“My phone,” Eva cried. “Get my phone!”
I did as she asked. She grabbed it from me and hit a button. “I’ve got to get a shot of this.” She continued to record while I watched her in disbelief.
“Can you believe it?” she said. “It’s like something out of Ben.” Ben was this horror movie from the seventies. I was pretty sure Eva had seen every horror movie ever made. Which meant that I’d seen three-fourths of all the horror movies ever made.
A strange lilting song caught my ear. It came from somewhere behind the school building. “Did you hear that?” I asked.
“Hear what?” Eva said, still absorbed in filming the rodents, who scampered up the pile of recyclables.
Dominic and Evan came running from the boys’ locker room. “We heard a scream. Everything okay?” Dominic asked.
“Everything’s fine, if you don’t count the rats,” I replied.
“Rats? What rats?” Evan asked.
I looked around. The rodents had simply vanished.
Evan and Eva had their heads together while she showed him the little bit of footage she’d managed to take.
Dominic looked at his feet for a long minute. “How have you been?” he finally asked.
“Fine,” I said, but there was an edge to my voice. His head whipped up.
“Jessica, I wanted to say something to you,” he said. “But I haven’t had the nerve.”
“What’s wrong with right now?”
He glanced at Eva and Evan, who held hands as they watched the clip of the rats over and over again. He blushed and looked down. He clearly didn’t think now was a good time. But I didn’t have time for his stalling.
“I should call Flo,” I said abruptly. “She’ll want to know about the rats.”
“Let’s go, Evan,” Dominic said. “We’d better get back or Coach will wonder where we are.”
They took off at a run back to the gym. “Coach?” I looked at Eva for clarification.
“Didn’t you know?” she asked. “Dominic tried out for track. He’s on the team with Evan. They have a meet tonight so they must be practicing during lunch.”
I had a hard time picturing Dominic on the team. He could run, I knew. He had the right build for it: long legs, muscular, broad shoulders.
“It doesn’t seem like something Dominic would be into,” I said.
“Maybe not rocker boy Dominic,” Eva replied. “But there’s more to him than that, right?”
“Right.” There was definitely more to Dominic than just music. I was dreamily thinking of all of his good qualities when Eva said, “I thought you had to call Flo.”
“I do!” I picked up the phone and dialed Flo. When she answered, I told her what happened.
“Rats, huh?” she said. “I’ll let the Nightshade City Council know.”
Fortunately, Eva and I were the last shift for recycling duty. We put the bag of recyclables into the storage shed, very carefully, but there wasn’t even a squeak.
As we closed up, I noticed Hunter Verrat and Mitch Peverell leaving the school.
I nudged Eva. “Wonder what they were doing here.”
She shrugged. “Probably a Battle of the Bands meeting. Ms. Clare is on the committee, after all.”
“Maybe,” I said. I didn’t like Hunter or Mr. Peverell and I didn’t know why. But why would Mitch Peverell be there if he wasn’t even a judge?
Eva convinced me to go to the track meet that afternoon.
“I’ll have to meet you there,” I said. “I have to pick up Katie first. I promised my mom I’d watch her while she takes Kellie and Grace to gymnastics class.”
“Katie will love it,” Eva said. “She’ll get a chance to see Dominic.”
Eva was right. Katie practically tore my arm off in her excitement. “C’mon, Jessica,” she said. “Quit walking so slow. We’re going to miss it.”
“Miss what?” I asked. “The track meet is like eight hours long.”
“But Dominic’s race is soon,” she whined. “And I want to see him.”
I did too but I wasn’t going to say it aloud. I liked him, but did I like him enough to give him another chance to kick me to the curb the next time a chupacabra took a bite out of me?
When we reached the Nightshade High track, Dominic and Evan were stretching out on the grass, but they both sat up and waved when they saw us.
Later, as I watched Dominic hand off the baton to Evan in the relay, I told Eva, “He’s getting faster.” Dominic and I had gone on a few runs together.
“Why didn’t you try out for track?” Eva asked.
“You know,” I said cryptically. “My extracurriculars are already too much.”
“You’re so fast, though,” she persisted.
“I get plenty of running in,” I said. “You know, on Saturday mornings.”
The light finally dawned on her. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “I almost forgot about the virago thing.”
I nudged her hard and glanced meaningfully at Katie.
“She’s not even paying attention,” Eva said.
“I’m not paying attention about what?” Katie said, her eyes still glued on the runners.
“Nothing, kiddo,” I said.
The boys’ relay was over. The Nightshade team came in second place.
Evan and Dominic did their cooldown stretches and then joined us on the bleachers.
Evan greeted Eva with a long kiss. Dominic and I stared everywhere but at the kissing couple.
When they finally finished their lip-lock, Evan said, “Hey, Dom, do you guys want to catch a movie with us tonight? We’ll even let Jessica pick.”
Eva elbowed him in the ribs.
“Sounds good to me,” Dominic replied easily. “Jessica?”
I was so mad. He was pretending like we were still a couple. But that was something he was going to have to discuss with me first.
“I have to babysit Katie tonight,” I said shortly.
“No you don’t,” Katie said. I hadn’t thought she was paying attention to the conversation, but clearly she was.
“Yes, I do,” I said. “In fact, it’s time for us to go home.” I stomped down the stairs. Katie followed me slowly. Dominic Gray was the most insensitive, clueless . . .
“Jessica, wait!” he said.
“Why don’t you call me when you make up your mind,” I snapped. “You broke up with me, remember? You can’t just pretend that it didn’t happen.”
“I’m not,” he said. “I was too chicken to ask you out again, so I convinced Evan to . . .”
“Do your dirty work for you?” I suggested.
“Something like that,” he said.
“Well, it’s not going to work,” I said. “If you want to go out with me, you’re going to have to prove to me that you’re not going to change your mind again and dump me just like you did last time.”
“I can do that,” he said.
“And Dominic, the next time you want to go out with me, ask.”
“I can do that, too,” he replied.
I marched off without looking back.
Chapter Sixteen
Following our midweek after-school run, Raven, Andy, Flo, and I were sitting around the kitchen table at the Mason house drinking sodas when Hunter came in.
“Flo,” he chirped, “I just got a new car. Want to go for a ride?”
Flo’s face lit up. “Sure,” she said. “You don’t mind that I’m all sweaty, do you?”
Hunter’s nose wrinkled. “We can put down a towel or something.” He shot the three of us a dirty look as they left through the back door.
As soon as we heard his car pull away, I said, “Do we have time to do any snooping?”
Andy pulled a yearbook from her gym bag. “Already started. It’s the yearbook from Flo’s junior year at Nightshade High. I got it from the library.” She flipped through until she found the page she’d been looking for.
“Hunter Verrat and his pet Wilbur,” Raven read over Andy’s shoulder.
“Flo
never even mentioned that Hunter had a pet rat,” I said. “Even when I told her about the rats in the recycling.”
“Exactly,” Raven said. “Flo’s too loyal to Hunter to be suspicious, but I smell a rat.” She giggled at her own pun.
“Do you think he’s the one who sent those rats to attack you and Eva?” Andy asked. “Or took the wishing powder? Or both?”
“I think it’s time we found out,” I whispered. “Let’s search his room.”
We crept upstairs and pushed open the door to Hunter’s room. It was tidy, but stark. There were no photos or personal items. I crossed to the desk. The pens and papers were lined up with precision, but when I opened the center drawer, a blue smudge caught my eye.
“Come look at this,” I told them. “The powder was definitely here.”
“Shh,” Raven said. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” I whispered. We didn’t move and after a second, I heard a faint squeaking noise.
Andy followed the sound and stood in front of the closet. She put an ear to the door. “It’s coming from in here.”
“Don’t open it!” Raven shouted, but it was too late. Andy turned the handle and dozens of rats streamed from the closet.
They left the bedroom, but that didn’t stop me from screaming at the top of my voice when a rat scrambled over my foot.
Dominic came running. “Jessica, are you okay?” he asked.
“We are fine,” Andy said dryly. “Thanks for asking.”
“What are you doing here, anyway?” I asked.
“I thought you girls could use a ride home after training,” he said.
“Any excuse to drive your new car,” Raven muttered.
“Hey, sis, it’s gotten you plenty of places,” Dominic said. Raven smiled.
We walked out to the driveway. Just then, a hunter green Jaguar zipped down the street with Hunter at the wheel. “Boys and their cars,” said Andy as she climbed into the back seat of Dominic’s Honda.
As we drove, Raven said, “Dominic’s got some big news, Jessica. Band news.”
Dominic gave his sister a look. “It’s not that big.”
“Spill it!” I said.
“That talent agent is interested in the band,” he said. “He’s been to a couple of our shows, but I don’t know.”
“Did you tell Katrina and Vinnie know?” I asked.
Dominic nodded. “The band would have to talk about it, of course. And I don’t know how legit he really is,” he admitted. “His business card is a guitar pick.”
“A guitar pick?”
“Cheesy, right?” Dominic said. “He collects them.”
“Are you talking about Mr. Peverell?” I asked.
Dominic nodded. He didn’t seem that excited about it. “There’s something about him that I don’t like. Anyway, I’m meeting with him tonight.”
“Let me know how it goes,” I said.
“I will.”
I got the feeling Dominic still wanted to talk to me about our relationship, but we couldn’t with the others in the car, so I just made small talk.
“Where did you learn to drive?” I asked.
“My dad,” he said. “He taught me to be a careful driver. I’ve never forgotten it.”
I watched him drive away when he dropped me off.
“Jessica, we need you to watch your sisters tonight,” Mom said as soon as I walked in the door.
“Hello to you, too,” I said, but under my breath.
Mom and Dad had some school thing at the middle school with Sarah and Sydney, but promised to be back before ten.
While my sisters played in the family room, I took the opportunity to dig into my library books and read up on the Pied Piper.
What I learned fascinated me. The Pied Piper legend was hundreds of years old. The German town of Hamelin had refused to pay the piper after he had fixed their rat problem by leading them away with his music. In retaliation, he played his pipe again and rounded up all the children of Hamelin and led them to parts unknown.
One book theorized that the musical pipe actually existed and had been handed down in secrecy from generation to generation. The music it played was a spell, a song that could make anyone do whatever the piper wanted.
A Pied Piper could also be someone who made wild promises. Who did that sound like?
After I had been reading for a while, the doorbell rang. I peeked out the keyhole and saw Connor standing on my front door.
I opened it. “Connor? What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said. “Can I come in?”
He followed me into the living room where Katie, Kellie, and Grace were watching television. “Can we go somewhere a little more private?”
Private?
“I have six sisters, Connor,” I said. “There is no such thing as privacy.”
He wasn’t going to say anything with an audience. “Let’s go to the kitchen,” I said. “But I’m babysitting, so you have five minutes.”
Was he going to ask me out again? I didn’t know what I would say. He’d definitely upped the magnetism quota since last fall, and the way he’d sung to me on my birthday was making me take a second look. Maybe we were both finally on the same page at the same time? Or maybe he was going to explain his weird behavior the night we found the body?
“I wanted to apologize to you,” he said. “I snapped at you that night on the beach and I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said.
“It’s not okay,” he said earnestly. “It was rude and I’m sorry.”
“You’re forgiven,” I replied.
I waited for him to say something else, but instead he fiddled with the apples that my mom always kept in a bowl on the counter.
“I’d better get back to my sisters,” I finally said.
“Wait!” he said. “There’s something else. I gave it my all on your birthday. Big romantic gesture and everything. But I sang you a song and he gave you a guitar.” We both knew who he was talking about.
“I loved your song,” I said softly.
He shrugged. “I know when I’m beat,” he said. “It’s time for me to move on.”
We were definitely not on the same page. Maybe not even in the same book.
“But I—” I started to say, but then changed my mind. “I understand.”
“I wanted to talk to you about something else,” he said. “I wanted to tell you in person so you wouldn’t be caught off-guard if someone else mentioned it.”
“Off-guard?” What was he going to tell me?
“I know you and Selena aren’t the best of friends, but she and I have grown closer since we started the band,” he said.
Wait. Connor was dating Selena? She was a junior and he was a sophomore, but they had music in common. Maybe he would balance her out a little.
Connor was still talking, and I realized I’d lost track of the conversation.
“So we’re friends?” he said. “You’re not upset?”
“Not at all, Connor,” I said. “I hope you and Selena are very happy.”
As I walked him to the door, I wondered. I didn’t really hope that. For a tiny, mean-spirited second, I’d hoped that they would break up immediately. What was wrong with me? I didn’t have Dominic, and suddenly Connor was appealing?
Chapter Seventeen
The next morning, Eva and I met at our usual spot. She rushed up, out of breath. “You’ll never believe what Selena told me this morning,” she said.
My mind was still on the Piper lore I’d learned the night before. “What?” I said absently.
“Connor and Dominic got caught drag racing last night.”
“Dominic would never race his car,” I said. “I don’t believe it.”
When I ran into Dominic at his locker, I asked him, “Is it true?”
He slammed his locker shut. “Is what true?” He wouldn’t look at me.
“That you and Connor were drag racing?”
H
e nodded.
“Of all the stupid, dangerous stunts.”
“You aren’t telling me anything I haven’t already told myself,” he said.
“Then why did you do it?” I threw the question over my shoulder as I walked away, but then something made me stop. Why would Dominic do something so out of character?
I walked back to where he stood. “Tell me exactly what happened,” I ordered.
“I had a meeting with Mitch Peverell,” Dominic said. “As I was leaving, Connor showed up.”
“How’d your meeting go?” I asked, momentarily diverted.
“He made a lot of promises,” Dominic said wryly. “And he kept talking about Hamlin and how great they were. He wanted me to stay to listen to their music, but I told him I had to leave.”
“That’s weird,” I said.
“Anyway, I pulled up to a stoplight, Connor was in the car next to mine, and the next thing I knew, we were racing. If Poppy Giordano hadn’t been nearby and stopped us using her telekinesis, we would have driven straight off a cliff.”
I shuddered. “That’s all you remember?”
“We were listening to music,” he said. “A killer tune.” He rummaged in his bag and produced a CD. “Mr. Pev- erell gave me this at the meeting.”
I gasped. “Dominic, this is a Hamlin CD!” The album cover consisted of a shadowy figure playing a very familiar-looking flute. The audience was made up of rats instead of people. One of the rats even had a cell phone in his hand.
“That’s Mr. Lindquist’s flute,” I said. Dominic looked confused, as if he was just waking up and wasn’t sure where he was. “But I hate Hamlin,” he said. “That’s what I was listening to? I can’t stand that Brett guy.”
“Brett, that’s it!” I said. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”
“See what?”
“Don’t you get it?” I asked. “Brett Piper. The name of his band is Hamlin. I think they’re using some kind of magical music to lead people to their doom. That’s what they tried to do to you. You’ve got to tell your aunt to stay away from Brett, or else.”
The bell rang and we headed to class, but Dominic’s words nagged at me all day. A killer tune. What if the Pied Piper was using music to kill off the competition?
After my last class, I headed for Slim’s. Raven and Andy were waiting for me outside the diner.
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