“Would you say that of Dr. Hallow? That he’s planning on killing you?”
“I think that whoever is behind this plan thinks like I do. And like my mother does. I have no idea if Dr. Hallow is that person. He’s not my hero like he is yours, Finn. I barely know him. And just because we share a last name doesn’t make us family. That only links our biology. I suspect that whoever is thinking about letting me call the Talisman probably didn’t announce their plan. They can’t all be criminals. And I think the rest are trying for the Talisman to protect me from the same fate I see. But I don’t have it. And I don’t want it.”
“I don’t see how you can even imagine that your family would do such a thing. Whether you want to acknowledge them or not, they are your family.”
“I suspect that’s probably because you weren’t raised by one of them,” I pulled myself from his hands again and then said, “For the love of Hecate, stop yanking at me.”
“I…Rue…Rue…what you are saying is crazy.”
“Ok,” I said and started towards class. I was going to be late.
“All the more reason that you should let me train you,” Finn said. “You should let me help you.”
"Finn, I hate to break this to you. But you're their minion. And you're a jerk."
I left Finn behind, open-mouthed, and ran up the steps to class. I got there just in time, but the professor was late, so I took the few minutes to text my mother several questions. Her replies came while I was in class along with two names and two phone numbers.
I had no intention of dying, and I didn't trust 'the Hallow.’
I sent another text to my old coven leader, Hazel. She said she’d get back to me, but given my timeline, she’d rush.
CHAPTER 12
The convenient thing about my old coven leader, Hazel, was that she was a bag of mystery with connections that some small island witch shouldn't have. I would love it if she were willing to share her past, but I was a kid in her book, and there was no way. Though, of course, there was a reason my mother selected the Sage Island Coven as her long term location. So Hazel being far more interesting than the average coven leader wasn't that surprising. Hazel used her connections to verify that Dr. Feldy was, in fact, shady.
It made me miss her. And home. And that feeling stabbed me in the chest. I missed Hazel with her sharp silver hair and penetrating eyes. She was lovely and a little scary when you peeled away her smooth veneer. But because of her, I went to Dr. Feldy's office prepared. I'd done well on my Necromancy 101 quiz, and I had gotten a C on my World Lit paper. Gods and monsters, I didn't give a crap about Ulysses by Cyrus Joyce, but I was pretty sure that the book was entirely useless.
Dr. Feldy had started this year at St. Angelus like I had. Before he'd been at some small Florida witch college. Hazel said he'd left willingly, but the rumor was that if he'd hadn't gone on his own, he'd have gotten the boot. I assumed, therefore, the Hallow Council had something to do with his hiring. They were so very good at screwing things up.
But then again, Dr. Feldy was a solid potions teacher. That was evident from the Potions Club. Of course, the professor of the classes for the magic I loved the most was untrustworthy and probably manipulative. Nothing was going to be easy, right? But then I remembered my friends and my house and thought maybe I needed to girl up and move on.
Hazel had offered potions lessons with the retired head of the potions department in exchange for letting a member of my old coven stay in Hallow House for a while. I had agreed because you didn't tell Hazel no, but she always had an agenda, and I couldn't help but wonder what this one was.
“Veruca,” he said as I came into his office. He didn’t stand. And though I hadn’t expected it, I noted it. Power plays. So many power plays. It made my head hurt. Couldn’t I just be a kid at school? Couldn’t I focus on my classes and other stupid things college kids got to do?
“Hello, Dr. Feldy.”
“I’m happy you could make time for me today,” he said. But he said it like I should have skipped class for him. Ummm, no.
“Happy to swing by Dr. Feldy.” I lied, noticing the twitch of his eye and enjoyed it. I knew about power plays. Yet another trick in my arsenal. Thank you, Mother.
He paused and cleared his throat. He'd been expecting me to question why I was there. But I hadn't. He leaned forward and crossed his fingers together. It was such a classic pose, I wanted to giggle. Instead, I kept a bright, inquiring look on my face.
"You are a skilled brewer," he said and smiled. It was a charming move, and I didn't miss how he'd worn a tight shirt and was sure to sit in such a way to set off his rather wide shoulders with the sun coming through the window. It glinted off of his dyed golden hair too. It was that I also didn't miss the light play of magic against my skin.
I had never found Dr. Feldy particularly handsome before. Or maybe I meant attractive. He was a handsome man--for an old guy--but he'd never interested me before. He did now. I suspected that more than one college co-ed had crushed on him. Who knew how many of them had unwillingly crushed? Not this one.
"Thank you," I said as brightly. None of my disgust showed in my voice or face. Thank you for that ability to lie smoothly Mother of mine.
"I would like to help you grow that ability, Veruca."
Smooth. So smooth. He was waiting for me to beg like a little bird. He’d be waiting a while. I had a polite expression on my face and waited long enough for his face to freeze, flash for a second with irritation, and then he said, “I’d like to offer you a position as my assistant.”
“What would that entail?”
The slight shift of his expression said he'd been expecting me to gush. Even under the influence of magic, I didn't gush. I was the daughter of Autumn Jones. Neither Branka nor I would be able to gush to save our lives.
“Well, you’d assist with the crafting of potions for me and in doing so receive personal training.”
Ah. He’d assign me difficult potions and then reap the benefits of my labor.
“I appreciate the offer, Dr. Feldy. But I am afraid that I have a lot on my plate right now.”
“Surely you’d be more interested in dropping some of your electives to have time? I took the liberty of perusing your schedule for times that might work for both of us.”
I didn’t give away my feelings like he did, so he didn’t get to see the flash of my fury. Instead, I said, “It’s too late to drop without it affecting my transcript. I intend on going onto higher education, Dr. Feldy. Maybe it would work out another semester. Or next year, but this year…I just can’t.”
“Do you realize the opportunity I am offering you?”
I smiled, and because it was convenient, I simpered a little and then I said, “I appreciate the offer. I really do.”
I stood to leave, and Dr. Feldy stood too. But it was to stop me. I don’t think he even imagined I’d say no.
“You could have a future in potions,” he said. Hecate, he was condescending and rude. He expected me to realize I was being an idiot when he started mocking me like this.
I smiled gratefully at him and said, “I hope I do. I am honored by the offer. I really am. I…Hecate, I wish I could take it.”
And then I slipped out of his office before he could stop me again.
* * * * *
When I left, I made a call to the name my mother gave me. He was in Boston—far enough away from the thinning here and willing to meet me Saturday mornings. I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t charging me—no one else did things for free, but I was glad for him regardless. I needed help with necromancy, but I wasn't sure how the Talisman worked when the assigned keeper had abandoned it. I wasn't risking calling it forth when I wanted to learn for safety not to take on the life-changing supernatural calling. Even my mother agreed if she had given me his name.
One less immediate worry. I was feeling almost carefree after turning in my second World Lit essay and heading across the campus for lunch.
“Rue! Rue!”
“Rue,” Jessie began, and her voice was so controlled I felt immediately sick. There was too much emotion behind the way she said my name. “There’s been another body.”
The pain behind my right eye returned in full force. My voice was as carefully controlled as I asked, “Why are you telling me?”
It wasn't fair. I had asked Jessie for help in finding the ghost who had killed Jen. And she had helped me. But that didn't lock me in for all ghosts, did it? The girl I didn’t know made a sort of half-choke, half-sob sound, and I glanced at her before turning back to Jessie and the guy whose name I didn’t know.
“Cyrus, Lisa, and I were hoping…” Jessie’s gaze focused on me and then it was her asking me, “Are you ok?”
No. Hecate, no. I wasn’t ok at all. Why did these things keep happening? Why couldn't we learn magic and be friends and dance in the moonlight and learn to fly?
“I…Jessie…I can’t help with that. I didn’t even get rid of the ghost last time. I called the right person.”
“We saw what you did,” the guy said. Cyrus. Jessie had said his name was Cyrus. He seemed even more slender. Like he’d lost a piece of himself since I’d seen him the day before. What happened to Europe and changing schools and freedom?
I didn’t let my worry or sympathy show when I said, “I visited places that Jen used to go and found the haunted one. Figuring out where things were happening doesn't make me capable of more. That didn’t take brains or talent. It took footwork. I am not a super-witch. I can't do necromancy. I didn’t do anything else.”
“Except remove the spells on the building, protect us until Finn and Monica arrived, and then use your magic to cleanse the building of what had been happening. It’s almost peaceful there now.” Jessie was so earnest. She didn't understand. For her, being the keeper would be wonderful. It wouldn't be a trap that pulled her away from the other magic she loved. It wasn't something that had killed her family time and again.
She was looking at me like…she was looking at me. Damn it. Not a Hallow. Not that weird potions girl. Not the future keeper. She was looking at me like I was Rue and she thought she knew me.
“Jessie,” I started again and faltered. A huge piece of me wanted to be the person she thought she knew. The person who helped. “I don’t know what to do. I got lucky. That’s all.”
“That’s twice now,” she said. “That you got lucky.”
“My sister is dead,” the other girl, Lisa, said. “Jennifer is dead, and you found the ghost who pushed her towards suicide. But Cyrus and Jessie explained that someone made the ghost act differently. And that another ghost is doing the same thing. That’s why our friends are dying. Presley hung herself at the church where she volunteered. I knew Presley. She wouldn't have done that. Not without something pushing her along.”
I looked at Lisa and felt completely baffled. She was looking at me as if I were someone who had—damn it. She was looking at me as if I were someone who cared about her sister. I hadn’t even liked Jen. Hecate, I couldn’t tell Lisa that. They were projecting Jessie on me. Jessie was so nice and helpful that these kids who didn't like witches had felt comfortable turning to her, and they assumed I was like her. I was not like Jessie. I wasn't kind or thoughtful or helpful.
I looked at Jessie who seemed a smidge guilty, and I realize that she had engineered this somehow. I wanted to be mad at her, but...gods. Jessie was the least of my worries.
“I’m sorry about your sister, Lisa. I’m sorry about whoever died this time. But I am not the keeper. I have no necromancer training. And I don’t want to die.”
“Neither did Jen and Presley.”
Hecate's eyes, I didn’t want to hear the names of the victims. I turned away. I wanted to head towards my house and get back into bed. I had my school reading done for tomorrow. I even had my reading done for next week. I was starting to like the guitar, and I was ahead of where I needed to be. I’d dropped out of horseback riding the first day of class. Astronomy was once a week late in the day. I could afford the time to go with them. But to what end?
I shook my head, but Jessie stopped me. “Rue, please don’t leave it to just us.”
Her words were so soft. But I knew as she said it, that whether I went or not, Jessie wouldn’t leave it alone. And I couldn’t let her sleuth alone. She hadn’t had a super-villain for a mother, and Jessie didn’t have an arsenal. She was only a Sophomore. She was nerdier than me—which irritated me. But she hadn’t been raised by Autumn Jones. Jessie didn’t have the same skill set—and as far as I was concerned—I was way out of my league. Jessie would be hopeless. Damn it!
“We’re not going without Felix,” I said.
“Thank you,” Lisa said, but I ignored her. I didn’t want to see Jen’s sister as a person. It would make Jen’s loss more concrete than I could afford.
Jessie nodded at the name. It was me who wanted to kick myself when I added the last one.
“Or Finn.”
CHAPTER 13
"You aren't a necromancer, Rue." Finn had taken me aside as if I were the one who had started this madness. As I hadn't been, I was flooded with self-righteous fury. He might be pretty, but he was a jackhole.
"Which is why you are here," I said.
He scowled at me and shook his head before he added, "This isn't how things are done."
“What, you call the Hallow Council, ask for help, and they send in their team of do-gooders?"
He nodded.
"Obviously," I said patiently, "I am never going to do that. Leave if you don't want to help."
I didn't add that I wasn't confronting another ghost on my own. But he scowled and walked back to the others. I trailed after, wondering why I had to be here if Finn were here. But I knew that I couldn't leave poor, magicless, Lisa and Cyrus to the jerk Finn.
“Tell me about Presley,” Finn said. He took over as soon as he could. I wanted to be irritated that he’d taken over, but even I knew that he was used to leading a team of necromancers who functioned as a pretty crappy keeper. They survived. Which is why I wanted him here. I wanted to survive too.
“She was one of us,” Cyrus said, gesturing to himself and Lisa. “We’d figured out about magic and sort of gathered together. We’d hang out. Sometimes we’d play games. Sometimes we’d talk…theories. It all seems stupid now.”
No one agreed though perhaps we were thinking that sitting around and talking about other people’s hobbies was stupid. Or maybe that was me. I didn’t see the point of sitting around blathering ever. I needed concrete goals and concrete progress. Why chit-chat when you can brew?
“She wanted to be a biologist,” Lisa said, “And teach at a normal university.”
Her voice was thick with tears. I admired her though. She was moving. She was girling up and owning that her sister was dead. Lisa was intent on ending what was happening and saving her grief for later. I wasn't sure I’d be able to do the same if it were Branka. Bran. Daddy. Mother. Losing any of them would leave me debilitated.
“There aren’t any ghosts left at the theater.”
“Presley didn’t come there as much.”
“Where else is there,” Finn asked, and there was a snap of irritation in his voice. I didn’t blame him. I wanted to slap them about too. We needed to send the ghosts through the thinning. Well, he did. But I could break the necromancer spells. That just required power and the right point of the spell. But we couldn’t send anyone anywhere if we didn’t have a location.
“Sometimes we’d hang out in our dorm rooms.”
I shook my head. There was no way that the faculty would miss a ghost in the dorms, and any ghost there would get shoved on its way through the thinning whether it wanted it or not.
“Try again,” Finn said.
“There’s the basement of the Catholic church over on Market Street.” Lisa said, “I mean…we haven’t been there in a while, b
ut we spent a lot of time there last year.”
“Are you talking about the church where she was found," I asked surprised at how well I hid my irritation. "The one where she volunteered?"
“Well...yes," Lisa said looking around.
"Presley did love that church," Cyrus added the thought as if now that Lisa had suggested the place it was obvious.
“There was a little sweet nun ghost there,” Finn said. “I never had the heart to push her through.”
I wanted to stop myself, but I didn’t. “It’s not your fault, Finn.”
“The council says that ghosts can not be allowed to linger.”
And then I should have stopped. But I didn’t. “Their methods are suspect.”
“Enough Rue. I haven’t ever seen that. And I won’t give into your paranoia just because your mom is crazy and you see manipulators everywhere.”
“Rude,” Jessie snapped, wrapping her arm around me.
“Enough,” Felix said, actually getting between me and Finn. Which was so weird given his thinness, and dreads, and generally shaggy appearance. “We get that you’re their boy, Finny. We aren’t. We don’t agree. And I, for one, haven’t seen Rue be wrong yet.”
“Are you so sure that you see what’s right in front of you." Finn was right in Felix’s face. But Felix wasn’t a para-military type like Finn. I was about to shove my way in, knowing that Finn would only manhandle me when Felix took care of himself.
“Are you?” His voice was so very careful and pointed. But he wasn’t rude and mean about it like I wanted him to be. But…Felix got Finn to back off.
“How about if we agree to disagree about the Hallow Council,” Jessie said with precision. “And focus on the ghost and the necromancer that is messing with otherwise benign creatures. People are dying.”
Lisa sniffed, and Cyrus shifted his feet, and we all looked at them. For the normal humans, who had been hurt, they were taking our infighting pretty well. Lisa’s sister had died. Probably we should focus on the job ahead of us.
Hungry Graves: A Rue Hallow Mystery Page 9