From the vanity drawer where Rachel kept writing supplies, Cara selected a pen and a piece of paper. Skipping the Dear, she wrote:
Rachel,
I came to visit you, but you’re no doubt out with Ethan. Interesting redecorating job on your vanity. It would be nice if you’d be open to talking to me sometime.
Sorry if I sound angry. I’d just really like to talk to you.
Cara
She dropped the pen back in the drawer. It landed on top of a stack of white paper that slid off to the side. Underneath the paper was a black hardcover book. It looked like the same one Rachel had hidden under her pillow.
When Cara picked up the book, something heavy scraped across the bottom of the drawer. At first she thought it was a large letter opener with a black handle. On closer inspection, she saw it was a double-bladed knife etched with elaborate symbols she didn’t recognize. The blade was clean, but she shuddered to think what the weapon might be used for. She dropped it back in the drawer and examined the book.
Its title was Witchcraft: Vade Mecum, and in the center of the cover was a silver star surrounded by a circle. Flipping through, she found a diagram of another circle, which indicated proper placement of an altar and an “entrance point,” whatever that was. There were also pictures of horned men and naked women with flowers in their hair, as well as items similar to the knife in Rachel’s drawer and those on the vanity.
All the items were listed as components used in spells. Cara wondered what kinds of spells Rachel might be trying to cast. Spells to make Ethan crazy about her, maybe. If so, they seemed to be working.
Closing the book, Cara set it down on the vanity, then placed her note on top of it. She wasn’t so sure about magic spells or demonic attacks, but she fully believed Rachel was under Ethan’s influence.
Rachel’s recent behavior when Cara had tried to drag her to church wasn’t so easily explainable. Still, Cara couldn’t accept that Rachel would truly react to the holy water.
* * *
Garren met Cara at the parking lot above Rockford Beach that night. It was about two hours after sunset when she parked next to his truck. They walked to the rock wall fronting the parking area. Below, white tips of waves crashed into the ocean’s blue-black night waters and swept onto the shore.
They descended the steep set of wooden stairs to the deserted beach. Wind lightly ruffled their hair and clothes as they trekked along the sand. Eventually, they settled on a large piece of driftwood and admired the waves swirling toward them, as well as the few visible stars and the nearly full moon.
With her coat on, Cara wasn’t cold. But Garren put an arm around her and pulled her close to his side. She might not feel a spark of attraction with him, like she did with David, but she’d never felt so comfortable with a guy. She let her head fall against his shoulder.
“I sprinkled Rachel’s clothes with the holy water today. I left her shoes and underwear alone, though. Will that be okay?”
His chin rubbed against the top of her head as he nodded. “If I’m right, Rachel won’t wear anything the holy water touched.”
“I’m pretty sure I got every piece of her clothing. I even poured holy water in the washing machine. What will she wear?”
“If she can’t find anything you missed, she’ll have to borrow something or buy something new.”
Cara turned to look him in the eye as best she could in the moonlight and made no effort to conceal her skepticism. “You truly believe Rachel is being affected by a demon and will shy away from holy water like a vampire?”
“Of course not. Vampires are make-believe monsters. Demons are real. And holy reminders make them uncomfortable.”
EIGHTEEN
Cara hadn’t seen Rachel all day on Monday and figured she’d skipped school. But in the journalism classroom, Rachel sat at her desk. She wore clothes too big for her frame. A long beige cardigan covered a baggy navy turtleneck and gray sweatpants hung over her combat boots. Maybe the clothes belonged to Ms. Clark. For sure, these pieces weren’t victims of the holy water sprinkling.
As usual, Mr. Cutter sat at the teacher’s desk, tapping away on his laptop. David was writing on the whiteboard, his back to the class. Cara slowly walked over to her seat. Rachel turned toward her for a change, but didn’t make eye contact.
“What did you do to my clothes?” Rachel asked, her voice a rasp that escaped through her teeth.
Cara glanced at Garren, who simply nodded.
Rachel was nearly hyperventilating now.
“Look at me, Rachel,” Cara whispered.
Rachel’s chest rose and fell heavily with each breath she took. She still didn’t look Cara in the eyes and Cara reluctantly checked another item off the list of signs of demonic influence: avoids eye contact.
“What’s wrong with your clothes?” Cara casually asked.
Rachel stared at the floor. When her eyes widened, they looked like black glass. Then they disappeared behind the slits of Rachel’s narrowed eyelids. Cara leaned away, fearing her friend even more as she checked off yet another sign: black, sharklike eyes.
Rachel’s voice grew louder. “All my clothes are itchy and burn my skin. Tell me what you did.”
“Let’s keep our voices down, please.” David’s words were firm.
He and Mr. Cutter both shot Rachel stern looks.
When Mr. Cutter’s head bowed toward his laptop again and David faced the board, Cara whispered, “I sprinkled holy water on your clothes.”
Rachel stiffened. Her eyes widened and looked like two black marbles. Then they faded back to murky brown. Her face went blank and she resumed her comatose state.
Before the bell rang at the end of the period, Ethan was at the door to collect Rachel. Even from a distance, Cara was sure his eyes also looked black and sharklike, though they narrowed as he glared at her and Garren.
Mr. Cutter kept busy with his laptop at the teacher’s desk.
David spoke from the front of the room. “Have a nice evening, everyone. Cara and Garren, I’d like to talk to you for a minute before you leave.”
Remaining in her seat, Cara watched Rachel shuffle off with Ethan. She took her time stowing her notebook and pen in her backpack and mentally prepared to face David after having little close contact with him lately.
Garren remained close beside Cara when they stood before David, whose voice and shoulders sagged.
“The computer lab is reserved for the first two hours after school,” David said. “But I’d like to get together a couple of nights this week to work on the layout for the first newspaper issue.”
Cara was glad he’d dropped the formal teacher treatment he usually used with her at school. Still, she kept the joy that lit within her off her face. His current subdued behavior confused her.
“It should only take a couple of hours each night. I know it’s short notice, but could you make it tomorrow night and the following night at six?”
“I can make it if Cara can,” Garren said.
David stared at Garren for a moment, then looked to Cara. She nodded. Inside, she was dancing.
David offered a small smile. “Good. Mr. Cutter will also be there.”
Cara glanced at Mr. Cutter, who was tugging on his chin as he watched her, before she headed for the door with Garren.
“Cara, wait,” David said.
With her back to him, she stopped and took a deep breath as she waved good-bye to Garren and mouthed, “Wait for me.”
Garren nodded at her and left. She turned and headed back toward David, thankfully on steady legs. He grabbed something that rested against the wall behind the teacher’s desk, where Mr. Cutter sat with his laptop. Her heart tripped around in her chest to think he was going to give her something.
Mr. Cutter watched David closely, still tugging on his chin, as David held a grocery bag out to her. “I’m sorry, I forgot to return the container from the cookies you gave me.”
“Oh.” She heard the frown in her voice as well as
she’d heard one in his.
David turned his back to Mr. Cutter. “The cookies were terrific.” His voice was softer than normal and his smile was small.
She looked into his eyes. Warmth surged between them. He didn’t look away and she thought her heart would combust from the heat. But then his smile disappeared and the resulting frown reflected in his eyes.
Cara wanted to reach out. She wanted to tell him she’d keep him company. They could play Scrabble. Or go whale watching. She’d hold him like he’d held her on the Lookout.
But all she could do was say, “Thanks,” and walk away.
* * *
In the parking lot, Garren waited next to her car.
“I cannot believe you were right about Rachel’s clothes,” she called out, before she reached him.
Garren maintained his common calm demeanor. “I told you. Rachel’s under demonic influence.”
“I know what you told me. And I looked up the signs. I’ve been ticking them off every time I notice one in Rachel. But I still think there could be another explanation.”
“There is no other explanation.”
“How do you know about these things?”
“Rachel is going to need prayer to get rid of the influence. Right now, she’s not open to it. Hopefully, she will be soon. You got her thinking. Good for you.”
Cara ducked inside her car and shut the door before she started the engine and rolled her window down. Garren bent over with his elbows on the window frame and his hands clasped together in front of him.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she said. “How do you know about this stuff?”
He tipped his head back and stared at the sky. For a second, she thought he was bothered by her questioning. Then he looked at her with a soothing smile.
“I’ve seen demonic activity. It’s dangerous. The good news is the influence can be eliminated.”
She gripped the steering wheel, perturbed as much by his vague answers as she was by her interactions with Rachel and David.
He squeezed her shoulder. “You’re making good choices,” he said as he pushed away from the car. “Try not to get frustrated.”
NINETEEN
Cara’s mom had left to teach a night class by the time Cara headed out for the layout get-together. Wanting to make things easier on Garren, she arrived at the school a little after five o’clock, almost an hour earlier than David, Garren, and Mr. Cutter were expected. That would give her time to work on finishing up her editing before they started on the layout.
She drove by the nearly empty students’ lot. Past that, only a handful of vehicles were parked in the teachers’ area. David’s truck wasn’t one of them, though she’d hoped it would be. She parked close to the door that led to the journalism classroom.
At the entrance, she punched in the access code, let herself into the building, and walked down the brightly lit hall. The classroom door was unlocked and the fluorescents glowed. She set her coat and bag down on a desk and dragged a chair in front of a monitor.
Once the computer booted up, she called up the layout program and opened the files containing the pieces she’d already edited, as well as those that still needed work. She completed an edit of her “Whale Tales” update, an editorial, and a brief, before she found Rachel’s advice column saved in the journalism classroom’s folder.
Rachel hadn’t turned in a hard copy. Cara had figured she’d have to either ask someone else to complete the Q & A at the last minute, or would have to fill the slot with another article. Looking at the topic, she saw Rachel had titled it “Make Believe or Magick?” Included was a copy of the email Rachel sent to students, requesting they send in questions. Cara frowned. She’d never received the email.
The first inquiry Rachel answered came from a student who asked why Rachel’s spelling of magick included a “K.” Rachel answered that magic with a “C” usually involved a guy in a silly suit and hat who did parlor tricks and sleights of hand. Magick with a “K,” on the other hand, created true change by harnessing and using energy from the world around us.
As far as Cara knew, neither magic with a “C” nor magick with a “K” had ever been part of Rachel’s interests, before Ethan.
Another student asked whether a spirit in her boyfriend’s house might be causing him to get angry all the time. Rachel answered that, no, he was getting angry because he had grown comfortable in their relationship and was showing his true self. He was a jerk.
Cara laughed at that one.
The last question was whether magick could help someone accomplish whatever he or she wanted, whether good or bad. Rachel answered that, yes, magick could work to reward you with anything you wanted. Cara worried Rachel must believe what she wrote.
Leaving the Q & A alone and planning to deal with it later, Cara moved on to the photos for her “Whale Tales” update and her new teacher feature. She found her camera in her backpack, plugged it into the computer, and downloaded the pictures she’d taken of Crossback and Bobbi, and David. The gray whale photos fit well on either side of her update at the bottom of the first layout page. She added a small copy of David’s photo alongside her feature at the top.
Her focus remained on the picture of David, and it took a second before she noticed the sound of high heels clacking into the classroom. An emphatic huff near the teacher’s desk made her turn, and Cara’s teeth ground together at the blonde hair, sexy figure, and doll-like face.
Amber’s hands were on her hips. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a high-pitched, irritated tone.
Cara gripped the edge of her chair and struggled to keep her voice level. “I’m the newspaper editor. What are you doing here?”
Amber cocked her head to the side and looked Cara up and down. “Where’s David?”
Cara’s heart deflated and her hands loosened on her seat. “I haven’t seen him.”
Just then, she did see him, through the doorway at the far side of the classroom. He looked at her and graced her with his lopsided grin as he walked through the open door. When he saw Amber, his grin faded.
He stomped over and faced Amber, so Cara could only see his back.
In an exasperated voice, he echoed both Amber’s and Cara’s words. “What are you doing here?”
“I should ask you the same question,” Amber said, glaring at Cara over his shoulder.
David turned to Cara and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m not going to be able to stay. I’ll talk to you and Garren tomorrow.”
He took Amber by the elbow and hauled her toward the door. Amber twisted her head around to smile at Cara, as if she’d won some childish game. Cara half expected her to stick her tongue out.
Cara continued to gape at the door when Garren walked through it.
He stood before her chair. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
She finally tore her gaze from the doorway and shared the facts of what had happened.
“Sounds like an angry girlfriend,” he said.
She frowned.
“From what you said, though, Mr. Wilson didn’t seem happy to see her. Maybe she’s harassing him.”
That idea sounded better. Amber was attractive, though, and David had paid her attention, even if it was negative. They seemed to have dated, and whether or not it should, that broke Cara’s heart. If they weren’t already a couple, Cara worried they could become one.
“You’re really bothered about it,” Garren said.
She pressed her lips together.
“It’s obvious you have feelings for him.”
She thought she’d made a good effort to conceal her feelings for David from others. People at school had paid more attention to her lately than they had in years. But that was because of the changes in her appearance and how they thought she had a thing going with Garren, the hot new student, not David, the cute new teacher.
She would never forgive herself if people truly thought anything was going on between her and David. Better that they think she was in
volved with Garren. “Why would you say that?”
“You talk about him more than you realize, and you stare at him like he’s the only man on Earth.”
She hung her head. “I can’t help it. We dated before school started. And we really connected. Now I can’t stop thinking about him.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem like this girl has captured his attention the way you have.”
Her head snapped up. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you, how he’s always dropping papers when you’re around.”
Had Cara known she’d get a promising response from Garren, she would have shared her feelings with him sooner. She wanted to trust not only in the connection between her and David, but also in the signs of continued attraction she hoped she recognized from him, like the special grin he seemed to reserve for her, and the way he quickly looked away when she caught him watching her, even the overly formal voice she’d only noticed him use with her.
She wanted to believe he felt the same way she did, despite the fact that he ignored her most of the time. Hearing someone else confirm his attraction to her made it more believable.
“I hope other people haven’t noticed,” she said. She worried for a second that Rachel might start rumors. Then she remembered how uncommunicative Rachel was these days. Ethan, too. “Please don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t say anything. And he seems to be trying to find someone closer to his age. Only it doesn’t sound like he’s been successful.”
She groaned.
Garren placed his hands on her shoulders. Countless girls would be overcome with envy if they saw how tenderly he gazed at her. He was like a combination of an ideal friend, brother, and father.
“If you don’t already have a date in mind, I’d love to bring you to the Halloween dance,” he said.
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