3 Conjuring (16 page)

February hit with a small break in the weather an
d a temporary warming trend in the dorm room. Laura hadn’t revisited her outburst from the snowstorm and she had been cordial, even friendly at times, since that night. She and Matilda were entrenched with Delta Omicron and the crop of new pledges at the sorority. Kelsey was fixated on her schoolwork, as usual, and didn’t have much time for frivolity. And me? I was going to class and hanging out with my boyfriend – like any other normal college student.

Things were pretty good. Which was why I knew something was about to happen.

“You seem distracted tonight,” Aric said, sidling up behind me. We’d decided to spend our Friday night at the movies instead of going to a party. We’d both agreed that attending parties together usually ended with some sort of fight, and neither one of us was spoiling for one of those right now.

“Not really,” I lied, leaning back into him as he wrap
ped his arms around me. “I was just trying to decide if I wanted popcorn or candy.”

“I’ll buy you both,” Aric said, brushing his lips against my temple.

“You’re being awful accommodating tonight.”

“Aren’t I usually?”

“Sometimes,” I said. “Sometimes you like to pick a fight just to pick a fight, though.”

“I think you’re getting me confused with you.” Aric’s tone was teasing and light.

“No I’m not,” I replied stubbornly. “You like to fight sometimes, too.”

“Only so we can make up.”

“Good to know.”

Aric chuckled and moved from behind me so he could
get a better look at the movie listings. “So, what are we seeing tonight? There’s a new X-Men movie. That sounds cool.”

“I could live with that,” I admitted “It’s either that or
that romantic movie with that girl from The Notebook.”

“Which one do you want to see?” Aric asked.

“You’re going to let me pick?”

Aric shrugged.

“You’re going to buy me candy and popcorn and let me pick the movie? What do you want?”

“Nothing you’re not going to be willing to part with,” Aric replied slyly.

“How can you be sure?” I asked suspiciously.

“Does recent history count?”

He had a point. “The X-Men movie it is.”

“Really?”

“Hey. Hugh Jackman without a shirt on is an aphrodisiac for us all.”

“Not for me,” Aric frowned.

“Isn’t Jennifer Lawrence mostly naked and covered in blue paint for the entire movie? Like that won’t get your motor running.”

“Good point.”

Aric’s cell phone dinged with an incoming text message. I watched as he drew it out of his coat pocket and glanced at the screen. His face went from minor curiosity to outright concern in the space of a few seconds.

“What is it?” I asked, trying to get a look at his phone.

“Nothing,” he said hurriedly, shoving the phone back into his pocket. “It’s just that

I’m going to have to take a rain check.”

“On what?”

“On the movie.”

You’ve got to be kidding me. “Seriously?”

“I’m sorry,” Aric said. “Something has happened a
t the fraternity house and I’m going to have to deal with it.”

“What something?” I asked suspiciously.

Aric shifted uncomfortably. “I can’t really say.”

“Is this werewolf business or fraternity business?” I asked, my heart clenchi
ng in my chest.

“Both.”

Crap. “You can’t tell me what it is?”

Aric looked caught. “No.”

“Because it’s a fraternity thing or a werewolf thing?” I asked.

“Both.”

“This sucks,” I lamented, turning on my heel angrily and storming out of the building. Aric was close behind, grabbing my arm and spinning me back to him in one fluid motion.

“This sucks,” he agreed, “but I really need you not to be angry with me.”

“Who says I’m angry with you?”

“That pouty little storming out thing you just did says you’re angry
with me,” Aric countered.

“Maybe I’m just angry with the situation,” I suggested.

“Maybe,” Aric ceded. “But that usually ends with you being angry at me. There’s not a lot I can do here.”

“I know.”

“So don’t be angry with me.”

“I’m not.”

“Your face says otherwise.”

“Maybe my face is just disappointed,” I admitted. “I t
hought we were going to have a nice night together.”

“We still can,” Aric pleaded. “I can take you to my
place and when I’m done at the frat house we can watch a movie there.”

I was shaking my head before the sentence finished lea
ving his mouth. “No. Just take me home.”

“Are you sure?” Aric looked concerned.

“I might as well get some reading done,” I said. “Besides, you could be gone all night. I know that. You know that.”

“I’ll be as quick as possible. I promise,” Aric tried one more time.

“Just take me home.”

The ride back to the dorms was done in near silence.
I gave Aric a perfunctory kiss as I moved to exit his Explorer but he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer before I could climb out. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

“Don’t be mad at me. I can’t take it right now.”

Why was right now any different? “I’m not mad at you,”
I said carefully, and I mostly meant it. “It is what it is.”

“I’ll call you when I’m done. Maybe it won’t take that long.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I dropped a kiss on his lips, a longer, more lingering o
ne this time, and then climbed out of his Explorer. “Be safe.”

“You, too.”

Aric waited until I was safely inside the building before pulling away. Once he was out of sight, I stomped my way up to the third floor. When I opened the door to the hallway, the first sight that assailed my eyes was Brittany and Will in a lip-lock outside of my dorm room door.

You’ve got to be kidding me. This just wasn’t my night.

I cleared my throat pointedly. Brittany and Will pulled apart. Will had the grace to look embarrassed but Brittany looked as though she’d just won the lottery.

“Oh, excuse us,” Brittany said in her best fake apology voice. “We just got caught up in stuff.”

“Try to get caught up in stuff down in your own room next time,” I suggested, moving around them and slipping my key into the lock.

“I’m really sorry,” Will said. “I hope this wasn’t hard for you to see.”

Good grief. “No. Not at all.”

Brittany didn’t look convinced. “Of course it’s hard
for her to see, Snookie,” she purred. “It’s never easy to see your ex with his next love.”

Snookie? Gag me.

“He would know,” I shot back, regretting the pointed barb the minute it escaped my mouth.

Brittany placed her hands on her hips. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

I’d already opened the can of worms; I might as well throw it on her. “Ask him.”

Brittany turned to Will. “What does she mean?”

“I think she means that it’s a lot harder for Will to see her with Aric than it is for her to see the two of you together,” Kelsey announced, rounding the corner and heading toward us with a frown.

“Where were you?” I asked.

“Study room.”

“On a Friday?”

“Why are you here? I thought you were going to the movies and then spending the night with Aric?”

“That was the plan,” I replied. “He got called away f
or some emergency at the frat, though.”

“Oh, bummer.”

“What emergency at the frat?” Will asked curiously.

“He didn’t say.”

“Why wasn’t I called?” Will looked worried.

“Maybe because it didn’t involve you,” I suggested.

“Or maybe because you’re not important enough to rate a call?” Kelsey offered snidely.

“I’m sure it was just an oversight,” said Brittany, putti
ng her hand on Will’s arm in a comforting manner. He didn’t seem to notice.

“Did he seem upset?” Will focused his attention on me.

“Not really,” I replied. It’s not as though I’d tell him anyway. “If you have an issue with the frat, you should probably take it up with the frat. I try to stay out of those issues.”

“Well, that must be a nice change,” Brittany said sarcastically.

I ignored her and instead focused on Kelsey. “I guess it’s another night in front of the television. You have any whiskey left?”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Kelsey agreed. “I think Ma
tilda and Laura are doing some dorky sorority stuff, so it should be just the two of us.”

I pushed the door open, expecting to find an empty
room, but was assaulted by the smell of something burning. “What the ... .”

The room wasn’t empty. Matilda and Laura were sitti
ng in the middle of the floor, the full-length mirror from the wall lying between them. They were spraying it with a bottle of hairspray.

“What are you doing?” Kelsey asked, her voice laced with alarm.

“Just playing around,” Matilda laughed, raising a handheld lighter up to the mirror and flicking it. Whatever they’d written on the mirror – which wasn’t exactly legible -- ignited into a torrent of flames, while Matilda and Laura dissolved into a fit of giggles.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I exploded.

“That doesn’t look safe,” Brittany warned, taking a step back.

“It’s perfectly safe,” Matilda announced, and when she
focused on me I saw the hint I had missed when I first entered the room. The dark shadows were back, which meant Matilda and Laura had been engaged in some witchcraft. Whether it was here or at the sorority house, though, was the big question of the evening. Unfortunately, it was one I had no intention of asking.

“I think we need to have a room meeting,” Kelsey announced.

“What for?” Matilda whined.

“You’re lighting a mirror on fire in the middle of the room,” Kelsey pointed out.

“It’s nothing,” Matilda said hurriedly. “We won’t do it again. We’re sorry.”

I wished I could believe her. One look at Laura, though
-- and the darkness that had invaded her every pore -- and I knew that the something much worse I had been dreading was almost here.

There’s never a dull moment at Covenant College. Never.

I quickly shut the dorm door, blocking Brittany and Wi
ll from further fight details, and then wheeled on Laura and Matilda angrily.

“What are you two thinking?” My rage was at its boiling point.

“It was just for fun,” Matilda said stiffly, standing and smoothing the knees of her jeans as she did. “I don’t think there’s any reason for you to freak out. It’s not like we killed somebody.”

“Really? You don’t think a big fire in the dorm room th
at we all share is a big deal? Really?”

“It was just for fun,” Matilda repeated, casting her eyes at the floor in wh
at looked like shame.

“It doesn’t look fun,” Kelsey charged.

“No, the fun went away the minute you two got here,” Laura said coldly, climbing up from the ground and sinking back down onto the couch. “That’s the way it always is now, isn’t it Matilda? We’re having fun and the two of them show up just to ruin it.”

So much for the meek little Laura I met last year.
I didn’t think she existed any longer. At least not on a regular basis, that was for sure. I was starting to rethink Kelsey’s emotionally unstable argument. Laura’s moods shifted faster than an angry werewolf these days.

“I think a room meeting is definitely in order,” I said stif
fly. “And hey, look, we’re all here. What better time?”

“Oh, definitely,” Laura scoffed. “Let’s have a room meeting
. We’ll sit here and listen as the two of you tell us exactly what we’re doing wrong. Again. And you two can get off on your moral superiority. Again.”

“You know what? I’ve had it with you,” I strode ov
er to Laura angrily, purposely positioning myself in front of her so she’d have no choice but to look at me.

“You’ve had it with me?” Laura asked emptily. “That’s rich.”

On closer inspection, she wasn’t just sporting a dark aura. Her eyes, usually brown and filled with emotion, were as black as Aric’s hair and, I guessed, Jessica’s soul. It was like staring into a void.

“Do you have something you want to say to me?” I asked pointedly.

“To the magical mage? What could I possibly have to say to you?”

Internally, I cringed, but I refused to let her draw me o
ff target. “Is that what your little friend, Jessica, told you?”

“Are you denying it?” Laura challenged.

I ignored the question. “What else has Jessica been filling your head with?”

“Just the truth,” Laura said. “Boatloads and boatloads of the truth. Some
thing you’re not very familiar with. You or your beloved Aric.”

Uh-oh. “What does Aric have to do with this?”

“What doesn’t he have to do with this?” Laura mimed me petulantly. “What does he have to do with this? Your precious little boyfriend is at the center of all this. Isn’t he?”

My face was blank -- at least, that was the expression I w
as going for. I didn’t want to tip my hand. I wanted to know what she knew. Now was the time. She was clearly exhausted. I had a better chance of getting answers out of her now than when she was recharged in the morning.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know,” Laura laughed. The e
vil sound sent chills straight through me. “You don’t know what he is? You don’t know the evil that he is? That can’t be possible.”

Laura was clearly getting off on her power trip. She
wasn’t putting the show on for me. She was doing it to show Matilda she was in control – and any reaction she got from Kelsey was icing on the cake.

“Let me tell you, then,” Laura said smartly. “He’s a werewolf.”
She paused for dramatic effect. When I didn’t react, she frowned. “Which you knew. Of course you know. You know everything. Did you know that he’s the head werewolf, though? That’s he’s the big dog on campus? Big dog,” she laughed to herself.

I remained silent.

“Okay,” Laura faltered. “So you knew that, too. Well, did you know his fraternity is full of werewolves? Like your ex, Will? He’s a werewolf. Not a big one, like Aric – although I guess that’s why you traded up – but a werewolf all the same. I bet you didn’t know that.”

I was starting to get bored. One glance at Kelsey, tho
ugh, and I knew she was taking everything in – and things were starting to make sense to her.

“Did you know there are other things on this cam
pus besides werewolves?” Laura tried a different tactic. She was clearly trying to get a reaction out of me. I was determined not to let her. “There are vampires, too. I bet you didn’t know that the skulking guy who shows up from time to time, what’s his name, Rafael? Yeah, he’s a vampire.”

I raised an eyebrow slightly but let her continue. Becau
se I had told her some of this information myself, I couldn’t figure out what she thought her tactical advantage was here. Of course, since she was so exhausted, she might not remember what I had told her. Everything was about the lies Jessica was feeding her now.

“You knew that, too? You knew all of that and you never told me?”

“I told you,” I reminded her. “You seem to forget that whole conversation we had last year when you were considering joining the monster hunting academy because you were hot for Mark and I tried to talk you out of it.”

“Oh, yeah,” Laura hedged. “I had forgotten about that
. Thanks for that, by the way. That would have been a terrible decision.”

“Because you joined a witch sorority?” Hey, we were
laying all of our cards on the table here.

Laura looked surprised by my questio
n, and Matilda looked suddenly uncomfortable. I didn’t risk a glance at Kelsey. I was afraid of what I might see reflected in her eyes. Fear? Revulsion?

“Witch sorority?” Laura scoffed unconvincingly. “And just who told you that?”

“It’s common knowledge,” I countered. “Everyone apparently knows.”

“Define everyone,” Laura sneered.

“Well, let’s see,” I started counting off groups on my fingers. “The werewolves know. The vampires know. The monster hunters know. A couple of random people I know on campus have mentioned it. Did I miss anyone?”

“That’s impossible,” Laura raged. “It’s a secret.”

“Not a very good one.”

“Kind of like you being a mage,” Laura shot back.

“Yeah, everyone does seem to know that,” I agreed. “How many people have you told?”

Laura looked taken aback. “I never told anyone.”

“Really? Who told Jessica?” I was setting a trap. I could only hope she would step into it.

“Jessica already knew when she approached us abou
t joining the sorority,” Laura said, realizing too late what she had just admitted.

“That’s what I thought,” I said. “So she recruited you two because of me.”

“Not everything is about you,” Matilda said, her voice low and accusatory.

“No,” I agreed. “But this is.”

“She wanted us in the sorority because of our strength,” Laura charged. “Something you wouldn’t know anything about. All you care about anymore is Aric and Kelsey. They’re your world now. There’s no room for anyone else.”

“And you sound like a jealous middle-school girl,” I shot back. “Grow up.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about us. We’re fine. We’re exactly where we should be. We’re exactly where we want to be.”

“With a sorority that’s draining your aura?”

Laura’s eyebrows nearly shot off her forehead. “What?”

“Your aura,” I replied stiffly. “This is the second time
you and Matilda have returned to this room from a sorority outing with auras blacker than night.”

“You saw my aura again?” Laura looked momentarily impressed. “I thought you said that was just a one-time thing. You never told me y
ou could see them on a regular basis.”

Regular basis? Was twice a regular basis? I didn’t t
hink so. “Why would I tell you anything anymore?” I asked. “You’re not even the same person now.”

“No,” Kelsey agreed, finally breaking her silence. “You’
re like five different people. Both of you.”

“Another country heard from,” Laura spit, glaring at Ke
lsey. “This is all your fault, you know?”

“Excuse me?”

“Everything was fine until you came along and stole my friend.”

This was veering into uncomfortable territory.

“Stole your friend?” Kelsey looked nonplussed. “You’re such a child.”

Laura struggled to her feet, pushing past me and
heading toward the door to our bedroom. “I don’t have to sit here and listen to this.”

“No, you don’t,” I agreed. “I don’t either.”

I moved around her, opening the door that led to the hallway and slipping outside. I exchanged a worried look with Kelsey, but then turned on my heel and left. I wanted to be the one who stormed away this time. It felt like the upper hand – even though it was anything but.

I was halfway to Aric’s apartment on foot before I rea
lized where I was heading. The truth was, I didn’t have a lot of places to go. The dorm room felt like a death trap right now. Even if Aric wasn’t home, at least his place was safe. I didn’t think he’d mind coming home to find me asleep in his bed. Maybe that was just wishful thinking, though.

I considered calling him to come and pick me up. It was pre
tty cold out. The frigid temperatures were getting my blood pumping, though, and I figured the walk would do me good. I needed time to clear my head.

It took me about fifteen minutes to walk to Aric’s ap
artment. I was relieved when I saw his truck parked out front. Maybe the frat business hadn’t been such a big deal after all. That would be a nice change.

I rounded the corner that led to his building whe
n I heard a door swing shut. I paused, waiting to see who was coming out of the building, and practically choked when I saw Will’s familiar frame descending the stairs.

Luckily, he didn’t notice me. He looked angry abou
t something. The gesturing and talking to himself was kind of a tip off. I watched as he climbed into his car and sped away, leaving me alone in the night.

Why was he here? This was the last thing I needed tonight.