Duplicity (Spellbound #2) (23 page)

But Mom was alone.

“Come in, Ms. Perez,” Raj said.

“Where’s Mr. Morehouse? Did you find Gray?”

Raj motioned for them to follow him to the living room. Nobody sat.

“Mr. Morehouse is asleep.”

Lee’s face twisted in confusion. “Asleep? But it’s only nine thirty.”

Mom grimaced. “I put him to sleep.”

“But… how?” Lee’s eyes lit up. Maybe Mom’s powers were returning.

“I found your sleeping salts. The vial was buried beneath the couch cushions.” Mom’s eyes got very wide when she looked into Lee’s. “I also found… this.”

Both Lee and Raj leaned forward. Mom’s hand opened. Inside there was a scrap of newsprint and on it, in hasty print:

AM Memory Wipe!

Lee half gasped, half choked. This was one piece of code that took no time to decipher. The writing was hers and she knew those initials like the back of her hands, or in Gray’s case, the palms. Every one of her teeth felt like they could crack under the pressure Lee put on them. “Adrian Montez performed a memory wipe on me!”

The look of horror on Raj’s face was quickly replaced by rage, but Lee bet his eyes didn’t flash murder the way hers did.

“I’ll destroy him!” Lee said.

Mrs. McKenna popped her head in. “Is everything okay in here? Oh, hi, Marney. Raj, have you offered Ms. Perez tea? I’ll be off this call in a moment.” Mrs. McKenna disappeared around the corner.

Raj rushed to Lee and took her arms gently in his. “Do you remember anything?”

The room went out of focus. Lee no longer felt the ground below her. “It happened Friday night.” She stepped back. The last thing Lee wanted was to hurt Raj’s feelings, but she didn’t want to be touched at the moment. No matter how much she tried to probe her mind, the gap simply wouldn’t fill. All she could do was piece together what she did know. “I was going to sneak out of the house and attend the big meeting at Gathering.”

Mom knew better than to scold her at the moment. She and Raj watched Lee, slack jawed and mute.

“I got out the sleeping salts to take care of Mr. Morehouse. He was on the couch working on a crossword.” Lee frowned. “I unscrewed the cap and held it under his nose. I was sure I’d replaced the lid, but after that… I can’t remember.” Her jaw tightened again. It was beginning to ache. “I thought I’d gotten a whiff and knocked myself out along with him. It seemed rather ironic at the time. When I came to, I was sitting there on the couch blinking away like an idiot.”

The muscles in Raj’s jaw tightened. “That’s how he knew who you were the next day when you walked into his shop. You said it was like he recognized you the moment he saw you.”

“You’re right! The first thing he did was ask me what I was doing there. He must have thought I remembered somehow and was back to confront him.”

“If he asked what you were doing there, you must have been in his shop Friday evening.” Raj met her eyes. “The broken window!”

“At least I put up a fight.”

Mom looked grim. “What were you doing in Adrian’s shop?”

“I have no idea.” Lee stared off in space, trying to grasp even a speck of memory.

“You only planned to go to Gathering?” Mom asked.

With a shrug Lee admitted to considering getting a mocha at The Daily Grind first. “But I have no clue if I grabbed a cup of joe or not.”

“You must have run into Adrian at some point,” Raj said. “I doubt you went straight from home to Gathering. We can see if Shay could dig anything up.”

“How is Shay going to find a memory that doesn’t exist?”

Raj shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”

“He’s right,” Mom said.

They took two cars to the Baxters’ house, Mr. Morehouse’s and Raj’s. Lee rode with Mom mostly because she didn’t want to be stuck by Raj as he speculated the worst. Mom was off in her own world at the moment, and that suited Lee fine.

 The scrap of newsprint was balled up in her fist. She’d considered tearing it to shreds, burning it! Instead, she flattened her palm and smoothed out the piece of paper. What she really wanted to do was show it to Adrian right before she stuffed it down his throat.

Lee watched the buildings pass by her window. Mom came to a stop at a red light. Lee didn’t change it. She was in no hurry to reach Shay Baxter’s house. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what had happened when she was with Adrian.

As long as she couldn’t remember, it was okay. It would almost be like it had never happened. Without meaning to, she realized it wasn’t Adrian she was thinking about, but Nolan Knapp.

The lights in the Knapp house went out at nine fifty-five.

Sure, it would have been more fitting to wait until three in the morning, but Gray didn’t particularly relish the idea of spending half the evening waiting it out with Adrian. So, ten minutes after the Knapp house plunged into darkness, they stalked toward the front door.

“In bed by ten, what a good little boy,” Adrian said in a mocking voice. “If I were home alone at his age, I’d be up half the night.”

When they were at the front door, Gray turned to Adrian and whispered, “Teleport?”

He nodded.

Gray had done a lot of teleporting that day. Try as she might, she hadn’t managed to appear on a tropical island or even at the top of the Space Needle.

Witches and warlocks were always in danger of becoming addicted to their own spells and potions. As with common drugs, dependency was a problem, and one that led to side effects a little more serious than fatigue or indigestion. A witch should never overuse her powers, especially when it came to using the same spell too many times within a short period of time.

Gray had lost count of all the times she’d teleported that day. She hadn’t bothered taking the time to get in or out of her car at St. Ann’s Cemetery. She’d skipped walking all the way to her headstone. When walking away from Ryan, she’d performed another round of teleportation action. One moment they were facing off in the doorway, the next she was zooming away down the street in the Beetle. Pretty cool.

The familiar rush came over Gray as she imagined herself beyond the Knapps’ front door, inside of their home. When she reappeared, she rocked slightly in place, feeling queasy.

“Are you okay?” Adrian whispered.

“Of course,” Gray said. But when she took a step forward, she wavered as though drunk.

“How many times have you teleported today?” Adrian hissed inside her ear.

“I don’t know. Three, four, five? No more than ten.”

“I didn’t teach you that spell so you could abuse it.”

Gray snorted. “Spare me the lecture on magic and responsibility.”  She poked Adrian in the chest. It felt good, so she did it again.

When Adrian narrowed his eyes, it made her want to giggle. “How many times?” he demanded.

“Okay, maybe more than ten.”

“That’s it for today. I’m cutting you off.”

Gray did laugh this time. “Cutting me off? I don’t think so.”

“Gray…” Adrian said warningly.

But she grinned and closed her eyes for show, disappeared, and reappeared down the hall. She waved to Adrian. He didn’t wave back.

Nolan’s bedroom door was open. Even though she felt loopy, Gray’s heart began to pound in her chest when she peered inside. She had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out loud when Adrian startled her by appearing at Nolan’s bedside. His motions were swift. He had the vial under Nolan’s nose before Gray had even seen him take it out and uncap it.

Gray pushed through the door. “What are you doing?”

“With all the racket you’re making I had to make sure he wouldn’t wake up.”

“How long till that wears off?” They could be there all night. Well, it wasn’t like Gray could go home anyway. Then again, she might prefer to take her chances with The Contact over spending too long inside Nolan Knapp’s house.

The action figures on his dresser hadn’t moved since the last time she’d been in Nolan’s room. It was as though they were suspended in time, witnesses to Nolan’s treachery. Bile rose up Gray’s throat. She lurched forward. Next thing she knew, Adrian had her arm in his hand in a touch so gentle she had to shake it off at once. She would have preferred he dig his fingers into her arm and shake her back into the present.

“We’ll come back another night,” Adrian said. “You’re in no shape to carry out this prank.”

Prank? Now this was a prank? What happened to vengeance? Gray’s eyes narrowed on Nolan’s sleeping form. He and Charlene had conspired to make Gray wake up naked in his bed at the stroke of three. Nolan, who Gray had thought was a friend, had hooked up with her sister and joined in the pursuit to purge Gray’s soul.

She had to do this. She was running out of time.

Gray took a deep breath. “I went a little overboard on the teleporting today. I was just having one of those days. But I’m fine. I can do this.”

Adrian considered her. “I’d offer you something, but the type of potions I have would only make it worse.”

“You’re the anti-healer.” Why in the world did the words come out approvingly? Probably because her brain was buzzing off one too many teleportations.

Adrian looked startled. His mouth opened slowly. A word started to emerge, but Gray didn’t let him speak. She nodded at Nolan. “How soon till the spell wears off?” The covers were pulled up to Nolan’s neck. He was lying on his back, chest rising and falling under the blankets. He looked almost angelic with his shaggy blond head resting against his pillow.

Adrian didn’t answer. He pulled out a second vial. Gray’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. What did he plan to do with that, give Nolan a second dose of sleep?

“This vial contains waking salts,” Adrian said. He grinned, looking pleased with himself. He approached Nolan’s bed—the side opposite from where he slept.

“Wait!” Gray said. She went to Nolan’s side and pulled down the covers. Nolan was dressed in a white undershirt and striped boxers. Gray swallowed and looked at Adrian. “These need to come off.”

Adrian raised a brow and smirked.

Gray shot him a scowl and reached for the end of Nolan’s shirt. Another inch and her fingers would touch the white fabric. Her lip curled back involuntarily. She didn’t want to touch Nolan, not even his T-shirt. Gray straightened then tried again, only to stop an inch away on the second attempt.

When she looked at Adrian he had a bemused grin over his face. “Allow me,” he said.

Wow, he really was helpful—undressing another dude…

Adrian snapped and Nolan’s clothes disappeared. Gray gasped. She spun around, but it wasn’t quick enough. She’d gotten a look. Just great. What fabulous imagery to have burned in her memory. Not that it would be there for long. Once The Contact got rid of her, he’d be obliterating that image. Gone forever. Every part of her. Even these memories.

By the time she turned around, there was no trace of the tears that had briefly misted her eyes and, best of all, Adrian had covered Nolan with the blanket.

Right. Nolan was prepped and ready. That just left Adrian.

Here was yet another alarming discovery about Adrian. He could snap people’s clothes off. Most witches and warlocks could only snap their own clothes on and off, or so Gray had believed. True, Charlene had once snapped a wardrobe change over Gray, but she’d assumed it was a sibling thing.

Then again, it wasn’t as though Gray had ever tried to snap another person’s clothing off. It was part of their coven’s Vow of Honor. A witch didn’t perform magic on another witch… or warlock.

Even without the coven, it was a good rule to stick by. With power came even greater responsibility.

Gray shook her head. What was she prattling on about, pep talking herself in the middle of a revenge mission? Her days were numbered, anyway. Let the Stacey Lee Morehouse version of herself meditate on the importance of morality.

Adrian lifted his hand, three fingers pressed together, ready to snap.

“Wait,” Gray said.

The smile he flashed was all Adrian: cocky and self-assured. His brow rose.

Gray tried to sound cool. “You don’t have to lose all the clothes. I mean, it’s perfectly fine to keep your underwear on. You know?” She couldn’t look him in the eye. Instead, she focused on his smiling lips.

In answer, Adrian snapped. Gray closed her eyes just in time. The last glimpse she caught was of a toned chest with dark hairs. She’d bet her clogs he’d lost every article of clothing.

“Ready.”

When Gray opened her eyes, Adrian was nestled under the covers beside the sleeping Nolan. Gray laughed out loud.

Adrian looked over at Nolan. “You’re right, this is much better than a prank call—much more up close and personal.”

“I was going for terrifying.”

Adrian flashed her a wicked grin. “That too.” He unscrewed the cap off the vial and reached across the covers to hold it under Nolan’s nostrils.