3 Conjuring (22 page)

When you go to a party expecting to find evil people
, even the simplest things can take on a threatening tone.

“I love your shoes.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The sorority girl – I had no idea who she was – lo
oked taken aback by the sudden vehemence in my voice.

The girl took an inadvertent step back. “I mean that I like your shoes. Steve Madden?

I love Steve Madden shoes. Did I say something wrong?”

Paris sent the girl a sympathetic look. “We’re just a
little uptight. They are great shoes. We just have other things on our minds.”

The girl still looked confused.

“Finals,” Kelsey interjected quickly.

The girl’s confusion melted away and, in its
place, bloomed a look of utter understanding and compassion. “Oh, I know, right? College would be so much better if we didn’t have to pass classes.”

Kelsey frowned. “Then why would we go to college?”

“I don’t understand what you mean?” The girl looked puzzled.

I put a hand on Kelsey’s arm to stay her. “We’re just goi
ng to go over here and talk to someone ... anyone else.”

Once we moved away from the clueless sorority sis
ter, Kelsey exploded. “She’s a prime example of why people make fun of sororities.”

“I’d rather deal with her stupidity than Jessica’s evil,” I replied pragmatically.

Kelsey considered my statement for a second and then shook her head. “No. I can deal with evil. Stupidity is just ... .”

“Stupid?” Paris suggested helpfully.

“Pretty much,” Kelsey agreed.

We spent the next hour standing next to the fence th
at cut the sorority’s backyard off from the surrounding houses. Conversation was at a minimum. We mostly just people watched. Paris broke the silence first.

“Have you noticed that there are three different groups of people?”

I glanced at her curiously and then turned to take in the crowd again. She was right.

“Yeah,” I said. “Some of the people here are just rando
m people. There are only a few of them, though. I wonder if that will change things for them?”

“We need to see if they start trying to divert those people away from the party at some point,” Paris agreed. “That will be a sign that
things are going to get under way.”

“Won’t they wait until dark?” Kelsey asked.

“I have no idea,” I shrugged. “What time is it anyway?”

Kelsey glanced at her watch. “A few minutes before seven.”

“It will be dark soon,” Paris said. “It’s staying lighter later because of Daylight

Savings, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“Which means that whatever they’ve got planned is probably going to happen soon.”

Kelsey didn’t look happy with my observation. “You s
aid there were three groups of people,” she said.

“What?”

“You said there were three groups of people,” she continued. “What are the other two?”

“The second,” I said, pointing to a big clump of girls g
athered around the grill and a picnic table with drinks spread on top of it. “I think they’re the sorority girls who are in this to be in an actual sorority. They’re all about the giggles and drinks.”

“And the third?”

“Over there.” Paris pointed in the opposite direction, to a smaller group of sorority sisters. They had their heads bent together and were whispering. Jessica was at the center of the group, dressed in an ankle-length purple skirt and simple black top.

She seemed to be the one doing the bulk of the talk
ing. Then, as if she sensed us watching her, Jessica glanced up, an evil smile on her face.

I met her smile with one of my own, plastering my to
othiest grin on my face – even though my insides were quaking.

“She isn’t even trying to pretend that she’s not evil,” Paris said.

“Nope.” I kept my gaze focused on Jessica. I didn’t want her to think I was afraid. Yes, it was nothing more than posturing, but it’s all we really had right now.

“Matilda and Laura are with the evil group,” Kelsey said, her voice low.

That fact hadn’t escaped me. “I know.”

“So, what do we do?”

“I have no idea,” I admitted, getting a small jolt of happiness when Jessica finally broke our stare-off first.

“We could sneak inside and set off the fire alarm,” Kelsey suggested.

“What would that do?” I asked.

“It would force them to evacuate the yard,” Kelsey replie
d. “It’s a sorority. They have fire drill rules they have to follow.”

“That would just delay things,” I pointed out.

“It would at least get the random people out of here,” Kelsey shot back.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Paris mused. “If Jessica is planning
to use these people as fodder, then getting them out of here hurts her plan and saves us from having to try to save them.”

I thought about it for a second and then nodded griml
y. “You’re right. It is a good idea.”

Kelsey looked smug.

“And since it was your idea,” I turned to her. “I’m nominating you for the task.”

Kelsey’s small smile flipped. “Why me?”

“Because it will get you out of the center of things, too,” I said.

“What about you two?”

“We’ve been through this before,” I replied. “Paris can protect herself and I ... well, I’ll be fine.”

“Because you’re a mage?”

“Because I’m a bitch,” I countered.

“And she’ll have backup in the form of the wolves,”
Paris added. “I hope they get here soon.”

There was that. Hopefully.

Kelsey still didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “Pull it.”

Kelsey turned, resignation washing over her face.

“After you pull it you need to run.”

Kelsey froze, her back to us. I thought she was going to turn around and argue. Instead, she stiffened her shoulders and walked back toward the house.

I turned back toward Paris. “I had to send her away.”

“I know,” Paris replied. “She’s never been in a situation like this. It will be better if she’s gone.”

“You should go, too,” I said suddenly. “When she pulls the alarm. You ca
n disappear with everyone else.”

Paris shook her head defiantly. “No.”

“You don’t have to be part of this,” I pressed.

“I do.”

“Why?”

Paris fixed her eyes, so full of remorse and self-r
ecrimination, on me. “You know why.”

I blew out a sigh. “Laura.”

“Laura.”

“Laura’s getting into this is not your fault,” I reminded her.

“Isn’t it?” Paris didn’t look convinced. “Because from my point of view, if I hadn’t forced the situation last year this probably wouldn’t have happened.”

“How do you figure?”

“Laura wouldn’t have fallen in with these people if she hadn’t felt so isolated.”

“What?”

“Once she was separated from everyone else, she only had you to rely on,” Paris continued. “When she saw you bonding with Kelsey, it freaked her out. She needed to belong somewhere – she’s always needed to belong somewhere – and she was vulnerable and that’s how Jessica picked her.”

I thought about what she said for a second. “That’s crap.”

Paris raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“That’s crap,” I repeated. “Laura did this to herself. I
t wasn’t your job to make sure she didn’t feel vulnerable. It’s not mine either. Sure, maybe I should have been more ... aware of what she as going through. That doesn’t make it my fault – and it’s certainly not your fault.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that we’re in this situati
on and we have to deal with it now,” Paris pointed out.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“I need to know,” Paris hesitated.

“You need to know what?”

“Are we going to try to save Laura?”

“Of course we are.”

“And if we can’t?”

I opened my mouth to answer but no words
came out. Even if things went absolutely perfect, that still didn’t mean that Laura and Matilda would walk out of this unscathed. I was about to say just that when an alarm started blaring from inside the sorority house.

Kelsey had done her job.

When the fire alarm erupted, everyone at the party looked startled. The guests immediately started filing out of the backyard and away from the house. It’s human nature to move away when an alarm signals and that’s what I was hoping for.

“It won’t take them long to figure out this was a dive
rsion,” Paris said quietly. We hadn’t moved from our spot by the fence.

“I know.”

“What do we do when they figure it out?”

“We fight.”

The yard emptied quickly, with some of the sorority sisters disappearing inside of the house to investigate the alarm and others filing out with the guests as they left the party.

“Do you see Brittany?” I asked, craning my neck to tr
y and get a better view of the yard.

“I think she left,” Paris said. “I hope she left.”

We both jumped when the side door of the house flew open a few feet from us.

Jessica was standing at the top of the steps – and she
didn’t look happy. She pointed at me accusingly. “You did this.”

“Did what?” I held my palms up and affixed what I ho
ped was a quizzical expression on my face. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You stupid bitch!” Jessica raged. “What did you think this would accomplish?

I realized that the sky had darkened in the last few minutes and Paris and I now were well and truly cut off from witnesses – and escape.

And so it began.

“Get everyone back out here,” Jessica ordered,
glancing around at her minions expectantly.

“They’re gone,” Laura replied. I noticed she refused to make eye contact with me.

“They all left.”

“They’re probably just on the front lawn,” Jessica
snapped. “Go and wrangle them back.”

The alarm suddenly stopped blaring.

“Tell them it was a false alarm,” Jessica said.

“Laura, don’t,” I took a step toward her, willing her to look in my direction.

Laura raised her eyes to mine. I saw surprise reflected there, even a little guilt. There was no remorse, though. There was nothing even akin to remorse.

“Do as I say, Laura,” Jessica said, her voice icy.

Laura moved to do her bidding, but I was nowhere near done. I figured the longer I could stall things here the more likely it was that help would arrive – and the party guests would find something better to occupy their time. I was starting to wish that I had told Aric my plan – even if he yelled -- but he had refrained from asking my intentions and I had done the same. It was too uncomfortable for both of us.

“It’s not too late, Laura,” I said.

“Not too late for what?” Laura asked, her voice small and pitiful.

“You don’t have to be a part of this.”

“What are you talking about?” Laura looked decidedly uncomfortable.

“I know what you’re planning here.” It was a bluff, but
I figured it was better to go with the bravado than attack Jessica from a point of weakness. “You can still walk away from it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Laura lied.

“Really?” It was time to lay all the cards on the table. Besides, talking had always been my super strength. Screw this mage stuff. “I think you know exactly what’s going to be happening here.”

Jessica fixed her dark eyes on me curiously. “And
what is it that you think you know?”

“I know that you’ve been recruiting heavily the past tw
o semesters,” I offered. I was bolstered by Paris’ steady presence behind me. She wasn’t saying anything. She wasn’t trying to escape either. I wasn’t sure, if our positions were switched, that I would be that brave.

“We’re a sorority,” Jessica replied blandly. “We recruit. It’s what we do.”

“Not at the levels you’ve been recruiting,” I countered. “And you’re looking for specific girls.”

Jessica didn’t respond. Instead, she let me continu
e. I was fine with that. I was starting to find my footing in this mess. Of course, that could have just been wishful thinking.

“You’re looking for needy girls,” I added. “Girls who d
on’t feel they belong anywhere else. You’re looking for girls who take on the personality of the people they happen to be surrounded by at the time.” I glanced over at Matilda pointedly. She had the grace to remain silent and look mildly ashamed. “You want girls who are easily molded. And that’s how you pick your recruits.”

Jessica glanced over at Laura, her mouth a tight line
of hate. “Do you hear what she really thinks of you, Laura? She thinks you’re weak. Just like I told you.”

I ignored the jab – and the stab of pain that crossed Laura’s face at Jessica’s goading.

“You also want girls who are, shall we say, open to the possibilities of the world,” I pressed on. “You want girls who can be nudged into believing in witchcraft.”

Jessica rolled her eye
s. “Witchcraft? That’s absurd.”

Her words sounded hollow – and it wasn’t just because I knew she was lying.

“The thing is,” I said. “You’re running your own little scam here. You want girls who believe in witchcraft, but the bulk of the girls here don’t have any real power. They’re just fodder. When you stumbled on Laura, though, a girl with real power, you realized that you’d hit the jackpot.”

I returned my gaze to Matilda. “Sure, Laura came wi
th some baggage,” I added. “Is that when you decided that recruiting non-witches could still be a benefit? When Laura insisted on bringing Matilda along?”

I was out on a limb here.

“You’ve been a busy little bee, haven’t you?” Jessica pursed her lips angrily. She was trying to prove she was still in control, but I could tell that my words were having a negative effect on her.

“I have,” I agreed. “You haven’t exactly been stealthy,
though. I mean, did you think no one on this campus – a campus full of supernatural beings – would notice that you were trying to consolidate a power base?”

“What does that mean?” Laura asked the questio
n of Jessica, but her gaze was pointed in my direction.

“I have no idea what she’s talking about,” Jessica lied.

“You can’t tell me that you don’t know, Laura,” I said. “Jessica has been draining your aura for months. You had to have felt that.”

“That’s a lie!”

Laura was watching Jessica with a mixture of suspicion and fear. “Why is she saying that?”

Jessica didn’t answer, so I took the opportunity and did i
t for her. “She needs your power, Laura. Didn’t she tell you that? There are only a handful of real witches here.

There’s not enough power to do what she wants. I
mean, she’s a witch, but she’s obviously not powerful enough to enact her plan without stealing power from others.”

“That’s enough,” Jessica said, moving down the steps angrily.

“And even your power isn’t enough for her,” I said, refusing to take a step back and cede any ground to Jessica. “That’s what all the other recruits are for.”

“They don’t have power, though,” Laura said dubio
usly. “They have no real place here.”

“That’s not stopping Jessica from using them,” I said. “
She’s been stealing their life essence, just like she’s been feeding off your actual power.”

For the first time that afternoon, Laura looked as
though she was wavering. “But how is that even possible?”

“If I’ve learned anything from coming here,” I an
swered. “It’s that anything is possible.”

Jessica must have grown sick of me controlling the conversation, because she wa
s suddenly trying to draw everyone’s attention back to her. “And what about you? Covenant College’s own little mage. Zoe Lake. A mystical mistake masquerading as a simple college girl.”

Hmmm. What did that mean? I refused to give up the headway I was ma
king. “I’m not the one trying to take control of the campus,” I pointed out. “I just want to go to class and hang out with my boyfriend. You’re the one trying to suck people dry.”

“No worse than your little vampire friend. Rafael is his name, right? Oh,
you didn’t think I knew about him? Your little meetings with him?”

“I don’t really care,” I countered. “He’s not the one tr
ying to claim the title of the most evil of the land.”

“Not evil,” Jessica shot back. Apparently she had given up the pretense of p
retending that witchcraft wasn’t real. “Just powerful.”

“I think where you’re concerned they’re one and the same.”

“If you knew all of this,” Jessica said. “Then why did you come? Why did you play right into my hands?”

“To stop it.”

Jessica smirked. “Just you and your little witch friend here?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I had expected Aric to
roll in with a pack of wolves to shake things up at a certain point. So far, though, there was no sign of him.

“Well, as you said, I’m a mage,” I replied. “I figur
e I’m meant to stop you.” That sounded grand – and empty – even to my own ears. It was too late to take it back, though. I was grandstanding and I was pretty sure Jessica realized that, too.

“You’re not going to be a mage for long,” Jessica said ominously.

“Oh, yeah?” The spell. “That would actually be a nice change of pace.”

“You really have no idea how much power you actually wield, do you?”

“Sure,” I replied sarcastically. “I have the power to make grown men cry in thirty seconds flat and I have the power to irritate everyone in my general vicinity in half that time.”

“Power is wasted on you,” Jessica spat, ignoring my
attempt at levity. “You don’t know how to use it and you definitely don’t know how to use it to your advantage. I won’t make that same mistake.”

I watched as Jessica reached into the pocket of her
skirt and pulled out a small, purple vial. There was some sort of liquid inside of it. A potion.

“What’s that?” I asked, although I had a feeling I already knew the answer.

“It’s the source of your power,” Jessica replied. “I’ve managed to make a special brew that will strip it from you and give it to me – someone actually worthy of wielding it.”

I had to act carefully here. “And how did you manage to make it?”

“Your roommates have been pilfering specific items I needed for the spell for a while now. I really couldn’t have done it without them.”

I shot an accusatory look at Laura.

“Oh, it’s too late,” Jessica smiled at me. “In a few seconds, all the power you refuse to realize will be mine.”

“It won’t hurt you,” Laura offered lamely. “It will just s
trip you of your power. You’ll be fine.”

Apparently that was supposed to make me feel better. “So, you betrayed me?”

“You betrayed me first,” Laura shot back.

“And how did I do that?”

“By picking Kelsey over me,” Laura said. “Where is Kelsey, by the way?” She glanced around curiously.

“She left,” Paris spoke up for the first time.
“Right before all of the alarm excitement.”

“Meaning that she’s the one who set off the alarm,” Matilda sai
d. “That sounds like her.”

I watched Laura carefully. I couldn’t get a full r
ead on her. Part of her seemed ashamed of what she had done, but I was beginning to think that was an act. The question was: Who was she performing for, me or Jessica? “So all of this is because I became friends with Kelsey?”

“No, all of this is because you abandoned me,” Laura said.

“You’re so insecure that you’re willing to risk everyone – not just me but everyone – because I made a new friend? That’s a little pathetic, Laura.”

“You’re the pathetic one,” Laura sneered. “I’ve been w
orking with Jessica under your nose for months and you’re just figuring stuff out now. So much for being the great mage of Michigan.”

I snorted derisively. “If that’s what you need to tell yoursel
f, then go ahead.” I turned to Jessica expectantly. “Well?”

“Well what?” Jessica asked.

“Do it. Drink your potion. Gain my power. Become me. That’s what you want, right? To become me? Maybe Aric will be interested in you if you gain my power. That’s how this all started, isn’t it? You convinced yourself we were only together because of this mage business.”

Jessica looked incensed at the charge. I hadn’t really b
elieved the words when I first uttered them, but now I realized that I was right. That was how this all started.

“This has nothing to do with Aric,” Matilda said, her fac
e drawn and taut. “That’s just ridiculous. Tell her, Jessica.”

Jessica didn’t answer, though. Her dark eyes glinte
d with mirth. I watched as she lifted the vial to her lips, powerless to stop the inevitable. I could only hope that whatever followed would be a strong reckoning for Jessica.

Jessica wrinkled her nose distastefully and swallowed t
he potion, closing her eyes to relish the rush of power she was sure would follow.

I waited and watched. There was nothing else I could do.