Enchantment (3 page)

The bedrooms at Benita’s city villa were even
smaller than the one Charlene had been assigned at the boarding
school in France. Gray didn’t mind. She had not come to Barcelona
to spend time in her room.

Each chamber had been outfitted with a wooden
chair, a dresser, a small closet, and a single bed. It wasn’t the
best place for having company, and in Hannah’s case, there was no
clean surface to stand or sit on. The chair had clothes piled on
the seat and tights draped over the back. Gray pushed aside some of
Hannah’s dirty laundry with the tip of her toe and leaned against
the wall.

Gray adored Hannah’s funky fashion style.
They might have borrowed clothes if Hannah was a little taller and
less stocky.

The walls in Hannah’s room were the only
spaces that looked as though order and care had been placed into
their setup; namely, posters were spaced out at perfect intervals.
Gray recognized some of the faces on the posters—Daniel Craig,
Ralph Fiennes, Clive Owen, Eddie Izzard. Daniel Day-Lewis
half-smiled from his space directly across from her.

“The UK has the hottest actors on the
planet,” Hannah said.

Gray pushed away from the wall and
hopscotched her way to Hannah’s dresser. “We’re not having this
argument again. We need to pack.”

Hannah folded her arms over her chest and
raised a brow. “Robert Pattinson.”

Gray turned her back to her friend and began
digging around the top drawer of the dresser, which was already
open. She selected a pair of shorts and held them up. “You’ll want
these.”

“Christian Bale,” Hannah continued.

“Not listening.”

Gray could hear the self-satisfied smile in
Hannah’s voice as she said, “Jude Law.”

Gray whipped around. Not fair. Hannah knew
Jude Law was Gray’s Hollywood heartthrob. “Leonardo DiCaprio,” Gray
threw back.

“Orlando Bloom,” Hannah said louder.

“Johnny Depp!”

“Christian Bale!”

“Colin Farrell.”

“Ha!” Hannah said, eyes lighting. “Colin
Farrell’s from Ireland.”

Gray winced. “Darn it. Are you going to pack
or what?”

Hannah groaned and joined Gray at the
dresser. “It would be a lot easier if I could snap my clothes into
my travel bag. Benita is so strict.”

Even Hannah, who believed rules were
suggestions, followed Benita’s no-magic rule. She wouldn’t last an
hour at Vipassana, and she knew it.

“Want to know why I was sent here?” she asked
now.

Apparently Hannah wasn’t above breaking
Benita’s second rule. It’s not as if Vineusa would be able to
figure that one out. Gray stepped on a sock in her hurry to shut
Hannah’s door. What she’d learned about Hannah was that once she
made up her mind to say something, she went ahead and said it.

Hannah grinned wickedly. “I snogged a
fifty-three-year-old.”

“What?” Gray looked at Hannah, appalled.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Snog means kiss by
the way.”

“Oh.”

“Americans always think it means something
else.”

Gray tried not to blush.

Hannah tossed a pair of shorts onto her bed
and sighed. “His name was Daniel.” She looked over her shoulder at
one of her posters. “He looked a bit like Liam Neeson.”

“Warlock?” Gray asked.

“No, my father’s business partner.”

Gray’s eyes widened. “Oh. I take it your
father found out.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so
angry.”

Gray twisted her lips to the side. “It wasn’t
your fault. He should have known better than to kiss someone less
than half his age, not to mention his business partner’s
daughter.”

Hannah shot Gray a mischievous grin. “It
wasn’t Daniel’s fault. I put a love spell over him.”

Gray’s jaw dropped. “Hannah, you didn’t!”

The springs on Hannah’s bed squealed when she
flopped onto the mattress. “I couldn’t help it. He was all I could
think about. My insides were eating me up. I had to do something.
Love is a powerful force.”

“Love is dangerous,” Gray said. She turned
toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Hannah called after
her.

“I’m going to pack!”

Once Gray was inside her room, an exact replica of
Hannah’s only tidy, she set her purse on her bed and sat down
beside it. She didn’t carry around much: a cell phone, wallet, lip
gloss . . . and a lucky amulet. It was the one Raj gave her the
first time she returned from the dead.

Gray fished it out now. The stones and silver
symbols pulled at her fingertips as she held it in front of her
face, the initials “GP” visible from every angle of the four-sided
bead.

What had S
eñora
Contreras said? This summer was about ridding their lives of excess
baggage. Not that Gray would get rid of the amulet—she doubted she
ever would—but she could stash it in her dresser drawer under her
tank tops rather than cart it around everywhere she went.

Gray lifted her purse after returning from
the dresser. There. It felt lighter already.

It didn’t take long to pack. The trip to
Sitges was only for the weekend, and Gray’s summer clothes didn’t
weigh much inside her backpack.

Her cell phone rang as she tossed her
hairbrush inside the pack. Gray slid her phone open. “Hello?”

“
Hola
,” her mom said on the other
end.

Gray smiled. “Hi, Mom.”

“I just wanted to call and wish you a
wonderful new adventure this weekend.”

“Thanks. What about you? Do you have any
plans?” Gray sat on the wood chair in the corner of her room.

“We’re going camping in the San Juan Islands.
That’s the other reason I called. I don’t know how good cell
reception will be there.”

Gray pulled her legs up to her chin and
rested her free ear on her knee. She knew who the group campout
included: Mom’s boyfriend, Mr. Morehouse; Gray’s duplicate, “Lee”;
and possibly Raj. Gray didn’t want to know if Raj was going.

Gray lifted her head. “Any news on
Charlene?”

“My soul searcher hasn’t had any luck. She
seems to think the reason she can’t locate your sister’s soul is
because Charlene found a body.” Mom’s breath whispered through the
phone. “You’d think Charlene would call me if she could.”

“Maybe she took on the form of a dog,” Gray
suggested

“Gray—”

“What? I hear they’re treated quite well in
France.” Gray had often wished she had a pet rather than a sister
growing up. Maybe things were finally looking up.

“There’s something else . . . Ryan Phillips
left for Paris last week.”

Or not.

Gray got out of the chair. “Why would Ryan go
to Paris?”

“Why do you think?”

“Charlene,” Gray whispered.

“Gray, promise me you’ll be careful.”

“You know I will.”

“Good. Listen, I love you. Have a wonderful
time at the beach, and if you happen to cross paths with Charlene,
tell her to call me.”

* * *

Gray didn’t bother changing for the trip. It was too
hot for pants. When she tapped on Hannah’s door, she peeked in only
to find Hannah still packing.

“Time’s up,” Gray said.

Hannah scooped some clothes off the floor and
stuffed them inside her pack. Gray almost ran into their friend
Marco as she led the way back into the hall. Speaking of men with
style, Marco looked pretty suave himself in his striped polo and
fitted khaki pants.

“Running late?” He quirked a brow. “Why am I
not surprised?”

Hannah pushed past Gray. “I’m not the last
one to breakfast every morning, Marco.”

Marco spread his arms open. “It’s the only
meal this country serves early.”

“You’re looking good,” Gray remarked. “Are
you meeting someone or on the prowl?”

Marco smiled, all smoldering and mischievous.
“I’m going for a coffee. If I meet someone along the way . . . it’s
fine by me.” Marco winked at Gray. “Bring me back a souvenir.”

“Come with us and get your own souvenir,”
Hannah said.

The weekend trips weren’t mandatory. Marco
never signed up for any of them. Gray felt tempted to start
sticking around Barcelona more, now that she’d met Carlo.

“Hannah,” Gray said. “We really do need to
go.”

“Hold your horses. It’s not like they’ll
leave without us.”

This from the person who had said the exact
opposite to Will. Speaking of whom, he made his way down the hall,
backpack slung over one shoulder. Marco patted him on the back as
they passed. When Will saw Gray he smiled from ear to ear and
lifted a bag of chips in the air. Gray smiled back.

“I don’t know why you’re in such a hurry to
leave,” Hannah said, oblivious to Will’s approach. “I would think
you wouldn’t want to go at all now that you have your own Spanish
snog partner.”

Gray groaned inwardly.

Will’s arm lowered. “Here your crisps,” he
said somberly, handing them to Hannah.

“Brilliant. Thanks, Will.” The bag crinkled
under Hannah’s grasp. She led the way to the courtyard between
Benita’s villa and the neighboring apartment building.

Gray forced a smile. “Did you find a book for
the trip?”

“Yes,” Will said.

Will was a nice boy, but Gray didn’t like the
way he made her feel forced to act polite. She couldn’t be herself
around him. Not like she could with Raj. Gray couldn’t even be
herself around Carlo. He treated her like a sweet girl from the
States.

But Gray was no girl next door. She was
unnatural in every way imaginable. For one thing, she was a witch.
And then there was everything else. Gray had died, been
resurrected, purged, transferred, and duplicated.

A world with magic was fantastical enough,
but Gray defied all laws.

Even Will had no clue as to what she really
was. Gray shouldn’t exist at all. The original Gray had fought her
way back into existence. She’d hijacked the comatose body of Stacey
Lee Morehouse and made a life for herself. She had even made the
ultimate sacrifice, giving up her powers so that copycat Gray could
continue living.

And now Gray found herself in Barcelona
attempting to put the past behind her and figure out her place in
the world.

Gray needed a distraction, a way to forget
herself. So far Spain had proven the perfect getaway. A new
country, new language, and new friends to fill her head and time.
If only she could stay in Spain indefinitely.

Hannah was the first to enter the small gated
courtyard where
Señora
Contreras kept her
van parked.

Small groups had formed on one side of the
van.

“See?” Hannah said, turning with a smile.
“They haven’t even boarded yet.”

Vinuesa stood outside the driver’s window
issuing quick commands to the burly man behind the wheel. The van
sputtered to life, choked, and died. There was a heated exchange
between Vinuesa and the driver followed by another failed attempt
to start the van.

Hannah opened her bag of chips and began
eating them one by one.

“
Olvidese de el!
” Vinuesa said. She
walked around the vehicle and announced that the trip was
cancelled.

Hannah crunched into a chip. “Clubbing it is
then.”

* * *

Later that evening, Gray, smartphone pressed to her
ear, met Hannah, Marco, and Will in the foyer. She frowned when the
call went to Carlo’s answering service and hung up. “I can’t reach
Carlo.”

“So we’ll surprise him,” Hannah said. She
wore her black and white striped pants with a fuzzy purple top. Now
these were items Gray would not borrow even if they fit.

“Not the ears,” Marco groaned.

“What?” Hannah said, squeezing two puffy
black pom-poms on top of her head. They stuck out like Mickey Mouse
ears.

Gray thought she had dressed funky back home,
but she hadn’t even scratched the surface. She felt downright
conservative in a tank top and skirt beside Hannah.

Marco ran a hand up the back of his neck. The
polo had been replaced by a button-down shirt, open at the collar.
“You know, if you really want to find your Spaniard I know someone
who could do a locator spell.”

“Oh really,” Hannah said, rubbing her hands
together. “What other services can this wizard provide?”

“No,” Gray said. “No outside help. No
magic.”

Will nodded his agreement.

Marco shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to have a
contact.”

Gray would beg to differ. Her mother’s
contact had nearly killed Gray. And he had successfully taken away
both her mother’s and Lee’s powers. Gray always had better luck
getting things done herself.

“Where are we going?” Will asked as Hannah
led their group to the street.

“The Sidecar,” Hannah said.

Following a curfew was not one of
S
eñora
Contreras’ rules. She said they
were adults, and they could do what normal young adults in the city
did in the evening—go out and dance.

That’s how Gray first met Carlo. He’d asked
her to dance at the Sidecar. She thought that’s all it would be; a
couple dances, a passionate kiss that lingered into the morning and
teased her mind far too long. But Carlo wanted her phone number.
Not only that, he’d
called
her the following afternoon and
asked her out for tapas.

They’d been together almost two weeks now.
Well, maybe not together, but dating, anyway.

“How about the Marula?” Will suggested with a
hopeful lift of his chin. “It’s closer.”

“Gray wants to go to the Sidecar.”

“You guys can go to the Marula if you want,”
Gray said. “Maybe I’ll see you there later.”

“We’ll all go to the Sidecar,” Will said.
“You shouldn’t be walking the streets alone at night.”

Whenever Gray was annoyed, she felt her eyes
get bigger. They did so now. Her feet stopped moving. She fell
three steps behind her friends then lurched forward before they
noticed. “I’m not stupid, Will,” Gray said, harsher than she’d
intended. “Besides, if I had to, I’d use magic.”