Too late, Lee remembered Raj’s clothes still torn to bits on the floor as though she’d ripped them off his body. If only she could make those disappear.
Mom’s eyes grew inside her head. “Why are Raj’s clothes in shreds on the floor?” Her forehead wrinkled. “Gray?”
It was the second time that day she’d been addressed by her former name. They’d agreed never to mention it. Gray—it sizzled over her skin like a burn. Fitting really. The day before her death. If this wasn’t a bad omen, Lee didn’t know what was.
“It’s not what you think!”
“Then explain it to me.”
“Raj and I were sitting on the floor doing our homework and then I suddenly turned invisible. Not by choice. When Raj tried to help me reappear his clothes burst from his body. We went to his mom straightaway. Similar things are happening to her and Aahana. I was afraid something had happened to you.”
Lee searched her mom’s face, but she was still looking at the tatters on the floor. “All his clothes ripped away?”
Lee looked away, suddenly wishing she was invisible again to hide the blush staining her cheeks. “I grabbed some of Mr. Morehouse’s clothes for Raj to borrow first thing.”
“And did those stay on?”
“Yes!”
“And you turned visible again?”
“Yes—I mean no.” Lee pulled the nazar out of her V-neck. “Mrs. McKenna gave me this amulet. Whatever magic’s at work, the nazar blocks it.” Lee took it off and tossed it on her bed. “See?” But Lee was still visible. “Oh, crap.” She snatched the nazar off the bed. “I need to get this back to the McKennas’. They made me take it from Aahana so Mr. Morehouse wouldn’t freak out. She’s under her own sleeping spell.”
“Wait,” Mom called as Lee started for the phone. “What if you turn invisible again? We’d never be able to explain it to your father.”
Lee fought back a grimace and narrowed her eyes. How her mom could refer to Mr. Morehouse as her father was beyond her. “I can’t just leave Aahana sleeping like that as though she were in a coma.”
“We should wait till we know more.”
Lee huffed. What more could her mom expect to know? Neither of them attended Gathering anymore. At least they had Raj to keep them informed now that he had been welcomed back home and back to their coven.
Mom swallowed. “I don’t want to chance anything tonight of all nights.”
So she remembered. Of course she did.
“Please put the nazar back on.”
Lee glanced at the blue eye in her hand and then refastened it around her neck. Her mom had never asked her about the silver vial below her throat. She’d eyed it suspiciously on many occasions.
“Mom, can you stay the night?”
Mom’s lips stretched to one side. “Daniel hasn’t asked me.”
Lee waved her arm in the air. “Make him ask you. Throw in an extra dose of whammy or whatever you’ve put over him.”
Mom bristled. “Daniel isn’t under a spell.”
“What?” Lee stared at her. “But the way he fawns over you and the way he was kissing you back there, just a moment ago…”
“Adults are capable of romance, too, you know.” She moved to the door. “I’ll call you first thing in the morning.”
“No! Mom, don’t leave me!”
That stopped Mom in her tracks. She turned, her face ashen. “Lee…”
Lee stepped past her mom and yelled into the hall, “Dad! Daddy!”
“What? What is it, sweetie?” He hurried up the stairs and looked beyond Lee’s shoulder to Ms. Perez.
“Can we stay up all night and watch movies? Ms. Perez, too?”
“Um…” Mr. Morehouse ran a hand through his hair. “What about school tomorrow?”
“I’ll skip.”
Most parents would abhor this, but Mr. Morehouse hadn’t wanted Lee to go back to McKinley High to begin with. He’d wanted to keep her tucked safely away with a tutor.
“Um…”
No one would recognize the stuttering father in front of her as Daniel Morehouse, star attorney and defendants’ worst nightmare.
“Daddy, don’t you know what today is? Ms. Perez’s daughter died a year ago.”
Mr. Morehouse’s face fell. He turned to Ms. Perez. “Marney, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize it was the anniversary…”
Lee regretted putting Mom on the spot like that. Her mouth opened and closed. Mr. Morehouse put an arm around her. “Of course you must stay. Good idea, Stacey.” He pulled his hand from Ms. Perez gently and started back down the stairs. “I’ll cue up Netflix. Stace, you’re in charge of popcorn.”
Lee hurried behind Mr. Morehouse. “I’m on it!” She raced down the stairs before her mom could utter a word of protest.
Someone had to ask. Besides, wouldn’t it be nice if Lee could wake up to her mother’s presence every morning? And Mr. Morehouse really was a decent guy.
Chapter Five
It was the first day of the rest of her life! As soon as the downstairs clock finished chiming three, Lee had declared she was tired and left a blushing Mr. Morehouse to make up the couch for her mom. Lee only wished her mom hadn’t snuck out so early. Lee left her alarm on so she would be up in time to call Raj and tell him not to worry when she didn’t show up for school.
It was a huge relief to hear Aahana had woken up, Mrs. McKenna’s hives vanished, and Raj’s clothes were staying put. The weirdness had passed.
Still, it was February ninth, and Lee planned to wear the nazar at least till the end of the night.
That evening, Raj stood over the cutting board, carefully slicing tomatoes before tossing them into the salad bowl. Whisk in hand, Lee prepared the balsamic vinaigrette. She loved these evenings: preparing dinner in her old kitchen with Mom and Raj.
Mr. Morehouse grunted from the dining room table where he was settled with his laptop. Ever since Lee had hijacked Stacey’s body and launched it out of a coma, he’d worked from home, except to meet with clients and appear in court. The laptop was like a welder’s shield—constantly in front of Mr. Morehouse’s face.
Mom, Raj, and Lee exchanged secret smiles. Tonight was a celebration of life.
Mr. Morehouse had tried to invite Mom out, but she wanted to stay in with everyone and prepare a home-cooked meal. And it truly was home-cooked. Lee had watched her mom hand grate the carrots and chop the veggies. In Lee’s opinion, she was taking the magical abstinence thing a bit too far, especially asking Lee to stir the béchamel sauce by hand, which took ages to thicken.
Making the spoon turn on its own just seemed like common sense, but Mom had cleared her throat and looked toward Mr. Morehouse. As if he’d look away from his laptop for even a second before dinner was served.
Lee gave the vinaigrette a final whisk, then started grabbing plates and silverware. The good thing about Mr. Morehouse being absorbed in his work was she could skip the whole pretense of asking her mother where various kitchen items were located.
The stack of plates clattered as Lee set them on the table. Mr. Morehouse looked up. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“We already told you, Dad, we’re at maximum kitchen capacity.”
Mr. Morehouse glanced toward the kitchen, then leaned toward Lee. She crouched beside him. “Thanks for being helpful, sweetie, and for being so nice to Ms. Perez.”
Lee straightened and smiled. “My pleasure. Ms. Perez is great.”
Mr. Morehouse looked into the kitchen again. “She really is.”
The view was soon blocked by Raj in checkered hand mitts carrying the lasagna to the table.
“Smells wonderful,” Mr. Morehouse said.
Mom followed with the salad. “I think we’re about ready.”
Lee dished up lasagna on each plate while Mom retrieved the garlic bread. They passed the salad around and were laughing about a criminal who’d solicited Mr. Morehouse’s firm after getting stuck in the chimney of a home he was trying to rob when the front doo
r flew open and smacked the wall.
Everyone at the table stopped talking.
Charlene appeared in the space between the dining and living room. As she took in each face, her eyes widened on Raj then narrowed when she noticed Lee. “What the heck is this?”
Mom dropped her fork. “Charlene, how did you get here?”
Charlene scowled. “I’m not Charlene. I’m Gray.”
Chapter Six
No one got up. Maybe they hadn’t heard Gray the first time.
“It’s me—Graylee Perez.”
Shouldn’t Mom be leaping from the table, throwing her arms around Gray? And why was Raj just staring at her? He was in denial. Still, it wasn’t as though this hadn’t happened before. They had to know she was really back.
Mom glanced deliberately at Mr. Morehouse. Out of everyone, he looked the least alarmed. Gray really wanted to know what he was doing there, how Stacey had gotten out of her coma, and—more importantly—what Raj and Stacey were doing dining together at her house! Gray hadn’t missed the way Raj scooted to Stacey’s side when she first walked in. The gesture was both intimate and protective.
Finally, Mom pushed away from the table and stood. “Um, Char, honey. Let’s go have a talk in your room.”
Gray ground her teeth together. She glanced over her shoulder as she trailed Mom to the stairs, but Raj made no move to follow them.
At least Gray had bought herself an extra nine hours with the time difference. She’d discovered she was in a city called Amiens. Luckily, it wasn’t too far from Paris. A cab driver had deposited her at the train station where almost hourly departures left for the city. For an hour, she’d sat watching small towns and countryside fly by until they pulled into the Gare du Nord. Gray didn’t have time to figure out the Metro, so she’d waited in the taxi line, then asked her driver to take her to Charles de Gaulle. Once at the airport, she’d handed over Charlene’s credit card and booked the first flight to Seattle.
Let Charlene deal with the jetlag tomorrow.
Mom hesitated outside Gray’s door. So she still didn’t believe her? Gray turned the door knob and walked in. She gasped. “Where are my things?”
The bed, the dresser, desk—everything was gone. The room hadn’t even been converted into an exercise or sewing room. It was empty. Gray clutched her stomach. “You really believed I was gone for good this time.”
Why wouldn’t she? It had been nearly a year. Obviously her mom hadn’t tried a resurrection spell twice; otherwise, she’d have an inkling as to what was going on rather than staring at her with crazy eyes now.
“Say something!” Gray said desperately.
Mom took a deep breath. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Tell me as much as you can. When did you become… Gray?” Mom pressed her lips together.
Gray’s arms dropped. She moved to the window. “At three a.m. your time I woke up in a cafeteria in France.” Gray snorted. “And I thought waking up in Charlene’s bed was bad. It was noontime there and all I could think was I needed to get home before the switch.”
“The switch,” Mom repeated.
Gray’s brows lifted. “I assume I’m under the same spell. Mom, what is it?” Gray’s face dropped. “You don’t believe me.”
Her mom looked her over. “I believe you. It’s just… impossible.”
“It’s not like this hasn’t happened before.”
“I know, but…”
Stacey burst into the room. “What the heck is going on?”
“My words exactly,” Gray said. Her eyes narrowed. Someone really needed to explain why Stacey Morehouse was in her house and now inside her room acting like she owned the place. Gray looked McKinley High Barbie up and down. “Aren’t you supposed to be in a coma?”
Stacey’s jaw dropped. She turned to Mom. “What’s going on?”
Mom walked over to the bedroom door and shut it gently. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. It doesn’t make much sense, but she genuinely believes she’s Graylee.”
“That’s impossible!” Stacey might be gorgeous, but her beauty was swallowed up by the scowl across her face.
“Why?” Gray demanded.
“Because I’m Graylee Perez.”
“I don’t think so.” Gray unlatched her window and wrenched it open. Before sitting on the ledge, she dug the Virginia Slims and lighter out of her back pocket and lit one.
The way Stacey planted a hand on either hip made her arms look like butterfly wings. “Now I know that’s not me. I would never smoke.”
Gray blew a smoke cloud out the window. “Neither would I. Thanks to Charlene I have nicotine cravings.”
There was a light tap at the door. They all glanced toward it.
“Who is it?” Stacey called.
“It’s Raj.”
“Come in.”
Gray glared at Stacey. “My things might not be in here, but this is still my room.”
Raj slid inside and shut the door behind him. He looked at Stacey. “Everything all right?”
Stacey huffed. “She’s insisting she’s me.”
Gray took another drag on the cigarette. She had to admit it calmed her nerves.
“Gray, honey, please put that out,” Mom said.
She pulled out the pack and stubbed the tip of the cigarette against the carton. Then she stuck it inside with the fresh smokes, stood, and closed the window—only because her mom had said the magic word: Gray.
“What’s the last thing you remember before waking up in France?” Mom asked.
Gray concentrated on her mom rather than Raj and Stacey huddled together. “You’d left town to meet your contact. Raj found out that Charlene planned to purge me so we enlisted the help of Adrian Montez to perform a body transfer. He located a body in Seattle that was about to expire.”
Stacey gasped.
“As we were headed out I was transported… here, home.” Gray looked around the room. She ground her teeth together. “By Ryan Phillips. Somehow the maggot managed to extract me from Charlene’s body.”
Raj took a step toward her. “Then what?”
“I didn’t cease being. Not right away. I was a spirit and I was floating. I went out the front door and began drifting down the neighborhood and then an idea occurred to me.”
Stacey swallowed. “You thought maybe you could transfer yourself inside another host.”
Gray nodded. “Someone who was already a goner, but not quite…”
“Gone,” Stacey finished. “But how can it be? How can there be two of us?”
Mom looked from Stacey to Gray. “But you never made it to Stacey’s body?”
“I don’t know what happened. There was no transitional moment, not like with the extraction. One moment I was a spirit, the next I was in France.”
“On the anniversary of our death,” Stacey mused. “That has to mean something.” She looked at Mom. “Would your contact know something?”
Mom’s jaw clenched. “We’re no longer in contact.”
“Why not?”
Mom walked to the opposite corner of the room. “Our connection is over.”
“So your second meeting with him didn’t result in this—whatever this is?” Gray asked.
Mom didn’t answer.
At first his voice was so soft the words didn’t register. Then, all three women looked at Raj. “I think I know what happened.”
Leave it to Raj to figure things out. Dependable, loyal, handsome Raj. Gray should have appreciated him more when she had the chance. It was obvious his loyalty now lay with Stacey Morehouse. Not only was this version ten times prettier, she had a ten-month lead on Gray.
“Adrian performed a spell on Charlene, after the purge. He poisoned himself and left town before he had a chance to realize that Gray managed to hijack Stacey’s body, but after the spell, he seemed to think whatever he’d done had worked.” Raj looked at Gray. “He injected himself with all kinds of po
tions then cut open his palms and Charlene’s and mixed their blood.”
Gray pulled her arms behind her back. Raj stepped in front of her. He lifted a brow. “Gray?”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. Even though he’d said her name, her true name, she didn’t want him to see. Gray had traced the lines of the scars, palms open, during the plane ride. Their meaning hadn’t registered till now.
Mom and Stacey closed in on either side of Gray. Raj pulled her arms forward gently. Gray’s hands were balled into tight fists. Raj took them in his own hands. His skin slid over hers. It was the gentleness of his touch and light tug on her fingers that succeeded in opening her fingers. They all leaned forward. Everyone frowned.
The letters were upside down to everyone but Gray. Her left palm bore the letter A and her right… an M. Adrian Montez. He’d carved his initials into her skin, as though she were his property.
Even Stacey looked at her with pity.
Gray yanked her hands out of Raj’s. “Wait until I get my hands on him!” Hands only reminded her of the markings and wanting a cigarette. Gray’s fingernails bit half-moons into the scars as she squeezed her hands into fists. “I’m going to need my powers back.” She looked from Raj to Stacey. “I’ll take those pendants back now.”
“What are those pendants?” Mom asked.
Gray answered before either Stacey or Raj could. “They’ve each got a vial with Charlene’s blood in them. They block her powers.”
Mom pursed her lips.
Stacey began backing away. “What happens when you turn into Charlene tomorrow?”
“I don’t think she’ll be turning,” Raj said. “Adrian saw to that.”
“Then what happened to Charlene?” Stacey asked.
There were blank stares all around.
“If Adrian caused this, he can reverse it,” Mom said.
“What do you mean reverse it?” Gray asked. “You mean send me back to oblivion?”
“Of course not,” Mom said quickly. “What I meant was we need to find out what happened to Charlene.”
Stacey huffed. “You can ask her yourself tomorrow morning. There’s no way Adrian’s copycat spell will hold up for long.”
Duplicity (Spellbound #2) Page 3