Duplicity (Spellbound #2) (21 page)

“What happened last year when he found out that Charlene and I were stuck in one body?”

“He was angry. Like I said, I lied to him.”

It felt like fingers had squeezed a hold over Gray’s heart. When the barista called out that her mocha was ready, she couldn’t move.

“Gray,” Mom said. “Gray, your mocha’s ready.” Finally, she got up, grabbed the drink, and set it in front of Gray.

The thought of her mother alone with the Grim Reaper sent panic through Gray. She’d left to meet him. Mom had never brought it up, and Gray hadn’t asked. What if, like Gray’s encounter with Nolan, it was too painful to mention? “Did he harm you in any way?”

Mom’s forehead wrinkled. “What? No. We haven’t been in contact.”

“What about when you went to meet him?”

Mom tilted her head.

“You left me a note that you’d gone to meet him again. Last week!” Gray lowered her voice. “I mean, last year.”

Mom’s lips formed an “O.” “When I arrived at the location he’d specified, he wasn’t there, but there was a note. He said I’d lied about the date of death and the situation was being corrected. I rushed home, but it was too late. Charlene had her body back, and you were gone. I thought that was his doing. Then, a couple days later, you contacted me in the body of Stacey Lee Morehouse. I thought he’d taken pity on me and performed a body transfer.”

“He doesn’t seem like the pitying type. He doesn’t even seem human. Is he?”

“He’s neither human nor warlock. He’s a necromancer. Warlock, originally, till he traded his identity and voice in for higher powers.”

Gray shuddered involuntarily. “So you’re saying I don’t have a chance?”

Mom stared into Gray’s mocha. “We have certain advantages. He can only come out at night and he’s slow, but Gray, I did a bit of research.” Mom looked up. “There can only be one you.”

Gray’s breath ceased as though those words alone might do her in. There had to be another “but.”
Come on, Mom, say it.
Gray finally let out a breath, heaving forward as she did so. Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes. “You think I’m a mistake, too. Don’t you?”

“I could never think you were a mistake.”

“But you already have one of me. I’m… excess.” A sob made its way up Gray’s throat.

Mom sat up. “You’re not excess. You are as much Graylee Perez as Lee is.”

“But she’s been around longer, and this is Charlene’s body.” Gray pushed back from the table.

“Gray.”

“I have to go.” Gray left before her mother could call her back, leaving her mocha untouched on the tabletop.

School days had always seemed to drag on as a student, but the hours felt even longer when she was out of school and waiting for the day to end. Gray spent the morning at the public library, mostly online. She didn’t come up with anything other than what she felt was a reasonable question: if it was okay for doppelgangers to run around, why couldn’t there be two people with the same mind and memories? Who was that bothering, really?

Gray bought
People
magazine and pretended to read it at the sub shop while she ate lunch. She spent the last hour in McKinley’s student parking lot. Raj’s car had been sandwiched between two vehicles when she arrived, so she stared at the smaller of the two until its tires began rolling back on the pavement. Gray pulled it all the way out then guided it into a vacant spot across the aisle. Then she pulled the Beetle in beside Raj.

Gray tapped on the steering wheel after the bell rang and students filtered out, heading to their vehicles. “Another day in paradise,” Gray mumbled to herself.

When Raj walked out of the double doors, Gray sat up and gripped the wheel. His smile could melt icebergs. It could also break hearts, what with the way it disappeared as soon as he saw Gray getting out of her car.

Raj ran a hand through his hair and looked behind him. “Gray, what are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.”

“I know.” Raj looked down. Not only was he avoiding eye contact, but Gray could have sworn he backed away. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. It’s been confusing having two of you around and that’s why I can’t see you again.”

He still wouldn’t look at her. Gray felt her heart dropping. Now, as his eyes rose to meet hers, she wished he never had.

“There can be only one Gray,” Raj said.

The freshmen sitting in the back of the bus were launching spitballs—not that they’d dare get one within a foot of Stacey Morehouse. But even if one of their wet wads had landed in her hair, Lee wouldn’t have noticed.

She sat against the window, staring outside dreamily. She could see early signs of spring coming in the green blades of grass reaching out across front lawns. Lee sighed.

A sophomore sitting across the aisle yelled, “hey!” as spitballs flew at her.

When they reached Lee’s stop, the lowerclassmen all leaned away from the aisle as Lee made her way down it. “Bye, Betty!” she called out cheerfully to their driver as she hopped down the stairs.

“Bye, Miss Morehouse.”

Lee’s eyes lit up when she saw her mom’s shoes in the entryway. Lee removed her own and lined them beside Mom’s.

“There you are, sweetie,” Mr. Morehouse said. “Did you have a good day?”

“A most excellent day.”

“Lee, can I talk to you a moment?” Mom asked.

“Sure, Mo…Ms. Perez. I’ll just drop my book bag off in my room. You can come with me.”

If she weren’t convinced she were in for a lecture, Lee would have skipped up the stairs. Drat! How did her mom know? Lee touched her cheeks. Of course, she had the glow—the ‘I made love for the first time and can’t stop grinning’ glow. Double drat!

She really should have rethought leading Mom to the scene of the crime. Lee stopped abruptly in the hallway. “What’s up?” she asked nonchalantly.

Mom studied her face. “Did you put a sleeping spell over me last night?”

The glow turned into a crimson flush of shame over Lee’s cheeks. “Uh, why don’t we step inside my room?” Lee shut the door behind her mom. The sight of the overstuffed monkey on her bed brought back her smile.

Lee tried for a more abashed expression when she refaced her mother. “It was for your own safety. Gray called and said you couldn’t go home.”

“I know. She filled me in this morning.”

“Oh, good,” Lee said and sat on her bed.

Mom sighed. “And to think I gave Mr. Morehouse a hard time this morning for not waking me up.”

Lee grabbed the monkey and rubbed her cheek against his fuzzy head. “Yeah, he was under the same spell.”

“Naturally. Lee.” Mom’s tone deepened. “Lee!”

Lee stopped messing around with the monkey. “Yes?”

“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

The truth was she’d taken care of the danger of Mom returning home while at the same time buying herself more time to hang out with Raj. That wasn’t what Mom needed to hear, though.

“Little tricky with Mr. Morehouse right there,” Lee said.

“You could have pulled me aside.”

“I think Gray was worried you’d go out looking for her.”

“Where
did
Gray go?”

“Adrian’s magic shop.”

Mom’s jaw dropped.

“See?” Lee said. “I’m not the only one withholding information.”

“What was she doing there?”

“Trying to find something of personal significance to Adrian so we can put the whammy on him and collect his blood.”

“I don’t want you getting involved in any of this.”

Lee pushed the monkey aside. “I’m just as much at fault as Gray. Besides, if we don’t fix this, Holloway has threatened to put you on trial.”

Mom snorted. “Holloway can’t put me on trial.” She reached around her neck and unclasped the nazar. Mom held it out to Lee. “I’m no longer a witch.”

“My mom is no longer a witch,” Lee repeated twenty minutes later.

Raj came over as soon as she called. Lee sat on the edge of her bed, hugging the oversized monkey to her chest. “I think Gray was trying to tell me yesterday, but I sorta launched into her about the other thing.” Lee squeezed the monkey tighter.

“Lee, about that.” Raj scratched his head. “She approached me after school today.”

Lee’s head shot up.

“I told her I couldn’t see her anymore.”

Lee’s lower lip trembled. She stood up so quickly the monkey fell off her lap onto the floor. “You shouldn’t have said that.”

Raj’s head twisted. “Why not?”

“I think maybe Gray’s in danger.”

“Adrian?”

“No, The Contact.” Lee’s eyes widened. “She called last night and said he’d come to the house. I think he wants to take her out of the equation.”

A look of horror crossed Raj’s face. “Oh my God, when I told her there could only be one Gray I didn’t mean…” He looked at Lee desperately. “What can we do?”

“That’s just the thing. Mom told me nothing can be done.”

In general, Gray had never been much of a crier, but she figured she had earned the right to wail if she wanted. Gray chose the one place that was sure to be secluded, where even if a person happened by, they wouldn’t think twice about catching sight of a sobbing girl: St. Ann’s Cemetery.

The dew on her grassy plot was soaking through Gray’s tights. Tears and snot covered her face. She sucked in and sniffled pitifully.

She glanced at her tombstone and read aloud, “‘Forever in our hearts.’ Whose hearts? Not Mom’s. Not Raj’s.” Gray began sobbing again.

Her phone rang. She ignored it. Mom had been trying to reach her all day.

“Go away!” she called into the sky when the sun burned through the clouds and glared at her with its rays. Gray leaned her back against the headstone and covered her face in her knees and arms.

Maybe if she waited long enough, night would come and The Contact could finish her off in the graveyard—less hassle for everyone involved.

Gray’s teeth began to chatter. Soon her body was shaking from cold rather than sobs. Reluctantly, she stood up and made her way to the car. Once inside the vehicle, she started the ignition and cranked up the heat.

The sun had retreated behind the clouds again, and the sky was finally dimming. She’d wait out the night, then fling herself over her grave once more. No excuses this time.

The cell phone wailed inside Gray’s purse. She pulled it out, looked at the display screen, and answered, “what do you want?”

The last thing Gray was in the mood for was Adrian’s boastful voice… until he told her why he was so pleased. “There was an incident at the supermarket involving Nolan’s mother and now she, along with Mr. Knapp, is spending the night at Gathering, but Nolan is staying home… alone.”

Gray sat up in her seat and smacked the steering wheel. “We got him!”

Once she’d tossed her phone beside her purse on the passenger’s seat, Gray turned the ignition all the way to start. The car rumbled to life.

Gray may have lost the chance to get back at the weasel for the prank he’d pulled on her when she was sharing a body with Charlene the year before, but she wasn’t losing it again.

Revenge wasn’t a particularly noble dying wish. Gray had tried for love, only to be rejected. Revenge was all she had left.

As long as she was on a vengeance kick, Gray had one more errand she wanted to run before she met Adrian at his shop.

By the time Gray reached Ryan Phillips’s house, her face was no longer red or blotchy. This thanks to a variation of the tanning spell; instead of tinting her skin an attractive bronze, Gray had whitened her complexion to its usual coloring.

It wasn’t even spring yet and Mr. Phillips had mowed his front lawn in straight lines. He shouldn’t be home from work for another fifteen minutes. Gray pounded on the door then waited.

After a minute, she pounded harder and pressed her ear to the door. A moment of silence passed, and then she heard footsteps shuffling down the stairs.

The door opened and Ryan blinked several times, as though he’d been trapped inside a cave for weeks and was only now seeing the light. The confusion over his ruddy cheeks turned to elation. “Charlene!”

Gray kept her place on the other side of the welcome mat.

“Charlene, thank God. I’ve been trying to sneak out of here for days. My dad put a spell over the house. There’s some sort of force field blocking all the exits.” Ryan tried to reach through the door to demonstrate. His hand hit an invisible wall. “He even disabled my phone,” Ryan grumbled. “Thank God you made it, though. If anyone can break through this spell, it’s you, Charlene.”

“Why would I want to do that?” Gray grinned as Ryan’s face twisted in confusion.