by Kate Hall
“What are you going to do with your thing?” Gabby asks him, wiggling her fingers to imply that there’s fire shooting out of them.
He shrugs. “Most people think I should join the military, but I’m not really the fighting type.” He has no idea what he wants to do, although everyone else expects him to have his whole future planned out.
They study for a while, and Alex tries to explain some of the techniques for Sarah’s practical magic course, but she doesn’t seem to understand them. After a while of failing to hold up his end of the deal, she explains the day’s Spiritual Magic assignment to him, walking him through every question until he sort of understands the information. His brain is still a muddled mess, though, especially at the unexpected question about his future.
“Do you need a ride home?” he asks her after they’ve all given up on studying.
Sarah looks at Gabby, as if gauging her response, but Gabby is deeply entrenched in a book.
“I live way out in Chesterfield,” Sarah says, her voice suddenly unsure.
“That’s not a problem,” he insists. He should be getting back to school, but he desperately wants to spend more time with her.
She looks at Gabby again, but a car horn lets out a short honk before she can reply. She stretches and looks out the window.
“Oh, my aunt is here. How did it get so late?” She checks her phone, then goes back to pack up her bag. “I’ll walk you out if you’re leaving, though. This house is kind of a maze.”
Chapter Nineteen
Alex
THEY GO TO GABBY’S HOUSE ALMOST EVERY DAY after school. Alex is delighted that, even after that first day, Sarah sits in his car, their fingers occasionally brushing. Can she feel the electricity that shoots through him every time, or is it just a part of his imagination?
It’s best not to mention it. Friends don’t talk about their unbearable attraction for each other, their chemistry.
He brings his ancient laptop, the one Dad gave him after upgrading for his graphic design job. Even though its functionality is normally questionable at best, Gabby’s incredible WiFi tricks it into working decently. There must be some sort of spell on it, because this computer never lets him so much as edit a Word document without some sort of problem. After homework is done, he searches the web for any hint at why Helen murdered Cynthia. The memory is a knife slicing through his mind, so he distances himself internally to keep from getting hurt even more. The school psychiatrist informs him that it’s called “compartmentalizing.”
Gabby and Sarah sit together on the bed, hunched over piles and piles of books, some of which are borrowed from the school library, others ordered online. He makes himself small on the edge of the chaise lounge, his laptop hot on his legs.
He’s reading an article about the death of Sarah’s parents when she walks over and plops down next to him. His neck heats up, and he doesn’t look at her. Should he close the tab?
She sighs and leans her head on his shoulder, like he’s seen her do with Gabby so many times before. He’s frozen, unsure of what move to make. Apparently this is something that some friends do.
“I remember this article,” she says. Her voice is flat, emotionless. He can’t see her face to evaluate her emotions.
After another moment, she continues, “They spelled Dad’s name wrong. It’s supposed to be Llogan with two L’s.”
He doesn’t know what to say to that, so he just closes the tab so she doesn’t have to look at it anymore.
“Guys?” Gabby calls before he can come up with something to say. Her voice is haunted.
Sarah turns her head, but it remains on his shoulder. Goosebumps raise up on his arm as her hair brushes against his skin.
“Did you find something?” he asks.
She lifts her head from the book, her eyes wide.
“What is it?” Sarah asks, her breath tickling his throat. He has to resist scrunching his neck and laughing at the sensation.
Gabby turns the book around, and he recognizes the symbol on the page instantly. It’s a simple design, a circle with a line through it and a V at one side and what appears to be a capital A on the other, the points connecting with the line.
“I’ve seen that before,” Sarah says, standing up and joining her back at the bed. She studies the symbol for another moment, her arms wrapped around her torso.
“What is it?” Alex asks. It’s the same symbol that had been carved into Cynthia’s wrist. Nausea roils through him, but he keeps it down.
Gabby says, “It’s apparently used to summon demons, I think?”
Sarah shivers, but nobody asks why.
“More specifically,” Gabby says, “It’s a common sigil needed to summon an unholy power.”
Sarah has her eyes closed now. He has to ask now. “That symbol was on Cynthia.” His throat closes up, but he has to continue. “Where have you seen it before?”
She opens her mouth to answer, but nothing comes out, and a look of confusion comes across her face. “I don’t remember.”
“What do you mean?” Gabby asks, setting the book down, but not before bookmarking the page.
Sarah blows air out, and she doesn’t look at either of them when she answers. “It’s like when a word is right on the tip of your tongue, but you’re thinking too hard and it won’t come out. But with my memory. I know the symbol, but it’s like there’s a locked door.”
“Then it’s probably pretty important,” Alex says, his voice steadier than his mind. He will never forget seeing this marking on Cynthia, and he can’t imagine where Sarah would see it and just forget about it. It’s like how he couldn’t remember Helen’s face after Cynthia died, not until he looked through Cynthia’s memory. Something had happened to his own mind to lock it away.
They do more research on that specific symbol and demon summoning, and Alex finds a website that lists different demonic symbols. He instantly recognizes the rest, four symbols used to summon a demon. It specifies that all four are needed.
“Why would she want to summon a demon?” Sarah asks, her voice cracking. She’s shivering heavily now, and Alex feels the need to reach out, to wrap his arms around her. He sits on his hands to keep from touching her. No tears fall from her eyes, but she’s suddenly distant.
“I think we need to stop,” Gabby says, her voice authoritative.
They can’t just stop. He has to know what happened to Cynthia, why she was murdered. He has to do something about it. “But—“
“No. We’re done.” Gabby’s gaze flicks to Sarah for just a moment before her face hardens, daring him to question her. “This is too much. It’s too dangerous.”
He sighs. “Okay.”
He should tell them the rest. That he did a ritual to see what happened. That Helen had been saying something. He can’t remember her exact words, but it seemed like ingredients for a spell. Something big if it involves killing a girl. When he sees the look on Sarah’s face, though, he keeps his mouth shut. Her eyes are scrunched shut, and her breathing is rapid as she clenches the comforter beneath her.
“Okay,” he says again, but this time, he means it.
The police will figure out what’s going on. They have all the information he does. This isn’t something he can fix. It’s not something he should try to fix.
He makes himself useful and goes to the kitchen, bringing Sarah a glass of icy water. When he returns, she’s no longer shaking, although she drinks the whole glass in one go.
“Thanks,” she whispers, averting her gaze. That avoidance pinches his heart.
“It’s no problem,” he says earnestly. He wants to ask what’s wrong, but he doesn’t. He’s done enough harm today. He takes a photo of the symbol in Gabby’s book, sending it to the officer in charge of the case.
It could be important.
By the time he drives Sarah home, she’s back to her cheerful self, the same confident girl that flirted with him the first day of school, the girl who kissed him at the party. He puts everything bad
out of his mind for the too-short trip. The whole situation is out of his hands. Maybe it’s okay if he actually tries to enjoy being a teenager instead.
He really has to let the kiss go, but he can’t help but focus on how she doesn’t move her hand when her fingers rest against his on the center console on the drive home.
Chapter Twenty
Sarah
WHEN THE DANCE BECAME TOO CLOSE TO IGNORE, Sarah suggested during lunch that they all go as a group. “You’re renting a limo anyway,” she pointed out to Gabby. “It would be kind of a waste if it was just you, me, and Kelly.”
That’s why, now, there are six teenagers getting ready in Gabby’s house. Alex and David were directed to the guest bedroom downstairs to get ready, and the girls—Sarah, Gabby, Kelly, and Kendall—are getting ready in the attic. Their gowns are hanging up on the sturdy curtain rod, golden evening light trickling in between the cracks. The golden sun dances off the delicate fabrics, a rainbow of color lined up.
Gabby is doing everyone’s makeup, which is how Sarah discovered the suitcase full of professional makeup in her closet. Sarah was first, so she’s waiting on the bed, wrapping herself in a faux fur throw to cover up the special bra and underwear that Elizabeth bought when they went dress shopping, a nude, strapless bra and a thin pair of “seamless” nude underwear. She’d tried putting her jeans back on, but Gabby had yanked them out of her hands. “You don’t want seam lines all down your legs!” she exclaimed.
Her dress is blush pink, long ivory lace sleeves contrasting with the fact that it only goes down to her knees. On her shopping trip with Gabby and Elizabeth, she had to assert herself to keep her feet out of a pair of platform stilettos, so she has a pair of navy blue kitten heels with ribbons that weave around her ankles. She wishes she could be wearing it right now instead of her underwear and a blanket, but Kelly insisted that the chiffon skirt would wrinkle if she sits in it for too long.
Sarah is glad to finally be meeting Kelly. She and her family live in Chicago, and, as soon as she got out of school yesterday, she drove the five hours to Gabby’s house. Those two are going to be wearing red gowns made of the same chiffon and lace fabrics, Gabby’s a floor-length mermaid cut, and Kelly’s a knee-length strapless number. Gabby’s black hair is piled high on her head, decorated with gold vines and flowers, and Kelly is wearing her box braids down, a huge gold bow tying it where it meets in the back.
Kendall is excited, practically bouncing in her seat while Gabby applies her fake eyelashes. “I usually don’t do these kinds of things,” she’d told Sarah when they met up at the house. Her dress has been in a bag since she arrived, and Kelly and Gabby have been buzzing to see it. All she’s said is that it’s blue.
“Blue must look amazing with your eyes,” Kelly says over the bobby pins in her mouth, putting half of Kendall’s layered blonde hair up into an elegant bun, the rest cascading elegantly over her shoulder.
Sarah worries at a frayed thread coming off the blanket, her mind trailing to the dragon egg that’s been sitting in her fireplace for a month and a half now. Should she give it to Elizabeth to take to the zoo? Surely it would do better under the care of its father instead of a teenage girl.
“Dress time!” Gabby announces, interrupting her train of thought. The dance started five minutes ago, but she’s insistent that they can’t be there on time. The limo her parents are paying for won’t even be at the house for another ten minutes.
Sarah is the first one in her dress, and Gabby laces up the back with a satin ribbon. The lace is luxuriously soft along her arms, which is why she chose it—all the other dresses she tried on were too itchy. She feels like a princess as Kelly puts her into her shoes and Kendall helps Gabby keep the ribbon as straight as possible.
Gabby has her shoes on before her gown, and Sarah stands by as Kelly buttons up what must be fifty small, round buttons up the back.
Kelly’s dress has high-necked lace, but Gabby just has to zip it up in one swift motion. Then, she simply steps into her black platform stilettos.
They all gather around excitedly when it’s Kendall’s turn. She blushes and unzips the dress bag.
The dress is baby blue, and layers and layers of tulle and chiffon make up the skirt. The bodice is simple, a corset top with long lace sleeves similar to Sarah’s. This one needs all three of them—Sarah holds up the skirts so that they don’t get stepped on, and Gabby and Kelly hold the back open so that Kendall can step into it.
When they’ve finally got her laced in, they take a step back.
“You look amazing,” Sarah breathes.
“Like an actual princess!” Kelly gushes.
Gabby smiles. “It’s perfect on you. Definitely worth the suspense.”
The boys are waiting for them at the bottom of the grand staircase that leads to the foyer, a part of the house that’s rarely used since they usually come in through the garage. Gabby and Kelly walk down first, and Alex and David hoot and holler and take pictures as they pose like models. From her hiding spot around the corner, Sarah’s eyes trace over Alex in his slim-fit navy suit with a pale pink shirt and skinny floral tie. She imagines pulling his face down to hers by that tie for a second kiss. David is in a white tuxedo jacket with black lapels, a white shirt, a black bowtie, and black slacks. She gets why Kendall is so into him. He looks great in his St. Merlin’s uniform, but in a tux, he’s irresistible.
Next goes Sarah, and David whistles at her, but Alex just stares. She smirks just a little as she takes one step at a time, thankful for her very flat sandals. When she gets to the bottom, Alex holds out his hand to help her down the last step. She takes it, and her skin burns where it touches his.
“You look incredible,” he breathes, then blushes when he seems to realize what he said.
Kendall gets to make the final entrance, grander than all the rest, taking the steps carefully. David’s jaw drops, and he doesn’t comment.
When she gets to the bottom of the stairs, she looks up at him under her heavily-lashed eyes.
“Kendall,” he says, his voice quiet.
“Do you like it?” she asks shyly.
Instead of replying, he leans down and places the gentlest of kisses on her pink lips.
Sarah glances away, looking to Gabby instead. At some point, presumably before Kendall came down the stairs, Gabby took out her phone, and now she’s taking as many pictures as it will let her.
“Called it,” Alex whispers in Sarah’s ear, and she has to suppress a laugh.
They pile into the limo, a sleek, stretched out black car that seems too long for roads. Gabby really knows how to do everything in style.
Suddenly, she’s nervous. The only dance Sarah has been to was her freshman year winter formal. Penny had told Will to ask Sarah to the dance, and they awkwardly swayed to the radio-friendly versions of songs their teachers picked out. They didn’t talk after that, although Will’s brother had to give Sarah a ride home.
ST. MERLIN’S PAYS TOP DOLLAR FOR THEIR EVENTS, so instead of being held in the gym like a normal school, the fall formal is at the St. Louis City Museum, an industrial-aged warehouse transformed into an attraction. The school must have had the option to book a single floor, but instead, the entire building is set up for the dance.
Their’s isn’t the first limo to pull around to the main entrance, and a line of expensive cars and limousines waits behind them, as well. An employee of the museum opens the door for them, helping those wearing dresses to step out of the vehicle without losing their modesty.
“I feel like a celebrity,” Sarah whispers to Alex.
A photographer waits just inside, snapping pictures of them individually and then as a group before they can continue forward. It’s all a rush of being pushed from person to person until a pair of attendants open the secondary doors.
Sarah is breathless. Seeing the finery and elegance of everyone at St. Merlin’s has been overwhelming, and she expects the same from this building. She’s picturing gold crown molding a
nd filigree, and perhaps a fountain of champagne and marble floors. Instead, the interior is a mesh of found things, tiles from different places lining the floors, hand-painted railings lining the bannister up the mosaic staircase. Nothing matches, and Sarah adores it.
“Welcome to the St. Louis City Museum,” a woman in an elegant black gown tells them. “We don’t provide maps, and we encourage you to get lost. I’d also like to let you know that you have full access to the world aquarium during your visit this evening.”
Sarah grins, taking Alex’s hand in hers with excitement. When she realizes what she’s done, she looks to him, unsure, but he simply tightens his hand around hers with a small smile.
“We’re gonna go find the food,” Kendall says, craning her neck around David to address the group.
The two make their way up the staircase, Kendall’s gown trailing behind her like Cinderella.
That leaves Gabby, Kelly, Sarah, and Alex standing next to the stairs, unsure of where to go from here.
After a moment of silence, Gabby says, “I’m thinking ball pit.”
Sarah is confused but curious. Gabby is the only one in their group who’s been here before, so everyone follows her through the building and outside, where a crisp wind greets them. Sure enough, there’s a giant ball pit surrounded by nets and adult-sized treehouses to climb through. Gabby and Alex jump right in, and Sarah and Kelly look at each other conspiratorially before climbing precariously up the ropes to a ledge, where they have a better vantage point. Sarah is impressed at Kelly’s skill in climbing a rope ladder in heels.
There’s a tense moment of silence as they all glare at each other, now enemies in the most childish battle ever. Sarah slowly rolls a ball into her hand from her crouch, aiming it right at Alex. When she releases it, it hits him square in the chest.
The war is short—quickly, Kelly and Sarah realize that they don’t have enough plastic balls to sustain their position, and they can’t seem to catch any that Gabby and Alex are throwing at them. They all laugh as they go back inside, ending up in the second floor ballroom.