
“No way,” I said. “You care about this project?”
“I don’t know if you know this about me, but the only reason I’m in this school is because of a scholarship. If my grades slip, I get kicked out. And I have nowhere else to go, so…” He shrugged at me, giving me a half-smile. “Not all of us are lucky enough to have aunties and uncles who will raise us.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, you’re really suffering these days. Poor little charity case.”
“Not all of us got left big fat trusts by our parents either,” he said, getting off the couch.
“Yeah, well one of us admitted to killing my sister, so if you’re trying to make me feel sorry for you—”
“I didn’t so much kill her as much as I didn’t stop her from dying,” he said. “I do feel guilty about that.” He crossed the room to me. “I didn’t really like your sister, but I cared a lot about someone who did like her. Who loved her. So… I
mean, she didn’t have to die.”
“If you’re going to say stuff like this to me, why don’t you just tell me everything?”
He studied his fingernails, thinking about it. “Can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Just can’t,” he said, and now he was glaring at me. “Look, I’d rather you didn’t die, too. I don’t exactly know why, but apparently, I do. So…” He sighed. “We do this project, we’ll be around each other a good portion of the time, and I can make sure you’re not getting into trouble.”
“I really don’t need you looking out for me. And I don’t want to be around you.”
“Too bad,” he said. He crossed the room and opened the door. He gestured with his head. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“To work on the project, of course,” he said. “I have a line on a place where we can find out about transmogrify.”
“You don’t already know about transmogrify?”
“Never done it before,” he said. “That’s why it’s the project this semester. They tend to pick things no one knows how to do. It’s supposed to be a challenge.”
I sighed. “How do I know you’re not going to take me somewhere and kill me, like you did Enid?”
He shrugged. “I guess you don’t. But if I was going to kill you, I doubt I’d take you someplace. I’d just do it here, in your room. Maybe on your bed.”
My mouth was dry. “That’s just… You’re awful.”
“You can insult me on the way,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Well, maybe I could get him to give me more information on Enid if we spent some time together. I squared my shoulders. “Fine.” I stalked out of the door.
He pulled it shut, closing us both into the hallway. Even though I was out of the enclosed space of my room, I still felt as if I’d somehow gotten myself trapped. “You got your keys?”
“Did you lock the door?” I said.
The Circle Page 6