So that was what this was about. Harvey tried to yank free of Luke’s hold on his arm, but Luke’s grip was tight. Harvey felt that cold, creeping feeling of magic, making every sense revolt, telling him that these were enemies, that—
Nick glanced at Luke’s hand and gave a casual whistle. Luke removed his hand.
“Let the mortal be, Luke,” said Ambrose.
Luke wheeled on his boyfriend. “Whose side are you on?”
Ambrose smiled. “Sabrina’s. I thought I’d made that clear.”
“Ugh, Sabrina,” muttered Luke.
He seemed surprised to be glared at from three different directions.
“Not sure this is the right crowd for complaints about my cousin,” Ambrose said, a note of steel in his voice.
“I mean …” said Luke. “I like Sabrina, of course. She’s a lot of trouble for such a tiny person, but Father Blackwood says she’d have promise if she learned her place.”
“He sounds like an idiot,” said Harvey.
Nick and Ambrose looked amused. Luke looked offended.
“You insolent mortal—” Luke began.
“Farm boy,” Nick interrupted. “Hold my blue drink.”
Harvey blinked at him. “Why?”
“I don’t want to risk spilling my blue drink. You hold on to it. You, come here.”
He growled the command at Luke, snapped his fingers, and stalked away. Luke followed him as though pulled by an invisible but inescapable leash.
“Please return my boyfriend mostly unharmed,” Ambrose called after them. He didn’t sound unduly concerned. Indeed, he was still grinning. “I like that Nick boy. He’s got big witch energy.”
“Sorry?” asked Harvey.
Luke and Nick were now standing at the doors of the theater. Nick was making several gestures, one of which was a graphic throat-cutting gesture.
“While they’re having their little chat,” said Ambrose blithely, “I’ve always thought you were a nice boy.”
“Have you?” Harvey was startled. “I never thought you liked me much.”
“I don’t,” said Ambrose. “I find nice boys basically uninteresting. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder what a nice boy is doing hanging around Mister Tall, Dark, and Feral.”
“He’s not that tall,” said Harvey.
Ambrose laughed. “You take my point.”
Harvey shrugged uncomfortably. “He asked for my help. He wants to—get to know Sabrina better.”
“I’m sure he does,” said Ambrose. “Word on the Academy bathroom wall says Nick’s running out of students.”
“Yeah, it, um, sounds like witches are very adventurous in that area,” said Harvey.
“Not my auntie Hilda,” said Ambrose. “Satan preserve her sweet soul. Think she’s a bit shy. Most of us are intrepid sexual explorers, yes. Myself most definitely included. Nick’s a special case, though. From what Luke says, one has to wonder when he sleeps.”
Prudence had made similar remarks. The whole situation seemed slightly concerning to Harvey, but it wasn’t as if he was an expert.
“Maybe he was—looking for a connection,” said Harvey. “Nick told me he really likes Sabrina.”
“Why would you believe him? Here’s the thing about witches,” murmured Ambrose. “We are a good-looking but not a trustworthy people.”
It wasn’t easy to articulate, but he felt Sabrina’s cousin should know.
“On the night of the ghosts, Sabrina sent him to me,” Harvey said, in a halting voice. “He said, ‘She asked. So I came.’ Then he looked for me, to tell him how she’d want him to behave. He’s yelling at Luke now because Luke was insulting Sabrina. Nick doesn’t act as if all of Sabrina’s experiences so far—the things that make her who she is—don’t matter. I’ve loved Sabrina since I was five years old. It’s the one thing I can do really well. I know when someone likes Sabrina. He does.”
Ambrose crossed his arms, leaving his popcorn floating in the air beside him. Harvey tried to shield the popcorn from the view of the populace.
“That’s oddly convincing,” Ambrose remarked. “Even if Nick does like Sabrina with a like that is pure and true, though, why commit an act of romantic self-sabotage and help him? You do realize this behavior is insane.”
“Yeah,” Harvey admitted. “I hate the thought of Sabrina finding out about it.”
“So why do this, then? What’s in it for you?”
“My brother is dead.”
Harvey’s voice cracked. People were looking at them. He’d thought Nick was the one who would make a scene, but apparently not.
“Witches did it,” Harvey continued, forcing himself to speak more quietly. “Now that I know about Sabrina, I’ve been able to put some pieces together. She called me once, and her voice was shaking. She was really upset. Bad things were happening to her at the Academy, right?”
Ambrose nodded. He’d stopped smiling entirely.
“I don’t know how bad things are at the Academy. I don’t know what signing this Book did to her. All I know is, she’s in danger, and I can’t bear the idea of anything happening to another person I love. I can’t do anything for her. He can. All I want is for her to be okay.”
That was a lie. All he wanted was to be able to help her. Ambrose leaned back against the poster of the cartoon bee. “Maybe you could do something for her.”
Harvey shook his head. “I’m not going to be with her. She made that clear. If she’s going to be with someone else, it should be someone who respects her and cares about her.”
She’d said it was dangerous to be together, but Harvey couldn’t help thinking if she really wanted him, she would have taken him back. Maybe she wanted somebody else. Someone better, smarter, more exciting than he was. There was something between her and Nick. Maybe Sabrina had seized the excuse to stay broken up.
Ambrose’s voice was light. “Even if it breaks your heart?”
Harvey swallowed past the painful lump in his throat. “It does break my heart. That doesn’t matter. Sabrina is what matters. And what do you care about my heart? You never thought I was good enough for her.”
There was a silence.
“No,” Ambrose agreed. “I never did. I still don’t. But maybe you’re a little better than I thought.”
Harvey wasn’t sure why Ambrose would say that. Maybe he only felt sorry for Harvey. It was still nice.
Ambrose reached out and took hold of Harvey’s shoulder in a brief warm grasp.
“I’m sorry about your brother, Harvey.”
Harvey cleared his throat and managed to offer: “Tommy always said you were a cool guy.”
“Did he?” Ambrose’s smile was pleased but puzzled. “I never really knew him. I suppose I don’t know you that well either. Witches keep our distance from mortals. They don’t last.”
Harvey eyed Ambrose apprehensively. “How old are you?”
“Older than you,” said Ambrose. “The wages of sin are life practically eternal. But we still lose people. Neither love nor magic can save them. My father was killed by witch-hunters.”
Harvey gazed at Ambrose in utter dismay. Harvey’d thought of his family’s horrible past as ancient history. Not something that came this close.
Ambrose’s smile stayed in place. “Luke has his reasons for how he behaves. The witches have their reasons for steering clear of mortals, and the hunters above all. We have something in common. I want Sabrina to be safe more than anything.”
Harvey looked at the floor. “I’m sorry about your dad.”
“It was a long time ago,” Ambrose said, then nodded at something behind Harvey. “Hark, my date has returned to me through various terrible dangers. Hey, honey. Hey, various terrible dangers.”
Nick smirked, taking his slushie back. “Hey.”
Luke looked extremely fed up with life. When Ambrose laced their fingers together and led him toward the cinema doors, he seemed relieved to escape. Nick was drinking his blue drink and looking even more self-satisfie
d than usual.
“Luke goes to Invisible Academy, I guess?” Harvey said.
Nick nodded. “We hate Luke.”
Harvey thought of Ambrose saying Luke had his reasons. “I don’t know Luke.”
“He belongs to an organization run by Father Blackwood. It’s dedicated to the idea that warlocks are better than witches.”
“Wow, we do hate Luke,” said Harvey.
He glared after Luke, who caught the glare and looked even more outraged by the night’s events.
“Sorry,” Harvey added. “I thought you might have a problem with who Luke was dating.”
Nick seemed bewildered. “Why? Ambrose is the best thing about Luke, and even dating someone for long isn’t like Luke. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Luke had taken a love potion, but even Luke isn’t dumb enough to not test his food and drink.”
Harvey snorted. “I’m sure Ambrose doesn’t need to give anyone love potions. Come on. We’ve already missed the previews.”
“What are previews?” Nick asked.
“Not one of the better mortal inventions,” said Harvey, heading for the theater.
It occurred to Harvey that he should mention Sabrina liked seeing trailers so she could plan for future viewing experiences. But he wasn’t Nick and Sabrina’s social secretary. This whole situation was humiliating and heartbreaking enough. Sabrina could tell Nick herself.
The theater was already pretty packed, and they had to negotiate their way in through the filled seats. They ended up sitting next to Linda Tapper and her mom. Harvey was sure Linda was too young to see this movie.
Nick gazed around at the audience with an air of anthropological interest.
“That mortal is yawning elaborately even though he doesn’t look tired.”
“Keep your voice down.”
Nick lowered his voice. “Now he’s stretching, and he’s put his arm on the back of the chair next to him. There’s a girl in it. Oh, I see what’s going on.”
It was extremely obvious what was going on, but maybe not to someone who’d never been in a movie theater before.
“Yeah, that’s kind of—a mortal dating thing. Like, especially if you’re teenagers or you haven’t been dating that long. Or both, I guess.”
Nick surveyed the theater with a critical eye.
“Ambrose is doing it,” Nick reported.
“Yeah, he’s doing it ironically,” Harvey explained. “Because he’s cool.”
“Did you used to do it with Sabrina?”
The memory hit like a truck. How nervous he’d been, the first time he tried, and how happy when she snuggled against him.
“Yeah,” Harvey admitted. “Not ironically. I’m not really cool.”
Sabrina never seemed to mind.
Ambrose had his arm around Luke, but he was still looking over at them and grinning. Ambrose seemed eternally amused by the world.
“So you hate Luke,” said Harvey. “But you get along with Ambrose, right?”
“I like Ambrose,” said Nick. “I like everything that belongs to Sabrina. I don’t know him very well, but Ambrose does seem cool.”
“I guess you ran into him at Sabrina’s house.”
Sabrina’s family were never welcoming to Harvey, but he bet a red carpet would be laid out for a warlock boy. Nick had probably been invited to dinner.
“Yes,” Nick agreed. “We had a group encounter in Ambrose’s room.”
“Okay,” said Harvey slowly. “You might want to clarify that. It almost sounds as if you mean …”
Nick raised an eyebrow.
Harvey choked on his popcorn.
“Mortal? You all right?”
Harvey didn’t answer, because he was choking on his popcorn. He couldn’t breathe. He heard Nick murmuring a quick spell. He felt a chill of fear, the hair standing up at the back of his neck. Magic put the world ever so slightly out of joint. Suddenly Harvey’s airway was clear, though his eyes were still streaming.
Harvey didn’t have time to dwell on his own brush with popcorn-induced death.
“I just want to know,” he said in a low, reproachful voice, “why are you always like this?”
“Why am I in trouble? I was being careful of your delicate mortal sensibilities! It wasn’t even that big a group. There were only six people.”
“That is so many people!”
Harvey glared. Nick held his hands up in surrender. Then he said brightly: “Actually, I have a few questions about that night.”
“Oh my God,” Harvey said, his voice hollow.
“It was fairly standard group activity, but when Sabrina walked in, she seemed startled.”
Harvey’s vision blurred with horror.
“Sabrina walked in?”
Nick nodded. “I invited Sabrina to join us, of course,” he added, as if that was a reassuring statement.
“You did what? When her cousin was involved?”
Nick was starting to look worried. “Which part of that was wrong?”
“It’s all wrong!” exclaimed Harvey. “It’s all so, so wrong! Were her aunts involved?”
“Was it rude not to invite her aunts? The whole thing was Prudence’s idea. She likes Ambrose, you see.”
“Um. But Ambrose has a boyfriend?”
“She’s willing to put up with him,” Nick said casually. “If she has to.”
Harvey made a face. He felt he now understood how witches operated, and it was horrifying.
Nick continued, even more horrifyingly: “We let Prudence have her way, because she was about to be killed.”
“Killed?” Harvey repeated.
“In a … witch ritual where the community is meant to consume the flesh of— You’ve gone a strange color, did you know that? I wouldn’t worry. Sabrina put a stop to the whole ceremony.”
That calmed Harvey. It made him think of Sabrina starting her club for women’s rights and arranging her protest about the cafeteria food last year. Even though she was part of a nightmare world, she was still his girl.
Except she wasn’t. Not anymore.
Mrs. Tapper leaned over her daughter. “Harvey Kinkle,” she whispered. “Could you stop talking? The movie’s getting started!”
Harvey abruptly recalled where they were, and that Linda Tapper was in the seat next to them. Linda still wore braces. Linda was too young for this conversation.
Harvey felt he was too young for this conversation.
He shut up and watched the movie. Almost immediately, people were murdered in a variety of horrible ways. Harvey averted his gaze.
Nick whispered: “Are you looking away because the exploding eyeballs remind you of your mortality?”
“No,” Harvey said. “I’m looking away because it’s gross. Could you tell me when it’s over?”
“It’s over,” Nick reported, and Harvey looked.
It was not over. Harvey made a revolted noise, and Nick cackled. You couldn’t trust witches.
Then Nick gave a soft exclamation and rolled up his sleeve. On his arm, burning letters began to appear, as though someone was writing on his skin with a fountain pen dipped in fire. Attacked by mortals. Come at once—
“Is this Sabrina?” Harvey demanded.
The letters continued. Come at once, idiot.
“Oh,” said Harvey. “Prudence. You should go.”
“I’m going,” said Nick. “This is how to act at the movies, then? I should do it like this?”
“Do everything differently,” said Harvey. “I can’t stress that enough. You have to think about not attracting attention—”
Nick snapped his fingers. All the lights in the theater went on. The soft buzz of the audience became much less soft. Several seats away, Ambrose Spellman was laughing hysterically. Harvey put his face in his hands.
“Who’s your friend, Harvey?” asked Linda Tapper as Nick departed. “He’s a total smokeshow.”
Harvey looked to Mrs. Tapper for help, but Mrs. Tapper was busy watching Nick leave.
&nbs
p; “I think he’s a little old for you, Linda,” said Harvey. “Are you even old enough to be watching this movie?”
“I’m not the one who looks away every time there’s blood,” sneered Linda. “Ya big wimp.”
“Don’t go near that boy, Linda,” Mrs. Tapper told her daughter in a distant voice. “I think he’s a witch.”
“What?” said Linda.
“What?” said Harvey.
The lights went down again. The first thing they saw was blood, spattered across a bedroom wall, a crimson stain that hung like a curtain in front of Harvey’s vision.
He looked away. He’d seen enough blood already.
“What did you say?” he whispered to Mrs. Tapper. She shushed him.
Harvey bolted up and ran down the aisle. He fell to his knees by Ambrose’s seat.
“Get out of here,” he whispered. “People are talking about witches.”
White rings widened around Ambrose’s dark eyes. His whole body was suddenly coiled to spring. Wincing, Harvey remembered witch-hunters had killed Ambrose’s dad. Ambrose must be as terrified of this as Harvey was of magic.
“Why would they do that?” Ambrose whispered back.
He shouldn’t mention Prudence getting attacked. Not when Ambrose looked scared.
“I don’t know, maybe because Nick can’t stop doing magic and calling me ‘mortal’?” muttered Harvey. “He’s an idiot.”
From the seat beside Ambrose, Luke glared. “Nick’s the smartest person in our whole school!”
“That can’t be,” said Harvey. “You guys go. I’ll try to catch up with Nick and tell him what’s happening.”
There was a strange atmosphere at the movies that night. Roz and Susie stood in line for popcorn, hearing an unsettling buzz on all sides. Roz’s head was aching fiercely, as though there were whispers trapped inside her skull. There seemed to be shadows everywhere, lurking in the corners of the room and in people’s eyes.
Roz was telling Susie that she wasn’t in a party mood this New Year’s. She tried to ignore the other people around them. Everybody was whispering, but nobody was talking to them.
Until Billy Marlin strolled over. His nose was red and twice its normal size. Understandably, he seemed to be in a bad mood. When Billy was in a bad mood, Roz knew who he took it out on.
Daughter of Chaos Page 16