Nolan grabbed both her arms and flipped her on her back.
Meanwhile, Adrian stood back, doing nothing to stop him.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Much like Raj’s healing method, Shay Baxter didn’t touch Lee as she probed her brain. Not at first.
The two girls sat several feet apart on the floor. Lee was sure Shay must be getting somewhere—her eyes looked ready to pop. Things hadn’t started this way. At first, Shay hadn’t bothered looking at Lee, but then she’d begun to make little huffs and finally instructed Lee to take a seat in front of her.
Raj watched from a corner of the room. Lee’s mom stood nearby, and Mrs. Baxter was seated on Shay’s bed. Even Max, who had been studying at Shay’s desk, swiveled around to watch when Shay had Lee sit. “This is turning into a new challenge,” Max observed.
“Well, it’s not like there’s anything in there to find,” Lee said in Shay’s defense.
Max tapped his chin. “Not in theory, but if the memory is simply blocked, it’s still in there somewhere. Now if it was completely wiped, that’s another story. I don’t know if you can wipe a memory from existence, though.”
Max looked around the room, but no one offered their opinion.
The look on Shay’s face made Lee want to laugh. She bit her tongue. Frustration was a rare emotion for Shay Baxter.
Shay reached forward and took Lee’s head in her hands. She closed her eyes. Lee felt the tingly sensation in her head again.
Shay let go suddenly and groaned.
“If you can’t do it, no one can,” Max said.
That didn’t seem to do anything for Shay. “Out,” she said. “Everyone but Lee out. It’s too crowded in here. Your collective brain waves are interfering.”
That begged for one of Raj’s wisecracks, but he obviously wasn’t in the mood. Lee looked at Raj and smiled. He had the same frown he’d been walking around with ever since learning Adrian had performed a memory wipe on his girlfriend.
Raj was the first to the door, but he waited for the rest of the gang to leave before shooting Lee one last look. Then he pulled the door shut with him as he entered the hall.
“Now,” Shay said, pushing off the floor. “Stand up.”
Lee got up and stared at Shay, arms by her sides. Lee was trying not to think too much, trying to clear her mind and give Shay access to… well, not everything. Shay had made it very clear she’d only try to unlock the events surrounding the missing gap on Friday afternoon and early evening.
Lee stood stock-still as Shay circled her.
“I can do this,” Shay said to herself. “There’s got to be something in there.” She stopped in front of Lee and searched her eyes as though looking for organisms inside a telescope. Lee tried not to blink. “I’m going to try working my way backwards instead of chronologically,” Shay said, more to herself. The circling started again.
Lee was just about to tell Shay not to worry about it when Shay asked suddenly, “were you wearing a silver-colored knit dress the evening you lost your memory?”
“Yes!” Lee had to stop herself from stepping forward. Her friend was still circling her.
Shay wrinkled her nose. “It’s tight.”
“I was trying it on for Valentine’s dinner,” Lee said defensively.
Shay lifted a hand as though to silence her. It worked. Lee closed her mouth and let her friend carry on with the probing. Shay stopped circling again. “I see him! I see Adrian.”
Lee had to turn to see Shay. She’d stopped behind her back with eyes as hollow as a jack-o’-lantern. This had to be what someone looked like when they were hypnotized.
“The two of you are in Mr. Morehouse’s living room. I see Mr. Morehouse asleep on the couch. Adrian’s looking at him. He’s asking who that is. You answer, ‘my host father.’ Adrian snorts and asks, ‘what did you do to him?’ You aren’t answering. Then Adrian says, ‘oh, Gray, you’re a force to be reckoned with.’ You answer, ‘my name is Lee now.’ Then he says, ‘all right, Lee, take a seat beside him.”
Sometime during the narration, Lee forgot to breathe. The vacant look in Shay’s eyes spooked her as did her chillingly detailed narration.
“You’ve taken a seat on the other end of the couch. Adrian’s looking at Mr. Morehouse again. He asks, ‘does he know you’re a witch?’ You say, ‘he doesn’t know anything.’ Boom! There’s a crash at the door. It sounds like a battering ram. Adrian’s startled and goes for the door at the same time you reach over to Mr. Morehouse, rip off a corner of his newspaper, grab a pencil off the couch, and write quickly over the newsprint. You stuff the scrap under the cushion as Adrian’s pulling his head back inside. You pretend to run to the stairs and Adrian makes you take a seat again. He tells you ‘nice try,’ then says it’s time to put you to sleep before you can try and cause any more mischief.”
Shay stopped suddenly. Her eyes cleared.
Now Lee was the one with the eyes bugging out. “And?” How did this story end? And what happened before then? As freaky as Shay looked possessed, Lee was afraid she wouldn’t be able to uncover any more.
Shay allowed one quick self-satisfied smile before focusing again. “Stay put,” she instructed. She began circling Lee again. “I can do this. Now I’ll go back from Mr. Morehouse’s living room. We’ll find out how you got there.”
This time, Shay’s eyes went out of focus quickly, but when her mouth opened she started screaming. The door to her bedroom burst open. Raj and Max practically shoved one another aside to get in. Raj reached Lee at the same time Max made it to Shay.
“Are you okay?” Raj asked, studying Lee’s face. His expression was tortured, but Shay was the one suffering.
“Shay? Shay, what’s wrong!” Max tried to shake her.
“Shay!” Mrs. Baxter yelled, joining the fray.
Shay’s hands flew to her head. She fell to her knees and began rocking herself.
“Shay!” Mrs. Baxter shrieked.
Mom was the only calm one in the bunch: grim-faced, but calm.
Finally, the screaming abated. Shay stopped rocking and slowly lowered her arms. The look on her face was murderous. She stood stoically, lifting her head as though she were a queen. “That rat bastard,” she said.
They all stared at her wide-eyed. Shay Baxter never swore.
“Adrian booby-trapped your brain.”
“Maybe I can clear Lee’s mind of blocks,” Raj said.
Lee pulled back, frowning. “What if you clear away more than just road blocks?” She put a hand to her head. They were making her feel like there were explosives inside her brain.
“But if I lifted the blocks or the traps, Shay could get through without trouble, or maybe you could remember for yourself.”
“No way,” Max said. “Shay’s not going back in there. You saw what just happened.”
It was the first time Lee had seen the two warlocks face off. Lee shifted in place as Raj and Max stared one another down.
It was Lee’s mom whose voice broke the silence. “I think it’s time we located Gray.”
Shay’s eyes narrowed. “What’s going on with Gray?”
It wasn’t Lee or her mom who answered, but Raj. “Ms. Perez’s contact is out to destroy Gray—reset the balance so to speak.”
Shay flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Well, it makes sense. There can’t be two of Lee.”
Lee was about to address this, but Shay wasn’t finished.
“Even if it were possible to have two of a person, it would be a very bad idea. It’s unnatural.”
Lee kept her eyes trained to the floor. She waited for her mom or even Raj to protest, but all she heard was crickets.
“I hope it’s not too painful,” Mrs. Baxter said.
Shay huffed. “She probably won’t feel a thing. She was never real to begin with.”
Lee’s head shot up. There was no remorse on Shay’s face for what she’d said. That could have been Lee she was talking about. In a way, it was. If her mom or Raj di
dn’t hurry and speak up, Lee was going to do something. She wasn’t sure what, but something.
The something did not involve tears, but they pricked the edges of Lee’s eyes nonetheless. Angry tears! Now she knew. If the roles had been reversed, everyone she loved—her mother, her boyfriend, her friends—would have given up on her in a heartbeat.
In the end, the only person you could count on was yourself.
“Excuse me,” Lee said abruptly, storming out of the room.
“Lee!” Mom called.
She’d made it out of the house when Raj caught up to her.
“Lee?” Concern etched his face. “What’s the matter?”
Lee’s fingers balled into fists. She spun around and walked in long, swift strides to Mr. Morehouse’s car. “If you can’t figure it out, I don’t know what to say except that I’m leaving. Please give my mom a ride back to Mr. Morehouse’s.”
“Lee, please.”
The desperation in his voice stopped her. Lee loved Raj with her whole heart, which made their spat more painful. Lee turned, giving him one more chance.
“Tell me what’s the matter.”
Lee sniffed. Maybe she was going to cry. She blinked rapidly. Three steps. If she took three steps, she could bury herself in Raj’s protective arms. “You said nothing back there. What if I were Gray? Would you have given up on me so quickly?”
Raj’s eyes widened. His jaw and arms lowered. “Lee, I would never give up on you.”
Lee opened the car door. “You just did.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Being on her back was not a position Gray relished—especially not in combat. Now she knew how turtles felt. Gray tried for another knee groin, but missed by an inch. She squirmed, but Nolan was surprisingly strong for such a scrawny boy. Sure, he was tall, but he had yet to fill out the way Raj had.
Gray went limp suddenly. Her laughter filled the room. Fine, he had her arms and legs pinned? She would use her mouth.
Nolan’s lips curled back. “What’s so funny?”
Gray smirked as she looked at his face. “Poor, sad little boy. You’re right, Nolan, you got played. Tell me, did Charlene keep in touch after she left the country… after she used you?”
Nolan’s grip tightened around Gray’s wrists. She welcomed the bruising crush of his hands.
“Charlene did not use me. I used her!” Nolan was beginning to look wild-eyed. “I got exactly what I wanted out of her. Right here. Right beneath you. Maybe you want a demonstration.”
What did a witch do when physical strength wasn’t working?
Nolan flew off Gray and hit the wall, sliding to the floor like a pancake. He was spending a lot of time on the ground. Gray had moved objects before, but never a human. Nice to know it worked the same way. Too bad she didn’t have much time; she was just beginning to flex her powers. Gray jumped up and stood over Nolan. “Don’t you dare get up!”
He glared at her and planted his wrists on the floor to push himself off the ground. Nolan was flat on his ass a second later. From his position on the floor, Nolan punched a fist toward Gray. She braced herself for the worst, but it was Nolan who yelped and doubled over.
This magical backfire thing was coming in handy, especially as it did not affect Gray.
Gray snapped. The burnt T-shirt, jeans, and socks disappeared. For her own sake, Gray let Nolan keep his tighty-whities. Then, she defocused on him. If Ryan could manage to teleport Gray, as he’d done the previous year, she should be able to transport Nolan. In theory. Picturing Nolan in the student parking lot at McKinley High wasn’t working. Finally, she settled on the nearest intersection.
Nolan’s jaw dropped just as he vanished.
Yes! The momentary jolt of victory provided Gray with three seconds for self-congratulations before a swarm of fireflies appeared across her vision and she passed out.
When she came to, Adrian was holding the vial of salts under her nose. Her reawakening wasn’t as abrupt as Nolan’s. Gray’s eyes flickered beneath her lids. The deep pit of unconsciousness was not ready to release her. And Gray didn’t want to be released. She fought the pungent salts, clinging to the dark, but the smell wouldn’t leave.
Gray’s lashes fluttered. The first thing she saw was a look of concern on Adrian’s face. He quickly masked it once she’d come to. “That last teleportation did you in.”
Gray had to let Adrian help her into a sitting position. She stared into the room. She felt empty. “He’ll be back soon. I wasn’t able to send him far.”
Adrian rose from his crouch. “Do you love Raj?”
Really? He was going to ask her that now?
Gray tried moving her fingers. They responded by twitching. She needed to buy herself some time to regain her strength—if that was even possible after all of the teleportations she’d performed that day.
“It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t love me.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Gray lifted her head and looked Adrian directly in the eye. “Yes,” she said. “I love Raj.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened. “So you used me.”
“I asked for your help, that’s all. It’s not my fault if you built it up as something more.”
“Of course,” Adrian said, his jaw relaxing. He even smiled, which was never a good sign when it came to avengers. “You only care about getting what you want.”
Gray glared at him. Adrian was one to talk. He’d stood by as Nolan bruised and insulted her.
“I nearly died for you.”
“Somehow I doubt that. Besides, I didn’t ask you to.” Gray managed to pull herself onto the bed. She didn’t rest there for long. She wasn’t so weak that she’d settle into a spot on Nolan Knapp’s bed.
Gray took a step forward. Her balance held, so she took another.
Adrian blocked the doorway. Gray glared at him.
“If you try and teleport again, you won’t make it out of this room, and this time I won’t revive you.”
Gray summoned all her strength. It was fueled by anger. Energy pumped through her veins. A growl ripped through her throat. Raj had once told her that auras clung to people like mist over the ocean. Gray could have sworn her aura was projecting back at herself because suddenly she saw red.
The implication of what Adrian had said was like a hundred bees stinging her at once. He’d threatened not to revive her if she blacked out again. Was he so despicable as to leave her in Nolan Knapp’s bedroom, unconscious for Nolan to find when he returned cold, humiliated, and angrier than ever?
Gray strode past Adrian and scooped up her purse. She lined herself with Adrian and the door. “I’m only going to ask once, Adrian. Move aside.”
Adrian’s lips twitched. His smile was almost playful—about as playful as a cat toying with a mouse.
Very well.
“You don’t know where. You don’t know who.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed. Gray took a step toward him.
“You don’t know words. You don’t know you.” Gray began to babble at the conclusion of the spell; it was necessary if she wanted to keep Adrian under the fog of confusion. “Bibble, bibble, bap, coo, ka, sizzle, snap.” It wasn’t as convenient as a blackout, but it still worked.
Adrian stared at her and blinked rapidly. Taking a step forward, he looked around the room as though he’d never seen it before. Gray guided him to Nolan’s bed and sat him down all the while babbling incoherently.
Coming up with gibberish was harder than she’d thought, especially while she was trying to dig the needle out of her purse, remove it from its packaging, and stick it inside Adrian’s vein.
“La, la, la. Ta, ta, ta. Ra, ra, ra.” Gray yanked Adrian’s arm out of his jacket. “Rah, rah, ah, ah, ah; Roma, roma, ma; Gaga, ooh, la, la.” Good ol’ Lady Gaga to save the day. She turned Adrian’s arm over, wrist facing up, and squeezed his fingers into a fist. At least he wasn’t watching her. His eyes darted around the room as though trying to focus on something. At one point,
his vision began to clear as he stared at the action figures on the dresser. That was when Gray noticed she was singing, “I want your ugly; I want your disease.” She quickly switched back to, “Rah, rah, ah, ah, ah.”
Gray pulled out the rubber tourniquet and tied it two inches below his elbow joint. A blue vein appeared in a slant down Adrian’s arm. As Gray removed the cap on the needle her hands shook. The nonsensical chatter stopped briefly as she took a deep breath right before jabbing the needle inside Adrian’s arm at a fifteen-degree angle.
Gray pulled on the syringe. As it filled with blood, Gray became breathless. She hadn’t expected success on the first try. Dang, she was good. She looked at Adrian with a smile, only to catch him staring at her darkly. Gray shrieked as she was thrown backwards with such force, she flew right through the open doorway and into the hall.
Adrian ripped the needle out of his arm, which was a mistake because the tourniquet was still tied around his arm. Blood spurted from the open vein. Adrian clapped his hand around the wound.
Gray didn’t stick around to watch. She raced down the hallway and was headed for the front door when her eyes alit on the kitchen.
“Gray!” Adrian yelled. He stomped down the hall after her.
“You should wash that,” Gray said as he passed the kitchen.
Adrian whipped around. Half his coat dangled from his body like a cloak behind his legs. The empty sleeve reached for the floor. Blood trickled down his arm without a bandage to stop the flow. At least he kept his distance. “You are in for a world of trouble, Gray.”
Gray narrowed her eyes. “Yeah? Well, get in line.”
“What was the blood for, Gray?” Adrian took a step toward the kitchen.
“You know what the blood was for.”
“So it wasn’t enough that you used me. You’d betray me, too?”
Gray straightened up. She stood beside the kitchen sink, back to the counter. “The council left me no choice. You left me no choice! What did you think, Adrian, that you could hold a lightning cloud over Kent forever and strike down any witch or warlock who tried to use their powers? Now tell me which of us only cares about getting what they want?”
Duplicity (Spellbound #2) Page 18