Rafael appeared between the glass doors at the entrance to the dorm lobby at 6 p.m. exactly. I realized that I had been holding my breath in anticipation of his arrival when the sight of him caused me to exhale sharply.
Rafael glanced around the lobby for a second and then motioned for me to come to him. I considered standing my ground and making him come to me, but now didn’t seem like a particularly good time to exert my female dominance. He was the one doing me a favor, after all.
“Let’s go outside,” Rafael said, his voice low.
I mutely started to follow him outside, noticing that a few of the students milling about the lobby were curious enough about Rafael to openly stare. The fact that most of those staring happened to be girls didn’t escape me.
“Who is that?” One of the girls stopped me just before I exited the building.
“Just a student,” I lied. “He’s my lab partner.”
“What class are you taking together? Biology?” She had a wistful glint in her eyes.
I rolled my eyes. “He’s a drama major,” I replied, an evil grin playing at the corner of my mouth.
“Oh,” the girl wrinkled her nose sadly. “That’s too bad.”
Once I got outside, Rafael noticed the grin that I couldn’t quite wipe from my face.
“Why are you smiling?”
“No reason.”
“What did that girl say to you?”
“She wanted to know who you were,” I replied.
“And what did you tell her?”
“That you were my lab partner.”
Rafael cocked his head to the side. “I guess that was as good a lie as anything I could have come up with.”
“I also told her you were a drama major.”
Rafael frowned. “I’m sure I’m missing something here, but I’m going to let it go.”
“That’s probably good,” I agreed. “Explaining why it’s funny would only confuse you.”
Rafael tucked a strand of his black hair behind his ear and fixed his gaze on me. “What’s wrong?”
“What makes you think anything is wrong?”
“Answering a question with a question means that something is really wrong,” Rafael pressed.
I blew out a tired sigh, letting my gaze wander up to the night sky as I gathered my thoughts. Rafael watched me, but he didn’t prod further. When I opened my mouth, everything poured out.
It took me fifteen minutes to unload. I had weeks of pent up anger, frustration and fear that needed to be expressed. And, unfortunately for Rafael, he was the only sounding board I had right now.
When I was done, Rafael just stood there. Finally, after a minute of awkward silence, he spoke. “Is that all?”
“You need more?”
Rafael chuckled throatily. “It sounds like you’ve had a busy couple of months.”
“You don’t seem surprised by any of this.”
“I already knew most of it.”
“How? Do you have a bat signal in your coffin or something?”
“A what?”
“Never mind. I can never explain that.”
“I know who Batman is,” Rafael answered dryly. “It was just a weird reference.”
“Especially because you sleep in a coffin,” I grumbled.
“I don’t sleep in a coffin.”
“You don’t? What do you sleep in?”
“A bed.”
“Do you sleep all day?”
“Why are you asking these questions now?”
“I just realized I don’t know a heck of a lot about you,” I replied honestly, “like if you sleep all day and party all night?”
“I do not sleep all day,” Rafael answered.
“Do you party all night?”
Rafael ignored the question.
I tried another tack. “Can you go out during the day?”
“As long as it’s not sunny, yes. Why do you think I live in Michigan?”
“Wouldn’t you be better off in Alaska or some place like that?”
“Have you ever been to Alaska?”
“No.”
“There’s even less to do there than there is here.”
“You’ve been there?”
“I’ve been everywhere.”
“Have you ever been to Coachella?”
“What?”
“Never mind. I’m just all over the place right now,” I grumbled, sinking down on the bench near the dorm entrance.
“It sounds like you have a right to be,” Rafael said sympathetically. “It’s a lot for anyone to take on.”
“How do you know about all this?”
“I have my ear to the ground.”
“Yeah, you’ve got that whole supernatural network to tell you things. The one you won’t talk about.”
“It wouldn’t be a secret network if I talked about it.” Rafael smiled softly, but the expression didn’t do much to make me feel any better.
“Yeah, I know all about secret networks,” I shot back. “Everyone seems to have one.”
“This is ultimately about Winters, isn’t it?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he’s the one you’re most concerned with.”
“I didn’t say that,” I scoffed.
“You didn’t have to,” Rafael countered. “Sometimes the way you go about telling a story is a hint to the important part of the story.”
“Something is up with that frat.” I was back on my feet pacing before I even realized it. “Whatever it is, it’s bad. He’s watching me and waiting. I don’t know what he’s waiting for. I don’t know if he’s waiting for me to do something stupid or if he’s waiting for Laura and Matilda to do something stupid that somehow endangers me.”
The only part of his body that moved were Rafael’s eyes as he watched me stride back and forth on the sidewalk in front of him.
“I think he’s got a plan in place, though,” I admitted. “He’s going to do something. I just don’t know what. Or when.”
“You think he’s going to do something about you?” Rafael asked, confusion etched on his handsome face.
“No, not me. At least I don’t think.”
“You think he’s going to move on the sorority?” Realization dawned in his dark eyes.
“Don’t you?”
“I hadn’t really considered it,” Rafael said. “It makes sense, though. Everyone is preparing to mobilize on the sorority. They’re too much of a risk to ignore.”
“Who is everyone? And how do you know that they’re dangerous? I mean, how do you really know?”
“The wolves aren’t the only ones worried about the situation brewing at Delta Omicron. There are whispers, hints of what might come.”
“What kind of whispers?”
“Bad ones,” Rafael acknowledged. “Whatever they’re doing can’t be good. They’re purposely consolidating a power base. Did you know that their recruitment numbers are double what they have been in recent years?”
“How do you know that?”
Rafael didn’t answer the question. “We know that they’re doing some sort of ritual every week. People have been watching the house and all the reports say that they’re performing regular rituals. My guess would be that they’re draining the recruits of any power they might have.”
“How are they even ensuring that they’re getting witches? Do they have a box for that on the recruitment forms?”
“You’re asking the wrong question,” Rafael replied tensely. “Every person on this campus, whether magical or not, has life energy. Jessica doesn’t care if she’s recruiting witches. She only cares that the people she’s recruiting believe in the occult.”
I thought about what he was saying. “Because, if they believe they can get them to participate in these rituals even if they don’t know what’s really going on.”
“Pretty much. The less actual knowledge they have, the better for Jessica. It makes it easier to fool them.”
“So you think the
y’re setting up these fancy rituals as a way to keep the recruits happy, like they’re really dabbling in witchcraft and growing a power base,” I continued. “But the rituals are just a cover so Jessica can suck energy from them.”
“You’re smarter than you look,” Rafael nodded.
Another thought occurred to me. “Can they drain them completely? Could it kill the recruits?”
“I don’t know,” Rafael admitted. “I don’t know enough about what they’re doing to comment on that. Why do you ask?”
I explained about the drained auras and saw Rafael’s face go from neutral to concerned. “You didn’t tell me you could see auras.”
“It’s only happened twice.”
Rafael shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat. I could see his mind working.
“Maybe you saw it when you did because you were supposed to.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“We still have no idea what your true gifts are,” Rafael replied. “We know you have strength – and that strength appears to be growing – but maybe your gifts are only appearing when they’re important to you.”
“How would that happen?”
“My guess is that you’re somehow controlling it.”
“Trust me. I’m not.”
“Not consciously, no,” Rafael agreed. “You could be doing it unconsciously, though.”
“How would I know that?”
“You can’t,” Rafael mused. “It’s just something to watch. Just for curiosity’s sake, though, you haven’t run across any other ghosts have you?”
That was an odd question. “No. I just figured there aren’t any around.”
“On a campus this size? In an area that boasts this big of a supernatural population? This place has to be crawling with ghosts. There’s a reason you saw the one you did and there’s a reason you saw her when you did.”
I was quiet as I watched him mull things over.
“Somehow there’s something bigger at work here,” Rafael finally said.
“I can’t take much more,” I replied ruefully.
“You don’t have a choice,” Rafael replied matter of factly.
“So what do I do?”
“You have to get your roommates to open up,” he said. “They’re the key. They’re the only move you have.”
“And what about Aric?”
“Winters and his ilk are not my concern,” Rafael replied coldly. “Whatever they have planned for the sorority, I hope it’s big and I hope it works. They all have to be eradicated or extricated from the power base. Those are the only two acceptable options.”
“He’s my concern.”
“You’re going to have to fix your relationship with him on your own,” Rafael said. “I will not help you. In fact, I want it to fail.”
“That’s a nice thing to say,” I grumbled.
Rafael’s eyes softened as they met mine. “I prefer you single. It’s just a quirk of mine. If you’re single, then I can date you.”
Great; just what I needed: another complication.
March
Twenty-Nine
I realized Rafael was right. Not about the Aric thing – that whole comment was still weirding me out – but about Laura and Matilda being the key to true answers. So I did the only thing I could: I acted like everything was great.
When Matilda and Laura talked about the sorority I feigned interest and hid my outright disgust.
When Aric said he had to leave for another fraternity meeting I pretended it didn’t bother me.
When Sam Blake approached me on campus I didn’t run away. Sure, I didn’t tell him anything, but I didn’t flee in fear either.
I pretended everything was fine.
It was exhausting.
The only good thing the month of March ushered in was spring. At least the snow was gone. It was still cold at night, but the days were climbing into the forties and fifties. Hey, any piece of good news was welcome in my world these days.
One afternoon in the middle of the month, I took advantage of Matilda and Laura’s absence to have a little talk with Kelsey. It was a long time coming. She hadn’t pressed me about the accusations thrown about the night of the big fight and I hadn’t volunteered anything.
“I think we need to talk.”
Kelsey looked up from her spot on the floor. She had to do a lot of mathematical stuff with little graphs and charts – it all looked really boring, so I didn’t pay a lot of attention -- and that was what she was working on now. “I wondered when this was coming.”
“You could have brought it up,” I reminded her.
“So could you.”
“I was waiting for you.”
“I was waiting for you.”
Well, this was getting us nowhere. “What do you think?”
“About what?” Kelsey asked, sliding back so she was a few feet away from her work.
“About how Laura and Matilda apparently think they’re witches? Or how you’re supposed to be some big, magical being who’s really important? Or how about the fact that you’re sleeping with a werewolf? I have a few things to say on all of those subjects.”
Uh-oh.
“Well, which one do you want to talk about first?” I wasn’t sure which topic I dreaded most.
“Let’s start with Aric,” Kelsey offered.
Oh, good.
“Is he really a werewolf?”
My first instinct was to lie. That kind of defeated the purpose of clearing the air, though. “Yeah.”
“And you knew that before you started dating him?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“I was a little leery at first,” I admitted. “He grows on you, though.”
“That’s why it seemed like he was pursuing you and you were the one who wasn’t interested,” Kelsey mused. “I guess it makes sense now.”
“At least there’s that,” I offered lamely.
“He seems to really care about you, and that’s the most important thing,” Kelsey said. “I don’t have a problem with it.”
“You don’t?”
“I told you before, I knew there was more going on here on campus than just academics,” Kelsey answered. “I didn’t think it was quite this freaky, but it does make a weird kind of sense.”
“Not in a normal world,” I mumbled.
“You can’t pick the world you live in,” Kelsey said. “You can only survive it.”
“You’re like a fortune cookie sometimes,” I laughed.
“I’m more interested in Matilda and Laura being witches,” Kelsey said pointedly.
“How long have you known that?”
I sighed, sinking down onto the floor and facing Kelsey on an even level. “I’ve known about Laura since last year.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“What should I have said? ‘Laura’s mom is a dark witch and Laura might have the same tendencies?’ That would have gone over well.”
“Laura’s mom is a dark witch? Did she tell you that?”
Uh-oh. This was a little trickier. “No,” I hedged. “Someone else told me.”
Kelsey pursed her lips. “Paris.”
“What?” I was trying to be cagey. I think I was coming off as a little spastic, though.
“Paris and Laura are from the same hometown. Does that mean Paris is a witch, too? I bet she is. That’s how you know so much.”
I bit my lower lip. “I don’t think I can really talk about Paris.”
“No, I get it,” Kelsey said hurriedly. “It’s not your secret to tell.”
Exactly. “Paris isn’t the problem here.”
“No, Matilda and Laura are definitely the problem,” Kelsey agreed. “How long have you known Matilda is a witch?”
“Here’s the thing,” I said. “I’m not sure Matilda is really a witch.”
“Isn’t that sorority filled with witches?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t
mean they’re real witches. Some of them might just think they’re real witches.” My logic sounds circular sometimes, even to me.
“How does that work?” Kelsey looked confused.
“I’m only getting my information secondhand,” I explained. “But it seems that maybe the sorority is recruiting people who are susceptible to suggestion. Stumbling across
Laura, a real witch, was probably just a happy coincidence. They might just be using Matilda to suck her life energy.”
“That sounds gross.”
“I’m not sure I fully understand it either,” I admitted. “Rafael says he thinks the witches are setting up rituals that look like simple little spells but are actually a way for Jessica and the other witches to suck energy from their recruits.”
“Who is Rafael?”
I have such a big mouth sometimes. “Um, I can’t really talk about him either.”
“Another secret?”
“If it were up to me, I would tell you,” I replied plaintively. “I’m not trying to hide information.”
“I know,” Kelsey said calmly. “Let’s just talk about what you can talk about now.”
“That sounds like a good idea – at least a safer idea,” I agreed.
“And what about you? What’s up with this mage thing?”
“I have no idea,” I sighed.
Kelsey didn’t look convinced.
“I’m not lying,” I continued. “People have been coming up to me and telling me that
I’m something special since I stepped on this stupid campus – and yet I have no idea what they’re talking about.”
“Don’t your parents know?”
I paused momentarily. “I haven’t asked,” I finally admitted.
“Don’t you think you should? I mean, what can you do?”
“Nothing very impressive,” I lamented. “I talked to a ghost last year.”
“Cool. Did she tell you anything good?”
“No. She mostly just made fun of my clothes. She died in the seventies.”
“And she was making fun of your clothes?”
“She just didn’t get it.”
“What else?”
“Nothing really. Although, every supernatural being on this campus seems drawn to me. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
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