3 Conjuring (21 page)

When I came up with my brilliant idea to thwart whatever Delta Omicron had planned for me, I didn’t expect everyone to immediately jump on the bandwagon and tell me how smart I am.

Okay, maybe I did.

The reaction I got from Kelsey and Paris was underwhelming, though.

“I don’t know,” Kelsey hedged.

We were grouped in the laundry room in the basement of the dorm. It seemed as safe a place to talk as any – and it was a way for us to discuss a few things without tipping off Matilda and Laura that we were on to them.

“The box is still there, right?”

Kelsey nodded. “It is. I check every morning now.”

“Why don’t you just take your stuff back?” Paris asked pointedly.

“Because then they would know that we know.”

“And by doing this you think that it will somehow buy yo
u time?” Paris didn’t look convinced.

“By doing this, it lets them think that they’re still in charge of things,” I countered.

Paris bit her lower lip as she considered my scenario. “It actually is kind of smart,” she finally conceded . “If they try to do a spell with the wrong ingredients, then they’ll think they’re winning until the very end when it blows up in their faces.”

I could only hope she meant that in the literal se
nse. That would make things so much easier.

“But the spell won’t work?” Kelsey asked hopefully.

“No,” Paris shook her head decisively. “If they think they’re using Zoe’s notebook and bracelet but, in reality they have someone else’s hair that really could play in our favor.”

“And you really want to use Brittany’s hair?” Kelsey looked nonplussed.

“Why not?” Paris asked. “They’re practically the same color and we have access to Brittany.”

“They are not practically the same color,” I argued. “She
clearly colors her hair. I do not.”

“Yeah,” Paris smirked. “All those bright highlights come naturally.”

I thought I’d just been insulted. I decided to ignore it.

“Okay, let’s say I think this is a good idea – which I’m
still not sure about,” Kelsey said. “How are we going to get Brittany’s hair?”

That was a good question. An idea popped into m
y mind. “When is Will visiting Brittany next?”

Paris narrowed her eyes. I could tell she realized what
I was planning. “Do you really think that’s the best way to go?”

“Actually, yes. I’m looking forward to it.”

Kelsey looked between the two of us dubiously. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but the look on your face tells me it’s going to be ugly.”

She had no idea.

THREE NIGHTS
later, I put my plan into action.

Paris texted me the minute Will arrived in the room.
It was fortuitous that Matilda and Laura had a sorority meeting that night. I didn’t want them to see what was about to happen and get suspicious.

I made my way down to Paris’ room, stopping ou
tside just long enough to calm myself for the part I was about to play, and then knocked on the door. I wasn’t surprised to find Paris opening it a few seconds later.

“Oh, hey,” she greeted me nervously. “What’s going on?”

“Just thought I would visit,” I offered brightly.

“Now probably isn’t a good time.”

We had worked on this script for days. We pretty much had it down. “Why?”

“Um, well, I’m not alone,” she hedged. “Brittany and Will are here.”

“Is that Zoe?” Brittany asked. “Invite her in. Let her see what she’s missing.”

You can always count on Brittany to think she’s winning.

Paris stepped away from the door, opening it wide enough for me to enter the room.

I noticed that their other roommate, Michelle, was sitt
ing on her bed in the adjacent room, watching the scene in the common room unfold curiously. Given the stress of my relationship with Brittany, I hadn’t seen much of Michelle this year. She had taken Brittany’s side – and I didn’t blame her. She had to live with her and she probably figured that was the only way to survive Brittany’s endless blathering.

“I’m surprised you came down here,” Brittany said fr
om her spot on the couch. Will was sitting next to her – just not close enough to actually touch her. He must be getting tired of all this play-acting.

“Why?”

“You haven’t really been a regular guest down here this year,” Brittany said. “I understand. I do. You’re still hurt by the Will situation.”

And here we go.

Brittany got to her feet and took a step toward me. “I think it’s time that we talk about all of this. Hammer it out. Become friends again.”

I couldn’t agree more – except for the friends front. “Ok
ay,” I said, pretending that I was actually fighting the situation. “If you want to talk, I think we should talk.”

Brittany looked surprised by my answer. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking,” Brittany plowed on. “I’v
e come to the realization that some of my actions might have been wrong. You don’t go after a friend’s ex-boyfriend. I realize that.”

In an effort to keep from laughing, I fixed my gaze on Will. He was watc
hing the two of us with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity, as though he knew something more was about to happen.

“I’m not sorry that Will and I are together,” Brittany c
ontinued. “Ours is a love that will transcend time.”

Someone hand me a barf bag.

“We’ve got one of those forever kinds of love,” Brittany said. “It’s the kind you read about in books. We couldn’t be asked to stay away from each other because you used to date him in high school. You can’t just ignore destiny.”

I pursed my lips. This conversation was starting
to move from funny to annoying pretty quickly.

“I’m sorry you’re not over Will,” Brittany said.

I snapped my head up in surprise. “Not over Will? Is that what you think?”

“Of course,” Brittany replied. “That’s why you’re so angr
y. Will and I have been talking about it and we both agree.”

“Do you?” I fixed Will with a hard glare. He had the g
race to look uncomfortable and stare down at his folded hands on his lap.

“I know it’s hard,” Brittany said, faux pity lacing her voice. “H
e’s a great guy. He’s the best guy. I can only hope that, some day, you’ll find someone to love so that you can forget about Will and move on.”

“You have seen my boyfriend, right?” I momentarily forgot about the plan.

“Aric is very good looking,” Brittany said diplomatically. “We all know he’s going to move on from you at some point, though. Why wouldn’t he?”

Okay, maybe she was inadvertently starting to play into the plan.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to muddle through,” I replied blandly.

“Maybe you should consider seeing a therapist,” Br
ittany offered. “Someone who’s properly trained might be able to help you with all of your issues.”

“And what issues would those be?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Well, your anger issues, for one.”

I nodded, narrowing my eyes dangerously.

“And that thing you do where you use sex as a replacement for love. I mean, that’s why Aric is with you. We’ve all figured that out.”

And that pretty much did it. I don’t remember reachin
g for her. Sure, this had been part of the plan all along, but I really did think things would go a little differently. That was probably a mistake on my part.

“Ow!” Brittany pulled away from me, her hand at the b
ack of her head, her eyes full of loathing and accusation. “You pulled out a chunk of my hair!”

I glanced down at my hand, seeing the blonde hair
entwined with my fingers, and grimaced. “I guess it’s just part of that anger issue I have,” I spat out.

“I want you out of this room!” Brittany pointed at
the door, her hand rubbing the sore spot on the back of her head.

I glanced over at Paris but her face was unreadable. I d
id as I was asked, closing the door behind me. I could hear Brittany’s explosion of righteous indignation the second the door closed.

I wasn’t surprised to find Kelsey waiting for me in the hallway. “Did you get it?”

I held up my hand and smiled. “It was easier than I thought it would be. I didn’t even have to fake being mad at her before the fight.”

Kelsey smiled. “She’s nothing if not predictable.”

We made our way back down to our room. Kelsey retrieved the box from under Matilda’s bed. I tidied up the clump of hair I had yanked from Brittany’s head and tried to make it look as much like the other clump of hair as possible.

Once Kelsey put the box back and I shoved the samp
le of my hair into my pocket I turned to her. “I told you this was a great idea.”

“So? What next?”

“I don’t have all the answers,” I laughed. “It took me days to plan what we just did.”

“You must have some idea.”

I did. “We have to start working on Matilda and Laura.”

“Work on them how?” Kelsey didn’t look impressed with the suggestion.

“We have to separate them from the sorority and we have to do it before Earth Day.”

“Why? What happens on Earth Day?”

“Whatever they’re planning is going down on Earth Day,” I explained.

“But now, whatever they’re planning can’t happen because we stopped it.”

“We stopped them from casting whatever spell they have planned for me,” I corrected her. “Whatever their bigger plan is, we’re still waiting on that.”

“What do you think their bigger plan is?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It can’t be good, though.”

“But why do we have to get them out of the sorority before Earth Day? You seem pretty sure about that.”

“Because,” I replied wearily. “If they’re with the sorority when this all goes down, the other supernaturals on this campus won’t hesitate to kill them with the others in the sorority.”

The color drained from Kelsey’s normally tanned face. “Kill them?”

“Kill them.”

Kelsey looked frightened but resigned. “Okay,” she b
lew out a sigh. “How do we get them out of the sorority?”

That was the ultimate question – and I didn’t have an answer.

“When they were thinking up bad ideas, this is what they had in mind.”

I glanced up at Kelsey to see her eyes watching me thoughtfully in the bathroom mirror, and tried to muster a smile. It didn’t quite happen.

“You have another idea?”

“We could stay here.”

“And do what? Wait to find out how many bodies are dropped today?”

“It’s Earth Day, let’s honor the Earth and go to the bar or something?” Kelsey looked desperate.

Part of me wanted to agree with her. The other part knew I couldn’t.

It was the day.
THE
day. We had spent the last few weeks trying to make amends with Laura and Matilda and find a way to talk them into dropping out of Delta Omicron. It was obvious that was a fruitless endeavor pretty early on. So, the past week, I refocused my efforts into trying to talk Matilda and Laura out of attending the Earth Day celebration.

That hadn’t gone well either.

Laura and Matilda were set on going, which meant Laura, Paris and I had no choice but to follow.

“I still think we’re making a really big mistake,” Kelsey pressed.

“I think we’re making a really big mistake, too.”

“Then why are we going?”

“Because, if we don’t, we’re always going to wonder.”

“Wonder what?”

“If we could have saved them.”

Kelsey frowned. “If you really think they’re in danger, you should call the police.”

I ran my tongue over my teeth to make sure no lipstick glommed there and then fixed Kelsey with a hard stare. “What are the police going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Kelsey shrugged. “Stop things?”

“How? We have witches doing spells, werewolves ready to ... wolf out and God knows how many other supernaturals ready to do something bloody. That’s all on top of Blake’s stupid monster squad.”

Kelsey frowned again. “You haven’t really told me much about them.”

“There’s not much to tell,” I said. “I actually don’t think they’ll show up today. They don’t believe humans are their problem.”

“Not even witches?”

“Not as long as they’re human. Evil humans are above their pay grade apparently.”

“So how are we going to stop things? How are we going to fix this?”

“I’m not planning on stopping it,” I admitted.

“Then why are we going?”

“To try to keep Matilda and Laura out of it.”

“And if that doesn’t happen?”

“Try to stop Aric from killing them.”

Kelsey shook her head angrily. “I can’t believe this is your
life. I can’t believe this is my life.”

I moved away from her when I heard someone knock on the front door of the dorm.

I ushered Paris in. I was surprised when Paris suddenly pulled out her phone and snapped a photograph of Kelsey and me, throwing us both off guard.

“Why are you taking a picture?”

“Oh, I’m going to upload it to Wikipedia next to the word ‘stupid,’” Paris said bluntly.

“Okay. Let’s go see if we can get ourselves killed. At lea
st I won’t have to take finals that way.”

I followed Paris into the hallway, stopping to watch Kelsey lock the door behind us.

“I really like finals,” she lamented. “We better not miss finals.”

She’s a little weird sometimes – although finals di
d sound markedly better than a supernatural showdown.

“WELCOME.
The bar is over there and everyone is congregating on the lawn behind the house.”

One of Laura and Matilda’s sorority sisters greeted us o
n the front lawn of the house. I expected some form of recognition from her when she caught sight of me – even if inadvertent -- but it didn’t happen. As the three of us moved around the side of the house and headed toward the backyard, Kelsey blew out a sigh of relief.

“See! I don’t think anything is going to happen. That
girl didn’t even act like she recognized you.”

“Maybe she doesn’t,” I replied wryly. “She could just be fodder here.”

“Fodder?”

“She means that she could just be one of the namel
ess and faceless idiots who is being drained to bolster Jessica’s power,” Paris explained.

“So, we’re focusing on this Jessica girl?” Kelsey asked.

“She’s the ringleader,” I agreed. “I don’t think she’ll be acting alone.”

“And what about Laura and Matilda?”

“If it looks like something is going to happen, I guess we try to wrestle them down and beat some sense into them.”

Kelsey’s face went blank. “You mean that figuratively, right?”

I remained silent as I moved past her and stepped into the backyard of the sorority house.

“Right?” Kelsey asked again.

“Just stick close to us,” I hissed, narrowing my eyes as I searched the area for a glimpse of Laura and Matilda. “Don’t wander away. Whatever happens, just don’t wander away.”

“Well that sounds just great,” Kelsey spat out. “This is going to be a great party.”

I ignored her sarcasm. “Don’t drink or eat anything either.”

“Why?” Kelsey whined. “That’s the only reason I w
as even remotely interested in coming. I won’t get drunk. Trust me, there’s not enough alcohol in the world to make me forget why we’re really here.”

“Because they may lace our food and drinks with
something,” Paris answered for me. “And trust us, you don’t want that.”

“They wouldn’t really slip something in my food, would
they? Oh, man, they have kabobs!”

“Don’t eat it,” I repeated. “It’s better to be safe than sorry. Trust me.”

“I like you, I really do,” Kelsey replied dryly. “I’m starting to wish I had never made friends with you, though.”

“There’s a line forming for that little club,” I replied.
“You wouldn’t even be near the front of it these days.”

“And you wouldn’t be in very esteemed company,” Paris pointed out.

Kelsey sighed dramatically. “If I die today. I’m totally blaming you.”

“I would, too.”

Kelsey scanned the yard. “Where are all the guys?”

“What?” I turned to her questioningly.

“There are no guys here.”

I glanced back at the yard and realized she was ri
ght. The entire party area was made up of girls. Lots and lots of girls.

“Are these all sorority sisters?” Paris asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I don’t know what the Delta Omicron sisterhood looks like, other than Laura, Matilda and Jessica, that is.”

“It’s not just Delta Omicron,” Paris interjected, her jaw tightening.

“Who do you see?” I tried to follow her sightline. “Oh, crap, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

Kelsey stared along with us. Her reaction was slightl
y different. She giggled madly when she realized who we had just recognized. “Why would Brittany be here?”

“Because she hates me,” I grumbled.

“She doesn’t hate you,” Paris countered. “Although, since you yanked that chunk of her hair out she has started plotting your death.”

“She’s the least of my worries. But why is she here?”

“What do you mean?” Paris asked.

“I mean, why is she here? She hasn’t been hanging around these guys, has she?”

“No.” Paris shook her head emphatically. “She’s never even mentioned them.”

“So why would she be here?” Kelsey asked curiously.

I had an idea. “Maybe she knows Will and his fraternity brothers are going to show up?”

Paris looked nonplussed. “He probably warned her to
stay away and she did just the opposite because ... well, because she’s Brittany.”

“Knowing her, she thought he might be here hitting
on someone else so she decided to make sure that wasn’t an option. She really is an idiot.”

“She’s going to freak out when things go down,” Paris said.

Well, that was one bright spot in a really depressing day.

“Okay,” I said grimly. “Let’s party.”