Winging It (31 page)

Meagan grinned. ‘You’d better get your homework done so you don’t get called into the counselor’s office again. You don’t have time to take the families-of-divorce course.’ Her messenger chimed and the gray cat leapt out of her lap in indignation.

Her dad.

Coming to pick us up.

The strange thing wasn’t that Jessica and Derek weren’t at school on Monday.

The strange thing was that only Meagan and I noticed.

When Jessica wasn’t at the front door, waiting for Meagan, we exchanged a look and headed for our lockers, not at all short of apprehension. Of course, we’d guessed she wouldn’t be there, but it was that relentless optimism at work again.

The halls were filled with a golden orange glow that illuminated every corner.

‘Can you see anything?’ Meagan asked in an undertone.

I nodded. ‘What do you feel?’

‘There’s this awful music that’s trying to slide into my head.’

‘Block it out as best you can. Hum something else.’

She started to hum the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s
Messiah
again, gritting her teeth as she forced out every note. The light had to be a spell, one that acted like a glamour. One that made it seem as if Jessica and Derek had never even existed.

It had spread throughout the whole school, so we all had to walk through spell soup.

My messenger pinged. It was Isabelle. ‘Weird,’ she said when I answered the call. ‘I just called Sara, pretending to be looking for a textbook for one of my classes.’

‘Is Garrett there?’ I asked, hope in my voice even though I was pretty sure I knew the answer. Meagan turned to watch me.

‘No,’ Isabelle said. ‘Which is what I expected. What I didn’t expect was that Sara isn’t worried. In fact, it took her a minute to remember that Garrett
should
be there.’

‘Sara is not a crap mom.’

‘No, she’s not.’ Isabelle paused, then whispered, ‘It was like she didn’t even remember him for a minute.’

That gave me a very bad feeling.

Meagan leaned closer to listen in as Isabelle continued. ‘Then she gave me some story about him staying at a friend’s place, which didn’t even sound plausible when she said it.’

‘So, their spells reach that far,’ Meagan mused.

‘I’m going to call Delaney and Ginger to ask about Liam,’ Isabelle said. ‘Then Donovan and Alex. But I’m pretty sure all of the parents will have a similar story.’

‘And no one else even notices,’ I told her. ‘Being captured means you cease to exist.’ I shivered when I said that, thinking of that mermaid. I’d never felt so powerless in my life.

‘Why do we remember, then?’ Isabelle asked.

‘Well, I’m a wildcard. Meagan is a spellsinger.’

‘And they want Isabelle to remember,’ Meagan said grimly.

I nodded. ‘Because it’s not over.’ I looked at her. ‘Maybe they think you’ll want to join the winning side.’

‘Not a chance.’ Meagan straightened and scanned the corridor, looking grim and purposeful. ‘There has to be something we can do.’

‘Maybe you can find out more,’ Isabelle said. ‘And I’ll check on the guys. Talk to you at lunch.’

‘Right.’

First, I had to confirm our impressions. Suzanne was striding toward us, her blond ponytail swinging. She would have walked right past us, as usual, but she looked to be in a much better mood than she had been the week before, so I dared to speak to her.

‘Have you seen Jessica?’ I asked her.

‘Who?’ She looked to be genuinely puzzled. Then she rolled her eyes as if I’d been putting her on. ‘Don’t pretend you know people I don’t, freak,’ she muttered, and tossed her ponytail.

‘What about that fire Saturday night?’ Meagan said.

Suzanne looked at her with disdain. ‘Just because some loser set his costume on fire with a cigarette didn’t mean the fire department had to come.’ She tossed her hair again. ‘It was probably a neighbor, trying to get Trevor in trouble.’

Meagan and I exchanged a glance. The entire basement had been an inferno when we’d escaped.

But then, the house had been fine when I’d invaded Trevor’s memory on Sunday.

I was starting to think that Mage spells were even more powerful and spooky than I’d believed.

Meanwhile, Suzanne went straight to Trevor. He put his arm around her shoulders and she kissed him, acting as if they had never broken up. I had to assume that the other kids hadn’t noticed anything on Saturday night. When they’d been frozen, maybe it had been like time stood still for them.

Meagan and I went to our lockers in silence. Trish’s locker is on the other side of Meagan’s. Usually she ignores both of us, and that remained consistent.

Meagan gave me a questioning look and I nodded.

‘Hi, Trish,’ she said brightly. ‘Didn’t Suzanne and Trevor break up last week?’

Trish looked at her in surprise.

‘Are you kidding?’ she asked, with all the disdain she reserved for Meagan. Actually, she saved a good chunk of it for me, too. ‘They’ll never break up. Their love is
forever
.’ Trish sneered. ‘Not that he’d notice you, even if they did.’

Trish marched off to join Suzanne and Trevor.

Was Trevor smirking at us?

‘This is so weird,’ Meagan murmured to me.

‘Just play along. We’ll talk about it after school.’

She nodded and tightened her lips. Then she hummed a little more loudly.

‘Hey, Meagan!’ Trevor called and we both looked back to find him strolling behind us with Suzanne. ‘Great piano work Saturday night.’

‘I had no idea you could play like that,’ Suzanne added.

At least somebody remembered something.

Although I could have done without the Mages remembering Meagan’s gift. I hovered close to her, not knowing what to expect from him. He looked as if he was really enjoying himself. His eyes were all sparkly. Jubilant. As if victory was within his grasp.

There was nothing to like about that.

‘Um, th-th-thanks.’ Meagan pushed her glasses up her nose and clutched her books to her chest.

Trevor came to lean against Trish’s locker. His smile was so friendly that I completely distrusted it. ‘You want to join our jazz improv group? We meet after class on Mondays and Thursdays, and we could use a piano player.’

As if that was going to happen. I started to turn away, positive that Meagan would decline.

‘Sure,’ she said and I spun back to stare at her in shock. She nodded firmly, her stutter completely banished. ‘That would be great.’

Trevor’s smile looked hungry to me. ‘See you there, then.’

‘Absolutely.’

The first bell rang. Trevor and Suzanne turned away, talking quietly together as they headed to class. Meagan and I walked in the opposite direction. I had a major case of the creeps. ‘Are you nuts?’ I whispered.

‘Someone has to find out more,’ Meagan murmured. ‘I’m the most obvious choice, so I volunteered.’

‘No way. It’s stupid.’

She stopped and glared at me. ‘It’s not stupid. It’s brilliant. I’m going undercover.’

‘Don’t you see? Their spell is getting to you, too, making you think things you wouldn’t think otherwise.’

‘Bullshit. I know what I’m doing.’

‘But …’

‘You’re the one who said we should play along. How else are we going to find out where the others are? How else are we going to figure out how to save them?’

I shook my head. ‘It’s too risky.’

Meagan waved that aside. ‘If you want me to calculate the probability of success, I’ll work it out for you.’

‘That’s encouraging.’

‘But you have to know that if we do nothing, our chances of success are much lower.’

‘And you can tell me how much.’

Meagan smiled.

I made one last appeal. ‘I’m good with risk. I just don’t like you taking the risk.’ I sighed, because she wasn’t persuaded. ‘I don’t think this is a good idea at all. Let’s think of something else.’

‘I don’t think there’s a better one.’ Meagan got that stubborn look, the one that told me she’d never change her mind. ‘I’m going in.’

* * *

I’d always thought that if I could just break the Covenant and tell Meagan the truth about my abilities, we’d be best friends again like we used to be. I’d always thought there’d be nothing left to argue about and we could be a team.

But it wasn’t working out that way. Instead, we were fighting all over again.

We argued more about her decision to join the improv jazz group over tofu burgers at my fave restaurant. It was a relief to escape the pervasive power of the golden Mage spell that was filling the corridors at school. I’d thought it might help us think more clearly.

It hadn’t done one thing to change Meagan’s mind.

‘The problem really is that you don’t trust me,’ she said.

‘No, the problem really is that you don’t know what you’re up against.’

‘What are you afraid of?’ she demanded.

‘Other than everybody dying or disappearing?’ I eyed her and she nodded. ‘Okay. Mage spells can change your thinking. They can make you believe things that you know aren’t true. Only a more advanced spellsinger can defeat them.’

‘And I’m not trained yet.’ She nodded thoughtfully, surveying the restaurant. ‘Okay, that’s fair. Give me Jared’s number.’

I sat back in shock. ‘I don’t think he’ll help.’

Meagan smiled. ‘Want to make a bet on that?’

‘He bailed on me. He left …’

‘Sure, but I’d be the one contacting him.’ Meagan made a flourish in the air with her fry. ‘And I’d be doing it to save you. Trust me – he’ll help.’ She ate that fry with great satisfaction.

Was she right?

Couldn’t hurt to try.

Would it be good enough?

Just pulling up his address made my pathetic heart go flippity-flop. I was even blushing when I forwarded it to Meagan. Derek was nice. Kinda cute. Maybe he was even safe – well, given that he was a wolf shifter – but Jared …

I had a feeling that no one was ever going to turn me inside out the way Jared did.

I just wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

Meagan typed away, composing an entreaty to Jared. I desperately wanted to see it, but tried to be nonchalant. ‘You haven’t eaten anything,’ she said without looking up.

‘I’m not hungry.’

‘You’ll need your strength to shift, if you have to.’ She pushed my tofu burger, still in its wrapping, toward me and sounded stern. ‘Eat.’

‘Promise me that you’ll be careful.’

She smiled. ‘This is going to be awesome. You’ll see.’ She leaned closer. ‘All you have to do is trust me.’

I couldn’t say anything to that.

‘Promise,’ Meagan insisted.

‘Okay. I promise. But you have to ask me if you have any doubts. You can’t take any more risks and …’

‘Pinkie swear,’ she said, interrupting me. She held up her pinkie finger the way we used to promise things to each other in elementary school.

The sight made me smile. A little.

I pinkie swore. There was nothing more I could do.

I didn’t know what to do with myself after school. As hard as I tried to persuade her, Meagan had insisted it would compromise her cover if I came to the jazz session. That drove me a bit nuts, as I was worried about what might happen to her. She was sure that nothing would happen in front of everyone. I reminded her that a lot had happened Saturday night in front of everyone, and she reminded me that almost everyone had been enchanted. I didn’t see why that same spell couldn’t be cast again.

We went round and round, each certain that she was right. She was determined to do this and since I couldn’t stop her, I played by her rules.

For now.

I did seriously consider the merit of spying on her in my salamander form, but I had promised to trust her. It was a bit early to bail on a pinkie swear.

I tried to be responsible and do my homework.

In the end, I was too restless to make much progress and it felt strange to go to her house without her.

So, I went to my house.

My rationale was that it was time to check on the place, pick up the mail, water the plants, etc., etc. The truth was that I wanted to be alone, and I wanted to be alone someplace familiar. Someplace safe. It’s never a bad thing to slide inside the protective barrier of your dad’s dragonsmoke.

I closed my eyes when I unlocked the door to our loft and felt the glittery caress of his dragonsmoke. It was piled high and thick around the perimeter of the apartment, woven all around it like a protective cocoon. Stepping through the chill of my dad’s dragonsmoke – breathed slowly and deliberately to defend his territory from invaders – made me shiver.

Then it made me want to cry.

Because I could already feel that the barrier was degenerating. Dragonsmoke erodes over time, gradually dispersing. My father’s barrier had been a fortress wall, but in his absence, it was thinning. Not enough for anything to be at risk, but I could feel the difference and that made me keenly aware of his absence.

And the reason for his absence.

Would my parents come back?

Together?

The loft felt lonely and empty. Cold. The decor has always been a bit austere, but on this day, it felt impersonal. Vacant.

I locked the door behind myself and went through all the rooms, checking the locks on the windows. There was a smell in the kitchen and I realized that no one had remembered to take the trash out on that last day. Clearly, icky trash hadn’t been at the forefront of my mom’s thoughts when she’d walked out. It was out of character, though, because she always had a departure checklist. This time, she’d been too upset to follow it.

Or too determined to leave to care.

I did the dutiful thing. I took out the trash and emptied the dishwasher, cleaning up the kitchen in the hope that she would come back and wouldn’t be disgusted when she did so. I got proactive with the contents of the fridge, too. I sorted the mail, leaving it on appropriate desks, as if everything would return to routine just because I wanted it to. And then I ran out of jobs to do.

That was when it occurred to me to visit my dad’s hoard.

A dragon’s hoard is a personal treasury of items of both monetary and emotional value – deeply personal and vigorously defended. I think sometimes that the secrets are more valuable than the gold.