Duplicity (Spellbound #2) (12 page)

Gray’s lips quirked upwards. “You’re not going to stand me up before the coven and hold me on trial?”

Holloway set his phone down and slid into his chair. He folded his hands over the table. “As far as the rest of the coven’s concerned, it doesn’t matter who’s behind this. What’s important is it stops. Have you been in contact with Adrian since the purge?”

Gray looked at her hands. “No.”

Holloway’s lips pressed forward as though in a kiss every time he got ready to speak. “So, that was you who broke into my home last year?”

“That’s right.” Coming out and admitting it wasn’t nearly as scary as she’d thought it would be. Then again, she was letting Charlene take the blame.

“I didn’t know you were so sneaky.”

“Nothing sneaky about it.” Gray leaned forward. “Tell me, Mr. Holloway, do you ever sleep?”

His jaw tightened. She waited. Then Holloway threw his head back and laughed. “Rarely.” Holloway’s fingers formed a steeple. “And who was your accomplice?”

“What accomplice?” Gray inspected her fingernails.

“I know it wasn’t Adrian, he was still powerless at that point. You claim it wasn’t Raj McKenna. Who was it?” The laughter had gone out of his voice. When Gray didn’t answer, Holloway repeated, “Who was it?”

He could ask her all he wanted. It wasn’t as though Gray had drunk the tainted water brewed by the backstabbing Shay Baxter.

“I can’t allow you to leave until you tell me.”

Gray snorted. “You won’t let me leave regardless.”

“I can have your mind read.”

Gray sat up. “That’s against coven rules!” It was a wonder they’d bothered putting a spell over the water to begin with when they could have members like Shay digging through people’s brains.

“Shay Baxter is the only peer leader who can read minds and she insisted we try the truth spell first.”

Gray sprang out of her seat. “If Shay Baxter gets anywhere near my brain I’ll erase her from sight!”

Holloway had stood as well. “You were being so helpful up till now, Charlene. I’m disappointed. Tell me who helped you break into my home.”

“No.”

He took a step toward her. “Tell me.”

“No!”

As Holloway reached out, his office door burst open. Sweat rimmed Ryan’s hairline. His cheeks were flushed. “I did it! It was me!”

Holloway’s jaw dropped, but then again, so did Gray’s. Ryan turned to Gray. “Charlene, why didn’t you call me?”

Gray’s mouth opened and closed. If Ryan suspected who she really was, the gig was up. She stomped her foot. “Ryan, I’m in the middle of something here.”

Holloway shook his head at Ryan. “Ryan, your father is going to be very disappointed.”

Ryan lifted his pear chin up. “I don’t care.”

If Ryan hadn’t been the one who extracted her, Gray might have felt a smidgen of guilt. Ryan had no idea what he was confessing to. He looked at her now with adoring eyes that made Gray’s stomach turn.

“I know how to fix this,” Holloway said.

“Great, so we’re done here?” Gray took a step toward the door, then froze in place. Her muscles twitched as she tried to propel her body forward. If her back wasn’t to Holloway, she’d shoot daggers at him. Not that she could blame Kent’s head warlock. She and Raj had done the same thing to him.

“What are you doing to her?” Ryan cried out.

“Making sure she doesn’t go anywhere. Now both of you: sit!” Ryan fell into the nearest chair. Gray felt herself pulled to the seat beside him and pushed down. Holloway looked down at them darkly. “I’ve decided to keep this secret. As council members, Mr. Curry and Ryan’s dad will need to know, but there’s no reason for it to go any further. This is Adrian’s spell we’re dealing with, not yours, but you did release the hold we had over his powers.”

Ryan’s eyes bulged. “Charlene?”

She shrugged.

“I’m holding you both responsible, especially you, Charlene. I leave it to you to get control of this situation.”

“And how do you expect me to do that?” Gray asked.

Holloway grinned. “You managed to steal three pendants off the necks of council members. I’m sure you can figure out a way to steal them back.”

Gray grinned back. Easy, she already had them.

“I’m also going to need Adrian’s blood—enough to put a couple drops in each vial.”

And there was the clincher.

“How the heck am I supposed to get Adrian’s blood?”

Holloway walked to the door. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

Lee jolted awake. She gripped the armrest at her left as though she were falling and tried not to panic as she looked around the room. The mahogany furniture and glass coffee table appeared before her like foreign objects. What really concerned her, though, was she couldn’t remember who she was.

A man chuckled and Lee whipped her head around. Relief flooded her as her life came back into focus. “What’s so funny?”

Mr. Morehouse shook his head. He sat two couch cushions over with his newspaper unfolded over his lap like a blanket. “We both fell asleep.”

Lee’s jaw dropped. “In the middle of the afternoon?”

Mr. Morehouse grinned. “It’s not afternoon any longer.”

Lee looked at the window. Sure enough, the glass pane had darkened against the sky, reflecting a warped image of the living room. Lee blinked. Mr. Morehouse chuckled again. “You were really out.”

“You have no idea,” Lee mumbled. She felt completely disorientated. She looked down at her lap and froze. The eye in the center of the nazar stared up at her. She looked quickly at Mr. Morehouse, but he was folding his paper, pausing only briefly to examine a missing corner that had been torn off. Lee snatched the nazar, inspecting the broken chain before tying it into a knot around her neck. Phew! Apparently she was safe as long as it was touching her body. This was not the kind of amulet on which she wanted a faulty chain. Once she got to her room, she would replace it with something sturdier.

“Oh, Stacey,” Mr. Morehouse called out as she headed for the stairs.

Lee turned and gave him a ‘what?’ look.

Mr. Morehouse arched a brow. “Why are you dressed that way?”

Lee glanced down at her tight dress and tall boots. She shot Mr. Morehouse a puzzled look before realizing what had happened. She’d meant to sneak out, but first she’d retrieved the sleeping salts to take care of Mr. Morehouse while she slipped away. And karma, wicked fiend that she was, must have seen to it that Lee got a taste—or in this case, whiff—of her own medicine.

“This? I was trying on outfits for my dinner out with Raj on Valentine’s Day.”

Mr. Morehouse’s forehead wrinkled. It’s the first time she’d seen him doubt her.

“When I came down to model, you were asleep on the couch,” Lee said defensively. “I didn’t want to wake you so I sat to wait and I must have drifted off, too.”

For a moment, it looked like he wouldn’t buy it, but then Mr. Morehouse’s features relaxed. “We’re just a couple of slugs today.” He turned back to the couch. “Have you seen my pencil?”

“Negative,” Lee called out as she headed for the staircase. “I’m going to change back into jeans.”

The first thing Lee wanted to change was the chain on the nazar. She set the amulet down on the dresser while she rummaged around Stacey Morehouse’s jewelry box. Little by little, she’d been removing Stacey’s belongings and replacing them with her own. There were certain items, however, that she couldn’t banish so easily—like the jewelry Stacey had inherited from her mother.

The felted box contained a tangle of her own jewelry intermingled with Stacey’s. She was always trying to separate the two, but all the bobbles managed to mix together every time she closed the lid.

What caught Lee’s attention now was the luck amulet Raj had given her the first time she was resurrected. He’d meant it to be a Valentine’s gift before she died. Lee held it in her palm and wrapped her fingers around every piece of stone, symbol, and metal.

This year they were going out, dang it! She didn’t care if Raj had to sit butt naked at the dining table. Neither magic nor murder was going to take another Valentine’s Day from her.

Lee set the luck amulet gently back in place and grabbed the chunky square of amethyst beside it. If the silver chain was strong enough to hold the weight of the rock, it would work with the nazar.

The next evening, Mom and Gray showed up at the Morehouses’ before Raj. Gray waltzed in wearing a short skirt with no tights and a clingy blouse tucked inside. Her legs were perfectly smooth and tanned.

Lee’s fashion scan of her double was abruptly interrupted by Mom and Mr. Morehouse’s lip smack. Mr. Morehouse leaned back and grinned. When he noticed the girls staring he cleared his throat. “Uh, Stace, why don’t you show Charlene your room?”

As though she were a twelve-year-old, Lee grumbled to herself. “That’s okay. Raj will be here soon. We can wait in the living room.”

“I’d love to see your room…
Stace
,” Gray said with a glint in her eye.

Lee pasted a smile over her frown. “Of course,” she sang out. “Please, follow me…
Charlene
.”

Mom frowned, but Mr. Morehouse was already ushering her into the kitchen with an offer of wine.

“Shall we?” Lee asked.

Gray’s lips twitched. “Lead the way.”

Neither girl spoke as they mounted the stairs. Lee led Gray into her room and shut the door. When she turned around, she saw a flabbergasted Gray looking around the room. Lee smiled to herself. This was like no room Gray had ever decorated. Even ten months later, Lee wasn’t above admiring her handiwork. She had transformed the room into a haven of rich textures and foreign appeal.

Gray rounded on her now, arms folding across her chest. “Well, aren’t you girlfriend of the year.”

“Tastes change, Gray,” Lee said defensively. “I’m not the same person I was a year ago.”

Gray went over to the bed and flopped on it. She leapt up in the next instant as though she’d been shocked. Her eyes widened. “Have you and Raj…?”

Lee scowled. “That’s none of your business.”

Gray glanced at the coverlet. “On the contrary, I think it’s every bit my business.”

“Think what you want, you’re not getting an answer out of me.” Lee stomped to the door. “I think it’s time we returned to the living room.”

“What happened to Nolan?”

Lee stopped in her tracks and turned slowly. “Excuse me?”

“How did you retaliate against the turd?”

“Retaliate?” Lee repeated, as though the word were as foreign to her as French.

Gray’s hands were now planted on her hips. “For what he did to us. How did you get even?”

Lee cocked her head, still confused. Nolan. She hadn’t given him a thought in ages. Hijacking Stacey’s body had been tantamount to a rebirth—a new body, new being; one neither Ryan Phillips nor Nolan Knapp had any connection to. “I didn’t do anything,” Lee said.

Gray sputtered. Her words were incomprehensible. When she regained herself it was to say, “I can’t believe you of all people let him get away with rape.”

Lee’s insides recoiled. “That’s not what happened, Gray. He played a horrible prank on us… and it’s taken a lot of meditation on my part to let go of that, but he did not…”

“Meditation!” Gray’s eyes bugged out. “Ryan Phillips extracts your soul with the intention of purging you from existence; Nolan Knapp rapes your body while you’re unconscious; and your solution is to meditate?”

Lee’s jaw ached. She hadn’t realized she was rubbing her teeth together quite that hard. “Nolan did not rape my body! And he didn’t rape yours. Our body is gone. You have to let it go. I have. And he was never with us. He was with Charlene.” As Gray processed the information, Lee added, “and speaking of Charlene, why are you dressed like her?”

Gray glanced down as though noticing the miniskirt for the first time. “Oh, that. The council thinks I’m Charlene.”

“What?”

“Shall we wait for Raj downstairs?”

Lee stepped in Gray’s path as she made for the door. “Why does the council think you’re Charlene?”

Gray’s eyes slid around Lee’s shoulder as though she meant to slip past her. She tried, and Lee stepped in time with her. Gray sighed audibly. “Because I told them I was. Holloway was about to bust Raj so I made an appearance and put the whole thing on Char. As luck would have it, Ryan burst in at the right moment and confessed to being my accomplice.” Gray snickered. “Fool. Guess we don’t have to get even with him quite yet.”

“Get even with who?” Raj asked

Lee’s heart skittered. Raj really should knock before entering a girl’s room, even if he was always welcome.

Gray lifted her eyes skyward. “Ryan Phillips and Nolan Knapp.”

Lee sucked air in through her clamped teeth. Gray missed the warning look she shot her.