by Amelia Blake
When I enter the cafeteria during lunch hour, it’s filled to the brim with noisy, hungry students. I grab a tray and get in line to get some food—I am dying to eat something that isn’t healthy and doesn’t include words ‘traditional’ or ‘good for you’ anywhere in the description. I am also trying to pinpoint Jessie. She should be here by now and is probably holding a table for us, but I can’t find her in the sea of students.
“Did you see who Ciara is sitting with today?” says a nasty voice in front of me. It’s only now that I notice who is standing in line before me. The girl who just spoke is Felicia and the girl she is talking to is Iris. I think. I’m pretty sure her name is a flower, I’m just not sure which one. The reason I know their names at all is because they are Chloe’s new best friends. They are all from the same year and are on the cheerleading squad together.
“I know,” Iris says. “What do you think she wants with her?”
“Definitely not her company. Probably something to do with her brother. You know Ciara has a thing for Logan, right?” Felicia speaks in dramatic whisper that everyone around her can hear.
“Who doesn’t?” Iris giggles and Felicia joins in.
Wait, her brother Logan? Could they be talking about Jessie? I follow Felicia’s gaze and almost drop my tray. They really are talking about Jessie, who at this very moment is sitting at a lunch table with no other than Ciara Richards. Ciara, who is the captain of the cheerleading squad; Ciara, who is the most popular and beautiful girl in school, with her natural blonde hair and emerald-green eyes; Ciara, who, in spite of her busy social life, is a straight-A student, and who, in spite of her popularity, is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, so no matter how hard I try not to like her, it’s simply impossible to do. But what is she doing with Jessie, of all people? And what is Jessie—who despises everything about cheerleading and being popular—is doing with her?
Someone’s tray bumps into my backside. “Move along,” says an annoyed voice from behind.
I pull my eyes away from Jessie and Ciara and only now notice that the line has moved and both Iris and Felicia are a few feet ahead of me, giving me dirty looks and giggling. I blush, mutter a quick “Sorry”, and quit the line. I make my way to the table where Jessie and Ciara are having their mysterious conversation.
“Hey! Where’s your lunch?” Jessie asks when I plop on the chair next to her and place my empty tray on the table.
“I’m not hungry,” I lie, looking Jessie’s lunch over. My stomach squeezes in annoyance with me. “Maybe I’ll get something from a vending machine later,” I add, on second thought. “Hi,” I say to Ciara and lift my hand in a small wave.
Ciara gives me an energetic nod, but doesn’t say anything because her mouth is full. I check what she’s having for lunch, and my jaw hangs open when I see that, in addition to a huge chicken sandwich in her hands, there’s another one on her tray, a blackberry muffin, a banana, and a box of apple juice. If she can eat all that (and it looks like she is planning to) and look the way she does, there is definitely something wrong with this world. It’s not like I have to watch everything I eat (and with my appetite I’d be miserable if I tried), but I always have this little voice in the back of my head nagging me about a second serving of cake or ice cream and making me feel guilty about eating too much. Not that it ever stops me from eating too much, but the guilt is a bit of a damper. Ciara, on the other hand, seems to enjoy every bite of her food without a shred of remorse.
“So are you excited about tonight?” Ciara asks me quietly as she leans in. “I’m so excited,” she continues after a moment of surprised silence on my part. “Jessie invited me to join you tonight,” she explains when there’s no reaction from me.
“She did?” I raise my eyebrows at Jessie who shrugs sheepishly. “I didn’t know you liked The Undead Chronicles,” I say. That’s not really the surprising part—I don’t think there’s a person in the entire country who doesn’t watch the show—the surprising part is that Ciara wants to watch it with us. And another mystery is why Jessie invited her in the first place.
“Oh, no, I wasn’t talking about the show, although I do love it. I was talking about Jessie’s notebook and the runes,” Ciara moves on to the second sandwich, sipping her apple juice in between bites. “I can help you find out what they mean and how to read them,” she says when she’s done chewing.
If I had any food in my mouth right now, I’d probably choke on it. I give Jessie the most devastating look I can muster (which isn’t devastating at all), but it’s good enough because her ears turn red.
“I’ll explain later,” she says quickly and offers me half of her sandwich. Bribing me with food? I wish I could say it’s beneath me, but it’s really not. The sandwich looks so tempting and my stomach growls so loudly that I give in and take it. My stomach grumbles in loud approval.
I look suspiciously at Ciara while I devour my half of the sandwich. I really don’t want her to add flames to Jessie’s delusions about her grandmother’s notebook, but I can’t think of a polite way to say it. I try to tread lightly. “So do you know anything about runes?” I ask. “Or are you just interested in finding out what they mean?”
“Oh, I know everything there is to know about them,” Ciara crumples the wrapper from the second sandwich and starts peeling the banana. “But the school cafeteria is not the place to talk about it,” she says.
I have to agree with her on this. The school cafeteria is definitely not the place to talk about magic runes and spell books written by a woman of questionable mental health.
“I should be going,” Ciara says, finishing the banana in two bites. “I have Mr. Mason next. Don’t want to be late for that one,” she places her blackberry muffin on my empty tray. “It’s better than from the vending machine,” she says with a wink and then gets up. “Meet you at your place at eight?” she asks Jessie who gives her an eager nod. “I’ll tell you everything there is to know about those runes then.”
As soon as Ciara is out of hearing distance, I attack Jessie. “Are you insane? Why did you invite her?”
Jessie shrugs sheepishly. “She sort of invited herself,” she says, somewhat embarrassed, which is extremely unlike her. And she should be embarrassed. Now, not only Logan will be in the house, but Ciara as well. Ciara, who apparently has a thing for Logan, of all things! And instead of watching The Undead Chronicles, we are going to be learning how to read ancient runes. Like I don’t have enough boring and useless stuff to learn in school already.
“How could she have invited herself?” I ask. “How would she even know that you have those runes? Is she some kind of a mind reader?”
“I don’t think so,” Jessie says thoughtfully. I stare at her in disbelief. “I mean, no, of course, not,” Jessie corrects herself quickly. “I was looking through the notebook in algebra—we’re in the same class this year and she sits right next to me. She noticed the notebook and asked me if it belonged to my grandmother. I was so surprised that I blurted out “yes” before I could even think about it. And then she told me that her mother used to own something similar, so I was intrigued.”
I look at Jessie, shaking my head. She’s grasping at straws, and Ciara is probably just messing with her.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Jessie says when she sees my reaction. “But I don’t think she’s lying. I think she’s really telling the truth about this and I think she knows what those runes mean.”
“I just don’t want you to get disappointed,” I say.
“I know, Emmy. You think I want to get disappointed? But I need this. I really do.”
I sigh. “Fine. But what about The Undead Chronicles? I was really looking forward to our marathon.”
“I know. Me too. And there’s no reason we can’t still watch it. I’m sure it won’t take us long to read those runes if Ciara really knows what she’s talking about, and if not—well, then it’s The Undead Chronicles all the way. Are you going to eat that muffin?” Jessie changes th
e subject.
I stare at the blackberry muffin. It looks so delicious. And so wrong. “Do you want half?” I ask.
“Yeah, but I kind of already ate one.”
I figured as much. “I think half a muffin won’t hurt you.” I split the muffin in half, give one to Jessie and bite into mine. It’s so delicious I immediately feel better about Ciara and her runes. Dammit. Am I really that easy to manipulate?
Chapter Three
“Please remind me again what she’s doing here?” I ask Jessie as I set up yet another candle for our spell. Yes, a spell. There isn’t a surface in the entire living room that isn’t covered with candles (thirty-three of them, to be exact) per Ciara’s instructions, who at this very moment is chatting animatedly with Logan in the dining room instead of helping us set things up for her spell.
Jessie and I sit on the floor in front of the coffee table beside the couch. The coffee table is where we place the last three candles. The rest thirty are in a large circle that surrounds us, the coffee table, and the couch. When Ciara arrived with all the supplies, Jessie was ecstatic. She’d thought Ciara would just teach her about the runes, but apparently Ciara believes that the best way to learn something is by doing it. I don’t like this at all and would rather be anywhere else but here, but I’m definitely not going to leave Jessie alone with her. And Logan isn’t going to be of much help either. He thinks all of this is terribly cute.
“Come on, aren’t you just a little bit curious?” Jessie asks me. We’re done setting up the candles and lighting them. Jessie probably thinks they look beautiful. I think they’re a fire hazard.
“You know I don’t believe in this stuff,” I say.
“Yeah, because that’s why you read all those books about witches and aliens, and your favorite TV shows are The Undead Chronicles and Supernatural.”
“Don’t forget The Vampire Diaries.”
“Right. How could I?” Jessie grins.
“But I don’t walk at cemeteries in the middle of the night trying to get myself bitten by a vampire,” I say.
Jessie arches her eyebrows and I see a light bulb go off in her head.
I hold up my hands. “No, we are definitely not doing that.”
“I wasn’t saying anything,” Jessie says.
“Oh, but I know what you were thinking.”
“You know me so well.” She grins. “It would be fun though,” she mutters under her breath.
I squint my eyes at her. Looking for vampires at the cemetery? Suddenly performing magic spells at home doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
I decide to change the subject and maybe give Jessie some food for thought. “You know, I overheard an interesting conversation today at the cafeteria.” I tell her about Iris and Felicia and how they think Ciara has a crush on Logan.
“So you think she’s only doing this to get a chance with my brother?” Jessie asks, somewhat dubiously.
“Well, why not?”
“How about because she could date any guy at school? I’m sure if she had a crush on Logan she’d be dating him by now.”
“Maybe he doesn’t like her,” I say.
Jessie and I stare at each other for a moment, then start laughing.
“Yeah, right,” Jessie says, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Speaking of crushes,” I say and lean in. Ciara is in no hurry to join us, so I figure I have time to tell Jessie about Chloe and how she asked me to arrange for Derek to ask her out. By the time I finish the story, Jessie is practically rolling on the floor with laughter.
“Oh,” she says as she wipes a few more tears from her eyes, “I honestly thought when Chloe would want to start dating she’d just tell the guy when to pick her up and what to wear when he meets her parents. But this—this is something.”
“I know,” I say. “Nobody could’ve been more surprised than I was. She even blushed. Blushed! I didn’t know Chloe’s skin could do that. I think she really likes this guy.”
“Well, at least it’s not Logan or Parker. Because that would be weird.”
“Oh my God, did you have to say that? Now I’ll have nightmares about walking into Chloe’s room and finding her entangled with Logan on her bed.”
Jessie starts laughing again and clutches at her belly. “Please, stop, my stomach hurts!”
“You started it,” I say. I definitely will have those nightmares. I really need to change the subject. Apparently, Ciara’s spell is the safest thing to talk about right now. “So, what is this spell exactly?” I ask Jessie. Ciara explained it to her when she arrived, but I was in the bathroom at the time so I missed it.
“She said that we can ask any question we want and get an answer,” Jessie says.
“Any question?” I ask.
“That’s what she said. Anything.”
“Huh,” I say. “Maybe there is a way to test how real this spell is.”
“What do you have in mind?” Jessie asks.
“I was thinking about The Undead Chronicles finale,” I say.
“You mean the cliffhanger?” Jessie’s eyes light up in understanding. She knows what I’m thinking.
“Yep. What if we ask what happens to Gabe and Warren? If they survive, you know?”
“If they survive?” Jessie scoffs. “How they survive is more like it. There’s no way that even one of them is not going to survive, or the show is dead to me.”
“You’re just saying that. You’ll still keep watching.”
“Yeah. But my heart won’t be in it.”
“Sure it will.” I grin. “Didn’t you say the same thing when they cut Warren’s hair? Or when Gabe hooked up with Gemma?”
“Maybe,” Jessie says with a grin.
“You girls sure know your Undead Chronicles,” Ciara says.
I haven’t noticed when she and Logan came into the room, but now they both are standing next to us.
“That’s all they talk about,” Logan says. He sits on the armrest and puts his feet on the couch.
“That’s not true,” Jessie argues. “We also read nineteenth-century romances.”
“Not anymore,” Logan says with a huge grin. “I hid all of your Jane Austen.”
“That was you?” Jessie growls, grabs a throw pillow, and hurls it at him.
Logan catches the pillow, then puts it on his lap as if nothing happened. “Who did you think it was? A house elf?”
“I thought Aunt Sophie took them.”
“Since when does Aunt Sophie read Jane Austen?”
“Since you’re the biggest jerk ever! And don’t make yourself comfortable,” she says and reaches for another throw pillow. “You’re not staying here.”
“Why not?” Logan asks with mock innocence.
“Because you’re not,” Jessie says.
“What kind of argument is that?”
“I don’t need an argument. I just need to kick your ass out of here.”
“Good luck trying.” He should not have said that. Jessie may not be able to literally kick his ass, but he so will wake up without his eyebrows one morning.
“Actually, I only have ingredients for the three of us,” Ciara saves the situation.
Logan gives us all a thoughtful look, then says, “Fine.” That was too easy. Or maybe he does like Ciara? He jumps off the couch, then pauses and asks, “Should I get you a fire extinguisher first?”
“Out,” Jessie says.
“So no fire extinguisher?”
“Not unless you want me to extinguish you in your sleep.”
Logan swaggers to the door, but before exiting the room flips the light switch off.
Jessie groans and falls on her back. “He can’t just leave the room, no, he has to do something to annoy me first.”
“We’d have to turn the lights off anyway,” Ciara says, “and all the candles are already lit, so this just saves us the trip to the light switch.” Ciara surely knows how to create peace between siblings. If not for her, Jessie and Logan would be pummeling each other with t
hrow pillows right now.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters, Ciara?” I ask, wondering how she learned to be so calm and how she knows exactly what to say to calm other people down.
“No, it’s just me and my grandmother,” Ciara says simply.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say awkwardly. I had no idea Ciara’s parents were gone. I fumble for something comforting to say, but my mind is blank.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Ciara says.
Luckily, I don’t have to, because our attention is completely diverted by a horrible rumble that some people might call music. I think none of those people are in this room, however.
“Is that… heavy metal?” Ciara asks with a grimace.
“I believe so,” I say.
“I’m going to kill him,” Jessie says and wants to stand up, but I grab her arm.
“Ignore it,” I tell her. “Just ignore it. Take a deep breath.” Jessie takes a deep breath. It helps, but then the music gets even louder and the floor starts vibrating.
“Does he actually like that kind of music or is he only doing this to piss you off?” Ciara asks.
“I’m pretty sure one does not preclude the other,” I say. It would be pretty hard to annoy Jessie with something that sounds like a clowder of cats scratching a chalkboard if Logan didn’t enjoy it himself.
The music gets ramped up to what I imagine is the maximum capacity of Logan’s speakers. We’d have to shout to hear each other now.
“Okay, I’m done ignoring,” Jessie says and is about to get up when Ciara stops her.
“There’s no need for anyone to get hurt,” Ciara says. She then pulls out a pendant that was tucked under her shirt—a small crystal thing that glows in the candlelight like a prism reflecting a myriad of colors. I can’t even tell what its original color is, but I can tell it looks beautiful and mesmerizing. Ciara holds the little crystal between her fingers, whispers something very quietly (or maybe not so quietly, but in all the din I can’t hear a thing she’s saying) and then the volume of the music starts going down gradually until it is so muffled as if it’s playing a few houses down the street and not upstairs in a room above us.