Eve was so intense about it that not even Justin, three beers down, was able to exactly say no. Micheal didn't say anything, just watched Miranda wth eyes that were way to clear for somebody who'd had the same amount of drink as Justin. As Eve cleared stuff off the dining room table and set up a single black candle in the centre, I wrung my hands nervously, trying to get Micheal's attention. When I did, I mouthed What do we do?
He shrugged. Nothing, I guessed. Well, nobody but Eve believed in it, anyway. I supposed it couldn't really hurt.
"Okay" Eve said, and sat Miranda down in a chair at the end. "Justin, Micheal, Ana- sit down"
"This is bullshit" Justin said.
"Just - please. Just do it, okay?" Eve looked stressed. Scared. Whatever she and Miranda had been doing upstairs with those tarot cards had really made her nervous. "Just do it for me"
Micheal slid into the chair at the other end, as far from Miranda as he could get. I sat next to him, Justin grabbed the seat on the other side, leaving Eve and me the closest to Miranda, who was shaking like she was about to have a fit.
"Hold hands" Eve said, and grabbed Miranda's left and Justin's right. She glared at me until I followed suit, taking Miranda's other hand and Micheal's. that left Justin and Micheal.
"Whatever" Micheal said and took Justin's hand.
"Oh, god, guys, homophobic much? This isn't about you being manly men, it's about-"
"He's dead! I see him!" Miranda shouted.
I flinched as Miranda practically screamed it out. All around the table, we froze. Even Justin. He fought the urge to laugh, I could see his shoulders shaking. Eve bit her lip, there were tears in her eyes.
"Somebody died in this house! I see him. His body lying on the floor..." Miranda moaned, and thrashed around in her chair.
I, unable to stop myself looked at Micheal, who was staring at Miranda with cold, slitted eyes. His hand was gripping mine tightly.
"There's a ghost in this house! A unquiet spirit!" She said.
"Unquiet spirit?" Justin said under his breath. "Is that politically correct for pissed off? You know, like undead American or something?"
"Somebody already died" Miranda told him. "Right here. Right in this room. His spirit haunts this place, and its strong"
"Is it dangerous?" Eve asked breathlessly.
"I-I can't tell. It's murky" Miranda says.
Justin said, "Right, dead mean walking. Can't tell if it's dangerous because wow murky. Anything else?" He asks, bored.
"Fire" she said. I see fire. I see something in the fire!" Miranda shouts.
Justin yanked his hands away from Eve and Micheal, slammed his chair back, and said, "okay, that's it. I'm out of here. Feel free to get your psychic jollies somewhere else"
"No, wait!" Eve said, and grabbed for him. "Justin, wait, she saw it in the cards-"
"She sees whatever you want! In case you didn't notice, she's a fang banger!" He shouts at Eve.
"Justin, please! At least listen!" Eve begs.
"I've heard enough. Let me know when you want to move on to table rapping or ouija boards" he says sarcastically.
"Justin. Wait! Where are you going?" Eve cries.
"Bed" he says, and went up the stairs. "Night"
I let go of Miranda and Micheal's hands, I pushed my chair back and went after him. I heard his door slam before I made it to the top, and raced down the hall to bang my fist on the wood.
Then I noticed that the picture on the wall hallway was crooked, and moved it to stare at the button underneath. Would he?
I hesitated for a second, then pressed it. The panel across the hallway clicked open, letting out a breath of cold air, and I quickly slipped inside, latched it back, and went up the stairs.
Justin was lying on the couch, feet on the curved polished wood armrest, one arm flung over his eyes.
"Go away" he said. I eased myself down on the couch next to him, because his voice didn't sound alright. "I mean it, Ana, go"
"The first time you met me, I was crying" I said. "You don't have to be ashamed"
"I'm not crying" he said, and moved his arm. He wasn't. His eyes were hot and dry and furious. "I can't stand that she pretends to know. She was Jazzy's friend. If she knew, if she really knew, she would of tried harder"
I bit my lip. "Do you mean she-" I could even say it. Instead I just reached out and took his hand. He looked down at my clasped fingers and sighed.
"I'm drunk and pissed off" he said. "Ana?" His voice was quieter. A little smeared with sleep. "Don't do that again"
"Do what?" I ask.
"Go out like you did tonight. Not at night" he says.
"I won't if you won't" I smile at him.
He smiled, but didn't open his eyes. "No dates? What is this, the big brother house? Anyway, i didn't come back to Morganville to hide.
"Why did you come back?" I ask.
"Micheal. I told you. He called. I came" Justin's smiled faded.
"It's more than that" i said. "Or else you would of taken off by now"
We talked for hours, about pretty much nothing, movies we liked, movies we hated. I tried him on books. He liked scary stories. We had that in common, too.
Time just didn't seem to pass at all in the little room, the talk seemed to keep going. I got cold and sleepy, and dragged a blanket off of a nearby chair and put it around my shoulders, I started to drift off sat on the floor, next to where Justin was lying on the couch.
I woke up with a start when the settee creaked, and realised that Justin was getting up. He blinked, yawned, rubbed his hair and checked his watch.
"Oh, god, it's early" he groaned. "Hell. Well, at least I can grab the bathroom first"
I jumped to my feet. "What time is it?"
"Nine" he said, and yawned again. I reached over him, pushed the hidden button, and dashed past him to the door. "Hey! Dibs on the bathroom! I mean it!" Justin shouts after me.
I had grabbed some fresh clothes from my room, and jumped in the bathroom just as Justin, still yawning, stumbled out of the hidden room.
"But I called dibs!" He said, and knocked on the door. "Dibs! Damn girls don't understand the rules"
"Sorry, but I need to get ready!" I cranked up the shower and skinned out of my old clothes in record time.
I was in the shower fast, trusting that the waterproof bandage they'd put on my back would hold. It did. In under five minutes I was fluffing my wet hair and sliding past Justin in a breathless rush to grab my backpack with my books.
"Where the hell are you going?" He asked from the doorway. I zipped the bag shut, hefted it onto the shoulder that wasn't aching, and turned toward him without an answer. He was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded, head cocked.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me. You've got some kind of death wish? You really want to get knocked down another flight of stairs or something?" He asks me.
"You made the deal. They won't come after me" I said.
"Don't he dense. Leave that to the experts. You really think they don't have ways around it?" Justin argues.
"You made a deal" I said. "And I'm going to the library. Please get out of the way" I said, sighing.
"Please? Damn, girl, you need to learn how to get mad or-"
I shoved him, it was dumb, and he had the muscle to stay where he was, but I got him to stumble a couple of steps back. I was already out of the door and heading out, shoes in hand.
"Hey" he caught up, grabbing my arm, and spun me around. "I thought you said you wouldn't-"
"At night" I said, and turned to go down the stairs. He held me there for a few seconds, I didn't turn around, because if I did, and he was didn't there, well, I didn't know...I didn't know what would happen.
"See you" I gulped and went down the stars as fast as I dared, on shaking legs.
The heat of the morning was like a toaster oven, only without any yummy food smells; there were a couple of people out on the street. One lady was pushing a baby stroller, I considered having babies in a town like this. What were people thinking? But I guess they did it anywhere, no matter how horrible it was. And there was a bracelet around the women's slender wrist. The baby was safe, at least until it turned eighteen.
I glanced down at my own bare wrist, shivered, and put it out of my mind as I set off for campus. Now that I was looking, just about every person I passed had something around his or her wrist - bracelets for women, watch bands for men. I couldn't really tell what the symbols were. I needed to find some kind of alphabet.
I'd always felt safest at the library. I went straight there, watching over my shoulder for Monica, or anybody who looked remotely interested in me.
TPU's library was huge. And dusty. Even the librarians at the front looked like they might have picked up a cobweb or two since my last visit.
I checked the map for shelves, and saw the Dewey decimal system reigned in Morganville - which was weird because I'd thought all universities were on the library of congress system.
As I started to walk away, though, I cocked my head and looked at the list again. There was something strange about it.
There wasn't a fourth floor. Not on the list, anyway, Mr Dewey's system jumped straight from the third floor to fifth. Maybe it was offices. Or storage. Or shipping. Or coffins. It was weird though.
I started to take the stairs down to the basement, then stopped and titled my head back. The stairs were old school, with massive wooden railings.
I couldn't hear anything or anybody once I'd left the first floor. It was silent as - I hated to think of it - a grave. I tried to go quietly on the stairs, and quit gripping the banister when I realised that I was leaving sweaty handprints behind.
I passed the floors, nobody visible through the glass windows on the doors. The fourth floor didn't even have a door. I stopped, puzzled, and touched the wall. Just a blank wall.
I went up to the fifth floor, made my way through the silent, dusty stacks to the other set of stairs, and went down. On this side, there was a door, but it was locked, and there weren't any windows. Definitely not offices.
If I was some kick ass superhero chick I could probably pick the lock with a finger nail. Unfortunately I was no super hero. I was something else though, resourceful.
"Applied science" I said out loud. And ran down the stairs to the first floor. I needed to make a stop in Chem Lab.