The lunch room is buzzing with its usual activity at a not-so-dull roar. Some teachers on the other side of the room were trying to break up a mini food fight before everyone else caught on. Kids poked at their food, testing if it were still alive before hungrily eating it up. At least, those whose food didn’t respond. I know. GROSS!!!
Jaz and Ryan are bickering like the good old times about Ryan’s new rebel idea to grow a beard and take up clay work. Hairy potter. I didn’t laugh. Izabella sits on my right going over some Social Studies notes for her test after lunch and Dominico sits across from me. He is glaring at me like I just murdered someone.
It’s been over a week since I locked him in a dumpster and proceeded to keep him in there for three hours at which point Izabella finally said that anymore would be too mean. I had groaned but released him. The fury in his eyes could burned through granite. He jumped out and had started to chase me but, as if he forgot, I’m a witch. I easily asked the air for a little help to which it lifted me up, just out of Dominico’s reach. When he jumped his fingers grazed the bottoms of my sneakers. I had called goodnight to Izabella and told Dominico to cool it with the witch thing unless he felt up for a round two before quickly descending and skateboarding home.
The next Monday at school Izabella had actually succeeded in getting Dominico to turn down the dramatics a bit so, for the time being, he sat with us at lunch. He never took his eyes off me when he ate though. He just munched and glared. I had gotten bored of glaring at him around day two so I was ignoring him completely. Izabella asked me a question and I looked over her shoulder to see what she was referring to before answering “1912.” Dominico glared at me harder as he often did in class when I got an answer right or out of class when I spoke to Izabella. Gosh. Jack seemed so happy when he came out of the box! Of course Jack is a creepy clown without a lower half but then again, apparently he’s very optimistic. This guy’s a grump. A grump who can’t take being beat up by a witch. Or a girl. Maybe he’s mad because I, a girl younger than him, beat him up. I also temporarily turned his sister against him but he shouldn’t be mad at her. Oreos are difficult to pass up.
The bell rings and I wave farewell to Jaz and Izabella as Ryan, Dominico and I head to math. I’d been helping Ryan after school the past couple days because he’s now seriously falling behind on math and I think that Ms. Kinder suspects him of cheating. At very least he’s doing his homework now.
“So you think it’s a good idea? The beard?” Ryan asks me. I hang my head and slowly shake it.
“Ryan Lincoln if you become an insult to the best book series ever written…sigh…you must be shunned indefinitely,” I say solemnly. Ryan places a hand on my shoulder and casts me a dramatic look,
“Is this truly where we part, good friend?” I sigh again,
“I’m afraid so.” We hold our dramatic looks for approximately three seconds before we both burst out laughing. Out of the corner of my eye I even catch Dominico grin. I don’t say anything. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.
“But seriously,” Ryan says.
“No. Don’t do it. Pink panther is good. Stick with pink panther. It would be awesome to have a wizard friend but hairy potter isn’t a wizard friend,” I explain to him. “Plus if you have a beard in high school then you’ll truly lose all hope of ever having a girlfriend.” I tell him. He laughs humorlessly.
“As if I have any chance now,” he groans. I give him a small, hinting smile,
“I don’t know, Melissa Mailton may or may not have been asking about you in fourth period…” I tell him. His mouth drops. Melissa is a friend of mine, not a really good friend but I still like her. She’s on the quiet side and very sweet to everyone. She’s pretty not in a way-too-much-make-up-that’s-not-actually-her-face way but a natural cute face with curly blond hair and bright blue eyes. I know for a fact that Ryan has had a huge crush on her that he’s still yet to admit.
“M-Melissa? Seriously? You’re not pulling my leg.” Ryan asks, nervously. I know he’s waiting for a PSYCH!!! But I’m not that mean. She actually had asked about him in fourth period.
“Yeah. She’s really nice. You should ask her out,” I tell him. His cheeks flush scarlet. I hope he does ask her out. They’d be such a cute couple. I actually told Melissa that she should ask him out in second period but I’m willing to bet that she’ll be too shy to.
“Really?” Ryan asks. I nod enthusiastically. Ryan smiles and blushes again. I look up at the hall clock.
“But not right now!” I say and we run to math class.
Today’s lecture as a matter of fact isn’t math. This is our period where we have to watch the Internet safety video (Can you give me a Z! Can you give me another Z! Let’s all say zzzzzzzz….). Ryan really was asleep with his head on his desk. Dominico was doing the ‘rubber’ pencil trick continuously and I was doodling on my paper. It was a picture of someone destroying the Internet safety video for no other reason than that’s all I wanted to do. I feel something hit me in the head and a pencil drops onto my desk. I turn and see Dominico looking guilty and surprised. I glare at him and don’t give him his pencil back. He tries to get me to give him back his writing utensil the rest of class. Due to Ms. Kinder’s already awful eyesight mixed with the darkness in the room for movie purposes, we aren’t caught.
The bell rings and the class gets up and hurries out of the room before their brains melt from boredom. When Dominico turns to look at me I brush the pencil off of my desk before grabbing my books and heading out of the room. I see him through the doorway trying to pick up the pencil but somehow every time he reaches down to pick it up, it rolls further away. Weird, huh ? ; )
I get to computer science with time to spare. I still don’t actually have any work in this class so I pull out my book and start reading. Dominico comes in just before the bell looking annoyed and holding his pencil in his hand. He slams it down on my desk, just soft enough so Mr. Asus doesn’t hear it.
“Not. Funny.” He growls. I shrug without looking up from my book,
“I thought it was,” I admit. I look up from my page and Dominico glares at me again, “You know, if you keep glaring at me this much your eyes are going to freeze that way.” I tell him. He looks really tempted to glare at me but doesn’t.
“Is that true?” he asks. I think about it,
“I don’t know but it’s what I’ve always heard. Glare at your own risk.” Dominico rolls his eyes at that last part (I think he is stretching out his eye muscles secretly because he’s scared) and dumps his stuff down before heading to our computer to work on his last project.
I reach a boring part of my book and start getting sidetracked by the most plain things. Like walls. You know you’re bored when you zone out staring at a blank wall for five minutes, unmoving? This happens when I study too. If a blank wall is more interesting than whatever you’re doing then there’s a problem. I look at Dominico’s computer screen. He’s so stupid. I strike up a little conversation with his computer (which is difficult because computers only speak binary code though I am almost fluent) and it writes him a note that’s posted on the top right corner of his screen with a little YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!!! title, followed by instructions. He turns around to make a face at me. I make the note delete and replace it with one that says,
‘Fine. I won’t help you then.’ He tries to do the project for another ten minutes before running his hand through his hair in frustration. He opens up the note I wrote which he had previously minimized.
‘I need help.’ He types.
‘Lots of it.’ I respond stubbornly. I hear his chair swivel to face me so I bury my nose back in my book. I heard that this book is actually really good if you can get past this part. MUST ENDURE!!! MUST ENDURE!!!
‘Can you help me?’ Dominico finally types with a priceless look of loathing and resentment on his face.
‘I could definitely help.’ I reply. Could and would are two very different words. I look up and see Dominico cast me an exasperated glance before clenching his teeth and typing,
‘Would you please help me?’ I smile without looking at him.
‘Yes since you asked nicely.’ I send him. I walk him through the steps for the rest of class via telepathic notes. He finally gets it and finishes the project with time to spare.
Everyone else in the class is as lost as Dominico was. Too bad I can’t telepathically tell them what to do too. Dominico asks Mr. Asus what to do since he’s done.
“Faye helped you on your projects, didn’t she?” he asks, accusingly.
“She gave me a couple pointers,” Dominico admits. Mr. Asus sends a murderous look in my direction. Oh look! Another word! I bury my head deeper into my book. I hear Mr. Asus sigh,
“You can just do homework or read like with our dear Ms. Lightcaster then,” he tells him. He spits out ‘dear’ like it’s poison. I didn’t think he had that much of a grudge against me! Sure I’m better at this technology stuff than he is…and the teaching stuff too probably but gee wizards! Dominico sits down next to me and pulls out some science homework which he completes just as the bell rings. I quickly get out of my seat and beeline for the door.
“Faye!” Dominico calls, standing up as I reach the hallway. I turn to him, confused. Does he want to talk to me? The one he’s been glaring at like a demon for the past week? What is this madness? I wait for what seems like a long time but in reality it’s less than a minute. I could be down the hallway by now. I could be close to my locker. I could almost be out of here. Out. Freedom. Freedom from this jail. What’s taking this loser so long?! Actually Dominico is the second one out of the classroom but he just seems so slow!
“Why do you always tear out of class so fast?” he asks when he finally gets out.
“You’re so slow! I want to get out of here!” I exclaim.
“Do you really hate school that much?” he asks.
“Oh I forgot what a joy it is to be around you all the time and do stupidly easy worksheets all day,” I say sarcastically. “So on that note, what do you want?”
“Umm…thanks for the help,” Dominico says. I wave off his thanks,
“No problem. Now Mr. Asus is going to hate us though,” I tell him. He laughs,
“A teacher hating us for a study hall period? I’ll take it.”
“Any day of the week,” I conclude. We reach the intersection where we split hallways and for once exchange a friendly farewell. I pause a second after I open my locker, realizing the weirdness of my last conversation. What was up with him? I shrug and grab my backpack. It’s not like I’m complaining or anything. I’m still thinking about it when I close my locker door and see someone standing behind it.
“Crap Izabella! Scare me to death, will you?” I exclaim. She laughs. I had almost forgot that she was coming home with me today.
“I thought you’d be ready by now,” she says.
“I am ready,” I point out.
“Did Speedy González dawdle out of class? Something’s weird here,” Izabella concludes.
“OK, one, you do not use Looney Tunes references on me. Just…no. And two, like everything, it’s your brother’s fault. He’s so slow.”
“You waited for him? Did you beat him up again?” she asks looking very accusingly at me. I roll my eyes.
“No! He was thanking me. I’m glad you have such trust in me, best friend!”
“Just checking! You thought he was mad at you! He was fuming the whole weekend after. It was freakin’ scary! HE KNOWS WHERE I SLEEP AT NIGHT! I was fearing for my life! You may not know this but that boy is the cursed king of pranks! I’m lucky my hair is still it’s natural color! When I made fun of him in front of his friends once I woke up with my bed on the roof! Do you know how terrifying that is?”
“No and I don’t want to. So, if it’s OK with you, let’s keep my whole ‘address’ thing between us.” Izabella laughs and we walk out to the bus. Ryan threw a stink about getting kicked out of his seat by Izabella. Something about ‘favorites,’ ‘replaced’ and ‘third wheel’ so we were sitting in an uncomfortable three to a seat arrangement. I am pressed between Izabella and the window and Ryan is half hanging off the edge of the seat. Izabella doesn’t look too happy about this either. After way too long and awkward of a ride we reach my stop with Rowan waiting happily at the corner.
“He’s so cute!” Izabella exclaims when she sees Rowan. I had told her about my familiar multiple times. Warlocks have familiars too so he didn’t require too much explanation. Izabella’s familiar is a black cat named Ludwig. Familiars and their W-member have such connected feelings with each other that if a witch for example fell in love with another witch then the familiar would fall in love with their familiar. Also though the familiar’s feelings always take a part in how their W-member feels about others. That means that I won’t be falling for a guy with a guy or a cat familiar although it’s not so strict as though Izabella and I can’t be friends because of our cat-dog familiar difference. As a matter of fact Rowan likes Izabella as much as I do. When she kneels down to pet him he happily licks her face in the doggy-love-you language. Izabella laughs and gives Rowan a belly rub. His tail thumps loudly against the sidewalk and I laugh at how elated my beloved familiar is.
Izabella and I decide to take Rowan for a walk so we drop our backpacks off right inside the front door before heading out. My mom has a book club meeting with some of her friends today so we’re on our own. Izabella and I start talking as we head in the direction of the park until we come across a tossed out flier.
“Homecoming is in two weeks?! Why hasn’t anyone said anything about it?!” Izabella asks/exclaims. I sigh. I thought I had found someone who hated formal dressy stuff as much as me. I guess I was wrong.
“What’s the big deal? They’ve done zombie or vampire themes the past couple years. Since it’s so close to Halloween the school board decided to turn it into a Halloween dance so that they didn’t have to throw two dances. It’s not like a dance dance as in nice dress, tuxedos kind of thing.” I explain. Her face falls a little bit. Yeah. So did three quarters of the girls’ when it was announced. That was followed by the whoops of joy from the kids like me who hated dances but loved zombies. Izabella immediately shakes off her initial disappointment.
“It’s still a dance! Do you know who you want to ask you?” Izabella asks, her eyebrows going up in down in a hinting way. I laugh at her expression.
“No, I’m not going. I’m going out of town that Friday,” I explain.
“Where are you going?”
“There are over 2851 cities in this world. I’ll find somewhere.”
“No! You have to go! Especially if someone asks you,” Izabella complains.
“What if someone asks me and I say no?” I counter.
“Well, who wouldn’t you say no to?” Izabella asks. I think for a second,
“Rowan.” Rowan pokes his head up at the sound of his name. “Will you go to homecoming with me, Rowan?” I ask. Rowan dances to my side, jumping up and down as he does when I ask him to go anywhere with me.
“You can’t take Rowan any more than I can take Ludwig!” Izabella exclaims.
“Who says you can’t take Ludwig? I’m sure he’s a fine cat.” Izabella gives me a playful shove and laughs.
“Please come?” Izabella asks again when she stops laughing. “Even if you don’t have a date it will be fun! Look! It’s ‘Enchanted’ themed.”
“Oh great, Taylor Swift couples dances, here we come.” Izabella casts me a you’re-ruining-this-for-me look and I cave. “Fine, I’ll go.” Izabella squeals and jumps up and down, temporarily turning into Jaz. “What are you dressing up as?” I ask her.
“Vat vould a dance be vithout a Vampire?” Izabella asks in a cheesy Transylvanian accent. “And I know what you’re going to be!” she exclaims.
“How? I don’t even know yet!” Izabella giggles.
“Jaz and I have a surprise for you!” My eyes bulge.
“You and Jaz are picking out my outfit to go in public?! What alternate universe did I say yes to this plan?!”
“You don’t have a choice!” Izabella sings and skips ahead.
“Izabella, let’s be reasonable here…” I start. I argue my case the entire way around the park and back to the house. I am not going to school in a bejeweled mummy costume. Izabella says I don’t have to worry about that but I’m sure what they have in mind will be similar.
We get back to my house and turn on the Eragon movie. We talk the entire time, mostly saying ‘They got that wrong! In the book…” My mom came home later and I introduced her to Izabella, who she loved. We were right in the middle of a heated rubber band shooting contest when Izabella’s phone chimed with a text.
“Ugh. It’s Dominico. I have to go,” she says.
“Ugh. OK, I can drive you home,” I offer.
“You have a car?”
“Pick-up truck. I’ve been modifying the engine and muffler for the past week. It looks like a pile of rust but it drives better than any million-dollar car you can find,” I say. Exterior is my next project but the interior is pretty sweet if I do say so myself.
“Cool, thanks,” she says and texts Dominico back. I tell my mom where we’re going and Izabella and I pass into the garage and into my truck.
“Have you named your truck?” Izabella kids.
“This ‘ere’s ole Rusty,” I tell her in a Southern accent.
“Seriously?” Izabella asks skeptically.
“You gots somethin’ against ole Rusty?” I ask. She laughs and shakes her head. I turn the key in the ignition and ole Rusty purrs to life. Country music on 97.5 blares through the radio. What are you looking at? So I love country music. I’m not a felon.
Izabella gives me step by step instructions on how to get to her house and I follow them. Basically all you do is go north until you get to the middle of nowhere, turn left at the corn fields and then in another twenty miles you turn right up at a large and haunted-looking house. The house didn’t have any paint on it but was instead the natural dark color of the old boards that made it up. It was a Victorian style and looked to be three stories without including the basement. There were trees around it casting dark shadows onto the creaky wood. Awesome.
“This is it,” Izabella tells me. One thought crosses my mind. Best place to watch horror movies ever.
“Well see you at school tomorrow!” I say to her. She gets out of the passenger’s door and waves before skipping up to the front door. It’s unlocked and she waves to let me know she’s good before I back out of the driveway and head home.
The next morning on the bus I lean my head against the window as I listen to Avril Lavigne’s My Happy Ending. We are already a few stops into the bus ride and I slightly brace myself for Ryan to crash down next to me in the cold leather seat. I wait until I feel the bus lurch forward to its next stop. I look out the window and see that it was indeed Ryan’s stop. Where is he? Maybe he was just running late this morning. Ryan couldn’t actually miss school. He was that one kid who got perfect attendance every year since Kindergarten. Something is up.
The bus pulls into school and I hurry off to Ryan’s locker. Jaz sees me from down the hallway, bejeweled as always but soon looks confused herself.
“Where’s Ryan?” she asks. I shake my head,
“I don’t know. He wasn’t on the bus,” both of us know how extremely unusual this is. We unpack our bags in our lockers, keeping an eye out for him but to no avail. Jaz even shoots him a quick text but there’s no reply. We head into Social Studies as the bell rings from stalling to wait for a text back from Ryan.
“What’s up?” Dominico asks when Jaz and I arrive almost late. I whisper to him that Ryan has never missed school before but now is nowhere to be found. He doesn’t seem overly concerned and says that he’s probably sick. Dominico doesn’t know Ryan half as well as Jaz and I do. That pink-haired kid has an immune system strong enough to destroy the thought of germs. Ryan doesn’t get sick.
In my second period my fears were confirmed when Ryan wasn’t there. Now I was worried. Ryan was actually not at school. He wasn’t late. He was absent. Something is wrong. During lunch Jaz and I call his cellphone but he doesn’t pick up. Izabella shows a slight bit more concern than Dominico does but agrees with her brother that he’s probably sick and at the doctor’s. Jaz and I are the only two freaking out.
The rest of the day passes in a worrisome blur. The only person on my mind is Ryan and my obsessive behavior over his disappearance is driving Dominico mad.
“For the love of magic, Faye, chill out!” Dominico exclaims before seventh period.
“I can’t! Ryan is missing! He’s not picking up calls or texting back and he hasn’t missed school since pre-school! Something is wrong!” Dominico rolls his eyes.
“People get sick. It happens!”
“Not to Ryan! He has the U.S. military of immune systems! He doesn’t just get sick!”
“He’s fine! What do you think happened? Did he get abducted by aliens?”
“It’s more likely than him getting sick!” Dominico groans.
“You’re so stubborn. Just go check on him after school. Nothing is wrong,” Dominico says the last sentence in his persuasive warlock voice and I glare at him for trying to use magic on me. The awful part is that it sort of works. I sigh and try to lose myself in my book until the end of class. The bell rings and I shoot out of my seat but this time, Dominico keeps up with me.
“You’re going straight to his house, aren’t you?” Dominico asks. There’s an almost…jealous tone to his voice. What’s that about?
“Yes! I want to make sure he’s OK!” Dominico sighs,
“I’m sure he is. Well, I’ll say I-told-you-so tomorrow Faye.”
“You do that, Dominico. If you can,” I say and head toward my locker. I stay on the bus longer and get off at Ryan’s stop which is right in front of his house. Our houses look exactly the same but flipped so I always know where to go when I’m inside. I walk up to the door and ring the doorbell. Mrs. Lincoln answers the door. She’s a shorter lady with greying red hair that falls straight done to her waist. She consists of purely skin and bones without the slightest trace of fat on her. Her eyes are almond shaped and the same green as Ryan’s. She’s a stern woman and probably the reason Ryan decided to be the Pink Panther.
“Hello Mrs. Lincoln, is Ryan here?” I ask.
“Ahh…nice to see you, Fayeleia,” Mrs. Lincoln says sweetly. Sweetly? I didn’t know she was physically able to sound ‘sweet.’ And ‘nice to see you?’ The woman hates both me and Jaz! “Ryan’s not here right now but he’ll be back later.”
“Umm…OK. Do you know where he is?” Mrs. Lincoln looks concerned for a second before the emotion fades from her eyes,
“No, but he’ll be back later.” This is weird. Here the most over-protective parent alive is calmly saying that she doesn’t know where her son is. I look closer into Mrs. Lincoln’s eyes. I see that they’re not quite as green as Ryan’s but more dull. Dull eyes? Vacant emotion? Gee Wizards.
Mrs. Lincoln is possessed.
I feel myself start shaking. Mrs. Lincoln is possessed! Where is Ryan? Is he alright? Who possessed Mrs. Lincoln? Who has Ryan? I swallow hard.
“Thank you, Mrs. Lincoln.”
“You’re very welcome, dear.” She shuts the door and I turn and sprint. I need to burn off some steam before I do anything else. I sprint all the way to the park where Rowan finds me. I’m still shaking when I pull out my phone. I can’t call Jaz. I can’t tell her that our best friend is missing and that his mom is possessed. So instead I speed dial Izabella.
“I-Izabella?”
“Faye? Are you alright?”
“Ryan is missing. I-I went to his house and-and Mrs. Lincoln…she’s possessed! Gee Wizards, Izabella what do I do?” I hear Izabella gasp on the other end of the line.
“I c-can’t believe it! Who would do this?”
“I have no clue, any ideas?” Silence and then,
“Well…if she’s possessed then whoever did it will have to renew their spell every night,” Izabella says. That’s right. Warlocks have to renew their spells over humans every 24 hours or they’ll wear off.
“Maybe we can catch them if we hide out,” Izabella suggests. I nod even though she can’t see me.
“OK, are you coming tonight then?” I ask.
“Of course! Meet me over there at eight?” she asks. I agree and rattle off Ryan’s address. Izabella hangs up and I go home with Rowan. I’m worried beyond belief over Ryan. I hope he’s OK. Why would someone want him? Will we catch whoever it is tonight?
When I get home I tell my mom that I was talking to Mrs. Lincoln earlier I’m going to Ryan’s tonight for a while and will be home later. No one can say I’m lying. I dress all in black and by eight I’m sitting on Ryan’s roof. I see Izabella walking down the street and I ask some water in the pond behind Ryan’s house to create a dense fog so that I can lift Izabella up to the roof via wind without suspicion. Izabella is surprised at the weather change and even more surprised at her sudden ascent to the roof.
“Umm…warning please?” she says when I set her down next to me and the fog disperses.
“Sorry,” I say and we both find a comfortable spot to settle down on the roof, hidden from view. We wait until midnight, both bored out of our minds, quietly conversing in the shadows. Finally a car pulls up to the drive across the street and a dark figure jumps out and heads to Ryan’s house. I perk up and nudge Izabella who almost fell asleep. The figure goes around the side of the house to the window to Ryan’s parent’s bedroom. I feel fury boiling up inside me. This is the person who has Ryan. I stand up on the roof and send a soft wind to carry Izabella and I down right behind the figure. I grab my phone to snap a picture as soon as he turns around. Then I freeze at the face that is snapped on my camera.
“Dominico?” Izabella and I both whisper in awe. His eyes go wide before he turns and runs. My mind is spiraling. Dominico. It couldn’t be Dominico. He wouldn’t…would he? But why? I snap out of my daze enough to chase after Dominico. He runs around the house but then reaches his car.
“Dominico! Stop!” I yell after him. The black Cadillac roars to life and tears down the street. No. It couldn’t be. Dominico wouldn’t do it. How could he? Why would he?
I go back behind the house where Izabella is still frozen in shock.
“D-Dominico…” she trails off. I see a tear roll down her cheek.
“There’s got to be a reason…he wouldn’t just…he couldn’t…” I try to piece together a sentence but can’t. Dominico had actually been…nice the past couple days. He said that he was sure Ryan was fine. Dominico hadn’t struck me as a liar but then again, warlocks make excellent liars. I look at the shot taken on my phone. Dominico was wearing an expression I’d never seen him wear before. It was dark and…evil. I shut it off as fast as I can. I don’t want to look at it.
“Faye?” I look up at Izabella’s scared face, “We should go home.” I nod and we silently part. I don’t know how to reassure her. I don’t know Dominico that well but I know him well enough for this. I need to talk to him.
Ryan’s not on the bus the next day either. Where could he be? Does Dominico have him somewhere? Izabella texts me and says that Dominico hasn’t said anything about it but she hasn’t tried to bring it up. I tell her to wait until I’m there or otherwise known as lunch. We decide to tell Jaz that Ryan went on a surprise vacation with his cousins and gets this week off. I just finish relaying the lie to Jaz before Social Studies when Dominico comes in.
“I told you he was fine,” he says. I look down at my notebook and don’t answer him. What game is he playing at? “Faye?” he asks, sounding confused but the bell rings cutting him off. At the end of class I race out of the classroom before Dominico can so much as look at me. I don’t have another class with him until lunch which is good. He tries to meet me at my locker after third period though but I rush past him before he has a chance to say anything. Lunch rolls around and Izabella and I share dreading looks. Jaz goes up to get her meal and Dominico sits down across from us at the table.
“OK, what’s going on? Neither of you will look at me. Did I do something wrong?” he asks.
“I’ll say,” Izabella mumbles. Dominico looks even more confused. How long is he going to keep up this naïve façade?
“I went to Ryan’s house yesterday,” I tell him as if he didn’t know. “His mom was possessed.” Dominico’s mouth drops open and then his eyes slowly turn angry.
“And you think I did it?”
“We waited out late last night for whoever did it to renew the spell,” Izabella continues.
“And?” Dominico prompts.
“Don’t play dumb!” I exclaim and flash the picture on my phone in front of his face. Dominico’s face goes pale at the picture and his eyes bulge.
“N-no. It wasn’t me. I wasn’t there last night.” Dominico says.
“Then who is this?” Izabella asks.
“I don’t know,” Dominico says. “But it’s not me. What would I want with Ryan?” Izabella and I exchange a glance that clearly says we-don’t-know. Dominico takes a closer look at the picture. “I’ll prove it,” he whispers.
“What?” I ask.
“I’ll go with you tonight. It really wasn’t me,” Dominico’s voice sounds so honest I want nothing more than to believe him. I nod and Jaz sits back down. She starts conversing with Izabella about homecoming in two weeks and I take my phone back and tuck it into my pocket.
“Do you really think it’s me?” Dominico whispers so quietly that at first I’m not sure if he actually said anything. I look right into his silver eyes.
“I really hope not,” I tell him honestly. We both go back to our food without appetites. On the way to math Dominico and I walk together in silence until Dominico asks,
“When should I be there?”
“Eight,” I reply and he nods. I don’t want to miss him by coming any later. He nods. He looked truly stunned to see the picture and truly hurt by the prospect of our accusation. He doesn’t look at me the rest of the way to class and I start to rethink whether or not it was actually him. But who else could it be?
“Are you scared to be there again?” Dominico asks just before we walk into math.
“I’m scared for Ryan,” I tell him.
“But you could get hurt too,” Dominico says. I smile at him,
“If it really is you then I have nothing to worry about.” Dominico rolls his eyes.
“It’s not me,” he says again.
“I’m starting to get that,” I admit. He looks at me with a relieved expression for a second and makes the lady’s first gesture as we walk through the door. The math lesson is a boring review from the Internet safety video and everyone in the class passes with flying colors. Yes I know that if someone asks my address I shouldn’t give it to them. How thick do you have to be to get one of these questions wrong?
I walk out of class, waiting up for Dominico but in the split second that he lets his guard down when he sees me waiting for him, his shield falls and he’s immediately the center of attention. I roll my eyes as he’s asked out by multiple girls simultaneously all to which his cheeks glow crimson and he tries to cast spells out in rapid succession to make it stop. He casts a hopeless look at me and I give him a small wave before heading to class.
“Faye!” I hear him call for me to wait but I pretend not to hear. That joker can’t make me late for class.
As I predicted, Dominico was late for class. Not saying he was counted tardy or anything but I still thought it was funny.
“You should talk to your fan club about making you late for class,” I comment when he sits down next to me. He scowls,
“I don’t have a fan club.”
“You mean besides all those poor lovesick girls trailing you? My mistake.” He glares at me. “Kidding,” I say and give him a friendly nudge before delving into the terrifying world of English homework.
Halfway through the class Dominico elbows me lightly and I turn to see his science homework stunningly blank. I take a thing of lead out of my mechanical pencil and set it on his paper. He looks confused for a second before the stick breaks up and rearranges into tons of tiny specks that show college-level notes to describe every aspect of the subject in complete and total detail. I let him read over the notes and answer the worksheet’s questions with a new understanding of the subject. The bell rings and I race out of class with Dominico at my side.
“Thanks again,” he tells me.
“My pleasure. I guess I’ll see you tonight then.”
“I’ll see you at eight,” he says. I nod.
I grab my backpack from my locker and endure the lonely bus ride home. Ryan is stuck in the forefront of my mind but Dominico is in the back. I saw him at Ryan’s house. I got a picture of him! I pull out the picture and examine it just to be sure. Yes. It was Dominico. His tasseled black hair, silver eyes and chiseled features. The dark look in his eyes was there though. I can’t think of anything to make Dominico look like that. He was flaming mad at me when he found out I was a witch but never so…evil. I shiver at the look on his face.
I tell Rowan everything as soon as I get off the bus. He listens and snuggles up against my leg at the end. This was Rowan’s way of saying,
“Don’t worry, everything is going to be OK.” Somehow the familiar snuggle was just what I needed. I get home and help my mom put away some of the laundry which is fun because there’s clothes flying everywhere and drawers opening and clothing in a seemingly random fashion. It’s my favorite house chore. It never gets old.
“Oh, Mom,” I say. “I’m going to go meet up with Izabella. Is that OK?” I ask. Anyone pick up a lie? I didn’t.
“Sure, just call if you need anything.” She says, not really paying attention.
“Thanks Mom! See you later!” I grab a deck of cards from my room, a black hoodie and I run through backyards to Ryan’s house. I create a thick fog and quickly ascend to the roof but keep the fog around until Dominico and Izabella come walking down the street. Izabella immediately looks to the roof but Dominico looks for me around the street. I give Izabella a thumbs up to ask if I can lift them up. She gives a thumbs up back. Dominico looks at her confused but I gather some fog around them and lift them up to the roof before he can ask about it.
“What in the world?!” Dominico hisses. When they touch down I sit down against one of the slopes in the roof and slowly let the fog fade.
“It was actually fun the second time,” Izabella says.
“I brought cards this time,” I tell Izabella.
“Ooh! I challenge you to crazy eights!” Izabella exclaims. We sit down and begin to set up.
“This is all you guys do in a stake out?” Dominico asks.
“You got a better idea?” I ask him.
“We could set up cameras and set up in different positions?” he suggests.
“You can do that,” Izabella says and deals the cards. Dominico sighs and sits down next to me,
“Deal me in.” We sit playing crazy eights for hours. Izabella and I tie, each of us winning seven games leaving Dominico with zero wins.
“This is a stupid game,” Dominico announces, throwing down his cards after being beaten again. “Aug!” He exclaims, slicing his hand on a card.
“Maybe it’s not the game but the player,” Izabella suggests. Dominico glares at her but I laugh. Suddenly I hear the roar of an engine. I see the black Cadillac. Izabella points to it and nods at Dominico. A figure steps out of the vehicle and looks around, probably suspecting us. I look off the roof and see what I saw last night. Dominico. But Dominico is right here, at my side. He looks off the roof too and sees himself approaching the house.
“Who is that?” he hisses.
“Time to find out,” I say. The three of us are carried down from the roof to the front of the house. Izabella heads to the Cadillac to make sure he can’t get away in it again. Dominico and I pursue…Dominico or not Dominico I guess.
“Hey!” Dominico calls to the figure who turns around. The figure turns around and sees me with Dominico and a smile slips onto his face. He races away and Dominico puts up a chase. I go the other way around the house to cut them off but when I meet them half way, they’re grappling on the lawn. Finally one pins the other.
“Faye, help!” the one on the ground calls. I step to help him.
“No! Faye, it’s me!” the one on top yells. Oh gosh. The Dominico on the ground keeps yelling to me. I turn to the Dominico on top,
“Put your hands up.”
“What? Faye, it’s really me!”
“Then you’ll know what will happen if you don’t listen,” I threaten. He hesitantly holds up his hands.
“Hold up your hands too,” I tell the guy on the ground. He does. I turn to the guy on top,
“I believe you,” I tell him. He smiles and steps closer to me. I let him.
“Faye! No!” Dominico on the ground yells to me. The other guy holds out his hand to me. I look him gently in the eyes before I grab his wrist, toss him over my back and he lands hard on the ground.
“Oops. I lied,” I say. Dominico looks stunned and the other guy looks in pain. I hurry to Dominico and offer my hand to help him up.
“How did you know?” he asks. I point out the slice on his hand from the card. A smile twitches at the edge of his lips. We turn to the other guy and suddenly he shifts from looking like Dominico to someone else, a teenager with blond curly hair and green eyes but quickly switches back. There’s only one explanation.
“Back-glass!” I exclaim. Glasses improve your vision. Back-glass impairs your vision by making you see things that aren’t there. It’s a skill warlocks have and obviously this guy has it down. The boy looks at us before jumping to his feet and racing around the side of the house. We follow him but when we turn the corner he’s gone.
We head back out to the front of the house where Izabella is waiting at the black Cadillac. I see a shady figure coming up behind her.
“IZABELLA LOOK OUT!” I scream. She turns just in time to receive a slap across the face and falls backwards into the street. The boy climbs into the car and starts the engine. I sweep Izabella out of the street with a hard gust of wind and ask the air in the tires to expand until the tires pop. But that doesn’t stop the guy from driving away. I notice the car doesn’t touch the ground as it drives. It’s floating! He’s using magic! I want to go after him but Izabella lays shaking on the grass beside me. I kneel down beside her.
“Shh…shh…are you OK?” I ask. She nods. Dominico checks her cheek which is raw and red and slams his fist down on the ground.
“Couldn’t you have done something?” he growls at me.
“I did! I popped his tires and got her out of the road. I also was able to take him down which, just saying, you weren’t able to do.”
“I don’t have freaky magic to move the wind!”
“Freaky magic? Yeah because making people see stuff isn’t freaky!”
“At least I don’t use my magic at every turn!”
“Neither do I! If you didn’t see, I threw him down without magic!”
“You just like showing off.”
“No! All I wanted was to catch that guy to get Ryan back! You’re the one who did absolutely zero!”
“Absolutely zero?! I didn’t see you rushing to catch him when he ran!”
“I went around the other way to cut him off you idiot! At least I was using my head instead of diving in and getting pinned to the ground!”
“Yeah? I don’t accuse you every time something bad happens!”
“He was using back-glass to look like you! How was I supposed to know the difference?”
“You could have had some faith in me! You jump to conclusions!”
“You make a big deal out of nothing!”
“You always think you have to be the hero!”
“Yeah because you’re too weak to be any kind of hero!”
“You think you’re so tough! You’re not! Stupid witch!”
“STOP FIGHTING!” Izabella screams and suddenly I’m knocked away from Dominico with a hard blast of warlock magic. We both look at Izabella, stunned. She looks at the two of us with tears in her eyes. She’s on her feet with her hands in fists. Then she turns and runs. We both try to follow her but are knocked to the ground.
“I’ve never seen her use magic,” I whisper.
“Warlocks don’t get their magic until like 14-16. She hasn’t gotten hers yet…at least I hadn’t thought so.” Dominico explains. We watch Izabella run. Why wouldn’t she tell anyone she had magic?