Lee grasped for the door handle. It wasn’t locked as she’d expected, but as she pushed the car door open, Adrian caught hold of her calf. The door shut and this time it remained firmly locked. His fingers slid up her boot until they touched bare skin. Goose bumps jumped over Lee’s flesh. She slapped at Adrian’s hand and he removed it, but not before flashing her the Cheshire grin.
“You’ve got two choices, Gray. I can take you home or we can get cozy in this alley. I’m hoping you’ll consider the alley. Just imagine the things we could do together. And you needn’t worry about going behind your boyfriend’s back. With your memory goes the guilt.” Adrian grinned. “Or did you make up the part about the boyfriend?”
“I do have a boyfriend,” Lee snapped. “You even know him. Raj McKenna. And he’s going to see to it you never cast another spell as long as you live. We helped you. And this is how you repay us. Big mistake, Adrian. Big, big mistake.”
But he was no longer listening to her. His lips curled back. “Raj.” Adrian threw the car into reverse and screeched out of the alley.
Lee was too stunned to do anything other than grasp the door handle. Her vision turned to haze as Adrian sped down the street. Speech was impossible. Her heart beat inside her throat. Lamp posts blurred past her. Lee tried to convince herself it wasn’t real, but unlike the hazy images Stacey had projected to her before departure, these were magnified. The tires spun over pavement. The car squealed around turns and accelerated down straightaways.
Lee knew how this scenario ended. And this time she wouldn’t wake up.
Well, she didn’t have to watch. Lee closed her eyes and tried to teleport. It was useless, of course; even with full rein over her powers she’d never managed teleportation. Trying to keep her eyes closed was useless. They were open so wide, her eye sockets ached.
They careened down a sloping road and entered farmland. The houses here were spread out, their windows lit from within like jack-o’-lanterns in the night.
The next turn was gentler. Then the vehicle lurched to a stop facing a field of cows. Lee focused on the pasture as she labored to breathe.
Adrian didn’t speak until Lee’s breath was under control. She couldn’t stand to look at him so she kept her eyes on the dark field. She no longer cared to know anything about Adrian or his past, but he told her anyway.
“I’ve had this body since I was eight years old,” Adrian began. “Ever since… the accident.”
If he expected her to feel sorry for him—for what had happened to him as a child—he could forget it. Any sympathy she might have entertained was wiped out, like her memory was about to be, by his erratic behavior.
Chapter Twelve
How did one with newly regained powers and her sister’s credit card spend the afternoon?
Shopping at the mall.
At least now Gray had a cell phone and a pair of plaid shorts to snap into before Raj picked her up. She layered black tights and a spaghetti-strapped tank top beneath her new ensemble, pulling a mesh sweater over the tank. Her shopping efforts were instantly rewarded when Raj showed up five minutes early.
“I’ll get it!” Gray called out at the sound of the doorbell.
Raj’s head faced the driveway when she opened the door. When his gaze fell over hers, he flushed, which was something of a feat given his dark half-Indian complexion. “You look good, Gray.” Raj glanced at her legs.
“More like myself, right?”
Gray might not have Raj’s ability to read auras, but the moment she’d opened the door, an angelic glow outlined his entire body. The sun had decided to make a cameo appearance—right in time to cast a shimmer of light over Raj.
Gray stepped onto the porch. “To Gathering we go.”
“Right.”
“Do you think Holloway has any idea what’s going on?”
Raj dragged his eyes from her legs and blinked several times. “Not that he’s sharing, but he must know something.”
“Here’s hoping.” Gray walked ahead of Raj to his car, which was parked beside the Beetle in the driveway. She could feel his gaze on her rear. Gray smiled when she pulled open the passenger door. “Still not locking your doors, McKenna?”
Their eyes locked over the roof and they stood a moment, frozen in place. Then Raj looked away as though snapping out of a fog and climbed inside. They closed their doors in unison.
Gray cleared her throat once they’d reached the main road. “Maybe you can catch me up on the past ten months. How long have you lived with your mom and sister?”
Her question had the desired effect of causing Raj’s shoulders to relax.
“I moved in with them a couple days after your purge.”
“I don’t see your Zippo.”
Raj chuckled. “Mom confiscated it.”
“Good.” Gray waited for Raj to say more, but he didn’t. If he was going to be tightlipped, then far be it from her to spill her own guts.
Finally, the silence got the better of him. “So, you really woke up in France?”
It was Gray’s turn to chuckle. “Yep—came to in a cafeteria full of French students.”
“I can’t imagine.” Raj looked sideways at her. “And you managed to get yourself halfway around the world with no powers? I’m impressed.”
“Yeah, first trip abroad. It wasn’t quite how I imagined. Maybe next time I’ll get to see something other than the train station and airport: like the Louvre or Eiffel Tower.” Gray looked at the strip mall outside her window.
“Ahem.”
“What?”
Raj jutted his chin toward the red traffic light they were waiting on.
“Oh, right.” A car coming from the left braked suddenly when his light abruptly changed. Gray didn’t want to turn the light green. She wanted more time alone with Raj before they reached Gathering. Gray crossed her right leg over her left. “So, you’re a senior this year. Have you applied to college?”
“Lee and I applied and were accepted into Burlington College in Vermont.”
“Vermont!” Lee and Raj attending university together!
Raj slammed on the brake when the next light abruptly turned red.
Gray’s cheeks heated and it had nothing to do with fantasizing about Raj’s lips on hers a moment earlier. “Vermont is so… far away,” she finished lamely.
Raj grinned at her. “It’s not that far. Much closer than, say, France.” Raj chuckled. “And it’s a beautiful little town. The college offers a unique hands-on experience and the school’s small: the way we like it.”
We?
There was no we! “We” was a two-letter word and Gray wasn’t part of it.
“Sounds great,” Gray muttered.
Raj shifted in his seat. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do?”
Gray’s jaw tightened so hard it hurt. Did Raj really expect her to answer his question? In her mind, she hadn’t finished junior year yet. In her mind, they’d kissed against a tree mere days ago.
Meanwhile, Raj had gone on to live his life without her.
“I’m sorry, Gray. I wasn’t thinking,” Raj said, as though reading her thoughts. The kind tone of his voice only made it worse.
Gray swallowed. “I’m glad you’re happy.” It sounded insincere. She tried again. Raj had been nothing but faithful to her from the moment she woke up in Charlene’s body on April first of last year. “I’m glad you’re with your mom and sister. I’m even glad you’re with me. Not me, me, but that we’re together in one form or another.”
Raj’s eyes danced. “That was something, the way you took over Stacey Morehouse’s body.”
“I try to keep on top of recycling.” Gray looked sideways at Raj and laughed when she caught sight of his grin. Then she sobered. “Is my mom happy?”
Raj went back to tapping the steering wheel. “She seems to be doing better now. It was a bit touch-and-go once she returned home and found out about Charlene and the whole murderous rampage. We all felt better after Charlene w
as sent away.” Raj stopped tapping and wrapped his fingers around the wheel.
“My mom doesn’t say much about her contact. I wonder why.”
Raj glanced sideways. “The kind of warlock who can bring a person back to life is probably not the type anyone should be mingling with.”
“Really? I personally want to meet this warlock who brought me back from the dead.” Gray really ought to have been careful what she wished for.
Chapter Thirteen
Gathering had undergone a vast change since the last time Gray attended. At the moment, it resembled a makeshift emergency shelter. Rows of cots dotted the lecture hall where pews had once lined the open room. It looked like a tent city for hurricane victims.
The space was cramped, not only with cots, but with duffel bags, blankets, and pillows.
Gray had to pick her way carefully around all the clutter and avoid being bumped into by chapter members unaware of the invisible girl traipsing after Raj.
“Shay!” Raj called.
The infallible Shay Baxter turned from the spot she occupied with their coven leaders by the podium and smiled when she caught sight of Raj.
Gray was free to grimace all she wanted without worrying how her face looked. A toddler sitting five feet away on the floor broke out into a wide grin. Gray could have sworn it was right after she made a face. He started crawling toward them.
Shay walked over. “Hi. Is she with you?”
Gray shot Raj a look then remembered he couldn’t see it.
“Yeah, Gray’s right beside me,” Raj said under his breath.
Shay nodded without bothering to look in the area Gray might be standing.
Gray felt a light touch against her ankle. She looked down. The toddler was grinning up at her. Okay, baby who could see through invisibility spells alert. Gray waved and the baby blushed, giggled, and looked at the floor. Gray stuck out her tongue and made moose antlers over her head. The baby’s laughter caught Shay’s attention.
She looked at the toddler and then at Raj. “Let’s go downstairs.”
As Shay led the way through lecture hall, Gray pressed up next to Raj. “You told her about me?”
“Gray,” Raj said softly, “Shay and Max have been in the loop all along. They know about Lee and now they know there’s a duplicate.”
So now Gray wasn’t a person. She was a duplicate.
Raj took her silence to mean something else. “Don’t worry, they’ve never told anyone about Lee and the body transfer she performed for herself. You can trust them.”
Even if Gray could trust them, it didn’t mean she was happy with them knowing about her situation. “Does Lee trust them?”
Raj smiled. “Not only that, she’s good friends with both Shay and Max.”
Great—one big happy, freaking family. Gray put extra stomp into the stairs as they descended. The rec room was usually reserved for chapter members eighteen and younger to practice magic. Now, the room had been set up as a dining area with foldout tables and chairs. A few lingering families sipped from paper cups. Shay’s boyfriend, Max Curry, was among them. Shay waved to him, and he joined them.
Shay led the way into a back room, barely allowing time for Gray to get in before getting smacked in the face by the door. “Watch it!” Gray filled herself in the moment the door was shut.
Shay looked her up and down as though studying a specimen under a microscope. Max was kinder.
“Hi, Gray, good to have you here. You’re just in time for the circus.”
Gray’s shoulders relaxed as she laughed. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“When did you get into town?” Shay asked.
And like that, her shoulders were stiff again. “The other day.”
“And when did you switch from Charlene into Graylee Perez?”
“February ninth.”
Someone ought to tell Shay Baxter it was rude to stare at someone for so long. Gray was about to when Shay spoke. “It’s odd that everyone’s powers went awry around the same time you came into existence.”
“The whole thing is odd,” Max said.
Shay pursed her lips. She still hadn’t taken her eyes off Gray.
Raj cleared his throat. “So, Holloway and the others have no idea what’s happening?”
“They’re being tightlipped about the whole thing,” Shay said. “But they have reason to believe it has something to do with an individual who broke into their homes last year.”
Raj shifted from one foot to the next and looked beyond Shay’s shoulder.
Great, so their cover was blown.
In her mind’s eye, Gray could still see the demonic grin frozen on Mr. Holloway’s face as she and Raj made their getaway. They’d been invisible at the time, but Mr. Holloway was a powerful warlock. Even the sleeping salts hadn’t worked on him. Maybe Shay could be trusted with other things, but not this. Not when she believed the culprits were behind whatever magical backfire was now taking place.
But Shay made no accusations.
Gray tried to meet Raj’s eye, but he wasn’t looking at anyone. Slowly, a smile tugged on Gray’s lips. She turned to Shay. “Any idea who did it?”
“Unfortunately not,” Shay said. “Mr. Holloway believes at least two individuals were involved.”
“You said break-in. What did they steal?” Gray asked.
Shay frowned. “That’s classified.”
Whatever. Gray had to bite down on her lower lip to stop herself from grinning.
Max cleared his throat and stared at Shay. She pulled him away and they began whispering in the corner.
“What are you smiling about?” Raj asked.
“You don’t tell Shay everything.”
Raj grunted. “Hardly.”
“Well, I for one am glad the Bobbsey Twins don’t know about the stunt we pulled over Kent’s coven leader.”
Now Raj was grinning. “Don’t forget Marc Phillips and Bill Curry.”
They laughed. Gray stopped abruptly, remembering Max’s dad. Of course Raj hadn’t told them. At least Mr. Curry had been the easiest of the coven leaders to pilfer from. He could have been the most challenging, as he was the only coven leader who was married, but on the night Raj and Gray broke in, he and Mrs. Curry had been asleep in their beds—unlike Mr. Holloway, who apparently didn’t sleep at all or respond to sleeping salts. At least Raj had managed to freeze him in place. Performing a memory wipe on Marc Phillips had been a cakewalk in comparison.
All so Adrian Montez could have his powers back and mess up yet another spell involving Gray’s existence. Fantastic!
“Max!” Shay said.
Gray and Raj looked over. Miss Perfect rarely raised her voice. Whatever they’d been discussing was apparently decided. Max shrugged, and the two walked back over to Gray and Raj.
“We should head up,” Max said. “Holloway’s going to be making his announcement soon.”
Raj nodded.
“Wait,” Shay said. “I’ll be right back.”
She returned a moment later with two paper cups and set them on a square foldout table. The liquid looked like water. Gray doubted it was.
“What’s this?” Raj asked.
“Blessed water. Some of the peer leaders and I have been experimenting all day. Since we have full control of our powers at Gathering we started working on countermeasures to the spell over Kent. We cast a spell over the water to ward off magical backfire. We’ve gotten it up to about four hours. Not a lot, but enough for people to get groceries and run errands.”
Raj’s entire face softened when he looked at Shay. “That’s wonderful, Shay. Our coven is lucky to have you.”
Shay’s shrug was not the humble, bashful variety. It was the “I know” kind. Gray gnashed her teeth as Raj tossed his paper cup back and drank the entire contents.
Too late, Gray reached her hand toward him, but the cup was already empty.
If there was one thing her mom had taught her, it was never drink anything a witch offered you
.
Gray bit down on her lip. The damage was done. She would mention it to Raj later, but not in front of Shay and Max.
Shay’s gaze turned to her. She lifted a brow. “Gray,” she said, looking at the second paper cup on the table.
Gray folded her arms over her chest. “No, thanks. I haven’t experienced any malfunctions so far.”
She watched Shay carefully, waiting for her insistence that she drink the water, but the girl only paused for a beat before enacting a couldn’t-care-less shrug and striding for the door. “Then let’s head up.”
What? Raj mouthed as they followed Shay and Max out.
Gray pressed her lips together and shook her head before disappearing. The rec room was empty. Now that the coast was clear, they’d all suddenly fallen silent. Gray trudged up the stairs, making up the rear so she wouldn’t have to worry about anyone bumping into her.
Casey, a warlock two grades below them, stood in the entryway, manning a table with cups of water. “Did you have some water?”
“We’re covered,” Shay said.
Shay, Max, and Raj’s reflections appeared in the glass of the double doors as they passed. Night had descended. Gray paused by the doors. Time to go. Wait, what was she talking about? They hadn’t heard Holloway speak yet. Wasn’t that the whole point of going to Gathering tonight?
Gray kept staring at the doors. When she snapped out of it, Raj was at the top of the second set of stairs entering the lecture hall. Gray took one last look at the night sky then bounded up the stairs to catch up.
Shay led the group to a set of chairs up front. Shay’s nose wrinkled. “People are going to notice if there’s an empty seat.”
“I’ll stand,” Gray said.
“You can sit on my lap.” When Raj realized what he’d said, his cheeks heated, but it was nothing to the way Gray’s entire body flamed.
Shay glared daggers at Raj.
“Sorry,” he said, looking at his shoes. “I wasn’t thinking.”
Shay straightened. “Don’t forget: you’re dating Lee, not Gray.”
“I’ll stand,” Gray repeated in clipped words. She focused on the podium.
Duplicity (Spellbound #2) Page 7