Noelle rolled her eyes but handed them over. She stepped up behind my right shoulder and watched as I lined the torn side of the pages up with the torn scraps along the spine. My mouth went completely dry. The tears, the bumps, the shreds—all of them lined up perfectly.
“Nobody planted this, Noelle. Eliza Williams may have been crazy, but she wrote these pages,” I said. “Whether or not any of this really happened, she believed that it happened.”
Noelle glanced at me, her skin suddenly waxen. My experiment had clearly scared her. She took a step back, groaned, and covered her face with her hands.
“If you want to believe all of this, then you should probably have all the facts,” she said. Her hands dropped, leaving behind momentary red fingerprints on her pale skin.
“What facts?”
“Well, there’s something else,” Noelle said. She looked at the pages and the book instead of at me, and tucked her hands into the pockets of her coat all casual. As if we were discussing the latest issue of
Vogue
. “And you’re not gonna like it.”
My heart hit my toes. Suddenly I realized the dorm had gone silent. Everyone had fled but us.
“What?” I said.
“Catherine White? This person who turned into some
thing
that cursed our family?” Noelle said, looking me in the eye. “She was a distant relative of Ariana’s.”
“Yes, Vienna, all bodyguards are welcome,” Noelle said into her cell that night, rolling her eyes over her shoulder at me as she sat down on the chaise in front of her personal fireplace. “Okay. See you soon.”
She ended the call and tossed the phone onto the settee next to her.
“That’s everyone,” she said, sitting back as if exhausted.
We’d just called all of the Billings Girls—including Missy, Constance, and London—most of whom were staying somewhere in the city, and asked them to come over. Ivy had been on her way to her home in Boston but had told her driver to turn the car around. Kiki, who lived in California, was staying at her aunt’s place in Brooklyn, and Amberly’s parents had put her up in a suite at the Waldorf with a pair of armed guards, and her mom was on her way out from Seattle via private jet to be with her.
“Missy was the hardest sell,” Noelle said. “But she’s coming.”
“Good,” I said flatly.
I dropped the magazine I’d been furling in my hand onto the bed and walked over to sit on the edge of the cushioned settee. Noelle’s bedroom, on the second-from-the-top floor of her parents’ opulent Upper East Side home, was roughly the square footage of the entire Billings House—or at least it seemed to be. Aside from the huge bedroom with its four-poster bed and massive fireplace, her suite had its own kitchen and bath, a living room, and a closet that could have fit both my bedroom and my brother’s inside of it. Right now we were lounging in the cozy alcove adjacent to the foot of her bed, a real fire raging in the brick fireplace as snowflakes began to swirl outside the huge windows overlooking Central Park. With four guards placed throughout the house at her father’s orders, I felt completely safe, and with the insane spread of food the cook had sent up for us upon arrival, I also felt cared for. Not that I had been able to eat a single bite.
“What are you going to say to them when they get here?” Noelle asked, crooking her arm behind her head and leaning back into it.
“I’m going to tell them what I found,” I said. “One dream could have been a fluke. Two were a coincidence, but three?”
“So you really think you’re psychic?” Noelle said doubtfully.
“I don’t know, but I know that if I dream about your death next I’m going to warn you,” I shot back.
We both turned to look at the fire. I watched the flames dance and thought of the flickering candles in Eliza’s story.
“I have to ask you something,” I said.
“I had a feeling,” Noelle replied patiently.
“If you knew all along that Catherine White was related to Ariana . . . why didn’t you tell me?”
Noelle blew out a sigh and sat up straight. She crossed her legs at the knee and placed her hands on either side of her on the delicate brocade of the chaise.
“Reed, it was ten million years ago,” she said slowly. “I didn’t think it mattered. To be honest with you, I’m still not sure that it does.”
I let that one roll off my back. “But how do you even know?”
Noelle pressed her fingertips into the corners of her eyes for a moment, as if fending off a nasty headache. Then she stood up and walked closer to the fire, crossing her arms over her chest. She stared down into the flames for so long, I thought she’d forgotten I’d asked a question.
“At the end of our junior year, Ariana did a genealogy project for her sociology class,” Noelle began. “She was always into that stuff and she took the project seriously—a lot more seriously than everyone else. While she was doing her research, she found out that her great-great-grandfather’s sister, Catherine White, had gone to Billings at the turn of the century.” She paused and looked up at the painting above the fireplace, a colorful, abstract rendition of the original Billings House that Noelle’s father had commissioned for her a couple of years back. “I’ll never forget how excited she was. She came running back to Billings like she’d just found out she was descended from royalty or something.” Noelle looked at me over her shoulder. “She figured the relationship proved she was a legacy
so she could get an invite to the Legacy the next year.”
I narrowed my eyes, thinking back to all the invitation and plus-one drama last fall. “But she didn’t.”
“No. It turned out you had to be a direct line,” Noelle said, sounding almost sad. “A great-great-great-aunt wouldn’t cut it.”
“Oh.” I bit my lip. An ember jumped out of the fireplace and glowed on the slate hearth. Noelle lifted her foot and placed the toe of her boot on top of it, crushing the light out of it.
“So, if Eliza’s story is true, then Ariana’s great-great-great-aunt cursed our family for all eternity,” I said.
Noelle turned around fully. “Weird, huh?”
“Actually, it makes sense out of a whole lot of crap,” I replied.
Noelle arched her eyebrows. “So you think . . . what? Ariana murdered your boyfriend because she was playing out some kind of ancient curse?”
“I know, I know. It sounds insane. But isn’t this all just a little
too
coincidental?” I said, touching Eliza’s locket with my fingertips. “And don’t forget Sabine. She was related to Catherine too.”
Noelle shook her head, her expression irritatingly condescending. “Reed, Ariana killed Thomas because she was out of her mind with jealousy. And Sabine did what she did because she was plain out of her mind. Clearly there’s something off in their DNA. It has nothing to do with a curse.”
“Whatever,” I said, standing. “What I want to know is, whatever happened to Eliza and her family? And what about Helen?”
“Google them,” Noelle said lightly. “If we find out their kids all
died in a fire or were born with two heads, then I’ll believe you.”
There was a rap on the door and Ginny, the head of security and the one female guard of the bunch, opened it. Apparently she was ex-Secret Service, and I could imagine she’d been very good at her job. With her broad shoulders, WNBA-worthy height, and serious scowl, she could intimidate anyone.
“Your guests are starting to arrive,” she said, ushering Tiffany and Rose inside.
They walked toward us warily, and I saw Tiffany eyeing the food laid out on a buffet-style table near the far windows.
“Nice spread,” she said, placing her camera bag down on the end of Noelle’s bed. “Are we having a party?”
Rose, who looked tired and harried and scared, looked Noelle and me over slowly. “Why do I get the feeling you guys didn’t invite us here to eat?”
I took a deep breath and looked at Noelle. She made a dismissive gesture with her hand, like,
This is your thing. You deal with it
.
“Let’s wait until everyone gets here,” I said. “I only want to tell this story once.”
“So this is why all this is happening?” Constance asked tremulously. “You guys are
cursed
?”
I had just read Eliza’s entire entry to all of them, then explained the dream I’d had about Lorna. Ivy had squirmed up from her seat at my description of Eliza’s coven’s initiation, and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was—that Eliza’s description of what happened after they’d read the incantation was exactly like what had happened to us. As the story went on, I saw Tiffany, Portia, and Vienna grow more restless and eye-rolly, while Rose, Constance, London, and Amberly looked completely terrified. Kiki seemed merely intrigued, her eyes never leaving mine as I spoke, but Missy simply stared straight ahead the entire time, her jaw set obstinately, as if wishing she could be somewhere else.
“We’re not cursed!” Noelle said, throwing up her hands.
Amberly looked to be about five seconds away from being in dire
need of smelling salts. She lifted her head weakly. “But Reed just said—”
“I know what she said, all right?” Noelle replied, pacing from the head of her bed to stand next to me in front of the gathering of our friends. “I just . . . don’t think it’s true.”
“So what? You’re good-cop, bad-copping us?” London asked, raising her eyebrows. She was wearing a high-neck, baggy sweatshirt and yoga pants, her dark, highlighted hair back in a ponytail. I’d never seen her look so demure in my life. “One of you tells us it’s real, the other says it’s all a joke? Are you trying to get us to, like, confess to something?”
“No,” I said. “No one thinks that anyone in this room is responsible for anything.”
“This is ridiculous,” Tiffany said, standing. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in witches and I don’t believe in psychics and I kind of don’t believe I stayed here this long.”
“Tiff, please,” I said, feeling desperate as she made for the door. “I don’t know what to believe either. I just wanted to warn you guys, in case—”
“In case what? You dream about me next?” Tiffany said impatiently, whirling on me.
My mouth snapped shut and she took a breath, looking at me sympathetically.
“Look, I’m sorry. I’m just a little tense lately, okay?” she said. “I finally got into RISD, finally saw the finish line, and for once in our stupid high school careers everything was normal. All I wanted was
some smooth sailing from now until graduation, and then
bam
. Astrid and Lorna go missing and here we all are again.” She threw her hands up and twirled around once. “Back in life-or-death land,” she said, widening her eyes sarcastically.
The other girls eyed one another, and it was clear that they felt the same way. “I know,” I said. “It sucks. Believe me I know. But it’s not my fault this is happening. I’m just trying to make some sense of it.”
“Or maybe it
is
your fault,” Missy said.
Everyone turned to look at her. Ivy clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes, turning away from Missy as if she were trying to keep herself from pouncing on her. Missy, who was sitting on a pillow with her back against the wall, leaned forward. “Missy,” Noelle said in a warning tone.
“No. I’m totally serious.” Missy shoved herself up from the floor, lifting her blond braid over her shoulder. “I believe you, Reed. It all makes perfect sense. You
are
cursed.”
“What?” Portia said. “Girl, you are OOC.”
“No, I’m not out of control,” Missy said through her teeth, crossing her arms over her chest and taking a step forward. “Think about it. Everything was fine at Easton until
she
showed up. Then Ariana goes off the reservation, Thomas ends up murdered, Sabine comes to town and kills Cheyenne, then shoots Ivy,” she said, nodding at Ivy’s back. “Then you guys go away for break and Reed ends up kidnapped and left to die on a deserted island, and when you get back,
surprise
! Billings is leveled and now two of our friends have gone missing. You
are
cursed, Reed. We’d all be better off if you’d never come into our lives.”
“All right. That’s enough!”
I turned and gaped at Ivy. I think we were all surprised that the words had exploded from her mouth and not Noelle’s. Missy turned red with shock but stopped ranting.
“Forget about everything that happened in the past,” Kiki piped up, lifting herself up from the settee so that she was sitting on the arm, her boots resting on the expensive fabric of the seat. “Let’s look at what’s happening now. If Reed and Noelle are cursed, then why is it Lorna and Astrid who’ve gone missing? Where do they fit into all of this?”
Something passed through Missy’s eyes at that moment. Some spark of knowledge. Some realization.
“What?” I blurted out, stepping toward her. “What do you know?”
The entire room went silent with tension. Everyone stared at us like we were two lions poised to attack.
“Nothing,” she said, shifting her gaze.
“Bullshit,” Ivy put in, storming over. “What the hell, Missy? If you know anything, you have to tell us.”
Missy lifted her chin. “I don’t have to tell you anything. You’re the ones who decided I wasn’t good enough to hang out with you anymore.”
“Missy,” Constance said, her voice tearful. “Please. Do you know something?”
“No!” Missy wailed. “No! God! I don’t. Don’t you think I would tell you if I did? Lorna’s one of my best friends. Or she was, anyway,” she added, shooting me another accusatory look.
“You know something. I can tell,” Ivy said, grabbing Missy’s arm. “Spill it, Missy.”
“Get off me!” Missy cried, wrenching away from Ivy. She bent at the waist and grabbed her leather bag. “I should never have even come here.”
Missy stormed past me toward the double doors, which were open to the hallway, Ginny and her partner, Goran, keeping watch just outside.
“Missy, wait,” I begged.
“Forget it,” she snapped, not looking back.
“Get back here,” Ivy shouted, going after her. “Missy! You’re not going anywhere until you tell us what you know!”
At that moment I swear I felt a burst of cold wind and both heavy doors slammed shut. Constance and Amberly screamed. Missy stopped in her tracks. If she’d been three steps further, those doors would have hit her. Slowly, I turned to look at Ivy. Her dark hair danced forward around her cheeks on a wisp of a breeze, before falling lazily down around her shoulders.