Second Skin (Skinned) (32 page)

Kate raised a brow. “Things sure have changed at Redgrave High. I believe I used to see students in the café caring for uncooked eggs in the same manner.”

I had a flash of squirming bloody embryos in a metal mixing bowl. “Yeah, well, eggs are overrated.”

Brit paced in front of the mirrors. “Can we get on with this already?”

“Don’t worry, Brit,” Kate said. “Once I’ve finished with the spell, you can seek Blake out. One blast of this spell, and he’ll sleep like a”—she flashed me a grin—“Reality Babe. Then we’ll see about a transformation charm.”

“You really think you can turn him back?” Brit asked.

“Not permanently,” Kate said. “But we can give him the option to assume human form as long as he wears the charm.” She eyed Brit with a frown. “Until I understand more about how the moon is affecting him, it’s the best I can offer.”

“We’ll take it,” Matt said, putting his arm around Brit’s shoulder.

While the three of them worked out the plan, I approached Alec, conscious of Wade’s nearness. Being in the same room with them was playing with fire, stepping on eggshells, playing cat and mouse, all of the above.

“I haven’t had a chance to thank you,” I said to Alec. I kept my voice low—though, really, what was the point? Wade’s hearing was every bit as good as mine.

“For what?”

“For not giving up on me in the dream realm, for understanding that I’d never hurt you despite that horrible dream, for not freaking out when you saw me shift, and for not sending me to the paranormal dog pound.” I shrugged. “Take your pick.” “What did you expect me to do, Eryn?” Alec’s eyes darkened. “Run? That’s more your thing. Running or pushing people away.” My head snapped back as if I’d been struck. Sure, Alec was pissed that I’d tackled the night mare on my own, incapacitating him, very much his own alpha dog, in the process, but I hadn’t expected him to attack.

“I do all the running? Really, Alec? When was the last time you sought out a vision, huh? When? Not since the one about me, right?”

“Blood doesn’t lie. It shows us only the truth,” Alec said, as if he were reciting Marie-inspired rhetoric, as if that phrase alone was the answer to every motivation in the world.

“Yeah, so, what’s the big deal? You saw me kill you—in a
dream
.”

Brit cleared her throat. “Um, Eryn, I hate to interrupt, but I think we have a situation.”

“In a minute, Brit,” I snapped, keeping Alec pinned with my glare. “You’re running scared of your own abilities,” I said, no longer trying to keep my voice down. In fact I let it rise to the rafters. “You tell me there’s nothing to fear from my wolf, and yet you’re terrified to tap into your own power? Well, maybe it’s time you tried a bit of that sanctimonious lecturing you do so well—on yourself.”

Alec said nothing, just shook his head and eyed me with a sad twist to his lips.

An eerie giggle broke the silence between us. I frowned, rubbing away the dread creeping up my neck.

“Eryn,” Brit’s tone was insistent, panicked. “You really need to see this.”

“See what?” I spun to face her. My breath hitched. “Oh. My. God. It’s freaking alive.”

Demon Spawn grinned maniacally, bent her industrial plastic knees, and jumped atop Kate’s altar. Her stocky body bulldogged across the candlelit surface, knocking vials and ritual objects to the floor.

Kate held a hand to her mouth. “Is it supposed to do that? Eryn, get your homework off my altar. Now.”

Alec’s eyes had widened to black pools. Brit had her face buried in Matt’s shoulder. Wade’s laughter went on longer than humanly possible. He didn’t have to breathe between cackles like the rest of us.

“Wade,” I said, as I unsheathed my athame and approached DS. “I thought you said we’d destroyed the night mare’s corporeal form. Remember the Victorian doll we burned in the kiln?”

“Uh-huh, I guess we were wrong.” Wade wiped fake, laughter- induced tears from his eyes and gestured for Alec to block one end of the altar while he approached the middle, and I cornered DS from the front.

“But the doll did that
zappy-zap
thing when Matt ripped off its head,” I persisted, dodging a swipe from DS’s curled fingers.

He laughed. “I know, brilliantly ironic. The porcelain doll must have had a spirit trapped in it, and we set it free.”

“Fine, we sent it to the other side,” Alec said with a sigh. “How do we get rid of
her
?” DS stamped her foot and growled at Alec, showing rows of serrated teeth that definitely hadn’t been part of the Reality Babe film.

“Kate,” I cried out. “A little help here…” The witch wiggled her fingers.

I bent over, clutching my head. “Holy hell, that hurts,” I moaned against the nails digging into my skull.

Kate lowered her hands.

The pain receded. I shot her a glare. “I’m really sick of the mindgames around here. What was that for?”

She held up her hands in defeat. “I can’t help you in this instance. The doll’s energy is connected with yours. What I do to her, I do to you. You’ll have to destroy it yourself.”

“But how?” Four voices asked in unison.

Kate swiped a hand over her face, paling. “I don’t know, Eryn. She’s your nightmare.”

My nightmare. Yes, I’d been scared of dolls forever. Now as I watched DS stomp and stumble, she didn’t seem as scary. She was so little, and she looked like the victim of really bad computer graphics. Plus, when she spat a wad of black goop at Wade and made him freeze in place, she was rather endearing.

The gob struck Wade’s leather coat and slithered to the floor with a dull splat. “That does it. The doll dies.” He charged for DS, fangs flashing.

“No-o-o-o…” I stepped in front of him, blocking his route to DS. “I’ve got an idea.” I spun to face DS. To meet her gaze, unflinching. To accept all that she was.

Her sneer faltered. She tilted her head and met my gaze, wonky eye and all.

“It’s okay,” I said, holding out my arms. “I see you now,” I told both her and the wolf waiting under my skin. “I’m not scared anymore.”

As she launched from the altar, DS’s features shifted from fear to artificial-faced joy, and then to a hauntingly blank expression that left me hollow inside. By the time she reached my arms, she was nothing but plastic.

The smell of sulphur dissipated. The night mare had officially left the building.

Who the Hell is That?

When the dust settled and our pulses were back to normal, I insisted that burning DS wasn’t necessary. However, we did conduct several tests, splashing her with holy water, pressing my silver blade to her forehead—okay, maybe I stabbed her once in the heart. But it was only a little stabbing. We finally agreed that Demon Spawn had returned to a regular doll, and I accepted the fact that I’d still have to continue with my Reality Babe assignment.

Kate and the others set to work restoring the altar while I avoided Alec’s increasingly heated gaze. He clearly wanted to resurrect the conversation we’d let die when the night mare attacked.

“You got something to say, Alec,” I challenged. “Then say it.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out on a frustrated huff. “Of course I trust you. I’ve trusted you with my life. Several times.”

Alec held out his hand. “Then give me your dagger.” “Alec, wait,” Kate called from across the room.

“You either do, or you don’t,” Alec said, his eyes black as pitch, unwavering. Intent.

If I didn’t hand over my athame, the knife I’d discovered my father may have slaughtered an entire coven to obtain, and merely one of the many objects he’d collected—
that
proved I didn’t trust Alec? Oy, his logic was all black and white. Still, my heart raced out of control. What was happening here? This simple request had become one of those moments where whatever is done can never be undone.

I slapped the flat of the blade on his open palm. Immediately, Alec yanked Wade to his side. “Take her hand,” Alec ordered.

Whatever he’s up to
… Wade’s grip was firm, reassuring.
I won’t let go.

The others pressed close. Brit gasped as Alec took my free hand and cut a shallow line into the meat of my thumb. The pain barely registered. All I could focus on was Alec’s clenched jaw, his haunted, but determined expression.

Blood oozed between my fingers and dripped onto the altar. Alec set down my dagger. He closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating. When he opened them, his pupils had contracted to fine dots. White swirls of energy misted his dark brown irises. He grabbed my hand and the three of us, united, watched the blood on the wooden altar begin to move.

“I know it’s selfish,” Alec said, “but you gave me this power, so I’m asking, tell me…who has her heart?” His voice grew thick, as if many spoke the words along with him.

My blood droplets pooled, shifting and whirling until an image appeared. A three-dimensional image with fine details and shading, like a computer-generated graphic. But made with blood. A guy’s face formed. Strong jaw, narrowed eyes, trapping me in their gaze.

Alec staggered, dropping our hands. All of us hunched over the image, squinting at it, trying to make sense of it before it began to slide back into regular drops of blood.

I swallowed back a bout of hysterical laughter, the tension in the room at ridiculous levels. Because the guy who appeared in answer to Alec’s question sported a goatee, was about eighteen years old, and, oh my God, was breathtakingly, drop-dead gorgeous.

He was neither Alec, nor Wade.

Wade stepped back, shot me an affronted look, and demanded, “Who the hell is that?”

“I have no idea,” I said.

But I couldn’t wait to find out.

The Boroughs Quest Club

“You’ve crossed into the world of Peregrine,” a booming voice declared over the usual hush that pervaded the library and the rumblings of my burger-craving stomach. It was halfway through lunch, and I needed to stop by the cafeteria to refuel.