3 Conjuring (8 page)

What now?

“Well, that was weird.”

“It was weird, right?”

Kelsey, Paris and I were seated in our dorm room wat
ching television about an hour later. Matilda and Laura had managed to sit through a pouty dinner, but they had both seemed “off.” After dinner, they excused themselves to return to campus to study. On a Friday night. That wasn’t suspicious at all.

“It was definitely weird,” Kelsey agreed, althou
gh she seemed somewhat lost in thought.

“I could have sworn we all agreed to split up into two different groups,” I mused.

“We did,” Kelsey agreed. “That’s how I remember it, too. It’s not just you.”

“Then why would Laura freak out like that?”

“Laura’s always been a little needy,” Paris offered.

I shot her a hard look.

“It’s true. When we were in middle school, she would call me every day to make sure I approved of the outfit she was going to wear – including the socks.”

“That’s middle school stuff,” I countered.

“She did it in high school, too.”

“That’s annoying,” Kelsey grumbled.

That was annoying. Still, I didn’t want to attack Laura when she wasn’t there to stand up for herself. “Maybe she really did have PMS.”

“That doesn’t explain her practically crying because we didn’t wait for th
em for dinner,” Kelsey replied. “And that doesn’t explain why Matilda was so upset, too. I honestly thought there might be some actual tears there for a minute.”

That was a really good point.

“They acted like we betrayed them or something,” I said. “It was really weird.”

“What was weird?”

I glanced up with a smile when I saw Aric’s strong frame step into the open doorway between the common room and the hallway. He looked just good enough to ... wait, what is he doing here?

“Why is this door open?”

“Why not?” I shrugged, making room for him to sit with me on the small couch. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, dropping a quick kiss on my lips before returning to the conversation at hand.

“Because just anyone could walk in.”

“Like you?”

“Or perverts or something,” Aric countered.

“So, exactly like you,” I teased.

Aric growled, but he didn’t put a lot of effort into t
he menace behind it. “I’m just saying, it’s not exactly safe for you three to leave the door open like that.”

“There are three of us,” Paris pointed out.

“And it’s eight o’clock at night,” Kelsey added. “It’s not like we’re leaving it open while we’re sleeping or anything.”

“Fine,” Aric conceded the point. “It just took me b
y surprise. I forgot what dorm living was like.”

“What are you even doing here?” I asked. “I thought you had some fraternity thing.”

“I skipped it,” Aric replied. “I didn’t feel like going. I figured I’d come over here and see what you were doing. I wasn’t sure I was actually going to find you here. It’s a

Friday night. Why aren’t you guys out at a party or something?”

“We decided to stay in tonight and go out tomorrow,” I replied. “Kelsey had some studying to do and I’m just feeling lazy.”

Aric glanced over at Kelsey dubiously. “Studying hard?”

“We had a weird encounter at dinner and we were just gossiping about it,” I informed him.

“Weird? Did Jessica show up again?”

“Huh? No. It wasn’t Jessica. She is the devil, though.”

“You’ve told me,” Aric smirked. “So, did you have it out with Brittany about the Wi
ll situation?” Now he was fishing for information.

“No. I’m still not speaking to her.”

Aric looked mildly troubled by my assertion.

“And it’s not just because of the Will thing,” I continued.
“It’s also because I find her really grating.”

“Fair enough,” Aric sighed. He obviously didn’t w
ant to argue. “So what was the weird situation?”

I recounted our dinner adventure and then wait
ed for him to respond. When he started laughing uncontrollably, I came to the conclusion that he wasn’t seeing the big picture. “It’s not funny.” I pinched him for emphasis.

“I’m not discounting it,” Aric said, still fighting to hold
down his chuckles. “It’s just that girls have such weird problems compared to guys.”

“How so?” Kelsey asked curiously.

“Girls are worried about someone going to dinner without them and guys are just worried about actually going to dinner,” Aric replied. “It’s just a different world.

Girls have all these feelings about how the meal i
s presented and guys just care about the food.”

“It was weird, though,” I continued. “They were
acting like we committed some major transgression.”

“Both of them?” Aric looked momentarily flummoxed.

“Both of them,” I confirmed.

Aric turned to Kelsey. “You’ve been friends with Matild
a for a longer time than these two,” he said. “Is this normal for her?”

Kelsey looked uncomfortable with the question. “She’s always been a little ... .”

“Crazy?”

“Not crazy,” Kelsey shook her head. “She’s just a little high strung.”

“So why do you think she was acting that way?”

“It was more like she was letting Laura act that way
and waiting to see how things would go,” I said thoughtfully, running the conversation through my mind again.

Paris looked surprised. “You’re right,” she said. “It’s
like she agreed with Laura but she didn’t want to be the one to say that she agreed with Laura.”

“That’s definitely like her,” Kelsey said.

“What is?”

“She probably got Laura all riled up over it and then
when it came time to confront us, she let Laura climb out on the limb alone to see what would happen.”

That was an odd thing to say – and an odd way to loo
k at it. “The question is, why would she do it?”

“She likes to stir up trouble,” Kelsey shrugged.

“Why?”

“I think she just likes the drama.” Kelsey looked li
ke she wanted to say more, but snapped her mouth shut instead and turned her attention back to the television. “I wouldn’t get all worked up about it. It’s not like it turned out to be some huge deal.”

“So you think she was just being dramatic?” Aric asked.

“It would be just like her,” Kelsey said. “She’s got a theatrical side to her.”

She was right. I had witnessed that theatrical sid
e. Still, something about this situation seemed off. Apparently Aric had grown bored with the topic, though. “So,” he said, running his hand up and down my arm enticingly. “I was thinking that maybe you’d let me take you to my place?”

“Really?”

“Why not?” Aric looked momentarily crestfallen.

“Why don’t you just stay here?” I countered.

Aric looked both intrigued and freaked out by the concept. “You want me to stay here? In the dorms? In a room you share with another chick? That’s going to seriously cut down on what I had in mind for you.”

“Laura says she’s going to be gone at the computer lab unt
il at least 2 a.m.,” I pointed out. “That’s plenty of time to do whatever freaky thing you have in mind.”

Aric glanced at my bedroom thoughtfully. “I suppose i
t wouldn’t be so terrible,” he said. “That bed is really small, though.”

“You afraid you’re not going to fit in it?”

“I’m afraid we’re not going to fit into it together,” Aric admitted. “Still, it could be cozy.”

“So, you’ll stay?” I was surprised he was giving in so easily.

“You had me at freaky,” Aric admitted.

Kelsey sighed. “I’m sleeping with headphones on tonight.”

Paris couldn’t help but smile. “I’m going back to my room. This is just dirty enough to make Brittany’s head implode.”

Aric had lost interest in both of them, though. His g
aze was fixed on me. “So, when you say freaky, just how freaky are we talking about?”

I tried to keep the smile from my face, but I wasn’t ent
irely successful. It was going to be an interesting night.

“You might have been right about us not fitting into this bed together,” I grumbled the next morning, trying to shift so I wasn’t actually in danger of falling off the bed and onto the cold linoleum.

“I slept fine,” Aric murmured sleepily, pulling me
closer to his warm body as he attempted to drift back off to dreamland. “You didn’t?”

“No, I did for most of the night. This bed is just a little narrow compared to yours.”

Aric’s bare chest rumbled. “So, I’m guessing most of our sleepovers are going to be at my place from now on?”

A thought suddenly occurred to me. “That’s why you a
greed to stay,” I accused him. “You knew this would happen.”

“I did live in the dorms at one time,” Aric replied. “I l
earned this lesson a long time ago.”

I elbowed Aric in his stomach sharply. “It’s probably
not a good idea to talk about learning lessons from sharing a bed with other girls when you’re in bed with me,” I suggested.

“Another lesson learned,” Aric teased, rolling ov
er on top of me and pinning me beneath him. “I’m a fast learner.”

He pressed his lips to mine and, just when I was sinki
ng into the kiss, he pulled up short. He adjusted his body so he could look to the other side of the room before sighing in relief. I followed his gaze to Laura’s empty bed. “Laura didn’t come home last night?”

“I guess not.” Aric climbed off of me and stood next to t
he bed. I took the opportunity to enjoy the view, every hard-muscled angle of it. “You don’t think anything happened to her, do you?”

I snapped back to reality – mostly – and stood be
side him. “Maybe she came home and saw you were here and was too uncomfortable to sleep in here?” I suggested guiltily.

Aric cocked his head to the right before shaking it. “I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“Because I can hear Kelsey getting dressed in the othe
r bedroom, and I think I would have heard if the front door opened in the middle of night.”

“You can hear Kelsey getting dressed? Is that a werewolf thing?”

“Pretty much.”

“You can’t see her getting dressed, right?”

“I’m a werewolf, not Superman.”

“That’s not what you said last night.”

“That’s not what you said last night,” Aric countered. It was a flirtatious moment, but neither of us had the inclination to act on it. Worry about Laura was permeating the room.

I slipped into a pair of track pants and pulled a T-sh
irt over my head – watching as Aric climbed back into his clothes from the night before – and then went out into the common room. Kelsey walked out of her bedroom at the same time, and she looked as alarmed as I felt.

“Matilda didn’t come home last night.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. Our room is really small. I would have heard her.”

She still wasn’t over me stealing the big room. At least she wasn’t being overtly hostile about it anymore.

“Do you think they’re together?” Aric asked, running
a hand through his disheveled black hair.

“That would be my guess,” Kelsey answered. “It woul
d be too much of a coincidence for them both to decide to study all night. On a Friday.”

“Are you sure they were really studying?” Aric as
ked the question that had been nagging me since Matilda and Laura announced they were going out the previous night.

“I’m not sure,” Kelsey hedged. “I’ve never known Matilda to
do a lot of studying on the weekends. Actually, she’s not much for studying during the week either.”

“And how did you two hook up?”

“Luck of the lottery,” Kelsey shrugged.

Just then, the door to the common room opened and
Matilda and Laura tumbled in, giggling hysterically. They both straightened when they saw the three of us watching them suspiciously.

“What are you guys doing up?” Laura asked, st
ruggling to pretend she wasn’t completely hammered. Even if she had been a better actress, I still would have been able to smell it on her from ten feet away.

“It’s morning,” Kelsey said, glaring at Matilda. “In
case you two haven’t noticed – which you obviously haven’t.”

“We noticed,” Matilda scoffed. “That’s what th
at big ball of fire in the sky symbolizes.”

Laura started giggling again. I looked her over. S
he was wearing the same outfit from the night before, although her makeup was smudged around her eyes and there was something weird floating around her. It was like a dark cloud that emanated from her body and followed her like an angry shadow. On closer inspection, Matilda was displaying the same weird affliction. Did anyone else see that?

“So, how was studying?” Kelsey asked pointedly.

“Oh, well, we ended up getting sidetracked,” Matilda replied, brushing past Kelsey and moving toward the bathroom. “We ended up going to a party.”

“With who?” Kelsey asked.

“Um, oh, Laura’s friend Jessica invited us to her sorority and we ended up going over there.”

Aric jerked his head in surprise. “Delta Omicron? You went to the house?”

“Yeah,” Laura said, struggling to remain standing upright. “They’re really cool and the house is really big. So much bigger than this place.”

“The house is really cool, right?” Matilda giggled.

I was having trouble focusing on what the two of them were saying because those weird shadows were still hovering around the two of them. It was really distracting.

“Zoe,” Aric said suddenly, moving his ga
ze to me. “You want to walk me downstairs?”

“Um, sure,” I replied, confusion etched on my face.

“I’m just going to go to bed,” Laura said wearily. “I need some sleep.”

“Me, too,” Matilda said, closing the door of the bathroom behind her.

I exchanged a concerned look with Kelsey, but followed Aric into the hall. Once the door was safely shut behind us, I waited for him to unload, which took only a few seconds.

“You need to warn them about staying away from Delta Omicron.”

“Why? I mean, other than the fact that it’s a sorority and that’s all kinds of icky all on its own?”

“Just ... those aren’t the type of girls they should be h
anging around with,” Aric said forcefully.

“But you could sleep with one of them?” I shot back tartly.

“I am not going to fight with you,” Aric warned.

“Fine,” I sighed. “That was a cheap shot. I don’t understand why
you’re all worked up about this, though. As annoying as I find Jessica – and she is the devil – it was a sorority party. Do you think they’re going to try to take over the world with nail polish and lip gloss?”

“No,” Aric said. “I just ... I just think you need to direc
t them to other people to hang out with. If they want to rush a sorority, I can give you a list of better ones.”

He was hiding something from me. “Fi
rst, that’s an oxymoron. Second, … .”

“What’s an oxymoron?” Aric interrupted what was sure to be a righteous diatribe.

“Better sorority,” I grumbled.

“You need to get over your Greek hate. It’s a part of college life.”

“You don’t seem to like the Greek life any more than I do,” I pointed out.

“That’s not true ... well, that’s not entirely true. How did
we get on this subject?” Aric looked frustrated.

“You were telling me why this sorority is evil but others aren’t.”

“Can’t you just take my word for it?” Aric asked, exasperated.

“Why don’t you just tell me what’s really going on,” I pressed.

“I just don’t like that sorority.”

“Why?”

“You’ve met Jessica,” Aric said. “They’re all like that.”

“They’re all evil?”

“Yes,” Aric said. “Just try to keep them away from Delta Omicron.”

This argument was getting me nowhere. “Fine.”

Aric blew out a frustrated sigh and then pulled me toward him, planting a heavy kiss on my mouth. “I’ll call you in a couple of hours.”

“Okay.” I had to think of a better way to trick the truth
out of him. He wasn’t going to tell me now, so it was better to just agree with him and move on – for the time being, at least.

Once he was gone, I headed toward Paris’ room. I wa
s happy to find her sitting on the couch alone in her common room and watching television. “Hey, you’re up early.”

“I was just saying goodbye to Aric.”

“How was last night?”

“He was right, the bed was too small for the both of us.”

“No more dorm sleepovers?” Paris clucked sympathetically.

“I wouldn’t say never,” I said, sitting in one of the small chairs adjacent to the couch.

“Probably not often, though.”

“So, what’s up?” Paris could read me so well.

“I um, I saw something weird a few minutes ago.”

“Like a monster?” Paris looked alarmed.

“No. At least I don’t think so.” I told Paris about Laura and Matilda’s all-night party excursion, including the part about the strange shadows. I had considered telling

Aric about what I saw, but our conversation had
taken a weird turn. When I was done, I waited for Paris to freak out. She didn’t.

“It sounds like you saw their auras,” she said after a beat.

“Their what? Their auras? I didn’t think that was a real thing.”

“Well, it is,” Paris said. “There are actually quite a few people who can see them. It’s not a rare gift. In fact, people can actually train themse
lves to see them. I know a lot of energy witches who do it.”

“Why would it happen now, though?” I didn’t real
ly question Paris on her witch knowledge. She hadn’t been wrong on any of this stuff since I’d met her. I doubted this would be the first time.

“Maybe you were meant to see it now,” Paris said.

“Meaning?”

“You have some other gifts,” Paris reminded me
. “We know you’re some sort of mage. This just could be part of your development.”

“But why now?”

“Maybe you have always been able to see people’s auras,” Paris suggested. “Maybe you only noticed it now because there was something wrong with their auras.”

“Like what?”

“You said they were surrounded by dark shadows,” Paris mused. “It sounds like a drained aura.”

“Wait, can you see auras?”

“No, but my aunt can. She told me about them.”

“So what would a dark aura mean? Are they evil now?”

“No,” Paris laughed. “A dark aura usually means that the person has been drained.”

“Like of blood? Like a vampire sucked them?” I was i
nstantly on my feet, a certain tanned vampire jumping into my head.

“No,” Paris shook her head. “More like magically drained.”

I sat back down warily. “I’m still confused.”

“Magic is a part of every witch that uses it,” Paris expla
ined. “It’s part of their very being. If you overuse magic, then it can leave you drained. Is Matilda a witch?”

I shrugged. “I don’t think so, but I guess I can’t be sure. People keep surprising me.”

“The thing you have to watch out for is that witches can overdo it,” Paris continued.

“Magic can be like a drug. And, if people overuse
it, they can lose everything – including their souls.”

“Like Laura’s mother?”

“Like Laura’s mother,” Paris agreed. “My mother never came out and said that’s what happened, but she did say that Laura’s mom abused her powers and gave up everything.”

“Giving up your soul for magic sounds like everything,” I said.

“It does,” Paris agreed.

“So what do we do?”

“We watch them,” Paris replied simply. “We can’t do anything else until we know more.”

I’m not very good at being patient.