Authors: Fabio Bueno
Jane squints and
mumbles
something, while her hand make a conjuring gesture. Before I realize, I flinch and take a step back.
She cackles. “A-ha!” she says triumphant. “Afraid of magic, Drake?
Don’t worry, you didn’t break the Veil.
She
did.
”
I’m defeated, but I won’t admit it. “
What do you want, Jane?
”
“
I’m just messing with you.
Nobody can
do magic this way.
Freezing rays and the like. Didn’t she tell you?
”
“
No, I mean coming here. What do you want?
”
She lowers her voice. “
I want you. No potions this time.
”
“I know you’re lying,” I say.
She comes closer. “
It was fun, you k
now. I felt a spark between us.”
Standing still,
I say nothing. My face conveys
my
contempt
for her
.
Jane
shrugs.
“
Worth a shot
,” she says, back to her normal, cold voice.
“
Okay, here’s the deal. Make her leave. Or I’ll make her leave. Got it?
”
“What?
” I can’t control myself anymore. She sees my fury
,
and it’s her turn to step back. “You get close to Skye again, and I’m going
…
” A thought crosses my mind: is she expecting my reaction and recording my threat to blackmail me later? That’s exactly the
type
of mind game Jane would
play. I don’t care. “Just stay away from u
s
, or I’ll kill you. I mean it!
”
Jane’s stony face shows no emotion
at first, but then her expression softens.
“No, you won’t,” she murmurs. “But you know I would.
And I may not even stop at her.”
Then Jane
says
in a pleading voice, “Drake,
please
tell her to go away. This is much bigger than you can imagine. You’re ruining everything.” She sounds tired. “Don’t make me hurt her.”
S
he turns
away
and climbs
on
her bike.
Her strategy works. I can’t attack someone from behind. Attack?
I’m kidding myself. I feel
guilty about
threatening
somebody, especially a woman
. E
ven if it’s Jane.
The motorcycle roars and she goes away. I’m left at the street, wondering if I just imagined the surreal confrontation.
***
It’s hard to
be with
Skye in this situation. I mean, every nanosecond that I don’t tell her the truth, I’m lying. I think.
I spent the whol
e Sunday staring at my bedroom
wall. The
everlasting
rain helped me stay inside and wrestle my demons.
Jane is bluffing. No question about it. I know it. I’m sure of it. The only thing that keeps me on my toes is: what if she isn’t?
She tried to kill Skye before. Why wouldn’t she try again? I always thought it was a desperate measure, that Jane saw an opportunity and decided to act on an impulse.
She wasn’t thinking clearly.
The death of a witch would actually bring
attention
to the school
and
hinder
Jane’s search for the Singularity.
But now it is clear she doesn’t care for the consequences. She wants revenge on S
kye for—what? The British dude?
Also, I’m not sure what Jane meant when she told me it was a big thing. Did she mean the Singularity?
This is beyond weird.
If I tell Skye, she’ll freak out. I know Jane is just trying to mess up with our heads. Maybe I don’t tell Skye, but
I
keep an eye out for
Jane. At least for a while.
This is the point where I bury my head in my pillow, as if trying to
smother
her threats
into oblivion
.
Early Monday morning, Drake shows up.
“Is this the place where they
give free protection spells?” h
e says
after
I open the door.
With just my
index
finger, I ask him to come in.
He follows me without a word.
We have coffee in
the kitchen.
“So, how was your weekend?” I ask
at last
.
“Uneventful,” he says, looking
at
the cabinets. “What about yours?”
“Eventful,” I say. Oh, Goddess, am I playing games now? I don’t want to cling to false pride. “I missed you,” I say, while resting my mug on the counter. I don’t care if I sound needy.
He gives me the perfect reply. “I missed you too.” He lays his mug down and leans forward.
Accepting his
offer
, I walk around the counter and stop in front of him. He kisses me eagerly.
He acts his words, pulling me tight as if not wanting to let me go—ever.
His mouth has the flavor of coffee and minty toothpaste. It tastes like a new morning.
***
When h
e’s driving me to school, I say
,
“I was thinking about Jane.”
He stiffens. Wow, he
is
upset with her. He’s so protective of me.
I brush my hand against his cheek while he drives, but he doesn’t move. “I thought we should see what she’s up to.”
“What do you mean?”
He
uses a monotone voice that doesn’t sound like him. I think
talking about her bring
s
the pool incident to his mind.
“Maybe we could track her
.”
“Why? Why would we do that?” Is that fear in his voice? What’s going on? We
were
back to our dynamic in the kitchen and in my bedroom, durin
g
the ritual. Now he’s acting all weird.
But I don’t want to bring this up so soon after we made up. I just continue as if I haven’t noticed anything. “What do we know about her? I have no idea where she lives, where she hangs out, what she does. Most importantly, I need to know how close to the Singularity she is.”
He takes a deep breath and comments, “But
Jane’s
not close
.
If she thought she was
,
she wouldn’t even bother with you
… I mean,
us
.
”
He glances briefly in my direction. “She’d just finish the job, whatever her job is. Right?” Drake speaks so fast he almost mangles the words.
“I can’t afford to wait. Would you help me?”
Drakes take
s
a long look at my face.
“Did you drink a
h
yper
p
otion
this morning?”
I
slide down the seat, kick out my sneakers,
and put my
bare
foot on the windshield. “I had a massive dose of Priscilla this weekend
.
That’s what happens when you’re not around,” I
say
, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’ll stay closer to you from now on,” he says, but his tone is not flirty at all.
We arrive at the lot. He parks, but before he can get out of the car, I grab his arm. “Did something happen?”
Startled, he
glances at me
, but soon his eyes stray. “No! Why? We’re… going to be late.”
“Drake…” A sudden sadness invades me. He’s lying.
He puts his hand over mine. “
Let’s think about it, okay? Jane is not close to the Singularity. We have time to figure this out
, what do you say?”
I nod, but I can’t hide my disappointment.
He’s lying
about something
. I don’t
even
need a truth potion to see it.
***
I’ve been frustrated
since yesterday. Drake’s
evasiveness
stalled my plans. Maybe
I
can track Jane
by myself
. I can do it from a safe distance, so she doesn’t detect me. Even if she figures out
I’m
following her, what’
s the worst that could happen? I
miss
my
chance, that’s all. It’s not like she can get madder. I hope.
Priscilla and I are getting our books from the lockers, but as soon as I open mine, I see something different.
A
photo
is
taped onto the inside
of
the locker’s door.
I look around. My body is not tingling, so
I know Jane’s not around
. I rip the picture free.
At first
glance
I think it’s an astronomy
image
: a grainy
picture of an
unidentified shape.
A rectangular shape seems familiar; it looks like a bed.
White linen. I
n the center of all whiteness,
a person? To
her right a dresser.
I’ve
seen this before. It’s… it’s…
my room
.
At Aunt
Gemma’s
.
I am the person sleeping on the bed.
A huge gasp comes from
behind me
. I
turn
and meet Drake’s bulging eyes staring at the picture.
“We’ve got to talk,” he says.
***
“How? How did
this happen?”
I ask him.
We’re in his car, windows closed
. T
he pro
ximity is not what I wanted now, but there’s no other place to talk about it.
“She
came to my house to threaten you
.
”
H
is voice is not
apologetic
.
“You knew about this?”
I yell at him.
He moves
his head side to side, not on
a negative, just trying to shake the question off. “
It was
two days ago. I thought she was bluffing.”
“And you didn’t tell me,” I say. I never knew you could
hear
venom. Es
pecially spewed from my own mouth.
“I was pretty sure she was
bluffing
just to get this reaction.” He points to the both of us. “And she’s got exactly what she wanted, it seems.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?
I trusted you, Drake. With my most important secret. A secret that’s not even my own. I broke the Veil for you.”
He looks at me. “The truth is, I had most of it already figured out—”
“So, that’s okay, right? Since you’re so smart, it’s okay that you know about the Veil? It doesn’t matter how it makes me feel? Like I betrayed my Sisters?”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” he says in an alarmed voice. He tries to embrace me, but I wiggle away, refusing contact. He continues, “What I meant is that you shouldn’t feel guilty about the Veil, because I had already
pretty much figured it out. Besides, if any
one broke the Veil, it was Jane.
”
I say nothing.
He takes a deep breath. “
As much as
this scares you, it scares me even more. Way more. Let’s think about it, okay
?
First of all, don’t blame me for something
she did
. Second, I didn’t tell you because that’s exactly what Jane wanted. Third, it was my problem, not yours.”
I interrupt him. “Of course it’s my problem too, Drake. It’s all because of me.”
He looks at me, initially annoyed about yet another interruption, but then his expression softens. “I was trying to shield you from all that,” he says. “I thought I could just not play her game, and that it would go away.”
“But now we have proof she
isn’t
bluffing,” I say,
waving the picture.
“She broke into my house. Actually, I think it was Brianna. Otherwise, I’d have woken with the tingling of a Sister so close to me.
Let’s find out
more about Jane, that creepy witch.
Maybe she is threatening us because she
is
close to the Singularity and she’s afraid we’ll find her first
.
”